The Garden of Ardhanarishvara

Garland of mystical songs, poetry and writings of a yogi from the Philippine Isles.

[yogiyodhaka]

ODE TO MURALIDHAR (KRSNA)

O Divine Flute-Player:

How You attract souls towards You

With Your alluring melodies

Is beyond comprehension.

You melt all in the crucible of Divine Beauty

And Love Profound!

Sweet Muralidhar,

Let all your bhaktas taste

The sweetness of Your Sacred nectar,

Savored through the remembrance of Your Holy Name!

Love Divine, Sweet Love!

Come, play the Tune of Bliss

In the flute of our Spine!

Our Souls shall then sing,

Your ambrosial melodies.

Let the Wind of Your Divine Breath

Ascend and Descend through us!

Then shall the song of Divine Praise resound

Through us, Your intoxicated lovers!

[yogiyodhaka]

A few men have asked: "What path is he treading, Why does no speech leave his lips? Why is he mute when he can speak Like the rest of us who walk the path of Inquiry?" When the mind surrender itself to the Light, Neither sound, nor imagery abound its ear and Sight. Neither smell nor taste, not even the senses could it recognize. In Silence it became void of both desires and dislikes. The Self, all-Abiding, like a mirror, clearly reflecting All-in-All! It neither chases not discards. It treads no path. It moves in stillness. It simply is, Nothing. This is the Pathless Path, The Golden Way of Liberation. The Gateless Gate. It simply is, SHIVA.

[yogiyodhaka]

You can bind this body in chains, Restrain the tongue from speaking, Blind the eyes from seeing But one thing that you cannot take away --- The love between the lover and the Beloved.

You can lock a person in a prison cell Infested with vermin Covered with utter darkness. But one thing you ne'er can imprison --- A soul inflamed with Love towards its Maker!

What can fetter a soul, What can confine a heart Incandescent, with the Flames of devotion. Scintillating and glistening with fervor!

Deny a faithful the sight of Temples The company of saints But you can never topple down The inner sanctum of a grace-filled heart!

Only delusion, only delusion Can separate. Only despair, only despair Can sever. But never creatures like himself, Neither obstacles. Neither sickness Neither death!

[yogiyodhaka]

SEVA: An ode to Selfless Service

Wash thy heart with the vial of tears, O Lover And let thy hands and feet bleed in selfless service, O Faithful One. If you wish to walk the path of the prophets and the way of sainthood, Consider thy body to be but a tool in the hands of the Great Fashioner. The way is to dissolve into the Endless Flame of Love, Leaving not a mark of self or a trace of identity. No strength but His strength, No grace but His grace, No will but His. For everything is loaned, Even the in-breaths and the out-breaths. Return it in accordance with how He intended it to be. Understand that the Mastery of Life, Is all about this: To be in the Image of the Divine Master, And while living: TO GIVE, TO LOVE and TO SERVE.

[yogiyodhaka]

Remember, O Chela, the marks of a true Warrior:

To die a thousand deaths with the willingness of dying.

To endure a million cut-wounds while in the verge of living.

To lose an infinitefold of attachments in this world of impermanence.

To see joy as pain, and pain as joy; until none there be as such and such.

To unveil the scintillating countenance of Reality under the heat of the scorching sun.

To die in one realm in order to give birth to a thousand worlds.

To manifest a single wish for the collective desire of all.

To see free and let live.

These, O chela, are the marks of a true warrior!

(written September 2013, Baguio City) 

[yogiyodhaka]

"MATA DARSHAN": A short ode to Maa Kali

In a dream,

Maa said to me: "Come my child, towards Me!"

The spirit flew and came into Your abode

All was pitch black, and I came looking for You

Until I saw a Flame burning fiercely in the midst of the darkness "Come, my child, I am the Flame. I desire to let you be consumed!"

Like a moth enamored by the scintillation, This Jiva threw itself in the midst of the pyre. Everything crumbled into ashes, Pulverized by that ravening Fire. None was left, Save Your eyes which twinkled in the bosom of the Void.

"You are watched", said Maa "I have watched", said Maa "And I will continually watch You!" said Maa.