New year at dawn
Stretched out of bed with a yawn,
Woke up to the sounds of birds chirping at dawn,

Slowly the joy of celebration of the previous night came to life
As did the disaster and the subsequent loss of many lives

Both blissfully dead in sleep

Birds at dawn, that celebrate hope eternal
That shines as bright as a lamp
In the darkness of death and despair

There is darkness in light
Disaster in broad daylight

Light in disaster
Of human compassion and love
Beyond race and religion
Hope eternal
Life is this and that
Life is just like that

Light of Truth

One sun that brightens up not just this earth, but all the planets
In its fold
Just as One master illumines many

The stars that shine on at night are suns too far away,
They illumine too just as the sun
The sun too is a star

One Light as many stars
One Truth through many Masters
To sort, to chose is ignorance
He that stands with One
Close to his heart
Shall be illumined by the Truth that is Him
Just as easily as the sun warms this earth
Simply for reason, unasked
For a Master can’t help but shower
Love and Knowledge

Its been awhile since I have posted. I was busy attending a session on Zen Meditations. I had a lovely time. The perfect season to know Love and Compassion from the Master himself. One of the participants was a gentleman from Malaysia. He had travelled a long distance to be here to listen to the Master speak. Meeting a person from another land is always a new experience. He said, in India you are surounded by Gurus, a wealth of knowledge and wisdom Fish when told about water they don't understand that, because they are surrounded by water. In India you are surrounded by Masters, and here is a unique one. So unless a fish is taken out of water, it
does not know what is water."

Yes, I understood how much I take this wealth for granted.
To watch a Master speak is an experience. To watch someone give himself so totally simply, because he cannot help giving. Not for a reason, not for a purpose but just simply. Cannot help marvelling at how Master give so much

To be Here and Now is a blessing indeed.
The Present is a present indeed

Church

I walked into the church. I was seeing the place for the first time. Watched as people picked up candles and walked in silently, holding candles. I wondered how do I light mine. Then found all I had to do was reach out the candle in the person next to me. I experienced the same sense of joy I do when I walk into a temple. None the different.
Standing in front of the altar was a beautiful experience. Most people around stood with eyes closed. I could not close my eyes to the beauty around. I simply gazed on at the beautiful image of infant Jesus. I had just simply come here, to just be. Nothing to ask for but watch those beautiful eyes, speak a language of the heart. There was compassion, innocence of childhood, simply Love. To me this is the Christmas gift Christ gave this world. The eternal gift of Love, which grows with sharing And there I did see it in those wonderful eyes. Love that heals all.


Wishing ALL A Merry Christmas


Christmas Colurs

Green for prosperity
Red for vitality
White for the Eternal Truth

The Flame of Truth

"The Fire the warms us
As the sun outside
And the subtle warmth within

Are but One

Eternal
Without beginning
Without end
To search for neither
Beginning nor end

Is to light the lamp
Of wisdom within"

Today is kartigai

Thought to myself
'Have to light lamps tomorrow'
As I went to bed last night

Then came these beautiful words
That gently stirred me from sleep
To a gentle awakening

( Kartigai is a festival that celebrates the element of Fire in the Universe. Sisters light lamps to pray for prosperity in the lives of their brohers. I have no biological brothers.

I light a lamp today for prosperity well being and happiness of my brothers, for their well-being and happiness. The whole world is mine so shall light for ALL today. )

Masters and teacher

A teacher pours knowledge
He got from his teachers
A transfer

A Master is a lamp
Who kindles another
Gives what the disciple wants
Although the disciple himself is unaware of it
Wakes up a sleeping One

His Infinite compassion
Beyond comprehension
Yes Masters will be contradictory
To a mind divided
At one time they say one thing
Exactly the opposite at another
Many a times are mirrors that reflect
What they see
To say Krishna is a person and not a god
Is beautiful

That brings about an Infinite closeness
To call a Master 'God' is not great
It is foolish
To erect him on a pedestal
And then forget him
Or remember whenever convenient

Its to push him far away
Like yet another a new year resolution
Ever made never fulfilled

COSMOS

Man and atom seek
Fulfillment
Fulfillment is the engine that drives
Both atom and man
Into relationships
Material and spiritual

There is a cosmos within
A cosmos around
Complete parts of a complete whole

Fulfillment comes from within

Each seeks liberation
Liberation lies in
Sometimes giving
Sometimes taking
Or Just sharing
With another
Together we liberate each other

Thanksgiving
Crafted with Love for me to behold
This vastness of Creation, to hold,
As my own

Have not hands that can hold
Have not eyes that suffice
To witness this grandeur
The Infinite splendor
Just gratitude for being
Just here and now
A part of Existence
As a part of Existence
Not apart
Just One

Sunshine
Yellow flowers dancing in solitude
Serenity of sorts.
Sunshine on a cloudy day.
Brightens up the dark hour

Few words of love are flowers too
That brighten up a gloomy hour
Words of wisdom
That ignite
Strength within
Of the One Divine

Yearn to merge in the Silence that’s You
To merge I have to become that which I seek
Drop everything

Words, thoughts
Tantalizingly beautiful
Impressions all
They can hint that is all
The Truth that is

The river leaves behind all
It brought from up the mountains,
The sand and rocks
The silt too
And its then
Just water to water

Silence to Silence

Quest??
Searched for the Truth
For Silence
For Love

Searched for that which already is
Realization dawns
All I have to do
Is to simply be
Nowhere to go,
Nothing to do
Simply throw open the doors of this mind
And simply watch being enveloped
Both from within and around

From directions known and beyond
Silence descends
Ever so beautifully
Wiping out every thought and word firmly
Yet caresses even more gently
That the petals of a rose
No more thoughts, nor words

Laugh at the simplicity of this
Of the Truth that is

Now the laughter too fades from whence it came
Into the all encompassing Silence

Children’s day

My heartfelt love and wishes to all
This day celebrate the child in you
That lives on
The spirit of freedom
The curiosity to know
The Truth
Trust and Love
For no reason
Childhood innocence
That accepts all
Loves all
Has a smile for all

No matter what happens around
Always joyful

The child is the very heartbeat of life
Wish each child the very best
May you excel our ‘very best’
May you cross frontiers that we adults only dream of at best
Let each moment be a celebration
Of Joy and peace unlimited

Simply within

The God that resides in the temple
Resides within
Amidst all the noise, and clamor
Clanging of temple bells,
Prayers said aloud,
Sits in blissful Silence

This body is a temple too
All forms around are containers too
Of the eternal divine
Look within
And amidst the Sound around
There is Silence
Within the temple
Within this body
Just One

In the name of God?
What kind of madness is this?
To kill in the name of God!
Is to Kill God himself

Destruction is just that
Whatever be the goal
Spiritual or worldly

God does not require any pleasing
Nor propagation, nor protectors
On his behalf

If this is religion
Then let religion be damned!

Religion is just a means to unite
Not with anything outside
But deep within
To light a spark of eternal luminosity

Of wisdom
Of Love
That all that is
Is just me

An extension of me
Each is precious
As I am

Nothing ‘greater’ nothing ‘smaller’
In the world of the Infinite
The One Divine

DIWALI
Diwali in a new place
A new town thought I

Used to a large family
Full of fun and frolic

Will be a lonely diwali?
Away from family
Festivals are when you meet
Your own
Celebration is then
A certain happiness
In being a part of the whole

Then came this thought

“Lamps of all colors
One flame in many lamps

The One Divine in many
That burns subtle and deep”

When there are so many lamps around
I still say it is ‘dark’!!

People around me are family too
Should I let them be

So celebrated diwali with in a new town
In a new neighbourhood
In the same style
Just as I did every year

Shared good wishes with sweets
A few new friends made

This year was a happier Diwali
In that I did find a few more
People to share.

GOING HOME

I am going home for a while
Will be away for a while

Back to where I belong
Time for a little
introspection
A time unto myself

A little cleaning
Of cobwebs around and within
-------------------------------
Wishing all of you whom I have known these past few months a VERY HAPPY DIWALI. I wish all you the very best in everything you do and say, every prosperity that you might wish, spiritually and materially.

BLISS

Yearn to sing
Of glories Infinite
Of Love unbounded

To express
That beyond expression!
Beyond every thought, song and expression

Knowledge that sweeps in too
Is but an speck of the Ocean around
That surrounds

Love that envelopes, like the gentle cool mist
Is but a fraction that which is

All that remains is gratitude beyond expression
As thoughts, song and words fade
Into the all encompassing Silence

Carrot and stick

“Beware of the Divine”
Says the preacher, for he is a teacher too,
“You’ll have hell to pay for
Should you trespass”

‘God’ neither punishes
Nor rewards
Ain’t Mrs. Gomes
Who gives a lollipop for being good
And a cane for being bad

Be Aware of the Divine
To wait in Patience with Love
No rewards in Love
No punishments either

The Divine Loves all
Saint and Sinner
The drunkard in his place
The preacher in his

Creation just is.
(excerpted from Kitchenette Soul--the book)

Celebration of Silence

Abidance in Silence
Simply being
Where you are
As you are
In silent awareness
Of the One subtle thread
That Connects all
Of the Creation
Flowers in a garland
Of myriad hues
Yet flowers all the same

The Eternal Now
Not why or how
To be in the present
For the ‘present’ is a present
A gift from the Divine

To be in the present
Is to kill
The regrets of the past
Anxieties of the future

To be in the NOW
Is to secure the future

The Truth lies in the present
Moment

Serenity or Ferocity

A serene Ocean,
Glistening in the sunlight
Ever enticing in the moonlight

Waves that soothe
Bring spontaneous laughter and fun
As they kiss the feet ever so gently

Then one day---
They did rise like a towering wall
Swept off all in a flash
Tore babes from mother’s arms
And tossed them like paper boats heartlessly

How could it be so cruel to the same folk
It nourished and fed like a mother?

Kindness and gentleness perceptions all

Serenity and ferocity
Two sides of One Ocean

The Ocean simply is
Nature is
Truth is

(I wrote this while the tsunami was around.)

RIGHT OR WRONG

Right and wrong, divisions born
Of this mind’s perception

People are just that people
Choice-less acceptance
In awareness of the One
Whose expression they are

They that shall come
Come of their own
In a spontaneous answer to a call from deep within themselves
Not a call from anyone around
The Divine calls not once but a million times thus
A sincere seeker thus
Shall reach
The bliss he/she seeks

BETWEEN SOUND AND SILENCE
Sound is an aberration in the field of silence
A simple wave motion in an ocean of stillness.

Within the womb of Silence lies many an unmanifested sound
Which manifest, essentially transient and then disappear back from where it came

Man is juxtaposed between Sound and Silence.
Unique, capable of experiencing the Creator and the Creation simultaneously.

He is mortal and immortal. Mortal if he is thought of as matter and immortal if he is the soul.

The Truth is an exquisitely woven intricate web of all apparent opposites

Silence and Sound.

Matter and Spirit.

Nothing and Everything.

Birth and Death.

In the final alchemy there remains but ONE
(From my book KITCHENETTE SOUL)

‘God’ is a presence
Not a person
Felt not seen
An experience of Love and warmth
Simply,
Ever-present, all around
Waiting to engulf,
Should you but allow

An awareness of this every moment,
Is Bliss here and now
Not in the distant future
Or in an unknown heaven

Why bother about birth and death
If this life is a dream
All the ‘lives’
Before and those to come are dreams too
The One Truth that encases all is ever-present
This birth or the next shall ever be in the arms of
The One.

Love

Love that transcends beyond a reason
Love which has no need
No need for appreciation
No need for reciprocation
No need for recognition
Love when it transcends reason
A seeking that transforms
Into a dissolving
Oneness to Nothingness
Love that transcends
Dissolves into bliss
That simply is

Spiritual?

To be spiritual is not to be just good and holy. Far far from that. It is about finding the courage of a lion within, yet meet the world with compassion and love, work with hands of steel, yet with the softness of love. Spirituality is a journey to find-- not some god somewhere and book a place in heaven for yourself, but to find your own true self. The naked face devoid of all the role play. Roles that we adorn everyday, Son of someone, boss of someone, wife of someone. Amidst all these roles there is someone deep down who is distinct a silent witness to to all these roles, a mute spectator. That is the real you, the god within. Devotion, meditation and religion are mere routes to this. Pick any. Once you find that then springs all else, courage and compassion to face this world, not as a soilder goes to war, but like a mother tending to her own at home. Each and everyone is spiritual. For without that spirit within, there is no life.

“Collabrative or competitive?
To work in unison or to out beat the other?

Seek to defeat and you shall be defeated

For there will always be someone better

Why despair
He is One too

You are a runner in a relay race
He is too
Run hand over the baton
Move on
Life existed before you
Shall exist after you

SomeOne is always there
Forms are the same
Content is just ONE

Independence is a myth
Interdependence is the order
Of Creation

Why Moksha?

Yearned for liberation
From what to what?

Thought I was separated from you
This birth was a cage from where I sought release
When you are in me and I am in You
Then separation
Is but a delusion
A union that is always
This birth or the next
A drop in Ocean
Is always (a)part of the Ocean
Never apart
Laugh at the hilarity of it all

Worry, oh worry!

Worry never did anyone good
A sly thief
Who robs youth and laughter
Leaves behind lines that mar
The once pretty face

Should worry make things merry
I would worry in a hurry
But all it does is make me feel just sorry
What shall be, shall be
Worry or no worry

I write this for My Master Swami Akshara. I met Swamiji through my husband who in many ways has been my first spiritual guide and teacher. An what an experience that has been!

Offered you a few flowers of Love and devotion
Marveled at the miracle that did trigger

Like the spark ignites a flame
You do rain on me
Every moment

Flowers of various hues
Of Love
Of Knowledge
Of Bliss
Unlimited
Through all those around
Feel blessed beyond words

Faith in God is not an immunity against pain and sorrow
Just as money in hand does not ensure good health,
Pain and pleasure, joy and sorrow
Are an integral part of the wheel of life

Both faith and money support
True strength rises from the Divine within
That resides in one and all.

To connect to the Divine
As a dispenser of goodies
An eternal source of miracles
Is to love parents like a spoiled brat does
Turns to his parents for more
Ever more

The Divine simply loves
Shall walk in as much as you let in
He that streches out a palm shall receive such
He that opens his being shall receive such
Then reigns Bliss Eternal

Light of Truth

One sun that brightens up not just this earth, but all the planets
In its fold
Just as One master illumines many

The stars that shine on at night are suns too far away,
They illumine too just as the sun
The sun too is a star

One Light as many stars
One Truth through many Masters
To sort, to chose is ignorance
He that stands with One
Close to his heart
Shall be illumined by the Truth that is Him
Just as easily as the sun warms this earth
Simply for reason, unasked
For a Master can’t help but shower
Love and Knowledge

“The silver lining of the dark cloud is but the sun shining eternally, just waiting for the cloud to pass”

She licked me all over
Wagged her tail in appreciation
Then scampered off into the bush
While I looked on in anticipation
And in flash
She came back with a dead rat
I ranted and raved
“How could you?
When I give you the best of everything
And you bring in that rotten thing
You are utterly exasperating”
And did give her a whack
And walked back
Fuming

Then a while later
I did hear
From deep within
“They are dead rats too
That you chase in your mind too
Of people, situations gone by”
While surrounded by the best
Every moment,
Think of the worst!”

I did laugh out loud,
And yes dear, dear Master you are much, much, more compassionate
Than I was with the pup

The day disaster struck said all is a sad day
It was indeed
For it left many homeless, yet others dead

Disaster but did strike on one day
That was a misfortune indeed

Then ain’t every day a fortune
When the sun and air warm and caress in Love?
Strange! Mankind is blind to fortune at hand
Every moment

Every ‘ordinary’ day is a miracle indeed
One more opportunity
To live to experience the Creator and Creation
As simply One

This too shall pass
Clouds of sorrow and pain that do
Seem menacingly large
This too shall pass
Joy and laughter
That seem will last
This too shall pass

Good times, bad times
This too shall pass

Eternal witness to all
Lies within
The One

Full moon on the lake
Sometimes still, sometimes sways,
Moves with the water

Impressions all
Move with the mind

The moon shines on steadily above
Simply is
The Truth
That just is

Rivulets

Knowledge and Devotion rivulets that join
Enjoin the one divine
Blend together in symphony
One turns into the other in harmony
Simply two rivers
That flow
To the One

Experience of God!

Moments of joy simply for no reason
A smile that comes on brilliantly for no reason
Simply watching all that is around

A lightness of spirit within
Not for a ‘reason’
A feeling of oneness with all

Moments of serenity
Moments of divinity
Happen all the time

To simply wait
Is to experience
The subtlest
Effortlessly

Is to touch the Divine
To taste the eternity of Love
That is

White words on a black screen
Rays of light in a dark room
Gentle beams that dispel darkness
Wisdom so bright that ignorance ran
for cover
Herald a new dawn
Of Truth
Of Fulfillment
Of Love unbounded
For the One
In All

To shun your own
In search of the One
You shall never find such
For that which you reject is the Divine too
Having shunned a part of the whole
How can you call it the whole?
The entirety that is One

The Divine is available to all
Waits with open arms
Saffron or no saffron
Religion or no religion

Moksha is not the privilege of the few
They are but seekers too
The truly realized One knows that
To unite with that within

No prerequisites in Love
But an open mind that yearns
Waits in Love and patience
To unite with the One supreme

Spirituality at six or sixty?

The search for the divine is not the pastime of the aged

The thirst for fulfilment

Begins with birth

A life that awaits fulfillment

A deep flowering within

A reunion, the pinacle of creation

The mango flowers in five years

The rose bush in a few weeks

Age is no matter

The union with divine

Happens in Silence

Simply evelopes

Just where you are
As you are

Sleep
Every night as sleep draws near
Remember your ever-smiling form I hold so dear
Feel the formless You embrace me ever so gently
Wake up to the same thought of You yet again

Should death be so too
For death is sleep too
Embrace me as the last thought
Then shall I wake up
Back again
Remember You yet again
How does it then matter?
A million births and deaths or just one
Mere transformations
Each an opportunity
To merge with the One divine
Yet again

Moksha is this
Fear of none
Death too
For whether I wake up
From sleep or death
It shall be in the realms of the One Divine

Learn not to store in a memory bank
As jewels in a locker in a bank
Imbibe, let the knowledge seep through your very being
As rain drenches the parched earth
A single word of wisdom soaked in
shall melt ignorance
as fire melts ice
Into the one divine

That knowledge is but in vain
should it not sink in
deep within

Like rain in a summer storm
Lashes around in vain

Whispers from beyond

Whispers from beyond
Words of wisdom that simply caress
Heared, nay experienced in the depths of Silence
Moonbeams on a dark night
Dispels the darkness of ignorance

I am no author
Just a mirror
Shall reflect them simply as they come

Mind the Garden
A garden called MIND
Thoughts of every color and shade
That bloom in a garden called mind
Bloom awhile
Watch them blossom and then fade away gently
Leaving behind the essence
They but reflect the one Truth
In myriad shadesMany reflections of One
Like flowers of different hues
That blossom and bloom
Stay awhile
Fade away gently
Leaving a gentle fragrance behind
Each flower spreads its essence
Each thought the essence
The One Truth
Watch all
Judge none
Compare none
For they but contain One

Perfection is a mirage in a desert
Chase it as much as you can
It is still elusive as ever

The strive for perfection
Is the cause for every innovation

Imperfection is a possiblity
for an invention

Perfection is the mirage that spurs evolution

This mind is that which 'sees' perfection
and imperfection

Creation just is

The world is to be experienced
Loved and shared
Not feared and conquered,
For he that seeks to conquer
Is driven by fear
The part can never own the whole!
The part is a part, however large
The gross cannot embrace the subtle
The subtle permeates the gross

Storm outside,
The elements rage
A union of sorts
A celebration of sorts
As water surges
Wind bellows
The earth soaks in fulfillment

Man howls foul!
Nature's fury he laments

Nature neither kind
Nor cruel
Nature simply is

That which creates
And sustains
Destroys too
Dissolution is inherent in Creation

Desire--Good bad, ugly?

To desire is fine. To seek for something always is the way of mankind. Each of us has goals and goals. Each role we play in life has a goal! A goal at work, a goal at home. Some have spiritual goals too. To reach for something. If the desire is propelled by a want that will not harm any other, by all means get it. A good house, a better job. Desire is a beautiful tool use it. Yes desire which is at the cost of another person, is definitely the root of all evil which all Masters warn against. This is the negative side of desire. It is like fire. Fire burns, yet fire sustains too, provides food for life too. Just the same with desire. Every quality has three sides to it creation, sustenance and destruction. Desire creates a need to live a better life, sustains you keeps you going at your goals never mind the obstacles. And very importantly can also destroy you should get enslaved by desire. So use desire as a tool, a means to an end.

L I F E
Life never fails to amaze
A maze
Eternally unknown, yet seemingly so predictable
Funny this thing called life
Vibrant vivacious beautiful
Yet can appear vicious and unfair too
Eternally beguiling

Yet simply a gift
For this is the place
Where heaven and hell reside
Not miles apart
Side by side
Wish for one
And you will be tossed aside
To the other

This is simply the place to be
A wonderful opportunity to merge
With as One
With the Divine
Back to where we belong
Then life is bliss
A beautiful journey
That is a destination too