f l i c k e r i n g . f l a m e s

A candle flame seems consistent,

but every moment it is a new one.

Present moment is the real thing,

past and future are just thoughts.

If consciousness is a candle flame,

the fuel to burn it must be our karma.

If the karma for a life time is burned out,

consciousness will still be there as bright as ever

for it is self luminous as the masters point out.

and I believe those enlightened are not the lying types.

But life is not a picnic, and there is no free lunch,

and the business of 'karma burning' will really kill us!

The body gets weather beaten, the face gets sun burned,

the mind gets tired of stimuli and the eyes lose focus.

The warning on the package starts to show up,

'Living fully is injurious to health,

and nobody leaves this planet alive!'

It is difficult for ordinary mortals like us,

to stay non reactive and dispassionate

through the ups and downs of the day

like a flame that's not flickering.

The smell of great cooking

and the passions of the senses

pull us back in to the clinging mode,

like the proverbial monkey that's trapped

with its tight fist in the jaggery pot.

It's always the flesh vs. the soul,

or the Animal over the Anima.

Then the pain follows the passion always,

like the shadow that follows a night rider.

But we become wiser eventually to feel that

the storm of the season shall also pass

and start looking at the small things closer.

We become skillful to do simple tasks better

and we learn to be with the new moment,

which is here and now already!

photo: 'inner sun'/sebastian©2009

j u s t . o n c e

.

Over the dry residue of an ancient fossil trail,



molten shadows of desert wind wails in a distance.

Mirages rise behind a group of departed souls,



breezing over the frozen waves of quicksand.

Grandma passed yesterday smiling,



she was full of love, the tough kind.



I still see her smile fading into the window glass,


like an old memory of a twilight rain.






Grandpa passed a while ago,




he did translate an ancient bible,




the 'real' one, he used to say.



He had time only to do it once.




There is time to write one book,



only to tell just one great story.



There is only time for one good song



if one wants to sing the best one of all.



One can almost complete a great painting,



just enough time for one original poem,



make one good friend, gamble once,



and bloom once, all through that spring,



fall in love one time and kiss good bye,



eat a good meal, a memorable one,



fall down once and hit the rock bottom,



regain strength, learn to get up,



go to the beach and smell the salt in the air,



take one fresh breath and that ’s it!



_____________________________________

On his deathbed artist Edgar Degas said,



“Damn…and just when I was starting to get the hang of it!”




photo: 'Frozen wind' /Texas plains /sebastian©2008

Tao . it-ting !

Everything is in motion,
transitory and transient,
passing and impermanent.
Then one has to accept that
everything is new
every day
each moment
always,
all the time!

It is not solid at all
and ultimately there is no it;
just an on going process of it-ting!
'Tao of it-ting !'

photo: 'morning fishing' /kochi, kerala /sebastian©2009