February 3, 2010
the true meaning of love
An Indian couplet puts it;
Love is Truth and Truth is the name of God.
Without Love in the world, life has no meaning.
Described as wider than the widest ocean and deeper than the deepest sea, Love is boundless, infinite.
Love is indivisible. One cannot love one section of humanity and hate the other; that will be like dividing the fowl, cooking half ot it and keeping the other half for laying. Love is unconditional; it embraces all, saints ans sinners alike, just as how God sends the rain to the just and the unjust alike.
Love sees only the good. To Love everything is beautiful, and as the song writer, speaking of the all embracing Love of Jesus puts it:
Were the whole realm of Nature mine,
That were an offering far too small;
Love, so amazing, so Divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
This stanza was taken from the hymn “When I survey the wondrous cross. On which the Prince of Glory died; My richest gain I count but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride”.
Greater Love hath no man than this that he lay down his life for his friends. Only Love can make the final sacrifice.
So beloved, let us love one another, for Love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. 2 Peter 3 : 17.
In Love only will one find content, Joy and the Peace that passeth all understanding. A life without Love is a wasted life.
January 13, 2010
A thought from Jalalluddin Rumi
Everything you see has its roots in the unseen world. The forms may change, yet the essence remains the same.
Every wonderful sight will vanish, every sweet smell will fade; but do not be disheartened.
The source they came from is eternal, growing, branching out, giving new life and new joy.
Why do you weep? the source is within you and the whole world is springing up from it.
Comment:
Rumi is a Sufi, a mystic, one who in moments of ecstacy sees himself as “I am He”. He is a prolific writer and his poems are widely read in America. There is a beautiful collection of some of his poems translated by Deepak Chopra which will delight you if you can find it in any of the book stores.
January 9, 2010
kindness and love to all I owe
Kindness and Love to all I owe, No other debt doth God allow; Kindness and L ove then I must pay To everybody, every day.
The stanza says to everybody, none excluded, be they Jew or Gentile, Saint or Sinner, Prince or Pauper. Then why do we war with one another. All men are brothers created by the one Father, God who loves all equally. Our enemy is our brother, not to be destroyed by violence but to we won over by friendship. Know you not that we have the same spark within us from the same Divine, eternal flame? We destroy our own selves when we destroy others.
Remember we are all part of Him as the waves are of the ocean, interconnected, interrelated and interdependent; one, not only with all men but with all living beings and the cosmos. Then why do we want to harm one another? If greed and lust for power motivate us, know that whatsoever we possess, we will all have to leave one day and return to the dust from where we came, prince and pauper alike, none greater, none lesser..So while we are alive, let us be thankful each day for whatever we receive from Him who made us, and let us share with our less fortunate brothers, for whatever we do to “the least among us,we do to Him”.
May you then my brothers live in the Light, and ‘let your light shine before all men so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven” I close with one of my own poems: THE SAINT.
As full and free as the breeze that blows, Such is my love which overflows; No wall surrounds, no heart enslaves, No barrier, time or creed enclaves; It touches all, exempt is none, Bird, beast and man, God, everyone. And now:
Maty the Lord bless you and keep you and let his Light shine upon you and give you peace.
Randall Butisingh
January 1, 2010
Happy New Year
My dear viewers,
A Happy New Year.
If you have lost everything in the crisis that has befallen us, have Hope. Material things change and decay, but the spirit in you never changes. You can make a new beginning. One day, we all, rich and poor alike, will have to leave everything and return empty handed to be judged for the use of our talents. This brief stay in the physical world, is just a moment in the context of eternity for which we are destined. It is how we use our sojourn here that will determine our destiny. My poem tells: There are three essentials for living; “Something to do, something to love and something to hope for”. If we observe these faithfully, there will be no cause for complaint.
Here is some further advice I will like to give you;
1. Make no resolutions. If you have to wait until New Year’s day to do them, you will certainly break them. Time will not wait on you; you cannot be certain what will happen the next moment.
2. Live in the present. God sees you as you are, not what you were. He is a God of the eternal present.
3. Give Him thanks for everything, even your pain and suffering. There is a purpose in everything. Suffering helps you to grow stronger, to meet difficult challenges and to overcome obstacles if you do not succumb to it.
4. Stand and stare sometimes, a period of useful idleness. Enjoy the beauties of creation and let your imagination soar to sublime heights.
5. See the good only in everything as Lord Jesus did. He saw the beautiful teeth only in the stinking carcass of a cur. Seeing the bad will mar your disposition. You become what you see.
6. Do not try to change the world; change yourself first.
Finally, remember what I always remind; ” It is never too late to learn. You can learn anything at anytime if you have the will and the commitment to do so. A man learnt to play the piano beginning at the age of fifty.
December 5, 2009
food for thought
A Bouquet of floral verses culled from the Garden of Wisdom:
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter.
Our talents are the gifts God gave to us. What we mafe of our talents is our gift back to God.
When you despair, remember the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and dictators, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Always remember this.
True friends want nothing from you except the joy of your presence … no matter what you do, they will always be your friend.
Courage is being afraid, but going on any how.
Strong lives are motivated by dynamic purposes.
We can make money. It’s a lot tougher to make a difference.
People will forget what you said or did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.
Well done is far better than well said.
Copied from Gyanda, Journal of the Guyana Hindi Prachar Sabha.
Sponsored by Kids First Fund Making A Difference In The Lives Of Sick Children.
Email: kidsfirstfund@hotmail.com Website:www.kidsfirstfundguyana.org
November 26, 2009
happy thanksgiving day
Dear viewers, I wish you a HappyThanksgivig Day which I trust you will enjoy with family and friends. But I would like to remind you that when the day is over, you must not cease to give Thanks to your heavenly Father and your fellowmen of whatever race, colour or creed, who are all God’s hands, and without whose efforts you could not have been able to obtain the necessities and the amenities that go to make a good living. We must give Thanks to God for every breath we take, without which there could be no existence, and those who are endowed with plenty, withold not your bounty. You can give Thanks by sharing with the poor and needy and so earn the blessings of Him from whom all good gifts come. Those of us who are poor can show our Thankfulness for the little we have by contentment which is a great virtue. All, rich and poor alike, can show their Thankfulness by sharing with their neighbour. He who has created us has provided us with the things necessary for our sustenance, and there is sufficient, if there is no greed, to share with every one.
The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. Let us give Him thanks.
Randall Butisingh
i
October 16, 2009
DIWALI, the Festival of Lights.
Tomrrow, Saturday 14, Hindus all over the world will be celebrating DIWALI, one of the greatest two festivals of Hinduism. For the information of viewers who may not know of Diwali or the significance of it, Here is what Pandit Rabindranath Tiwari, one of my Hindi pupils say about it.
Deepavali, popularly known as Diwali is the Hindu Festival of Lights. The word Deepawali means means “a row of lights”. It falls on the last day of the last half of the month of Kartika (October – November). On this very auspicious day, the Supreme Reality Brahman is worshipped as Goddess Lakshmi, the giver of wealth and beauty.
Hindus pray for the grace of Lakshmi to be conferred by them and the entire world in full measure. The blessings of the Goddess are not only in the form of real estate or money, but also good health and other things that make for a happy life. Lakshmi has many facets: Dhana Lakshmi, symbolising wealth in the form of money, real estate etc .; Jaya Lakshmi symbolising success in one’s chosen path; Vara Lakshmi, the gaining of a good life partner; Arogya Lakshmi, good health; Santaan Lakshmi, good and healthy offsprings.
Another name for Lakshmi is Shree, which means beauty. The seeker of Atma Gyan, knowledge of self, prays to the Goddess for inner beauty, which is composure of the mind. With knowledge of the self, one becomes liberated from the bondage of birth and death. While worshippinfg Lakshmi on Diwali day, the main focus should be to have a rich and bright mind, a mind filled with the Divine treasures. Such a mind brings eternal happiness.
At twilight on Diwali day, diyas or earthen oil-lamps are lit in the homes of Hindus. The Diyas have a special spiritual significance. The ghee or oil in the diya symbolises our vaasanas or negative tendencies, and the wick, the ego. When lit by spiritual knowledge, the vaasanas get exhausted and the ego also perishes. The flame of the diya always burns upwards. Similarly, we should acquire such knowledge as will take us towards higher ideals. A single diya can light hundreds more just as one enlightened person can give knowledge to many more. The brilliance of the diya does not diminish despite its repeated use to light many more diyas. So, too, knowledge does not lessen when shared with or imparted to others. Thus while lighting diyas on Diwali evening, we should entertain these thoughts.
May Lakshmi Devi bless all with good health, enough wealth to live a comfortable life, and happiness.
Below is a short poem I wrote on DIVALI.
Gone the darkness of Amawas,
Rent the clouds of gloom asunder;
Now Rama to Ayodhya hying,
For Lakshmi’s favour worshippers vying;
See the rows of lighted diyas,
Brightly burning, chasing the dark,
And the festoons hanging gaily
In the temple’s incensed hall;
O eternal light, effulgent,
Shine upon us from above;
Light our soul and cleanse our heart
And bring us Peace and Joy.
Amawas is the darkest night of the year when legend has it that demons and evil spirits roam the earth. Deepavali lightens the corners where they may lurk and so chases them away.
Randall Butisingh.
October 10, 2009
the iron or dark age of Hinduism
According to Hinduism, there are four ages: the Golden age, the Silver Age, The Bronze Age and the Iron or Dark age. Each Age lasts for a number of years; then there is dissolution which last for a thousand years when re-creation occurs and the cycle continues.
We are now living in the Dark Age which gets worse and worse as it advances to the end. From all appearances we are hastening towards the end, the darkest night of the Age where a good deed which was taken for granted in the Golden Age, now shines brightly, as the brightest star in the darkest night, and where penance was necessary for redemption in the Golden Age, it is easier now through repentance and grace.
This is an age when religion instead of uniting, as the word connotes, is the chief cause of division and conflict. An Age when man cannot see that his own welfare is linked with the welfare of his fellow man. This causes him to fight to possess rather than to share.
So, as we advance towards the end, there will be more and more conflicts; more natural disasters because of man’s destruction of the environment caused by his acquisitiveness and cupidity.
In the wake of all that is happening in the world today, optimism is an empty word. Hope and prayer are needed by the small minority that is not caught up in the rush for the things that perish.
October 7, 2009
“My Story” by Randall Butisingh
“My Story” – by Randall Butisingh.
(Reminiscences during my life beginning 1914)
PREFACE
My aim in writing this book is to leave a first hand account of my experiences of events which occurred from eighteen months after I was born to the year 1972 when I retired as a teacher after serving for more than forty years.
This is a legacy I would like to leave to posterity, as I am sure many would be interested to know how they came to be living in this land and the life and work of their forefathers..
I call this work Reminiscences because I want to include more than my own life. I want to include events which would give a broader picture of a people who emerged from semi-slavery and, with other people, helped to build this nation which was once the Pride of the Caribbean, the Bread basket of the West Indies and a Haven for foreigners who enjoyed its equable and salubrious climate, and its freedom from natural disasters..
British Guiana as it was known for a long time, since the days of slavery, was called the Magnificent Province,. Georgetown, its Capital was known as the Garden City, But time and changes have left their baneful effects – Ethnic rivalry, brain drain, corruption and economic failure.
I trust this book will help, in whatever little way, to see ourselves as one people, whose survival depends on unity, not division, on cooperation not competition, on peace not war.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
INTRODUCTION
As we approach the second anniversary of our Weblog this month: (October 21, 2009), I think that it is an opportune time to release my book promised some time ago.
I wrote the chapters of this book over the years, and revised it a bit over the last couple of years. It is titled “My Story”, and it contains the reminiscences of my life beginning in 1913. I have tried to write it in a chronological order as my life has spanned over nine decades, however this was not always possible. I may have repeated myself in some places, but this was done mostly for clarity as this book could be read as separate chapters and still makes sense to the reader.
To date, I have written 30 chapters and I will post the chapters as they are finally edited. As an online book I will be able to make changes and corrections if some information is incomplete or found to be incorrect. .. So this is still a work in progress!
Your input as readers is therefore important to me…. so please comment!
My thanks to Mr. Cyril Bryan who has helped me over the last two years with technical matters relating to the suggestion and the establishment of this Weblog, and for the editing of this document.
Today, October 07 2009, I started the posting with this Introduction and the first three chapters. The rest of the 30 chapters will follow shortly. Please look above, or on the sidebar, for the links to the various chapters.
I look forward to your comments, and please pass my weblog link to others who may be interested in my writings.
Thank you all!
Randall Butisingh
October 7, 2009.
June 17, 2009
a sufi thought
Do not be disheartened.
Every form may change, yet the essence remains the same;
Every wonderful sight will vanish, every sweet smell will fade;
But do not be disheartened.
The source they come from is eternal, growing, branching out, giving new life and new joy;.
Why do you weep?
The source is within you;
And the whole world is springing up from it.
Jalaluddin Rumi.
Randall Butisingh's Weblog 