Kundalini Splendor

Passenger Pigeon

I never met Martha nor any of her kin.
She died alone a century ago,
outliving parents, brothers and sisters,
cousins, uncles and aunts.

Once she and her tribe numbered
in the tens of hundreds of millions
and darkened the sky
in their passing.

All too soon they flew to that further shore,
singly and in pairs,
in dozens and thousands.
She was the last to join them.

We are all passing that way, of course
sooner rather than later,
drivers and passengers alike,
hurrying to some imagined better place.

But if we could slow down enough
we might look a little more kindly
on all that we are passing
and all that is passing us.

I take refuge in our shared awakening.
I take refuge in that which is.
I take refuge in the community of all beings.
Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha!

- Larry Robinson

In recent years, I have seldom followed mantra meditation, preferring subtle movements while standing.  However, I was drawn to this one, which is, in fact, one of the most famous and repeated of all.  It is taken from the Heart Sutra, a central Buddhist text.  When I said it aloud, I felt sweet, soft energies flow within, and realized that this repetition could, indeed, keep us in touch with the Beloved Within, in a most gentle way.  As I repeated it, my arms lifted spontaneously into various positions, like body mudras.

Here are two translations of the text:

'Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha' 

"Going, going, 

going on beyond, 

always going on beyond, 

always becoming Buddha." (from the Heart of the Prajna Paramita Sutra)

And another translation:

Gone, Gone, Gone beyond Gone utterly beyond

Gone, Gone, Gone beyond Gone utterly beyond

Gone, Gone, Gone beyond Gone utterly beyond

Oh what an Awakening (sometimes rendered as "Hail, Enlightenment!)

(Here is some further explanation from the Heart Sutra:)

For this reason, amidst emptiness there are no appearances,
nor are there any impressions, thoughts, associations and knowing,
There is no eye, ear, nose, tongue, touch, ideas.
There are no colors, sounds, smells,
tastes and touch dharmas.
There is no eye-element up to no imagining nor knowledge element.
Neither is any non-understanding,
nor is there any end to non-understanding up to no old-age and death.
Neither is there any end to old-age and death.
There is no suffering, cause, extinction or path.
There is no knowledge nor anything to find.

Because there isn’t anything to find. . .

(Personally, I do not think you must fully understand this series of seeming contradictions to respond to the vibrations themselves, for these operate with or without a literal understanding of the words.  For me, they seem to reflect the state of consciousness we enter when we are in touch with the Beloved, who indeed is nameless, formless, etc., and comes to us as pure bliss.)