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Secret Wallaby Life... |
| December 30, 2005 by Stuart |
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A story by Stuart Camps. Pictured at right is a rock wallaby unrelated to the story. (Photo taken by k-girl; some rights reserved.)
They aren't very far from Bald Rock National Park (in Australia), on a long, high, ridge of a cattleman's property. There are two rocky outcroppings about 300 meters apart. Both outcrops comprise a dozen or so large granite boulders arranged in a lazy pile on the edge of a high bluff. Adorned with orchids, moss and the twisted, stone-breaking, roots and trunks of rock figs, the rounded grey boulders form a safe fortress for the shy family of rock wallabies who live here. The outcrops themselves are all but hidden amid the tall eucalyptus woodlands, which fan out over the slopes and ridges. You could easily walk right on by the towering fortress and never even see it, or its wallabies. The wallaby clan must have been inhabiting these rocks through untold time, generation upon generation.
The evening is coming down cool and slow. The valley air is thinning and the western sky is turning softly purple... there are some clouds. The wallabies know I am there, having watched me from their caves as I crept closer and closer, until I came to sit on my rock as motionless as they sit upon theirs. I watch and breath and let time fall away. They gradually accept my presence a little and begin to move about on the fortress again. Two sentries take up positions to keep a watch on me. They sit on their haunches, like small Buddhas, with furry tails plopped out between their padded feet.
One adult and another younger one, a fairly independent joey, sit on respective ledges gazing silently out over the dusky valley. Their stillness is the same deep calm that fills the early evening. Looking, looking, looking out over the rolling plains... transfixed, meditative, absorbed in the endless stretch of view, and timeless space. Occasionally one of the group hops up or down across the boulders to take up a new vantage.
Further up the ridge among the second outcrop of boulders another smaller group of wallabies reside, a handful of possibly un-attached males who have been "run off" from the larger clan perhaps. They probably keep to themselves for the most part.
After sitting with the larger group for a good while, what impresses me most about this tribe of wallabies is the contemplative, or meditative, nature of their culture. Their main occupation seems to be to spend as much time as they can just sitting, meditating, contemplating the mystery and moment of their small patch of existence. They are very aware and conscious of everything in their environment. The way they live and move together seems to be structured around their need and interest in living a contemplative, peaceful and unobtrusive life. Their sensitivity to my presence is acute. They are instantaneously responsive to my movements. And they always maintain themselves with calmness and depth. They can clearly become upset, or disturbed, momentarily, but they are not otherwise disturbed. Even the younger joey maintains a depth that feels profound, much more profound than myself. The rocks, trees, the very mountainside, all feel the same, and I sense that the wallabies are combined with this, sustained and informed by it.
This little family, community and culture of rock wallabies still remains untouched by man and unharmed... living as they have for centuries, holding their energy in this place, each generation passing the culture along just as one breath eases into the next... or how the breeze moves in over the ridge-tops as the sun drops behind the hills, wordlessly evolving, and involving, the timeless cycles of ancient wallaby life, and nature... |
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Even The Housefly |
| December 12, 2005 by Stuart |
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"Everything that lives, even the common domestic housefly, has something of value to share with you—whenever you are ready for the experience."
J. Allen Boone, The Language of Silence, Harper & Row, 1970. (Photo by freebird4; some rights reserved.) |
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Swami Brahmananda's Love of Plants |
| November 16, 2005 by admin |
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Maharaj [Swami Brahmananda] had a great liking for plants and trees. In whatever place he lived for a considerable time, it was his pastime to plant orchards, flower-beds, fruit and vegetable gardens. He took personal care of them. He enjoyed their growth and beauty as they existed in nature. He looked upon them as Nature's offering to the Virat (Omnipresent Being).
Maharaj could instinctively find out the peculiar needs of a tree or plant and devise the necessary nutriment. In this way he turned a dying plant into a luxurious one with profuse flowers or fruits as the case might be. Sometimes by a special treatment he astonishingly improved the size, color and fragrance of the products.
[Quoted from "Swami Vivekananda's Contribution to the Present Age" by Swami Satprakashananda. Swami Brahmananda was one of the most highly regarded monastic disciplies of the 19th century Indian saint Sri Ramakrishna.]
[Pictured at left is a Hong Kong Orchid Tree planted at Da Love-Ananda Mahal Sanctuary, a retreat sanctuary established by Fear-No-More Zoo Founder Adi Da Samraj.] |
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Seeing Primates; Visiting Chimpanzees |
| October 3, 2005 by Stuart |
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Composer-musician Naamleela Free Jones (of Fiji / California) tells of visiting the Sacramento Zoo with Fear-No-More Zoo Founder Adi Da Samraj recently:
Several weeks ago Avatar Adi Da Samraj visited the Sacramento Zoo, as He has done a number of times over the years.
Upon entering the zoo Adi Da was asked by one of His attendants whether He would like to see the primates first. He chuckled, looking around at everybody, and replied, "I thought I already was!"
As Adi Da Samraj made His way through the zoo many of the animals (though not all) moved forward in their enclosures. Frequently, as He approached the various habitats, the animals living there would come out in full view, and a good number reclined right in front of Him, relaxing and showing obvious signs of deep contemplation in response to Adi Da's visit.
[Pictured at right is an orangutan that Adi Da visited at the Sacramento Zoo.]
Upon arriving at the spacious chimpanzee habitat Adi Da made His way to the large, glass viewing window. He stood there calmly, intently focused on the chimpanzee culture living life in front of the crowds of people who streamed past the chimps' attractively manufactured world.
Soon after Adi Da took His place there, a small chimpanzee came forward and began tumbling about directly in front of Him. Within a short while she picked up a pine-cone and, stretching out as far as possible, she pressed the pine-cone up against the glass window toward Adi Da.
Everything about this fellow primate's gestures were just like those of Adi Da's human devotees when, through heart-recognition, they offer Him a simple, fresh flower. The chimpanzee held the pine-cone there on the glass, looking directly at Adi Da. Through the glass Avatar Adi Da Samraj touched His hand to the pine-cone and whispered, "Tcha", in love and blessing of the young chimpanzee.
After several moments the chimpanzee drew the pine-cone to her chest and sat with her head slightly bowed. Then she sat quietly in front of Adi Da for a few more moments before moving across the enclosure whereupon she gave the pine-cone to the largest chimpanzee of the group.
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Late one evening in November 1993 Adi Da Samraj discoursed passionately to a small group of devotees. He spoke in a quiet voice.
"At heart, all are One. At heart, a human being is not the slightest bit different from the reptiles, the birds, the former dinosaurs, the elephants, the plants, the trees, the wind, the sky, the microbes."
[Read the rest of this Discourse in the Wisdom section of this website.] |
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The Pig Farmer |
| July 14, 2005 by admin |
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The following story by John Robbins was forwarded by one of our readers (Paul M. of New Zealand). It's on the long side, though not too long, and an easy, good read.
The Pig Farmer
(Pictured at right is Gunther of Fear-No-More Zoo.) |
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"Planet Bytes" is a service mark of the Avataric Samrajya of Adidam Pty Ltd.
Original photos & writings are
© 2005-2006 The Avataric Samrajya of Adidam Pty Ltd, as trustee for The Avataric Samrajya of Adidam.
All rights reserved. Perpetual copyright claimed.
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