FEATHERED HAT OF ARROGANCE

Where in lies the basis of your pride

Oh you foolish mind! 

How is it that you flaunt the feathered hat of arrogance?

Look at yourself in the mirror of life!

Shed your cloak of insensitivity!

Look at your own vulnerability!

Do you still see your pride?

Your human life is so fragile!

Like dew drops in the morning sun

Life can ebb away in an instant

In this worldly existence

Ego, disease and sorrow

Are inevitable!

From them; you can never run away! 

Can’t you see this blatant truth?

Wealth and wisdom, you may have today

But can they save you 

When your coffin is being carried away

Pleasure and passions may lure you

But beware of their treachery

Snared by sinister pleasure

 Craving becomes your master 

And your mind its mindless slave

The inferno of desire will rage on

Even as the ashes of your life get blown away

Power may give you prowess

And an illusion of apparent control

But as the circle of life moves on

And the table of time turns

Insecurity and sorrow are sure to follow

As power will always plough you down some day  

Oh you foolish mind!

Repent now! It’s not too late!

In this evanescent life

You are still lucky 

As you still have few more breaths to breathe

Give up anger, infatuation, and greed

 Ponder over your real nature

And you will see

That everything is essence-less

And this phenomenal world is but a fleeting dream

The ego is a mirage and duality an illusion

And you will see 

yourself in everyone

And everyone in yourself 

You in me; and me in you

One in all; all in one; and all in all 

The Ultimate one!

DON’T’ TAKE ME SERIOUSLY

Don’t take me seriously!

I am just another one!

One of those zillion beings

Who come and go!

In your struggle for life

In your ranting and raving

I’m just a passer by!

Our eyes meet by random

But now it’s time to move on!

My form is not commanding!

I am not famous!

I don’t have words to flatter you

Yet within me lies a secret

The secret of happiness!

Head held high with pride

A cold stare!

A colder heart!

Blinded to your own vulnerability

You my friend!

Politeness makes me refrain

To call you a blessed fool!

In this raging torrent of life

Can’t you see you!

You cannot make it across alone

Can’t you see! You are not separate!

You are not!

On some great pedestal

No one is below you

No one is above you

We are all equal!

Break free from the shell of your selfish ego

Be united in Love

Be secured in compassion

Only then

You shall know!

True Happiness!

Here and now

You shall know; true salvation!

But then! Dear friend

You don’t have to take me seriously!

WANING AWARENESS

Random is the thought of randomness

Blessed is the soul that breathes

Cast away beyond the galaxy’s junk yard

Slithering through the dunes of consciousness

Sudden truth explodes as realization!

From the sunshine of understanding

To the sin of pride

Knowledge is polluted with illusion

 As the mind is engulfed in flames

The unfettered ocean roars in a distant shore

As the figment of time withers and wilts

All alone, lost  in this  bubble of sentience

My lonesome awareness wanes!

COLOSSAL PRIDE

Head held high and looking down upon the world!

Oh proud friend! Looking down on the rest!

What is it, that gives your colossal Pride?

In this ever-changing world of flux and entropy

How long can you hide in comfort?  

Today!  The freshness of your beauty may charm many an eye

And prettiness and beauty may churn your pride

But in time when wrinkles wring your face

And no pretty veil can hide your forsaken fate

Will your pride be more than skin deep ?

Today you are young and healthy

Surrounded by friends and family

Respected by the  respectable

In you, happiness and completeness transiently reside !

But beware friend! You are not their permanent abode!  

When the arrow of disease strikes you

And the scorching old age, shrivels you up

When you are left helpless by the road;and all family has left you

No more possessions left with you , to be respected

What else will you be proud about?

Knowledge and experience!

And if luck serves you, even wisdom!

All of these seem to adorn you today!

But when the brain erodes with time, and the mind fades away

As you lie lonely and a forgotten, in a  bed of an uncanny institution

Will you be able to walk unassisted?

Unable to remember your very own name

Unable to say night from day

Unaware of your own soiling

Lying at the mercy of someone to clean you ! 

Will you still remember your wiser days with pride?  

Oh proud friend! In this ever-changing world of flux and entropy

What you have today; will vanish tomorrow!

Pride of possession and position ;  knowledge and beauty

Will they sustain you when are left dying!

Tell me dear friend!

Will they preserve your rotting flesh !

BAKER'S PRIDE

The aroma of freshly baked cake fills the evening air

The crispy smell of caramel as it forms the crust!

The rising dough! The mystical flavors!

The softness! The sweetness!

The tantalizing taste!

Oh! How dainty is my cake!

How dainty is the cake of my very own making!

As the softness melts in my mouth and the ecstasy overflows

As the wonderful taste seeps in; and invokes a feeling of pride

I pause a moment, and gently wonder

Did I strive in the vast fields of wheat, where once mighty forests stood?

Did I pollinate the vanilla flowers; and harvest its sapid pods

Did I churn the creamy butter, from the deprived milk of some miserable calf?

Did I lay the eggs, of those unborn chicks that ended up in the bowl?

Did I make the motherly oven!  Did I mastermind the canonical recipe?

Yet, having done none of these; I proudly call it my cake!

What of mine did I bake; to take all this credit?

Except for time and intention, what more did I contribute?

 Now as the exalted taste of cake merges with my new found insight

Humility is born and pride melts away; as I finally see , the whole universe, hidden within this cake!

THE MAST OF PRIDE

The mast of pride; now lies scattered on the ocean floor

His bloating corpse; now washed ashore

The headless captain; his brains soaked in gin

Sailing his ship of ego; riding the winds of sin

Seeking the land of glory; in his voyage of self conceit

 It  all seems hunky dory

But until the rock of truth strikes in

Now, as the  water fills his empty deck

And truth makes his ego crack

His self made crown, comes tumbling down

As he struggles to breathe, while his soul does drown

Now lost in the depths of emptiness

With no life left, even to feel his own loneliness

Rotting by the eddies in the ocean floor

His ego and soul lost to nothingness

What more use, can his life be  

Than to feed the hunger of some poor osedax worm!

LOST SOUL IN SELF PURSUIT

Oh lost soul! Seeking solace in self pursuit!

 How long can cunningness and greed feed you?

Oh maximizer of self and utility

 Time and luck had favored you  

When you picked the best of every pie

But, how long can your wiliness pay?

Behind a friendly mask you brew your  rancid selfishness

 Feeding fodder for the ears of the heretics

And sticking silent bleeders in every back

But how much higher can you climb in this ladder of hedonic life?

Fending the pointless bubble of your ego

In the tumultuous sea of impermanence

How long can you float in delusion

With only a false belief, in yourself!

When your hands are tied and heart is poisoned

Why be filled with so much self conceit?

Oh proud soul! Lost in the journey of life

Is it your slyness that makes you shy away from meeting eye to eye?

In your lost journey, will you not drown in your own loneliness?

Will you not choke on your pride?

Will you not strive for satisfaction?

When your self-made life is only filled with emptiness!   

Oh lost soul! Seeking solace in self pursuit

Will you not crave till you die?

SILENT WISDOM

If you can see the hidden shadow of sorrow,  behind the crescent of every smile

If you can feel the wounded heart bleeding,  behind the sharpened spear of anger

If you can see the darkened clouds of fear gathering,   before the ravaging storms of violence  

If you can see emptiness in all; and  fullness in all emptiness

If you can understand this wisdom and yet be keep your silence 

  

Can you still be proud my friend!    

LAZY LIZARD ON THE TEMPLE WALL

Oh lazy lizard on the temple wall! 

What makes you grip and not fall?

Is it faith that moved the mighty mountains, that holds you?

Does the gravity of desire, fool you?

You scaled the wondrous wall to worthy heights

But creep back to cracks and corners, when not in sight

With valor and stealth,  you stalk your flying prey

But to the lord of the flies must they pray?

With ritualistic precision you lash your faithful tail

Yet, with the mere shadow of fear, you drop it off your trail

You strut around with pride, and hum a chesty tune

 Unaware that, dusk follows the dawn of  good fortune

Don’t you  know oh lazy lizard !

That you own not the wall,  that you proudly crawl!

Sooner or later, it could be your turn to fall!

So, when water washes away your footprints from the temple wall!

Oh, lazy lizard! What will you grip to, when you slip and fall?