ETERNAL PERFECT BELOVED

Book 4


SALT FROM THE BELOVED'S TABLE

eric solibakke

agora html edition
agora press
Oslo, Norway
second edition 1998
1994, 1998 © eric solibakke

>>>:OM:<<<

to the one without a second
who through the force of irresistible love
awakens every individual to divine wholeness,
the only one worthy of worship

peacefully truthfully lovefully




contents


who are you?

  1. you are the indivisible reality
  2. the golden rain of gratitude falls
  3. love fits all and beautifies all
  4. all the dualities that trouble my brain
  5. in order to know god, live with god
  6. oh wondrous oneness, parabrahmic reality


pilgrimage

  7. mind, consciousness and meaning
  8. how can i love you when the duality of "i" and "you"
  9. let my life be the work of gratitude
10. mind dreams while heart yearns
11. oh all-pervading beloved
12. by the waters of meherabad
13. oh beloved all-pervading ocean of only love


salt from the beloved's table

14. like a black hole, you devour everything
15. although i'm happy to come to you
16. the light of god shining
17. habit and conditioning give the mind a topography
18. the world appears and disappears in the ocean
19. when the question "who am i?" arises
20. one will, god's will to know himself
21. happy birthday, ancient one!
22. i've come to polish the noble jewel of truth
23. mind seesaws like children at play in the park
24. red poppies flutter like butterflies
25. baba highball
26. oh omnipresent oneness, spanning dualities
27. waking up in god is like falling asleep to the world
28. fears in falsity
29. you could liberate anyone or even everyone
30. the greatest satisfaction
31. even the seventh plane majzoob doesn't come
32. nothing can be found anywhere in the world but oneness
33. every duality confirms your unity
34. oh seamless one
35. on the other side of nothing lies the all-inclusive one
36. we don't want to get rid of illusion
37. eternal ocean's
38. one does not go beyond mind by exhausting it
39. behind every thought stands its opposite
40. avatar comes to earth in order to work
41. oh oneness of which everywhere forms only a small part
42. listen to the silence of the ancient one
43. spiritual masters and teachers abound
44. giving all to you, i receive all from you
45. the avatar waltzes in the middle of life
46. something will destroy this body
47. so far to go, yet already arrived
48. the door of consciousness swings between
49. drop opposites
50. the deadwood formulas of the priest
51. one single will drives the world into light
52. stripping away this body-sock of sanskaras
53. divisions of opposites fill the mind with illusion
54. having never left the ocean
55. being together with you, beloved meher baba
56. if the hand of enlightenment could close
57. the world divides me according to its rights and wrongs
58. be god's partner until such time comes
59. real self is one with all and one beyond all
60. the perfection of nirvana includes also the perfection
61. basho observation
62. the creation comes into being in the space
63. some days are made of scissors
64. rocking back and forth in the cradle of mind
65. the sun gives a glimpse of the power of self
66. the head conceives the house of creation
67. what clever person can separate up from down
68. the mighty ocean extends beyond the stars
69. the sun always shines day and night
70. only the mind with its advertisements for twoness
71. illusion tries to divide me into goods and bads
72. god loves to play


welcome home

73. oh adam, jewel of creation
74. thank you for this absolute vacuum
75. the storyteller told a story
76. you are the fat man's food
77. falling into the ocean
78. just at the moment when mankind
79. you carve the creation out of oneness
80. when the mind recognizes the pristine
81. the house of human life has shuttered windows
82. the tree sends a letter of praise
83. experienced sailors report that the seven seas
84. you, no matter who you are, you have always
85. throughout all the worlds
86. all the world's daily extravaganza
87. awake in the world is dream time
88. when you're in deep sleep
89. i spent eons of time to come this far
90. i celebrate a death by drowning
91. intelligence has its own kind of blindness
92. bowing at baba's samadhi
93. mind is created by experience of the pairs of opposites
94. you are in everything as well as beyond everything
95. heart language offends the mind's measured speech
96. when i forget who i am
97. confidence never comes from anyone
98. you do all, feel all and think all
99. you searched near and far


"Combine this with the Ocean of What We Were
Before Creation.
        Roar the Lion-Knowledge.
Write this with gold Ocean-Ink,
so that whoever reads it
can grow in the Spirit."

     -- Jelaludin Rumi, MATHNAWI
      Trans. Coleman Barks, 1990, Delicious Laughter, p. 87




who are you?


  1. eternal perfect beloved

    you are the indivisible reality
    behind all infinite dualities,
    within all, beyond all, source of all.

    unity of shadow and essence
    unity of dream and dreamer
    unity of illusion and reality
    unity of prakriti and purusha
    unity of samsara and nirvana
    unity of the creation and the creator

    you are the all-pervading ocean of oneness.
    the noah's ark world of complementary opposites floats in you.

    you are the world too.
    you are present in everything
    just as the past is present in the future.

    everything i praise, i praise you.
    everyone i embrace, i embrace you.
    everywhere i turn, i turn toward you.

    teacher and student in one
    mechanic and machine
    salesman and customer
    performer and audience
    sleeper and watchman
    prophet and pilgrim
    driver and police in one
    fish and fisherman in one
    judge and convict
    father and family
    pilot and plane in one
    criminal and victim
    doctor and patient in one

    original oneness, continuous oneness, final oneness
    mental oneness, emotional oneness, physical oneness
    personal oneness, planetary oneness, cosmic oneness

    unconscious oneness
    conscious oneness
    superconscious oneness

    you are peace, oh beloved truth,
    peace for individuals, peace for nations, planetary peace.

    you are peace for animals and plants.
    peace for fire and air, peace for water and stone.

    you knit wounds and salve rashes.
    you mend bones.

    you awaken, you guide.
    you are goodwill, you care.

    you are the monarch fact
    the divine fact
    the annihilating fact
    the liberating fact
    the omnipotent fact
    the blissful fact
    the merciful fact
    the only fact worthy of worship

    oh za-ra-kri-bu-chri-muha-meher godself grace,
    your daaman is absolute unity.
    your daaman is "i am that."
    you are power, knowledge, bliss
    all-inclusive, all-pervading, indivisible.

    who are you?

  2. eternal perfect beloved

    the golden rain of gratitude falls
    from the indivisible oneness of "i am that"
    into the all-pervading ocean of oneness,
    uniformly within all things and beings
    as well as beyond and independent of all.

    oh real agapic ocean pacific,
    hold me ever in the peaceful truthful loving unity of "i am that,"
    to live a life of humor, grace and gratitude.

    protect me from such foolishness of lust
    as my body considers without regard for consequences.
    let me ever praise your imagination
    for the beauty of the world.

    oh awakener,
    hold me ever in the awakeness of "i am that."
    you whose anger is compassion,
    you transform anger and convert fear.
    you awaken love in place of fear and aversion.

    i am that, tathagata, tathata.
    i am that, god's slave and god's love.

    who are you?

  3. eternal perfect beloved

    love fits all and beautifies all.
    love passes from person to person without contamination.

    love sings, love dances.
    love washes, love mends.
    love feeds the hungry.
    love sacrifices self.
    love without sacrifice doesn't deserve the name.

    some love the good, others love the bad,
    but true love overlooks both good and bad,
    like a mother who loves her child equally
    when he misbehaves as when he behaves.

    love frees one from being swept helplessly
    into nightmares of isolation in the corners of duality.
    love holds the hand of terror
    and whispers comfort in the darkness.

    who are you?

  4. eternal perfect beloved

    all the dualities that trouble my brain --
    what happened? was it good or bad?
    what should happen next? -- all zip themselves
    together into one single truth, that
    actually i am the ever-present all-pervading oneness.

    as i awaken from deep sleep
    dreams become more intense and solid
    until they deny being dreams
    and attempt to establish themselves as reality.
    they swim as helplessly as small fish
    cruising together in the all-pervading ocean.

    schools of outer oneness swim
    in the ocean of inner oneness.
    suddenly they dart off in a new direction,
    changing speed and depth without visible leadership,
    yet simultaneously and in unison.

    i just appear to be a fish,
    a porpoise swimming playfully in the ocean
    so that i have a form to address and respond.

    even the force with which illusion
    tries to establish that it is reality
    cannot overcome the almighty patience of reality
    that is secure in the certainty of final awakening.

    who are you?

  5. eternal perfect beloved

    in order to know god, live with god

    eat and sleep with god
    walk and work and watch tv with god
    clean house and take a shower with god
    talk and cry and play with god
    go to the toilet with god

    read and sing and write letters with god
    argue with your mate with god
    make love and have babies with god
    shop and cook and take out the garbage with god
    dress and put on your makeup with god
    go to the bank with god
    throw a party and pose and take photos with god
    dance and romance god

    think and study and philosophize with god
    talk on the telephone with god
    learn a foreign language with god
    go to funerals and celebrate birthdays with god
    get married and get divorced with god
    go to school with god

    take vacations and get drunk with god
    jump in the sea and swim with god
    climb hills and dig holes with god
    fix the car and drive it home with god
    wash windows and mow the lawn with god
    pay taxes and rent and insurance with god

    correct your children with god
    comb your hair and clip your nails with god
    change your tampon with god
    read the mail and toss the junk with god
    be silly and laugh with god
    get angry and scream and throw a punch with god

    go to court with god
    go to jail with god
    go to the park and picnic with god
    use the computer with god
    roll up and shoot up and drop with god
    listen to a cd and make a cassette with god
    commit robbery with god

    ride the bus and train and fly the plane with god
    jog with god
    feed the dog with god
    massage your feet with god

    plant a tree with god
    work out and wrestle with god
    murder, if you must, with god

    water the plants with god
    dream at night and get up in the morning with god
    do the laundry and have a cigarette with god
    light a fire in the fireplace with god
    drink a cup of coffee and gossip with god
    have a beer and nap with god
    commit suicide, if it comes to that, with god

    play tennis and chess and scrabble with god
    go to the casino with god
    go sailing and skiing and skating with god
    go to the horse races with god
    place your bets on god
    feed your pets with god
    go to church and pray with god
    weed your garden with god

    ask for a raise and get promoted with god
    get fired with god
    go to the doctor and have an operation with god
    get healthy with god
    go to the movies with god
    decorate your house with god

    let the divided serve the indivisible
    by using manyness like a ladder to climb higher
    and eventually reach wholeness
    in the tower of unity with god.

    who are you?

  6. eternal perfect beloved

    oh wondrous oneness, parabrahmic reality,
    you are self, and the three worlds are your bodies.
    all praise belongs to you, all blame is yours.

    you are nirvana in which there is no room for anything,
    no size at all,
    no difference between a dolphin and a dove.

    in you the goad question of creation lies quiet,
    unmoved by the restless timeflow of answers
    to the searching question "who am i?"

    when i let go of projections
    and relax my clinging to opposites
    i drown and merge in your indivisible wholeness.

    who are you?



    pilgrimage


  7. eternal perfect beloved

    mind, consciousness and meaning,
    are created by division into opposites.
    without division there is no consciousness or meaning,
    no identity or separation.

    mind has certain characteristics and behaviors
    which arise from its duality.
    as long as one believes oneself to be mind
    and identifies oneself with mind,
    one is bound to have those characteristics and behaviors.

    one who is identified with mind is therefore divided,
    full of argument, viewpoints and meanings,
    and has a separate identity.

    however, one cannot in fact be divided.
    all division is only apparent and temporary,
    having no basis in reality.
    identification with those apparent and temporary divisions
    binds one in illusion, which is a creation of the mind.

    god is not bound in illusion,
    nor separated nor identified with viewpoints.

    the journey to god requires
    the dissolution of bindings to opposites in mind.

    love dissolves bindings in mind.
    divine love completely dissolves all bindings in mind
    and frees one forever from false identity
    with the separations of duality.

    progress along the path to godhood
    is created by the increasing overflow of love,
    which is beyond the divisions of mind,
    one and inseparable.

    love is in fact god.
    the reduction of bindings reveals love,
    and love reveals god as the unlimited ocean of love,
    as the ocean of only love.

    pilgrimage

  8. eternal perfect beloved

    how can i love you when the duality of "i" and "you"
    creates a whole universe between us?
    you love simply because you are love
    and no duality creeps in the way.

    if there is love to be found anywhere in me
    it must be you who came in your grace and put it there.

    i can't always see love in how you treat me, beloved.
    you overpower me and force me against my desire.
    my mind elaborates objections
    like a grandmother's fingers crocheting a doily,
    and it proves to be a net
    that seines me out of the ocean of your love
    like a helpless fish.

    just a single desire produces this
    unavoidable gigantic net of interconnected thoughts,
    and the ocean is gone, you are gone.

    i'm a worm trying to eat a mountain.
    let the mountain crush that desire to dust
    that can stick to your divine feet
    and travel with you wherever you go.

    pilgrimage

  9. eternal perfect beloved

    let my life be the work of gratitude
    that speaks in action my gratefulness
    for the love you shower on me.

    let my life be the work of prayer
    that communicates in action my joy
    for the truth you share with me.

    let my life be the work of goodwill
    that praises in action my peace
    for the power you invest in me.

    let my life be the work of oneness
    that expresses in action my unity
    with the indivisibility you show me.

    let my life be the work of transcendence
    that inscribes in action my bliss
    in the freedom from automatic reactions of mind
    that you give me.

    pilgrimage

  10. eternal perfect beloved

    mind dreams while heart yearns
    for the original state of simplicity
    before dream created the complication
    of endless alternatives.

    break the vessel of mind
    and release the flow of heart.
    mind is like clay, whereas heart like rain
    falls from heaven and sinks deep in,
    honeying the roots of life
    with the greening grace of growth and flower.

    the golden rain of gratitude
    falls into the open heart
    ready to receive whatever you send,
    gratitude that you come to amplify love.

    without your help, i couldn't thank you.
    even with your help, i can't thank you properly.
    the duality of mind interferes
    with the pro-and-con maze of double binds.

    oh merciless mind, you cover the beauty of god
    with your arguments and opinions.

    oh meher ocean, you say:
    whatever you're sure is an expression of love, do that.
    pay no attention to what mind thinks or says or does.

    pilgrimage

  11. eternal perfect beloved

    oh all-pervading beloved
    you are that truth of oneness
    that pulls the reality out of everything
    and reduces the tiger attack of ego
    to the giggling tickle
    of your always available love.

    you unweave the pattern of ego
    like penelope at work on laertes' shroud.
    a single thread makes the whole picture
    which catches me up in grief and pain.
    the moment i see that thread,
    all-pervading beloved,
    the knot falls off my heart
    and releases me from ego's double bind.

    pilgrimage

  12. eternal perfect beloved

    by the waters of meherabad
    the sacred river of love pours into the world
    through the heart of god,
    flood tide of divine love
    from the infinite ocean of oneness.

    after discovering oneness,
    i continue searching until i discover the one.

    oh meher in me,
    i surrender to the all-pervading ocean of only love.
    i relax and let grace niagara into the heart's cup.

    as the heart is washed in your grace,
    anger becomes compassion,
    aggression becomes the urge to give comfort.

    i wish a kiss could convey
    the bliss my heart longs to say.

    pilgrimage

  13. eternal perfect beloved

    oh beloved all-pervading ocean of only love,
    how am i going to merge with you
    if i'm always praying to you to grant me special favors?
    really, i'm only asking you to merge with me
    and carry out my will!

    let repentance go all the way through me,
    that your forgiveness penetrate all the way through me,
    even as it permeates the entire creation.

    you are the sun that never sets,
    the stillness in which trees grow
    and the creak of the crow's wing overhead.

    you are the niagara of love pouring in heart
    from the indivisible ocean,
    and the miracle mystery of how a drop of love
    becomes that ocean.

    you are the whirling tornado of love,
    the full force of love that knocks the head right off.

    ocean meher,
    my religion is seeing you in every being and thing,
    loving you in every being and thing,
    and serving you in every being and thing.

    pilgrimage



    salt from the beloved's table


  14. eternal perfect beloved

    like a black hole, you devour everything
    in your ravenous wholeness.
    unlike a black hole, you're totally omnipresent.

    even though you devour everything
    it remains as it was.
    therefore you describe illusion and reality,
    mind and beyond-mind.

    in your oceanic beyond-mind like dreamless sleep
    you hold the mind as a drop of dreamy consciousness
    showing your universal colors in day and night.
    midnight black penetrates noon.
    like kalyan, i see darkness within golden daylight.

    oh beloved master, only the illumination of your grace
    shines eternally,
    never setting like the sun nor waning like the moon.

    salt from the beloved's table

  15. eternal perfect beloved

    although i'm happy to come to you
    in the ocean of oneness and beyond the ocean
    in pure and eternally spotless oneness,

    i also desire that you come along with me
    when i wander out on the narrow neck of communication
    and address detailed issues dear to my companions.

    i want to see you there, clarifying wholeness,
    not letting us lose sight of our real identity
    in the flickering light and shadow of words.

    salt from the beloved's table

  16. eternal perfect beloved

    the light of god shining
    through the film of mind
    projects the movie of life
    on the screen of the senses.

    salt from the beloved's table

  17. eternal perfect beloved

    habit and conditioning give the mind a topography,
    a solid-seeming landscape of hills and plains,
    with lakes, streams and sometimes a desert or the sea.

    when the rain of experience falls on this topography
    it flows in familiar gullies and established waterways,
    coming to rest in old lakes and wetlands.

    if one will change the engraved patterns of thought,
    one must renew the lay of the inner land
    and create new waterways with access to the sea.

    inner nature, like the outer, has life cycles over time.
    even mountains eventually break down to sand and soil,
    filling valleys and continuing on to layer the sea floor.

    enormous energies are required to hasten this process
    of moving earth and rock to fill deep-worn ways
    and gouge paths of new meaning in old stone.

    where can so much energy come from?
    from love for truth and love for freedom
    and most of all from love for love itself.

    every form of love and caring impact the inner landscape,
    eventually transforming even the most hostile terrain
    into a peaceful truthful garden paradise of god's company.

    salt from the beloved's table

  18. eternal perfect beloved

    the world appears and disappears in the ocean of oneness
    like the opening and closing of an eye.

    there's no ordinary water in this ocean.
    its deeps are filled with love.
    it waves, if it had waves, would be waves of love.
    its tides, if it had them, would be tides of love.

    the nearest love substance on earth
    is the milk of mother's love, an unlimited vast
    and shoreless sea of pure and tender mother's care.

    salt from the beloved's table

  19. eternal perfect beloved

    when the question "who am i?" arises,
    dark separates from light,
    the lower separates from the higher.
    universe is conceived.

    name and number appear.
    details define themselves in mutual contrast
    and inside distinguishes itself from outside.
    universe is born.

    like aligns with like and unlike finds its places.
    belonging and not belonging arise
    in the motion of attraction to the familiar
    and repulsion from the strange.
    universe breathes, and its heart beats.

    individuality discovers itself and others.
    i am a separate entity going my own way.
    i evaluate goods and bads according to my own law.
    i inhabit the universe along with other inhabitants.

    certain others attract and excite me.
    i respond by wanting to establish connections.
    i discover existing connections -- parents, grandparents,
    siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins.
    universe renews itself according to its own plan.

    the past participates decisively in the present.
    at this very moment i live my history
    while at the same time i create my future.
    the old universe influences the new.

    salt from the beloved's table

  20. eternal perfect beloved

    one will, god's will to know himself,
    projects the entire creation.
    that same will drives the life force in every creature
    and reaches a high point in mankind's conscious
    seeking to know himself as he really is.

    when man succeeds in truly knowing himself
    he recognizes himself to be god,
    and his will to be the one will.
    then god knows himself to be almighty love.

    salt from the beloved's table

  21. eternal perfect beloved

    happy birthday, ancient one!

    98 years since the immortal one put on the meher baba
    disguise among the illusory dualities of our world
    in order to awaken our hearts to love for each other.

    70th anniversary of mankind's avataric reorientation
    in the masterly alchemy of transmutation.
    the iron age becomes golden in the crucible
    of his divine will.
    good-bye lies, hatred, anger, lust and greed!
    these doomed falsehoods die out of mankind's new life.

    23rd celebration of the completed work.
    now it winds out of eternity around the wheels of time.
    everywhere wars and rumors of war,
    the alarmclock rings and rings.
    mankind fumbles for the snooze button saying,
    "oh give me five, just five more years of sleep."

    happy birthday, beloved one!
    you are the seed which impregnates the world egg.
    new jerusalem hatches, oh phoenix-huma,
    all mankind seeks shelter under your mighty wings.

    salt from the beloved's table

  22. eternal perfect beloved

    i've come to polish the noble jewel of truth,
    the indestructible diamond of oneness
    that sparkles like a rainbow on the lord's brow.

    i witness the reality of god
    and confirm in my own experience his advent
    as meher baba as well as all previous avatars.

    call you tao, call you god, call you nirvana,
    call you one, you are the one and only same.

    your unformed face shines with unspeakable splendor.
    if you winked more than a bare hint of it in your smile,
    we'd all fall unconscious in a great awakening.
    few would choose to tell the tale.

    salt from the beloved's table

  23. eternal perfect beloved

    mind seesaws like children at play in the park.
    it swings, it climbs up and suddenly slides down.
    it pretends to be a dog or a horse, a bird or a tree.
    it hides and then looks everywhere for itself,
    and shrieks with glee when it finds itself
    under a hedge or behind a door.

    children come and go as days and years pass
    but you remain at every moment,
    filling the empty park with your presence
    and embracing the full park in your infinitely roomy heart.

    salt from the beloved's table

  24. eternal perfect beloved

    red poppies flutter like butterflies
    in the green hills of thailand.
    tall cannabis leaves reach out
    like hands of greeting on the slopes of kulu.

    people eat, inject and smoke all kinds of substances
    in order to get high for awhile, beloved,
    but they never get really high
    before they meet you in their hearts.

    this intoxication endures eternally
    beyond the reach of time.

    salt from the beloved's table

  25. eternal perfect beloved

    baba highball:

    mix equal amounts of truth and love.
    add peace to individual taste
    and top off with a dash of humor.

    this drink can be served to advantage
    at any time of the day or night.
    it's very intoxicating
    and its effects are more or less permanent.

    salt from the beloved's table

  26. eternal perfect beloved

    oh omnipresent oneness spanning dualities,
    standing with feet balanced on each pair of opposites,
    the steps of your dance create the enormous variety
    of limitation and possibility within the worlds.

    your three rhythms each manifest a world:

    the instantaneous rhythm of thought leaps through
    knowledge and ignorance faster than the eye can see
    as it creates the elusive delicacy of the mental world
    which appears as if from nowhere, as if out of nothing.

    like a steady shift of various weather
    as winter thaws into spring
    and summer retreats into autumn's root,
    your medium fast rhythm generates
    the subtle world of energies in motion.

    the slow and lumbering rhythm of matter's dance
    stamps out the solid forms of the physical world
    where it takes millions of years for a mountain peak
    to become the floor of a sea,
    and a million more to rise again.

    salt from the beloved's table

  27. eternal perfect beloved

    waking up in god is like falling asleep to the world.
    ordinary falling asleep is like waking up to god
    with the important exception that one is unconscious,
    recognizing neither god nor oneself.

    despite unconsciousness, one brings back the benefits
    of god contact -- rest, renewal, healing --
    when one returns to the world dream of ordinary life.

    there comes a time when waking in dream becomes one
    with falling asleep in god.
    then one clearly sees the awakeness in sleep
    and the sleep in awakeness,
    and knows god equally in both.

    salt from the beloved's table

  28. eternal perfect beloved

    fears in falsity
    have no effect
    on peace in reality.

    salt from the beloved's table

  29. eternal perfect beloved

    you could liberate anyone or even everyone
    in a single moment.
    why don't you do it?

    your perfect masters could do the same.
    why don't they liberate
    whole theaters full of people at a time,
    or masses of people at a rock concert
    or a sports stadium when an evangelist speaks?

    because these people would miss the best
    that life has to offer
    which is a love relationship with you.
    the whole purpose of the universe is to create lovers
    and a place for them to keep company with you
    and finally merge into you.

    the best part of life lies ahead of us
    in the longing and response of loving relationship
    with god through his saints, masters and avatars,
    and ultimately within our selves.

    salt from the beloved's table

  30. eternal perfect beloved

    the greatest satisfaction,
    which is the realization that self is god,
    comes together with the greatest disappointment,
    which is the forced retirement of all fanciful imaginings
    of god as someone so much better than oneself.

    god must be more intelligent, kinder, purer,
    more reliable, more powerful, more interesting
    and in every way more beautiful than i am.
    i look up to him and down on myself.

    what a disappointment,
    what a loss to see him as just myself.
    and what a tremendous, immeasurable satisfaction
    to know myself as him.

    salt from the beloved's table

  31. eternal perfect beloved

    even the seventh plane majzoob doesn't come
    to his empty state of mind
    by exhausting his thought processes.
    he gets there by jumping out of a full mind
    into nirvanic vacuum,
    like a passenger on a cruise ship who jumps overboard
    and finds himself unable to return as the ship
    disappears over the horizon.

    the salik jumps overboard with a lifejacket
    attached to the ship.
    he can pull himself aboard at will.

    these images are mere metaphors.
    actually the ship becomes the ocean
    and the ocean becomes ship.

    truly speaking the ship was always ocean
    and the ocean was always ship.
    this is not metaphor.
    this is the avatar's everyday reality,
    the state of mind of him, his masters and perfect ones.
    only illusion makes it appear otherwise.
    and only maya persuades us to believe the appearance.

    salt from the beloved's table

  32. eternal perfect beloved

    nothing can be found anywhere in the world but oneness.
    it hides within the trappings of variety
    like the hub of the revolving wheel of seasons.
    it yokes effects to causes, binds answers to questions,
    and links the very far to the very near.

    who could possibly separate valleys from mountains?

    it draws the lover to the beloved
    and makes eternal playmates of light and darkness.
    it unites the creator with his creatures.
    otherwise, how would one ever discover real identity?

    salt from the beloved's table

  33. eternal perfect beloved

    every duality confirms your unity,
    just as an ugly thing reminds us of beauty,
    a hateful action calls attention to kindness,
    a sick person brings up thoughts of health,
    and you are those connections.

    the past reminds us of the future,
    the loser brings to mind the winner,
    loneliness makes a point of companionship,
    and you are those connections.

    just as philosophy sets us thinking about action,
    the temporary reminds us of the permanent,
    and sadness calls to mind happiness,
    you are the unbreakable bond between opposites.

    the same oneness that binds effect to cause
    binds solution to problem, falsehood to truth,
    and binds man to god.

    every duality casts it own unique light on oneness.
    without those lights we'd never see it.
    within every duality swings a door leading to unity.
    the footsteps of the masters show the path
    to the beloved's embrace.
    without them we'd never find our way.

    salt from the beloved's table

  34. eternal perfect beloved

    oh seamless one,
    you are visible as husband and wife
    and invisible as marriage that bonds them.

    when a man and a woman embrace each other,
    you are the place where their hearts touch.

    every non-unified duality joins its mate in marriage.
    the long awaited wedding day has arrived.

    preparation and celebration are one.
    join hands in joy!

    salt from the beloved's table

  35. eternal perfect beloved

    on the other side of nothing lies the all-inclusive one.
    it's like dying to go through nothing,
    but there's life immortal in the one.

    a gateway through a wall is made of nothing,
    yet it binds inside and out as one.

    deep longings find release in nothing
    and fulfilment in the one.

    terror's inner chill melts away in nothing
    and turns to humor in the one.

    the root of worldly manyness is nothing,
    whereas the fruit of god is one.

    mind abhors the vacuum of nothing,
    heart delights in the unity of one.

    all creation ultimately amounts to nothing
    compared with the eternal truth of one.

    salt from the beloved's table

  36. eternal perfect beloved

    we don't want to get rid of illusion,
    especially not by taking refuge in nothing.
    we want to realize truth and overcome maya
    which makes us take illusion for truth.

    we need illusion because it's through illusion
    that we become conscious of godhood.
    no illusion, no consciousness.

    when we take refuge in nothing, we lose consciousness.
    relative nothing is present when everything is absent.

    the absolute vacuum of nirvana is always present,
    even in the midst of everything.
    clearly nirvana and samsara, which is everything, are one.

    salt from the beloved's table

  37. eternal perfect beloved

    eternal ocean's
    imagined wave
    breaks on silence

    salt from the beloved's table

  38. eternal perfect beloved

    one does not go beyond mind by exhausting it
    or suppressing it or starving it.
    mind is infinite and inexhaustible.
    one goes beyond it by realizing its nature
    and discovering its eternal source in indivisible oneness.

    the creation both is and isn't,
    never was and always will be.
    this is a contradiction only for the mind
    that doesn't know it own source.

    whether one struggles with bad names
    or snuggles with good ones makes no difference.
    they go together like flour and water
    to produce the staff of life.
    bad is not bad and good is not good
    but only seem so from the narrow angle of a viewpoint.

    mind is composed of moveable and removable viewpoints.
    the movement of viewpoints creates the worlds
    with all their splendid cycles.
    the removal of viewpoints awakens the mind
    to its true nature and reveals its indivisible source.

    salt from the beloved's table

  39. eternal perfect beloved

    behind every thought stands its opposite
    hidden in the dark like a thief.

    this shadowland world of opposites drags along
    like night sneaking around the earth
    on the opposite side from the sun.

    reconcile every opposite with its mate,
    oh indivisible one, and melt away all the shadows
    that falsify and fool the eye of understanding.

    world is a reflection of opposites on the surface
    of the lake of mind.
    the moment true knowledge dawns,
    all ordinary knowledge reveals its ignorance.

    salt from the beloved's table

  40. eternal perfect beloved

    the avatar comes to earth
    in order to work on behalf of all beings.
    he's paramatma in person,
    the omnipresent soul in human form.
    he is one with all beings,
    and everyone's heart is his heart.
    for him all are self, and in fact he works for himself.

    oh omnipresent self, meher baba,
    you are the beloved in everyone,
    beautiful beyond expectation's wildest dream.

    your name, like a needle threaded with love,
    repairs worn out hearts
    and mends the shabby garment of mind.

    salt from the beloved's table

  41. eternal perfect beloved

    oh oneness of which everywhere forms only a small part,
    you are the sky of my heart.

    you are the big bang and the breath of brahma,
    nirvana and a black hole.
    the golden ganga of oneness flows from your toe.

    your daaman reaches the hand of every person on earth.
    you are the incognito guest at every gathering.

    i'm studying how to be content
    when you don't say anything, beloved,
    as i sit impatiently in your silent presence.

    salt from the beloved's table

  42. eternal perfect beloved

    listen to the silence of the ancient one
    reaching further than the sun
    before the world was begun.

    what is the message from avatar,
    sustainer, parvardigar,
    source of the divine lahar?

    let us hear your silence
    that purifies the heart of anger, lust and greed.
    let your silence take root in us, oh beloved.

    salt from the beloved's table

  43. eternal perfect beloved

    spiritual masters and teachers abound
    nearly as numerous as stars in the sky,
    but when you dawn in conscious heart like a sun of love,
    they disappear in the light of your day.

    my gratitude that you love me is the same as yours
    that i love you.
    you are perfect in your love and gratitude
    whereas i'm human in mine.
    nevertheless the same gratitude serves us both.

    every moment with you is eternal, outside of time,
    and every moment without you drags along
    in minutes and hours.

    sitting with you brings stillness
    that allows all murkiness to settle out
    of the waters of clear consciousness.

    my thoughts join the corps of your servants
    in order to do your work of truth in mind.
    you give me the gift of these words
    for further delivery to mankind at large.

    thank you, beloved, for the wealth of your grace.
    may i always be worthy of union with you,
    always realize you as my own true self,
    and always serve you with mastery.

    salt from the beloved's table

  44. eternal perfect beloved

    giving all to you, i receive all from you.
    you give me the entire ocean within a single drop
    that can be found literally everywhere one looks for it.

    you decorate me with the indestructible jewel of oneness.
    the sparkle of your laughter dawns brighter
    than seven suns in this diamond beyond all desiring.

    you deed me the original seed of divine will
    that produces worlds as the fruit of its invisible limbs.
    the tang of its blossom awakens
    even the groggiest sleeper from his dream.

    this world doesn't contain sufficient praise
    to express the value of these gifts.
    by comparison this world is only a token.

    salt from the beloved's table

  45. eternal perfect beloved

    the avatar waltzes in the middle of life
    despite the burden of misery he bears.
    his divine dance plays its one two three rhythm
    on the instruments of truth, power and love.

    meher baba, godself source beyond the border
    of mind's amusement with mirrors and murders,
    you loved me before i knew you
    and before i knew i love you.

    light is knowing who you are.
    darkness is ignorance of who you are.
    oh paramatma, self of all,
    all creatures love you in their own ways.
    you continue to love me as yourself.

    i long never to forget you even for a moment
    and to have no identity apart from you,
    even though i know that i must walk in the world
    on the two feet of double identity
    until i lay down this body in completion.

    salt from the beloved's table

  46. eternal perfect beloved

    something will destroy this body
    but nothing can touch this soul.
    only projections die.

    thoughts fade into nothing
    as the tide of oneness rises to cover them.
    reality endures effortlessly forever.

    like an indestructible diamond of oneness
    nothing can cut soul in two,
    but even this radiant jewel of self disappears
    completely in the absolute vacuum of nirvana.

    salt from the beloved's table

  47. eternal perfect beloved

    so far to go, yet already arrived.
    arrived, yet traveling, traveling.
    the turtle never leaves home,
    yet sets foot on many exotic shores.

    salt from the beloved's table

  48. eternal perfect beloved

    the door of consciousness swings between
    the fact of oneness and the appearance of manyness.

    the all-illuminating light of indivisible oneness,
    altogether beyond ordinary light and shadow,
    is camouflaged by the relative projections of consciousness.

    without oneness underlying the spread of twoness
    mind could not think or mean anything
    and consciousness could not dawn
    in the indescribable night of deep sleep.

    mind falls off balance and sinks or rises in thought.

    it creates space by division, reflection and projection.
    the edge of the galaxy is distant only in relation to the hand.
    for the mind, it lies within.

    the original uncaused cause of creation
    stands outside the unbreakable chain of
    why-because-why-because-why-because
    that binds the mind in duality.

    question and answer must perform
    in the small indoor arena of duality
    where the daylight of oneness never shines.

    being in the mind and outside the mind
    are identically one and the same,
    yet when one talks one appears to be in the mind,
    and what one talks about appears to be outside the mind.

    divine consciousness is whole and indivisible,
    human consciousness polarized and comparative.
    more than a story to be told, truth is a life to be lived.

    salt from the beloved's table

  49. eternal perfect beloved

    drop opposites,
    hold wholeness.

    exit false self,
    enter the real.

    salt from the beloved's table

  50. eternal perfect beloved

    the deadwood formulas of the priest
    and his worn out ceremonies
    fall inertly at the feet of the people's religion
    in our time, scientific materialism.

    stalins of heart live below the waist
    in worlds of self-gratification and assertion
    holding their glasses upside-down
    while begging the waiter for more wine.

    ostrich enlightenment,
    escape by sticking the head in nothingness
    and ignoring the fullness of everything,
    this is just another duality.

    scientists say the ancestors of man
    crawled out of the primeval ocean.
    mystics tell us the spiritual vanguard of mankind
    merges into the ocean of all-pervading oneness.

    real religions are mutually inclusive.
    illusion plays with cracks and contrasts
    but reality has no place for them.

    salt from the beloved's table

  51. eternal perfect beloved

    one single will drives the world into light.
    mind's many names hide its singleness.

    every set of opposites is one,
    a single will, a single love, a single truth.

    activity and meditation are one.
    awake and asleep define each other.

    oh this prison of freedom
    that is god's brilliant will to love.

    the heart of perfect emptiness
    finds place for every comer.

    salt from the beloved's table

  52. eternal perfect beloved

    stripping away this body-sock of sanskaras
    reveals you as the reality of who i am,
    oh all-knowing, all-ignorant oneness of god and creation.

    you are free, free of any quality, blemish or object whatsoever.
    no difference between sitting, standing, lying down and walking.
    you are without resistance, ricochet or echo.

    i divide my real self into apparent self and apparent other,
    but the primal condition of undivided oneness never disappears.

    oh truth, you lift me out of the net of ignorance.
    you free me to swim the entire ocean
    without entanglement in false knowledge.

    salt from the beloved's table

  53. eternal perfect beloved

    divisions of opposites fill the mind with illusion
    while real oneness remains eternally unthinkable.

    everything is one thing and that one thing is nothing.
    the oneness of that everything-nothing is god,
    the indivisible, indestructible, indefinable one.

    no matter what appearance begs for attention
    or tears at mind's tranquillity,
    the untouchable, unstainable, unbreakable oneness
    is always the only reality present.

    oneness everywhere and beyond everywhere.
    no splash ever rocked this ocean.
    bring your diamond body of indestructible oneness,
    throw that in and see what happens!

    salt from the beloved's table

  54. eternal perfect beloved

    having never left the ocean,
    i fell into it.
    having no life separate from the ocean,
    i drowned in it.
    having never been anything other than ocean,
    i dissolved in it.
    having no self beyond the ocean,
    i am its imperishable peace-truth-love.

    salt from the beloved's table

  55. eternal perfect beloved

    being together with you, beloved meher baba,
    my true self in the ocean of oneness
    which cannot be said to be or not to be,
    soul merges in oversoul.

    indivisible reality baffles language.
    words divide speech like a serpent's tongue.
    your names heal that wound:
    paramatma, allahu-akbar, pat‚r hem¢n.
    but who knows himself by name?

    with you, beloved, one knows
    the truth of "i am that i am,"
    and sees the half-truth of all else.

    salt from the beloved's table

  56. eternal perfect beloved

    if the hand of enlightenment could close,
    the diamond body of indestructible self would shatter.

    if the bliss of enlightenment could fade,
    mountains would pop up in the all-pervading ocean.

    if the name of enlightenment could be spoken,
    the tower of babel would blast into orbit.

    if you have any idea what i'm talking about,
    we're siamese twins joined at the heart.

    salt from the beloved's table

  57. eternal perfect beloved

    the world divides me according to its rights and wrongs,
    sorts me according to its sizes and shapes,
    and labels me according to its bigs and smalls.

    if i were muhammad, i could go to the mountain,
    and if i were moses, i could climb it.

    if i were polyphemos, i could throw a mountain a mile,
    and if i were hanuman, i could deliver one anywhere.

    i accept all things i like and all things i don't
    as sanskaric illusions of no intrinsic meaning.

    i create, sustain and destroy the world
    through what i think, believe and discard.

    in order to know that i am empty,
    i must know fullness.
    in order to know that i am god,
    i must know bitter, helpless ignorance.

    everything in creation is made of me.
    i am the horizon's great circle.
    north, south, east and west are made of me.

    how can i merge again
    with that which i never emerged from?
    i've always been god, if only i had known.

    salt from the beloved's table

  58. eternal perfect beloved

    be god's partner until such time comes
    that one becomes god
    by merging with him in his love beyond time.

    god is one, but appears three: love, truth, peace.
    love for god in any form leads to union.

    the key of oneness opens any lock of opposites.

    for the one who loves truth,
    enlightenment comes of itself.

    salt from the beloved's table

  59. eternal perfect beloved

    real self is one with all and one beyond all.
    everything including every energy and thought
    are modifications of it.
    all is self pretending to be other.

    the nirvanic stillness of self
    participates in the samsaric hurly burly
    of worlds in action.

    every meaning but one
    evaporates in the unity of self as source
    beyond living and dying.

    due to the enormous gravitational pull of unity
    only the centrifugal force of the question "who am i?"
    keeps the worlds from collapsing into oneness.

    salt from the beloved's table

  60. eternal perfect beloved

    the perfection of nirvana includes also
    the perfection of samsara.
    both being essentially one, they're equally perfect.

    samsara appears imperfect in the eye of the beholder.
    the samsaric eye is unable to perceive wholeness.
    only the divine eye perceives the whole.

    imagination separates samsara from nirvana
    and packs the empty mind with an appearance of fullness.
    love dissolves imagination and exposes
    the indivisible individual beyond appearances.

    salt from the beloved's table

  61. eternal perfect beloved

    basho observation:

    ancient pond.
    frog jumps in.
    splashless silence,
    no splash sound.

    salt from the beloved's table

  62. eternal perfect beloved

    the creation comes into being in the space
    between opposites,
    in the now between past and future
    and the here in the middle of six directions.

    once the first division has begun
    there's little rest before the last has come.

    oh truth, which is only love,
    your peace quiets the restless mind
    and opens the heart to boundless bliss.

    standing on the adamant solidness of unity,
    the entire creation accordions into one
    fertile illusion of infinitely playful humor.

    the all-satisfying taste of oneness
    runs through every division of consciousness.
    neither freedom nor bondage are real in this liberation.
    neither happiness nor sadness are real in this bliss.

    everything glows with the luminosity of
    original love, original truth, original peace.

    salt from the beloved's table

  63. eternal perfect beloved

    some days are made of scissors,
    others are made of glue.

    some days fall in pieces like old roses,
    others come together in a cocktail or stew.

    some days fly away as dreams in the morning,
    others settle in to stay like pigeons in a park.

    some days disappear as fast as birthday cake,
    but that day the beloved shows his face,
    that day never goes away.
    it's as solid as diamond and fertile as seed.
    it flavors the heart's tongue with divine taste.

    that day rings with truth, that one clings to love.

    salt from the beloved's table

  64. eternal perfect beloved

    rocking back and forth in the cradle of mind
    like a boat adrift on the deep,
    swinging with the wind and tide,
    bouncing from side to side,
    earth rocks from season to season.

    like a mother anywhere,
    she loves to play with her children.
    she loves to be touched and stimulated,
    appreciated and made more beautiful.

    she loves to go through cycles and processes,
    mountains slipping to the sea floor,
    stones becoming soil for a season.
    she adorns her children with gems.

    salt from the beloved's table

  65. eternal perfect beloved

    the sun gives a glimpse of the power of self.
    water reveals the incorruptible purity of self's love.
    earth makes solidly visible
    the reliability of self's truth.
    air encourages the fire,
    delivers the water,
    stands aside for the earth,
    and makes clear the omnipresence of self.

    matter breathes a balance of four elements.
    when matter drops away, breath drops away.

    salt from the beloved's table

  66. eternal perfect beloved

    the head conceives the house of creation,
    the heart builds it,
    and the belly lives in it.

    while the owner of the house sleeps,
    the servants behave as if they own it.
    they wreak havoc in their attempts
    to wrest ownership away from each other.

    salt from the beloved's table

  67. eternal perfect beloved

    what clever person can separate up from down?
    what butcher can cleave yes from no?
    what solemn government can legislate east and west
          independent of each other?
    what philosopher can disconnect right from wrong?
    what artist can create beauty apart from ugliness?
    what scientist can discover discontinuity between truth and falsehood?
    what supreme court can divorce male and female from each other?
    what entrepreneur can figure profits regardless of losses?
    what designer can detach straight lines from curved?
    what surgeon can make an incision between health and sickness?
    who, then, divides life from death?
    and who sets god and man apart?

    salt from the beloved's table

  68. eternal perfect beloved

    the mighty ocean extends beyond the stars,
    never exceeding the size of a drop.
    the entire mind dissolves in that single drop,
    taking all the worlds with it.

    the ocean stretches from the intimacy of interior longing
    to the distant strange twinkling of solar systems in far space.

    a single drop of love holds it all.

    salt from the beloved's table

  69. eternal perfect beloved

    the sun always shines day and night
    and if there's no visible light
    it's because something has come in the way
    and blocked out the light of day.

    darkness itself has no source.
    it has no independent force.
    darkness departs without a trace
    as soon as light enters a place.

    many things block out light
    in the world of natural sight,
    but truth's light permits no blocks.
    it penetrates even the most solid rocks.

    salt from the beloved's table

  70. eternal perfect beloved

    only the mind with its advertisements for twoness
    stands in the way of discovering truth.
    examine the source of mind's twoness
    and see the mirror of bilateral symmetry.

    the self is real oneness
    temporarily divided into apparent manyness.
    real oneness doesn't know itself.
    apparent manyness, which is mind,
    doesn't know its real oneness either.

    when apparent manyness recognizes
    the unreality of temporary divisions
    and perceives that real oneness never divides,
    then the self is realized, the mind is enlightened,
    and the being is liberated.

    salt from the beloved's table

  71. eternal perfect beloved

    illusion tries to divide me into goods and bads,
    and maya tries to make me believe those divisions.

    in the bank they treat me like a criminal
    but they'll cash my check for an exorbitant fee.
    "bad bank. helpless me," says illusion.
    "yes, it's true," says maya,
    "didn't you see the greed and feel the trap --
    just pay and you'll be free."

    salt from the beloved's table

  72. eternal perfect beloved

    god loves to play.
    he plays the three worlds.
    he plays the joy and sorrow of all creatures.
    he plays the longing of the few who want to know him.
    he plays the moment of reunion.

    salt from the beloved's table



    welcome home


  73. eternal perfect beloved

    oh adam, jewel of creation,
    the beauty of seven avatars comes together
    to round out your lovely profile.

    zoroaster's pioneering forehead cradles your vision
    of the identity of all and everything with godself
    and your vision of the path of reunion with divinity
    by means of good thoughts, good words and good deeds.
    the radiance of your brow cuts a new trail through mankind's imagination
    and inaugurates the age of unity.
    the gates of longing open.

    ram's powerful nose fills you with unlimited energy.
    its capacity knows no bounds.
    its resources never end.
    here is abundance of noble art and skill
    for the freeing of mankind from age-long binding.

    krishna's playful eyes monitor the entire universe
    in your single glance of all-seeing compassion.
    light dawns in darkness that has never seen day
    or dreamed of love.

    your buddha ears take in mankind's prayer.
    they distinguish between repetitious formulas
    and earnest communication.
    they know inarticulate meaning.
    they hear the message behind words.

    the lips of christ silently inspire mankind
    in ways both humorous and serious.
    at the last moment in time your jesus mouth
    speaks the saving word of oneness
    that awakens the soul of certainty in love.

    muhammad's courageous chin scatters the forces of inertia.
    it consolidates the ranks of movement toward awakening.
    it leads the way to victory over cowardice and fear.

    all the experience of the world gathers
    in the auburn ringlets which halo your divine face.
    oh godman, they crown your mastery.

    the many faces of your human form
    make your irresistible beauty visible, oh beloved,
    even to us whose gross eyes are god-blind.

    welcome home

  74. eternal perfect beloved

    thank you for this absolute vacuum
    full of light and shadow in motion,
    this play of unity and duality in consciousness.

    thank you for the oneness of unqualified love
    that saves the world by opening the eye of soul.
    you awaken us from our slumber in solid matter
    and make us all over into co-saviors.

    thank you for sunrise at your samadhi.
    turquoise light ripples through closed eyes
    like sunshine under the sea.

    thank you for the five o'clock shadow
    of rainy season grass green,
    and this well full of pearly doves in flight,
    this well so deep that its frogs speak american.

    thank you for this silky light of the sun
    as it slips like a yolk behind the western horizon.
    thank you for this salt from the beloved's table.

    thank you for the night full of circling stars.
    village dogs howl away the periphery of silence.
    temple drums beat on the heart of silence.
    the burden of darkness rests lightly
    on the world's shoulder.

    oh monarch of creation, admiral of the infinite,
    thank you for the will of the one in the many
    which compels body, heart and mind to your feet
    on meherabad beach, this shore of the infinite ocean.

    no matter how many times i put my forehead in the dust,
    it's not enough to thank you properly.
    only by becoming one with you, by merging with you,
    can i be established in the real gratitude
    which permeates the creation and creator equally.

    then may i participate in your work of love
    and maintain your axis of truth
    at the center of worldly cycles.

    welcome home

  75. eternal perfect beloved

    the storyteller told a story,
    and while i searched for its meaning
    a young man spoke it right out.
    i felt dumb, slow, thick.
    i squirmed with inadequacy.
    i remembered my mother's insecurity.

    if i do not welcome this humiliation,
    how will i allow myself to greet the king properly
    when i meet him on the highway?
    how can i know hugeness if i deny smallness?

    the world humiliates you.
    even after your departure, i feel my tears saying,
    "i'm sorry, i'm sorry!"

    you humiliate me.
    i struggle automatically with self-defense.
    when i give up
    and allow humiliation to be there in my heart,
    it becomes sweet as a kiss.

    welcome home

  76. eternal perfect beloved

    you are the fat man's food,
    the glamorous woman's make up,
    and the child's favorite stuffed animal.

    you are the cowboy's bronco,
    the climber's mountain,
    and the artist's inspiration.

    you are the matron's honored guests,
    the doctor's medicine,
    and the teenager's first date.

    welcome home

  77. eternal perfect beloved

    falling into the ocean,
    i became one with it.
    ocean disappeared to the last drop.
    that became i.

    welcome home

  78. eternal perfect beloved

    just at the moment when mankind
    becomes powerful enough to do real damage
    to the creation, you appear.
    you extend the range of our suffering.

    mind doesn't know the greatness of god.
    the ocean of your love washes our sorrowful hearts.
    all is your love, even suffering and destruction.

    you wish to harvest a greater than usual crop
    of souls from human form this time around.
    greater than usual suffering and destruction
    are necessary for that work.

    the fire of your love purifies our corrupt hearts.
    all that happens is your love.
    even hatred is an expression of your love,
    even abuse, mistreatment and exploitation
    are ultimately expressions of your love.

    this is the bliss of the high ones
    and the joy of the saints.
    losers win, the meek inherit
    and the ugly become transformed on wings of light.

    welcome home

  79. eternal perfect beloved

    you carve the creation out of oneness
    with the blade of duality.
    you shape ignorance into form
    the way a stonecutter shapes a block of stone
    or a sculptor evokes communication in solid matter.

    you are the one who gives value to zero.
    you are the number one in one thousand.

    you open the mind of dualities
    like an oriental fan with the world painted on it.
    your great ugliness awakens appreciation for beauty.

    welcome home

  80. eternal perfect beloved

    when the mind recognizes the pristine,
    non-dual nature of liberation, it becomes free
    and drags the human consciousness with it
    into the realm of god's real oneness.

    liberation has no opposite.
    it contains both mastery and bondage.
    the master is bound to the servant just as surely
    as the servant is bound to the master.
    the oneness of reality comprehends them both.

    god's freedom allows him to enter into mastery
    and bondage with equal ease.
    the human mind confuses mastery with freedom
    and struggles against bondage,
    thereby forfeiting true freedom
    for an appearance of competence.

    welcome home

  81. eternal perfect beloved

    the house of human life has shuttered widows
    and bolted doors.
    a lock of opposites binds the mind in duality.

    you are the key, beloved,
    that throws open all confinement
    to the vista of windows and the freedom of doors.

    welcome home

  82. eternal perfect beloved

    the tree sends a letter of praise,
    a banyan leaf settles silently at the door
    of baba's jhopdi in meherabad.

    welcome home

  83. eternal perfect beloved

    experienced sailors report that the seven seas
    add up to a single great ocean of oneness.

    the one and same ocean of your true being
    may be called by three names --
    the ocean of love's infinite bliss,
    the ocean of truth's infinite knowledge,
    and the ocean of peace's infinite power.

    when one sees this all-pervading ocean,
    there's nothing to see,
    no one to see it and no seeing.
    yet more real could nothing ever be.

    welcome home

  84. eternal perfect beloved

    you, no matter who you are, you have always
    been unconsciously one with everything,
    one in everything and one beyond everything.

    you've been more or less conscious of many things.
    over the years these have awakened more consciousness.
    all increase in consciousness moves toward
    the ultimate awakening of the eye of oneness
    that sees with awe its intricately simple loveliness.

    in a grace of tears beyond measure
    you set aside the voluminous lesson books of daily life
    and take up the single page diploma of real living.

    welcome home

  85. eternal perfect beloved

    throughout all the worlds,
    not a peep of separation,
    not an instant of distance,
    not a particle of conflict.

    you carve the creation from golden oneness
    and clothe it in watercolor downtowns
    with the taste and touch
    of a market's constant change.

    welcome home

  86. eternal perfect beloved

    all the world's daily extravaganza
    amounts to no more than commentary
    on the mindless vacuum of deep sleep.

    the one who knows himself
    wears this vacuum on his brow like a jewel.
    it pumps through the aorta of his forgiveness.
    it rides the palm of his every doing.

    these are the awake.
    they know a dream when they see one.

    welcome home

  87. eternal perfect beloved

    awake in the world is dream time,
    and asleep in deep dreamlessness is reality.

    i dream a portion of the night
    and i dream the whole day long.
    every waking and semi-awake hour passes as dream.

    half asleep is dream and half awake is dream.
    only fully asleep and fully awake
    go beyond dream to indivisible truth.

    welcome home

  88. eternal perfect beloved

    when you're in deep sleep,
    how far away are you
    from your place of birth?

    welcome home

  89. eternal perfect beloved

    i spent eons of time to come this far,
    stumbling over shadows on a road
    that shifts underfoot like a flag in the wind.

    now you ground me in oneness more solid than rock,
    more ancient than the floor of the sea,
    vaster than the galaxy,
    oneness so intense and absolute
    that the whole creation falls between parentheses
    like a stone thrown against the sky.

    where the eyes of mind sees halves and doubles,
    the eye of heart sees wholes and singles.
    fully conscious oneness knows everything and its opposite.
    the sight of god fills and empties me at once.

    i see your real oneness
    and your appearance of manyness
    at the same timeless time.
    i see your real unlimitedness
    and your apparent limitation simultaneously.
    i see your beyond-beauty and your beauty at once.

    welcome home

  90. eternal perfect beloved

    i celebrate a death by drowning
    of the mind of manyness in the ocean of oneness.
    mind of manyness was only a half-mind,
    half of this, half of that,
    but the ocean of oneness is whole.
    half-mind cuts and shapes worlds in creation
    and pedals them around the playing field of destiny.

    when the tide of love rises above the shore,
    it floods half-mind with wholeness
    and drowns manyness in the divine.
    fragments merge with their opposites.
    funeral becomes wedding party reception
    and the dirge of loss picks up a joyful chord.
    heart rejoices in reunion.

    welcome home

  91. eternal perfect beloved

    intelligence has its own kind of blindness
    that the heart can easily see.

    neither sword nor cannon
    can stand the heat of your love.
    they melt away.
    rifle and missile disappear.

    to steer a life toward the heart
    yes and no are needed,
    but love itself lies beyond division.
    love rubs away separation, distance and contrast.

    your lovers ride the vehicle of your love
    in order to bring it back to you.
    your love determines the terrain
    and cuts the road through it.

    you love me and i love you in eternal at-one-ment.
    the whole creation is nothing other than
    dualistic expressions of love's unity.

    welcome home

  92. eternal perfect beloved

    bowing down at baba's samadhi
    bows one down to the whole creation
    as well as the creator,

    face down on these stones
    which one day will be buddhas.

    fortunate is the pilgrim
    who rests his head on your marble form,

    very fortunate the pilgrim
    who carries you away in his heart.

    most fortunate of all is the pilgrim
    who recognizes you everywhere.
    he bows down to the whole creation
    as well as its creator.

    welcome home

  93. eternal perfect beloved

    mind is created by experience of the pairs of opposites.
    those pairs of opposites are not reality,
    but the oneness that binds them is.

    because your oneness binds together opposites in duality,
    consciousness projects the creation
    and existence has meaning.

    how would we see your oneness
    if you didn't stretch it before our eyes
    as worlds in creation from the heights of heaven?

    only by separation can we recognize union,
    and only by union can we know its absence.
    mind plays with separation and union like toys.

    everything which has an opposite is illusion.
    that which has no opposite is god.
    illusion is a form of god
    but not your true reality.
    without god no illusion could exist.

    welcome home

  94. eternal perfect beloved

    you are in everything as well as beyond everything,
    in the three worlds as well as beyond them.
    so you are in these thoughts also.
    but who can see you here?

    every thought precipitates within the ocean of oneness
    as an expression of duality in response to desire.

    when it's dark, mind says light.
    when it's light, mind says dark.
    when it's question, mind says answer.
    when it's answer, mind says question.
    when its effect, mind says cause.
    when its cause, mind says effect.

    consciousness cognizes these as separations.
    superconsciousness cognizes them as connections.

    then the entire creation curls up
    in a drop of the all-pervading ocean
    and evaporates without a trace into oneness
    beyond mind's romance of opposites.

    welcome home

  95. eternal perfect beloved

    heart language offends the mind's measured speech,
    yet the melting of heart sharpens the mind
    and mind's light gives eyes to the heart.
    who can understand this divine logic?

    as soon as one shows vulnerability
    the heart can't help but love.
    such is the heart-melting power of children and women
    and the weapon forbidden to men.

    when the head flies in the sky of truth
    the heart sinks roots of deep love in the earth.
    let every cell of the body know
    the whereabouts of this largesse of heart.
    all crave and eventually receive it from the source.

    welcome home

  96. eternal perfect beloved

    when i forget who i am,
    i am the friend of the true friend.
    when i remember, i am the true friend himself.

    when the true friend meets the real self
    we merge in one,
    just as the new moon disappears in the sun.

    the true friend comes along wherever i go.
    there's nothing about me he doesn't know.

    welcome home

  97. eternal perfect beloved

    confidence never comes from anyone
    or anything other than the beloved.
    try as one may with mind, certainty cannot be won.

    only the heart of love for the true friend
    secures confid-1ce on its real foundation.

    welcome home

  98. eternal perfect beloved

    you do all, feel all and think all,
    and still it seems the world rocks with work to do,
    feelings to bear and thoughts to consider.

    fears and irritations circle around
    like gnats in front of the mind's eye.
    all mind seems crazed by whirlwinds of separation.
    even sane mind is conned by the flash and fast edit
    of the western romance with material energy.

    attention flits from duality to duality
    like a butterfly in a garden
    at play with the colors of consciousness.

    oh architect, builder and enjoyer of everything,
    every gun and bullet, every bomb and bomber
    exposes mankind's hideous division.
    every missile and mine, every warship
    shrieks with the laughter of total separation.
    all these are living monuments to duality.

    illusion devours time like a fresh fruit
    and feeds on the flesh of all creatures.
    only eternity manages to escape unconsumed.
    years circle, seasons wobble, night and day flicker
    without a moment ever passing through time's eternity.

    mind weaves illusion from questions
    and the road out of illusion from answers,
    but realization is beyond these dualities of meaning.
    no matter what one lays hand on,
    the reality of it is absolute vacuum.

    oh invisible root of mind's efflorescence,
    once the simple beauty of your game has been discovered,
    i find and follow this path established by you
    that leads to realization of my own oneness.

    through this unity, i discover
    the divine reality of universal oneness
    where no separation is possible, no duality true.

    welcome home

  99. eternal perfect beloved

    you searched near and far.
    you were lost upon a star.
    you cried out in your heart.
    i was with you from the start.
    welcome home, welcome home.

    welcome home from your wanderings
    all across the earth.
    welcome home, welcome home
    beyond death and birth.
    welcome to the universe.
    welcome home, welcome home.

    you were baffled by a thought.
    you studied and you taught.
    you focused on the light.
    i purified your sight.
    welcome home, welcome home.

    welcome home from your exile
    in the labyrinth of mind.
    welcome home, welcome home
    beyond thoughts that bind.
    welcome to eternal time.
    welcome home, welcome home.

    you were hijacked by energy.
    you knew excitement and lethargy.
    you lived a state of emergency.
    i set you free.
    welcome home, welcome home.

    welcome home from imprisonment
    back double locked doors.
    welcome home, welcome home
    beyond the ocean shore.
    welcome to divine accord.
    welcome home, welcome home.

    welcome home

eternal perfect beloved

1. the golden rain
2. shoulder an oar
3. winnowing the ocean
5. no separation is possible, one another
6. the pearl tree, sea rose
7. how the rock awoke


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