hermit's chronicles

‘The breeze of Divine Grace is always blowing; unfurl your sail.’ - Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

Imagine. No harm in imagining You do it anyway All the time. Imagine you are a hollow reed. Say, a flute. And your seven chakras are the seven nodes for Existence to play its music. Through you. And... Sooner or later you needn't imagine. You will know. The hollow reed has nil say In the music that is played.

In Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu says: When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly. When people see some things as good, other things become bad. Being and non-being create each other. Difficult and easy support each other. Long and short define each other. High and low depend on each other. Before and after follow each other. After contemplation, shunyayogi says: Wherever there is knowledge, already there is ignorance. When people think they know, they have given birth to what they do not. When people take possession of knowledge they have caused the great chasm between the Knower and the Known. Misery.

When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly. When people see some things as good, other things become bad. Being and non-being create each other. Difficult and easy support each other. Long and short define each other. High and low depend on each other. Before and after follow each other. Therefore the Master acts without doing anything and teaches without saying anything. Things arise and she lets them come; things disappear and she lets them go. She has but doesn’t possess, acts but doesn’t expect. When her work is done, she forgets it. That is why it lasts forever ~ Tao Te Ching

Some gems from Lal Ded, the 14th century Kashmiri mystic: I saw a sage starving to death A leaf floating to earth on a winter breeze I saw a fool beating his cook And now I am waiting for someone to cut The love-chord that keeps me tied To this crazy world. >> Love-mad, I, Lalla, started out, spent days and nights on the trail. Circling back, I found the teacher in my own house. What brilliant luck, I said, and hugged him. >> You won't find the Truth by crossing your legs and holding your breath. Daydreams won't take you through the gateway of release. You can stir as much salt as you like in water It won't become the sea.

Excerpt from Redemption Stories: Unwasted Pain by Mary Ciofalo: The movie Gandhi inspired me - particularly one scene. In it Gandhi is fasting again to try and end the horrific riots between the Hindus and Moslems. A trio of Hindu men comes to tell Gandhi that they have stopped inciting their people, and that he must now end his fast. One of them flings a piece of bread onto Gandhi's cot and tells him, "I am going to Hell, but you must eat and live." Gandhi says, "Only God determines who goes to Hell. Why do you think you are?" The man replies, "I killed a Moslem child." Gandhi winces, then says quietly,"Why?" The man replies, "They killed my wife and my son." After a moment of silence, Gandhi says quietly, "I know a way out of Hell." The Hindu man looks shocked. It is clear that he never considered redemption for himself. Gandhi says, "Go find a child without parents and raise him as your own. Bu...

Knowledge implies ignorance of what lies beyond what is known. Knowledge is always limited. - Ramana Maharshi