I have been reflecting on being judicious vs. being judgmental for past two weeks consciously. I found that my ego, past memories, attachment to certain interpretation that I like are the things that make me judgmental. If I can hold my judgment instead of passing it and observe myself, it was easier to be judicious. Just yesterday, I was listening to a new CD that my friend Sangeetha gave. It has a set of bhajans. The way the singers pronounce Siva or Sankara as Shiva or Shankara was a bit harsh to my ears. I grew up differentiating si as in sitar; si (with an accent) as in Sani and shi as in she. Recently, I found Siva and Sankara are pronounced as Shiva -- (she-va) and I was very judgmental and could not hear that song but got caught up in the sounds. When I realized that it is getting in my way, I relaxed into accepting that different people pronounce names differently but God is beyond all names and forms anyway. That allowed me to listen to Bhajans and by the end of that CD, I was really into it and have heard that CD 3 times in past 24 hours already. I suppose, I need to be judicious in listening to music -- bhava, raga, tala not just words to enjoy music!
On Feb 22, 2010 Prasad wrote :
I have been reflecting on being judicious vs. being judgmental for past two weeks consciously. I found that my ego, past memories, attachment to certain interpretation that I like are the things that make me judgmental. If I can hold my judgment instead of passing it and observe myself, it was easier to be judicious. Just yesterday, I was listening to a new CD that my friend Sangeetha gave. It has a set of bhajans. The way the singers pronounce Siva or Sankara as Shiva or Shankara was a bit harsh to my ears. I grew up differentiating si as in sitar; si (with an accent) as in Sani and shi as in she. Recently, I found Siva and Sankara are pronounced as Shiva -- (she-va) and I was very judgmental and could not hear that song but got caught up in the sounds. When I realized that it is getting in my way, I relaxed into accepting that different people pronounce names differently but God is beyond all names and forms anyway. That allowed me to listen to Bhajans and by the end of that CD, I was really into it and have heard that CD 3 times in past 24 hours already. I suppose, I need to be judicious in listening to music -- bhava, raga, tala not just words to enjoy music!