Milarepa

Maintain the state of undistractedness and distractions will fly off.

Dwell alone and you shall find a friend.

Take the lowest place and you shall reach the highest.

Hasten slowly and you will soon arrive.

Renounce all worldly goals and you shall reach the highest goal.

--Milarepa

Like an elephant in the forest

Do not carry with you your mistakes.
Do not carry your cares.
Travel on alone
Like an elephant in the forest.

--The Dhammapada

The Guest

I have discovered my deep deathless being:
Masked by my front of mind, immense, serene
It meets the world with an Immortal's seeing,
A god-spectator of the human scene.

No pain and sorrow of the heart and flesh
Can tread that pure and voiceless sanctuary.
Danger and fear, Fate's hounds, slipping their leash
Rend body and nerve, - the timeless Spirit is free.

Awake, God's ray and witness in my breast,
In the undying substance of my soul
Flamelike, inscrutable the almighty Guest.
Death nearer comes and Destiny takes her toll;

He hears the blows that shatter Nature's house:
Calm sits He, formidable, luminous.

--Sri Aurobindo

My Krishna is not Black

My Krishna is not black,
He is pure gold.
He Himself is woven
Into the universal Beauty, Light and Splendour.
He looks dark
Because I have spilled the ink
Of my mind on Him.
Otherwise, my Beloved is All-Light.
He created Light and Darkness,
He is within and without the Cosmos Vast.
With this knowledge,
I will have a new acquaintance
With the world at large.

-- Sri Chinmoy

Taking Leave of a Friend

blue mountains lie beyond the north wall;
round the city's eastern side flows the white river.
here we part, friend, once forever.
you go ten thousand miles drifting away
like an unrooted water-grass.
oh, the floating clouds and the thoughts of a wanderer!
oh, the sunset and the longing of an old friend!
we ride away from each other, waving our hands,
while our horses neigh softly, softly. . . . .

--Li Po

Radharani's face

Although the effulgence of the moon is brilliant initially at night,
in the daytime it fades away.
Similarly, although the lotus is beautiful during the daytime,
at night it closes.
But, O My friend,
the face of My most dear Srimati Radharani is always bright and beautiful,
both day and night
Therefore, to what can Her face be compared?

-(Vidagdha-madhava 5.20)


*Radharani is consort of Lord Krishna

Skylark

Skylark

sings all day,

and day not long enough.

-Basho

Mountain Drinking Song

To drown the ancient sorrows
we drank a hundred jugs of wine
there in the beautiful night.
We couldn’t go to bed with the moon so bright.

Then finally the wine overcame us
and we lay down on the empty mountain
the earth for a pillow,
and a blanket made of heaven.

--Li Po