Space, Place, Awareness
From here I am everywhere at once in perfection
yet what I am, I find, seems nothing at all attached to me.
Little me has found that the truest of herself
is that which she could barely recognize as herself.
I, conversely, am overjoyed at this perfection beyond words and find myself
Everywhere.
Love's Leela
Love, how wondrous Thou art
in this game of forgetting and remembering
where the practice of remembrance that is the skill to finding Thee
is itself Love as art Thou, even when Thou art masked to me.
I mask myself after having gazed upon Your face for shame;
Thou hast never left my side.
Throughout all tribulations Thou hast carried me in your arms,
and yet I know this vast Love that Thou art
is the Essence of myself, and I see that I Love others
just the same.
Through Love, I know that they are completely One with Thee.
Through Love, I know that they are One with me, as Thou art.
I bask then, in the greatness of the Love that hasn't ever left my side.
I remember that we are One.
Taste of Heaven*
That glorious day I sat in wonder gazing; just gazing all around
Stretched out, throughout all of Life.
Oneness, complete oneness
Magnificent radiance, power, awareness, life: everywhere.
So great this vision. Blissful, truly.
I sat in wonder,
One, with this Inner External Eternity, seeing that
It was before me, it will yet be after me; it is my Self;
Always existing, so beautiful, so complete, so perfect.
In God there is Life, in Self there is Life, in All there is Life;
Reality, yet in another light.
Expression fails at every turn, every word, every attempt
To convey it; to share it; to capture it.
I can clearly pen only then, that I lost myself that day and the
Bliss of it calls me always.
Holding great reverence for Life everywhere, great humility
Now I know that
All is forgiven and there is only Life to return to.
Blessed is this, that I lost myself in Everything.
So enamoured with it I am —
I revere it, I am prayerful,
I am free, I am humble,
I see with new eyes, all around me.
Blessed is this that I lost myself, in Everything.
Source: Sukhu, Eppi. 2007. The Endeavour. Book II
(download it here).
Collection
That God birthed all religions, says St Frances, and further:
"So precious is a person's faith" [a]
"You will realize Him if you have that yearning" [b] says Ramakrishna.
Flawless, is this embrace.
Says Rumi:
"Though we seem to be sleeping, there is an inner wakefulness that directs the dream," [c]
—"The mystery of loving, is God's sweetest secret" [d]
Sublime attraction manifests; sweet synchronicity.
"When everything goes, God comes," says Krishnananda. [e]
Says Kabir: "When I was, Hari was not." [f]
"Within the body lies the essence," says Tulsidas, [g]
Says Buddha: "We are what we have thought." [h]
Says Mirabai:
"I seemed on the verge of entering a world inside so vast," [i]
Yet towards what does Mira lean? A physical place? A psychical place?
A place in devotion, perhaps - but where, precisely?
-----------------------------------------------------
References:
[a] St. Frances of Assisi. "Because He Gave Birth."
[b] Ramakrishna. "The sum and substance of the matter is that a man must love God."
[c] Rumi. "Inner Wakefulness."
[d] Rumi. "Desire and the Importance of Failing."
[e] Swami Krishnananda. "The Nature of Basic Desires." Ch. 5. The Psychology of Meditation. To Thine Own Self Be True. The Divine Life Society. Sivananda Ashram. Rishikesh, Himalayas, India.
[f] Kabir. "On the Experience."
[g] Tulsidas. "Truth Lies Within."
[h] Buddha. "The Twin Verses." Ch. 1. Dhamapada.
[i] Mirabai. "A Great Yogi."
A Description of Magnificence
There is a place where Chords of Life play
so sweetly, so clearly, so blissfully.
In the Self that gazes, All are a cosmological wonder.
The soft stream, the living stars that grace the sky, the blooms that pepper the earth, the trees that stand like kings. . .Cosmology in each; each also a part of cosmology.
All magnificence it is. All that exists renders the same melody and yet
each is another’s accompaniment.
Awestruck, one sees that nothing passes, that all is Life. . .
Here, the Self sees the ego and the ego knows the identity of the Self. The Self is not separate.
The Self is One with All that is: potentiality, power, energy, bliss, peace, Life. . .
Upon seeing this cosmic Truth of the Self, the ego stands in reflection. The smallest stress upon another may be recalled and assessed — albeit with great love, and great understanding.
Hereafter, one is more devout, more peaceful, more steadfast, more loving, more free. . .
Peace, deep love, freedom, truth, and faith are ever new now, ever lasting, and all-important. Prayer becomes more deeply entrenched, albeit one’s understanding will change. . .
So close to you it is to see; so difficult can be the path
Yet it exists and it is Bliss; there is no confusion, no death, no wrath.
In reality
Nothing that comes into Being passes out of Being,
Being and Becoming exist together, you see,
everything simply changes form.
Source: Sukhu, Eppi. 2007. The Endeavour. Book I
(download the text here).
Loving
I have closest to me this body
To practice deep acceptance with,
I can take some time to pay attention to it.
I can pamper it a bit.
I can rest it. Play in it. Work in it. Pray in it.
Stretch it. Tense it, relax it.
Quietly, on my own,
Forgetting about the worries or blessings of the day
I can pay attention solely to sensations in this body,
Unattached to events past, present, or predicted —
When paying attention to these sensations,
I try not to judge them too much.
I try to love them, celebrate them, accept them.
I can try to learn
Through feeling
About how each sensation
Is connected to
Another.
*Heaven, in this context, refers to a conscious experience, revealation and understanding of deathlessness, eternal peace, power, and eternal love.
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