Mirror-man

I looked for me in the vast blue sky, behind the changing, swirling clouds.
I hunted for myself in the depths of the great ocean, in the inky blackness of the deepest waters.
I tried to spot my face in the eyes of another, reflected in dark brown pools of feeling.
I listened to hear my voice in the sound of the rain.
I read all the books in all the libraries
to try and find an accurate description of me.
At last, I looked into my own mind.
Beyond my mind I found my heart.
I looked deeper.
Beyond my heart I found my soul.
There I came face to face with myself in a mirror -
Who was this man with my face, my nose, my jaw, my eyes?
Did I see evil or did I see good in that visage?
Did he smile at me kindly or mockingly?
Was I watching him or was he watching me?
Was I the artist or the image, the canvas or the paint?
Was I this face or the light that made it visible or the watcher who observed?
Suddenly I knew :
this was all a dream
And the Dreamer had no face
To call His own.

Stopping Time

Nine months of 2009 are almost over...where did they go?
We all have the experience that the days, months, years rush by in a blur of activity. In the mad helter-skelter of 21st century urban existence, cellphones ringing, emails pinging, calendars screaming, to-do lists accusing, car rides,plane rides, bills and collection agencies......it all seems like a never-ending treadmill that eats up the days.We wake up in the morning and hurtle into the day...rushing around physically and mentally all day...before we know it the day is over, we are exhausted and go to bed.
Thus we dissipate our most precious resource...the limited moments of our human existence. We lose our days.
What happened to living? To experiencing the joy of a cup of tea, a walk in the park, a sunset that we participate fully in,the laugh of a little child, looking a friend in the eye and sharing a soul-smile?
Awareness is the key.Throughout my day,in all my activities , I have the opportunity to stop time.One moment , experienced with total awareness, can hold eternity.
Walking down the street, riding in a car, waiting in line...all opportunities to experience everything around me with my gut, rather than through the blurred filter of a tickertape mind.
All I do everday is shift into awareness as often as I can. I move away from the mind and into the solar plexus to experience my body, my breath and all around me directly and totally.
Time disappears...everyday reality is magical and awesome in its glory!
Every moment of such magic is a moment fully lived.
All I practice is increasing the moments of alert awareness ...so that less of my life is wasted in unconsciousness.
Infinity and eternity - right here and right now!

Freedom Express

Ride the fast train to freedom.
Being born is your ticket..awareness is the only price.
Trust the life-train,,,its purpose, its speed, its control,its enigmatic wisdom.
Lay your burdens down...drop the heavy sack of ego.
No point carrying it on your head when the train can bear you and all your burdens effortlessly.
Sit back in your seat and enjoy the ride....its over in a flash!
Listen to the heartbeat rythm of the One true sound....ever in the background as you travel.
Freedom is letting go all cares and trusting the driver unconditionally.
Total surrender...and the dawning of the wonder of it all.
Bliss is knowing deep down that you are the train and the driver and the rails.
Wooooooeeeee! Whattaa ride!

The Temple

The Someshwara Temple in Ulsoor, Bangalore is 1500 years old, they say.
A software professional and his wife perform a puja, while their son plays videogames on his dad's cellphone.Traditions run deep in India...and it abounds with places of worship.Temples, mosques, churches, shrines are everywhere.

My temple is my body, the cupola my head, my legs the pillars, the inner shrine - the Heart in my chest.
Once I find this Heart, this entire Universe is my temple: the vast dome of the sky, the firm earth below my feet, the worshipping trees dancing in the wind, the sacred rain and sunshine....who needs any temples of stone?
In the freedom of formless Being ,infinity and eternity are contained.
Once I know this, I see that all the forms are made of this Being.
Magic is everywhere.

Its All in the Eye

" Only let thine eye be single and all the world will be radiant with Light" said Jesus
"Truth can only be seen with the eye of the heart" said Antoine de Saint-Exupery.
What you see depends on the eye that you see with.
What you experience depends on the state of being you choose to experience from.
When you find the Center deep in your being, you will experience the awe and the wonder of everything around you.
And know, beyond all doubt, that there is only ONE underlying everything...mountains and clouds and trees and birds and oceans and people and butterflies...all expressions of the same ONE, that creates this incredible Universe out of itself, manifesting through the energies of Love and Joy and Light.
The Absolute Formless Ground of Being , the Tao, is the canvas and the paint and the artist and the light that reveals the painting.
This is the ultimate reality.
As long as you identify with a limited self, you will not see this.
The moment you quit being the wave and become the ocean, you will enjoy the vastness of ocean and the uniqueness of every individual wave-form - simultaneously.
You will be the ONE and the many at the same time, in an ecstatic dance of Being-Consciousness-Bliss.
Why settle for less?

Fair Trade

Trade your speech for silence, your cleverness for wisdom, your pride for humility, your brilliance for simplicity.
Give up your learning and your knowledge: they are just useless clutter preventing you from experiencing openness and receptivity.
Give up all concepts and pre-conceived notions: be blank and empty.
Give up your claims to virtue and greatness and sainthood: they are just chains that bind you.
Before anything else, just BE.
In the daily humdrum, take that pause, stop to breathe, to feel, to see..... once you can do this, you inherit eternity.
Once you open your eyes, the passing old man, the dog on the sidewalk, the crow cawing on the neem tree, the wind in your hair...all become gurus who help you understand what its really all about!
There is only ONE. You are it. So is everyone and everything else. From the greatest galaxies to the smallest atoms, everything is made of Love and Light.

Awakening from the Dream

When we dream, all that happens in the dream seems totally realistic...we feel and experience it as if it was actually happening. When we are awakened , we realise it was a dream.When we watch a movie with total absorption, we experience all that happens in the movie as real, even though we know its just moving images of actors on a screen.
Our so-called everyday reality is equally a dream, a movie...only, it's longer and seems to have continuity over time.
Once we awaken to our true nature, we see that all that we thought of as reality is a highly sophisticated holographic projection created by our own minds.
Awakening from all the dreams is understanding that its all a giant multi-dimensional movie..created by the stored information in our brains that acts like a strip of film, lit up by the reflected Light of the Self, projected through the lens of the senses on the screen of Space-Time.
Once I am so awakened, I see the images as images, not reality...and experience, beyond all shadow of doubt, the ONE energy that is the source and the substance of everything.
What does this actually mean? My life continues as normal, I go through my everyday motions, I eat and walk and touch and see and hear and act...without getting sucked in to identifying with all that I experience. And, with a thrilling ecstasy coursing through every fibre of my being, I become the miraculous wonder of the ONE playing at being the many.
I let go of the outer and focus on the inner. I chose the magic rather than the illusion. No more "I" ", "experience" or " objects of experience"...just the endless play of Light and shade weaving its mystery through it all.!
Why do this? Because it is exquisite perfection- eternal, infinite and awesome in its magnificence.And losing myself in this perfection is bliss beyond all description, embedded in an ocean of endless love and peace.
What better way to live can there possibly be?