Poetry Chaikhana Blog

We don’t float to heaven.
Like a tree, we sink roots deep into the rocky soil,
and so, year-by-year, reach higher into the heavens.

The Divine is experienced by the heart.

The intellect, at best, can only trail behind
and take notes.

Right action heals
in ways that even “success” cannot match.

Religion that does not inspire
outward compassion and inward awakening
is not religion.

All objects, all people
that tug at your desire:
unzip them.
See what tumbles out.

To a materialist,
appearance is reality.

To a mystic
appearance is an expression of reality
–which can reveal, but also deceive,
and always holds secrets.

The map of the human soul
is a topographical map, with mountains
and valleys, and rivers of life everywhere.

The purpose of life is awareness.

Approach the trysting place
naked.

If you come any other way,
what’s the point?

We are interconnected.
Our experiences
are always shared experiences.

Encounter every instant
entirely as it is,
in pure wonder.

The wisdom we attain with each step
reveals the destination’s true meaning.

The little self is simply
the sum total of all the stories
we tell ourselves.

Ask yourself —

Am I expanding
my circle of compassion?

Every experience
becomes nutrition for the soul.

The smallest thing,
properly gazed upon with the whole self,
unmasks itself as the Beloved.

Not suppression.
Not separation.
Integration.