The Flames of Love

I was warned about the flames of love...
This love is merciless; it ravages your heart.
From its heat you become wild and mad.
So mysterious is its energy that when it seizes you,
You become impassioned and run about frenzied.
People sense in you the sparks of love,
But they cannot see the raging fire within.
This love is tantalizing. It wholly possesses you;
It does not fill your heart and mind alone.
How it courses through every cell of your being!
It is brighter than lightning;
It is more deafening than thunder;
It pours over you more intensely than a cloudburst.
You can fantasize endlessly about love.
But remember: you can never bend it to your will.
It is independent, very free, very free.
Having known all its intricacies and madness,
I still dived into the flames of love.
I cannot say what has happened to me,
except
I am not the same,
I am not the same,
I am not the same.

From Page 4, Ashes at My Guru's Feet by Gurumayi Chidvilasananda

My own beloved meditation master Gurumayi has put into words, Her experience of Divine Love. It inspires me, it evokes awe and yearning within me. I have to share it with you all. May you feel the pulsation of your soul, dear reader.

This is the state spoken of and written about from time immemorial by the mystics and sages of various traditions, who spent their lives searching for the experience of God. These age-old researchers of the Divine state have time and again confirmed that the ultimate state of the Divine is a state of supreme love, a level of bliss which can electrify and intoxicate the body, the mind and all the inner states so highly that one transforms and remains fixed in that higher vibration. One carries on with one's life and duties and relationships as usual but exists from an optimal place where a person is in conscious union with the entire universe - a true superbeing would'nt you think?.

The wise ones have also said that beyond the shadow of a doubt, this state exists within us all.

In a way everything we do consciously or subconsciously, we do to reach that state of unadulterated, pure love. It is the root of all our desires, our wants, our needs, our longing. Nevertheless, those who have achieved this state have constantly maintained that the source has to be found within. No matter how much one may seek outside one'self, one will only meet exhaustion. The Self is said to be closer to you than you know, closer than your own breath..

We may not know it as yet, but we are getting closer to it with every uplifting action we undertake. To make a positive difference, to bring joy to others, to forgive..all these are signs of an open heart. If someone is addicted to something which then allows that person, a momentary state of bliss, it is still the soul crying out to reach that perfect state of bliss, of love, the state of the Self. However addictions will only serve to wear out the physical body, the mind, the emotions and in doing so the means to achieve that state of love is diminished. You need to keep your body healthy, as far as possible. We cannot abandon the world either, we have to embrace it, add to it in the way we live our lives.

We all want to be loved unconditionally and selflessly but are we able to love with that fervour as well? To do so would mean to overcome our fears, past memories of hurt, of suffering and most importantly to build the courage to love ourselves. I believe that only in being able to love ourselves, are we able to love others - a well can only offer the water it has contained in itself.

Whether it is our professions or our relationships or whatever else we may be involved with in our lives, eventually the purpose is love for others and for ourselves. At the dense physical and emotional levels, it is a mundane love, limited and conditional, a pale reflection of the higher state. Still we remain content with the watered down version because quite often, that itself is pretty overwhelming to us all. However those who seek for God or that ultimate state of divine love and would not get lost in the outer boundaries when the goal of all love lies in the source of all things, the Self.

It is said and I believe that without the experience of the Divine, a discussion is pointless. Once you experience the slightest glimpse, you change forever, there is no doubt about it. Unless one has the firm desire to seek for something above and beyond what his perceptions or self-made boundaries have allowed him thus far, Divine love is a mere figure of speech.

May we find the goal of all our desires,
may we find contentment in our lives,
may we offer the world the highest within us,
may we realise Love, may we realise God,
within ourselves and within each other.

The Call

This is a tribute to all those who search for their twin-self..

O fair maiden,
pardon this seeker’s yearning;
in search of his beloved.
Tis’ merely the call of his throbbing heart,
to share what brims over its edges.
Pay heed, for he calls in return
to the name your voice whispers in the dark.

Heed his call-
oh traveller, crossing the bridge to his heart,
do reminiscences of lifetimes of yore,
do the tears of joy, of sorrow, of love, of loss,
still stand resilient on shores of your memory
long washed by the waters of time?

The intensity of his longing,
the pain of separation from this other half,
eons old, no older; he remembers, he forgets,
he remembers again, yet to forget once more..

Remember what, remember what,
Remember whom, remember when,
he beseeches the murmuring shadow;
Pray who tugs the fibres of my soul,
in lightest light of full moons so bright.
Who stirs me from my nocturnal slumber ever deep?
Who art thou, one I have never known
Yet why do I know you from some forgotten place forlorn?
How can this be, who are you? Where are you? He seeks.

Ah but how can he ignore the beat of your own heart,
oh lover in spirit,
when it’s call overwhelms him;
How can he ignore the magnetic pull of your own soul,
when the goal of his longing rests in the warmth of your bosom?
how can he ignore the bugle calls of your own yearning,
to face his deepest fears and to seek you?
How can he love another with such depth again,
and shatter the armour regimented with sands of time?
ah how his ego dies each day…

“I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, in numberless times,
in life after life, forever” said Tagore.
May such memory only surface when deep longing is reciprocated,
for the pain of unrequited love is far too much to bear.
He found one, to whom the floodgates of his soul split open,
infinite streams of his love tore apart those barriers
self-imposed in fear, built in pain, encrusted in the ego of self-protection.

Yet this pain makes him smile, for it bears gifts unseen.
What manner of madness is this? You may ask.
But the pain of separation brings forth past moments of similar pain.
Oh how wrenching that separation of the soul,
one became two and the two pushed far, oh so far apart.
so long ago, a different time, a different place.
Her call is clearer now
He thought he found her but her soul lies elsewhere, another form.
He seeks her again, evermore.

The hearth still cold, he stokes the buring coals of his heart,
it's sparks travel across the universe
to the furtherest shores of creation, to her. She feels it. She knows.
He is content for her knowing fills him whole
His heart opens now.
And though he searches
for a reflection of his love, the one without a second,
He rejoices as he swims in the waters of hope and faith again,
towards her, naked and light
under the silverish glow
of that beloved moonlit night.
He is whole, he is with her,
he is free in eternal delight.

The Gift

You've no idea how hard I've looked for a gift to bring You.
Nothing seemed right.
What's the point of bringing gold to the gold mine,
or water to the Ocean.
Everything I came up with
was like taking spices to the Orient.
It's no good giving my heart and my soul
because you already have these.
So- I've brought you a mirror.
Look at yourself and remember me.
- Jalaluddin Rumi

This is pure perfection put into words, pray what can I possibly comment and how can I do so without tainting the purity of such verse, this Gift?
Oh Rumi, old friend of distant era,
my homage lies in silence...

The Cobra

This is a story I have heard many a time from my own teacher, only to re-discover it, in light of a recent life experience. It has offered a fresh and new meaning to me. I would like to share it with you all. Your emails and messages are very encouraging and I would like to thank you for them all. Yes I will keep writing and I promise to do so more often:)

Once upon a time there lived a cobra inside a hole beside a tree. The tree was close to a village and whenever the locals used to pass by, the snake used to attack and bite them all. Needless to say they were all very scared to go near the tree and generally avoided that route because of the wicked snake.

Now one day, a holy man named Hafiz was passing by the tree and being new to these parts, he decided to rest under it. So he put his little knapsack down and settled down for a nice nap. The snake slithered out of his hole in the ground and was surprised to see the man there.

In great anger he slid over and was about to bite him when Hafiz instantly awoke and asked him - "Brother snake why do you wish to bite me? Didi I hurt you in any way?"
The snake was confused and replied "er no," then went on to say "but you're sitting under my tree and I'm going to bite you because of that. I do not like sharing my space."

Hafiz laughed at the snake and then asked him "Eventually my brother, we are all going to leave this place, will this tree go along with you?"
The snake was astonished at the holy man's fearlessness and asked him-"Are you not afraid of me? I am going to kill you in a moment."Hafiz replied " Death comes to us all, anyday, any time, you do not scare me."
The snake felt some remorse. For the first time as far as he could remember, he stopped, he did not bite..

He then told the man" Sir I only bite the people who pass by because of fear. If I dont hurt them first, they will hurt or kill me, so to prevent that, I bite them all so that I can be safe."

The Holy man talked of compassion, of kindness, of love to the snake and the snake resolved never to bite anyone ever again. In a while Hafiz walked away on his own mystic journey.The snake looked back at the village and the people in the distance, little children, running, playing happily and tears welled up in hs eyes. He felt love and compassion for the first time in his life. He resolved again never to hurt another soul, no matter what.

One year later Hafiz passed by the same tree again and was absolutely shocked to see the snake lying pityfully, ragged like a broken tattered rope near his hole in the ground. He tended to the snake and healed him in time, giving him medicenes and water and food. When he was able to speak, the snake cried in the old mans arms saying "Holy sir, I did what you asked of me and see what became of me as a result. I loved these people I never harmed or bit anybody and they lost their fear of me. They then started to do whatever they felt like. They threw stones at me, burnt my home in the ground and the children even used me for a skipping rope. Why sir? Is this what happens to the compassionate?"

The Holy man paused in thought for a moment and smiled at the snake. He told him"My brother, I asked you not to hurt anyone,that is correct, but I did not ask you to allow others to hurt you or do wrong to you. Compassion is strength not a weakness where you allow others to walk all over you. To allow something wrong to occur is a weakness and promotes that wrong-doing. I told you not to bite, however, I did not tell you not to hiss."

The snake understood and from then on got back to normalcy in his life. He never bit anyone again but he began hissing at passers by. Eventually people tread carefully when passing by. Children did not attempt to hurt the snake and he acquired a respect he never knew before. He learnt the meaning of true compassionthat it is a source of strength and an expression of love. He lived the rest of his life in peace.


We have all been like that snake some time in our lives have'nt we? Going to extremes, bite or be bitten and later on in remorse, we allow other mouths to bite us back. Until we learn the meaning of balance, we keep swaying with our swords and shields, attacking and defending, to and fro, back and forth and the drama never ends. But balance compassion as your strength and then you have something unique flowering in the cave of your heart.

I was embroiled in a situation recently where I was far too passive with someone I knew and cared about very much. Unfortunately there was a lot of negativity coming at me and I did not allow this person the opportunity to know that this was wrong and destructive to the both of us. As a result this person lost all respect for me. It was wrong on my part, I should have stood up for myself and spoken when I had to. I should have drawn the line about what was acceptable when it was needed. true compassion would have compelled me to point out an error in judgement and save this person much guilt in the future. I held back because of fear of loss of the relationship and herein lay my mistake. But I learnt the lesson this relationship had to offer.

I believe that love or compassion should not be allowed to disguise once's weaknesses. If you allow pain and suffering to others and what we never care to acknowledge - ourselves, then it cannot be true love or compassion. This form of compassion or love is tainted with fear-a fear of loss or a fear of not having one's desires fulfilled. As long as fear exists, how can love be pure? True love and true compassion will enrich our own awareness and that of those around us; They give rise to courage - to act when necessary and thereby allow any negativity if present, to come to an end in time.

May we have faith in ourselves and in everything we set out to do.

There is the fear that we shan't prove worthy in the eyes of someone who knows us at least as well as we know ourselves. That is the fear of God. And there is the fear of Man- fear that men won't understand us and we shall be cut off from them. --Robert Frost

If you don't love yourself, you cannot love others. You will not be able to love others. If you have no compassion for yourself then you are not able of developing compassion for others. (Dalai Lama)

Dawn

Dawn

Sunlight penetrates through vapours of green tea swirling before me.

Could this day be the beginning of the rest of my life?

The sky deepest blue, mysterious, ever-present,

spread flat as far as my eyes can see.

Possibilities lie ahead,

A multitude of chances, how many by chance?

Which way will I turn, what choices will I make?

Who will I meet? Whose life will I touch today?

Will an Angel pass me by?

Through the night have I awaited

this moment, this morn, this day.

Rain? Snow?

will the heat of the sun melt

all cold of the night before,

even that inherent in my own shadow?

So many questions,

I can wait no more

Oh, I must venture forth

The future must be met,

ready world, here I come!