Saturday, October 1, 2016

A Reminder...

A Reminder... Pause!
When you're always in a hurry
If your heart is filled with worry
When the lines get blurry
If you witness some flashes of fury

Pause.

Pause my dear
Stop!
And rest, right here

When the world around seems dreary
Shoulders stooped and weary
The eyes perhaps bleary
Or even maybe teary

Pause.

Pause my dear
Rest right here
In that lap Divine

Sip
Of a sweet, fresh breath
Savoring each bit
Filling yourSelf
To the brim

Drink
Of that infinite fountain
That is YOU

Dance
To the tune
That only you can hear

Whirl and twirl
Soak in
That depth of Silence

Drown in
The ecstasy
The elixir

Find yourSelf
Find your Bliss
Deep within
 - 9/30/16

Sunday, July 31, 2016

अनन्त, अनन्य | Infinite, Inimitable...







कुछ अधूरे पन्ने थे यही
अक्षर बन रही थी स्याही
कुछ अध् लिखे से बोल थे
कुछ अध् बुने से ख्याल
ना गलत ना सही
A few incomplete pages
Ink forming letters in different stages
Some unfinished lyrics perhaps
A few unspoken thoughts with gaps
Neither right nor wrong
Who knew where they really belong

वे सफ़े बह  चुके हैं  आज
ख़्वाहिशों के महल  ढह चुके हैं  आज
Those pages have evaporated today
The palace of desires 
Has crumbled like clay

ना कल से था
ना कल से होगा
अब कोई लगाव

Yesterday melted away
Tomorrow’s sway has no say
Attachment at bay
कोरे से कागज़ का ये पड़ाव
इसी पल के रस का ऐसा खिंचाव
This blank canvas is a perfect pit-stop
Making this very moment pop

अनन्त
अनन्य
आनन्द
का ऐसा भाव
शून्यता का प्रभाव
कृतज्ञ अश्रुओं का  बहाव
Infinite
Inimitable
Joyous Bliss
This hollow emptiness
Gratitude that flows
Just as it arises


- July 31, 2016

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

A Fractured Life

Messages…
So many messages
From a young age
At every possible stage
Bombarding me
Do this, but not that
Be like this, oh not that!

I was taught
To listen
To learn
To obey
Repercussions of failure
Filled me with dismay

Yes
There was love
There was joy
The usual ups and downs
They looked at me
With adoration, admiration
But I also noticed all the frowns

The acquisition
Of money, power, status, fame
I had to win
At this one and only game

I built my palace
In a new land of dreams
Brick by brick
Burying my inner voice
Layer by layer
Ignoring its desperate screams

Days and nights
Of incessant toils
Bringing home the spoils
Of stories weaved with care
How could I dare
To let the mask slip?

And then poof!
It all came crashing down
Burning and twisting my insides
The carnage spilling over
The end of that story
The fame and reflected glory

Was it
My race?
My religion?
My identity?
My beliefs or my capacity
To mutate
To fit in at all costs
To assimilate

What could make
This pain abate
What I wouldn't spend
To get out of this state
Or
Should I simply end
This Fractured Life?

And then I found
I had to lose it all
To hear that sound
Weak though it was
It was certainly still around

It took work
It took stillness
To unlearn unsee unhear
Old voices, old stories
Develop the courage to listen
A regular practice
To rechristen
My own story

As my songs of Union
Became the Voice
Heard-unheard
Seen-unseen
Felt, tasted, melted
And the me emptied unto the Me
The 'i' transformed into I
That encompassed all of infinity
I simply knew
A fractured life
In re-Union
Each moment

Is made whole anew
- January 27, 2016, Seattle