Sumangali Morhall presents us with a conclusion that echoes the wisdom of ancient sages quoted within her very pages: to find a spiritual master and to follow the life of inner truth is the most auspicious path of all. Auspicious Good Fortune is the highly recommended tale of that search, and furthermore, the tale of what is found.
Category: inspiring
Richard Nixon’s Meaning of Life
History hasn’t been kind to President Nixon, and were you looking for insight into the meaning of life, his door would not be the first you would open. Maybe however it should be, for when he gives his version of the oft-ignored truism that money will not buy you happiness, you would be wise to… Continue reading Richard Nixon’s Meaning of Life
This moment of happiness is brought to you by Coke
Those marketing geniuses at Coca-Cola have done it again, making us feel all mushy and happy despite our better judgement, with this commercial about a Coke machine bringing everyday Indians and Pakistanis together.
Nowhere Else on Earth
It seems I’ve been away from New Zealand long enough now that I am beginning to experience New Zealanders as the rest of the world does. That is disarmingly open and friendly — even innocent — and not the less charitable qualities I might once have assigned. My debit card expired, and so I called my Auckland… Continue reading Nowhere Else on Earth
Hero Rabbit Saves Humans From House Fire
Proving that man’s best friend may sometimes have a twitching nose and cute button tail, a pet rabbit is being credited with saving its owners from a house fire in southeastern Alaska. The not at all rascally rabbit woke the owner of both house and pet early in the morning by scratching on her chest,… Continue reading Hero Rabbit Saves Humans From House Fire
Walt Whitman: Make no puns
Make no puns funny remarks Double entendres “witty” remarks ironies Sarcasms Only that which is simply earnest meant, —harmless to anyone’s feelings —unadorned unvarnished nothing to excite a laugh silence silence silence silence laconic taciturn. –Walt Whitman instructs himself in an 1855-56 notebook about the Second Edition of Leaves of Grass.
Australian Sri Chinmoy Centre member and painter Pranavanta John Montefiore passed away recently. Art critic, university lecturer, illustrator and exhibited seven times, Pranavanta was also an author 30 years in the making—his magnum opus on painting The Making of Paintings published in 2007.
Like spirituality in today’s unashamedly material world, Pranavanta the author remains mostly unappreciated… for now. Although yet to find a publisher, his voluminous self-published work received the highest possible praise from Sydney Morning Herald art critic John McDonald, who said that “If everything on the planet were destroyed, some future race could reconstruct the practice of painting from this volume alone”. One suspects that like the famous painters he wrote about, Pranavanta will be better known by generations yet to come.
The following obituary for Pranavanta was written by Mark Juddery and appeared in the June 16 Sydney Morning Herald:
Profound painter and teacher
For his last 22 years the artist John Montefiore was known to many of his friends as ”Pranavanta”, a name given to him by his meditation teacher, Sri Chinmoy, meaning ”full of life energy”. You didn’t have to be a spiritual giant to know that this was a particularly apt designation. Even as he lay in hospital suffering from cancer, he couldn’t wait to leave and return to his painting.
Such enthusiasm resulted in epic works. His 18-metre-high, multi-panelled Life Series painting took him more than 20 years to complete – and was worth the wait. It won the Sir John Sulman Prize in 1993, awarded by the Art Gallery of NSW, and is now permanently at Macquarie University.
Montefiore was an aficionado, someone who could wax lyrical on many aspects of the world: not just the beauty that he strived to portray in his artwork but also the sweet sounds of music, the aroma of a flower, even the joy of a terrible pun.
When people say ”Words can’t express it”, they obviously never accompanied their words with the enthusiasm of Montefiore. His marathon artworks were best accompanied by his own commentary, as he guided you through the story he was telling with his work. Every dot of paint, its position and shape, had profound significance.
Read more about Pranavanta the artist and seeker:
Profound painter and teacher by Mark Juddery, Sydney Morning Herald, June 16, 2011