Saturday, September 5, 2015

Rev. Priscilla Dross Marcial - Silence

photo Julius Shulman


 When Silence speaks,
very few listen; some say:
“there is no one there!”
to Silence, is she still there?

Silence speaks to your soul
it speaks, it loves, it caresses,
silence is the best healer
as very few know
her foe.

Silence is beautiful
silence is her soul,
when silence and I
married,
I knew I was no longer alone.

In every minute, every second
Silence is with my soul.
Be still my soul, be still
my love, as silence speaks
She speaks of love, she speaks of friendship
Be still while silence speaks..

Silence and me, we never part,
so listen closely and quietly
as silence speaks, she wants to
let you know, Silence is still there! 

Written by: Rev. Priscilla Dross Marcial
Monday, November 27, 2006



Hafiz - My Sweet, Crushed Angel



You have not danced so badly, my dear,
Trying to hold hands with the Beautiful One.
You have waltzed with great style,
My sweet, crushed angel,
To have ever neared God's heart at all.
Our Partner is notoriously difficult to follow,
And even His best musicians are not always easy
To hear.
So what if the music has stopped for a while.
So what
If the price of admission to the Divine
Is out of reach tonight.
So what, my dear,
If you do not have the ante to gamble for Real Love.
The mind and the body are famous
For holding the heart ransom,
But Hafiz knows the Beloved's eternal habits.
Have patience,
For He will not be able to resist your longing
For Long.
You have not danced so badly, my dear,
Trying to kiss the Beautiful One.
You have actually waltzed with tremendous style,
O my sweet,
O my sweet crushed angel.
 
 
 

Matisha - Speak No Words/This Is To You



Speak No Words
 
Speak no words
let the conversation be between
the rising and falling of the breath.
Here, everything a soul would say finds expression.
Hear, that song your eyes tell you of instantly
in the eyes of the Beloved, beloved.
Do you remember the gift,
the gift that is given each moment
you hold your gaze right here?
"It’s so timeless," you say.
And in our meeting, grace rains down,
joy leads the way!
Speak no words,
the conversation is the rising and falling...

Matisha ~ Winter 1996/'97
© 1997 Matisha 




 This Is To You


This is to you,
heart of love’s soaring flight,
sky-color of essence unfolding...

Moments like these are timeless blessings of a silent union,
a union whose song is heard throughout the universe.
Oh Beloved! Dissolve any tendency to see another.
Only One in all this feeling and seeing,
hearing, breathing and being.
It is more precious than
any of us know,
this living
we have.
I am
open
to be the love,
beauty and radiance
I have searched for in countless
eyes, sunsets, worlds. No sooner had I
given up, surrendered being here, than I heard
that song of Home resound through me, and your face
became the brightest light in the night sky. This is just how it is.
Once unreachable peaks--now valleys, where we meet
the ones we already love.

Matisha ~*~ 1997
© 1997 Matisha
(from the The Beloved's Gaze) 

Source: Song of Home
 

Art by Ram Onkar 
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Friday, September 4, 2015

Nisargadatta Maharaj - Bliss



The ever-awaited first moment was the moment when I was convinced 
that I was not an individual at all. 
The idea of my individuality had set me burning so far. 
The scalding pain was beyond my capacity to endure; 
but there is not even a trace of it now, I am no more an individual. 
There is nothing to limit my being now. 
The ever present anxiety and the gloom have vanished and now I am all beatitude, 
pure knowledge, pure consciousness.... I am ever free now. 
I am all bliss, sans spite, sans fear. 
This beatific conscious form of mine now knows no bounds. 
I belong to all and everyone is mine. 
The "all" are but my own individuations, 
and these together go to make up my beatific being.... 
Bliss reclines on the bed of bliss. 
The repose itself has turned into bliss. 



Kalidas - The Mind Like a Firefly




This mind, like a firefly, flashes into existence,
Just to call lovers of the Dark One!
Having been summoned into my beloved Kali,
Her Blackness so mystical, so absorbing,
The mind disappears in Her like a candle dropping
     into the midnight ocean,
Even the cry of ecstasy is lost in Her depths.
Yet those who gaze into Her unfathomable Void
     take on a glow that those with sight can see!
How sublime to reflect Her Dark Light!
How sublime to share Her grace-filled gifts!
Extinguish your self in Her this very instant!
She has waited so long, so patiently
to embrace you,  Her Beloved.


Rumi - Stormy sea of Love



I was going to tell you my story but waves of pain drowned my voice. I tried to utter a word but my thoughts became fragile and shattered like glass. Even the largest ship can capsize in the stormy sea of love, let alone my feeble boat which shattered to pieces leaving me nothing but a strip of wood to hold on to. Small and helpless, rising to heaven on one wave of love and falling with the next I don’t even know if I am or I am not. When I think I am, I find myself worthless, when I think I am not, I find my value. Like my thoughts, I die and rise again each day so how can I doubt the resurrection? Tired of hunting for love in the world, at last I surrender in the valley of love and become free.





Ravidas - The Name alone is the Truth



The Name alone is the Truth, O Ravidas, It was true in the beginning and shall remain true in the end. It destroyeth all sins and sufferings, and is, indeed, the mine of all true Bliss. Steeped in meditation with one-pointed attention, practice devotion to God, O Ravidas. Let the automatic repetition be continued within, reverberating Sat Naam. When concentration merges into the true Name, and becomes one with It, then one obtains the Supreme Bliss. The lamp burns inside, O Ravidas, and Divine Bliss arises within. You are me, and I am You -- what is the difference between us? We are like gold and the bracelet, or water and the waves. If I did not commit any sins, O Infinite Lord, how would You have acquired the name, 'Redeemer of sinners'? You are my Master, the Inner-knower, Searcher of hearts. The servant is known by his God, and the Lord and Master is known by His servant. Grant me the wisdom to worship and adore You with my body. O Ravi Daas, one who understands that the Lord is equally in all, is very rare.

 

 

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Rumi - The beauty we love



Today, like every other day, we wake up empty and frightened. 
Don’t open the door to the study and begin reading. 
Take down a musical instrument. 
Let the beauty we love be what we do. 
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground



Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Julie (Light Omega) - The Oneness of the One




That which is outside is as that which is inside.
That which is above is as that which is below.


THE ONENESS OF THE ONE
by Julie



That which is limitless has no name and no measure.  Therefore it may be called nameless, faceless, formless, and beyond definition.  However, that which is infinite includes all definitions within itself, even as it is beyond them.  The limitless One is both personal and impersonal.  It is consciousness that is a Being in the sense of having will or intentionality, self-awareness, and the capacity to love, and it is consciousness that is in everything and that IS everything.

As a soul, one has a predilection to relate to one or another aspect of the Divine being of the One, because the essence of each soul partakes of the essence of the Divine One in unique and particular ways.  So does every other soul relate to its own perceived facet of the One, whether personal or impersonal, finding that facet or essence within itself and recognizing it as true.  There can therefore be no exclusive principle that eliminates This from That, one aspect of divinity from another, for they are all contained within the Oneness.  It is only the ongoing consciousness of duality brought about by the structure of thought and the process of naming, that requires that we say the One is a This or a That.

In the West, many have rejected the heritage of their familial or childhood religions, finding these too repressive, restrictive, guilt-evoking, or just limited in truth.  In the search for greater truth many, today, have moved toward Eastern religions which have offered some alternatives to the original childhood dilemmas.  And so the pattern of exclusion has become embedded in the need to reject what felt like it was 'less' true in favor of what was 'more' true, when, in fact, the original truth had not been perceived and had been buried under external controls and requirements.

The One does not care for names and labels.  As a self-aware consciousness that includes all and that embraces all, this Divinity exists both in a relationship of love with each and every individual soul, and exists AS PART OF each and every soul.  There is no difference in value between inner and outer, for both are parts of the One, and both form the truth of Divine being.

The need to reject or select out part of the Whole to embrace as a central feature of one's identity does not come from truth, but from a search for self-definition which has been accompanied by a need for healing.  Out of this authentic search and the wish to avoid further pain or disillusionment, a partial grasping of the One is sought and held too steadfastly, excluding all others.  But the end-result of this is only a  temporary end-result, for ultimately, the individual consciousness will need to embrace its limitations and perceive that all are One, all are part of the One, and the One contains all within Itself.

The words 'immanent' and 'transcendent' have been used to describe the orientation of particular religions and their primary focus, and these are good words – words that describe God within and God beyond.  But these words also lead to a polarization of different parts of the One into segments that cannot easily be reconciled.

'Immanence' relates to the Divine presence or Divine holiness within each and every living thing that is part of the One.  'Transcendence' refers to God the Creator who is beyond all living things and beyond all non-living things as well, who is contained within everything and yet who is greater than this everything, 
having given rise to it.

To select out 'immanence' or 'transcendence' as the basis for choosing a spiritual path is part of what it means to be seeking.  It is part of what it means to search deeply within oneself for what creates an authentic experience of Divine reality and truth.  But it is not the whole.  For the whole cannot be comprehended by the words 'immanence' and 'transcendence' which are just words, and as words, create another duality.  No, the one IS both immanent and transcendent.  And is beyond either.

The function of prayer has brought people and cultures into relationship with the Divine that is transcendent.  These are often relationships of the heart in which the seeker or lover asks to exist in a relationship of love and blessing with the Beloved.   Prayer can only be addressed to a divine Being – to One who it is presumed can listen and respond.  Prayer cannot be addressed to an anonymous universe or to a universal Spirit.

The function of meditation has brought people and cultures into relationship with the Divine that is immanent – the Divine within.  These are relationships in which ordinary consciousness learns to let go of its external referents and acquires the capacity to reflect and merge with the larger consciousness of One
 of which it is a part.

Both prayer and meditation can bring us into understanding the oneness of the One, the non-exclusiveness of mind and heart, of consciousness and being, of immanence and transcendence.  They can form the foundation for knowing that the One is all and everything, beyond words, beyond formulations, beyond every thought that we might conceive of it.  And yet that same One is as close to us as our own breath; as knowing of us as our own tears; and as much a part of the center of who we are as any other attribute that we give to ourselves – in fact more so.  Thus the oneness of the One can be perceived as being within all, and can also be perceived as being beyond all - the beloved One who is the source of Life itself and who IS Life itself in all its mysterious manifestations.
 
 





The winged Ηeart - A Sufi song



~A Sufi Song~

The winged heart is a heart rising to God,
immersed in a single-minded quality of surrender and devotion. 
For such a heart there is but one Beloved,
and all other beloveds are part of this One.
For such a heart there is only one goal,
and all other goals are part of this as well.
For such a heart there is only one Relationship,
and all others derive from this One.

Nakedly celebrating its rapture in being close
to the One who is All, the heart that has wings
seeks to spread its wings to embrace more and more
of the Beloved, and also to uplift
and carry others upward on the Journey to the One.

The crescent in the heart is the sliver of moon
that is responsive to the light of the Sun,
reflecting more and more of this light
until it becomes a completely Full Moon.
The five-pointed Star is the Divine light itself
that finds a place to live within the heart
and that causes it to respond.

Embracing all forms of spiritual touch,
all forms of mystical joining,
the winged heart represents to mankind,
the lover that seeks the Beloved,
the seeker that seeks the Truth,
the heart of the beloved that seeks to be free.