The end of all our exploring.....

"The end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time"

-------T.S. Eliot

(The above is quoted from some book I read a few years ago. I wrote down the quote but did not record the Title and Author of the book).

The Clay Jug

"Inside this clay jug there are canyons and pine mountains,
and the maker of canyons and pine mountains!

All seven oceans are inside,
and hundreds of millions of stars.

The acid that tests gold is there,
and the one who judges jewels.

And the music from the string no one touches,
and the source of all water.

If you want the truth,
I will tell you the truth:

Friend, listen: the God whom I love is inside."


-----------------Kabir

Quote from "The Soul is here for it's own joy. Sacred poems from many cultures." Edited by Robert Bly. The Eco Press, Hopewell, NJ 08525. 1995. ISBN 0-88001-355-9.

Walt Whitman's wise words.

"This is what you should do: Love the earth and sun and animals,
despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks,
stand up for the stupide and crazy,
devote your income and labour to others, hate tyrants,............
have patience and indulgence toward the people,...........
reexamine all you have been told in school or church or in any book,
dismiss what insults your very soul,
and your flesh shall become a great poem"

----------Walt Whitman

(This is a beautiful quote.....I wish I had recorded it's source.....it's from one of the books I read in April 2003. I have not posted the full quote here.)

Difficulties

Friends, please tell me what I can
do about this mud world
I keep spinning out of myself!

I gave up expensive clothes,
and bought a robe,
But I noticed one day that the cloth
was well-woven.

So I bought some burlap, but I still
Throw it elegantly over my left shoulder.

I stopped being a sexual elephant,
And now I discover that I'm
angry a lot.

I finally gave up anger,
and now I notice
I am greedy all day.

I worked hard at dissolving greed,
and now I am proud of myself.

When the mind wants to break it's link
with the world
It still holds on to one thing.

Kabir says: Listen, my friend,
There are very few that find the path!

------Kabir

Quoted form a Book, edited by Robert Bly: "The Soul is here for it's own joy. Sacred poems from many cultures." The Ecco Press, Hopewell, N.J. 1995. ISBN 0-88001-355-9

Who makes these changes?

Who makes these changes?
I shoot an arrow right
It lands left.
I ride after a deer and find myself
chased by a hog.
I plot to get what I want
and end up in prison.
I dig pits to trap others
and fall in.

I should be suspicious of what I want.

-------Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks

Quoted from a book Edited by Robert Bly: "The soul is here for it's own joy. Sacred poems from many cultures." The Ecco Press, Hopewell, N.J. 08525. 1995. ISBN 0-88001-355-9.

"I" and "you"

"I" and "you" focus light
like decorative holes cut
in a landscape.
But there is only One Light.


"I" and "you" throw a
thin veil between
heaven and earth.
Lift the veil and all
creeds and theologies disappear.


When "I" and "you" vanish,
how can I tell whether I am
in a mosue, a synagogue
a church, or an observatory?

------Shabistary

Quoted from a book by Neil Dougls-Klotz: "The Sufi Book of Life. 99 Pathways of the Heart for the Modern Dervish". Published by Penguin Group, New York. 2005. ISBN 014-21-9635-5.

"It's the first breath of spring

But do I smell a garden

Or the aroma of two friends meeting?"



----by Saadi , a Sufi



Quoted from a book by Neil Dougls-Klotz: "The Sufi Book of Life. 99 Pathways of the Heart for the Modern Dervish". Published by Penguin Group, New York. 2005. ISBN 014-21-9635-5.