The Reason for Everything

I came here for a reason...

I think maybe it had something

to do with finding a better job--

getting out of that miserable, smelly,

deli and doing something of real

value after years of, you know,

underemployment.

Or it might have been

because I wanted your help

with this book I've been

trying to write practically

my whole life--

to find the strength and

courage to finally gather all

my years of reading and research

and hours of meditation into

something that people will

want to read and become

transformed and fulfilled.

I'm almost certain

the reason might have had

something to do with being

old—like, you know—56!

and feeling like

nothing but divine intervention

was going to liberate me from

self imposed isolation,

a $9.50 an hour job and

a twelve year old Subaru

that might or might not

get me to work tomorrow.

But then, O Beloved,

I arrived at your door.

You invited me in.

You held me and kissed me.

And now, my love,

I can't for the life of me recall,

what it was that

I so desperately wanted,

and why it was so important.

MadhyaNandi

2010

                                                  The Light Under The Bushel

                                                      Feel the consciousness of each person as
                                                                          your own consciousness. 
                                                                     Vijnana Bhairava Tantra, vs. 106



This morning, between the front door and
  my old white Toyota,
  I discovered the
  brown smoggy sky
  was an endless meadow of
  lavender and sage-

I reached out my arm,
  which telescoped to
  macroscopic proportion,
  and drew a clutch
  of blossoms to my nose--
  Ah, how sweet a scent!

Do you ever notice
  how the afterburn of
  gasoline on a busy
  street can carry away
  your heart to a sun-
  drenched scene
  where you and your
  lover dance on a
  gazebo while musicians
  play waltzes and polkas
  on shiny brass horns
  and puffing accordions?

What is this world,
  where each step into
  a shopping mall or
  grocery feels like
  floating in a living
  sea of Chanel,
  swimming in an
  ocean of love's
  potion #9?

How came I to be
  so helplessly enraptured?
  Has my ecstasy a name
  to match her scent?

O my lover,
  (and I am laughing now),
  it is Me--
  only Me,
  all Me,
  How could
  there be any
  other?

You there,
  woman with strawberry
  hair and cherry lips--
  We are Me!

And Mister--
  yes, you with that
  little paunch and
  crooked smile--
  Me are We!

Oh, and how do YOU know?
  I hear you doubtful say.
  Such boldness,
  so forthright. 
  What presumption.

Thus, we shall share
  our secret,
  a very simple one,
  not so secret, really--

You see that man?
  Yes, him.
  And, those two women?
  Look at their eyes...

  Do you see?
  Can you see?
  The light in those eyes--
  all of them?

Yes, a light,
  and in everyone's
  eyes.

Beloved friends,
  I have seen this light,
  recognized the light,
  worshiped

  this light
  for what feels like
  a thousand lives
  and have realized
  a small, important thing:

There is only One Light.


Madhya Nandi