I am not I

Poems by Nobel Laureate Juan Ramon Jimenez

I Took Off Petal After Petal

I took off petal after petal, as if you were a rose,
in order to see your soul,
and I didn’t see it.

However, everything around—
horizons of fields and oceans—
everything, even what was infinite,
was filled with a perfume,
immense and living.

Full Moon

The door is open.
the cricket is singing.
Are you going around naked
in the fields?

Like an immortal water,
going in and out of everything.
Are you going around naked
in the air?

The basil is not asleep.
the ant is busy.
Are you going around naked
in the house?

I Am Not I

I am not I.
I am this one
Walking beside me whom I do not see.
Whom at times I manage to visit,
And at other times I forget.
The one who remains silent when I talk,
The one who forgives, sweet, when I hate,
The one who takes a walk when I am indoors,
The one who will remain standing when I die.

(I like the above the best :)))

Song offerings ...

---- selected poems from Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore -----

Clouds heap upon clouds and it darkens.
Ah, love, why dost thou let me wait outside at the door all alone?

In the busy moments of the noontide work I am with the crowd, but on this dark lonely day it is only for thee that I hope.

If thou showest me not thy face, if thou leavest me wholly aside, I know not how I am to pass these long, rainy hours.

I keep gazing on the far-away gloom of the sky,and my heart wanders wailing with the restless wind.

~~~~~
I came out alone on my way to my tryst. But who is this that follows me in the silent dark?

I move aside to avoid his presence but I escape him not.

He makes the dust rise from the earth with his swagger; he adds his loud voice to every word that I utter.

He is my own little self, my lord, he knows no shame; but I am ashamed to come to your door in his company.

~~~~~~

If thou speakest not I will fill my heart with thy silence and endure it. I will keep still and wait like the night with starry vigil and its head bent low with patience.

The morning will surely come, the darkness will vanish, and thy voice pour down in golden streams breaking through the sky.

Then thy words will take wing in songs from every one of my birds' nests, and thy melodies will br forth in flowers in all my forest groves.

~~~~~~~~~

Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads! Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut? Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee!

He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground and where the pathmaker is breaking stones. He is with them in sun and in shower, and his garment is covered with dust. Put of thy holy mantle and even like him come down on the dusty soil!

Deliverance? Where is this deliverance to be found? Our master himself has joyfully taken upon him the bonds of creation; he is bound with us all for ever.

Come out of thy meditations and leave aside thy flowers and incense! What harm is there if thy clothes become tattered and stained? Meet him and stand by him in toil and in sweat of thy brow.

Strength

--- extract from the Gospel of Strength by Swami Vivekanand ---

First step in getting strength is to uphold the Upanishads, and believe -
“I am the soul,”
“Me the sword cannot cut;
nor weapons pierce;
me the fire cannot burn;
me the air cannot dry;
I am the Omnipotent, I am the Omniscient.”
So repeat these blessed saving words and be strong.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You must know what you are , what your real nature is. You must become conscious of that infinite nature within. Then your bondage will burst.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Think all of you that you are the infinitely powerful Atman, and see what strength comes out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Knowledge is power,” says the proverb, does it not? It is through knowledge that power comes. Man has got to know that he is a man of infinite power and strength. Really he himself is by his own nature potent and omniscient. And this he must know. And the more he becomes conscious of his own Self, the more he manifests this power, and his bonds break and at last he becomes free.

-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The soul was never born and will never die, and all these ideas that we are going to die and are afraid to die are mere superstitions. And all such ideas as we can do this or cannot do that are superstitions. We can do everything. The Vedanta teaches men to have faith in themselves first... Not believing the glory of our own soul is what the Vedanta calls atheism. To many this is, no doubt, a terrible idea; and most of us think that this ideal can never be reached; but the Vedanta insists that it can be realised by everyone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Always talk and hear and reason about this Atman. By continuing to practice in this way, you will find in time that the Lion (Brahman) will wake up in you too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The self within is always shining forth resplendent. Turning away from that people say, “I”, “I”, “I”, with their attention held up by this material body, this queer cage of flesh and bones. This is the root cause of all weakness.

-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hear day and night that you are that Soul. Repeat it to yourselves day and night till it enters into your very veins, till it tingles in every drop of blood, till it is in your flesh and bone. Let the whole body be full of that one ideal, “I am the birthless, the deathless, the blissful, the omniscient, the omnipotent, ever-glorious Soul.” Think on it day and night; think on it till it becomes part and parcel of your life. Meditate upon it... All your actions will be magnified, transformed, deified, by the very power of the thought. If matter is powerful, thought is omnipotent. Bring this thought to bear upon your life, fill yourselves with the thought of your almightiness, your majesty and your glory.

- Swami Vivekanand

The hidden world

It's such a waste really, this whole business of living, so superfluous, so meaningless. This hankering after worldly things, for material pleasures, this running away from so-called pain. So completely are we hypnotised, so inextricable is our conditioning, so vicious is its grip on our psyche that we do not even think to look for anything else. For a different reality, for a more luminous possibility, for a truth so bright, for a self that is infinitely bigger than what we think it to be. For a vastness that contains everything, everything that we seek - love, peace, bliss. No, we do not seek these, we go only for the shiny glass pieces mistaking them for real gems while all the time it waits, in silence, in patience, for a shifting of our awareness. We get glimpses of this world, of this ineffable joy in brief, fleeting moments that we seek to grasp but pass too quickly. And so it waits, for us to shake off our hypnotic sleep and wake to reality, to truly live, to be truly ourselves…

Hope ...

Hope clings
as leaves
to the tips of trees -
bare-limbed
and shorn by autumn.

Hope floats,
buoys, uplifts
a heart
almost drowning,
gives it sails.

Hope flies
on the gossamer tip of
a dragonfly wing,
ethereal
yet enduring.

Hope rises
eternally,
every morning
as the sun,
even after the blackest night.

Hope triumphs
over despair
always,
every time.
It cannot be otherwise.

Hope flows
like a river
in search of the sea,
like a soul
in search of the source.

I am...

The Universe has
no purpose,
no direction,
no meaning,
it just IS...

It is our mind that seeks
purpose,
direction,
meaning,
where none exists...

If you ask a realised beggar,
"don't you want to be better off,
become something else?"
He would say,
"Why, what is wrong with me?
why change?
I already am.
Can't you see?
This being is immutable,
ageless,
can't be lost,
nor stolen,
not taken away.
I am Being.
I AM."