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| Albert Park Lake |
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| Albert Park Lake |
Last weekend, I went for a walk in the Albert Park with my kids. I actually dropped my elder kid at the Basketball training in the MSAC – Melbourne Sports and Aquatic centre and walked to the Albert Park lake which is just opposite to the place. Though, the weather was still a bit cold and windy with mild sunshine, I decided to go for a walk. It was a nice 120 acres lake with varieties of activities like, Kids play area, Barbeque area and a walking track around the Lake. What caught my attention was the birds swimming in the lake – there are Ducks, Swans of different varieties.There
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| Ducks @ Albert Park Lake |
are number of people walking, jogging, cycling, people having picnic etc. There was a young man, who brought lots of bread crumbs and feeding to the birds which was an interesting and happy sight to watch. I told that the lake area is a habitat to number of other interesting life species like Kookaburra, Sulphur crested cockatoos, possums and Geckos. This was one of the important places of Aboriginal Wurundjeri tribe, who lived here for nearly 40,000 years. Just about 3 Kms from the City, this is a nice area for people who want to relax and take a break from the concrete jungle of the city. There is ample Public transport, Tram no 12 which has a stop just nearby. There is also ample Ticketed Parking available around. This lake is part of the Albert Park which is about 260 Acres and maintained by Parks Victoria.
The place was peaceful and I was suddenly reminded of a wonderful verse from 2nd Chapter of Bhagavad Gita – Verse 70.
” āpūryamānam acala-pratistham
samudram āpah praviśanti yadvat
tadvat kāmā yam praviśanti sarve
sa śāntim āpnoti na kāma-kāmī
TRANSLATION : A person who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires — that enter like rivers into the ocean, which is ever being filled but is always still — can alone achieve peace, and not the man who strives to satisfy such desires.
(Bhagavad Gita As It is 2.70 by Srila Prabhupad)”
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| Ducks and Swans @ Albert Park Lake |
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| Albert Park Lake |
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| Albert Park Lake |
The analogy of an Ocean by Lord Krishna explains that, one must be like an Ocean which is not disturbed by flow of rivers. And, the water levels of the ocean does not depend on the rivers flowing into it and remains steady. What this means is that, as human beings we are always bombarded by constant flow of thoughts and desires. The mind is always asking and desiring for things. You just go for a drive in the car and the mind starts its desires factory. You see a Coffee shop, it wants a Coffee, see an Ice cream shop, it wants an ice cream, see a furniture shop – it want you to buy that Great looking couch. One day, I was going in the tram and met a acquaintance and started talking. He showed me from the Tram window, a Couch / Sofa-cum bed and told me. “ Did you see that one ? I am waiting for my next salary and would buy it on the Pay day. Keep my fingers crossed, nothing else come up in between”. I actually, heard from a wonderful lecture on how to control your minds desires. Imagine, you are driving on a busy road in the city and you have your kid sitting in the front seat with you. He would be telling you so many things, how he needs this and that, looking at shops etc. And, as a sensible person, you simply ignore whatever he is saying and concentrate on your driving. And if he really needs something, use your intelligence to judge and act accordingly. Similarly, our mind is like a nasty, chatty child, who keeps on blabbering this and that. But, we should ignore that and focus our attention on our goal. Not that, you started at point A to go to pointB, meanwhile stopped at C, bought D, looked at E, F … Z and came back home without going to point B.
Elsewhere in Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna explains hierarchy of senses, Mind, Intelligence and Soul. One more Analogy that comes to my mind is that of a Charioteer, where the Soul is the passenger, the driver is the intelligence, Horses represent the senses. Please refer to my previous blog post.
