Music: Within_you.mid from http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Panhala/

 "With love, even the rocks will open."

~  Hazrat Inayat Khan  ~

"We are kept from the experience of Spirit
because our inner world is cluttered with past traumas...
As we begin to clear away this clutter,
the energy of divine light and love begins to flow through our being."   ~ Thomas Keating ~   http://free.freespeech.org/americanstateterrorism/solutions/GreatQuotes.html  

"Gold Becomes" Collage by Rashani

The Unbroken

There is a brokenness
out of which comes the unbroken,
a shatteredness out of which blooms the unshatterable.
There is a sorrow
beyond all grief which leads to joy
and a fragility
out of whose depths emerges strength.

There is a hollow space
too vast for words
through which we pass with each loss,
out of whose darkness we are sanctioned into being.

There is a cry deeper than all sound
whose serrated edges cut the heart
as we break open
to the place inside
which is unbreakable
and whole,
while learning to sing.

~  Rashani  ~

 

Rashani on "The Unbroken":

"Written in December, 1991, following the 4th death in my family, this
poem speaks of the vibrant, 'true nature' which awaits us at the heart
of all experience, effortlessly residing beneath the many veils of
identity."

"Mysteriously, we often discover this state of being through the
willingness to befriend resistance and embrace what we think is
'unsurmountable' pain."

Kevin Large ~ OmniConscious

Love without Condition
 
I love you as you are, as you seek to find your own special way to relate to
the world. I honor your choices to learn in the way you feel is right for you.
 
I know it is important that you are the person you want to be and not someone
that I, or others, think you ~should~ be. I realise that I cannot know what is
best for you, although perhaps sometimes I think I do. I have not been where
you have been, viewing life from the angle you have. I do not know what you
have chosen to learn, how you have chosen to learn it, with whom or in what
time period. I have not walked life looking through your eye, so how can I know
what you need.
 
I allow you to be in the world without a thought or word of judgment about the
deeds you undertake. I see no error in the things you say and do. In this place
where I am, I see that there are many ways to perceive and experience the
different facets of our world. I allow without reservation the choices you make
in each moment. I make no judgment of this, for if I would deny you your right
to your evolution, then I would deny that right for all others and myself.
 
To those who would choose a way I cannot walk, whilst I may not choose to add
my power and my energy to this way, I will never deny you the gift of love. As
I love you, so shall I be loved. As I sow, so shall I reap.
 
I allow you the Universal right of Free Will to walk your own path, creating
steps or to sit awhile if that is right for you. I will make no judgment that
these steps are large or small, nor light or heavy or that they lead up or
down, for this is just my viewpoint.
 
I may see you do nothing and judge it to be unworthy and yet I cannot always
see the higher picture of the order and oneness of things.
 
For it is the inalienable right of all life to choose their own evolution and
with great love, I acknowledge your right to determine your future. I bow to
the realisation that the way I see as best for me does not have to mean it is
also right for you. I know that you are led as ~I Am~, following the inner
excitement to be ~your-self~.
 
I know that the many races, religions, customs, nationalities and beliefs
within our world, bring us great richness and allow us the benefit and
teachings of such diverseness. I know we each learn in our own unique way in
order to bring that love and wisdom back to the whole. I know that if there
were only one way to do something, there would need only be one person.
 
I will not only love you if you behave in a way I think you should or believe
in those things I believe in.
 
The love I feel is for ~all that is~. I know that every living thing is a part
of ~all that is~ and I feel a deep love within for every person, animal, tree
and flower, every bird, river and ocean and for all the creatures in the world.
 
I live my life in loving service, being the best me I can, becoming wiser in
the perfection of Truth, becoming happier in the joy of . . .
 
~Unconditional Love~

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OmniConscious/

 "It doesn't matter how long we may have been stuck in a sense of our limitations. If we go into a darkened room and turn on the light, it doesn't matter if the room has been dark for a day, or a week, or ten thousand years -- we turn on the light and it is illuminated. Once we contact our capacity for love and happiness... the light has been turned on."

~ Sharon Salzberg ~

http://www.the-artery.co.uk/words/prose/0008.php

Rashani on "THE FEAST OF THIS MOMENT (a song of gratitude)": "During the months of May and June, 2003, I offered 7 retreats, several
public satsangs and over 70 private sessions in New York City, at
Kripalu Yoga Center and in Sweden and Denmark.
 
The following is a song I wrote for the many people who attended these
events. I was deeply moved by their willingness to be present with
whatever arose and to trust in the unknown." 

 
THE FEAST OF THIS MOMENT
 (a song of gratitude)  

welcome to the feast, it’s just begun.
it’s a celebration for everyone,
a chance to meet the moon and sun within you.  

there’s space for every part of you,
regardless of your point of view.
come and share the old and new together.  

bring to the feast your tender child,
bring to the feast the meek and mild,
bring the jaguar and all your wildest creatures.  

bring the one who’s been abused,
and the part of you which feels confused.
bring the pride which has refused forgiveness.  

bring your beauty and strike the gong,
enter the field beyond right and wrong,
bring the ones who long to be received now.  

invite the one who’s so afraid,
invite the child who never stayed,
invite the part of you which played perfection.  

come to the feast, oh come and start
to know the truth you kept apart,
bring to the feast your total heart and being.  

bring the one who’s crying in pain,
bring the dancer in the rain,
bring the one who’s vain and sometimes selfish.  

bring the parts you left behind,
bring the one who’s hard to find,
bring the lonely and confined fixations.  

all are welcome here today.
i long to hear what they each say.
this feast of the moment may just last forever!  

invite the beast who has no name,
who all these years you could not tame,
in mercy’s presence, even shame will turn to gold.  

bring the nun & the monk you deified,
and the lover’s heart you crucified.
invite them gently, to abide together now.  

bring the betrayer and the betrayed,
bring the wisdom you have not obeyed.
yes, come to find Who made what can’t be broken.
 
this is a feast of day and night,
where we receive the fragrance of light
while leaving behind the plight of past and future.  

bring, yes, the one who wanted to die,
whose heart is sepalled within the sigh.
there’s space for every cry and song of creation.  

we’ve come to remember who we are,
to marvel at the falling star
that reminds us how far we’ve been from home.  

bring the child who wanted to hide,
the one you lock so deep inside.
even bring the voice which tried to silence you.  

bring the boy who played in the streams,
whose only friends were deep in his dreams.
invite him now to surf on beams of laughter.  

the sadness he carried all those years
which turned his thoughts into so many fears
are transforming now, into tears of understanding.  

bring the girl who was taught to believe
that pain was the only gift she’d receive.
deeper than pain, her Heart can perceive the truth
now.   she tried so hard to therapise
and then she tried to analyse
her purest being which has no guise or garments.  

invite the one who tried to transcend
the haunting memories that would not end;
who tried, but failed, to bend the spoon of childhood.  

bring the fear you tried to cage,
the explosiveness that turned to rage.
invite the tyrant who wants to wage each war.  

bring to the feast the exhausted mind
which searched for years, hoping to find
a way to change and leave behind all suffering.  

let us open now to this blessed day!
and trust that there’s an effortless way
to Be who we are while giving away our burdens.  

let’s close our eyes and open to grace,
see, without seeing, our original face
and know, deep within,our place 

in this creation.
  it’s a caravan of no despair!
it doesn’t matter what you wear.
you’ll see that love is everywhere around you!  

around, within, above, below,
in the breath itself, it’s not fast or slow.
kiss the earth and throw to God your sorrows.  

feel the butterflies in your womb,
the cobra rising from the ancient tomb.
we’re the tapestry on the heart-loom of existance.  

there’s something waiting deep  inside.
a radiant aliveness unable to hide.
it’s the  ever-abiding  current in our center.  

it’s "the pearl beyond price" deep within,
it’s the essence of both yang and yin,
what we are, have always been & will always be!  

it’s the golden light in the polarbear’s fur,
the star that shines in every "him" and "her".
it’s the gentle purr of the white siberian tiger.  

it’s the sea turtle eating what you thought was pain,
the woman in the desert who you thought was insane,
who turned out to be the sanest, wisest shaman.  

it’s the diamond he gave you from the other side,
the forgiveness from your sister who long ago died,
it’s the nectar of love residing in us all.  

purusha, buddha, quan yin, and tao,
tatanka weanska, to you i bow...
coming home, without knowing how i came here .

"blissful sobriety" is one of its names,
a pristine clarity that plays no games.
it’s a quiet spark within the flames’ bright center.  

it’s a powerful force,
an effortless current, of course:
an invitation to divorce the mind’s dilemmas.  

to dyhani ywahoo and ma ananda mayi,
to every bodhisatva in their suit and tie,
to the 5 year old child who asked, "Why do stars grow
in spirals?"  

i bow to ramana and papaji too,
gangaji, faisal, pema and norbu,
to family, friends and lovers, who show me the
pathless way.  

~  Rashani  ~  

[Editor's Note: Rashani Réa has generously made available to NDHighlights her poems and art. All works by Rashani Réa presented in this issue are individually copyright ©2003 - 2004, Rashani Réa,  www.rashani.com ]

DID I LOVE WELL?

"Even the most exalted states and the most exceptional spiritual accomplishments are unimportant if we cannot be happy in the most basic and ordinary ways, if we cannot touch one another and the life we have been given with our hearts.

In undertaking a spiritual life, what matters is simple: we must make certain that our path is connected with our heart. Many other visions are offered to us in the modern spiritual marketplace. Great spiritual traditions offer stories of enlightenment, bliss, knowledge, divine ecstasy, and the highest possibilities of human spirit. Out of the broad range of teachings available to us in the West, often we are first attracted to these glamorous and extraordinary aspects. While the promise of attaining such states can come true, and while these states do represent the teachings, in one sense, they are also one of the advertising techniques of the spiritual trade. They are not the goal of spiritual life. In the end, spiritual life is not a process of seeking or gaining some extraordinary condition or special powers. In fact, such seeking can take us away from ourselves. If we are not careful, we can easily find the great failures of our modern society--its ambition, materialism, and individual isolation--repeated in our spiritual life.

In beginning a genuine spiritual journey, we have to stay much closer to home, to focus directly on what is right here in front of us, to make sure that our path is connected with our deepest love. Don Juan, in his teachings to Carlos Castaneda, put it this way: Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself and yourself alone one question. This question is one that only a very old man asks. My benefactor told me about it once when I was young and my blood was too vigorous for me to understand it. Now I do understand it. I will tell you what it is: Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good. If it doesn't, it is of no use."

~ Jack Kornfield ~

"A PATH WITH HEART"

http://www.oracleofseattle.com/text%20quotes/Did%20I%20Love.htm

The moment you have in your heart this extraordinary thing called love and feel the depth, the delight, the ecstasy of it, you will discover that for you the world is transformed.   ~ J. Krishnamurti ~

"When the self is no more, there is simply an abiding in the beloved. The game goes on and there is a response to the game. But the response comes from nowhere and goes to nowhere. And the game and the response is the divine expression. All and everything is seen and heard and felt as the beloved. And the beloved is the ground of all that is."

~ Tony Parsons ~

"As It Is"

http://www.ods.nl/amigo/amigo3/index.html?poezie.html~mainFrame

Q: So what you are saying is, we are all bound by the law of karma and it's better to give than to receive.

Zen Master Seung Sahn: Don't check on giving and receiving, just DO IT! (laughs) "Just do it!" is very important. If you love somebody, then only love is enough. Don't check. If you are checking, that's like saying, when you like somebody, "I love you, why don't you love me?" - that's not love. Love is unconditional. Only giving, only giving, just as this earth, this universe, gives us everything.

Every day we breathe in, breathe out. Nobody pays money for that. Living in this world, food is very important, clothes are very important, a house is very important. For all these things we must pay money. If for only ten minutes you do not breathe, you die. But no one says "Thank you very much" for their air.

The universe always gives us this air. This air has no hindrance, it connects with everybody, not just human beings. The air connects with trees and animals and sky. We are all connected by this breathing in, breathing out. When you sleep, when you're awake, whether you have good thinking or bad thinking, you breathe in and breathe out. Always. If you stop, you die. So this much is given to you, this air. This is love mind. Think about it.

Also, if we had no sun, we would die. If we exploded all the missiles that Russia and America have, a cloud would cover the earth. No sun could penetrate this cloud. The earth would grow cold - then what? Everything would die. So this sunlight is very important, but no one says, "Thank you very much, sun."

Next is water, very important. For water we pay money. We don't pay the water, we only pay to have the water brought here from the mountain. Nobody pays the water any money. Also, if we had no earth, then what? We could not grow any food, any trees, any flowers.

Air, fire, water, earth - the four elements. The universe takes these elements and makes your body. That's your life's root. Correct roots. Nowadays, human beings don't understand their roots. "I go to the factory, I make money, so I make a living. I don't have to believe in God, I don't owe the universe anything. What's the big deal? I have money, I take care of myself." This style of thinking. We have all forgotten our human roots. If you have no air, no ground, you cannot stay alive.

Anytime you do not believe in love, you die. What is your life? The whole universe is only giving, giving to you, We call that unconditional love. It has no condition. So you must also give to this universe. Loving and helping this universe is necessary. Don't make atom bombs, don't kill animals, don't pollute the air or anything.

Many people have seen the movie "Never Cry Wolf." Human beings never understand their correct situation. Human beings are the number one bad animal. We have destroyed much of nature, air, water and trees. Then we say we want world peace. Not possible. That is number one stupid!

So that is not so good. Human beings must just now WAKE UP - that is important. If we do not wake up, we cannot continue this human world, ok? It will soon disappear.

Q: If all the animals in the world can exist in peace without human beings, then why are we here? (Laughter)

ZMSS: Why are we here? I ask you, why do you eat every day? (Laughter) If everyone gives to each other, then there's no problem. The universe gives us everything. We are holding our I-my-me, our "I want this?" so this earth has a problem.

You must understand correct love. There's the famous story about two women arguing about a baby, Each one said, "This is my baby." The the King said, "Bring the baby here, I will divide it in two. You take half, you take the other half." He picked up his sword to kill the baby and one woman said, "Oh, you take this baby!" to the other woman. That is unconditional love. Not for myself, but only love others.

~ Zen Master Seung Sahn ~

 

"The things of the mind are jealousy, envy, ambition, the desire to be somebody, to achieve success. These things of the mind fill your hearts, and then you say you love; but how can you love when you have all these confusing elements in you? When there is smoke, how can there be a pure flame? Love is not a thing of the mind; and love is the only solution to our problems."

~ J. Krishnamurti ~

Talks 1949-1950

http://www.buddhanet.net/bvk_study/bvk221.htm

  "Love is not an emotion, it is your very existence"   ~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ~  

  "See Love.
Hear Love.
Reach out and touch Love.
Eat Love, sweat Love, and smell Love.
For Love is but the Self’s Awareness of Itself."   ~  Ramana Maharshi  ~   http://www.ods.nl/amigo/amigo3/index.html?poezie.html~mainFrame

"Only if one knows the truth of love, which is the real nature of Self, will the strong entangled knot of life be untied. Only if one attains the height of love will liberation be attained. Such is the heart of all religions. The experience of Self is only love, which is seeing only love, hearing only love, feeling only love, tasting only love and smelling only love, which is bliss.

But when you talk of love, there is duality, is there not - the person who loves and the entity called God who is loved? The individual is not separate from God. Hence love means one has love towards one's own Self."

~ Ramana ~

http://www.livingessence.com/ramana.htm

"This sense of affection, this love, this quality cannot be cultivated, cannot be practised, cannot be brought about; but it must happen as naturally as breathing, as fully with great joy and delight as the sunset."

~ J. Krishnamurti ~

Talks 1949-1950

http://www.buddhanet.net/bvk_study/bvk221.htm

"In relationship lies all the work that needs to be done on the spiritual path: the confrontation with our holding, grief, fear, distrust, and judgment.

In the deepest spiritual practices, one discovers that pure awareness and pure love are indistinguishable."

~ Steven Levine ~

http://free.freespeech.org/americanstateterrorism/solutions/GreatQuotes.html

I seem
to have loved you
in numberless forms,
numberless times,
in life after life,
in age after age
forever.   ~  Rabindranath Tagore  ~  

  "Hatred is never overcome by hatred,
hatred is overcome by love.
This is an eternal law."   ~  Buddha  ~  

"Love is will, the will to share your happiness with all. Being happy, making happy, this is the rhythm of love."

"By all means be selfish; the right way. Wish yourself well, labour at what is good for you. Destroy all that stands between you and happiness. Be all; love all; be happy; make happy. No happiness is greater."

~ Nisargadatta ~

http://www.geocities.com/zainto/maharaj.htm

FIREFLIES
 
I touch God in my song as the hill touches the far-away sea with its waterfall.
The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.
Let my love, like sunlight, surround you and yet give you illumined freedom.
Love remains a secret even when spoken, for only a lover truly knows that he is loved.
Emancipation from the bondage of the soil is no freedom for the tree.
In love I pay my endless debt to thee for what thou art.

~  Rabindranath Tagore  ~

http://snell.mystarband.net/

"Love is so vast within itself. It’s where you die. You don’t die into fear; you die into love. It’s so vast that it will burn you up. It’s so jealous and greedy for itself mirrored back that it will leave you nothing. And when you’re feeling that if you don’t give it away you’ll die in it, it’s so vast that there’s nothing you can do with it. All you can do is be it."

~ Byron Katie ~

http://www.ods.nl/amigo/amigo3/index.html?poezie.html~mainFrame

The Third Canon of Thought - A Key to the Enigmas of the World by P.D. Ouspensky

- Rewarmed by DenytEnAmun (April 13, 1992 CE)

"So, to apprehend the noumenal world we must change our form of perception and representation, achieve an inner change. How is this to be done?

Art and Love

Ouspensky calls the proper way of approaching the world poetical understanding; art is the means of perception that we should learn if we want to enter into communion with the world of causes. Higher art will be the language of the future. Also love, as the strongest of emotions, is a force which can disclose the needed qualities. From an evolutionary point of view there is a vast overabundance (beyond what is needed for perpetuating the species) of love, and perhaps the vivid sense of the miraculous and consciousness of the unreality of (bluntly materialistic) life connected with intense experience will bring man beyond (material) facts and help him see new things."

http://www.xeper.org/hyperborea/eng/archives/tertium-1.htm

  "In all living nature (and perhaps also in that which we consider as dead) love is the motive force which drives the creative activity in the most diverse directions."   ~ P. D. Ouspensky ~   http://www.geocities.com/azdriana4/love.html  

"Without self-love a man can do nothing. There are two qualities of self-love. One is a dirty thing. The other, an impulse, love of the real "I". Without this it is impossible to move. An ancient Hindu saying - "Happy is he who loves himself, for he can love me."

~ G. I. Gurdjieff ~

http://www.gurdjieff-internet.com/articles.php?WID=24

"That which you are, your true self, you love it, and whatever you do, you do for your own happiness. To find it, to know it, to cherish it is your basic urge. Since time immemorial you loved yourself, but not wisely. Use your body and mind wisely in the service of the self, that is all.

Be true to your own self, love your self absolutely. Do not pretend that you love others as yourself. Unless you have realized them as one with yourself, you cannot love them. Don't pretend to be what you are not, don't refuse to be what you are."

~ Nisargardatta ~

http://www.sentient.org/nis.htm

  "Where there is sorrow, let me sow love...For it is in dying to self, that we are born to Eternal Life."   ~  Saint Francis ~  

"Bhakthi, Karma, Jnana and (Raja) Yoga, all these paths are one. You cannot love God without knowing Him nor know him without loving him. Love manifests itself in everything you do and that is Karma. The development of mental perception (Yoga), is the necessary preliminary before you can know or love God..."

~ Ramana Maharishi ~

quoted in 'Crumbs from his Table' by Ramanananda

 

  Love
Should come out of your
Silence, awarenes, meditativeness.
It is soft, it is unbinding
Because how can Love create fetters
For the one it loves?   ~  Osho  ~   http://www.ods.nl/amigo/amigo3/index.html?poezie.html~mainFrame  

Q:..... I feel that love is deeper than emptiness.

Papaji:..... Some people say that in emptiness there is no love and no beauty. These traditions and teachers say that emptiness is empty of everything. This is not my experience.

It is the fathomlessness of emptiness,
The very heart of emptiness,
arriving at the depths of emptiness,
there is love and beauty!
It is very beautiful.

http://www.geocities.com/brianperkins77/128papaji.htm

  "A flower falls, even though we love it; and a weed grows, even though we do not love it."   ~  Dogen  ~   

  "What a man takes in by contemplation,
that he pours out in love."   ~  Meister Eckhart  ~  

"Spiritual awakening is frequently described as a journey to the top of a mountain. We leave our attachments and our worldliness behind and slowly make our way to the top. At the peak we have transcended all pain. The only problem with this metaphor is that we leave all the others behind.. . . In the process of discovering our true nature, the journey goes down, not up. . . . Instead of transcending the suffering of all creatures, we move toward the turbulence and doubt. . . . We explore the reality and unpredictability of insecurity and pain, and we try not to push it away. If it takes years, if it takes lifetimes, we will let it be as it is. At our own pace, without speed or aggression, we move down and down and down. With us move millions of others, our companions in awakening from fear. At the bottom we discover water, the healing water of compassion. Right down there in the thick of things, we discover the love that will not die."

~ Pema Chodron ~

http://tinyurl.com/u5lp

  "You must feel everything, otherwise the world loses its sense."  

~  Carlos Castaneda  ~  

"The Teachings of Don Juan"   http://spiral.plangentdesign.com/quotes.html  

Sri Atmananda: "I have no mine-ness, attachment or egoism. I am eternal, non-doer, all-purity, self-dependent and self-luminous. Attributeless, changeless and unconditioned, I am the abode of Love, stainless, the one without second and ever peaceful."

~ from Atma Darshan ~

http://www.bluedove.com/Advaita_Atmananda.htm

"…I was going to ask: What about positive emotions such as love and joy?

They are inseparable from your natural state of inner connectedness with Being. Glimpses of love and joy or brief moments of deep peace are possible whenever a gap occurs in the stream of thought. For most people, such gaps happen rarely and only accidentally, in moments when the mind is rendered "speechless," sometimes triggered by great beauty, extreme physical exertion, or even great danger. Suddenly, there is inner stillness. And within that stillness there is a subtle but intense joy, there is love, there is peace.

Usually, such moments are short-lived, as the mind quickly resumes its noise-making activity that we call thinking. Love, joy, and peace cannot flourish until you have freed yourself from mind dominance. But they are not what I would call emotions. They lie beyond the emotions, on a much deeper level. So you need to become fully conscious of your emotions and be able to feel them before you can feel that which lies beyond them."

~ Eckhart Tolle ~

"The Power of Now"

   "A coward is incapable of exhibiting love;
it is the prerogative of the brave."    ~  Mahatma Gandhi  ~  

  "Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within."   ~James Baldwin~  

"For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks; the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation."

~ Rainier Maria Rilke ~

"I find that somehow, by shifting the focus of attention, I become the very thing I look at, and experience the kind of consciousness it has; I become the inner witness of the thing. I call this capacity of entering other focal points of consciousness, love; you may give it any name you like.

Love says "I am everything". Wisdom says "I am nothing". Between the two, my life flows. Since at any point of time and space I can be both the subject and the object of experience, I express it by saying that I am both, and neither, and beyond both.

The consciousness in you and the consciousness in me, apparently two, really one, seek unity and that is love. "

~ Nisargadatta ~

http://nisargadatta.net/quotes1.html

  "The thought manifests as the word. The word manifests as the deed. The deed develops into habit. And the habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care. And let it spring from love, born out of concern for all beings."   ~  Buddha  ~  

Panhala ~ Joe Riley 

The Country Of Marriage
(excerpt)
 
V. Our bond is no little economy based on the exchange
of my love and work for yours, so much for so much
of an expendable fund. We don't know what its limits are --
that puts us in the dark. We are more together
than we know, how else could we keep on discovering
we are more together than we thought?
You are the known way leading always to the unknown,
and you are the known place to which the unknown is always
leading me back. More blessed in you than I know,
I possess nothing worthy to give you, nothing
not belittled by my saying that I possess it.
Even an hour of love is a moral predicament, a blessing
a man may be hard up to be worthy of. He can only
accept it, as a plant accepts from all the bounty of the light
enough to live, and then accepts the dark,
passing unencumbered back to the earth, as I
have fallen tine and again from the great strength
of my desire, helpless, into your arms.

VI. What I am learning to give you is my death
to set you free of me, and me from myself
into the dark and the new light. Like the water
of a deep stream, love is always too much. We
did not make it. Though we drink till we burst
we cannot have it all, or want it all.
In its abundance it survives our thirst.
In the evening we come down to the shore
to drink our fill, and sleep, while it
flows through the regions of the dark.
It does not hold us, except we keep returning
to its rich waters thirsty. We enter,
willing to die, into the commonwealth of its joy.

VII. I give you what is unbounded, passing from dark to dark,
containing darkness: a night of rain, an early morning.
I give you the life I have let live for the love of you:
a clump of orange-blooming weeds beside the road,
the young orchard waiting in the snow, our own life
that we have planted in the ground, as I
have planted mine in you. I give you my love for all
beautiful and honest women that you gather to yourself
again and again, and satisfy--and this poem,
no more mine than any man's who has loved a woman.
 
~ Wendell Berry ~
 
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music link
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"You need not get at it (Enlightenment), for you are it. It will get at you, if you give it a chance. Let go your attachment to the unreal and the real will swiftly and smoothly slip into its own. Stop imagining yourself being or doing this or that and the realisation that you are the source and heart of all will dawn upon you. With this will come great love which is not choice or predilection, nor attachment, but a power which makes all things love - worthy and lovable."

~ Nisargadatta ~

http://www.thecourse.org.uk/thoughts.html

When your love reaches the core,
Earth-heavals and bright interruptions
spew in the air.
The universe becomes
one spiritual thing,
that simple,
Love mixing with Spirit.

~  Rumi ~  

  THE RUNGS OF LOVE   

At first one loves only when one is loved.
   Next, one loves spontaneously but one wants to be loved in return.
   Further on, one loves even if one is not loved but one still wants one's love to be accepted.
   And finally one loves purely and simply without any other need or joy than that of loving.
                                   ~  Sri Aurobindo  ~  

  Joseph Risch ~ Nasrudin (archives)  

Subject: 

the end of a long loaf  

For 50 years of a fine marriage, Nasrudin made sandwiches for saturday
lunches he and his wonderful wife shared. one day she said that she was
angry "for years now you have given me the end slices of every loaf of bread
we eat together. i hate them, they are the worst slices and you always give
them to me."   Nasrudin sat silently for a second and said "but they are my favorite
pieces"  

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Nasrudin/