Dear Swamiji,

How I miss you
Since you've gone away
I know you are in a better place.

How can I begin to describe
How much you have meant to me

Your calm voice
Your touch

You have been my father
You have been my mentor
You have been my friend

I am a grateful recipient
Of your unconditional love

You have been my spiritual guide.

You have taught me relaxation
You have taught me meditation
You have initiated me into the Tradition
You have taught me Yoga Nidra.

Thought your 83 year old body
Was wracked by illness
You never suffered
And you always had an easy smile on your face

My last lesson, which is how to alleviate my suffering
Was never completed
And now you are not there
To teach me.
Not in corporeal form, anyway

You spoke of Will and it's a Koan
I have not found a resolution to

You have forgiven all my many flaws
You have forgiven all my mistakes
I have have been filled with plenty of both
You never rejected me
Nor did you abandon me

I came across your teaching
At age 19
And then studied with you directly
For 20 glorious years.
And for 33 years I have benefitted
From your sacred words.

Somewhere a lotus flower
Grows in the mother Ganges.
It is blooming for you
And bears silent witness
To the legacy of your life

Death has not set us apart
You will live in my heart forever
Truly, you will be the jewel in the Lotus
And i will continue the work.

I will continue to study your teachings
And I will live the way you have lived
To the best of my ability.

Dear Swamiji, I love you and I miss you

~Arianna Darshani

What is really important in life
Is the delicate art of growing plants

Of course the animals come first!
My dog and three cats.

I have orchids the size of a quarter
I have a 7 foot tall Cape Jasmine tree in my porch

All of this challenging, growing things tropical
While it is -20F outside, living here, in Minnesota!

There is nothing like feet of snow,
Piled so high you are house ridden,

With a porch filled with tropical plants.

Sometimes I pretend I'm in Maui.
And I'll lay in the sun for as long as it's out.

The days get short here.
I believe the shortest day is close to
9 hours!

Having some help from plant grow lights
That guide the flowers but also
Brighten the house.

The plants have to speak to you.
You need to listen to them,
Long before they have a hint of brown.

I let my plants speak to me,
And they seem guided by my voice.

~Arianna Darshani

I compared this psychopath/****** person to an animal.

No offense to the animals!

Animals are wonderful and I have a house full of loving pets!

You did not shatter me
I never lost my center
Even as you attacked me with your fangs

And now you will find, that by escaping you,
That I have only grown stronger

Im strong enough to own a conscience
Im strong enough to contain a soul

You will never have what I have
You will never have Love
You will never have Hope
You will never have a sense of Beauty
Nor will you ever be Innocent

You are nothing but an animal
Who has to **** your own child
in order feel anything at all.

How ****** up is that?

You are why I believe in Hell.

Good bye and I thank you
for the hard Life lesson learned.

Thank you for making me stronger.

~Arianna Darshani

Children who have nothing are crying

We drown it out with our preoccupations
I do, too!

Can you imagine the Republic of Congo
And what children there, suffer?

I have travelled to the 3rd world extensively and
Have been to Nepal and Madagascar.
The children suffer in a brutal way . . .
that is hard to wrap your head around
If you've never left the US, Canada or Europe,
Australia or Japan.

How can we have a conscience
And let it go on?
We pretend it's not happening
But it is.
Google "Jared Fogle".

Let us amend the Constitution
And create a safe haven for crime victims
Let's have a two strikes and you're out
Law for pedophiles who pray on children
Under 12 years of age.

For me, I can no longer look at it
With a blind eye
For helping the children
Is what I was trained by Life experience, to do.
I was one of those children once
And not a single person cared.
Let me be there for the current
Child victims
And let's try to heal that part of
Our sometimes, twisted world.

Let me do all that I can do!

All I ask of you, is to think about children
suffering around the world for just 10 seconds.  

~Arianna

When I was 22
I came across a man.
I immediately knew
he was my soul mate.

I felt that Id known him
Indefinitely and that we'd
Always been together.

We fell in love and married.

My husband is a modest man.
His greatest quality is
Kindness, followed closely
by his sense of humor.
He is also very intelligent,
wise and humble.

He is a truly superlative
Human being.

What is most important
Is that he has loved me
Unconditionally, for 31 years
We are both 53. And I have
Returned his love.

Our marriage is sacred
and something as apparently banal
As holding hands,
Is a sacrament.

His great hobby is to
tinker on Lotus cars.

He has 3 cars and
A man cave that is truly
A shrine to cars
And car parts.

The shrine has
It's own furnace
And air conditioning.

You have to make sure...
To keep your cars warm
In Winter!
We live in Minnesota,
after all!

There are some areas
where we could grow.

One area is that he
occasionally, does not take care
of his physical health.
I then, worry about his health
for him.  

But, ultimately, he is an adult.
He has to make his own choices
And I have to accept
his health choices.

He is a manly man, and
is very stoic.  That is not
my favorite quality.
He will not share his pain
with me.

What I have learned is that part of
Love is to accept your spouse's
weaknesses.

In that way
I've fallen in love with his stoicism.
It's part of the whole of
Who he is.
You have to love the WHOLE person.

Every day I appreciate him.
Every day I tell him
how much I love him
Every day I am grateful
to have such a wonderful man
in my life.

What a blessing it is!
There is nothing better in life,
than my husband!  

When he enjoys tinkering
with his cars,
I am truly happy for him and
I share in his joy.

I want to grow old with Dave
I want to retire with him.
We want to retire to Oregon.

I want to LOVE him
Until my dying breath.

Id like to be with him,
Forever.

Beyond Death,
As well.

I believe Love
transcends death.