My God what a beautiful portrait of an elephant

[Guest guest]

I all, I saw Ganesha on the shapes of the wall of my room today.

Later on I got this part of an email ...its so beautiful I thougt

I´ll share it with you!

 

Namaste

Barbara

 

THE ELEPHANT

 

The Buddha often spoke of the elephant as signifying the

Bodhisattva, with his wisdom and compassion. The Bodhisattva, like

the

elephant, is incapable of forgetting anything which is relevant to

what he needs to know. At the same time, he is suffused by supreme

detachment. The Bodhisattva's eyes, like those of the elephant, are

gentle and full of tenderness, gladdening all around. The Bodhisattva

teaches what it is to be truly human, to be abundantly affectionate,

to love generously. Just as little children can approach elephants

with no fear of being hurt, so too may all men and women approach the

Bodhisattva.

The elephant displays a marvellous blending of the three

qualities. The elephant is tamasic; no one who sees a quiet pachyderm

weighing four tons is likely to regard the animal as restless. There

is a tremendous stability to the elephant. At the same time, though

it

is tamasic, it relishes harmless pleasures, as every child knows who

has had the satisfaction of offering bananas to an elephant. Yet the

elephant is proverbially patient and long-suffering, with a majestic

indifference to the curiosity of passers-by. In this way the elephant

indicates the enormous potential strength of soul, mind and character

in every human being. Furthermore, the elephant shows the most

harmonious movements, swishing its tail or swaying its trunk. When it

raises its trunk, it salutes the boundless sky, its tusks ever

pointing upwards.

To take an elephant's-eye view of the world is to appreciate the

immensity of what is above by saluting the vastness of the sky while

at the same time standing very firmly on the ground. When in motion

the elephant is an enchanting sight. Bartok, commenting on a

delightful passage in one of Beethoven's symphonies, said that it was

like the stately yet playful movement of elephants dancing. Such

music

employs the bass notes of heavy instruments and at the same time

conveys to intuitive listeners a quality reminiscent of those

haunting

times in history when great events converged. Elephants are symbolic

reminders of the momentous changes that are gestating today on the

globe, seminal movements which are the unacknowledged reflections of

the sacrificial ideation of Bodhisattvas.

Remaining rooted in immovable contemplation upon the spaceless,

the soundless, the boundless, the Bodhisattvas are motionless in mind

and will, yet rhythmic and deliberate in thought and feeling. They

participate in the vicissitudes of historical cycles sufficiently to

understand human beings who are still captive to the bonds of matter,

but at the same time they remain in a seeming state of non-activity

because they have no incentive or motivation to act for the sake of

results. They simply do not live for the fruits of action, and are

beyond praise and blame, whilst effortlessly exemplifying the

Religion

of Responsibility.

 

RAGHAVAN IYER