This is the real secret of life -- to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play.

― Alan W. Watts

O Lord . .

Unbreakable, O Lord

Unbreakable, O Lord,
Is the love
That binds me to You:
Like a diamond,
It breaks the hammer that strikes it.

My heart goes into You
As the polish goes into the gold.
As the lotus lives in its water,
I live in You.

Like the bird
That gazes all night
At the passing moon,
I have lost myself dwelling in You.

O my Beloved --
Return.

by Mirabai
English version by Jane Hirshfield

Go Inward . .

Worldly people go outward, but you must go inward like the turte, withdrawing within your shell.

- Neem Karoli Baba

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

Practice Meditation

You've got to practice meditation when you walk, stand, lie down, sit, and work,while washing your hands, washing the dishes, sweeping the floor, drinking tea,talking to friends, or whatever you are doing. When you are washing the dishes,washing the dishes must be the most important thing on your life. Just as when you are drinking tea, drinking tea must be the most important thing in your life.

- Thich Nat Hahn

Facing The Sun

When you stand with your back to the sun, your shadow is before you;
but when you turn and face the sun, then your shadow falls behind you.

-Hazrat Inayat Khan

Take me up higher and higher

Every wave of the sea, as it rises, seems to be stretching its hands upwards, as if to say, "Take me up higher and higher."

-Hazrat Inayat Khan

Know the Knower

With utmost devotion,
center on the two junctions of breath
and know the knower.

-Shiva Sutra

Renunciation

Cling to the One who clings to nothing;
And so clinging, cease to cling.

-from the poem 'Renunciation' by Tiruvalluvar
(a 7th century mystic from Southern India)

Sita Ram

There are some things I may not know
There are some places, dear Lord, I may not go.
But there's one thing of which I'm sure
My God is real for I can feel him in my soul.

And I have found a way to live in the presence of the Lord
And so in the Name...
Hare Ram, Ram, Ram, Sita Ram, Ram, Ram
Hare Ram, Ram, Ram, Sita Ram, Ram, Ram

--Krishna Das

In one salutation to thee, my God

In one salutation to thee, my God,
let all my senses spread out and touch this world at thy feet.
Like a rain-cloud of July hung low with its burden of unshed showers
let all my mind bend down at thy door in one salutation to thee.
Let all my songs gather together their diverse strains into a single current
and flow to a sea of silence in one salutation to thee.
Like a flock of homesick cranes flying night and day back to their mountain nests
let all my life take its voyage to its eternal home in one salutation to thee.

--From Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore

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!