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....everything feels liquid...........
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Unearthing the Vastness Within

'You are not what happens; you are the space in which it happens. You are not your thoughts; they come and go. You are the vastness in which these thoughts appear and disappear because underneath all your thinking there is the stillness of pure being,... pure consciousness, the timeless dimension of yourself.'
-Eckhart Tolle

Uncertainty

The hand reaches out of the window,
Yearning to touch the light in empty space,
Speckles of dust kiss the fingertips,
Leaving uncertainty between the nameless and the named.

The lover draws the loved one close,
Tasting her raw truth with his mouth,
A feeling of oneness envelopes him,
Leaving uncertainty between the human and divine.

You ask me to transcend this illusory reality,
Beyond this impermanent pleasure and pain,
Beyond this cycle of birth and death,
Beyond these transient surface waves.
...But when I feel Your Grace,
In this moment,
My world feels simplified.
Leaving no uncertainties,
Unwarranting faithless games,
For the spirit that moves
Through You and me,
Is
The same.

Sep, 15th
In the train, somewhere near Goa

Healing the Split

Recently, I was invited to write a paper, on 'The Future of Asian Cities' for an international conference. It somehow went beyond just the context of Asia; turning out to be a rather personal piece of writing, touching upon 'Nature, Art, Service and Spirituality' - some of the recurring themes of my life.

If inclined, you can read the entire paper here: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dd65pgjh_14hbts3hdm

Ode to Divine Nature

That night you sparked the all-consuming
Caress of light in the sky,
As if streaming awareness into the stars and trees,
While the moon bloomed brightly in my chest,
My body throbbed, as so did
The collective worlds of my experience;
My soul watered though without tears,
My mind trembled open as did the wings of a butterfly, though
Subdued in fears.

I thought I needed to know you, understand you,
In order to commune with you, yet always
Resisting your mystery;
But that night like a conquered lover,
Stabbed in a dark crevice of my aching spirit,
I had submitted to your esoteric power over me, while
You were gently drawing me closer to your core.

Alive, I stood in the tall woods, open and receptive,
As the moonlight held the trees in a tight embrace, and
The raindrops began to softly kiss the forest floor;
Emotions swelled up restless and taut,
Like lightening drifting from my head through toe;
Powerless and possessed I was reduced to water, melting,
Melting slow.

Like a river I began to flow wherever the wind would carry me,
Uncontrolled, undamed, unbridled;
Releasing the beauty of my soul, and
Drinking in the sweet secrets of your mystery;
I offered no resistance, no struggle, no doubts,
As I let myself go, I flowed...

Not trying to grasp you with my reason,
Not trying to protect,
Not trying to clench on to fragments of wisdom.
Rules didn't bind me,
Morality, I couldn't abide to anymore;
Like a wondrous river, with awe I dared into spaces never traveled before.

Uncontrolled, undamed, unbridled;
Learning you, tasting you, touching you constantly,
Feeling your truth with the openness of my soul;
I let myself surge forth, within and without,
Washing away, dissolving in the juices of my own ecstasy,
Till there was nothing to take, and nothing left to hold.

September 8th, Wayanad, Kerala

T..P..

He asked, "How are you doing, Nee?"
I replied, "I am good. Not exactly bursting with joy. But happy.
And you?"
"I'm good. Not exactly bursting with joy either. But bubbling with joy."
"Fizzzing ;-) "

PS: (T..P.. = Time Pass!!)

Fire and Smoke

Thinking gives off smoke to prove the existence of fire. A mystic sits inside the burning. There are wonderful shapes in rising smoke that imagination loves to watch. But it’s a mistake to leave the fire for that filmy sight. Stay here at the flame’s core. – Jalaluddin Rumi

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The Enlightened Frog

:) This one apppeared in National Geographic. Click to enlarge image

Uploader Comments: This is a Cuban tree frog on a tree in my backyard in southern Florida. How and why he ate this light is a mystery. It should be noted that at the time I was taking this photo, I thought this frog was dead, having cooked himself from the inside. I'm happy to say I was wrong. After a few shots he adjusted his position. So after I was finished shooting him, I pulled the light out of his mouth and he was fine. Actually, I might be crazy but I don't think he was very happy when I took his light away.

Blow Up Still Lakes

If you don't cut through into your pain, and let the pus out,
It might burst and spread inside you.
If it doesn't explode,
It might implode.
Incisions can be unsympathetic,
Tearing you open in agonizing spaces,
Like blowing up still lakes
Toward the unknown.
But then,
Mountains bathe in the richness of being
Before bursting into uncontrollable volcanoes;
While at soundless depths, oceans breathe in poetic stillness
Before erupting into voracious tsunamis.
So if nature prefers to unfold naturally,
Let-it-jus-be?
Savor, kiss, revel in the pain, till it has lived its full life,
Within?

Or ;-) prick...?

August 22nd, Ahmedabad

Nepenthes attenboroughii

This one's borrowed from Partha. It reminds me of sinister/morbid/curious conversations late into the moonlight, years back, with wondrous friends in Auroville Visiter Center. Wo....ov!

Rat-eating plant discovered
The plant is among the largest of all pitchers and is believed to be the largest meat-eating shrub, dissolving rats with acid-like enzymes.