Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Poem by Jafar and a special day
I have united my heart with You.
O Lord, You alone exist.
Wherever I look, I find only You,
Beloved, for all beings exist
only through Your Being.
You abide fully within every heart,
whether Hindu or Muslim,
manifesting every form of devotion,
for You are all that exists.
by Jafar
This was a special day. I started out to go for a walk; in fact, I was planning to walk two or three miles along Boulder Creek. But as I started out, I went though the Naropa University building, where I paused to glance into the meditation room and the classrooms and also to look over their bulletin board. Then of course I stopped by the university bookstore. Already I was in a slightly altered state and feeling soft flows of blissful energy within.
I opened a book by Lex Hixon on the life of Ramakrishna ("Great Swan") and came across the beautiful poem above. It moved me at a deep level. It seemed to sum up everything--"Nothing more needs to be said," I thought to myself. I marveled at the many books and their many words, but I felt this simple poem summed up ultimate truth.
As I walked on toward the Creek path, I kept saying my mantra to myself--many people do this as devotional practice, but I have usually repeated the mantra only during times specifically set aside for such "practice." It was a day luminous with its own beauty. The weather was perfect, the sun radiant but not too hot. As I silently repeated my mantra, the bliss flows continued and it seemed as though each leaf and flower I glanced at amplified that effect. "I" and "it" were one.
For a few minutes, I sat alongside the stream and gazed at the stream in the picture above, where the water was rushing over the rocks. Once more, it was a transcendent moment.
On the way home, I stopped at a small Tibetan cafe and bought some carry out food to take home.
