The way to you lies clearly in my heart

The way to You
lies clearly in my heart
and cannot be seen or known to the mind.
As my words turn to silence,
Your sweetness surrounds me.
-Hakim Sanai




-- from The Book of Everything: Journey of the Heart's Desire, by Hakim Sanai Al-Ghaznavi / Translated by Priya Hemenway

Share this on Facebook: Share

Saint John of the Cross - your soul is your church

http://ourbelovedearth.com/ecards/soul.html

Hafiz - "God eavesdrops"

God Eavesdrops

What an opportunity two hearts have whenever they talk.
For when our words are loving, playful and encouraging,
God cannot help but eavesdrop even more than usual.
And then, of course, the odds increase on the divine being
felt.

from A Year With Hafiz, Daily Contemplations
rendering by Daniel Ladinsky copyright 2009

Kabir: "A Great Pilgrimage"

A Great Pilgrimage

Kabir (c.1440-1518)

I felt in need of a great pilgrimage

so I sat still for three

days

and God came

to me.

Hafiz

Go for a walk, if it is not too dark.

Get some fresh air, try to smile.

Say something kind

To a safe-looking stranger, if one happens by.

You might as well attempt something real

Along this path:

Take your spouse or lover into your arms

The way you did when you first met.

Let tenderness pour from your eyes

The way the Sun gazes warmly on the earth.

Play a game with some children.

Extend yourself to a friend.

Sing a few ribald songs to your pets and plants–

Why not let them get drunk and wild on your friendship!

Let’s toast

Every rung we’ve climbed on Evolution’s ladder.

Whisper, “I love you! I love you!”

To the whole mad world.

Let’s stop reading about God–

We will never understand Him.

Jump to your feet, wave your fists,

Threaten and warn the whole Universe

That your heart can no longer live

Without real love!

~Hafiz, I Heard God Laughing: Poems of Hope and Joy

Saint Isaac of Syria

Saint Isaac of Syria (circa 7th century)
Nestorian monk from Beth Abhe on the Persian Gulf
Bishop of Nineveh (circa 660-680)

BE AT PEACE WITH YOUR OWN SOUL





Be at peace with your own soul
then heaven & earth will be at peace with you.

Enter eagerly into the treasure
house that is within you,

And you will see the things that are in heaven,
for there is but one single entry to them both.

The ladder that leads to the Kingdom
is hidden within your soul...

Dive into yourself and in your soul
and you will discover the stairs
by which to ascend.

Hafiz

GREAT POEMS

O Master, You are so gracious. After all these years You still
Remember who I am: the one who wears the dust of Your door like a crown.

Tell me, who taught You to be so generous to Your slaves?
Don't worry, I won't tell those spies who are watching Your every move.

O Holy Bird, please bless this path I'm on,
For I'm new to this traveling, and it's a long way I have to go.

O morning breeze, take my prayers to the Master,
And tell Him that each day I am on my knees at dawn.
I yearn for the day when I will leave this house and head out on the road.
When that day comes, friends will wonder where I've gone.

O give me the secret map to the place where I can drink wine with You,
For in that place only can I be drunk, and in my drunkenness be free.

Only great poems can capture the hearts of those who don't read;
So poets, sing! Let the God-of-Oceans fill your mouth with pearls.

O Hafiz, if you are seeking the pearl of union, do this:
From tears, make yourself an ocean and then dive!

Hafiz (1310-1369),Drunk on the Wine of the Beloved: Poems of Hafiz

Kabir: "The Time Before Death"

Friend, hope for the Guest while you are alive.
Jump into experience while you are alive!
Think... and think... while you are alive.
What you call "salvation" belongs to the time
before death.

If you don't break your ropes while you're alive,
do you think
ghosts will do it after?

The idea that the soul will rejoin with the ecstatic
just because the body is rotten--
that is all fantasy.
What is found now is found then.
If you find nothing now,
you will simply end up with an apartment in the
City of Death.

If you make love with the divine now, in the next
life you will have the face of satisfied desire.

So plunge into the truth, find out who the Teacher is,
Believe in the Great Sound!

Kabir says this: When the Guest is being searched for,
it is the intensity of the longing for the Guest that
does all the work.
Look at me, and you will see a slave of that intensity.

~Kabir, included in Ten Poems to Change Your Life

KABIR

f

I talk to my inner lover, and I say, why such rush?
We sense that there is some sort of spirit that loves
birds and animals and the ants –
perhaps the same one who gave a radiance to you
in your mother’s womb.
Is it logical you would be walking around entirely
orphaned now?
The truth is you turned away yourself,
and decided to go into the dark alone.
Now you are tangled up in others, and have forgotten
what you once knew,
and that’s why everything you do has some weird
failure in it.

– Kabir

Rabindranath Tagore

Go not to the temple to put flowers upon the feet of God, First fill your own house with the fragrance of Love.
Go not to the temple to light candles before the altar of God, First remove the darkness of sin from your heart.
Go not to the temple to bow down your head in prayer, First learn to bow in humility before your fellow men,
Go not to the temple to pray on bended kness , First bend down to lift someone who is downtrodden.
Go not to the temple to ask for forgiveness for your sins, First forgive from your heart those who have sinned against you.

----Rabindranath Tagore, The Heart of God: Prayers of Rabindranath Tagore

Robert Bly Reads Kabir

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

~Thomas Merton, The Collected Poems of Thomas Merton

It was lecture time and the Master said, "The

genius of a composer is found in the notes of his

music; but analyzing the notes will not reveal

his genius. The poet's greatness is contained in

his words; yet the study of his words will not

disclose his inspiration. God reveals himself in

creation; but scrutinize creation as minutely as

you wish, you will not find God, any more than

you will find the soul through careful examination

of your body."

At question time someone asked, "How then

shall we find God?"

"By looking at creation, not by analyzing it."

-Anthony de Mello, Awakening: Conversations with the Masters

Beloved, what do you want of me?
I contain all that was, and that is, and shall be,
I am filled with the all.
Take of me all you please --
if you want all of myself, I’ll not say no.
Tell me, beloved, what you want of me --
I am Love, who am filled with the all:
what you want,
we want, beloved --
tell us your desire nakedly

~ Marguerite Porete (1260-1310), quoted in Women in Praise of the Sacred

Translated by Gertrude Lowthian Bell 1897

" NOT one is filled with madness like to mine
In all the taverns! my soiled robe lies here,
There my neglected book, both pledged for wine.
With dust my heart is thick, that should be clear,
A glass to mirror forth the Great King's face;
One ray of light from out Thy dwelling-place
To pierce my night, oh God! and draw me near "

- Hafiz

Without Brushing My Hair

The

Closer

I get to you, Beloved,

The more I can see

It is just You and I all alone

In this

World.

I hear

A knock at my door,

Who else could it be,

So I rush without brushing

My hair.

For too

Many nights

I have begged for Your

Return

And what

Is the use of vanity

At this late hour, at this divine season,

That has now come to my folded

Knees?

If your love letters are true dear God

I will surrender myself to

Who you keep saying

I

Am.

~ Hafiz, The Garden of Heaven: Poems of Hafiz (Dover Thrift Editions)

"An active life is perfectly in keeping with Self-realization and divine service. What is needed is a total dedication of your entire life to Him. In all situations maintain a steady consciousness of Divinity within and about you. Do not harass your mind with thoughts of weakness. Infinite strength is within you. Drawing inspiration and power from this source, be cheerful and contented at all times. Let the name of the Lord dwell ever in your mind!”

- Swami Ramdas, The Essential Swami Ramdas (Library of Perennial Philosophy)

[Laila is "Divine Reality" in some of the Sufi traditions]

There is no sleeping when you see the face of Laila.
She fills the world,
And yet all the world is but a scent from Her fragrance.
She says...
"I live in everything,
But I return to be one.
I want you to be like me,
To be one, to be Laila,
In everything, in every moment, in every face.

~Sidi Shaykh Muhammad, Music of the Soul (Sufi Teachings)

"Words alone dont help. It is what God speaks in our hearts when we read or hear words that helps. That's why familiar passages from sacred scriptures often mean something new each time we re-read them. And that's why it never works for me to decide what someone else needs to hear. If i want to be of use today, I must focus on my feelings of connection with others, because God is heard within the experience of Love."

-Hugh Prather,
Spiritual Notes to Myself: Essential Wisdom for the 21st Century

Thomas Merton: a Prayer

“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you and I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing. And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road although I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death, I will not fear, for you are ever with me and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”

~ Thomas Merton,
Thomas Merton: Essential Writings (Modern Spiritual Masters Series)