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Excuse Me Sir, What Have Been Thinking About God?
When I first arrived in India a man came up to me on the street and said ‘Éxcuse me Sir what have you been thinking about God’? That shook me up from the start.
— Jim Rigby
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We Indians know about silence. We are not afraid of it. In fact, for us silence is more powerful than words. Our elders were trained in the ways of silence, and they handed over this knowledge to us. Observe, listen, and then act, they would tell us. That was the manner of living.
— Deva Vibha
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One day an American scholar said to me,
“Don’t waste your time gardening and growing lettuce. You should write more poems instead; anyone can grow lettuce.” That is not my way of thinking.
I know very well that if I do not grow lettuce, I cannot write poems. The two are interrelated. Eating breakfast mindfully, washing the dishes, and growing lettuce in mindfulness are essential for me to be able to write poetry well. The way someone washes the dishes reveals the quality of his or her poetry. Similarly, the more awareness and mindfulness we bring to all our daily actions, including our work, the better our work will be.
