A Reminder...

A Reminder... Pause!

When you're always in a hurry

If your heart is filled with worry

When the lines get blurry

If you witness some flashes of fury

Pause.

Pause my dear

Stop!

And rest, right here

When the world around seems dreary

Shoulders stooped and weary

The eyes perhaps bleary

Or even maybe teary

Pause.

Pause my dear

Rest right here

In that lap Divine

Sip

Of a sweet, fresh breath

Savoring each bit

Filling yourSelf

To the brim

Drink

Of that infinite fountain

That is YOU

Dance

To the tune

That only you can hear

Whirl and twirl

Soak in

That depth of Silence

Drown in

The ecstasy

The elixir

Find yourSelf

Find your Bliss

Deep within

 - 9/30/16

अनन्त, अनन्य | Infinite, Inimitable...

कुछ अधूरे पन्ने थे यही अक्षर बन रही थी स्याही कुछ अध् लिखे से बोल थे कुछ अध् बुने से ख्याल ना गलत ना सही	A few incomplete pages Ink forming letters in different stages Some unfinished lyrics perhaps A few unspoken thoughts with gaps Neither right nor wrong Who knew where they really belong
वे सफ़े बह  चुके हैं  आज ख़्वाहिशों के महल  ढह चुके हैं  आज	Those pages have evaporated today The palace of desires  Has crumbled like clay
ना कल से था ना कल से होगा अब कोई लगाव	Yesterday melted away Tomorrow’s sway has no say Attachment at bay
कोरे से कागज़ का ये पड़ाव इसी पल के रस का ऐसा खिंचाव	This blank canvas is a perfect pit-stop Making this very moment pop
अनन्त अनन्य आनन्द का ऐसा भाव शून्यता का प्रभाव कृतज्ञ अश्रुओं का  बहाव	Infinite Inimitable Joyous Bliss This hollow emptiness Gratitude that flows Just as it arises

- July 31, 2016

A Fractured Life

Messages…

So many messages

From a young age

At every possible stage

Bombarding me

Do this, but not that

Be like this, oh not that!

I was taught

To listen

To learn

To obey

Repercussions of failure

Filled me with dismay

Yes

There was love

There was joy

The usual ups and downs

They looked at me

With adoration, admiration

But I also noticed all the frowns

The acquisition

Of money, power, status, fame

I had to win

At this one and only game

I built my palace

In a new land of dreams

Brick by brick

Burying my inner voice

Layer by layer

Ignoring its desperate screams

Days and nights

Of incessant toils

Bringing home the spoils

Of stories weaved with care

How could I dare

To let the mask slip?

And then poof!

It all came crashing down
Burning and twisting my insides

The carnage spilling over

The end of that story

The fame and reflected glory

Was it

My race?

My religion?

My identity?

My beliefs or my capacity

To mutate

To fit in at all costs

To assimilate

What could make

This pain abate

What I wouldn't spend

To get out of this state

Or

Should I simply end

This Fractured Life?

And then I found

I had to lose it all

To hear that sound

Weak though it was

It was certainly still around

It took work

It took stillness

To unlearn unsee unhear

Old voices, old stories

Develop the courage to listen

A regular practice

To rechristen

My own story

As my songs of Union

Became the Voice

Heard-unheard

Seen-unseen

Felt, tasted, melted

And the me emptied unto the Me

The 'i' transformed into I

That encompassed all of infinity

I simply knew

A fractured life

In re-Union

Each moment

Is made whole anew

- January 27, 2016, Seattle