4.Towards an Experience of OMNIPRESENCE

OMNIPRESENCE is experienced when the gaze turns within; on the spiritual journey, this is inevitable. Yet we resist it, being attached to outward forms. Then the game begins!

There are moments in life when you may have everything and yet, feel dissatisfied. True in the spiritual sense too. As long as we search for happiness/Bliss/fulfillment in the external realm, even if it be the physical presence of the Master and what one receives from Him/Her, ultimate satisfaction always eludes us. This happens till we realise that "joy and peace inhere in your own self".

Turning INWARDS is not easy. But sometimes circumstances prod one to do it. This is orchestrated by the Master in various ways, though we may not realise it then. A true Master will go to any lengths to turn the devotee/sadhaka inwards, because He has his/her best interests at heart.

Towards OMNIPRESENCE

It hurt me, when Your shrine

Became a market-place

And Your worshippers ran to make bargains.

It hurts me when You allow Yourself,

To become the subject of ‘auction’

And Your devotees put bids upon You.

It hurts me, in self-righteous anger,

For, I too had once joined, in this ignorant worship

Prompted by folly and greed.

You who comes with treasures of the soul

What anguish results, when seeking from You,

Lesser gains.

"The Giver of boons, the Granter of Grace"

When people fell, ran, pushed

To gather the 'gold' You gave away;

My heart murmured:

“Give me Your vastness, Lord.”

When devotees waited, humble, expectant

With folded hands and bedewed eyes,

To garner Your fragrance, as You walked by

My soul whispered;

“Let me be a part of Your sky”

Then You came Yourself,

Glorious, powerful,

The Giver of boons, the Granter of Grace,

The Fountainhead of beauty precious;

My heart trembled, my will broke

Yet I managed to convey through my tears,

“Not this, not even this, but something else;

What −I do not know

How – I cannot say,

But let it be You, just You, the All of You.

OMNIPRESENT  LOVE

Keep me afar, my Lord

At an arm’s length, at least.

Perhaps, then shall I sense Your vastness,

And contact Your Omnipresence.

"Concerned and detached, involved, yet remote"

When I touch Your omnipresent Love,

I can watch You, even from a great, great distance

And still be happy, my Lord.

Happy, as You bend

To take a letter,

Generating a halo of Love.

Thrilled, when You turn

To create Your streaming ash

In a majesty of Divine power.

Maybe, when afar,

It is You, I think of, and not ‘me’

And therein lies the cause of joy.

TRYING to 'BE'

I try watching You, across multitudes,

And see You with My heart’s eye.

Your orange, a blur in the distance

Your gestures, familiar

Your stance, sweet and dear !

Your slender, tender form;

Your flowing robe, Your crown of curls,

Each movement -- full of Grace.

That perfect face – so poignantly human, so intensely Divine

Concerned and detached,

Involved, yet remote.

My eyes fill . . .

And still I try, to catch Your eye,

Across multitudes !