#SoCS May 7, 2022

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “a phrase you grew up with.” Include in your post a phrase your mom/dad/grandparent/sibling used all the time when you were growing up, or just write whatever inspires you based on that phrase. Enjoy! 

My father read the Bhagvad Gita every day and some of his favourite phrases were from it. Linda’s prompt brought back memories of them.   When we grumbled about the weather, he would quote shloka 14 from the 2nd chapter of The Gita. ‘Heat and cold, success or failure, pain or joy- none of them can be permanent. It is the attitude of the wise to go through life, both in joy and sorrow, in success and failure, in pain and joy, with constant awareness: “Even this will pass away.” We many not have appreciated it in those days of growing up. 😊 But, we change and our thinking changes as we grow older. The Gita also tells us that nothing can remain the same, even for a short period, in the world-of-objects where change alone is the changeless law.

Writing about changes I remember my aversion to bitter gourd and my father telling me, ‘Annam na nindyat’, do not criticise food. This is said in section 7, Chapter 3 of the Taittiriya Upanishad. I think he said this to his grandchildren too 😊.

My father believed that the bitter taste is as important as sweetness and other tastes. The problems in life can be bitter and we will have to learn to accept what we cannot change, however bitter they are. He used to tell me that I should learn to enjoy the taste of bitter gourd. I firmly believed it was impossible 😊. But over the years I learned to appreciate and savour its taste. It is definitely an acquired taste 😊. Many people soak bitter gourd pieces in water with a little salt and turmeric. After some time, the water is poured away and the vegetable loses its bitterness.  But I don’t do that. Why eat bitter gourd without its bitterness ? That is the essence of the vegetable.

The bitter gourd is always a bitter gourd. It does not change but how we perceive it, changes. We change our way of thinking about it. That is what happens throughout life. These words of wisdom have been told by people through the ages.

‘God grant me the serenity to accept things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.’

  Reinhold Niebhur

Serenity Prayer – Full Original Copy of the Serenity Prayer (thevoiceforlove.com)

Chapter 2, Verse 14 – Bhagavad Gita, The Song of God – Swami Mukundananda (holy-bhagavad-gita.org)

Taittiriya Upanishad – A Contemporary Interpretation: Nourishment is Brahman (avgwarrier.blogspot.com)

Ronovan Writes Sijo Wednesday Poetry Challenge #8. Use REBIRTH OR CHANGE as your inspiration this week.

In the world of objects change alone is the changeless law.

Somethings in the future come to our present and flow to the past.

The wise do not despair about things that are and those that are not.

( Inspired by the commentary on The Gita by Swami Chinmayananda) Sijo is a Korean form of poetry. In it there are three Lines 14-16 syllables per line. A total of 44-46 syllables for the entire poem. The first line of the Sijo usually sets the theme. The second line elaborates on the first line.  The third line brings the poem matter to a close