A blog about cancer, spirituality, death, and guitars
I watched a lot of movies when I was younger. Many with my father who was a big fan of the old western movies. I always remember a line from a western from the 1960’s by director Sam Peckinpah. The movie is RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY which was about 2 aging cowboys played by Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea towards the end of their acting careers.
Well I have now been on Enzalutamide (Xtandi) for 18 months and while it is still very effective in repressing the cancer (my PSA is still >0.01 ng/ml) the side effects appear to be accumulative for me. Continue reading “ENZALUTAMIDE (XTANDI) – Part 2 (Rethink)”
I describe myself as a Vaishnava Hindu but emphasize that this is not a sectarian term. Sectarian being defined as excessive devotion to a particular religion. Vaishnava Hinduism is not like this, in fact, Vaishnavism is the polar opposite of sectarianism.
Recently I saw a YouTube message from Tulsi Gabbard, the first practicing Hindu elected to The US Congress. She expressed in this video more eloquently than I can why Vaishnava Hinduism embraces all faiths:
According to Vaishnava Hinduism, there’s one Supreme Being who is called many names by different people around the world at different times. It’s not that there is a Christian god, a Buddhist god, a Hindu god, or a Muslim god, all competing with each other. There is only one God although we may call Him by different names.
“It is the loving exchange one has with God that is true spirituality. And one who is experiencing such love for God is able to see beyond our external differences and designations, and recognize that we are all relatives in the deepest sense. We are all children of the same Supreme Lord. This is the message of Bhagavad-gita, the message of love, of how we can achieve real harmony with others, no matter the different backgrounds we come from.”
Here is a link to Tulsi Gabbards full message:
Namaste
Ever watch an old movie from before the 1950’s? This cartoon is so good from my 13 year old grand daughter it deserved it’s own post. (Click on the first panel below):
(Related post: “We All Have Mortaliosis)
Namaste.
SAMUEL C. OSBORN (1875 – 1922)
(From information obtained from Music Trade Review and Presto as well as the 1920 Samuel Osborne Mfg. Co. Catalog).
(Related Post: SAMUEL C. OSBORN ‘SammO’ All Koa Guitar c.1920)
The life of the Samuel C. Osborn Manufacturing Company is a short one, barely 6 years. The company made stringed instruments and specialized in koa wood guitars and ukuleles under the SammO and SammoS labels. They also sold mandolins, ukulele banjos and pianoettes (a form of zither). Different sites on the web will tell you the company started in 1897, but this is not the case as there is a small paragraph in the MUSIC TRADE REVIEW (1916) reporting on the company’s incorporation in 1916. This is backed up from text in the 1920 Osborn catalog).
Continue reading “SAMUEL C. OSBORN Mfg. Co. (1916 – 1922) SammO and SammoS labeled instruments”
With a production date of 1920 or earlier this all koa wood guitar would have been one of the early all koa guitars made on the mainland of the US. It was made by The Samuel C. Osborn Manufacturing Company.
There has been conjecture that Osborn guitars were jobbed out to other companies such as The Oscar Schmidt Company or Harmony, however this guitar has very distinctive look, unlike these and other makers at the time.
Continue reading “SAMUEL C. OSBORN ‘Sammo’ All Koa Guitar c.1920”
During the 1970’s and 1980’s Jagad Guru Siddhaswarupananda traveled extensively in the USA, South America, New Zealand, Australia, different Pacific Islands, the Philippines, and Hong Kong to name a few places.
Jagad Guru Siddhaswarupananda in the 1970’s
Everywhere he went Siddhaswarupananda spoke and held kirtans, sometimes with just a few people, sometimes with many more. He was influential everywhere he went and many of the people he spoke to in those days are now his students. Jagad Guru Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa’s message has not changed in all that time.
To paraphrase his words:
By hearing and chanting God’s Names a person’s mind and attention gradually becomes immersed in the spiritual world. In this way, even though living in this temporary world, one actually begins to taste the nectar of what it’s like to be in the spiritual dimension.
Hearing and chanting God’s names is a very easy method for anyone no matter what their religion. All Names of God have potency so it doesn’t even matter if a person is a little sectarian and fearful of certain names of God, thinking ‘But I’m a Moslem’ , ‘I’m a Hindu’ or ‘I’m a Christian’. No problem – they can simply sing the names of God as given in their scripture. That will have a purifying effect and their attention will be drawn more and more to the eternal”.
Namaste
When I was young I would often lie in bed and before sleep overcame me, I thought a lot about my existence and wondered who I was. Often the walls of my bedroom seemed to close in on me and I felt imprisoned, or I felt very small and the walls were miles away. We lived in the country, and sometimes I would go out at night, lie on the grass, and look at the vastness of the universe – how insignificant I felt!
At such times I would contemplate about death: what would happen when I died or, as I know more correctly now, when my body died?
It seemed to me that there were 2 possibilities: when I died there was either nothingness; or as Lord Jesus taught, if we love Him, we can go to the Supreme Father. Any another possibility I did not want to contemplate!
I am known by many names: Chaitanya das to some, Charles to others, and yet others as Charlie. There is also Chas, Snowy (when I was really young), Robbo, Mr. Robinson, Father, Dad, Popo (to my grandchildren), Pops, Popes, Mate, Sir, Mister, and some other names my wife calls me that I cannot repeat here! People call me different names depending on my relationship with them and also the role I am ‘playing’.
You are going on a trip….the biggest trip of your life. You are leaving very soon. Have you made arrangements?
Time is running out….stop mucking around…have you purchased the ticket for the flight? Do you have your bags packed yet? Made arrangements for someone to get you to the airport? And do you know what flight you are on, and even where you are going?
Welcome to dying….the death of this body! We should be prepared at all times, have our bags packed and know which aircraft and flight we are on. But who even thinks about this and knows how to get ready?