Words are not the Way,
Cannot describe a hair of God,
Are only froth upon the shore;
Decidedly not the depths of love’s Ocean.
Yet, even the froth, if you taste it,
Contains a salted trace of His affection.

Says what, the Froth?

“What joy I knew in the Ocean of Love;
Where eddying currents thrill,
Movements of Grace, swirling worship,
Yet absolutely still.

“I found there conscious pearls;
Who could ever estimate their worth?”

Then think again of the One Who created them.

The Ocean speaks:

“Beyond the jewel-filled seas
Rise great mountains of Light;
O Soul, be brave and fly with wings of love beyond.
Beyond, Beyond, and still Beyond.”

The helpless Froth prays:

“You can control my dogs, I cannot;
I call on your good name incessantly for deliverance.
Call them off and let me enter Your door once more,

“Was it a distant age? A Yuga then? When You permeated my soul?
Now I flop like a fish on dry land, gills desperately
Flaring for the water of life.

“I yearn for immersion,
Not the ‘me’ of me,
But the ‘You’ of me,
So that the ‘You’ of me
May enter and merge
Into the You of YOU.

“What does just one graceful glance mean to a myriad goblets?
How beautiful are Your eyes? Your feet? Your hands? Your tresses?
Your garment? Your shoes? Your touch? Your wisdom?

“I remember Your eyes, inebriated with the rarest vintage,
Your Heart, the refuge of the afflicted and world-weary;
Compassion encircling the cosmos in its embrace.”

Ocean commands:

“Remembrance is both a death and a birth,
When intensity transcends all bounds, the convulsions of the heart
Push one into the radiant lovedom of the King.”

What does it say, the Froth upon the shore?

“Long I have suffered here, beached and helpless;
Please fling me back to the Ocean whence I came.”

Ocean replies:

“You have caused your own separation.
Willfully, you parted, lured by brief sparkles on wet pebbles;
You imagined they were rarest jewels, and lusted for them.

“Contained within Me are countless treasures.
You forgot Me and I flung you upon the shore
That you might yearn for return once more.”

“Enough!” Froth cried, “Having seen the pebbles for their worth;
I have dried to a crisp beneath the sun,
I have mingled with the flotsam of ages.
Yet, always the far-off call of Your wavesong
Has thundered upon my shores, calling:

‘Come back. Come back.’

“Why call me Home, if You come not to my rescue?”

The Ocean murmured:

“Patience, my child. This separation is only for a little while, yet eternity awaits.”

When intellect exhausts itself,
from inky darkness
soul launches into the luminous void;
a moth flutters toward the Midnight Sun.

Into the Light,
Golden bright;

Into the Light,
Golden bright;

Into the Light,
Golden bright.

Shining dewdrop slips back into the Sea
Shining dewdrop slips back into the Sea

One with Thee,
One with Thee,
In blissful eternity.

We are all bubbles, Lord,
Make us the Sea
Make us the Sea
One with Thee
in blissful eternity.

Into the Light,
Golden bright;

Into the Light,
Golden bright;

Into the Light,
Golden bright.

When the Master says, ‘Nothing for you!’ what, then, is left?

The grape, the olive and the seed
Yield their juice and oil under the press or the screw;

That place of fire where steel is forged,
diamonds are made and suns are born.

Not upon a soft and comfy bed.
How many lives does it take?
Who can say it is this, or that?

To remember is to die in Love,
To rise reborn through separation’s turning;

It was You who turned the press;
You who gave; who took away;
You, merciful in grace
You, merciless in extracting and distilling,
You who brought me separation,
You who dragged me through the door
And across the threshold to that
Place of Light and Beauty that knows no end.

In nothing is everything, that is Your secret.

I behold a myriad glittering stars;
deliver me from their beauty, O Maker,
take me to the strength of suns.

A drunkard,
a lover and a moth
began their circling of the Flame;

Friend, I found a great bargain:
the sacrifice of mine and wine.

Trading, I found the inebriate eyes
of the Beloved dancing me
in the tavern of the Timeless

As the days and nights passed in semi-retreat, glimmerings of the wonder of the spiritual path began to dawn, and a few inadequate words—like bubbles rising from the depths—found their way to the surface:

How beautiful God’s Creation is,
Through eyes of love so freely bestowed.
Each breath and sigh become living beads
On the rosary of remembrance.

Forest buds swell in the warm spring sun,
And burst dull mortality with delicate bloom.

Once hidden, Your fair countenance fills all-space,
And I, less than an ant or tiny fish,
Lie inebriate on the surface of the Deep.

Within this fragile temple of body
Resounds the sacred bell, the drumming thunder,
Everywhere, nowhere, and now here;
The universe opens into harmony.

The Sun of Divinity, thinly veiled,
You step into my dreams;
Eyes that even momentarily consume such Countenance
Are imbued with purpose, if not Love’s madness.

Invisible harmonies spread like gossamer in the wind;
You pass by, luminous tresses entangling everything.
Willingly am I undone, drawn into undeniable love.

In the body of Light are Truth and Wisdom,
Guides to the wandering children of mind;
In that brightness is the promise of glory;
A troth in the bosom of divine affection.

Plucked like a soiled puppy from the gutter,
I am washed by One whose very name is Compassion;
Then a clod, now an atom of Light in limitlessness,
I dance and breathe by the life of the Word.

Here sits the ancient One—a glowing center
transmitting life into our dust…
no dream or fantasy, this!

Out-flowing, in-flowing Light,
unfolds Creation’s lyric story,
Separation and Union—the song of Everything.

He speaks, and an arching spark leaps
from Eye to eye, to heart, to soul,
and back, again & again,
one seamless circle;

Timelessness finds its locus.
Light coalescing, translucent, blazing, yet cool.

Tell me whose eyes peer from beneath your brows?
Kirpal or Sawan, Kabir or Namelessness?

Whose Light? One Light, the Light of the Creator
that burns bright in every soul!

You have revealed your secret, O’ Darshan!

By comparison, all fortunes are ashes,
for tonight there is no separation!

Says the Captain of the ship of life, ‘Hold fast, take heart! Have I ever let you down?’ But I have been a rebel sailor who has often given the slip.

‘Forget the past,’ says He, ‘and listen: Beyond this vast and troubled world lies a lagoon of Peace. And there, my weary charge, you’ll find refuge and more.’

It is the end of night, and the roar of surf crashing upon looming reefs distracts me. I turn and peer over the bow into the inky night, as our ship is pulled forward willy-nilly on the current. Through a small opening in the high leaping waves smashing upon towering black cliffs, far in the distance I detect a glimmer of mirrored calm. With a life of its own, our ship picks up speed and shoots through a long dark passage formed of jagged rock and rough sea, danger hissing on every side. I hold tight to the mast, to avoid being swept into the abyss. Suddenly and amazingly our boat passes through the channel, and enters the most beautiful lagoon ever seen or imagined. The dangers of the waves, the reefs and the night are gone, forgotten. Overhead shines a sun that casts no shadow, the air filled with peace and the fragrance of rarest flowers. On a scented breeze, floats a faint and beautiful music from a hidden source. The water is clear, tinted pale blue, inviting and magical.

‘Come!’ says my Captain, ‘Here we leave this boat and our garments behind, for we cannot take them where we go. But first we must cleanse the long journey’s grime.’

We dive into that wondrous blue water, and swim a long way beneath the luminous surface.Even here, we hear the diaphanous Music. With every stroke, I am invigorated, as the blotches and flaws of time peel and float away from my body.

‘Enough!’ signals my guide, as we breach the surface, breathing rejuvenating air, ‘It is time to reclaim your destiny!’ As my Captain assumes a rare new light, I see the Truth in him. All resistance and rebellion gone, we arise on a swirling, invisible Logos, leaving the old husks of self below—rising, rising ever closer to that glorious, radiant, unburning Sun.

‘Now,’ my Captain says, as He and the Sun merge, ‘enter the heart of Light with me, and become the Light itself. Reclaim the Eternity and Freedom that you lost so long ago.’