Sky is His Canvas!

THE SKY IS HIS CANVAS

This night is amazing
The clouds rearranging
The light is falling, tumbling from the skies
And life full of hope, dear
And rain makes us float, dear
The waters flooding, mixing in our eyes
And often times we pass it by
But at any time we can see the sky
And marvel at the wonders high
An know of God just by this sight
The sky is His canvas
To always enchant us
And to always bring a smile to our faces
To all who are tired
Or desperate to feel loved
Just look up to see the face of God
And often times we pass it by
But at any time we can see the sky
And marvel at the wonders high
An know of God just by this sight..

From - http://www.mckennahampton.com/the-sky-is-his-canvas-lyrics.html

Picture shot at Karwar, Kali Backwaters

The Kali Confluence...

This is where the River Kali meets the Arabian Sea, called the Kali Sangam (Confluence). The waters may seem still, but underneath strong and dangerous currents lurk.. The River Kali is as benevolent, as it is fierce... More posts about River Kali in this Blog are here, here, here, here, and here.

Kali The Mother

The stars are blotted out,

The clouds are covering clouds.

It is darkness vibrant, sonant.

In the roaring, whirling wind

Are the souls of a million lunatics

Just loosed from the prison-house,

Wrenching trees by the roots,

Sweeping all from the path.

The sea has joined the fray,

And swirled up mountain-waves,

To reach the pitchy sky.

The flash of lurid light

Reveals on every side

A thousand, thousand shades

Of Death begrimed and black-

Scattering plagues and sorrows,

Dancing mad with joy,

Come, Mother, come!

For terror is Thy name,

Death is in thy breath,

And every shaking step

Destoys a world for e'er.

Thou Time, the All-destroyer!

Come, O Mother, come!

Who dares misery love,

And hug the form of Death,

Dance in destruction's dance

To him the Mother comes.

- Swami Vivekananda

This is a poem by Swamiji, written in Kashmir, on a houseboat on Dal Lake. After visiting the Kshir Bhavani Temple, he returned, in ecstasy, to the boat and wrote this.

Source - http://www.poetseers.org/the_poetseers/vivekananda/vivekanandas_poetry/kali_the_mother/

Sunset afterglow....

Every time you wake up and ask yourself, What good things am I going to do today?, remember that when the sun goes down at sunset, it will take a part of your life with it. 

A moment, and its glory was no more. The sun went down beneath the long dark lines of hill and cloud which piled up in the west an airy city, wall heaped on wall, and battlement on battlement; the light was all withdrawn; the shining church turned cold and dark; the stream forgot to smile; the birds were silent; and the gloom of winter dwelt on everything. - Charles Dickens

Just in Time

Early morning, before the sunrise, is always a Good time for fishing in the Backwaters in Kadwad-Sunkeri, and these fishermen are just doing that...

Got this picture just in time, as the lead weights of the Spiral Fishing Net was hitting the surface of the super-calm water surface....

Oh wish I had a better camera, I would have captured the lead weights of the fishing-net hitting the water surface.....

Mother and Child

Child of My Heart
From the moment that I knew about you,
I loved you.
For months I carried you under my heart.
Watching you grow,
And waiting for the day when I would finally meet you.
When they placed you in my arms,
I loved you even more.

I held you snugly to my breast and stared into your eyes with total amazement.
Then as you grew and went through life’s many stages,
My amazement grew to awe.
You are a part of me and yet you are not.
You are who you are.
And all that you have been, all that you are, all that you will be,
Makes me love you even more.
You are my child,
My legacy,
Through you I will live forever.
For as you grow and as your children and their children will grow,
You will each carry on a part of me.
Though I love you not for the immortality that you give me,
But for the child of my heart that you are.

Source

Let the Sleeping Dogs Lie....

You've heard of the old saying let sleeping dogs lie,
Which in another way put means leave old grudges die.
Do not harbour old grudges for as long as you live,
You may not forget but you sure can forgive........

- Francis Duggan

Clicked this picture on a cool morning, just after sunrise, near the Kali Backwaters at Sunkeri-Kadwad, in Karwar. These dogs were content to lie there, without bothering about me, even when i stepped close to them to click this picture, and they continued to lie there.... These dogs look the same, maybe of the same mother....

Tranquility Defined - January Theme - Best Photo of 2008

Tranquility Defined :-
Tranquility is an alert condition during which ones usual worries and anxieties no longer have control. This leads to a state of clarity in which insight occurs. In simple words, tranquility can be compared to the clearness of the water. It is not the stillness or movement, it is the clearness, that is tranquility. The tranquility of your mind can exist both in stillness and movement.

(Pic of the Kali River clicked at Karwar in Hankon Joog village)

Tranquility is the same thing as relaxation, because when you are tranquil you are relaxed.
Achieving Tranquility can be done by simply watching our breath. But the mind is not used to it and will be distracted the moment you start sitting in meditation watching your breath. The mind will try to unsettle you with anxious thoughts, tempt you with happy thought’s, if all else fails it will throw in a few exotic thoughts.
For example if you are a musician, your mind may distract you with the promise of new tunes. And if you are a painter it may suggest pictures to you. But you don’t have to worry that you will lose tracks of these creative insights, if you continue with your meditation. Each of these distractions arises and then passes away so they should simply be observed.
The Value Of Thinking Meditation is the friend of thought and shows that it is not thought that is wrong, but our uncontrolled way of thinking. Meditation helps us to make better use of our thinking, to become part of the clearness rather than the confusion.
The tranquility experienced in meditation will help your mind to become less cluttered and help in thinking more quickly and clearly; examine arguments more thoroughly; see through problems more readily and look at issues more objectively.
Text Source - Here

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants This is the Last Photo for the January Theme - Best Photo of 2008. All through the month I have posted pictures of my town Karwar assuming that all are the Best ones that I clicked. I give no accolades to my photography skills, but the fact I know and have realised long back is that Karwar is a town with lot of Scenic places and opportunities for Landscape Photography. I have tried to make best of it, with my Nokia N-70 2 Meg Pix Mobile Camera. And I am constantly trying... to get the illusive one Best Photo...

Mangroves in Karwar

The word "Mangrove" is considered to be a combination of the Portuguese word "Mangue" and the English word "grove". Mangroves are salt-tolerant plants of tropical and subtropical intertidal regions of the world. The specific regions where these plants occur are termed as 'mangrove ecosystem'.
Mangroves and bushes, which grow in the muddy, loose soil of tropical water bodies, are one of the special marine eco-systems. They grow in estuaries, creeks and backwaters sustaining the salinity of water and soil.
Over 8,000 hectares of brackish area in Uttara Kannada district provides an ideal condition for the growth of mangrove forest.
Once, the estuaries of Aghanashini in Kumta taluk and Kali in Karwar taluk had rich mangrove forests, but now, due to gross abuse, neglect and over-exploitation the mangrove areas have become mere wastelands. Source Link

Still