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My Quest For Bliss…..

My feet planted firmly on the slithering sands
Steadily trickling from the hourglass of my life
Enhance my awareness that every passing moment
Is a fresh opportunity to grab and make the most of it
Life is wonderful, cyclical, giving, withdrawing, is
Dictated by our past deeds,  but we can make amends,
Brighten our prospects by constantly goading self
To become purer in thoughts, deeds and actions

Dreams can be surreal, multi dimensional, and we can
Exist and fly freely in all realms weaving in and out
Have out of body experiences until suddenly the alarm
Goes off, and we are brought back to reality with a thud!!

I want to eat my cake and have it to and this I can do
By going inwards and experience the true self within, as
God inhabits my inner recesses, now I need not teeter from one
shrine to another in his quest, and see same pure soul in others.

Meditation suddenly gave me the whole world in scant time
Mighty oceans, bluer than blue skies, sea and sands all exist
Within and are within grasp, a true thirst was all that was needed
All cloudy doubts dissolved, washing whole being in sheer bliss

Now, I  experience the goose bumpy feel of the sands in my toes
And as the tides swirl all over me, my head can be in the clouds
Having a tete a tete with the stars and this surreal reality is all possible
As I know for a fact that god is within me, n where He is, all else IS!!!!!

The world stands out on either side
No wider than the heart is wide;
Above the world is stretched the sky,-
No higher than the soul is high.
-Edna St. Vincent Millay, Renascence, 1912

Cousins

We may not be of same mothers
But we share the same grandmother

Our bloodlines meet and then separate
Just like our features are faded carbons

We emanate from the same family tree
Trunk is the same yet, our boughs are free

Your environment is quite unalike mine
And we are as different as chalk and cheese

Your comfortable background made you a brat
And my middleclass values caused many a spat

We were friends and foes during those sweet and
Sour days of summers spent in grandparental retreat

Then days became months and months became years
We became not so mature adults and made our careers

Next came our marriages and we left our nests to live
With chosen partners and all was hunky-dory n festive

Soon your stubborn intractable nature tore your life asunder
You left for filial arms to lick your wounds and wonder

I stuck it out and dug in amidst heartbreak and compromise
As pride and parental duty forbid me from doing otherwise

You are now your own person and live life as you please
And I have my own kids and extended family to appease

All in all we did not do so bad, life is part happy and part sad
Recriminations gain nothing, going with the flow isn’t so bad

After all those years gone by, we are now strangely close friends,
As we are cousins after all and this is how our story happily ends.  
Every man sees in his relatives, and especially in his cousins, a series of grotesque caricatures of himself.
-H. L. Mencken
1880-1956, American Editor, Author, Critic, Humorist

The Lifeline

After the cord was severed
My quest began…

in early days…
Holding onto my security blanket
And my weather-beaten teddy bear
I was happy and content

Then dread set in….
School was alarming, with hair oiled combed
new uniform, shoes, bag, I found  Dutch courage
in mom’s kerchief wrapped prayer beads
and hit or miss, alternately faltering and cresting
the shaky waves of school years, I finally left them
behind, but now college loomed large….

And the dread dug deeper….
Stories of razing of new students filled me with horror
Facing and mingling with both sexes was unnerving
I met this challenge by making a pact with my god, vowing
If help was given to meet this challenge, I would become
a devotee for life and thus my heaving stomach steadied

now a rabid devotee making daily rounds of the church
I set forth to make my career in the field of science and
Genetic engineering where great strides were being made
Now I faced a conflict between god’s creation and manmade
Gene splicing and engineering and my soul cringed….

Is human suffering to be allowed as God’s will or  should
Action be taken to alleviate it and would that be against Him
My security blanket and lifeline were wearing thin and my
Quandary was great –finally after a deep soul searching
Contemplation, I realized that if these breakthroughs happen
Then, they are indeed God’s will as no leaf can turn without
His will and so be it!

My lifeline is strong and vibrant and will endure forever!
Science is not only compatible with spirituality,  it is a profound source of
Spirituality- Carl Sagan
The Demon-Haunted World:  Science as a Candle in the Dark

The Eye- A Gate Within and Without

the all seeing eye and our eternal journey

The eye, is a gate

going within-
it is a window to our soul….

going without

it is our window to the world..
my eye is a my personal window
the lower lid my own windowsill
where perched, I can venture out
and explore the beautiful world
Abovehead, I see the vast royal canopy
a limitless expanse of sparkling blue
a smattering of white clouds akin to the
frothy topping on a chocolate milkshake
straddling it, a golden shiny orb, the sun
then, at night this blue sky dons a black
garb and sewn on it are a myriad of gold
twinkling stars that surround a cool glowing moon
the whole sight fills me with wonder and awe
then as I glance down towards the horizon…
I see a wonderous world of deep oceans, limitless
Sands and rain forests and throbbing metropolises
Natural and manmade wonders, both vying for top spot
The lovely trees are natural fingers pointing towards
The heavens, inviting space and spiritual explorations,
The animals of all shades and sizes reinforce the
Existence and Omnipotency of their creator and ours
And of all that we behold and our curiosity then urges      
us to cross over the threshold of our eyes and enter
the world within….
we embark into the realm of spirituality, a journey like
the Great sages of yonder had undertaken, a voyage delving
within, the starting post of their own choosing, be it the holy
Mountains or the banks of the holy rivers or a solitary cave
but they all went within, trying their hardest to make sense
Of creation, the meaning and purpose of life and the ultimate
goal of our existence- as in daily life we all have goals that we
strive to achieve and once attained, we are rewarded amply by
our parents, teachers, superiors and mentors or bosses…and
On this spiritual journey, the end is truly a state of nirvana
An all encompassing state of bliss, the opening of the third eye
And the rising of inner soul towards the head and the seat
Of all intelligence and we become one with the Almighty
Just like a drop of water loses itself into a stream and stream
Becomes one with the river,the river joins ocean to becomes one-
Such is our journey within, where we finally
Realize
our soul is part and parcel of god and we become self LESS!!!

Every one of us has in him a continent of undiscovered character.
Blessed is he who acts the Columbus to his own soul.
-quoted in Words of Life. Edited by Charles L. Wallis
There is one spectacle grander than the sea, that is the sky;
there is one spectacle grander than the sky, that is the interor
of the soul.- Victor Hugo, Les Miserables, 1862
 

The Journey Of Life

Our journey from the womb to the tomb
regardless of what annals of history you comb
Corroborate, you are responsible for your own doom

blame not the vulture who is but a bird of prey
yet he is always true to its nature, happen what may
it is only homo sapiens who is easily led astray

Feel cozy and secure as might in the womb
It is only for nine months you can safely assume
then your past deeds will come into play and bloom

your life is dictated by your past thoughts and deeds
we all know, as you shall sow, so you shall reap
then, now, faced with adversity, why do you weep?

A picture is more eloquent than a thousand words
Pathos gets you in the gut, forwards and backwards
to make sense and beat this gloom i had to go inwards

My conclusion is that I can definitely write my own destiny
I only have to be true to myself, take courage and be bold n gutsy
Maintain purity in thought, action and intention without straying itsy-bitsy!!!

If we live good lives, the times are also good.  As we are, such are the times.
- St Augustine

You live only once, but if you work it right, once is enough.- Fred Allen

 

Life Is Beautiful

Get the yellow out of your jaundiced eye
Vigorously bid your lingering blues, bye-bye
At the end of the day my friend
Life is beautiful!

The shiny white light of the new dawn
Has swallowed the black gloom of night, gone
Clear the lines on your forehead my friend, as
Life is beautiful

Constant defeat has made your eyes hazy red
Yet the shiny thread of hope is almost overhead
Reach out and grasp it my friend, as
Life is beautiful

Dreams of gold and riches lie shattered in dust
Yet be certain the silver fairy will remove the rust
Hang on to hope my friend, as
Life is beautiful

Daily grind of meeting challenges are a brown morass
Which the new growing green grass will surely surpass
Jump up and climb out of this hole my friend, as
Life is beautiful

Gray clouds cover the azure skies of your horizon, you ask why
Briefly I say, for surely you will regain the patch of your blue sky
Be rest assured my friend, as
Life is beautiful

Daily, the sweat of your brow is endless, under the hot orange sun
Yet when day is done, night heralds a soothing moon as your beacon
Be full of cheer my friend, as
Life is beautiful

Heads or tails, nothing is static, life is cyclical and quite dynamic
Change is progress, seasons come seasons go, all sounds are rhythmic
Take courage and keep the faith my friend, as indeed
Life is beautiful
You wake up in the morning, and your purse is magically filled with twenty-four hours of unmanufactured tissue of the universe of your life! It is yours. It is the most precious of possessions. No one can take it from you. And no one receives either more or less than you receive. 
Author:   Thomas Arnold Bennett 

Sugarcoated Pill

We all wish to make nice
Say stuff full of sugar n spice

Life is of a different gauge
As it speaks another language

We understand this lingo really well
But to fit in, turn deaf and do not dwell

Heeding to inner voices can be rather dicey
So, we make nice and speak words  sugary n spicy

Gone are the days of innocent lovely childhood
Those halcyon days of hoarding shells n driftwood

On majority, the rose colored glasses become clear
Things appear for what they truly are and give fear

Like the morning sunlight puts a clear perspective
To night’s cloaking of matters to give a short reprieve

Yet we cannot keep running away, indefinitely
We have to accept reality without ignoring it blindly

We have to bite the bullet and call a spade a spade
Responsibility as adults demands we be not afraid

Weeding out societal ills needs a lot of gumption
And we have to meet this challenge and take action

Rise to the occasion and be a person of such ilk
Proving to oneself worthy of their mother’s milk

Dispensing judiciously to society, sugarcoated pills
Enabling you to rid it, of its many insidious ills

So, take courage and meet challenges head on
Dealing tactfully with a steel fist in a soft glove

You can’t run a society or cope with its problems if people are not held accountable for what they do. –John Leo, in US News & World Report

The Wall

the wall was strong and sturdy

the children always leaned against it
played and bounced balls off it
let their creativity run amok on it
when tired they rested in its shade
sometimes hung a basket to play
basketball and other games with it

it was always in the background
something to count on and lean on

then one day the children grew up
and jumped off the wall and left it

The wall still stayed put but now
appeared forlorn,woebegone and neglected
The wall had now eroded in places with the
passage of time and years of wear and tear

Rough usage had caused discoloration and
the bricks were  exposed desperately needing
a patch up and a paint job on the double
the wall needed strong reinforcements
to hold it upright and stay firm, in fact
young shoulders were needed to lean on

The wall stands for the parents who now need
their grown kids to lean on due to role reversal!!! 

We never know the love of the parent until we become parents ourselves.
-Henry Ward Beecher

Scare

Sometimes a real good scare
Is good for soul searching

Life passes by then like a
fast forward blockbuster movie

you see your past mistakes
clearly and accept them now

With grace, as admitting them to self
is rather hard and quite tough

you remember your near and dear ones
and ‘Eureka” the realization sinks in

That there are only a handful of folks
you care about and can count on

rest are “hail fellow well met kind”
That now you can actually separate

Just like grain from the chaff
Thus a good scare is a blessing

It is chastesizing and makes you see
the silver lining to this dark cloud.

thus even if you get a good scare of any
denomination, consider it a blessing!
In prosperity, our friends know us, in adversity,
we know our friends.- John Churton Collins

I like

to sniff the air after a cheery rain
to walk on streets that are wiped clean
see tree tops glistening with raindrops
that shimmer rainbow colors to bursting

the tree lined avenues are a painter’s delight
the sky having unburdened itself, sparkles blue
the golden sun is peeping out gradually but surely
Now that the rain has broomed and mopped the dust way

thirsty feathereds can now quench themselves
walkersby now have a spring in their gait
zipping cars now look squeaky spanky clean
Colorful umbrellas have now been folded away

lovers holding tight under a single umbrella
now spring apart sheepishly albeit reluctantly
And children play hopscotch and ball on pavements
making happy noises whooping with untrammeled pleasure

a wave of happiness courses through my feeble veins
adrenalin rush lends becoming blush to pale cheeks
all the days deadweight cares drop away easily
and things look hopeful and manageble once again

I am ready to face life once again
meet challenges with sagacity and skill
Old cares seem puny now and can be tackled
the world seems like my oyster!  

In every winter’s heart there is a quivering spring, and behind the veil of each night there is a smiling dawn-Kahlil Gibran 

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Copyright © 2007 Bina Gupta Poetry