Unlimited Self

Once you have given up your limited self willingly to the Unlimited,
you will rejoice so much in that consciousness that you will not care to be small again.

--Hazrat Inayat Khan

Silent River

O my Beloved,

You are still the same

a dewdrop at dawn

a sweet zephyr at noon

and a silent river in lonely nights!

Light

I look behind and after

And find that all is right,

In my deepest sorrows

There is a soul of light.

--Swami Vivekananda (From a letter to Miss MacLeod, 26th December 1900)

Same Moon

Where are you hurrying to?

You will see

the same moon tonight

Wherever you go!

--Izumi Shikibu

True Aim of Life

The true aim of life is to find the Divine's Presence
deep inside oneself and to surrender to It so that It
takes the lead of the life, all the feelings and all the
actions of the body. This gives a true and lu-minous aim to existence.

-The Mother

Arunachala

I sought to devour Thee:
Come now and devour me,
Then there will be peace, Arunachala.

You bade me give all for you --
Take now the giver too,
Survive alone, Arunachala!

Let now the deception end.
There was no lover or friend
Apart from Thyself, Arunachala!

Now that at last I know
All this a magic show,
Let it dissolve in Thee, Arunachala!

--Arthur Osborne

This Dream

At the gates of my heart
I stand—a beggar
In the howling wind
Clad in rags of thought

Open my love, my King
Open the golden gate
Let Thy splendour stream forth
And flood with light

This shadow-world of sorrow
This face bereft of sight
These shadows of tomorrow
This dream

Mad dogs are at my throat
Shall I perish
A beggar at the gate
Of the King of Grace and Mercy
Is this to be my fate
This dream?

--Arthur Osborne

The Friend Beside Me

O God
You know why I am happy:
It is because I seek Your company,
not through my own efforts.

O God
You decided and I did not.
I found the Friend beside me
when I woke up!

-Sheikh Ansari
(A Sufi Poet)

Tree

A tree beside the sandy
River-beach
Holds up its topmost boughs
Like fingers towards the skies
They cannot reach,Earth-bound, heaven-amorous.

This is the soul of man.
Body and brain
Hungry for earth
our heavenly flight detain.

-Sri Aurobindo