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August 2, 2010

I’m still running  behind so will keep commentary to a minimum. Suffice to say that from my perspective, these readings fit beautifully together.

26.

The heavy is the root of the light.
The unmoved is the source of all movement.

Thus the master travels all day
without leaving home.
However splendid the views,
she stays serenely in herself.

Why should the lord of the country
flit about like a fool?
If you let yourself be blown to and fro,
you lose touch with your root.
If you let restlessness move you,
you lose touch with who you are.

This verse reminded me of  the story of  Satyakama and Gautama told in the Upanishads.  The version I read at class comes from the Vedanta Press edition by Sw. Prabhavananda and Frederick Manchester.  I think Satyakama perfectly embodies the understanding contained in the above verse. See what you think:

One day the boy Satyakama came to his mother and said: “Mother, I want to be a religious student. What is my family name?”

“My son,” replied his mother, “I do not know. In my youth I was a servant and worked in many places. I do not know who was your father. I am Jabala, and you are Satyakama. Call yourself Satyakama Jabala.”

Thereupon the boy went to Gautama and asked to be accepted as a student. “Of what family are you, my lad?” inquired the sage.

Satyakama relied: “I asked my mother what my family name was and she answered: ‘I do not know. In my youth I was a servant and worked in many places. I do not know who was your father. I am Jabala, and you are Satyakama. Call yourself Satyakama Jabala!’ I am therefore Satyakama Jabala, sir.”

Then said the sage: “None but a true Brahmin would have spoken thus. Go and fetch fuel, for I will teach you. You have not swerved from the truth.”

After initiating Satkakama, the sage gave him four hundred lean and sickly cattle, saying, “Take good care of these my lad.” The boy promptly drove them toward the forest, vowing to himself that he would not return until they numbered a thousand. He dwelt in the forest for many years, and when the cattle had increased to a thousand, the bull of the herd approached him and said, “Satyakama, we have become a herd of one thousand. Do you now lead us to the house of your master, and I will teach you one foot of Brahman.”

“Speak out, please,” said Satyakama.

Then said the bull: “The east is a part of the Lord and so is the west; the south is a part of the Lord and so is the north. The four cardinal points form a foot of Brahman. Fire will teach you another.”

On the following day, Satyakama began his journey. Toward evening he lit a fire and heard a voice saying, “Satyakama, I will teach you one foot of Brahman. This earth is a portion of Brahman. The sky and the heavens are portions of him. The ocean is a portion of him. All these form a foot of Brahman. A swan will teach you another.”

Satyakama continued his journey. One the following evening a swan came to him and said: “I have come to teach you one foot of Brahman. This lighted fire before you is part of Brahman, and likewise the moon; the lightning too is a part. All these form a foot of Brahman. A loon will teach you another.”

The next evening a loon came and said: “I will teach you one foot of Brahman. Breath is a part of Brahman, sight is a part, hearing is a part, mind is a part. All these form a foot of Brahman.”

At last the youth arrived at the home of his master and reverently presented himself before him. As soon as Gautama saw him, he exclaimed: “My son, your face shines like a knower of Brahman. By whom were you taught?”

“By beings other than men,” replied Satyakama, “but I desire that you too should teach me. For I have heard from the wise that the knowledge that the Guru imparts will alone lead to the supreme good.”

Then the sage taught him that knowledge and left nothing out.”

And we leave the final word to Sheik Nasrudin, as told by Christina Feldman and Jack Kornfield in Stories of the Spirit, Stories of the Heart.

Mulla Nasrudin used to stand in the street on market-days, to be pointed out as an idiot.

No matter how often people offered him a large and a small coin, he always chose the smaller piece.

One day a kindly man said to him: “Mulla, you should take the bigger coin. Then you will have more money and people will no longer be able to make a laughing-stock of you.”

“That might be true,” said Nasrudin, “but if I always take the larger, people will stop offering me money to prove that I am more idiotic than they are. Then I would have no money at all.”

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July 26, 2010

This weeks reading from the Tao Te Ching is a beautiful evocation of the Sacred Feminine, aka mother of the universe. As I explained in last week’s post, my blogging is running behind so I’m only posting texts we read at class.  I’ll be spinning commentary again before too long. In the meantime, if you weren’t at class, you’ll have to connect the dots…

25.

There was something formless and perfect
before the universe was born.
It is serene. Empty.
Solitary. Unchanging.
Infinite Eternally present.
It is the mother of the universe.
For lack of a better name,
I call it Tao.

It flows through all things,
inside and outside, and returns
to the origin of all things.

The Tao is great.
The universe is great.
Earth is great.
Man is great.
These are the four great powers.

Man follows the earth.
Earth follows the universe.
The universe follows the Tao.
The Tao follows only itself.

This reading inspired me to open the Devi Gita. I have several translations of this text. This is from Sw. Satyananda Saraswati’s version. Which is not the most sublime or scholarly. But is probably the most heartfelt. I pulled randomly, just to give another perspective on the Mother…

15-29.

Why are all your thoughts so filled with anxiety, when the auspicious Goddess of the Universe…is awake….She radiated like ten million suns, and again like the coolness of ten million moons….That Light was equal to ten million bolts of lightening, reflecting the highest Love. There was nothing above it, nor nothing below it, neither was there anything other in the middle from its origin…It had no beginning, nor had it an end. It had neither hands nor other limbs attached to its body….

And the last word goes to Mary Oliver…

“Just a minute,” said a voice in the weeds.
So I stood still
in the day’s exquisite morning light
and so I didn’t crush with my great feet
any small or unusual thing just happening to pass by
where I was passing by
on my way to the blueberry fields,
and maybe it was the toad
and maybe it was the June beetle
and maybe it was the pink and tender worm
who does his work without limbs or eyes
and does it well
or maybe it was the walking stick, still frail
and walking humbly by, looking for a tree,
or maybe, like Blake’s wondrous meeting, it was
the elves, carrying one of their own
on a rose-petal coffin away, away
into the deep grasses. After awhile
the quaintest voice said, “Thank you.” And then there was silence.
For the rest, I would keep you wondering.

by

July 19, 2010

Here are readings from this week’s class —
You’ll notice no commentary from me on this post or on July 26th. Sorry about that. If you weren’t at class, you’ll have to fill in the blanks. I hope to get back to more in-depth posting  in August.

24.
He who stands on tiptoe
doesn’t stand firm.
He who rushes around doesn’t go far.
He who tries to shine
dims his own light.
he who defines himself
can’t know who he really is.
He who has power over others
can’t empower himself.
He who clings to his work
will create nothing that endures.
If you want to accord with the Tao,
just do your job, then let go.

[Tao Te Ching, version by Stephen Mitchell]

Brenda Ueland, If You Want To Write

….I am saying that all people have in them this power to write greatly and well, when they express freely and carelessly what is true to THEM. If I did not tell you that, if like most teachers and critics I just said: “Now, this is really good! Study this! and praised it to the skies, then you would try to write like it. And then it would not be any good at all. No, write from yourself…..

And perhaps I can explain here what I think is the difference between the human ego and the Divine ego. By self-confidence and boldness I do not mean conceit (the human ego). Conceit is very different. It is a static state where you rest on some past (or fancied) accomplishment. Then you rest on your oars and say to all (in so many words): “Look at me. I did that!”  But self-confidence never rests, but is always working and striving, and it is new and better. I think that is why boasting is vaguely disagreeable and one always regrets it…

But you never regret your sense of power and understanding inside, i.e. the Divine ego.  And this should always be increasing…. thousands and thousands of people, all people, have the same light in them, have their own creative power in them, if they would only come to see it, respect it and let it out.

Swami Muktananda, Where Are You Going?

There was a great seeker named Bullah Shah. For forty years he studied many religions and philosophies and took initiation from every teacher he came across. Yet he did not make any progress. The only thing he attained was a mind filled with doubts and a head burdened with the knowledge he had received from so many scriptures and teachers. Finally, his head became so heavy with knowledge that he could not hold it straight. One day a friend asked him what was wrong.

“Oh friend,” said Bullah Shah, “how can I describe my condition to you? I am carrying around so much weight and I cannot get rid of it.”

The friend said, “I know someone who can help you,” and he took Bullah Shah to the great Siddha, Inayat Shah.

“O sir,” said the friend, “here is a man who has studied all the philosophies and is carrying an enormous weight of learning in his head. If you could help him to discard some of it, he would  be very grateful to you.”

“All right,” the master said to Bullah Shah. “Leave your bundle of books somewhere else and spend some time with me.” So Bullah Shah stayed and after a few days, Inayat Shah touched him. In that instant all the weight Bullah Shah carried was lifted.

When he returned home, he threw away all his books and began to tell everyone he met that peace and bliss lie within, not in books or temples or mosques. “You cannot find God in scriptures or in holy places,” he would say. “Do not bother with those things. Just turn within and you will find God.”

When the orthodox teachers heard what Bullah Shah was saying, they all turned against him. They called a great assembly and summoned him to come before it.

“Bullah Shah,” they said, “you have been speaking against religion. You have committed a great sin.”

“If I have committed a sin, then surely I should be feeling pain,” said Bullah Shah. “But instead of pain, I am feeling joy, all my agony has left  me. If I have committed a sin, what punishment have you prescribed for me?”

“For your heresy, we are going to brand your body with a red-hot iron bar,” said the priests. “There is no worse sin than heresy.”

“I will accept this punishment, but first let me ask you something. Suppose that a religious teacher told an innocent person that if he followed a certain practice, he might attain something tomorrow, or in one year, or in ten years, and in this way, forty years went by and that poor seeker did not attain anything from the teacher. What punishment would you prescribe for such a teacher?”

“That would be a horrible sin!” they said. “If someone who has nothing to give makes others work for nothing, his body should be branded in twenty places.”

“Do you all agree with that?” asked Bullah Shah.

“Yes, we do,” said the priests.

“All of you deceived me for forty years. You made me study various scriptures and you forced me to practice techniques and rituals, yet I did not receive anything. So all of your bodies should be burned instead of mine.”

by

July 12, 2010

Class returned to PCYH this week.  A joyous homecoming.  PCYH holds so many great memories. We held the first Devi Yoga unTraining here. And before that, so many incredible workshops and retreats. The incomparable Devi Raves happened here. Along with Bliss Cafe and outdoor fire ceremonies. It is very good to be back.

Here’s this week’s reading:

23.
Express yourself completely,
then keep quiet.
Be like the forces of nature:
when it blows, there is only wind;
when it rains, there is only rain;
when the clouds pass, the sun shines through.

If you open yourself to the Tao,
you are at one with the Tao
and you can embody it completely.
If you open yourself to insight,
you are at one with insight,
and you can use it completely.
If you open yourself to loss,
you are at one with loss
and you can accept it completely.

Open yourself to the Tao,
then trust your natural responses;
and everything will fall into place.

The Tao Te Ching is truly a sublime text. It expresses the most profound with utter simplicity and ease.  What it doesn’t do though is offer step-by-step instructions for how one actually opens to the Tao.  It’s like an impressionistic painting. We can sense the truth pulsing through the lines. We can feel uplifted as we read. And in all of that, there is opening into the vast open space called Tao.   However, if we want a hands-on guide, I suspect Patanjali-Yoga-Sutra is the text to go to. It’s offers more of a paint-by-numbers approach. And I don’t mean that in a flip way. It’s one of the most concise and essential collections of practical and experiential psychology I’ve ever encountered.  Whereas Tao Te Ching inspires us to open into our Tao nature, Patanjali explains exactly how to do this.  Here are few sutras from the first chapter. I read these at class to complement the main reading. At this point, I’m more interested in showing parallels between what Tao Te Ching calls Tao and Yoga calls Self.  We’ll be diving into this text when we complete our journey through the Tao Te Ching.

1,2
Yoga is experienced in that mind which has ceased to identify itself with its vacillating waves of perception [aka thoughts].

1,3
When this happens, then the Seer is revealed, resting in its own essential nature, and one realizes the True Self.

1, 48
Therein dwells a luminous wisdom that upholds the essence of truth.

1,51
When the mind becomes free from obstruction, all vacillations cease, and the mind becomes absorbed into spirit…. Thus a new mind is born of this wisdom….

I couldn’t leave off these readings without quoting a few lines from Shankaracharya’s  Six Stanzas on Salvation.  The Tao Te Ching suggests, Patanjali-Yoga-Sutra advises, and Shankaracharya is simply there:

Shankaracharya Six Stanzas on Salvation

1.
I am neither the conscious nor the unconscious mind, neither intelligence nor ego, neither the ears nor the tongue not the senses of smell and sight, neither either nor air nor fire nor water nor earth, I am consciousness and bliss. I am Shiva! I am Shiva!

6.
I am without thought, without form. I am all-pervasive, I am everywhere, yet I am beyond all senses. I am neither detachment nor salvation nor anything that could be measured. I am consciousness and bliss. I am Shiva! I am Shiva!

by

June 28, 2010

Click here to listen to SG chanting the mantra On Namah Shivaya.

(There’s a slight pause before the music begins.)

This week’s chapter from the Tao Te Ching was particularly lovely.  I love these lines from the second section:  “Because he doesn’t display himself, people can see his light. Because he has nothing to prove, people can trust his words.” At this stage in my own life, I have to say, these are the qualities I seek within myself. Everything else seems like dust.

22.

If you want to become whole,
let yourself be partial.
If you want to become straight,
let yourself be crooked.
If you want to become full,
let yourself be empty.
If you want to be reborn,
let yourself die.
If you want to be given everything,
give everything up.

The Master, by residing in the Tao,
sets an example for all beings.
Because he doesn’t display himself,
people can see his light.
Because he has nothing to prove,
people can trust his words.
Because he doesn’t know who he is,
people recognize themselves in him.
Because he has no goal in mind,
everything he does succeeds.

When the ancient Masters said,
“If you want to be given everything,
give everything up,”
they weren’t using empty phrases.
Only in being lived by the Tao
can you be truly yourself.

We also read this passage from Lex Hixon’s book on the world’s wisdom traditions, Coming Home. This is from the introduction. He’s describing his take on enlightenment.  During the 80’s and 90’s, we saw so many “enlightened masters” fall, I gave up on that particular quest. It struck me as dissociated from the psycho/emotional realm and in that way, irrelevant for our time and place.  But I like what Lex has to say here and was happy to share it as part of our riff non-duality…

Enlightenment is the awakening to our primal harmony…to our rootedness in the Divine. From Enlightenment radiate the insight, compassion, and power needed to resolve individual and collective human problems as they continue to arise endlessly. Enlightenment is not a magical transcendence of the human condition but the full flowering of humanity—disclosing unity and equilibrium at the heart of the love and suffering we call life. All existence is revealed to the Enlightened human being as a seamless whole…. Some taste of this Enlightenment…is possible for each of us. It need not be deferred to any future existence in heaven or on earth. Enlightenment is the secret essence of our consciousness, and the gradual revelation of this essence is the process of spiritual growth in which everyone is involved.

As usual, I think Mary Oliver says it best. I thought these two poems were particularly apropos of our discussion at this week’s class. I’ve read them over and over again and each time, another shard of light leaps from the page…

1.

So

This morning
the dogs
were romping and stomping
on their nailed feet —

they had hemmed in
a little thing —
a field mouse —
so I picked it up

and held it
in the purse of my hands,
where it was safe —
but it turned

on the blank face
of my thumb —
in a burst
of seedy teeth

it sprinkled
my whole body with sudden
nails of pain.
The dogs

were long gone —
so under
an old pine tree,
on the spicy needles,

I put it down,
and dashed away.
for an instant
the whole world

was still.
Then the wind
fluttered its wrists, a
sweet music as usual,

though as usual I could not tell
whether it was about caring or not caring
that it tossed itself around, in the boughs of light,
and sang.

2.

The Dog Has Run Off Again

and I should start shouting his name
and clapping my hands,
but it has been raining all night
and the narrow creek has risen
is a tawny turbulence is rushing along
over the mossy stones
is surging forward
with sweet loopy music
and therefore I don’t want to entangle it
with my own voice
calling summoning
my little dog to hurry back
look the sunlight and the shadows are chasing each other
listen how the wind swirls and leaps and dives up and down
who am I to summon his hard and happy body
his four white feet that love to wheel and pedal
through the dark leaves
to come back to walk by my side, obedient.

Tonight’s class was the last in my Kingston studio. We reconvene on Monday, July 12 at PCYH ( www.princetonyoga.com )

by

June 21, 2010

Where last week’s verse pushed some buttons, this week’s soars into the heart. It also blends beautifully with Ramprasad/Lex Hixon’s See all in her and her as all.  Try reading them out loud, interspersing verses back and forth. And see if you don’t begin feeling that upsurge of bliss described in the Shiva Sutras as udyamo bhairavaha...

21.
The Master keeps her mind
always at one with the Tao;
that is what gives her radiance.

The Tao is ungraspable.
How can her mind be at one with it?
Because she doesn’t cling to ideas.

The Tao is dark and unfathomable.
How can it make her radiant?
because she lets it.

Since before time and space were,
the Tao is.
It is beyond is and is not.
How do I know this is true?
I look inside myself and see.

Here is  Ramprasad’s  [version from Lex Hixon]
See all in her and her as all:

The Mother of the Universe
captivates every world with her beauty.
Her long hair streams as waves of cosmic energy.
This drunken poet has fallen forever in love
with her glorious black luminosity.
Mystic union with her transcendent blackness
is experienced by intense lovers.
This blackness even exhilarates Shiva,
supreme Knower of Reality,
and inspires as well every heavenly being,
ever ardent saint, every awakened sage.

Lord Shiva, essence of divinity,
meditates on her black form ceaselessly
as she dances in his heart.
Her beautiful blackness flows
as the graceful play of Krishna,
who removed all notions of mundane existence
from ecstatic milkmaids,
souls filled with sweet devotion.
Then Lord Krishna, garlanded with wildflowers,
transforms once more into original Kali,
wielding her sword of wisdom
that cuts away the veil of multiplicity.

The Black Goddess and her companions
are eternally sixteen timelessly dancing.
How my mysterious Mother shines,
full moon of Goddess Wisdom that never wanes,
surrounded by these piercing stars,
her revolutionary spiritual children!

Utterly lost in delight, her poet lover sings:
“This is the dawning of enlightenment,
the awakening to nonduality.
Her form and every form are now blending
into one radiant blackness.
O mind, despise no being, reject no path.
See all in her and her as all.”

And lest you still hunger for teachings that celebrate the unitive vision, here is Swami Muktananda, quoted from his wonderful book, Where Are You Going?

The Source of All Our Joy

Nothing in the world is greater than the Self. All out joy, all our inspiration, and all our strengths come from the Self. In fact, the Self contains everything in the universe. You will experience this when you turn within and see it in meditation….

The Self is our dearest friend. It exists inside us in its fullness, right within the heart. Thought the Self is always with us, it is so subtle that most people cannot see or hear it. The Self is the formless substratum of everything, the foundation of our lives. We cannot see it through the eyes, nor can we attain it through speech. The tongue can speak about it, but the true description of its nature is silence.

The Self cannot be attained through the mind or through the senses. Yet when the …[mind is]… purified through meditation, it reveals itself on its own… Just by meditating peacefully, we can make the Self manifest before us….

In India there lived a great Sufi named Hazrat Basjid Bastami. When he was young, Bastami set out on a pilgrimage to Mecca. On his way he came upon a dervish. “Where are you going?” the dervish asked.
“To Mecca,” Bastami replied.
“Why?”
“To see God.”
“How much money do you have?”
“Four hundred gold dinars.”
“Give them to me,” said the dervish. He took the money and put it in his pocket. Then he said, “What will you do in Mecca? You will simply walk around the sacred rock seven times Instead of doing that, walk around me seven times. Bastami did as he was told. “Now you can leave,” the dervish said. “You have achieved your purpose. But first let me tell you something. Since the day Mecca was built, God has never dwelled there. But since the heart was created, God has never left it. Go home and meditate.”

Whoever has attained God has attained Him within the human heart. The heart is the greatest temple of God.


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June 14, 2010

This verse elicited a full spectrum of responses: sheer annoyance at the language, confusion in trying to unpack the meaning, uplift in the presence of the sublime …  On one level, it’s strangely cryptic; on another,  all too obvious. It seems to have a different character from previous verses. I wondered if Mitchell struggled with his translation. Even the commentary he offers seems to throw up its hands in the presence of this verse.  Which suggests we might be right inside the Mystery here —  or perhaps not.  Living with these verses over the last 21 weeks, I find the teachings — I almost want to call them suggestions — finding their place inside me in a very gentle way. Very satisfying. Not too demanding. And yet filled with such bounty and grace. Enjoy.  [Or not…]
20.
Stop thinking, and end your problems.
What difference between yes and no?
What difference between success and failure?
Must you value what others value,
avoid what others avoid?
How ridiculous!
Other people are excited,
as though they were at a parade.
I alone don’t care.
I alone am expressionless,
like an infant before it can smile.
Other people have what they need;
I alone possess nothing.
I alone drift about,
like someone without a home.
I am an idiot, my mind is so empty.
Other people are bright;
I alone am dark.
Other people are sharp;
I alone am dull.
Other people have a purpose;
I alone don’t know.
I drift like a wave on the ocean,
I blow as aimless at the wind.
I am different from ordinary people.
I drink from the Great Mother’s breasts.
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June 7, 2010

This week’s reading from the Tao Te Ching is less cryptic than last week’s

19.

Throw away holiness and wisdom,
 and people will be a hundred times happier.
 Throw away morality and justice, and people will do the right thing.
 Throw away industry and profit,
 and there won’t be any thieves.
 If these three aren’t enough,
 just stay at the center of the circle.
 and let all things take their course.

Of course, when disaster strikes — like, for instance, what’s happening (and tragically, what’s not happening quickly enough) in the Gulf of Mexico — one questions the notion of letting all things take their course. Needless to say, this verse refers more to our inner stance than our outer action. It’s less about letting all things take their course, more about not becoming all wound up when things take a course we disapprove of. Doesn’t mean we should be passive spectators.  Far from it. In the language of Devi Yoga, it’s about allowing our action to arise from pure stillness. That’s the action that does no harm. That’s the action that’s empowered by truth. That’s the staying at the center of the circle.

This wonderful poem by the Zen master Ryokan offers a rather tongue-in-cheek version of this teaching. The English translation is by John Stevens:

The I Ching States Happiness Lies in the Proper Blend of:
Hot-cold
good-bad
black-white
beautiful-ugly
large-small
wisdom-foolishness
long-short
brightness-darkness
high-low
partial-whole
relaxation-quickness
increase-decrease
purity-filth
slow-fast.

Far and away, our favorite teaching of the evening came in this story:

There was a woman who woke up one morning,
looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head.
Well,” she said, “I think I’ll braid my hair today?”
So she did and she had a wonderful day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror
and saw that she had only two hairs on her head.
“H-M-M,” she said, “I think I’ll part my hair down the middle today?”
So she did and she had a grand day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head. “Well,” she said, “today I’m going to wear my hair in a pony tail.” So she did and she had a fun, fun day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn’t a single hair on her head. “YEA!” she exclaimed,
“I don’t have to fix my hair today!”

* * * * *

Let’s here it for living in that non-dual state that is absolutely extraordinarily awesomely powerfully masterfully the way that is the Way.

by

May 24, 2010

This week’s  reading from the Tao Te Ching strikes me as a kind of zen riddle  in the way it shakes up notions we tend to associate with “positive” ways of being.  See what it does to your mind:
18.
When the great Tao is forgotten,
goodness and piety appear.
When the body’s intelligence declines,
cleverness and knowledge step forth.
When there is no peace in the family,
filial piety begins.
When the country falls into chaos,
patriotism is born.
This reading inspired a conversation/contemplation about what happens when we lose touch with the pure ground of Self, and in that process get caught in the up/down, in/out, good/bad, right/wrong dance of dualistic thinking. This story, paraphrased from Baba Muktananda’s Where Are You Going? offers a lovely teaching on this theme:

In the state of Rajastan, in ancient India, lived a cobbler named Ravidas. Many people used to go to him and in his company, experienced great peace. One day the prime minister went, and returning to the palace, told the king, “There is a great saint living in the city. He will be able to give you some peace.”

The king was very unhappy. He had a great deal of wealth, power, and all the other things that make a person agitated. He had nothing that gave him peace. But when the prime minister suggested he go to Ravidas, he said, “He is a cobbler. How can a king ask for instructions from a cobbler?” But the prime minister persisted and the king finally agreed to go. Disguising himself he walked into Ravidas’s shop and said, “I am very unhappy and I lack peace. Please give me something that will bring peace to my heart.”

Ravidas  kept a stone pot full of water into which he dipped pieces of leather before he worked on them. He poured some of this water into a glass  and gave it to the king, saying,. “Drink this.”

The king was revolted by this water  which was dark red and smelled like leather. Pretending to drink, he poured it down his shirt, bowed to the saint, and left. Returning to the palace, he saw his shirt was badly stained so called the royal washerman to clean it. Surprised to see the royal shirt in such condition, the washerman made some inquiries and learned what had happened. Giving the shirt to his daughter, he explained what the king had done, and told her to wash it very well. The daughter, who  was very intelligent and  pure, knew Ravidas’s power. So she took the shirt and sucked out all the stains. Then she washed it and gave it back to her father to return to the king.

From that day on, the girl had very deep meditations. After a few years, she had attained such a state that people began to feel the same joy in her presence they felt in the company of Ravidas. Many went to receive her blessings, among the,  the prime minister. After he had seen her, he went to the king and said, “O Your Majesty, you are still so unhappy and agitated. Why don’t you go to that ecstatic girl and see if she can give you some peace?” The king was reluctant – after all, she was the daughter of a washerman – but in desperation, went to her room. Standing before her he said, “I am very unhappy. Please give me your blessing so that I can attain peace.”

The girl looked at him with great wonderment. “O Your Majesty,” she said. “Everything I have, I received from what you threw away. Everything I have, I obtained by sucking Ravidas’s water out of the shirt you gave my father to wash!”

Contemplating duality, I was moved to give Mary Oliver the final word.  I took a book of her poems down from the shelf and let it open randomly.  Having been out in the garden that morning cutting vase-fulls of peonies, that this was the poem that came… it was one of those perfect wonder moments. A lovely  reminder of the oneness beneath duality, always there, holding us in its luminous, if not always visible, embrace…

Peonies
-Mary Oliver

This morning the green fists of the peonies are getting ready
to break my heart
as the sun rises,

as the sun strokes them with his old, buttery fingers
and they open –
pools of lace,
white and pink—
and all day the black ants climb over them.

boring their deep and mysterious holes
into curls,
craving the sweet sap,
taking it away

to their dark, underground cities—
and all day
under the shifty wind,
as in a dance to the great wedding,

the flowers bend their bright bodies,
and tip their fragrance to the air,
and rise, their stems holding

all that dampness and recklessness
gladly and lightly,
and there it is again –
beauty the brave, the exemplary.

blazing open.
Do you love this world?
Do you cherish your humble and silky life?
Do you adore the green grass, with its terror beneath?

Do you also hurry, half-dressed and barefoot, into the garden
and softly,
and exclaiming of their dearness,
fill your arms with the white and pink flowers,

with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling,
their eagerness
to be wild and perfect for a moment, before they are
nothing, forever?

by

May 17, 2010

17.
When the Master governs, the people
are hardly aware that he exists.
Next best is the leader who is loved.
Next, one who is feared.
The worst is one who is despised.
If you don’t trust the people,
you make them untrustworthy.
The Master doesn’t talk, he acts.
When his work is done,
the people say, “Amazing:
we did it, all by ourselves!”