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Quotaion by Aldous Huxley.

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The British colonizers discredited Hinduism as being merely backward superstitions, and even today, whereas Buddhism is very much in fashion with American and European intellectuals, Hinduism is largely ignored.

Given that all the essential premises of Buddhism are already contained in Hinduism, including how and why it is helpful to be able to control the senses, it is a shame that so few Westerners are interested in what it has to say…

That was the quatation from Gregoire de Klabermatten, “The third Advent”

I wonder what my Indian friends, as well as my Western readers could add to that? What do you think is really the reason for such a low interest in Hinduism? May be, it is because in the West people still say “Indian mythology” speaking about the religion?…

LOVE, axinia

 image by  CeciliaC

Want your husband to look that cat -satisfied, bathing in pleasure? The natural female desire to control the man can be expressed in some unusually simple and handy ways. Please visit my other blog for the new post on this vital subject.

LOVE, axinia

 image by axinia

says Rumi.

LOVE, axinia

 image by axinia

The meaning of the very word democracy is power to people, not freedom.The trouble is that the people did not get much training in learning how to handle power. It seems that the relationship between democracy and freedom depends upon the tension between power and people. Must freedom in a democracy mean a free-for-all grab at power? If so, we are perecisely in these deeper troubles that Rousseau, Jefferson and oterh godfathers of modern democracy wanted to prevent.

“Demos” means the people, “kratos” means power. However, who is the real ruler when the people rule? Nobody? Everybody? Or somebody. This body may act with such familiarity that its existence is unnoticed. Its shape is ill defined and its desire and purposes are not understood. Is this hypothetical ruler of democracy now inheriting the earth?

Gregoire de Klabermatten, “The third Advent”

P.S: The word on the picture (LUXUS) means luxury in German. In my personal view the modern democracy is almost the same as materialism. I find this photo very interesting, because one can see the shabby house wall and the “rich” word on it, showing the illusory power of riches on the fading facade of democracy.

LOVE, axinia

 image by axinia

This is a well-known Socrates story, but I keep meeting people who never heard of that. I love the wisdom here, because it is so simple and obvious. In fact, I also live it and every time someone comes to me, I just ask the same questions after Sokrates -Amazing, how embarassing it is then for the gossiper…

—————-

In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high
esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and
said,

“Socrates, do you know what I just heard about your best friend?”

“Hold on a minute,” Socrates replied. “Before telling me anything
I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Triple Filter Test.”

“Triple filter?”

“That’s right,” Socrates continued. “Before you talk to me about
my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter
what you’re going to say. The first filter is Truth. Have you
made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?”

“No,” the man said, “actually I just heard about it and…”

“All right,” said Socrates. “So you don’t really know if it’s
true or not. Now let’s try the second filter, the filter of
Goodness. ! Is what you are about to tell me about my friend
something good?”

“No, on the contrary…”

“So,” Socrates continued, “you want to tell me something bad
about him, but you’re not certain it’s true. You may still pass
the test though, because there’s one filter left: the filter of
Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to
be useful to me?”

“No, not really.”

“Well,” concluded Socrates, “if what you want to tell me is
neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?”

This is why Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such
high esteem.

Basically one can meditate everywhere, but there are some places where a good mediation can happen easier. My personal favourite has always been - of course! - India. I am in meditative state in India all the time (probably due to the long spiritual traditions of India and vibrations left after the huge number of sages and yogis thoughout the history).

Another country where I can enjoy powerful meditations is Italy. Despite its easy-going and superficial image worldwide, the country has one very important quality that leads to a good mediation: the joy, the heart-opening. How does it work?

 The open heart is filled with love, the love dissolves all the thoughts and troubles in the head, and one can have a deep, thoughtless meditation!

One more thing I wated to add to this slime show - the feet is water showthe good preparation for a meditation - so called FOOTSOAK: very refreshing and natural way to get rid of the negative energies. And also very pleasant!

And what are your favourite meditaiton places/countries?

thanks in advance

LOVE; axinia

 Фото AFP (© АФП

On May 9 Russia marks the victory over Nazi Germany and the end of World War II with a military parade on Moscow’s Red Square and celebration events all over the country. Victory Day is one of the biggest national holidays and Russians commemorate the 27(!) million victims the Soviet Union suffered in the deadliest conflict in history. Interstingly, most of the Western world is normally not aware of these numbers  - simply because Russian make no fuss about it. The history is the history.
The point I want to make here is that despite the horrible sufferings and the truly huge number of victims, presently Russia and Germany are probably the best friends internationally seen. Apart from the personal friendship beween H.Kohl and B.Eltzin, G.Schröder and V.Putin, the trade turnover figures achieved between Russia and Germany last year were 33 billion dollars, according to Russian estimates. Are there many examples of other countries who had been in such a deadly fight before getting close friends? Unfortunately this is a rare example in the human history if we look at the war map of today… In the international friendship survey 2000 over 60% of Russians speak of their “friendly” attitude to Germans, although almost every family has lost its beloved members in the war. And many of the war generation (like my grandmother) are still there. How could they forget so fast?

The mystery of this fast revival of friendship between Russia and Germany may lay in the FORGIVING POWER of Russians. This rare nationwide quality can be seen also throughout the daily behaviour of the people (see more in my post about Russian Women here).

One possible explanation may be the tradition of the Forgiving Day. It is the original Russian celebraton, combining both Christian and pagan traditions that takes place before some time before Easter. On this day people ask each other to forgive voluntary or accidential injuries and forgive each other with the words: “The God will forgive you!”. Isn`t is beautiful?

I believe that this tradition worked out in the collective consciousness of the Russian people the pattern of forgiveness. The Western propaganda, however, is doing a great job working on the image of the “evil Russians” - thus such precious fact of a nationwide forgiveness are almost unknown to the world. Unfortuntely, since 10 years of my living abroad I have NEVER seen any postive TV /newspaper report on Russia, only negative or neutral ones. No wonder, the folks believe in evil nature of Russians But we are not evil! Russian people have a good forgiving heart and a good will.

In my own family this Russian-German realtionships worked out in a truly amazing way: German language is my favourite, I live in Austria (German-speaking), have many Germans as friends, my aunty is a Professor of German and my sister is married to a German (it means my grandma who had to fight against Nazis as a young girl, has a German grand-son-in-law). 

Every time I see the conflict between nations (like Arab-Israel, Afrika, etc.) I ask myself - IS IT TOO DIFFICULT TO FORGIVE? Thanks God, I am born Russian.

LOVE; axinia 

Since long I wanted to have a simple, nice blog where I could share spontaneous thoughts and feelings without much work Something cosy and easy, a kind of 1000petals light…

Thanks to my beloved WordPress that comes up with new features pretty often, I grab the idea of the new Theme (Monotone) and started a photoblog - luckily I still have more photos to share.

And… Here it is! 1000loves. Promise to post every day (exept for holidays)

Hope you will like it!

LOVE, axinia

 image by axinia

 Nita got me! Normally I don’t follow these tagging games, most of the questions are either too silly or too ego-pumpering. But this bloggin tag seem to be OK. And although there is pretty much of my personal stuff here in my blog, it might be still interesting for some of you to peep deeper into my soul

I am happy to tag some bloggers who I think might like it: Arlene, Solveig , Radha, Bala, Steve  , Leela, and Edword. 

And here are my answers to the tag questions:

1. Last movie you saw in a theater?
I think it was The Golden Compass, and it was 5 months ago

2. What book are you reading?
None. No books any more.

3. Favorite board game?
None. Not my cup of tea.

4. Favorite magazine?
ZEIT WISSEN(in German), I love this beautifully done and captivating scientific report magazine!

5. Favorite smells?
Oh, these are many… roses (sure!), sandalwood, rain, green tea, snow…

6. Favorite sounds?
Musical instruments: flute, santoor.. The voice of my husband and the singing of my sister Tatiana!

7. Worst feeling in the world?
Seeing people hating each other

8. What is the first thing you think of when you wake up?
What I dreamt about (analysing the dreams and remembering their most beautiful colours and moments). In fact, my dreams are like films - good competitive for Hollywood and Bollywood

9. Favorite fast food place?
Starbucks (because of non-smoking and great coffee)

10. Future child’s name?
Ananda-Mai if it will be a girl

11. Finish this statement. “If I had lot of money I’d….?
… pour presents on everyone around And support good projects. Expressing generosity is one of my favorite ways of living.

12. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?
I did. For a long time. Stuffed animals are sooo lovely and cosy!  But my husband is better

13. Storms - cool or scary?
Cooooooooool. The majestic play of the nature is a good treat for the human ego.

14. Favorite drink?
water - with its simple and divine test

15. Finish this statement, “If I had the time I would….”?

Blog more often

16. Do you eat the stems on broccoli?
yes, why not?

17. If you could dye your hair any color, what would be your choice?
I am happy with my natural colour. Never wanted to be blond or red or whatever. Darkbrown fits the best my Snow-white-type.

18. Name all the different cities/towns you’ve lived in?

Rukla (Lithuania) , Cottbus, Wünsdorf, (Germany), Voronezh ( Russia),  Lugano (Switzerland), Rome (Italy)  and Vienna (Austria). Many more I have visited, and it is really fascinating how every country can nourish with its  special vibrations…
19. Favorite sports to watch?
Figure-skaiting - the most beautiful of all sports. I don’t watch sports (and any TV) otherwise.

20. One nice thing about the person who sent this to you?
Not only one nice thing! In fact I have written a post about this absolutely outstanding personality of Nita - check it here.

21. What’s under your bed?
My travel bag.

22. Would you like to be born as yourself again?
Yes, I think it is the only possible thing anyway

23. Morning person, or night owl?
night owl. Not much use of me before 4 p.m.

24. Over easy, or sunny side up?
Sunny side, always

25. Favorite place to relax?
Any place where I can meditate, because it is a good meditation that relaxes me the most…

26. Favorite pie?
Coffee-chocolate cake

27. Favorite ice cream flavor?
Different at different times - sometimes fruity, sometimes chocolate.

28. Of all the people you tagged this to, who’s most likely to respond first?
Arlene, I know she loves tagging

LOVE, axinia