Waking Sleep

Fast asleep: no dream , no thought, no world, no one;

Just the blissful peace of perfect emptiness.

Deep, deep ocean of calm.

A bubble rises:” I am” is born.it floats up to the surface, wakes up..and explodes into creation:

I am this, I am that, I am late, I am busy, I am hungry, I am this body-mind.
So he is and she is and it is and they are and the sounds, the smells , the sights of this world exploding all around…and this is me and that is mine and joy-sorrow pain-pleasure desire-fear worry-hope all them tangles and troubles and memories and fantasies….where did that blissful peace go???

It’s still right there: perfect, eternal, unchanged, shining like the sun of suns in the lotus of the Heart.

You just covered it up with your movie; you lost yourself in the world.

Now is it possible to wake up and NOT lose your connection to that perfect peace and bliss?

Sure it is: it just takes practice.

And intense concentration, unshakable faith, absolute devotion and total surrender.

Welcome to atma-vichara, self inquiry.

Where you trace the ’I’ thought back to its nest.

Away from all the other thoughts.

Back, back, back ..away from all the projections, back to the source.

No quitting..like a bloodhound on the scent, trace the path to the source.

Until once more there is just ‘I am’

Like a diver after the pearl, dive deep, deep.

Feel the pulse, the beat, the true I-I.

Something …. Light…rises from the depths, grabs you, swallows you up.

No more I : this is how you die before your body dies.

Once more there is only the blissful peace of perfect emptiness.

Only, this time, it's waking sleep: awareness shines silently and perfectly.

Nothing else exists.

The Heart Lotus

There is a place inside me where I am always at home,

Where I am always happy and loved and at peace.

Nothing and no one can take this away from me.

This is the throne of Being, the seat of “I am”.

Here I am never alone: I am One with all of creation.

Here I am infinite and perfect, invulnerable and invincible.

There is no past or future here, only an eternal present.

There is no thought here, no emotion, no drama, no excitement.

This is where the mind runs out of words, falls silent, disappears.

This is where my spirit rests and recharges itself in dreamless sleep.

From this centre, I draw infinite strength and wisdom and joy.

This is my anchor, my shelter, my sustenance and my support.

Smaller than an atom, yet greater than the greatest,

This is the pregnant emptiness of boundless space.

This is the true reality that underlies everything, the source and the substance of all things.

This is the unchanging divine awareness that shines eternally.

This is who I really am.

A Prayer

In the depths of  being I glimpsed   a Jewel,

 the luminous splendour of the colourless Light of Emptiness.

My heart cried out this prayer:

Oh Lord without  name or form,

Oh perfect mirror who reflects all creation,

Thou secret in-dweller living embedded in all things ,

Let  your radiance embrace me that I may dissolve in you!

Thou mighty Infinity that contains and permeates all creation,

thou shining love and bliss that cannot be measured or described or contained-

swallow me whole and let me be One with You.

Oh Sun of suns, bless us all with your infinite grace!

O Father  who is the Source,

O great and tender Mother who cares for and sustains all ,

accept our total surrender , open your arms,

embrace these prodigal  drops returning at last

 to your ocean of eternal peace.

Om Shanti , Shanti, Shanti, Hee.

Lyrics for a tune:

Thoughts and dreams and fantasies drifting by
Nothing to grab or hold onto, empty sky.
I fall like a stone into myself, so deep inside
Deep down, down into silence, nowhere to hide.

I hear the sound of emptiness like a distant bell
Where the Light begins, beyond the beyond.
Somewhere sweet notes trickle down,no one to tell
Who is there to be the doer and what is done.
Here no time or space, no heaven or hell,
Only the One true Being singing an infinite song.
This is the border of the mystery, where I disappear;
This is my home, where I truly belong.

The Gap.

“ Do you know how it is to stand

Astride the gap between the worlds?

One who has been there remembers:

The thought-free moment that is the door,

The one true sound that is the key,

The delicate perfection underlying and pervading everything in a fragile lattice-work of light,

The exquisite and blissful peace in that silence.” Mickey

There is a chink in the shutters through which the wind whistles.

 A crack in the curtains lets sunlight stream through like molten gold.

There is always a gap, a hidden doorway, a pause, a secret break in the space-time continuum.

Listen carefully, all ye prisoners of the mind: this is your escape route, your path to freedom, your gateway to  infinity.

In the mind, it is the space between two thoughts.

 In the sky , it is the gap in the clouds that lets you get a glimpse of  heaven.

In music, it is the silence between the notes.

In you, it is the Heart , the still center of Being.

This is the Here, the Now, the Self , the Tao that is the source and the substance of all things.

This is who you really are.

 Mind the Gap. Find the Gap.

Slip through  and be free.

The Hourglass

"So you run and you run to try to catch up with the sun, but its sinking,

Racing around to come up behind you again.

The sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older;

Shorter of breath, one day closer to death."

Time, Pink Floyd - the Dark Side of the Moon

In the deepest level of  being, a yearning is felt for  the real, the true.

In the highest sky of  inner consciousness, shines radiant  a divine star.

Your true nature sings of infinite bliss and unending peace; can you hear its song?

Will you finally claim your inheritance, O child of man, and know who you truly are?

This hidden treasure lies in your Heart-centre, your very soul.

You cannot measure it with the senses  or know it with the mind.

Seek the source of your own existence in the depths of being;

When the seeker dissolves in that silence, the sought is defined.

Life falls like sand in an hourglass, disappears like rain in the desert of Time.

A trillion worlds dissolve in a cosmic sea.

Are you a brief butterfly wave that rises and falls- or are you the infinite Ocean?

Ponder this, my friend : which would you rather be?

Morning Raga

Listen! In the first faint light of  dawn, silence begets the origin of all song.

Soft gurgle of water flowing downriver, the first whispers of wind in the trees;

Cuckoos cry to the world to awaken, splash of a fish leaping and falling,
the slither of oars and the soft hiss of the boat against the stream.

The first women washing clothes on the bank swish, thud ! swish, thud!

 like souls being cleansed in the river of Grace in a rhythm as old as the earth.

Far away a herd-boy calls to his sleepy cows to cross at the ford while the water is low.

Bird-songs begin and resonate in chorus, do you hear the clouds drift secretly across the sky?

It seems everything is singing in harmony…where does that deep underlying chord of Om arise?

See! The vast dark sky  blushes so delicately as Space reveals hidden beauty at the fading edge of night.

A still-bright sliver of moon slides down the horizon, as day triumphant drifts up all orange and gold.

And oh look! The magnificent splendour of a rising sun!

No thoughts, no words, no stories: only this effortless, blissful perfection of every new dawn.

If this is illusion, what artist created such glory?

If morning does not open your heart to the sacred,

nothing will!