perfection

there are moments

when life seems so perfect

and life is grand and wide

and for all of eternity

there is this kiss

on our cheek

that lets us know

that love is the place

of sanctity and grace.

it is within your eyes

that the universe

in its vast transparency

is allowed to yield

its only bless’d treasure.

Lala

a finger pointing at the moon.

Kashmiri Poetess Lala who lived in the 14^th Century:

about enlightenment and her direction she said;

in this state there is no Shiva,

nor any holy union.

only a somewhat something moving

dreamlike on a fading road.

when asked about sacred practices she said;

there are those sleeping who are awake,

and others awake who are sound asleep.

some of those bathing in the sacred pools

will never get clean.

and there are others

doing household chores

what are free from any action.

Enlightenment absorbs this universe of qualities

when that merging occurs, there is nothing

but God. This is the only doctrine.

there is no word for it, no mind

to understand it with, no categories

of transcendence or non-transcendence,

no vow of silence, no mystical attitude.

there is no Shiva and no Shakti

in enlightenment, and if there is something that remains,

that whatever it is

is the only teaching.

version translations by Coleman Barks

an answer

the ultimate question always becomes

what am I or what is this?

no answer and surely no reply

can ever touch the depth

beyond a simple not knowing mind.

experience

outside of thinking—

acknowledgement

without cognitive process—

realization

functioning on its own—

thinking becomes subservient

to our actual awareness…..

don’t stress

just be

and allow

your true self

to shine forth

with no intervention

returning

should the universe

return in upon itself

or our happiness

strain at the trials of life,

the brilliant illumination

of the jewels within our

body house–

contained in that sacred

heart shrine of equanimity,

we have vowed

to cherish this love

which came from god–

and of which no thought

could ever hold its true majesty–

by eternally nourishing

the constant flowing forth

is our lifetime of passion,

tenderness, and friendship.

the price of our hearts

is the debt we must repay

to Vishnu or whatever god

was there to witness the

sanctified bless’d union.

valuing the we

and nullifying the ‘I’

love is the world

that we inhabit.