APPEARANCE AND REALITY

People viewed are phantoms in a dream,
Puppets held in the gloved hand of God,
On a screen of consciousness, Self throws a gleam;
All's evolved somehow, it's so strange and odd.

The garden hedge of Advaita is sewn,
With rose bushes of potent paradox,
Foxing monkey mind; how high they've grown.
Truth is neither orthodox nor heterodox.

What's called Truth, empirically forsooth,
Is false metaphysically it seems,
And vice versa, that's the huge joke of Truth,
In this perplexed vexed maze of sunbeams.

We stop posing problems with the brain,
But practise Self Enquiry and Surrender,
That's all that's needed on this train;
Mental rubbish, best we trash in a blender.

The egotistic mind is mostly mad,
Just a muddled mix of mundane thought,
Neither very good nor very bad,
Ever telling us what we 'should' and 'ought'.

'So what we see is not what it seems or appears',
So the Great Advaita Sages wisely state,
We strive to see who's the see-er and who hears?
And never leave the Task before 'tis much too late!

*****

TRUTH

Multiformed, multibrained, pilgrim man,
Intent on a mission daring and brave,
'Twas his wholehearted devoted plan
To discover God's Truth and himself save.

Somewhat bemused, puzzled and vexed,
He laboured with books to search and to scan,
To learn pure wisdom and help perplexed
Tormented soul, in the best way he can.

After much reading and seeking for truth,
He came upon the teaching of one great Sage,
Overjoyed in this high moment forsooth,
He came to Ramana, blessing for our Age.

The Jnani focused his forceful gaze
On pilgrim, making contact eye to eye,
His power of consciousness like a blaze,
Evoked the Self, a Truth he could not deny.

He told him "Surrender and enquire my son,
That's my direct path to Realisation,
Strive with brave persistence until you've won
Moksha- the goal for man, soul's consummation! "

Pilgrim struggled with grave might and main,
But became discouraged unable to trace
The source of his ego; was all in vain?
'Til there descended the great power of Grace.

'Twas if he'd been given Love's kindest kiss,
He felt sheer existence and awareness pure,
The full Realised Self was infinite bliss,
For his prisoned soul, the absolute cure!

*****

END OF SEEKING

It's over now my end of seeking
Now's the time, I surrender to 'THE All'.

Behind the veil my Self is peeking,
Obey my Voice! I answer His urgent call.

"Dive within the Heart dear earnest friend,
And samsara's bad dream you now shall end!"

The buds will open on the almond tree,
Some come first, they yearn to be free.

Some come later but in His good time
All will abide in the Lord Divine.

Souls need Self's bright sun of Guru's Grace,
Nowhere God is not, ever there in place.