gilded cages

where has progress got us.. our soul is still the only thing that lives on.. a soul starved and empty and wanting.. what legacy is this progress leaving.. our children have more fears and stress and confusion.. the tiny sparrow sings and flies free.. we have lost our music and wings.. it can escape our cages.. we can't see the door's open.

every child is a multi-faceted gem awaiting recognition.. sadly squashed in schools with studies as the only yardstick gauging self-worth and potential..

most of us seem to be feeling empty.. unhappy.. like something is missing.. having got into the 'rat race'.. we never really take time out to 'hear' what we want.. what we really want.. even if we are doing what we want in life.. our 'conditioning' rules our lives, setting the pace or direction as the norm..

if today we discard everything we own, have become, done so far.. and become who we want to be.. live the way we want to.. what difference is it going to make?.. to our life..

if we can just harness our thoughts, we can ride the world.. no conditioned blinkers.. just an acute seamless freedom.. filled with joy and exhilarating invincibility..

when we know our 'destination' we will somehow always find the way.. through a few wrong turns maybe.. or asking for directions.. but we will always reach there.. so let us 'talk' ourselves through clarity as to what we want or where we want to reach.. and we can start off to realize our dreams..

a man hid a bird behind his back, and asked the zen master if it was dead or alive.. thinking of killing it if he said alive, and releasing it if he said dead.. and the master replied, 'it's in your hands'.. this is how life is.. in our hands.. to live or die every moment.. to surrender or defy.. to realize.. it is always our choice..

a hammer shatters glass but forges steel.. life dishes it's own blows.. we decide the mettle it's going to glean..

kaleidoscope

no one wants to hurt.. yet every heart remains distressed.. physical pain is easily healed.. the emotional festers unseen..

dealing with people is like digging for gold.. you need to sift through a lot of dirt.. Decide what you are looking for!

being harsh or cruel to your loved ones is like destroying the pillars on which a temple stands..

we die a million deaths worrying over not looking good in front of others.. never realizing others are worrying about the same things too..

the amount of time we waste thinking over the people we hate, cursing them, worrying over imaginary or real wrongs.. if we spent even half of that time thinking of our loved ones.. our lives would be transformed..

watch how you carry yourself.. each person speaks the language in his heart.. and it's reflection mirrors in the people around - we only react to what we see..

A blind man walks in the dark holding a lantern for people with sight.. still a man bangs into him saying the lantern has gone off so he could not see.. such is life.. we take our 'riches' for granted.. never fully appreciating or using what we have.. always holding others responsible for our own oversight.. who's really blind!

a nun had a statue of a golden buddha and decided to burn incense for it, creating a funnel so that the smoke would ascend only to her statue.. this blackened the nose of the statue and it looked really ugly.. in giving is true beauty.. what we hold back can only darken our souls with greed fear envy and pride.. we all have something beautiful inside, waiting to be released.. so that the fragrance can finally reach us too..

hanging garden

we are all out on a limb.. needing our children to save us.. so that we can save our 'future' in them..

when we see a shadow, we always look around to see what is casting it.. still, nourishing the transient body, ignoring the immortal soul.. we continue to live in a world of illusion.. hurting and healing in imaginary hells.. none stops to comprehend.. what they 'hoard' so blatantly..

the 'boundaries' we fight for.. essentially suspended in 'space'..
the 'riches' we strive for.. when 'dust' is all that remains..
the 'religions' we kill for.. still 'God' remains their sole essence..
the 'soul' we take birth for.. starving to death in piteous 'ignorance'..

inner workout

Laughter cures anything.. humour and exposure to it acts like a catharsis.. an inner workout for the system.. cleansing all the ‘toxicity’ within..

When you set goals for yourself, or a task.. do it in small measures in moments that feel tedious.. or lazy.. it prevents you from ‘giving up’ entirely..

Face your giants focusing on the ‘god’ within you.. have faith in yourself more than the ‘opposing’ forces, and you will definitely win..if not the battle, an unfazed light in your eyes..

Like fire can be so destructive if left to flare uncontained, and feels so warm and cozy in a fireplace.. we can also channel our fears, wants, needs, energies.. enjoying our ‘spark’.. enflaming with sheer euphoria of ‘freedom’ or basking in it’s contentment..

ironic awareness

Drowning in this sea of life, we sometimes come up for air.. each finding an escape bubble for himself.

let's remain strangers to hearsay, lest hearsay make strangers of us.

Beauty drenches a poet's heart, pain wrings it, aired by words, the fragrance lingers forever.

It wasn't the censure in strange eyes that seared my soul, it was a fleeting glimpse in someone my own.

The question is, are we willing to exchange a bit of our life to realize our dreams.

We always crave for less than what we have, and blame life for not giving us more.

In our bit of heaven and hell, we choose to live in one and want the other.

Love holds its own potency, showering all it touches, drenching only the thirsty soul.

It is the little touches that make a picture.

Situational criticism does not characterize a person.

Love means to free yourself of your Self.

To run anything avoid the ‘I’ for then it would spell – ruin.

What we have is dust, what we don’t, gold.

'this ironic awareness' is what helps us accept the 'without', enjoying what's 'within'.. we get so bound by 'routine' and 'conditioning', that every step, every gesture, becomes so hesitant.. so 'reactive'.. isn't it so rare.. that 'spontaneity'.. that breathes unadulterated care.. that sees us, shorn of trivia.. the true self.. hearing 'melodies' in heartstrings.. no false notes can reside there.. the rest.. only incidental..