eric solibakke
agora online html edition
agora press
Oslo, Norway
second edition 1998
1994, 1998 © eric solibakke
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
the pearl tree1. mind resembles the enormous
2. swimming in the sea of oneness
3. pulled between opposites like a trampoline
4. just as a sweater with many different parts
5. you know i don't like cars parked in my living room
6. dressed in the garments of personal history
7. maya tries to divide us
8. butterflies of every season
9. though i am hardly a spark
10. mind is like a granary of seed thoughts
11. every duality in consciousness divides within me
12. illusion stands on two feet
13. i don't ask you to break your silence
14. without exception all originates in me
15. mankind clings to the back
16. never mind the dreams that flutter through
17. you are myself -- i cannot be separate from you
18. the golden rain of grace soothes a bothered heart
19. my treasure chest overflows with riches
20. like a sprinkler on top of your head
21. in the intense furnace of divine love
22. god shuns an empty mind
23. false self, which is the world
24. to embrace you is suicide for the false self
25. the false self searches for the true self
26. even while resting in no possible separation
27. there's a certain corner of your smile
28. swallow the guru whole
29. the taste of oneness satisfies every hunger
30. the only face that satisfies
31. you glide down from pure truth
32. odd, fresh, striking, dangerous
33. oh sustainer
34. we want to love you
35. the whole world waits for the moment
36. before one can appreciate silence
37. deeper than dreamless sleep
38. the path to you begins everywhere
39. consciousness is a vehicle
40. no matter how far one wanders
41. one pass key opens all locks
42. that single drop of rain
43. an enlightened mind resembles a golfer
44. no matter what goes on in illusion
45. i see only my mind and its consequences
46. the infinite ocean swims around in itself
47. the voyage of self discovery
48. the hand cannot touch you
49. though silence is your highest teaching
50. oh beloved, you squeeze me, you press me
51. struggle as one may, swim like a champion
52. i am the center of each and every thing
53. in the mind and out of the mind at the same time
54. when freedom binds itself
55. mind tethered to oneness roams freely
56. what you see and hear of me is illusion
57. i created the world
58. everything i meet
59. i've always been unconsciously one with everything
60. what's the use in cultivating opinions
61. every bit of creation is me
62. this world of harmless shadows struts its drama
63. like the moon i'm not very bright
64. the real ocean has no surface, no waves
65. after one wave comes another
66. real ocean
67. i harvest imperishable fruit
68. the unity of god can only be seen
69. until realization
70. the whole of life is preparation
71. not even the most outrageous behavior
72. this woman howling with terror in a storm of tears
73. we all thought you had left us
74. when you see the beauty of his face
75. the creations of artists inspire the soul
76. the gods and even god himself has been kind to me
77. you turn the sinner into a winner
78. the soul warmth of love human and divine
79. oh heart of oneness, to play the game
80. from eternal oneness arise all contrast and conflict
81. in this world full of
82. why all the fuss? why not bliss?
83. in an ocean of perfect stillness
84. help me see the truth of oneness
85. write not only poems directed to
86. if you wish to write some words or lines
87. a trapped mind seeks constantly for release
88. no matter who you think you are
89. sitting on the bank of the river
90. oh single-drop ocean without shore
91. truth inheres in every human consciousness
92. from certain points of view
93. in the center of balance in consciousness
94. i dreamed that jewels were stolen
95. aristotle's eyes were fixed on the world
96. in the capitalist world, gold was the unit of value
97. time itself traveling at the speed of light
98. monkey on a rope
99. a single drop contains the rain
100. a flock of opinions and judgments
101. divine love gives words their sense
102. does a boat get tired of bouncing on the waves?
103. i leave these tracks of sound behind me
"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
the pearl tree
- eternal perfect beloved
mind resembles the enormous
plumbing system of a big city.
god resembles the water which comes,
let's say, from a huge lake in the mountains
and passes through pipes and tubes
of all different sizes, down to the most minute,
to serve the industrial, domestic, civic
and commercial life of the city's inhabitants.
it's frozen, dyed, polluted, flushed, boiled, drunk
and put to every imaginable use.
in spite of the great diversity of its applications
while passing through the maze of urban plumbing,
it never alters its water nature
nor ever loses its ability to flow together.
as one single water it enters the drainage system
of increasingly larger pipes leaving the city.
as one water it flows into the river
and onward on its way to the sea.
- eternal perfect beloved
swimming in the sea of oneness
under the surface of mind's variety,
seeing the beauty of ugliness
and the ugliness of beauty as one,
knowing the truth of illusion
and the illusion of truth as one,
experiencing the freedom of bondage
and the bondage of freedom as one.
- eternal perfect beloved
pulled between opposites like a trampoline,
the mind flies up and down
performing all sorts of rolls, flops and twists
and other astonishing tricks in the air.
it's full of zing and snap,
and to a certain extent it's exhilarating and fun.
but ordinary mind can't stop or rest
except in moments of deep sleep.
if you unhook a number of springs on one side,
you risk being thrown dangerously in that direction.
this is the condition of ordinary mind,
which clings to one pole of opposites,
ignoring the others,
without the balance of wholeness.
if you unhook springs exactly opposite each other,
the trampoline loses a measure
of its overall responsive force in a balanced way.
if you unhook every set of springs two by two
around the entire periphery,
the trampoline loses all its force.
the tension of every single set of opposites is released
and the mind lets its power go.
being is there with all its potential
but no tensions give life to the mind.
such is the condition of nirvana.
having realized the life-giving properties
of the tension between opposites,
one can connect them up again two by two
and fly confidently up and down.
all of mind's fancy tricks and trials
simply demonstrate the source of energy and rest.
- eternal perfect beloved
just as a sweater with many different parts
like neck, sleeves, cuffs, back, front and so on,
is knitted with a single yarn,
so is the mind's variety of different parts
made up from the single truth of oneness.
just as needles knit the garment
so does the interplay of viewpoints knit the mind.
- eternal perfect beloved
you know i don't like cars parked in my living room,
yet you leave a white renault here for days on end.
i squirm with aggression.
i want to squeeze drops of superglue in your locks,
ram a potato up your exhaust pipe
and paint a hand on the windshield giving you the finger.
most of all i want to wrap your whole car
in brown 3" mylar tape around and around like a tight mummy.
it'll resemble a piece of modern art, chic, unusual.
my living room'll be a kind of sculpture garden.
i should advertise in the newspaper and charge admission.
but you parked this car here to humiliate me
and bring me to my knees, didn't you, beloved?
you know i'm more interested in winning inner freedom
than outer battles.
you know i won't do anything with your damn renault
but eat my aggression like bitter plums
from the tree of thwarted desires.
when every last negative thought
has been tasted and swallowed,
i'll open up the space of my living room
for you to park any time you want.
then you'll probably disappear.
in any case, it won't make any difference to me.
by your grace i'll be free.
- eternal perfect beloved
dressed in the garments of personal history,
all in their shyness look at themselves in the mirror
without removing their shabby costumes.
a few grow bolder.
they remove an article or two of clothing
and see a different person.
very few remove every shred of covering
and behold the reality of god in human form.
yet eventually all
reach that place of unadorned truth.
- eternal perfect beloved
maya tries to divide us,
wants to separate you from me
by using your words to create doubt.
maybe i fail to please you with these poems.
surely silence is the highest praise.
my heart sinks.
your displeasure wounds worst of all.
sweet love turns nasty like cold slime.
maya's in her element, having a good time.
yes, it's true there are no words in love divine,
bliss is silent, truth can't be shaped in sound.
nothing there is real.
truth and love cast shadows and people write them down.
only shadows move across these pages,
shadow actors in a shadowland,
shadow marks in shadow sand.
no wonder you're not impressed.
no shadow-merchant you,
you make no deals for a pretty word
even if it sounds true.
you make a different offer, saying "things
that are real are given and received in silence."
matter is far denser shadow than words could ever be.
body actions don't come close to love divine.
but just as i praise you with shadow sounds
i also act within the thickness of the matter plane.
thank you thoughts combine with thank you words
combine with thank you actions,
all shadows sure and maya play.
oh beloved, by your grace these thank you notes
overflow the heart as shadows of love divine.
am i old fashioned, hung up on things sophomoric?
for ages i whispered to you a promise
that i wouldn't hoard your gifts,
that whatever you gave me would pass on to all.
am i buying maya's game? is there more than one?
you yourself woke me up and trained my eye to see
that no separation is possible between sun and shadow.
where do shadows come from? what are they made of?
there's nothing here anyway other than you yourself
who are the peace of truth and love divine.
you are who i really am,
the very source of all i think and say and do.
these thank you notes
and these words of praise you send yourself
will always be,
as long as brahma breathes and there's light to see.
- eternal perfect beloved
butterflies of every season
flap one wing in the light
and one in the dark.
to see their great beauty,
loop the dark around the light
and tie a graceful bow.
now there's a worthy christmas gift
no matter when your birthday comes.
- eternal perfect beloved
though i am hardly a spark
compared to the avatar's blazing sun,
much comfort comes from knowing
that my spark, however feeble or unequal
to the task of driving away the night,
flickers with the same substance
as his immeasurable radiance.
- eternal perfect beloved
mind is like a granary of seed thoughts.
when placed in fertile earth,
watered and sunned, they reach harvest
in the food chain of higher conscious life.
those who do not know god
have not yet explored the full range of consciousness
nor exercised the full capacity of intelligence
to distinguish between temporary manifestation
and the eternal source.
at one time or another
every man and woman on the street
will awaken in a flood of recognition
and say the same words that i speak.
the seed of unity
sprouts, flowers and fruits through the ages
to this day of harvest in our time.
- eternal perfect beloved
every duality in consciousness divides within me
in order to build the worlds in creation,
and every one unites within me to liberate me
in the heart of god's divine love.
love sources all substance in the universe,
first as thought, then energy, then matter.
physical, emotional and mental unity
within an individual reflects
planetary, cosmic and universal unity in nature.
right out beyond the most distant galaxy,
this unity is soul and that unity is oversoul,
and nothing in existence but ignorance
can set those unities apart.
- eternal perfect beloved
illusion stands on two feet
shifting from side to side.
reality stands on one
as solid as the sky.
- eternal perfect beloved
i don't ask you to break your silence,
not even with the word of words.
i ask rather, oh beloved,
let me hear your silence truly.
let the message of your silence penetrate
throughout this noisy consciousness.
don't break your silence, oh silent one,
rather break my noise.
of what use are words
if i can't hear your silence?
true to your promise
let me hear your voice of omnipresent silence
that announces without beginning or end:
am i god, god am i, i am god, god i am.
- eternal perfect beloved
without exception all originates in me,
restlessly expresses the enormous variety of me,
and without ever being anything other than me
finally leads all consciousness to me.
in this place where no difference can be found,
reality and illusion are one and the same.
no separation is possible.
once consciousness distinguishes true self from false,
there's no need to rip out the root of illusion
as if it were a weed or worse yet a foul poison plant.
will you take the toy away from infant god
and make him sit still in a desert?
true self enjoys the endless imagination of god's play
in the great garden of his creation.
- eternal perfect beloved
mankind clings to the back of a four-legged behemoth
whose huge feet scarcely move:
buddhism and hinduism in front, islam and christianity in back.
the elephant of world religion marches on four slow feet.
- eternal perfect beloved
never mind the dreams that flutter through
the night mind like refugees without credentials.
who knows where they come from or where they're going
and what's in the bundles on their backs?
never mind the thoughts that stand
like authorities in uniform,
directing traffic at the crossroads
and pronouncing law in court.
they command the media and control
the keys and codes of legitimacy.
never mind actual or perceived wrongs
all the way back to the beginning of time.
never mind nihilists posing as masters.
never mind the religion whose temple is the bank.
never mind that every face is a locked house
with a couple of tiny windows.
never mind the penis park
full of widows and bitter mothers.
never mind the history that writes itself
on the walls of consciousness.
despite the kicks of krishna, buddha and christ,
love continues to sleep in the heart of mankind
drugged by fear of helplessness and desire for power.
let every heart be freed from any taste of bitterness
and every solar plexus be released
from its protest against humiliation.
- eternal perfect beloved
you are myself -- i cannot be separate from you,
but i can appear to be separated
by the fa‡ade of differences in duality.
every person i meet is god, meher baba, self
wrapped in thick garments of sanskaric material,
not merely aspects of myself -- self is indivisible --
but my whole self wrapped in skins of different appearance.
maya persuades me to accept appearance as real
while you point continuously
to the truth of indivisible oneness.
- eternal perfect beloved
the golden rain of grace soothes a bothered heart
with the wholeness of only love.
i am neither adequate nor inadequate, you say.
adequacy and inadequacy are just another duality
bound together by indivisible oneness.
i live beyond opposites
in the place where adequacy and inadequacy
are one and the same.
when the wheel comes fully around,
my friends, who think themselves my enemies,
send praise disguised as criticism;
my enemies, who think themselves my friends,
send criticism disguised as praise.
obeying this law of oneness
powerlessness becomes mighty.
with the ultimate glue of this equanimity,
ugliest becomes most beautiful.
- eternal perfect beloved
my treasure chest overflows with riches.
everywhere i look i see the wealth of your gifts.
at the same time i see that i'm totally empty.
this limitless emptiness proves to be
the most valuable gift of all.
its priceless worth makes treasure of everything,
just as a chest full of common objects made of gold
is worth a fortune on the market.
unlike the fortunes of the market place
boundless wealth must be shared with all.
with sharing it grows and increases in value.
all dust becomes gold dust, every stone a diamond.
ordinary grains of sand become pearls.
oh beloved, if only king midas will grant me a moment,
history will crown him with imperial ornaments
and we'll all be freed from greed.
- eternal perfect beloved
like a sprinkler on top of your head,
watering the world with a rain of golden drops of grace,
you widen my oneness as a horizon,
you deepen my oneness to the height of a star.
distance disappears from hearts in love.
since you are the perfect beloved
i long to be the perfect lover.
you wouldn't harm me unless
it were proper that i be harmed
in which case harm would not be harm
but rather the grace of your constant
attention to my needs.
if you feed me only sweets and never bitter medicine
even when i'm ill, you would be a poor mother
and a lousy excuse for a friend.
my worst disasters become my greatest blessings
by holding on to the hem of the avatar's robe.
- eternal perfect beloved
in the intense furnace of divine love
mind's many small thoughts
as numerous as grains of sand
fuse into a single transparent
globe of clear glass.
the rainbow appears from its hiding place
projecting the gorgeous colorwheel of divine oneness.
- eternal perfect beloved
god shuns an empty mind
and finds no place in a full one.
god comes into a balanced mind
and settles down forever.
- eternal perfect beloved
false self, which is the world,
arises from true self, which is god.
false self is within true self
and true self is within false self.
when false self exhausts it falsity
it returns to the true self,
which is without beginning or end
and incapable of exhaustion.
false self is composed of the elements in nature,
the energies in life expression
and thoughts in consciousness.
true self is composed of the oneness
within the elements, energies and thoughts,
and the same oneness which is beyond them
from which they arise.
false self veils but does not replace true self.
false self depends entirely on true self
whereas true self is entirely independent.
the true self praises itself.
the false self pretends to praise, but doesn't dare
for fear of strengthening its rival.
- eternal perfect beloved
to embrace you is suicide for the false self,
the separate, isolated, lonesome, needy self.
it starves through inattention,
like pulling the plug on its life support system.
rather than embrace you, the false self waves
its insurance policy in your face
and threatens lawyers, courts and punishment.
- eternal perfect beloved
the false self searches for the true self.
the false self depends on
the visible matter of the gross world,
the dynamic energy of the subtle world,
the conscious intelligence of the mental world.
whereas the total independence of real self
depends on nothing at all.
the false self appears in the contrasts of opposites,
whereas the true self never divides
or separates into opposites.
the false self begins, goes through changes
and comes to an end with the passage of time,
whereas the true self never begins or ends in time
but persists eternally both within and beyond time.
- eternal perfect beloved
even while resting in no possible separation,
i'm tempted to play with imagination
desiring to let light divide from dark
and allow above to separate from below.
like the device in a planetarium
which projects the heavens on the inside of a dome,
imagination casts the world on the senses of the mind.
oneness must express itself through the medium of duality.
i draw conclusions about resulting contrasts,
feel the alignment of energies for and against
and isolate myself in that scenery.
caught on the hook of duality
i project my limitations on fellow human beings
like cookie cutters falling on raw dough.
- eternal perfect beloved
there's a certain corner of your smile
which asks me how hungry i am.
you tease me with playful inquiries
about how i consume you.
do i push you around my plate
like a finicky child
just nibbling a little on this and that,
all the while hoping to find pizza,
spaghetti, ice cream and chips?
there's another corner of your smile
which very seriously tells me
if i want to feed my real hunger
i should swallow you like a starved dog,
let my belly extract every available
bit of nourishment,
and let natural digestion discard any unusables.
- eternal perfect beloved
swallow the guru whole.
don't nibble like a minnow
or consume leftovers like a pilot fish.
even if you're only a cod
and the guru's a whale, swallow him.
the travail of swallowing
such an enormous being is the spiritual work.
how else will you reach his size?
- eternal perfect beloved
the taste of oneness satisfies every hunger.
no craving or whim remains unslaked.
the tongue comes to rest at ease on the palate.
satisfaction loosens tension in consciousness
just as sleep floods fatigue with sweet release.
the spice of choice is oneness.
- eternal perfect beloved
the only face that satisfies
the longing for eternal beauty,
the face that shines with the inner
light of absolute oneness that remains one
no matter what dualities arise on the horizon
demanding to be recognized and played with,
no matter how grim the game.
in the stillness of inner silence
your original face, oh beloved,
presses against my kiss.
- eternal perfect beloved
you glide down from pure truth
as i clamber up from relative truth.
we meet right here in the middle and merge
together like world champion honeymooners.
the degree of interest you show me
equals the degree of longing i have for you.
even while all the worlds project their fantastic views
upon me as if i were a cinema screen in the round,
i want only to hang on to your daaman
which is the reality of who i am.
- eternal perfect beloved
odd, fresh, striking, dangerous
every day i wait for words of love
in your silent mouth.
let me hear your silence.
let me see you with my ears.
arise in my heart, oh will to love,
and sweep away every obstruction
that blocks mind's total absorption in divine silence.
the golden rain of grace falls from a cloud of silence
and makes no sound as it penetrates the heart with love.
- eternal perfect beloved
oh sustainer,
with your creative right eye and destructive left,
the entire world arises from the pure honey of your love.
your omnipresent, all-pervading body,
armlessly embraces the creation in every opposite.
your main quality is equality.
wearing a crown of magnificent silence
and a necklace of divine names,
you are the first i, the proto i, the arch i.
your indestructible, uncreated body of oneness
is muhammad's islam, christ's consciousness,
and buddha's enlightenment.
silence participates in the sound of your name.
emptiness participates in the structure of your thought.
stillness participates in the energy of your feeling.
your body of pure love forms the foundation
and support of all the worlds.
- eternal perfect beloved
we want to love you
but since you dropped your body
we're frustrated by your seeming absence.
while men argue over your true name,
we come to you to learn what we already know
and experience what you've always known.
you tell us to love each other
and we're stuck with that.
now that your mortal hands and feet lie at rest
in your samadhi, let ours be yours.
- eternal perfect beloved
the whole world waits for the moment
you break your silence
as the voice of god from heaven
via satellite, network and cable.
those who want to love you murmur
a secret prayer that you break your silence
in the intimacy of their hearts.
some say you communicate with them
through visions, dreams and miracles
which reveal who you are.
the world waits for you to break your silence
while you wait for the world
to hear your silence in its heart.
- eternal perfect beloved
before one can appreciate silence
one must experience the excitement of full sound.
what would a musician do without silence?
only one who can hear silence
knows how big a sound can fill
the profound stillness of original oneness.
- eternal perfect beloved
deeper than dreamless sleep
and brighter by far than the sun,
the pearl of unity's deep silence
shows every color but has no color of its own.
goodwill diamonds of inviolate peace thrive
in the immaculate soil of pearl dust and golden rain.
they shine with light that makes no shadow.
- eternal perfect beloved
the path to you begins everywhere
and leads to the point of balance
at the center of the world.
it disappears in the point of oneness there,
pulling the traveler with it into your nirvanic heart.
he can't take anything with him
through the passageway at the center of duality
where opposites meet,
not even an idea, a worry or a dream.
no matter how minute or unimportant,
anything he brings obscures the way.
having found the way and passed through it,
he finds everything waiting for him there.
- eternal perfect beloved
consciousness is a vehicle
that constantly changes shape
to meet the needs of the way it travels.
jeep, limo, train, bike
consciousness creates the road,
the terrain, the vehicle and the driver.
trawler, liner, yacht, dinghy
consciousness fuels the engine,
maintains the vehicle and trains the driver.
offroad, dragster, formula one, buggy
consciousness draws the map,
chooses the route
and enjoys the scenery or hates it.
glider, concord, stealth, cessna
- eternal perfect beloved
no matter how far one wanders
in the pathways of personality,
the source always comes along with.
no matter how tightly
one packs the mind with illusions,
reality can never be squeezed out.
no matter how fast and abruptly
one sorts through thought,
truth can never be shaken off.
no matter what disguises one adopts
to play roles in the theater of consciousness,
self never loses its thread of recognition.
- eternal perfect beloved
one pass key opens all locks
in the world of feelings.
where is that key hidden?
look behind smallness
in the place of helplessness,
right there where it feels like dying,
there's the key.
with that one on one's belt,
one easily opens a way to heart's content.
- eternal perfect beloved
that single drop of rain
which covers the whole world with gold
is by far the world's largest ocean
and by far its smallest too.
- eternal perfect beloved
an enlightened mind resembles a golfer
who hits a hole in one every time he tees off.
- eternal perfect beloved
no matter what goes on in illusion
with all its irritations and temptations,
the constant ringing of the doorbell and telephone,
every thought begins in you and returns to you
after circling around the wheel of duality.
you are always with us no matter where we go.
you are one hundred percent present
in all these thoughts,
but you're hard to recognize
in your dress of halfnesses.
no matter if a grid of dualities catches my ego
and holds it fast like an insect in a web.
no matter if i feel like a cheap battery,
held hostage by the body's outrageous demands,
never do you leave me, no matter what i do.
you are always there, always in my heart.
- eternal perfect beloved
i see only my mind and its consequences
arranged around me as the world
saying, "this is who you are, this is what you are!"
all that is is only i am.
all dualities arise in oneness
including that of self and other.
no time, no space, no sound,
no movement, no form, no name,
the entire creation is a manifestation of imagination.
- eternal perfect beloved
the infinite ocean swims around in itself
in the form of a fish wondering "who am i?"
sea rose
- eternal perfect beloved
the voyage of self discovery
begins in pure unconsciousness
and goes though every known condition
of nature and consciousness.
ultimately the traveler arrives
at pure consciousness which has no object
and no subject, no division whatsoever,
no dualistic opposites, no conflict,
no space, no time.
the voyage ends in this wholeness
of the indivisible one
where the traveler experiences
the bliss of unlimited truth, love and peace.
he settles permanently in this bliss,
knowing himself with certainty as the all-self
at the source of creation
and within every being in creation.
- eternal perfect beloved
the hand cannot touch you,
the voice cannot describe you
and the mind cannot fathom you.
yet all the hand touches is you,
all the tongue describes is you.
all grasping of mind, every thought
both true and false is you,
and all comprehension of mind
is none other than you.
- eternal perfect beloved
though silence is your highest teaching
and silence is our highest praise,
the original question formulated in me
fills the screen of consciousness with endless answers.
- eternal perfect beloved
oh beloved, you squeeze me, you press me,
you pinch me between the jaws of the only
unforgivable sin -- hypocrisy.
you squash me down from above
with sharp warnings that i must not
claim to be something greater than i am.
at the same time you drive me up from below
with stern warnings that i must not
commit the crime of false modesty
by pretending to be less than i actually am.
i thought to avoid hypocrisy by deference,
mystification and saying nothing,
but you're not pleased by that false modesty.
in your "call" you say it shows weakness
which eventually sours into ego.
there lies no escape from the bite of these jaws.
the truth plain and simple sounds outrageous
even when you say it in ways sublimely beautiful.
even when you live it in daily life
many turn away from you,
thinking you're deluded by false ideas of greatness
-- god in human form, indeed,
the poor man suffers from inflation!
what then for the ant, sparrow or man
who realizes you as his own true self?
how ridiculous he appears,
like a boy wearing his father's suit.
yet he must confirm the truth of his father's word
that he is the self of all,
and he must witness to all that only he is real.
oh beloved, this is the servitude
that i have vowed to master
and it is my joy to do so.
- eternal perfect beloved
struggle as one may, swim like a champion,
nobody ever reached the end of the ocean of love.
all perish in love; even death itself must drown.
- eternal perfect beloved
i am the center of each and every thing
and the self of every being.
i meet myself coming and going.
the worlds with all their inhabitants
embody the many forms of self
in countless variations of self revelation.
i flourish and fall, i sustain, persist and remain.
all express me, all confirm my omnipresence
and all return to me
according to the laws of manifestation.
this stream of impermanent forms flowing through time
continually arises from and flows again
into the immeasurable ocean
of vast stillness which is my real self.
- eternal perfect beloved
in the mind and out of the mind at the same time,
conscious and not conscious at the same time,
full and empty at the same time,
the incredible sun of reality
shines with the light of truth and the warmth of love.
one who bathes in this sunshine knows peace.
one who dwells in it recognizes god as the self
of the universe and all its inhabitants.
he lives in one with everyone
in his abode as one beyond everyone.
- eternal perfect beloved
when freedom binds itself
the avatar appears.
when binding achieves freedom
the perfect master appears.
- eternal perfect beloved
mind tethered to oneness roams freely
in every quarter of consciousness.
the untethered traveler moves through the terrain
following familiar roads and occasionally opening
new ones leading toward and away from the destination.
tethered mind sits exactly still
on the point of destination
while the landscape of consciousness
moves fluidly around it.
oneness is self,
the goal of all seeking
and the destination of all travel.
the mind of oneness recognizes itself
in every diversity of consciousness,
in every variation of harmony and disharmony
and in every flavor of conflict and resolution.
the entire landscape showcases self.
the greater the contrast, the wider the gap,
the brighter shines the light of self's singleness.
search as one will,
one can find no other image than self
and no other purpose than its revelation.
- eternal perfect beloved
what you see and hear of me is illusion
but the silent, invisible part of me is real as diamond,
vaster than ocean and sky together.
this is the seed self from which the universe grows.
just as the universe is called by the name of every
tom, dick and harry on the street,
the self doesn't know its own name.
sink an empty bottle in the sea.
what's the difference between the water in it
and the water outside it?
that's the difference between your self and seed self.
the bottle is made of misunderstandings that melt
under the touch of love.
- eternal perfect beloved
i created the world.
i did it in order to know who i am.
now i know that all is self.
you are my self.
not knowing the oneness of self,
i believed myself to be other than you.
false self clings to that belief
until the realization of real self dawns
and the indivisible oneness of real self shines
with the original light of real truth.
in that light our oneness is abundantly clear
and the shadows of the illusion of separation
experienced by false self
are exposed in all their charming detail.
you created the world.
you did that in order to know yourself.
by close examination of your experience of false self
with its false knowing
you discover real self with real knowing.
by love for truth and the people of truth
you triumph over the false and the people of shadow.
everything in the world points to wholeness
and everybody in the world points to real self.
enter reality through the love door of oneness
and establish permanent residence
in the brilliant truth of self.
- eternal perfect beloved
everything i meet,
i meet myself in yet another form.
i am the essence, they are the forms.
essence is one, forms many.
usually form meets form
and essence remains unmet.
whoever meets me,
meets himself in essence in my form.
- eternal perfect beloved
i've always been unconsciously one with everything.
now i'm conscious of this inescapable oneness,
being one in everything and one beyond everything.
all the life of the universe takes place within me
and i participate in every detail of it,
yet i'm totally still and at peace.
what is going on everywhere?
the sun would fall out of the sky
before the story could be completely told.
the bride comes to the groom, birth,
the struggle to achieve and fulfil desires,
the loss of it all at death.
the same story is repeated in every individual
as different as each one's face.
like faces, they're both different and the same.
isn't this a mystery worthy of silence?
two faces, two stories in which
their interconnected roles constitute
one single face in search of union.
her syllables give form to his words.
his lines give meaning to hers.
with one silence they affirm "this is who i am."
no force in the universe can shatter their union.
this is my stillness and total peace.
this is my participation
and this is the life of the universe within me.
- eternal perfect beloved
what's the use in cultivating opinions
about events in my life?
that was good and that was bad.
this gives me pleasure and that pain.
how do i know what's good or bad?
why waste time arguing for and against
with the limited scope of human understanding?
both good and bad are endless parades of ignorance.
all i know is that truth permits no division.
you're not divided into good and bad.
you're all good, or if you like, you're all bad.
whatever happens has to happen.
the whole history of the world
in every detail from the beginning of time
conspires to make it happen.
but you, truth, are beyond happening.
what do i know of this person's need
and that person's service,
or this city's need and that country's service?
am i a parent forced to decide
in ignorance and out of habit,
hoping for the best, knowing nothing?
who can say this is important and that not?
that this youth scores a point in football
cannot be separated from that ancient emperor's
defense of his northern frontier.
arguments for and against have no value
beyond entertainment -- a perpetual dance
of nymphs on the floor of consciousness.
when apollo keeps the rhythm
and picks the melody on his cithara,
this entertainment reaches its zenith
of subtlety and intricacy.
if you don't believe me
then you fail to see the minotaur devouring maidens
in the middle of the dance hall.
who's willing to find amusement in an empty dance floor?
better yet, to appreciate the virgin lot it stands on?
best of all, to contemplate the immaculate space
before land was there to build on?
- eternal perfect beloved
every bit of creation is me.
every being in it is me.
what was real is no longer real.
what was unreal is now real.
the world is my false self
which like a mirror
reflects my real self.
what image appears there?
the form of supreme oneness appears,
visible only to the eye of indivisibility.
this form has no form in itself
yet it gives form to all which does have form.
the forms which most nearly approach this image
are three: love, truth and power.
whoever sees the nature of any of these three
also perceives the form of real self.
- eternal perfect beloved
this world of harmless shadows struts its drama
on the dream stage of six shifting senses.
i kiss the light like a moth
and burn up in its purity.
i die like a moth in its radiance.
life and death characterize the labyrinth.
both alive and dead, i am neither.
to exit the shadow labyrinth of yes and no
is my destiny, and i choose it.
neither alive nor dead, i am both.
- eternal perfect beloved
like the moon i am not very bright
but through my illumination
you can tell for sure
that a very great light exists
somewhere not far distant.
- eternal perfect beloved
the real ocean has no surface, no waves.
as soon as karmic winds arise
the ocean manifests an illusory surface
which is disturbed by waves in proportion
to the force of wind.
desires stir the mind with a storm of thoughts
for and against, success and excuse, failure and defense.
no matter how wildly the surface
rolls and pitches under the duress of karmic wind,
the depth remains unmoved.
why struggle in vain to force the sea to silence?
when the wind stops blowing
the sea drops to stillness of its own accord.
go deep enough and you find stillness
even under the roughest of seas.
- eternal perfect beloved
after one wave comes another.
the fall of one gives rise to the next.
mind must read the palimpsest of experience
in order to create consciousness,
and there must be consciousness
in order to realize the true self.
there is no falsity in the real self
but there is reality in the false self.
false eyes can't see it, but real eyes can.
false eyes see the false self as real.
real eyes see the real self.
divine eyes see both as one.
- eternal perfect beloved
real ocean
false motion
- eternal perfect beloved
i harvest imperishable fruit
which was ripe and ready to pick
before the beginning of time.
it takes forever to find but at last
i discover its whereabouts everywhere
more abundant than grapes on a vine.
the very substance of the labyrinth
itself is made of it.
bite anything, bite the nearest thing
and enjoy its marvelous flavor.
sink your teeth into any idea or feeling.
smell the powerful fragrance of freedom
and explore its texture.
an exclamation will escape your lips.
you'll say, "oh love!"
a thought will fill your mind totally
from zenith to nadir, a single thought,
still and perfect, the thought, "ah truth!"
- eternal perfect beloved
the unity of god can only be seen
by its reflection on the walls of duality.
like the reality hidden within appearance
light is not visible until it falls on something.
the door and window man punches holes in the walls
which surrounds ego with protective ignorance.
even a small window changes the quality of light
falling on furnishings in the room.
the more light that comes in
the darker and crisper become the shadows.
light drives shadows into visibility.
- eternal perfect beloved
until realization,
consciousness is always separate and dualistic.
after realization it is also unified and single.
mind must divide in order to mark its presence.
- eternal perfect beloved
the whole of life is preparation
for a great work -- death.
one prepares by intense living,
with total attention wide open in every dimension,
committed to every ounce of consciousness
available in each event.
one savors feelings like a connoisseur, a gourmet.
one makes all the connections
like a scientist or a philosopher.
with age the thoroughly living person
becomes ripe for setting attention aside,
just as a tired man after a day of accomplishment
lays his head on a pillow
and breaths away the day's activity.
what could be more satisfying than sleep?
half-lived events and half-seen situations,
whether good or bad, will not slip away
on the breath of sleep.
they stick in the forehead and drip into the throat
like a bitter juice that simply refuses
to ferment into wine.
the great work lies in letting go,
in the recognition, "i have done this,
i have seen that, i have been there."
no struggle remains, no clinging to the surface
in order to avoid the depth, no half-death,
no fitful sleep haunted by dreams of pain or pleasure.
troubled mornings follow such semi-sleep
just as troubled lives follow such partial death.
live the depth and width and height of every day,
my friend, that you be prepared eventually
for the great work -- to die.
- eternal perfect beloved
not even the most outrageous behavior
changes the nature of truth.
once the true foundation dawns in consciousness,
the world's quakes no longer disturb its tranquillity.
oh rare ocean, pure love and truth in one,
i rest unmoved in your immeasurable light.
- eternal perfect beloved
this woman howling with terror in a storm of tears
like an abandoned child in the chamber of horrors,
she's screaming for parents who really care.
take her hand, beloved, you who are the father of all,
sweep her up in the safety of your divine arms.
the light from your eyes drives away shadows
as when theater lights come on after a movie.
you know words of comfort that heal the heart's panic
and you are the vocalist whose song awakens love
in even the most unlikely places,
like the grass which sprouts in the rubble of hiroshima.
children love to play hide and seek, beloved,
but this is enough.
help this lost soul find you as her own true father.
dissolve her troubles in the ocean of your love.
- eternal perfect beloved
we all thought you had left us
all alone and helpless.
we thought you made the world
and went away.
but no, it isn't so!
you are present everywhere,
you are living in our hearts.
we are sleeping in your arms.
there's no real escape,
nowhere to hide
beyond the world in love divine.
- eternal perfect beloved
when you see the beauty of his face
when you look into his eyes
don't you see yourself?
don't you recognize?
when you hear his words of wisdom
when you contemplate the truth
don't you see yourself?
don't you recognize?
when you feel the impact of his love
when your heart flies in the sky
don't you see yourself?
don't you recognize?
when his peace wraps around you
like a blanket in the cold
don't you see yourself?
don't you recognize?
when you hear his inner voice
talking in your heart
don't you see yourself?
don't you recognize?
when you wake up to the ocean
seeing only love forever more
don't you see yourself?
don't you recognize?
- eternal perfect beloved
the creations of artists inspire the soul
to new heights of appreciation and awe.
those of engineers and scientists
prove both useful and dangerous.
anyone who knows the ultimate artist
becomes himself the origin of the cosmic masterpiece
and the divine engineer who maintains it
from the center of mind.
- eternal perfect beloved
the gods and even god himself has been kind to me.
my suffering has become joy.
through the irresistible power of divine love
he cleared the way for me to discover
my true identity as love.
i was a mole burrowing through darkness.
i knew myself only in terms of a passing show
of changing fragments: desires, cultures, beliefs.
oh you who put the apollonian twins to bed
and invited me to visit with their father,
you anchor me in an ocean more solid than land.
oh you who rescued me from the jaws of my own mind
as i was being torn to shreds,
i went to sleep in my old bed
but you woke me up in a brand new one.
i dry my tears on the beloved's daaman.
- eternal perfect beloved
you turn the sinner into a winner
and the loser into a lover.
you turn the tyrant into a servant
and hate into hope.
you turn the fool into a divine tool
and trials into triumphs.
you turn the ass into an ace
and silliness into silence.
- eternal perfect beloved
the soul warmth of love human and divine
radiates from your silence and from your words;
it warms us in your pictures and your actions.
your biography like a furnace heats mankind's icy soul.
the creation demonstrates your reality.
not to replace the world's religions
did you come, beloved, but to fulfil them.
humanity is being initiated into knowledge of the avatar.
you brought us this far, each and every one,
and you will bring us every one to the final destination.
everyone loves you according to the texture of his own heart.
because you are love, we are dead men, just let us die.
the moment we want you to be pleased,
you move away and your heart turns chilly.
what's the use of knowing your words without living them?
keep your face before our eyes, our flag of freedom,
and tattoo your name on our hearts.
seeing who you are shows us who we are.
your oneness takes over the head,
the heart, the hand, the feet, the phallos.
seeing your beauty and knowing
the very same beauty can be found within ourselves
lifts our spirits up to bliss.
rather than thank you, beloved,
let us wish to become living gratitude.
- eternal perfect beloved
oh heart of oneness, to play the game
that begins "you are" and ends "i am,"
turn down the volume of the talking mind
and listen to the silence of oneness.
thoughts melt away in the ocean of oneness.
no matter how foul or loathsome they may be,
no matter how clever or charming,
they can never pollute the ocean's eternal purity.
- eternal perfect beloved
from eternal oneness arise all contrast and conflict.
though covered by duality oneness persists unchanged.
oh one, how do you divide and become two?
oh two, what multiplies you?
the pristine oneness of undivided reality works
together with the force that drives dualities apart
to produce a shadow show on the walls of consciousness.
dialectic's covert oneness requires
for each thing its opposite;
it demands the projection
of an apparently real exterior universe
to balance the imagination
of an apparently unreal interior one.
the outer is world, the inner is consciousness.
realization of these two occurs simultaneously
with the realization of one.
just as mind cognizes everything
by comparison with its opposite,
it cognizes oneness by comparison with duality.
if it weren't for two, one could never be seen.
if it weren't for one, two could never be.
- eternal perfect beloved
in this world full of
extremely intelligent ways
to express ignorance,
who knows the difference
between fusion and confusion?
meaning and nonsense are one.
god is one is i am.
world is many is i appear to be.
the nirvanic oneness of absolute vacuum
makes these kisses come true.
- eternal perfect beloved
why all the fuss? why not bliss?
projection creates dualistic divisions.
sustenance services them.
absorbtion re-unites them in original wholeness.
equanimity is neither elated by success
nor depressed by failure,
while at the same time
it suppresses none of those feelings.
head clears a space for heart
to build the real temple of divine love.
first one blamed others,
then one discovered oneself.
mind thinks that source lies in the past,
but past and future are unreal concepts.
what follows defines what came before;
effect defines cause.
one who gives up concern about size and strength
enters the church of the heart
where the master of love separates
the many false beloveds from the genuine one.
- eternal perfect beloved
in an ocean of perfect stillness
make-believe waves stir mind into action.
a two-headed fish swims
in the waters of paradise.
its body is made of pearl,
its eyes of diamond.
it moves two directions at once
without departing its original location.
the drowned sailor tells its story
and sings the song of its beauty.
- eternal perfect beloved
help me see the truth of oneness,
and express the love of oneness
and live the power of oneness in daily life.
let my desire be to be desire-free.
let me hold on to the sense of who i am
and whom i serve in the storm of impulses
toward this or that identity and this or that master.
i don't have to pretend i'm a genius if i'm not,
or a winner if i'm not, or a master if i'm not.
all i have to do is show you
that the word of the avatar is real,
that his promises are law in the universe.
- eternal perfect beloved
write not only poems directed to
the eternal perfect beloved self
but also poems to humanity at all stages
of sleep, dream and awakening.
a mix of the two is possible also.
speak to the eternal perfect beloved
within each of them.
communicate about enlightenment
in such a way that it attracts others to the path
and gives them a sense of a way
out of their predicaments.
there is a place of rest in realization
and a place of accomplishment in mastery.
- eternal perfect beloved
if you wish to write some words or lines,
beloved, tools stand ready
as well as this willing hand
i lay pen and paper at your feet,
at the feet of oneness,
a sacrifice to do with as you will.
- eternal perfect beloved
a trapped mind seeks constantly for release.
the inner prisoner strikes against walls
while the inner manager commits to making
a liveable place out of prison.
there are no words for what i'm saying
and no questions for the answers i give.
such is the art of talking to a man who doesn't listen.
- eternal perfect beloved
no matter who you think you are,
no matter who you want to be,
secret identity lurks behind appearance.
true identity waits to be discovered.
god is real self, the world false.
false self awakens realization of true self.
heart bridge in a landscape of marriages,
the climate of conjugal bliss:
this is where the self lives.
- eternal perfect beloved
sitting on the bank of the river
noticing the seeds of ocean
float by like a stream,
the lidless eye of singleness
watches different forms of god
make three worlds.
contradictions of energy and meaning
and all the clashes of form
merely decorate the surface of silence
with the sound of maya's laughter.
- eternal perfect beloved
oh single-drop ocean without shore
oh dance, dancer and dancefloor
- eternal perfect beloved
truth inheres in every human consciousness
but fascination with the fulfilment of desires
prevents realization.
real love loosens attachment to desire.
false love is just a disguise for desire.
false love makes the world go round
and real love stops it.
the boredom of perpetual desire fulfilment
gives birth to love for freedom from slavery
and teaches one how to die to desire.
- eternal perfect beloved
from certain points of view
everything looks like catastrophe;
from other points of view all is well.
therefore events are less important
than the viewpoints they're seen from.
the overall result of suffering
is to cast light on its source
and reveal the key to freedom.
once the door opens
the lock ceases to be of interest.
- eternal perfect beloved
in the center of balance in consciousness
the wing of goodness equals the wing of evil,
the grace of compassion equals the curse of hatred,
and the left side of the planet extends
exactly as far as its right.
the arduous human path enters exactly this center
and exits in the trackless paradise of divine oneness.
- eternal perfect beloved
i dreamed that jewels were stolen
from a showcase at the university.
the padlock lay in pieces on the shelf
with a pair of bolt cutters
and small devices for displaying jewelry.
don't touch the cabinet; i'll call the police.
maybe we can identify the thieves through fingerprints.
when i wake up i remember
the bodhisattva's golden begging bowl.
when thieves came prowling around his hut
he threw the bowl out the window.
- eternal perfect beloved
aristotle's eyes were fixed on the world
rather than soul.
his star pupils went out to conquer the world
rather than themselves.
the western church followed suit.
the whole western civilization fell asleep
with the rhythm of rome's marching legions.
oh that alexander had knit west and east
as beautifully as gandhara sculptures of maitreya.
the call of the true victor, "conquer yourself,"
disappeared in cries of terror.
no blame -- all is a mixture of good and bad,
and no one diverts the divine plan
from its destined course.
- eternal perfect beloved
in the capitalist world, gold was the unit of value.
in communism, it was labor.
in the apocalyptic world, the unit of value
is self-knowledge, which is a measure of awakeness.
we are the cleaning generations.
we work to remove pollution
from the elements in nature, from the senses,
from the words, thoughts and actions of mankind.
- eternal perfect beloved
time itself traveling at the speed of light
creates the impression of an expanding universe
as it moves outward into the past
from the eternal present at the center.
a spacecraft could never reach the edge of the universe
even if it traveled at the speed of light
like a surfer on a wave of photons.
a person who knows the nature of imagination, however,
can travel to the edge of time in a moment
and go beyond time into eternity faster than a photon.
- eternal perfect beloved
monkey on a rope
no hope
bear on a chain
atrophied brain
fish in a bowl
small soul
tiger in a zoo
nothing to do
bird on a string
sad thing
- eternal perfect beloved
a single drop contains the rain.
the earth fits neatly into a single diamond
that sparkles the stars as points of light.
a single breath fills the four directions with wind.
a single step spans the labyrinth from beginning to end.
- eternal perfect beloved
a flock of opinions and judgments
all search for nesting sites
like seabirds on the bluffs of shetland,
all want to set up housekeeping and bear young.
- eternal perfect beloved
divine love gives words their sense
while divine truth gives them their meaning.
even these words are burned
in the fire of your real mercy
which consumes every vestige of illusion.
illusion itself provides the fuel
for a perpetual fire of sacrifice,
a cauldron of zoroastrian flame
in which opposites burn each other,
in an inextinguishable dhuni.
- eternal perfect beloved
does a boat get tired of bouncing on the waves?
does it give up and say, "now i'm exhausted!
i will sink and find rest on the bottom."
day and night it rises and falls,
lurches and pitches, rolling
effortlessly with the waves.
- eternal perfect beloved
i leave these tracks of sound behind me
like footprints on the surface of mind.
they mark the route i passed
on my way to the oceanic depths
of divine self where no trace remains.
you who pick up my trail and follow it
to the nearest crossing will see a signpost.
this lovely highway with its ancient landmarks
goes by the name "avatar's avenue."
eternal perfect beloved
1. the golden rain
2. shoulder an oar
3. winnowing the ocean
4. salt from the beloved's table, welcome home
5. no separation is possible, one another
7. how the rock awoke