Modi Strikes a Pose (Asana) for International Day of Yoga
Twas yoga, and the Hindu nationalists
Did bend the truth to meet their needs:
Authoritarian and repressive of democracy,
Modi drank the Russian oil and jailed journalists.
“Beware the West” the upper caste cries.
While lynching Muslims and razing their homes!
Beware the Covid data, and shun
The increasing government censorship!”
With opposition leader Rahul Gandhi jailed and evolution outlawed;
The government cracks down on climate activists
And outlaws the teaching of the periodic table for highschoolers
The new Ayurveda, AYUSH, & US tech partner
Against this one-party-rule demonstrators roared,
The Dalit, the Sikh, with eyes of flame,
Where less than 20% of women can work
Rights to abortion burned on the husband’s funeral pyre
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
Modi left democracy dead, and with its head
He went to Biden’s back.
“And hast thou slain the Judiciary system?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
The military chortled in its joy.
’Twas Brahminical supremacy mixed with colonialism
Harmed by appropriation and dimmed by injustice:
That Yoga and Ayurveda struggle to survive,
On a post-international planet
Note: On June 21st, the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere, I did not celebrate the solar, the masculine, the active, the Hindu nationalist, the upper caste.
Based on the “Jabberwocky” poem by Lewis Carroll.
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Below is a letter Rama Jyoti Vernon wrote to her son Richard in before the 2020 elections. I wanted to share it with you all.
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To my dearest son,
You are so incredible! Even though I haven’t been with you over the years, we are connected at such a deep soul level. I don’t like it when we argue and have heated exchanges over politics. It is just not worth it!
There is so much more we can connect on. You have a magnificent mind that is like your Uncle. He could take any problem or concept and logically deduce the original premise into a profound conclusion. You also have this quality. This is logic that is also used in philosophy (whether eastern or western) where the conclusion must support its original premise.
You have a finely tuned mind and I guess I am a bit critical of Trump supporters who I feel lack discrimination. Of course, I am sure you would say the same about me. I am sorry dearest one, but as more is revealed about our current leader, I cannot support him and what I see as his mental decline and contradictory distortions. This is beyond the polarities of democrat and republican, beyond liberal and conservatives, beyond blue and red and all parties and partisanship.
His moves toward dictatorship and the creation of his own army of white supremacists reflect his need for continual violence. I cannot support his growing need to “rig” our elections through voter suppression whether its absentee ballots or closing polls in black neighborhoods. I can’t support those who are voting for him as he dismantles the U.S. post office for fear he might lose the election.
I meant this letter to be sweetness and light, a letter of healing rather than division. However, I can’t do that at such a crucial time. My perception is that you are voting for a dictatorship and a rise in the ruling class of the American oligarchy. I am sorry to admit that my perception at this time in history is that anyone supporting Trump is lacking in discriminative awareness and insight to see behind the curtain of the wizard of Oz.
Anyone who supports Trump, I see as supporting his destructive values and support for an autocracy. I see them as casting a vote for the destruction of democracy, of the environment, endangered species and continued separation of children and parents at the southern borders. I see Trump supporters as those who have given over their personal power to a man that is leading them like lemmings over a cliff into the sea of Samaras, a sea of the pain and suffering of humanity.
What can one do if they cannot support his tyrannical creation of his own private army of white suprematists. What do we do if we cannot support a growing call of Republican leadership to suppress the 1st amendment while enhancing the 2nd?
Your Aunt, like thousands of others, believe trump is the second coming; who came not to build or take our world into a future that we would be proud to leave to our children. She supports him because he came to destroy our culture to bring forth Armageddon. Like many evangelical Christians, she is excited about the fulfillment of bible prophecy.
I know you don’t buy into this and have other reasons for your support of what I see as a dangerous authoritarian. He is not mentally well or physically fit to continue in a leadership capacity. I see him as a micro manager who has to have his finger in every pie which leads to societal contraction not expansive evolution. I thought this in the very beginning, but in 2016 after the elections, you and others asked me to “give him a chance”. I believed you were right…and I did for one year at which time I began to see behind the curtain of the controller of the great city of Oz.
At that time, family members and friends in Yoga said they were still supporting Trump. It was so hard for me to believe…I kept asking “What do you see in him. What is it that I’m missing?” I could never get a satisfying or convincing answer.
When we don’t speak out when perceiving injustice are we complicit in our silence? If our country is erroneously bombing, invading and occupying other countries, are we complicit in our silence? If we don’t voice our upset of the continued tortuous policies of separation of children and parents at our southern borders are we complicit in our silence? Even though we may not support police brutality toward unarmed black men and women are we acquiescing to it if we don’t speak up? Even if we cannot join and march in protest of injustice, is it possible to protest even if it is only within our own heart?
Would a voter for Trump agree with supporting the tortuous separation of children from their parents? Could a vote for Trump mean you support his leanings toward “strong men” who are dictators of their country? Could it be that a vote for Trump is a conditioned belief that “he alone can fix it” like a messiah, coming to the earth plane to save us all? Could it be that a vote for Trump would mean that you have relinquished your own personal power and freedom of choice, especially the choice women would have over their own bodies?
I love you son beyond it all. It’s important to me where you and your family place your support and cast your vote but ultimately it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is the love we feel for one another, beyond the chasms of separation of politics and belief systems. Right now there is so much weight and gravity of beliefs that it is difficult to lift the soul’s consciousness out of the quagmire of polarities into a convergence of consciousness. Perhaps in this convergence we can perceive all perspectives like the sun that sends its rays to all Beings regardless of` beliefs, religions, ideologies, racial and cultural differences to embrace one another and our brothers and sisters of the one humanity.
I don’t care if you are (jokingly) voting for trump, I will love you and support you in all your endeavors ‘til the end of time.
Love,
Mom