Light and Shadow

I love. I love so many things trivial. I love them because they show me the reason for this beautiful existence. For instance, a trivial taken-for-granted happening, like the sunlight creating a divine aura, of the dancing shadow of the rustling leaves,that is falling through the window behind me, on this blank page, as the fountain of feelings are starting once again to gush out. Unnoticed was this occurence in my childhood. Not now. Now, after all these years, the child within me has really learnt to observe.

Life is colorful and without all the colors it is indeed very dull. Imagine being happy all the time. I doubt whether anyone would have realized what is being happy if now and then that blue bird would not have sung that old blue song from that far, far away blue land. Now, imagine being sad all the time and I similarly doubt whether anyone would have realized what is being sad if now and then that yellow sunshine would not have spread its light and warmth from that far far away vanilla sky! I doubt whether anyone would have valued happiness if there was no sorrow. Happiness and Sorrow, Light and Shadow and so many such things - together they create the set for the show to be played by us in this stage called Life.

There are shadows - shadows of the past - playing too in my life shaping the etheral beauty within me - the beauty of the soul. Yes. I love so many things trivial, for trivials takes me to the depths of the deep - to the illuminating view of the pearl lying deep on the ocean floor within me.

Pamira

Friendship Has No Fear

A soldier approached his officer; seeking his permission to fetch his friend, not yet back from the battlefield. The officer refused permission stating that his friend would be probably dead. There was no point in going out and losing his life, too, the officer said.

Unmindful of the consequence, the soldier went and an hour later returned, mortally wounded, carrying his dead friend.

The officer was furious; “Ï told you he was dead. Now I’ve lost both of you. Tell me, was it worth going out there to bring in a corpse”

The dying man replied, “Öh, it was sir. When I got to him he was still alive. And he said to me, ‘Jack, I was sure you would come.”

Friendship has no fear. It expresses itself in sacrifice. Humanity survives purely because of love for each other.

HANDS OF GOD

Sometimes the night felt heavy in the heights of the mountain, and the man could not see anything. All was black. Zero visibility, and the moon and the stars were covered by the clouds. As he was climbing, only a few feet away from the top of the mountain, he slipped and fell into the air, falling at a great speed. The climber could only see black spots as he went down, the terrible sensation of being sucked by gravity. He kept falling...and in those moments of great fear, it came to his mind all the good and bad episodes of his life.

He was thinking now about how close death was getting, when all of a sudden he felt the rope tied to his waist pull him very hard. His body was hanging in the air. Only the rope was holding him, and in that moment of stillness he had no other choice but to scream: HELP ME GOD!!

All of a sudden, a deep voice coming from the sky answered: -
What do you want to do?
Save me God!!
Do you really think I can save you?
Of course I believe You can.
THEN CUT THE ROPE TIED TO YOUR WAIST …

There was a moment of silence; and the man decided to hold on to the rope with all his strength.

The rescue team tells, that the next day a climber was found dead and frozen…his body hanging from a rope. His hands holding tight to it…ONLY 10 FEET AWAY FROM THE GROUND!!!

And YOU... how attached are YOU to your rope? Will you LET GO?

Don’t ever doubt the things from God. You never should say that He has forgotten or abandoned you. Don’t ever think that He does not take care of you. Remember that He is always holding you with His right hand.Is.41:13-

Love's Trinity

Soul, heart, and body, we thus singly name,
Are not in love divisible and distinct,
But each with each inseparably link'd.
One is not honour, and the other shame,
But burn as closely fused as fuel, heat, and flame.

They do not love who give the body
and keep the heart ungiven; nor they who yield the soul,
And guard the body. Love doth give the whole;
Its range being high as heaven, as ocean deep,
Wide as the realms of air or planet's curving sweep.

--- Alfred Austin

Stepping Stones

The Lord came to me like a dream one day and asked, why do you sorrow?
I answered, Lord my life is so full of pain, I can’t face one more tomorrow.

The Lord sat down beside me, and gently took my hand.
He said, Let me explain to you and then you’ll understand.

Each sorrow is a stepping stone you must surmount each day,
And every stepping stone you climb is a sorrow that’s passed away.

The road of life is a mountainside, with crevices in which to be caught,
But as you struggle on your way, I, the Rock, will lend support.

Every stepping stone you climb, makes spirit and heart grow strong.
Exercising character and faith this road seems painful and long.

The way is paved with stepping stones, to uplift your heart and soul,
Though difficult they aid your way, to a City paved with gold.

I know that you are tired, for I too have walked this way,
My sorrows did they multiply, but I cleared the stones away.

I left my rock to lift you up, I left behind my story.
To give you strength to make your climb, to that special place in glory.

And never fear, the Rock is here, you’ll never climb alone
Surmount life’s sorrows, continue on, for they are but stepping stones.

Please Forgive Me

"Forgive me for I don't know what I gain
Alone in this garden of pain.
Enchantment has but one truth:
I weep to have what I fear to lose."

Have you ever felt lonely? Lonely amidst plenty? Lonely when the kingfisher cries on a lazy summer afternoon? Lonely when a cloud caresses the moon and just drifts away? Lonely in so many undefinable moments?

You must have... even though nobody else might think so...some may laugh, some may find you weird and just some may understand.... but there's always one who will definitely know... YOU.

I sometimes wonder were we born lonely? Or do we feel lonely only when something is dead inside us... something dead inside of me?

Who was it that was trying to find answers by questioning and questioning? Socrates, perhaps? Yes, Socrates!

I am not talking about being lonely without parents or siblings or lover or spouse or friends... being lonely within, even though you are surrounded by them and the objects that can distract you from thinking like this.

Loneliness is a luxury few people enjoy. I say luxury because in this world of rat-race and show offs and noise who has the time to feel lonely anyway! But do you know it can actually help you take a journey inside of you? Just sit on loneliness and fly, fly away to that distant land from where you can observe all that you want to - about you and anything.

Its the call of the unseen, call of the unheard, call of the higher self. Higher Self? Soul - to put it simply.

OK! Have you ever felt torn apart? Torn apart between this and that? Who and what? How and when? Why and why not? Soul and body? You might ask what loneliness has to do with this! Don't you think this dilemma itself - this frustration of not getting an answer or seeming to get one but unable to put a finger on it - gives rise to loneliness? Otherwise why would you feel so? Everything and everybody is around you! Every imaginable material thing on earth is available for you! THEN? What is missing?

To quote an old song - "The answer is blowing in the wind, my friend, the answer is blowing in the wind."

"Forgive me for I don't know what I gain
Alone in this garden of pain
Enchantment has but one truth:
I weep to have what I fear to lose"

--- Tuomas Holopainen

Ebb and Flow

Walked beside the evening sea,
And dreamed a dream that could not be;
The waves that plunged along the shore
Said only -- "Dreamer, dream no more!"




But still the legions charged the beach;
Loud rang their battle-cry, like speech;
But changed was the imperial strain:
It murmured -- "Dreamer, dream again!"

I homeward turned from out the gloom,
That sound I heard not in my room;
But suddenly a sound that stirred
Within my very breast, I heard.

It was my heart, that like a sea
Within my breast beat ceaselessly:
But like the waves along the shore,
It said -- "Dream on!" and "Dream no more!"

~ George William Curtis (1824-1892)

My November Guest

My Sorrow, when she’s here with me,

Thinks these dark days of autumn rain
Are beautiful as days can be;
She loves the bare, the withered tree;
She walks the sodden pasture lane.

Her pleasure will not let me stay.
She talks and I am fain to list:
She’s glad the birds are gone away,
She’s glad her simple worsted gray
Is silver now with clinging mist.

The desolate, deserted trees,
The faded earth, the heavy sky,
The beauties she so truly sees,
She thinks I have no eye for these,
And vexes me for reason why.

Not yesterday I learned to know
The love of bare November days
Before the coming of the snow,
But it were vain to tell her so,
For they are better for her praise.

--- Robert Frost

from Collected Poems, Prose, and Plays.© Library of America