Samaniji Kshanti Pragya ji’s birthday poem

Sending Samaniji’s birthday wishes for tomorrow today. Samaniji’s Birthday:

K- Kindness lives at your core

S- Serenity surrounds your being

H- Honorable in word and deed

A- Abundance of blessings supreme.

N- Nourishment for the soul you provide

T- Tenderhearted, yet tenacious,

I- Idealistic values as your guide. 

P- Positive outcomes promise solace, 

R- Radiantly glows your wise, sweet face

A- Accomplished, you’re always full of grace

G- Genuine, you lift the fallen to rise, 

Y- You are forever and always 

A- Admirable in my eyes.

J- Joyfully infectious, your gentle smile  

I- Illustrious ideals to uphold all the while.

May all the blessings of Lord Mahavir be with you today and always. May all the Gurudevs be very proud of your achievements and shower their blessings on you. 

May Samaniji Jin Pragyaji always have many reasons to rejoice in your growth and success. May you enjoy good health and continue to lead and inspire old and young alike to follow the path set out by Jainism. 

Please accept Happy Birthday wishes from your ardent Shravak. 

Veenu Banga

Copyright 08/27/2023. (For 08/28/2023)

7:45 pm.

A Paper Trail

 A Paper Trail 

 Today is Bauji's birthday. Bauji was my maternal grandfather. I wonder how old he would have been today. If I were to calculate and take a guess, I'd say 124 years old.

Bauji was a quiet man, always with a book in hand, reading. He spoke very little, but he wrote a lot. When not reading, he was writing, mainly in English. He was a book guy, and I'm more of a shorter reading material girl, most of the time. He could read the same book over and over and over, just like my daughter and my son. Also, just like my children, when he was reading, Bauji was in good company, and he chuckled and laughed, and of-course, sometimes fell silent. There were times his eyes glowed and his voice softened, as he read aloud, savoring each sentence like it was a goodbye to his beloved, and he was holding her hand longer and speaking slower, to let each word sink in as he stretched the moment for as long as he could. For love like that, to be loved like that, I wish I could be a book in my grandfather's hands. 

So much like my daughter, Bauji had his favorites. This realization just came to me as I started to write this; that the paper trail stretches from my grandfather to his great-grandchildren, my children. While my daughter will ask me to read passages from a book she's enjoying at the given movement, my son gives me the book and will later check with me if I've read it till I do. 

One difference between Bauji and my children is that he wasn't a hoarder of books, at least not when I knew him. He favored the library and would check out a book repeatedly if he fancied it, and his one favorite book was an Urdu novel titled "Naheed." We heard that story often, and he regaled us with passages from it, I think with more enjoyment himself. Yes, he enjoyed romances! 

On the other hand, my children love to buy books, and we have a proper dedicated library room at home. My son's books will fill one bookshelf, I think. My daughter's books, however, will spill from her personal library room into her bedroom, and those she can spare, I sneak into my library. She arranges all the books correctly, as she learned at her first volunteering position in her high school library. My daughter has several; read 5-6-7 copies of a single book if she really likes it. There will be first editions, ARC copies, hardcover editions, paperback, signed copies, and sometimes more than one signed copy.

If there was one thing I could find out about my genealogy, it would be to know where this love for books and education started. Also, how come these folk were so industrious?  

My mother was also fond of writing and maintained a journal, which became more regular after she retired from working. She occasionally wrote, not just for her journals, but also published her writings in senior citizen magazines, and wrote at least one article for the Deccan Herald. Deccan Herald also interviewed her for a piece on self-care and disease prevention through nutrition.

I think that explains my love for the written/ printed word, and my love for every scrap of paper that crosses my path. It is a huge cause of frustration for my family, because I find it hard to throw even a torn page of an old newspaper, without reading it first. It’s a Paper thing, I suppose. 

There are many ways to honor my grandfather, and no one memory is better than another. The paper trail however, is one treasure that has passed from one to the other and is the uniting factor that just as our common blood runs in our veins, a love of printing ink runs in our brains. 

There was far more to the man. Unassuming, he quietly did his work. I don’t recall Bauji ever visited any house of worship. His work was worship. He retired as a school principal, and kept teaching, giving private tuitions till almost the end of his days. If I was at hand when he would collect his tuition fees, he would hand me the money, and say, “Go and give this to your grandmother.” Which I did. My maternal grandparents were the biggest blessings of my childhood. 

Happy Birthday Bauji!

From your ever-loving,

Veenu

18th August 2023.

11:49 pm 

Simply New York

 Oh! NYC. Like you there is no other. 

The myriad images of the myriad days and nights and seasons and spaces and all those magical districts and places, the eateries, the faces, the streets, the retreats, what’s not to love, New York, New York?! 

Veenu Banga

10:08 pm

25/07/2023

Thoughts of adoration for my most revered and beloved Aadarniya Samaniji Jin Pragyaji on her Birthday.

 Vandami Namansami Samanijis. Charan Vandana at your lotus feet. 

Thoughts of adoration for my most revered and beloved Aadarniya Samaniji Jin Pragyaji on her Birthday.

Birthday Song

The sacred month of Sawan comes, with its showers and it’s stories,

On the night of the dark Moon comes forth into the world, an extraordinary girl child, and 

I am blessed to sing her glories. 

The showers, thunder, the lightning, clouds and stars,

Joyously celebrating the birth of this noble and divine AVATAAR. 

This sweet child who knew in her mind, 

Life’s secret lies in non violence, 

And to all beings we must be kind. 

On whomsoever her glance may fall

They change for the better, 

Their heart heeds her call. 

Her voice resounds with the power of Life, 

Sweetly it pervades my mind,

In my heart she sows,

Seeds of the Life Divine.

To strive to be the best,

That in my life I can be, 

From the depths of despair, 

My Samaniji has resurrected me. 

Jin ki awaaz sun mere dil ki bhuje pyaas,

Mere chintan Mein Samaniji’s teachings karen niwaas.

Jin ko dekh kar mera tan, man aur dil jhoom jaye 

Samaniji Mujhe gun aur gyaan ki rah dikhayen. 

Pujya Gurudev sends my Samanijis to the far corners of the world,

He knows every life is saved, whoever her voice has heard. 

Guiding light to us all, Mentor to Samaniji Kshanti Pragyaji too,

Samaniji can see unseen wounds and heal you through and through!

My eyes light up to see her, my heart sings her praise

Her wisdom, wit, and kindness, brings lightness to my days. 

May God Mahavir’s blessing on her forever abound

And May Samaniji be blessed with a healthy long life

Long long may she be around! 

Happy Birthday Samaniji! AAP ko Janamdin ki harthik Shubh Kamnayen. Please accept my simple little poem as an offering at your feet. 

Wishing you Bhagwan Mahavir’s choicest blessings for good health and may your life’s purpose be fulfilled with grace, joy and blissful contentment. May you reach the highest levels of Spiritual Enlightenment, growth and power.May all who you touch with your teachings be also enlightened with your Grace. 

My deepest adorations and respects at your lotus feet. Happy Birthday Samaniji. 

Veenu Banga

Written July 16th 2023

Posted 07/18/2023

1:40am

The night sky is blue tonight.

 Looking South, the night sky was so clearly blue. Even right now, the blue persists. It’s also a very clear night sky, just the deep blue velvet, not a cloud in sight. The stars however, are having a great time. Very active, as if serious, but animated conversations are taking place. What a joy to witness this sight tonight. 

Earlier, Mars, clearly shining gold, sat beneath another star. I couldn’t tell which one. Sky Guide no longer works they way it did. The search works though and I could search for the ISS. 

The nice thing about keeping this record is that when I look back and read my posts, I can relive the moments. Whoever disagrees, is missing out on buying more time, or rather extending joy. 

Well, that’s that, after a long time. With so much written just on the pages of my mind, my mind must have said, enough. Go write woman, your iPad calls. Nice to know, that it’s not the just vast open sky, something here on earth calls out to me too. Even if it’s a trusty old iPad. 

Veenu Banga

11:26pm.

February 26th 2023. 

My mother’s centenary

She would have been 100 today. My dear precious,  beloved Mother. 

What can we give to our parents, who gave us life? It’s a futile attempt. We pine for them for our sakes not theirs. My mother, her mother and her father before her, her father, and his father and mother before him, their siblings, their grandparents and great grandparents, and the whole lineage before them, how far back do we go? 

In my mothers face, and in me from all that I was given by my ancestors, they rest. To nurture my soul, for we all but soul connections, is to nurture my lineage. When words don’t come to the rescue, just a humble gratitude, a wish and a prayer, may I again be my mother’s daughter. 

Happy 100th Birthday dearest Mummy! 

Are we not all connected? My first post of the year, celebrating my mother, and the ancestors before her. 

January 8th. 2023. 

1:27am. 

Au Revoir Eddie.

 Au Revoir, Eddie 

You’ve been good to me, as I’m on my way 

I’ll be off road, for some days, I’ll be away. 

So many sighting last night, you thrill me.

Today, now 11 minutes in I’ve already counted three. 

We don’t judge Eddie, the ilk of you and I

Unlike those who ride us, always projecting 

Their contaminated minds on to other. 

We don’t judge. That’s what I like about us. 

Function before form, that’s the norm

That you and I and others of our ilk, understand. 

We don’t discriminate against, color or conduct,

Knowing how we conduct ourselves is to suit the job at hand. 

Having said that, Eddie; do you wonder, like I do, 

If our Spirits align, like mine does with you? 

Of all the others that traverse the road we share,

Why is that it’s only your presence excites me, 

For the others my levels of affinity, are not the same,

Even though we traverse sometimes shoulder to shoulder 

Perhaps sometimes to a common destination 

Sometimes, to perhaps never meet again. 

Now again this crack of dawn, we passed side by side. You were a bit slower,

Responsible as you always are. 

You know Eddie, the other thing I like about us?

No pain or defeat in our gaze, no sense of confusion in our eyes,

Unlike the Spirit of those who we carry, more my kind than yours,

We don’t have the convoluted sense or non sense of identity. 

See you in the Spring Eddie, I’ll stay behind, but my humans lift off 

For a few days to warmer climes. 

What a glorious couple of days, the sun shine brightly,

With minus two below, the overnight activity of making ice, 

Left its mark everywhere. 

At 10:30 am, with the sun still quite high, 

What a display of twinkling, winking diamonds 

In no rush to go on and about. They twinkle and wink from every surface

Before they will melt away, give way to day. 

Au Revoir then, Eddie we’ll meet in Spring. 

Till then, be well, and safe wherever you come and go.

Don’t forget, to get your snow tires.   

Your friend, Mercedes E 220D 

and Veenu

12/08/2022

9:32 am