posted March 18, 2009 06:57 AM              

The ghost laid a hand on the lifeless form
An hospice cart took a wrong turn
and spent eons making progress
through putrid seepage
Chandra, took a long drag on his suruttu
and drove a stick into an anthole...waiting.
Tamarind glass and slivers of citrine
in mandalas were on his mind
bystanders were swishing flies
Sabine, the french intern, had walked off
She couldn't take it anymore
The walls in the chambers of her heart
were thinning and threatening to split

Sick little child
had roasted in the sun
whilst supporting a burning fever
and waiting for his grandmother
to move up the line to the surgeon.
All the insufferable days
All the insipid poor sustenance
not a clean spoonful of water
no time to play
no slate for learning
Days full of collecting
...waste

Atchyut's mind had dispelled,
gravity was calling his bones
Metta was in attendance
and crying lambs had fuddled any contact
with esse
Siva was given a courteous prayer
Brahma put gold coins in the pockets
of the days to come for the infirmary

Atchyut's essence had a religious cloak
all of a sudden
his centre was compressed and taken
into a vibration.
On the other side
his centre opened
and fell outwards
in a flood of spreading sweet amber

"Prayer to Being - Let Us Contemplate"

~ Thayumanavar (Tamil philosopher, Hindu saint)

Eternal, Pure, Groundless, Death and Birth Free
Pervasive, ever Immaculate
Distant, Near, Enveloping Effulgence of Void,
The Support of all, the Fullness of Bliss.

The Cit-Form beyond thought and speech,
That which thus stood,
The Expanse Vast that generates Bliss
Let us contemplate.

As the Thought behind whatever thought the mind thinks,
Filling all things in undifferentiated accord
As their Life of Life;
Gushing forth the ambrosial waters of Divine Bliss
For the devotees true,
Revealing of Itself by giving Itself
As Formless and Attributeless,
That Great Siddhanta Light
That is the Benevolent ParaParam
Let us contemplate.

As expanse vast,
As the source of elements five
As the origin of the silentness vast,
As the Bliss that is beyond the reach
Of mind and categories rest,
As that which when revealed by Grace of Guru
Envelopes them in purity and yet recedes from them afar,
That which thus is immanent in all
That Substance
Let us contemplate.

The Life of Life of this world and that;
The kindred of them
That have lost the sense of I and mine;
The unattached perception
That is the Eternal Perfect Bliss.
The life that is void,
The matter that flows within the heart,
The triple-fruit delicious,
The candy sweet,
The ambrosia divine.
Let us seek that Substance
And with eyes streaming pearls of tears
And hands clasped in adoration
Let us contemplate.

No caste, no family, no birth, no death
No bondage, no liberation,
No form, no formlessness,
No name --
With name of all these,
The Light that moves all and everywhere
Immanent and pervasive,
The Pure Expanse Vast,
The Experience filled with turiya
Consciousness bereft of mentation
The Benevolent Substance that is the Finite Param,
In unalloyed Grace abounding
Let us contemplate.

"This world is but an Indrajal, a dream, a mirage.
And so realizing
May thou live eternally close to the Tatpara
That is not overwhelmed by Chitpara.
May the waters of Bliss flood your thoughts
Uninterrupted day after day" --

Thus did he the Guru Mauni bless me --
Those hallowed feet of his, day and night,
Let us contemplate.

As the Primal Substance of all
That are known as substances;
As the consciousness behind them.
As the nectar rich,
When bibed, end the miseries
Of the loving devotees that gain the perception lucid.
As the Perfect Bliss that makes no distinction

As existing within the Self and without.
As the Substance that shines
Dispelling darkness entire;
That Substance,
Let us in meekness adore.

As the crowning meaning of Vedas rare;
As the perfection beyond the perception of celestials;
Of munis great, siddhas pure and the rest.
As the treasure that transcends cause;
As the immanence of fragrance
In flower, oil in sesamum seed and life within.
As the great Substance
Ever abiding in the center of turiya consciousness of purity --
That Substance,
Let us adore.

As the Empty Spaces Vast
That contained within it
The sky and the rest of elements five;
As the Sea of Bliss
In the vision of those
Who saw with the eyes of jnana
As He who in compassion makes me
His own Self;
Lest I think of anything else,
For that God,
Whose benevolent Grace cherishing at heart
Let us raise our hands in adoration deep.

The Infinite Expanse that filled the heavens;
The Delicious Ambrosia that filled at once
The expanse of my mind and the expanse of nana;
Oh! Thou the Great One that is Bliss Perpetual.

With heart surging in love and melting within;
With words faltering in joyous confusion;
With eyes streaming tears
And hands folded in meekness,
Let us Thy Grace contemplate.

The Being Primal that has neither beginning nor end,
The foster mother that in endearment excessive reared me,
The righteous Guru that blesses,
The Certainty beyond thought
The Purity unalloyed,
The Holy of Holies,
The Object beyond the reach of contending faiths,
The Effulgences that stood as Void for the munis of silentness,
My life's dear support --

That I seek and adore
With tears gushing
And hands in reverence folded.

As (all that is denoted by) the alphabet entire beginning with "A",
And different from them too,
As (all that has form) the universe vast;
As all that bears description any
And (all that which) does not bear too;
As Param (the Pervasive);
And as beyond speech;
As Nana pure, untouched by doubts and changes;
As Purity:
As the peerless Pasu-Pati --

That Substance we seek.
And sighing deep in love exceeding
We contemplate.