Comments on: Wendell Berry - Testament http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2008/09/22/wendell-berry-testament/ Sacred Poetry from Around the World Mon, 22 Mar 2010 06:26:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.2 By: Sunil Uniyal http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2008/09/22/wendell-berry-testament/#comment-1267 Sunil Uniyal Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:29:57 +0000 http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2008/09/22/wendell-berry-testament/#comment-1267 My dear Ivan, my prayers are with you in these moments of grief. I condole your dad's passing away. May his soul rest in Eternal Peace....Sometime back I had attended the last rites of a close aquantaince, and many days later a poem emerged in my mind, which I want to share with you here: And Finally ... that day will come when you'll be buried or to flames consigned but who buries or who burns strangers or the dear ones you won't know you won't see them you won't hear them your own way you'll go ... Yes, Ivan, one chalks out one's own path in life and goes one's own way. Regards and Love, Sunil My dear Ivan, my prayers are with you in these moments of grief. I condole your dad’s passing away. May his soul rest in Eternal Peace….Sometime back I had attended the last rites of a close aquantaince, and many days later a poem emerged in my mind, which I want to share with you here:

And Finally …

that day will come
when you’ll be buried
or to flames consigned

but who buries or who burns
strangers or the dear ones
you won’t know

you won’t see them
you won’t hear them
your own way you’ll go
…

Yes, Ivan, one chalks out one’s own path in life and goes one’s own way.
Regards and Love,
Sunil

]]> By: Barbara http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2008/09/22/wendell-berry-testament/#comment-1261 Barbara Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:30:12 +0000 http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2008/09/22/wendell-berry-testament/#comment-1261 Ivan, I'll keep you in special prayer this week as you take time to honor your father. Thank you so much for sharing this poem as well as your own story. I truly am grateful for all you share with us - so many of us - hungering for union with Love. You are very special indeed, Ivan, and your Ministry is certainly being blessed. Barbara Ivan, I’ll keep you in special prayer this week as you take time to honor your father. Thank you so much for sharing this poem as well as your own story. I truly am grateful for all you share with us - so many of us - hungering for union with Love. You are very special indeed, Ivan, and your Ministry is certainly being blessed.
Barbara

]]> By: Rose Cook http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2008/09/22/wendell-berry-testament/#comment-1254 Rose Cook Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:35:46 +0000 http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2008/09/22/wendell-berry-testament/#comment-1254 love to you and your family...take your time...grief can be surprising and is sad loving, Rose love to you and your family…take your time…grief can be surprising and is sad loving, Rose

]]> By: J.T. Brown, III http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2008/09/22/wendell-berry-testament/#comment-1245 J.T. Brown, III Tue, 23 Sep 2008 07:52:23 +0000 http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2008/09/22/wendell-berry-testament/#comment-1245 Sending many thanks and blessings to you, Ivan (especially at this time of your father's passing)! Your gift of Poetry Chaikhana is most sacred. Your commentary is steeped in wisdom and love, and is a true spiritual inspiration. You feel like a dear friend from the sacred past! I hope you are experiencing improved health and well being. Cheers, -JT Sending many thanks and blessings to you, Ivan (especially at this time of your father’s passing)!

Your gift of Poetry Chaikhana is most sacred. Your commentary is steeped in wisdom and love, and is a true spiritual inspiration.

You feel like a dear friend from the sacred past! I hope you are experiencing improved health and well being.

Cheers, -JT

]]> By: kim shams richardson http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2008/09/22/wendell-berry-testament/#comment-1244 kim shams richardson Tue, 23 Sep 2008 07:43:36 +0000 http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2008/09/22/wendell-berry-testament/#comment-1244 "And may we say of all our loved ones who have passed on that they have found a good solution and are on their way to the roots…." Amen to that, and to: "Look on their peace, and rejoice." Peace and blessings on you, Ivan, and condolences on the passing on of your father. It is a milestone in our lives. May I share with you the Burial Suras and Sermon from the Universal Worship of Hazrat Inayat Khan? The words have great beauty. BURIAL SURAS Death takes away the weariness of life, and the soul begins life anew. Death is a sleep from which the soul wakes in the hereafter. Death is the crucifixion, after which follows the resurrection. Death is the night after which the day begins. It is death which dies, not life. The life everlasting is hidden in the heart of death. BURIAL SERMON Mourn not over the death of the beloved, call not back the traveller who is on his/her journey towards his/her goal; for you know not what he/she seeks! You are on the earth, but now he/she is in heaven. By weeping for the dead you will make sad the soul who cannot return to earth; by wishing to communicate with him/her, you do but distress him/her. He/She is happy in the place at which he/she has arrived; by wanting to go to him/her you do not help him/her; your life’s purpose still keeps you on earth. No creature that has ever been born has belonged in reality to any other; every soul is the beloved of God. Does God not love as we human being cannot? Death, therefore, does but unite a person with God. For to Whom does the soul in truth belong? To God in the end is its return, sooner or later. Verily, death is a veil behind which is hidden life which is beyond the comprehension of the people on earth. If you knew the freedom of that world, and how the sad hearts are unburdened of their load; if you knew how the sick are cured, how the wounded are healed, and what freedom the soul experiences as it goes further from this earthly life of limitations, you would no more mourn those who have passed, but pray for their happiness in their further journey and for the peace of their souls. and the Blessing Prayer... 'Heal his/her spirit, Lord, from all the wounds that his/her heart has suffered through this life limitation upon the earth. Purify his/her heart with Thy Divine Light and send upon his/her spirit Thy Mercy, Thy Compassion, and Thy Peace. Amen. “And may we say of all our loved ones who have passed on that they have found a good solution and are on their way to the roots….”

Amen to that, and to:
“Look on their peace, and rejoice.”

Peace and blessings on you, Ivan, and condolences on the passing on of your father. It is a milestone in our lives. May I share with you the Burial Suras and Sermon from the Universal Worship of Hazrat Inayat Khan? The words have great beauty.

BURIAL SURAS
Death takes away the weariness of life, and the soul begins life anew. Death is a sleep from which the soul wakes in the hereafter. Death is the crucifixion, after which follows the resurrection. Death is the night after which the day begins. It is death which dies, not life. The life everlasting is hidden in the heart of death.

BURIAL SERMON
Mourn not over the death of the beloved, call not back the traveller who is on his/her journey towards his/her goal; for you know not what he/she seeks! You are on the earth, but now he/she is in heaven. By weeping for the dead you will make sad the soul who cannot return to earth; by wishing to communicate with him/her, you do but distress him/her. He/She is happy in the place at which he/she has arrived; by wanting to go to him/her you do not help him/her; your life’s purpose still keeps you on earth. No creature that has ever been born has belonged in reality to any other; every soul is the beloved of God. Does God not love as we human being cannot? Death, therefore, does but unite a person with God. For to Whom does the soul in truth belong? To God in the end is its return, sooner or later. Verily, death is a veil behind which is hidden life which is beyond the comprehension of the people on earth. If you knew the freedom of that world, and how the sad hearts are unburdened of their load; if you knew how the sick are cured, how the wounded are healed, and what freedom the soul experiences as it goes further from this earthly life of limitations, you would no more mourn those who have passed, but pray for their happiness in their further journey and for the peace of their souls.

and the Blessing Prayer…
‘Heal his/her spirit, Lord, from all the wounds that his/her heart
has suffered through this life limitation upon the earth. Purify
his/her heart with Thy Divine Light and send upon his/her spirit
Thy Mercy, Thy Compassion, and Thy Peace. Amen.

]]> By: salam http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2008/09/22/wendell-berry-testament/#comment-1241 salam Tue, 23 Sep 2008 03:52:42 +0000 http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2008/09/22/wendell-berry-testament/#comment-1241 My dear Ivan, I do not know ,i have no words.If i speak the social, worldly language then is the loss,which will be difficult to fill. My mother passed away a few months back.I buried her,sat next to her new home,weeping........Now I know ,she has come more close to me, For many years i thought she is here, she is there, living with my sisters & at different places, but now i know,she is here, right in my heart.The place she belongs. I do not miss her any more,i close my eyes, see her smiling face,so close that i can even feel her breath, smell that special fragrance, i am used to of, from my child hood. For us,to whom the spirit is the reality,nothing dies. Change is the name of the way but not the END. I pray for him and you to get the union,stronger than the past. regards. salam My dear Ivan,
I do not know ,i have no words.If i speak the social, worldly language then is the loss,which will be difficult to fill.
My mother passed away a few months back.I buried her,sat next to her new home,weeping……..Now
I know ,she has come more close to me,
For many years i thought she is here, she is there, living with my sisters & at different places, but now i know,she is here, right in my heart.The place she belongs.
I do not miss her any more,i close my eyes, see her smiling face,so close that i can even feel her breath, smell that special fragrance, i am used to of, from my child hood.
For us,to whom the spirit is the reality,nothing dies.
Change is the name of the way but not the END.
I pray for him and you to get the union,stronger than the past.
regards.
salam

]]> By: Pauline http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2008/09/22/wendell-berry-testament/#comment-1237 Pauline Tue, 23 Sep 2008 01:44:28 +0000 http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2008/09/22/wendell-berry-testament/#comment-1237 Ivan, So sorry for your loss. Thank you for the beautiful poems. You do us a great service. Ivan,

So sorry for your loss. Thank you for the beautiful poems. You do us a great service.

]]> By: Susan http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2008/09/22/wendell-berry-testament/#comment-1236 Susan Tue, 23 Sep 2008 01:28:30 +0000 http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2008/09/22/wendell-berry-testament/#comment-1236 Hello, Ivan - Friend I have not met, and, as a recent subscriber, am now beginning to know. Blessings to you as you honor the passing of your father ... with Wendell Berry's beautiful poem ... and with your taking a break this week to not send any more poetry ... in honor of your father ... and of yourself. My son and I are on our way this week to honor one of his grandfathers ... my father in law ... a man also passing on his energy this week ... and surely in all the days to come. Peace and radiant blessings to you, and all, as this new season begins ~ Susan Hello, Ivan -

Friend I have not met, and, as a recent subscriber, am now beginning to know.

Blessings to you as you honor the passing of your father … with Wendell Berry’s beautiful poem … and with your taking a break this week to not send any more poetry … in honor of your father … and of yourself.

My son and I are on our way this week to honor one of his grandfathers … my father in law … a man also passing on his energy this week … and surely in all the days to come.

Peace and radiant blessings to you, and all, as this new season begins ~ Susan

]]> By: Emily Simpson http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2008/09/22/wendell-berry-testament/#comment-1233 Emily Simpson Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:34:14 +0000 http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2008/09/22/wendell-berry-testament/#comment-1233 My father died a couple of months ago. I found that friends around me began to assume the qualities he was shedding, as his body withered and spirit blossomed. The mask kept moving until I claimed it. No matter what age or stage we are at, the loss of a parent creates an entirely new landscape to navigate. Death truly is another country... So, I send you all my love and courage for the road ahead. Emily My father died a couple of months ago. I found that friends around me began to assume the qualities he was shedding, as his body withered and spirit blossomed. The mask kept moving until I claimed it.

No matter what age or stage we are at, the loss of a parent creates an entirely new landscape to navigate. Death truly is another country…

So, I send you all my love and courage for the road ahead.

Emily

]]> By: Paula http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2008/09/22/wendell-berry-testament/#comment-1232 Paula Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:14:15 +0000 http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2008/09/22/wendell-berry-testament/#comment-1232 Hi Ivan In this sad moment of your life i can only send you this: I don't know how to write poems or beautiful phrases as yours, but I know what is losing a Father. Despite all the absences and discord is always good to hear our voice saying: This is/was my Father! To could say loud for the whole world can hear us: My Father! Be proud of him! Thank you for sharing your story, which from now on, it is our history to! And we're very proud of her. It's one of the best gift that someone can ask for!!! Be good and nice to you!!! All my care for you. Paula Hi Ivan
In this sad moment of your life i can only send you this:
I don’t know how to write poems or beautiful phrases as yours, but I know what is losing a Father.
Despite all the absences and discord is always good to hear our voice saying: This is/was my Father! To could say loud for the whole world can hear us: My Father! Be proud of him!
Thank you for sharing your story, which from now on, it is our history to! And we’re very proud of her.
It’s one of the best gift that someone can ask for!!!
Be good and nice to you!!!
All my care for you.
Paula

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