Deliverance 

Deliverance is not for me in renunciation.

You ever pour for me the fresh draft of Your wine of various colors and fragrance,

My world will light its hundred different lamps

No, I will never shut the doors of my senses.

Yes, all my illusions will burn into illumination of joy,

Rabindranath Tagore

The Heart of God: Prayers of Rabindranath Tagore. Selected and edited by Herbert F. Vetter. © 1997 Herbert F. Vetter. Tuttle Publishing.

My Last Song 

Let all the strains of joy mingle in my last song – 

the joy that makes the earth flow over in the riotous excess of the grass; 

the joy that sets the twin brothers, life and death, dancing over the wide world; 

the joy that sweeps in with the tempest, shaking and waking all life with laughter; 

the joy that sits still on the open, red lotus of pain, 

and the joy that throws everything it has upon the dust, and knows not a word.

Rabindranath Tagore

The Heart of God: Prayers of Rabindranath Tagore. Selected and edited by Herbert F. Vetter. © 1997 Herbert F. Vetter. Tuttle Publishing.

Hold My Hand

Deliver me from my own shadows, O God,

from the wreck and confusion of my days, 

for the night is dark and Your pilgrim is blinded.

Hold my hand.

Deliver me from despair. 

Touch with Your flame the lightless lamp of my sorrow.

Waken my tired strength from its sleep.

Do not let me linger behind, counting my losses.

Let the road sing to me of the house at every step.

For the night is dark, and Your pilgrim is blinded. 

Hold my hand. 

Rabindranath Tagore

The Heart of God: Prayers of Rabindranath Tagore. Selected and edited by Herbert F. Vetter. © 1997 Herbert F. Vetter. Tuttle Publishing.

Face To Face?

Day after day, O Ruler of my life, shall I stand before You face to face?

Rabindranath Tagore

The Heart of God: Prayers of Rabindranath Tagore. Selected and edited by Herbert F. Vetter. © 1997 Herbert F. Vetter. Tuttle Publishing.

My Greetings

Comrade of the road, here are my traveler's greetings to You.

God of my broken heart, of leave-taking and loss, of the gray silence of the day fall, my greetings of the ruined house to You.

Light of the newborn morning, sun of the everlasting day, my greetings of undying hope to You.

My Guide, I am a wayfarer on an endless road, my greetings of a wanderer to You.

Rabindranath Tagore

The Heart of God: Prayers of Rabindranath Tagore. Selected and edited by Herbert F. Vetter. © 1997 Herbert F. Vetter. Tuttle Publishing.

Accept Me

Accept me, dear God, accept me for this while.

Rabindranath Tagore

The Heart of God: Prayers of Rabindranath Tagore. Selected and edited by Herbert F. Vetter. © 1997 Herbert F. Vetter. Tuttle Publishing.

Shvetashvatara Upanishad 6.7-6.13

Let Us Know

Let us know that highest great lord of lords, the highest deity of deities, the master of masters,

his high power is revealed as manifold, as inherent, acting as force and knowledge.

There is no master of his in the world, no ruler of his, not even a sign of him,

He is the cause, the lord of the lords of the organs, and there is of him neither parent nor lord.

He is the one God, hidden in all beings, all-pervading, the self within all beings,

watching over all works, dwelling in all beings, the witness, the perceiver, the only one, free from qualities.

The wise who perceive Him dwelling within their self,

to them belongs eternal happiness and serenity, not to others,

He who knows this God as primal cause,

through Sāṁkhya (reflection) and Yoga (self-discipline),

achieves Mukti (freedom).

~ Shvetashvatara Upanishad 6.7-6.13 Translated by Paul Deussen

Shvetashvatara Upanishad 2.10

In A Clean Level Spot

In a clean level spot,

free from pebbles, fire and gravel,

Delightful by its sounds,

its water and bowers,

Favourable to thought,

not offensive to the eye,

In a hidden retreat protected from the wind,

One should practice Yoga.

~ Shvetashvatara Upanishad 2.10 Translated by Paul Deussen

Shvetashvatara Upanishad 1.15-1.16

As Oil in Sesame Seeds

As oil in sesame seeds,

as butter in milk,

as water in Srota,[36]

as fire in fuel-sticks,

he finds in his own self that One (Atman), he,

who sees him through Satya (truthfulness)

and Tapas (austerity).

He sees the all pervading Atman,

as butter lying dormant in milk,

rooted in self-knowledge and self-discipline

– which is the final goal of the Upanishad,

the final goal of Upanishad.

~ Shvetashvatara Upanishad 1.15-1.16 Translated by Paul Deussen

The Soul, Like The Moon

"The soul, like the moon,

is new, and always new again.

And I have seen the ocean

continuously creating.

Since I scoured my mind

and my body, I too, Lalla,

am new, each moment new.

My teacher told me one thing,

Live in the soul.

When that was so,

I began to go naked,

and dance."

Lal Ded (Lalla) (14th Century?)

(translated by Coleman Barks)

Voices of Light

1999, edited by Aliki Barnstone

Shambhala Publications, Inc.