YOG PART IV KAIVLYA

4.01 Attainments may be by birth, medicine, with formula, observance of Yam & Niyam and Samadhi by yogic practices.

4.02 Differences within the same species may be due to the nourishment to strengthen the body and senses.

4.03 Medical treatment may eliminate the obstacles in the Excellence of body and senses.

4.04 Yogi may achieve the Excellence of the conscious by Yogic practices.

4.05 The mental formation of Samadhi, service, compassion, help, are the product of excellence of the conscious.

4.06 The conscious arising out of Dhyan is free of desire.

4.07 Yogi performs duty without craving or aversion, in the pursuit of Excellence without any desire.

4.08 Sanskar is manifested as a fruit of the good, evil or mixed deed.

4.09 Sanskar is carried over from various births and manifested relevant to the current embodiment.

4.10 Sanskar of desire for happiness remains associated for long.

4.11 The causes of desire are ignorance, craving, aversion and the temptation and the desire vanishes with the eradication of the cause.

4.12 The desire dissociated may reappear.

4.13 Existents are the composite of satva, rajo, and Tamoguna which may be dormant or manifest.

4.14 Satva, rajo and Tamoguna combine to produce the result into a modification.

4.15 The appearance of the existent may vary according to the state of the conscious of the seer.

4.16 The variety of appearance dependant on the state of the conscious does not negate the reality of the existent.

4.17 The conscious provide the means for knowing the externalities by the soul but it remains unspoiled.

4.18 Mental formation in the conscious is in the know of the soul.

4.19 The conscious is only a means to create awareness and the seer is the soul.

4.20 The conscious provides the awareness at the moment but that knowledge is not momentary.

4.21 The soul is the knower of the conscious which in turn is the mirror reflecting the existent and its modification.

4.22 The soul perceives the existent through the conscious without the contact with senses and their objects.

4.23 The conscious is all purpose in reflecting the sense-objects through the senses in making the soul aware.

4.24 The conscious is composed of satva, rajo and Tamoguna and is the instrument in the service of the soul.

4.25 Doubts of Yogi are resolved on the enquiry about soul, permanence, perception, distinction between body and soul, transmigration and attainment of Excellence.

4.26 The conscious then has the ability to guide to the path of liberation.

4.27 The worldly thoughts may occur in the flow of experiential wisdom due to past sanskar causing interruption.

4.28 The subtle sanskar may be eradicated by the same methodology as for the removal of the 5 Klesh rendering the burnout of the seeds themselves.

4.29 Free of attachment even for the attainment, Yogi achieves the Dharmmegh (Samprgyat) Samadhi on getting the experiential wisdom (Vivek-khyati).

4.30 The suffering and the motivated acts get eliminated with the attainment of Samprgyat Samadhi through the Vivek-khyati.

4.31 Yogi is exceptionally powerful with the great knowledge and bliss and can understand easily and speedily the situations of Craving and Aversion.

4.32 The process of modification due to gunas comes to a halt, having served its purpose; Yogi then loses the interest even in the knowledge and bliss and evolves beyond the Vairagya (Par-Vairagya).

4.33 The cycle of transmigration ends with the stoppage of modification due to gunas.

4.34 The gunas dissolve in their own cause after serving the purpose and the soul is established in its own form achieving Kaivalya.

 

 

 

 

YOG DARSHANAM PART III VIBHUTIPAD

3.01 Close the eyes and hold the mind at one place viz. forehead, eyebrow centre, nose, throat, heart, placenta point etc and to think of the Excellence is Dharana.

3.02 After holding the mind at one place, to search for Excellence in a subject and its nature, through with words and thoughts, uninterrupted and without remembering anything else is Dhyan.

3.03 Realizing the Excellence and its bliss is Samadhi.

3.04 Dharna, Dhyan and Samadhi all in one subject is Sanyam.

3.05 The knowledge acquired through Samadhi is strengthened, clarified and refined with the practice of Sanyam developing Pragya, the experiential wisdom.

3.06 Pursue to reach the highest form of Yog, the Asampragyat Samadhi, by mastering the Sanyam.

3.07 Dharna, Dhyan and Samadhi are the proximate means for the Excellence compared to the first 5 viz. yam, niyam, asan, Pranayam and Pratyahar.

3.08 However, for the Asampragyat Samadhi, the proximate means is Par-Vairagya (beyond Vairagya) compared to Dharna, Dhyan and Samadhi.

309 The stoppage of mental formation is the beginning of Asampragyat Samadhi with the channelization of the conscious.

3.10 The conscious remains channelized and at peace uninterruptedly so long as the mental formations do not arise.

3.11 The conscious is focused on one subject as a result of Samadhi and is the beginning of Samprgyat Samadhi.

3.12 The uninterrupted flow of ideas on one subject is the result of the concentration.

3.13 Clay gets converted into a pot as a result of its nature, subsequently to break into pieces is symbolic of the stage of conversion from past to present to future; New pot becoming old is the conditional change with time of a thing.

3.14 The modifications of the form of clay with time is inherent nature but the intrinsically it does not get eliminated.

3.15 There is substratum, inherent nature and modification of a thing.

3.16 Practice of Sanyam in all the three viz. inherent nature, signs and status, leads to the knowledge of past, present and future.

3.17 Yogi can decipher the intention of the person by Sanyam in words, meaning and knowledge; and also the emotions of animal life through Sanyam in their sound.

3.18 Yogi may realize its specie in the previous birth by invoking his deep rooted Sanskar.

3.19 Yogi can learn about the consciousness of the other person by Sanyam in his thoughts and knowledge.

3.20 Yogi may not be able to decipher Craving or Aversion of the other person but not in which thing or what person?

3.21 Yogi may disappear in the eyes of others by Sanyam in the body.

3.22 Yogi may know of death in advance by two groups of acts; (1) Regular exercise, control over senses, balanced food, right kind of sleep etc are the acts that enhance the life-span directly; (2) Self-study, service of parents, teacher & aged and so also the contribution in the social work enhances the life span indirectly.

3.23 Yogi can accomplish exceptional tasks for the happiness of the humanity by Sanyam in the emotions of friendliness, compassion and joy.

3.24 Yogi can acquire the capacity of the animal or wind by Sanyam in their characteristics.

3.25 Yogi may be able to uncover the distant thing through Sanyam in his Satvic mental formations.

3.26 Yogi may be able to understand the world beyond by Sanyam in the sun or the nostril.

3.27 Yogi may know the position of stars with Sanyam in the moon.

3.28 Yogi may be able to know the movement of stars by Sanyam in pole star.

3.29 Yogi may understand the anatomy and physiology by Sanyam in placenta point.

3.30 Yogi may survive the thirst and hunger by Sanyam in the hollow below the voice box.

3.31 Yogi stabilizes by Sanyam in the frog like vein.

3.32 Yogi is able to recognize a noble person by his behavior and preaching by Sanyam in the satvic consciousness.

3.33 Yogi may know about many subjects by sudden enlightenment based on his earlier study, listening, analysis, yogic practice and righteous conduct.

3.34 Yogi develops the awareness by Sanyam in the consciousness in the heart.

3.35 Yogi is able to perceive by Sanyam in his living soul and differentiating it from the intelligence and mind which are inert.

3.36 Yogi develops (1) flash of insight (2) hearing (3) touch (4) subtlety (5) taste and (6) smell by Sanyam in Self-knowledge

3.37 All these capabilities are roadblocks to liberation but achievements for the mundane.

3.38 Yogi can know the mental formation of the other person due to non-attachment to reward, concentration and control over mind and its process.

3.39 Yogi does not get into conundrum due to control over Udan Pran performing noble deeds.

3.40 Yogi glows in body by the control of Saman Pran.

3.41 Yogi gets divine hearing power by Sanyam in the relationship between sound and space.

3.42 Yogi develops the flight of imagination by Sanyam in the relationship between body and space.

3.43 Yogi eliminates the ignorance by the practice of mental formations beyond intelligence.

3.44 Yogi gains understanding of the earth, water, fire, wind and space by Sanyam in its gross, subtle, nature, properties and the purpose.

3.45 Yogi achieves 8 kinds of magnificence by the understanding of the 5 gross without causing any hindrance to them.

3.46 Yogi develops beauty, glow, strength and firmness of the body with the right exercise and food after developing the understanding the five elements of Nature.

3.47 Yogi controls the senses by Sanyam in the use, form, ego, properties and purpose of the same.

3.48 Yogi thus develops speed, competence and ability to use the right material for the purpose.

3.49 Yogi is master of many materials and develops special knowledge of variety of things after knowing the difference between inert and living.

3.50 The person gets liberated (Kaivalya) with detachment even from all the competences due to the elimination of all the shortcomings.

3.51 Yogi should never take pride in getting invited by high and mighty in the society and not get attached to the pleasures which may again develop shortcomings.

3.52 Yogi develops discriminatory wisdom between permanent and impermanent by Sanyam in the moment and the sequence of things and events.

3.53 Yogi then develops the ability to distinguish between things which may be of the same species, manifestation and placement.

3.54 Discriminatory wisdom is bone out of own talent, bears relationship to variety of things, relates to past and future as well and appears as a flash.

3.55 Yogi gets liberated with the purity of intelligence as well as the soul.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

YOG PART II SADHANPAD:

2.01 Performance of duty, tolerating all discomforts, without attachment to rewards, Study of the Self and pursuit of Excellence are the three means to the Yoga.

2.02 These are to eliminate the ignorance etc. and to reach Samadhi that channelizes all the internal and external activities and thoughts to achieve awareness and Equanimity.

2.03 Ignorance, Ego, Craving, Aversion and fear are the five sources of sorrow known as KLESH.

2.04 Ignorance is the mother of all Klesh that may be inactive, weak, suppressed and live currently.

2.05 To mistake impermanent as permanent, impure as pure, consumerism as happiness and body & mind as soul constitute ignorance.

2.06 To consider soul experiencing knowledge and the instrument of intelligence as one and the same is Ego.

2.07 The desire and greed subsisting after experiencing the pleasure is the Craving.

2.08 The anger and animosity subsisting after the suffering is Aversion.

2.09 The fear of death and consequent loss is Dread.

2.10 Klesh can be weakened and eliminated by the performance of duty, Self-study and pursuit of Excellence.

2.11 These five Klesh arise from the formations in the conscious due to sense-objects and are worth eliminating by experiential wisdom known as VIVEK KHYATI.

2.12 The evil deeds out of ignorance result in sorrow in this life as well as in the future.

2.13 The type of specie, span of life and capabilities are borne out of the deeds performed now and in the future and is within the control of a person.

2.14 Joy and suffering are the consequences of the birth in the specie, life-span and capabilities.

2.15 The thirst is not quenched after the enjoyment but increases on the contrary and is the resultant sorrow. There are hindrances in the enjoyment and is the irritation. The repetition of the pleasure denied results in agitation. The conflict between good and evil within own nature results in disharmony.

2.16 Future agitation, irritation, disharmony and suffering are worth avoiding through our current deeds.

2.17 The association of soul and matter springs into life the suffering.

2.18 The Nature is composed of 3 gunas viz. satva, rajo and tamo. Brightness in Satva, action in Rajo and inaction in tamo is inherent. Earth, water, fire, wind and space are five gross; Form, taste, smell, sound and palpability are the subtle forming a group of 10. Skin, tongue, nose, eyes and ears are five senses Hands; legs, voice, anus and generative organs are action-oriented; Mind, ego and intelligence form a group of 13 for the action. The purpose of Nature is to provide the experience of sense-objects and to assist in the achievement of Excellence and liberation.

2.19 Gunas are sub-divided into (1) 5 gross, 5 senses, 5 instruments of action and mind, a total of 16 known as Special, (2) five properties of matter and ego ,a total of 6 as general, (3) Conscious as symbol and (4) Primal Nature in balance of satva, rajo and tamo gunas.

2.20 The soul is the power with the vision free of distortion; it grasps the images of the sense-objects through the mirror of the conscious.

2.21 The whole creation is to fulfill the purpose of Nature to provide pleasure and pain or to liberate.

2.22 Nature is left with no purpose towards the liberated but continues to fulfill its purpose towards the others.

2.23 The soul as master power gets associated with the forces of creation for the pain and pleasure through the birth.

2.24 The root cause of the birth and rebirth and consequent pain and pleasure is ignorance.

2.25 Getting rid of suffering with the elimination of ignorance, one is free of the pangs of birth and achieves Liberation (Kaivalya).

2.26 Experiential wisdom leads to understanding of the difference between soul and matter; and is the cure to remedy the instability etc.

2.27 The Yogi achieves the highest form of perception of seven types as follows; (1) known the sorrow worth giving up, (2) removed the ignorance and ego leading to sorrow, (3) experienced the bliss of liberation through the Asampragyat Samadhi, (4) attained the experiential wisdom as a path to liberation, (5) the authority of gunas on the conscious is overcome, (6) no next birth, (7) totally liberated from the bondages of Nature.

2.28 Ignorance is eliminated and the knowledge is developed by the practice of the 8 limbs of Yog till the experiential wisdom is attained.

2.29 Yam, Niyam, Asan, Pranayam, Pratyahar, Dharna, Dhyan and Samadhi are the 8 limbs of Yog.

2.30 Non-hurting, Truth, Non-stealing, Study conserving energy of body & mind, and abandon the obsolete things and ideas are the 5 rules to be observed in interaction with others under Yam.

2.31 Yam followed irrespective of specie, place, day and any other principle is the great vow.

2.32 Purity of body & mind, contentment, tolerance, and pursuit of Excellence are the 5 code of conduct called Niyam.

2.33 Think of the Yam and Niyam when confronted with dilemma.

2.34 Misdeed can be by self, got done by others or approved and is caused by greed, anger and attachment; they result in ignorance and suffering that may be mild, medium or intense.

2.35 The animosity vanishes in the company of Yogi with the matured sense of non-hurting.

2.36 Success ensues in all endeavors as the result of maturity of truth with body, mind and speech.

2.37 A person is endowed with the total abandonment of stealing.

2.38 The strength of mind and body enhances with study and conservation of energy.

2.39 Intense curiosity arises to know about the metaphysics by determined effort to abandon the obsolete ideas and things.

2.40 The practice of purity makes one realize about the waste arising in the body and the desire for the contact with others is extinguished.

2.41 The practice of purity of thoughts improves the intelligence, concentration, and joy ; and the competence to learn about soul and pursuit of Excellence is acquired.

2.42 The contentment leads to peace and happiness.

2.43 The body, senses and mind are strengthened through development of tolerance in the performance of duty.

2.44 Self-study creates interest in the pursuit of Excellence through deep understanding of its attributes, orientation and nature.

2.45 Deepest concentration is achieved with the pursuit of Excellence.

2.46 Asan is the posture in which the body is stable and joyful.

2.47 Asan is perfected by non-movement of organs and stabilizing the mind in the infinite Excellence.

2.48 The tolerance of the elements improves by perfecting the posture and assists in the practice of higher limbs of Yoga.

2.49 To hold the breath after perfecting the posture is Pranayam.

2.50 Exhalation, inhalation and holding of breath evaluated in terms of place, time and count makes the Pranayam subtle and of long duration.

2.51 To hold the breath with effort externally and internally as long as possible is the fourth Pranayam.

2.52 Regular practice of Pranayam eliminates the ignorance about the soul and Excellence and brightens up the practitioner.

2.53 The capacity to focus the mind at a place also improves with Prannayam.

2.54 Cutting off the sense-objects, the senses are in tune with the mind in Pratyahar.

2.55 The practitioner is able to focus the mind on the place or subject of his choice by the perfecting the control of senses by Pratyahar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ASTRONOMER AND TIME

Timeless in you is aware of the life's timelessness,

And knows that yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream.

 

And is not time even as love is, undivided and pace less?

But if in your thought you must measure time into seasons, let each season encircle all the other seasons,

And let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing.

ZEAL & PRAYER

YOU PRAY IN YOUR DISTRESS AND IN YOUR NEED;

Would that you might pray also in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance?

For what is prayer but the expansion of your-self into the living ether?

And if it is for your comfort to pour your heart into space, it is also for your delight to pour forth the dawning of your heart.

And if you cannot but weep when your soul summons you to prayer, she should spur you again and yet again, though weeping, until you shall come laughing.

When you pray you rise to meet in the air those who are praying at that very hour, and whom save in prayer you may not meet.

Therefore let your visit to THAT temple be for naught but ecstasy and sweet communion (sharing).

For if you should enter the temple for no other purpose than asking you shall not receive:

And if you should enter into it to humble yourself you shall not be lifted:

Or even if you should enter into it to beg for the good of others you shall not be heard.

It is enough if you enter the temple invisible.

I cannot teach you how to pray in words.

God listens not to your words save when He Himself utters through your lips.

And I cannot teach you the prayer of the seas and the forests and the mountains.

But you are born of the mountains and the forests and the seas can find their prayer in your heart, and if you hear them in the stillness of the night you shall hear them saying in silence,

"Our God who art our winged self, it is thy will in us that willeth. It is thy desire in us that desireth. It is thy urge in us that would turn our nights, which are thine, into days which are thine also. We cannot ask thee for aught, for thou knowest our needs before they are born in us:

Thou art our need; and in giving us more of thyself thou givest us all."

 

 

YOUTH & FRIENDSHIP

YOUR FRIEND IS YOUR NEED ANSWERED.

He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving.

And he is your board and your fireside.

For you come to him in hunger, and seek him for peace.

When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the "nay" in your mind, nor do you withhold the "ay."

And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart; for without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed.

When you part from your friend, you grieve not; for that you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.

And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit.

For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery is NOT love but a net cast forth: and only the unprofitable is caught.

And let your best be for your friend.

If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him also know its flood also.

For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill?

Seek him always with hours to LIVE.

For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness.

And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.

For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

X THE LAWS

You delight in laying laws, yet you delight more in breaking them.

Like children playing by the ocean who build sand-towers with constancy and then destroy them with laughter.

But while you build sand-towers the ocean brings more sand to the shore, and when you destroy them the ocean laughs with you.

The ocean always laughs with the innocent.

But what of those to whom the life is not an ocean, and man-made laws are not sand-towers, but to whom life is a rock, and law a chisel with which they would carve it in their own likeness?

What of a cripple who hates dancers?

What of the ox who loves his yoke and deems the elk and deer of the forest stray and vagrant things?

What of the old serpent who cannot shed his skin, and calls all others naked and shameless?

And of him who comes early to the wedding feast, and when over-fed and tired goes his way saying that all feasts are violation and all feasters are law-breakers?

What shall I say of these save that they too stand in the sunlight, but with their backs to the sun? They only see their shadows, but their shadows are their laws. And what is sun to them but a caster of shadows? But what is to acknowledge the laws but to stoop down and trace their shadows upon the earth? But if you walk facing the sun, what images drawn on earth can hold you?

You who travel with the wind, what weather-vane shall direct your course?

What man's law shall bind you if you break your yoke but upon no man's prison door?

What laws shall you fear if you dance but stumble against no man's iron chain?

And who is he that shall bring you to judgment if you tear off your garment yet leave it in no man's path?

You can muffle the drum, and you can loosen the string of the lyre, but

Who shall command a skylark not to sing?

 

 

 

WORK AND LABOR

You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of earth.

For to be idle is to become stranger unto the seasons, and to step out of life's procession, that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite.

When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turn to music.

Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison?

Always you have been told that work is a curse and labor a misfortune.

But I say to you that when you work you fulfill a part of earth's furthest dream, assigned to you when the dream was born, and keeping yourself with labor in truth you are loving life, and to love life through labor is to be intimate with life's innermost secret.

But if in your pain call birth an affliction and the support of the flesh a curse written upon your brow, then I answer that naught but the sweat of your brow shall wash away that which is written.

You have been told also that life is darkness, and in your weariness you echo what was said by the weary.

And I say life is indeed darkness save when there is urge, and all urge is blind save when there is knowledge, and all knowledge is vain save when there is work and all work is vain save when there is love;

And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to God.

And what is it to work with love?

It is to weave the clothes with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.

It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.

It is to sow seed with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy, even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.

It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your spirit, and to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching.

Often I have heard you say, as if speaking in sleep, "He who works in marble, and finds the shap of his own soul in the stone, is nobler than who ploughs the soil and who seizes the rainbow to lay it on a cloth in the likeness of man, is more than he who makes the sandals for our feet."

But I say, not in the sleep but in the over-wakefullnss ofnoontide, that the wind speaks not more sweetly to to the giant oaks than to the least of all the blades of grass; and he alone is great who turns the voice of wind into a song made sweeter by his own loving.

WORK IS LOVE MADE VISIBLE.

And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.

For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man's hunger.

And if you grudge the crushing of grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine.

And if you sing though as angles, and love not the singing, you muffle man's ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

VALUE IN BUYING AND SELLING

To you the earth yields her fruit, and you shall not want if you know how to fill your hands.

It is in exchanging the gifts of earth that you shall find abundance and be satisfied.

Yet unless the exchange be in love and kindly justice, it will lead some to greed and others to hunger.

When in the arket place you toilers of the sea and fields and vineyard meet the weavers and the potters and the gatherers of spices,-Invoke then the master spirit of the earth, to come into your midst and sanctify the scale and the reckoning that weighs VALUE against VALUE.

And suffer not the barren-handed to take part in your transactions, who would sell their words for your labors.

To such persons you should say,

"Come with us to the field, or go with your brothers to the sea and cast your net; for the land and the sea shall be bountiful to you even as to us."

And if their comes the singers and the dancers and the flute players,- buy of their gifts also.

For they too are gatherers of fruits and frank-incense, and that they bring, though fashioned of dreams. Is raiment and food for your soul.

And before you leave the market place, see that no one has gone his way with empty hands.

For the master spirit of earth shall not sleep peacefully upon the wind till the needs of the least of you are satisfied.

UNDERSTAND GOOD & EVIL

Evil is but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst.

When good is hungry it seeks food in even in dark caves, and when it thirsts it drinks of dead waters.

You are good when you are one with yourself.

Yet when you are not one with yourself you are not evil.

For a divided house is not a den of thieves; it is only a divided house.

And a ship without rudder may wander aimlessly among perilous isles yet sink not to the bottom.

You are good when you strive to give of yourself.

Yet you are not evil when you seek gain for yourself.

For when you strive for gain you are but a root that clings to earth and sucks at her breast.

Surely the fruits cannot say to the roots, "Be like me, ripe and full and ever giving of your abundance."

For to the fruit giving is a need, as receiving is a need to the root.

You are good when you are fully awake in your speech.

Yet you are not evil when you sleep while your tongue staggers without purpose.

And even stumbling speech may strengthen a weak tongue.

You are good when you walk to your goal firmly with bold steps.

Yet you are not evil when you go thither limping.

Even those who limp go not BACKWARDS.    

But you are strong and swift, see that you do not limp before the the lame, deeming it kindness.

You are good in countless ways, and you are not evil when you are not good,

You are only loitering and sluggard.

Pity that the stags cannot teach swiftness to the turtles.

In your longing for your giant self lies your goodness; and that longing is in all of you.

But in some of you that longing is a torrent rushing with might to sea, carrying the secrets of the hillsides and the songs of the forest.

And in other it is a flat stream that loses in angles and bends and lingers before it reaches the shore.

But let not him who longs much to say to him who longs little, "Wherefore are you slow and halting?"

For the truly good ask not the naked, "Where is your garment?"

Nor the houseless, "What has befallen your house?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TALKING

YOU TALK WHEN YOU CEASE TO BE AT PEACE WITH YOUR THOUGHTS.

And when you can no longer dwell in the solitude of your heart you live in your lips, and sound is a diversion and pastime.

And in much of you talking, thinking is half murdered.

For thought is a bird of space, that in a cage of words may indeed unfold its wings but cannot fly.

There are those amongst you who seek the talkative through fear of being alone.

The silence of aloneness reveals to their eyes their naked selves and they would escape.

And there are those who talk, and without knowledge or forethought reveal a truth which they themselves do not understand.

And there are those who have the truth within them, but they tell it not in words. In the bosom of such as these the spirit dwells in rhythmic silence.

When you meet your friend on the roadside or in the market place, let the spirit in you move your lips and direct your tongue.

Let the voice within your voice speak to the ear of his ear.

For his soul will keep the TRUTH of your heart as the taste of the wine is remembered , when the color is forgotten and the vessel is no more.

SELF-KNOWLEDGE

YOUR HEARTS KNOW IN SILENCE THE SECRETS OF THE DAYS AND NIGHTS.

But your ears thirst for the sound of your heart's knowledge.

You would know in words that which you have known in thought.

You would touch with your fingers the naked body of your dreams.

And it is well you should.

The hidden well-spring of your soul must need rise and run murmuring to the sea;

And the treasure of your infinite depths would be revealed to your eyes.

But let there be no scales to weigh your unknown treasure;

And seek not the depths of your knowledge with staff or sounding line.

For SELF is a sea boundless and measureless.

Say not, "I have found THE truth." Say rather, "I have found A truth."

Say not, " I have found the path of the soul." Say rather, "I have met the soul walking upon my path."

For the soul walks upon all paths. The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed. (weak grass)

The soul UNFOLDS itself, like a lotus of countless petals.

 

 

 

 

REASON AND PASSION

Your soul is oftentimes a battlefield, upon which your reason and your judgment wage war against your passion and your appetite.

Could I be the peacemaker in your soul, and turn the discord and rivalry of your elements into oneness and melody?

But how shall I, unless you yourself be the lovers of all your elements?

Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul.

If either your sails or your rudder be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas.

For reasons, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passions, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction.

Therefore let your soul exalt your reason to the height of passion, that it may sing;

And let it direct your passion with reason, that your passion may live through its own daily resurrection, and like phoenix above its own ashes.

Consider your judgment and your appetite as you would two loved gusts In your house.

Surely you would not honor one guest above the other; for he who is more mindful of one loses the love and faith of BOTH.

Amongst the hills when you sit in the cool shade of white poplars, sharing the peace and serenity of distance field and meadows—then let your heart say in silence, " God rests in reason." And when the storm comes, and the mighty wind shakes the forest, and thunder and lightning proclaim the majesty of the sky,- then let your say in awe, " God moves in passion."

And since you are breath in God's sphere, and a leaf in God's forest, you too should rest in reason and move in passion.

QUAKER AND RELIGION

IS NOT RELIGION ALL DEEDS AND ALL REFLECTION,

And that which is neither deed nor reflection, but a wonder and a surprise ever springing in the soul, even while the hands hew the stone or tend the loom?

Who can separate his faith from his actions, or his belief from his occupations?

Who can spread his hours before him, saying, "This for God and this for myself; This for my soul, and this other for my body?"

All your hours are the wings that beat through space from self to self.

He who wears his MORALITY but as his best garment were better naked.

The wind and sun will tear no holes in his skin.

And he who defines his conduct by ethics imprisons his song bird in a cage.

The freest song does not come through bars and wires.

And he to whom worshiping is a window, to open but also to shut, has not yet visited the house of his soul whose windows are from dawn to dawn.

Your daily life is your TEMPLE and RELIGION.

Whenever you enter into it take with you all.

Take the plough and the forge and the mallet and the lute, the thing that you have fashioned in necessity or for delight.

For in every reverie (condition of being lost in thought) you cannot rise above your achievements nor fall lower than your failures.

And take with you all persons:

For in adoration you cannot fly higher than their hopes nor humble yourself lower than their despair.

And if you know God be not therefore a solver of riddles.

Rather look above you and you shall see Him playing with your children.

And look into space, you shall see Him walking in the cloud, outstretching His arms in the lightening, and descending in the rain.

You shall see Him smiling in flowers, then rising and waving his hands in trees.

 

 

 

PAIN

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.

Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.

And could you keep your heart in wonder at daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy;

And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields.

And you would watch through serenity through the winters of your grief.

Much of your pain is self-chosen.

It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you HEALS your sick self.

Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in SILENCE and TRANQUILLITY:

For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the UNSEEN,

And the cup he brings, though it burns your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which the Potter has moistened with His own sacred tears.

ORATOR AND FREEDOM

At the city gate and by your fireside I have seen you prostrate yourself and worship your own freedom.

Even as slaves humble themselves before a tyrant and praise him though he slays them.

In the groves of the temple and in the shadows of the citadel I have seen the freest amongst you wear their freedom as a yoke and handcuff.

And my heart bled with me; for you can be free when even the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness to you, and when you cease to speak of freedom as a goal and a fulfillment.

You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and grief.

But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and UNBOUND.

And how shall you rise beyond your days and nights unless you BREAK THE CHAIN which you at the dawn of your understanding have fastened around your noon hour?

In truth that which you call freedom is the strongest of these chains, though its links glitter in the sun and dazzle your eyes.

And what is it but fragments of your own self you would discard that you may become free?

If it is an unjust law you would abolish, that law was written with your own hand upon your own forehead. You cannot erase it by burning you're your law books nor by washing your foreheads of your judges, though you pour the sea upon them.

And if it is a despot you would dethrone, see first that his throne erected within you is destroyed. For how can a despot rule the free and the proud, but for a tyranny in their own freedom, and a shame in their own pride?

And if it is a care you would cast off, that care has been chosen by you rather than imposed upon you.

And if it is afear you would dispel, the seat of that fear is in your heart and not in the hands of the feared.

All things move within your being in constant half embrace, the desired and the dreaded, the repugnant and the cherished, the pursued and that which you would escape.

These things move within you as lights and shadows in pair that cling.

And when the shadows fades and is no more, the light that lingers becomes a shadow to another light.

And thus you freedom when it loses its fetters become itself the fetter of a greater freedom.

 

 

NAKEDNESS AND CLOTHES

Your clothes conceal much of your beauty, yet they hide NOT the unbeautiful.

And though you seek in garments the freedom of privacy you may find in them a harness and chain.

Would that you could meet the sun and the wind with more of your skin and less of your raiment (garments)?

For the breath of life is in the sunlight and the hand of life is in the wind.

Some of you say, "It is the north wind who has woven the clothes that we wear."

But shame was his loom, and the softening of the sinews (cord) was his thread.

And when his work was done he laughed in the forest.

Forget not that modesty is for a shield against the eye of the unclean and when the unclean shall be no more, what were modesty but a fetter and a fouling of the mind?

And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.

 

 

 

MARRIAGE

You shall be together in the pursuit of excellence.

But let there be space in your togetherness.

And let the winds of heavens dance between you.

 

Love one another but make not a bond of love:

Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.

Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.

Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.

Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,

Even the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.

For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.

 

And stand together, yet not too near together:

For the pillars of temple stand apart,

And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

 

LOVE

When love beckons you follow him.

Though his ways are hard and steep.

And when his wings enfold you yield to him, though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.

And when he speaks to you believe in him, though his voice may shatter your dreams as the storm lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.

Even as he ascends to you height and caresses your tender branches that quiver in the sun, so shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

……

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of life's heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure, then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing floor, into the season less world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.

Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;

For love is sufficient unto love.

…..

And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.

But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:

To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.

To know the pain of too much tenderness.

To be wounded by your own understanding of love;

And to bleed willingly and joyfully.

To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;

To rest at noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;

To return home at even tide with gratitude;

And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

 
 

  

KNOWING AND TEACHING

No person can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge.

The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives NOT of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness.

If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your OWN mind.

The astronomer may speak to you of his understanding of space, but he cannot give you his understanding.

The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in all space, but he cannot give you th ear which arrests the rhythm nor the voice that echoes it.

and he is versed in science of numbers can tell the regions of weight and measure, but he cannot conduct you thither.

For the vision of one person lends not its wings to another person.

And even as each one of you stands alone in God's knowledge, so must each one of you be ALONE in his KNOWLEDGE OF GOD and in his understanding of the earth.

JOY AND SORROW

 

 

Joy is your sorrow unmasked.

And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was often filled with your tears.

And how else can it be?

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.

Is not your cup that holds your tea the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?

And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.

When you are sorrowful look again into your heart, and you shall find that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Joy and sorrow are inseparable. Together when they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

You are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy. Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.

When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.

 

 

INHERITOR THE CHILD

Your children are NOT your children.

They are sons and daughters of life's longing for itself.

They come through you but NOT from you

And though they are with you, yet they belong NOT to you.

You may give them your love but NOT your thoughts.

You may house their bodies but NOT their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strike to be like them, but seek NOT to make them like you.

For life goes NOT backward not tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

The ARCHER sees the mark on the path of infinite, and HE bends you with HIS might that HIS arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer's hands be for gladness.

For even as HE loves the arrows that flies, so HE loves also the bow that is stable.

HOUSES

Your house is your larger body.

Small house in forest and meadow.

Valleys be the street and green paths your alleys.

Seek one another through trees and come with the fragrance of the earth in your garments.

What have you in these houses in the towns? What is it you guard through with fastened doors?

Have you peace, the quiet urge that reveals your power?

Have you remembrances , the glimmering arches that spans the summit of your power?

Have you beauty, that leads the heart from things fashioned of wood and stone to the holy mountain?

TELL ME, have you these in your houses?

YOU have only COMFORT, and the lust for comfort, stealthy thing that enters the house a guest and then becomes a host, and then a master?

Comfort becomes a tamer, and with hook and scourge makes puppets of your larger desires.

Though its hands are silken, its heart is of iron.

It lulls you to sleep only to stand by your bed to jeer at the dignity of the flesh.

It makes mock of your sound senses, and lays them in thistledown like fragile vessel.

The lust for comfort murders the passion of the soul, and then walks grinning in the funeral.

But you children of space, you restless in rest, you shall not be trapped nor tamed.

Your house shall not be an anchor but a mast.

It shall not be a glistening film that covers a wound, but an eyelid that guards the eyelid.

You shall not fold your wings that you may pass through the doors, nor bend your heads that they strike against a ceiling, nor fear to breathe lest walls should crack and fall down.

You shall not dwell in the tomb made by the dead for the living.

And though of magnificence and splendor, your house shall not hold your secret nor shelter your longings.

For that which is boundless in you abides in the mansion of the sky, whose door is the morning mist, and whose windows are the songs and the silences of night.

 

GIVING

You give but little when you give your possessions.

It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

Giving for recognition and hidden desires makes the gift unwholesome.

The believers in life and the bounty of life give whatever little they have, and their coffer is never empty.

Those who give with joy, the joy is their reward.

It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding;

And to the open-handed the search for one who shall receive is joy greater than iving.

All you have some day has to be given;

Therefore give now, that the season of giving may be yours and not your inheritors'.

See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver, and an instrument of giving.

For in truth it is life that gives unto life-while you, you who deem yourself a giver, but are a witness.

Debtor should rise together with the giver on his gifts as on wings;

To be unmindful of your debt, is to doubt his generosity who has the free-hearted earth for mother, and God for father.

 

FUN AND PLEASURE

How shall we distinguish that which is good in pleasure from that which is not good?

It is the pleasure of the bee to gather honey of the flower, but it is also the pleasure of the flower to yield its honey to the bee.

To the bee a flower is a fountain of life, and to the flower a bee is a messenger of love,

And to both, bee and flower, the giving and receiving of pleasure is a need and an ecstasy.

Be in your pleasures like the flowers and the bees.

EATING AND DRINKING

If you rob the newly born of its mother's milk to quench your thirst, let it then be an act of worship.

And when you crush a fruit with your teeth, say to it in heart,

"Your seeds shall live in my heart, and your fragrance shall be my breath, and together we shall rejoice through all the seasons"

DEATH

Life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.

You may know the secret of death when you seek it in the heart of life.

What is to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?

And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.

And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.

 

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

 

 

 

Guilty is oftentimes the victim of injured,

And still the more often the condemned is the burden-bearer for the guiltless and un-blamed.

You cannot separate the just from unjust and the good from wicked;

What judgment you pronounce upon him, who though honest in the flesh yet is a thief in spirit?

And how shall you punish those whose remorse is already greater than their misdeeds?

Erect and fallen are but one man standing in the twilight between the night of his pigmy-self and the day of his God-self,

And that the corner-stone of the temple is not higher than the lowest stone in its foundation.

 

 

 

BEAUTY

Beauty is not a NEED but ECSTASY.

A heart enflamed and a soul enchanted.

An image you see though your closed eyes and a song you hear though you shut your ears.

A garden for ever in bloom and a flock of angles for ever in flight.

Beauty is life when life unveils her holy face.

But you are the life and you are the veil.

Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in mirror.

But you are the eternity and you are the mirror.

 

A to Z KAHLIL GIBRAN

KAHLIL GIBRAN A to Z
A=Astronomer and Time
B= Beauty and Poet
C=Crime and Punishment
D=Death
E=Eating and Drinking
F=Fun and Pleasure
G= Giving and Rich
H= houses
I= Inheritors and Children
J= Joy and Sorrow
K= Knowing and Teaching
L= Love
M= Marriage
N= Nakedness and Clothes
O= Orator and freedom
P= Pain
Q= Quaker and Religion
R= Reason and Passion
S= Self-Knowledge
T=Talking and Scholar
U= Understanding Good and Evil
V= Value in buying and Selling
W= Work and Labor
X= eXecutive and Law
Y= Youth and Friendship
Z=Zeal and Prayer