Chuck Surface - Only Heaven remains

If you're thinking of all you've read,
The many Paths to God,
Or realization of the Self,
All the many fingers...

Pointing to Heaven...

Think until thinking does no good,
Until the tepid water of "knowledge",
Fails to satisfy the Heart's Desire,
For Divine Intoxication...

And the Thirst for Wine consumes you.

Then Feel...
Feel what it is,
That cannot be found by thought,
Cannot be found in any location...

Cannot, as an object, be described.

And along this Path of Feeling,
Never stop and declare, “This is it!”
Opening a stall in the spiritual marketplace,
And speaking with certitude and authority...

The Way, the "truth", and the Light.

Rather... wait…
Wait...
Until the one who would declare,
Vanishes, along with… Everything.

And only Heaven remains.

And when you and the world return,
Rest in the ever available Presence,
Of Formless Pure Being,
Shining from the Sun of your Heart...

Into your Manifest Experience.

Then... if you would do the world a favor,
Resist the temptation,
To pour the Inexpressible,
Into an existing mold...

Or a new one of your creating.

If you must speak of it,
Do so in Love and Compassion,
And, from a Vessel empty of yourself...

Let... Her... pour.

www.GardenOfTheBeloved.com
www.facebook.com/InTheGardenOfTheBeloved

William Blake - The Divine Image

To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
All pray in their distress;
And to these virtues of delight
Return their thankfulness.

For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
Is God, our father dear,
And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
Is Man, his child and care.

For Mercy has a human heart,
Pity a human face,
And Love, the human form divine,
And Peace, the human dress.

Then every man, of every clime,
That prays in his distress,
Prays to the human form divine,
Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace.

And all must love the human form,
In heathen, turk, or jew;
Where Mercy, Love, & Pity dwell
There God is dwelling too.

Rafael Stoneman - Heart of Advaita

Like the fangs of a wild beast
dug into the meat of prey
this mind has clutched onto
shadows of its own image

empty this vessel of mind
leaving only the urge to pray
for the love that is pure Heart
free of comparative forms

to spend a moment defending
what is True is untruth
for Truth is Self-evident

rather than argue for or against
the Reality that Is
simply be what is Real
and let It speak for Itself

draw not attention to this form
rather let all praise be for That
the One that we ecstatically call
Krishna, Allah, Jesus, or Buddha

let not a contest repeat for it is
no different than war
and the center of competition
is division, the cornerstone of duality

devotion is not a means to an end
for it is not a process of joining two
or remaining separate but rather
devotion is the fruit of non-duality
for where there is One without another
there is the sweet totality of Self-love

who else but the One that understands
and knows It’s own Absolute Oneness
could selflessly embrace and love
all that appears as Its own Self

this Supreme Devotion is not the
devotion of duality, where there is
a sense of a lover over here and the
Beloved over there, but rather the
non-dual devotion where only the
Beloved remains Alone, this is the
Heart of Advaita

it is folly to imagine that separation
can exist in the One. That One is All
and All is That One. to quibble about
It being personal or impersonal is the
mark of duality, the essence of ignorance

Krishna whispered in my innermost ear
just now: “Hey friend, I am not a person
and neither are you. All is pure consciousness.
And guess what? That means there is only
Krishna Consciousness, not a You and a Me.
Feel free to call it Christ Consciousness
or Shiva Shakti or Buddha Mind or Allah Awareness.
It makes no difference what you call It
because It is prior to all descriptions of It.
Now realize that this is your very own voice whispering
to you and enjoy the appearance of dualistic
relationships as the play of One consciousness.”

Farid ud-Din Attar - A reason to live and love

art: DaniaArts

Whoever received an atom of this pain of Love
For him both yesterday and tomorrow become today

Everything we see is really One
The months, the years are all just a day.

A thousand centuries have passed us by
Yet this pain forever haunts us in the same way

Whoever embarks on the search for a friend
Must burn in this fire and wait;
But each day he burns, is his day to celebrate
I see only an atom of this pain
Whose sweet sting
Has reached the depth
Of everything

This pain is nothing else
That the one that stokes the fire of Love;
This is the pain of that secret
That offers us a reason to live and love

Jacopone da Todi - Made one with the Lord.

As air becomes the medium for light when the sun rises,
And as wax melts from the heat of fire,
So the soul drawn to that light is resplendent,
Feels self melt away,
Its will and actions no longer its own.
So clear is the imprint of God
That the soul, conquered, is conqueror;
Annihilated, it lives in triumph.

What happens to the drop of wine
That you pour into the sea?
Does it remain itself, unchanged?
It is as if it never existed.
So it is with the soul: Love drinks it in,
It is united with Truth,
Its old nature fades away,
It is no longer master of itself.

The soul wills and yet does not will:
Its will belongs to Another.
It has eyes only for this beauty;
It no longer seeks to possess, as was its wont --
It lacks the strength to possess such sweetness.
The base of this highest of peaks
Is founded on nichil,
Shaped nothingness, made one with the Lord.
English version by Serge and Elizabeth Hughes

http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/

Amrit Desai - I am That

"I have no plan for my life
I accept the plan life has for me.
I follow that plan and what it provides me moment to moment.

I am not the roles I play in following the plan.
I am the witness of all that I interact with in my life.
I was a child, an adult, and will soon be an old man.
I was a son, a brother, a huband, a father and a grandfather.
I was an artist, a businessman, a yogi, a guru and a friend.

I have been healthy, sick, successful, a failure, awake and asleep.
Behind all those changing experiences, I am the changeless consciousness that is constantly present.
I am that I am, in spite of the changes that "I am" experiences.
I am That.

My present is pregnant with all my past.
My future unfolds from the way I live my present.
My being manifests in the present.
I am present.
I am at home in the eternal now, living the plan life has for me.

— Amrit Desai (from In the Presence of a Master: Amrit Desai, by Christine (editor) Deslauriers)

http://www.amritdesai.com/

Naomi Stone - Song of Creativity

the creative flow of energy
welling up
overflowing
from the heart
expressing
through caressing palms
flights of the soul
on wings of color
sweeping tender strokes
brushing by
touching
melting and mingling into music
sweet sighs scattering seeds
seeking a place to blossom
and become
an eternal spring

a radiant light in the womb
deep
in a mystical night
beyond sight
streaming into
an aching softness
a sacred
surrendering
melting
in a glowing cloud
of unknowing
swirling and flowing
as
revelations
of love
creating a universe
of a pure
unimaginable
beauty

art  Rassouli

https://newoma.wordpress.com/