This post is in honor of one of SGTI's most luminous students, Bijayananda Singh, who departed this earth one month ago. Bijay was a graduate of our "Interfaith and Interspiritual Wisdom Training" program and was much loved by all who studied with him. He lived in India, a devoted son, husband and father. He will be dearly missed.

Bijay had a heart of service and enormous love for young people. He was Secretary/Executive Director of the NFP, "Solidarity for Developing Communities"
(www.sfdc-org.in/institutionalbased). He headed up a residential school for marginalized students, especially those considered to be "untouchable", instilling in them the skills and values to be "human harmonizers." "Human Harmonizers are expected to grow physically, mentally and spiritually in a balanced manner. As they grow holistically, they are expected to influence others by their thoughts and actions leading to ushering transformational changes within and outside their own communities."

Bijay's heart of compassion lives on through his colleagues at SGTI. He penned many beautiful poems as part of his SGTI learnings and submitted them for assignments. With his family's permission, we share one of them here. His words convey the essence of Interspirituality which he believed was necessary for world peace, and the commonly held value of compassion. We hope you will be moved by it as we were. 

Bijay, your spirit of service, unconditional love and respect for others of all religious traditions, is something we can all aspire to. We are honored to have walked the earth with you. Thank you for being a way-shower for us. Peace be upon you. Shalom. Om Shanti, dear friend. 

Compassion
 
Compassion is  
to be avatars as Buddha, Christ, Krishna, Moses, Muhammad, Nanak and the like 
 
Compassion is
striving to find the way outs by the avatars for the sufferings of the humankind 
 
Compassion is 
avatars’ desire to pass their wisdom to their next generations
 
Compassion is
infinite manifestation of the Unmanifest
 
Compassion is
infinite names of the Nameless
 
Compassion is
infinite forms of the Formless
 
Compassion is
the attraction of man and woman
 
Compassion is
the potential on a seed to produce infinite seeds
 
Compassion is
a plant not germinating with ripen fruits with it
 
Compassion is
an untaught bird weaving nest for its kids
 
Compassion is
a baby fish able to swim instantly
 
Compassion is
a caterpillar taking time to become a butterfly
 
Compassion is
roots of trees on the sunshine and on the shed sharing food secretly
 
Compassion is
my mother’s ability to not eat after her children eat up everything
 
Compassion is
our school peon’s love that donated one of his kidney to his son
 
Compassion is
missionaries leaving their land for another country
 
Compassion is
trees breathing out oxygen
 
Compassion is
Mother Teresa’s desire to document her aridity of God’s love
 
Compassion is
father burping his baby putting on his shoulder
 
Compassion is
trees dropping their ripen fruits gently down on the ground
 
Compassion is
our country supported by other countries during this pandemic
 
Compassion is
Creator creating infinite emptiness to house infinite things
 
Compassion is
getting in touch with our own hearts and functioning from it
 
Compassion is
watching the tongue lest it slip a bad word
 
Compassion is
Nature’s food cycle  
 
Compassion is
meeting of your eyes with the eyes of your dog
 
Compassion is
praying for know and unknown, asked or unasked
 
Compassion is
loving-kindness or kindness plus love
 
Compassion is
Dalai Lama’s pet name
 
Compassion is
mother’s milk ready when baby is on the way
 
Compassion is
birth pain
 
Compassion is
the worms forming on the dead body for it to decompose
 
Compassion is
silence understood without speaking a word
 
Compassion is
death in God’s time
 
Compassion is
wondering what is not compassion?

Compassion is
Sun’s desire to evaporate water to form cloud in the sky
 
Compassion is
cloud’s desire not to hold the rain up in the sky
 
Compassion is
willing to write a book on the compassion
 
Compassion is
jasmine’s wish not to hide its fragrance inside
 
Compassion is 
​Earth’s ability to nurture its infinite plants, on its womb, with sweet, bitter and sower milks    
 
Compassion is
being compassionate to the compassionless
 
Compassion is
cooperation of an iron to be modeled as a tool
 
Compassion is
patience of a reed flute to be holed to produce a melody 
 
Compassion is
empathy, sympathy and mercy, all put together
 
Compassion is
heart’s ability to feel the feelings of ‘others’
 
Compassion is
intuiting, everyone and everything is One
 
Compassion is
not surplus of compassion, but deficiency of it
 
Compassion is
gratitude, sometimes, overflowing
 
Compassion is
innumerable births as Bodhisattva
 
Compassion is
common to all the faiths without which it is not a faith  
 
 
Bijayananda Singh
Module 10
Buddha Purnima 2021       
   
                    
    

“If your everyday practice is to open to all your emotions, to all the people you meet, 
to all the situations you encounter, without closing down, trusting that you can do that–– then that will take you as far as you can go. And then you will understand all the teachings that anyone has ever taught.”
 ~Pema Chödrön​
​

What if this practice of opening– this discomfort, this deep presence with exactly what is in each sacred moment (and they are all sacred) – is the only work?

What if understanding “all the teachings that anyone has ever taught” can be summed up in the everyday encounters with our inner responses to the mysteries, struggles, frustrations, and quiet joys experienced in the midst of this very human life?

What if trusting the moment-by-moment unfolding within us is the path that will also take us outward, to the edges of the cosmos, and the great insights of existence?

Or maybe these questions are too lofty. Maybe they remove us from our lives and place us in an ideal that is all too easy to ponder rather than live out. Maybe with feet on the ground, in the messy reality of life, we instead ask these questions:
​
Whom will we meet today?

What interruptions will derail our plans?

What conflicts will arise at work, or at home, that will push every button we have?

What physical pain will distract us as we go about the tasks of our day?

What if stubbing a toe, getting cut off on the highway, receiving a phone call with bad news, or being caught in a downpour which makes us late to an important meeting are each divine opportunities to open, open, open our hearts fully to the journey that will make us whole?

What would it feel like to resist the closing, and instead open to everything– everything! – with soft heart and deep breath?

How are you living into your holy “What ifs?” today? How can you invite others to do the same?

Christine Hiester is an interspiritual spiritual companion, retreat facilitator, artist, and musician. She finds her home in spacious places where contemplative and creative practice meet deep connection in community. You can find her on her website www.shapingtheriver.com and on Instagram at @shapingtheriver