Threads of life

Something

There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something.
You certainly usually find something, if you look,
but is not always quite the something you were after.

—J.R.R. Tolkien

Fear

It is said that before entering the sea
a river trembles with fear.

She looks back at the path she has traveled,
from the peaks of the mountains,
the long winding road crossing forests and villages.

And in front of her,
she sees an ocean so vast,
that to enter
there seems nothing more than to disappear forever.

But there is no other way.
The river cannot go back.

Nobody can go back.
To go back is impossible in existence.

The river needs to take the risk
of entering the ocean
because only then will fear disappear,
because that’s where the river will know
it’s not about disappearing into the ocean,
but of becoming the ocean.

—Kahlil Gibran

Rivers

By the rivers of Babylon, where we sat down.
Yeah, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
…

Let the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart,
be acceptable in thy sight here tonight.

—Boney M.

Sorrow

Sorrow … It pulls up the rotten roots,
so that new roots hidden beneath
have room to grow. Whatever sorrow
shakes from your heart, far better
things will take their place. … Maybe
you are searching among the branches
for what only appears in the roots.

—Rumi

Threads of life

O Servant of God, where do the Ida, Pingala and Sushumna nadis go when the thread of life breaks?
One who holds the thread is beyond time, but where does he live?
The thread is neither tied nor breaks.
Who is the master and who is the servant?
Only He knows his secret as He is the Eternal.
What is the warp [lengthwise threads] and what is the weft [cross threads]?
What are the threads from which the chadar [cloth] is woven?
Ida and Pingala are the warp and weft.
Sushumna are the threads from which the chadar is woven.
Eight are the Lotuses and ten are the spinning wheels.
Five are the elements and three the qualities of the chadar.

—Kabir

Gathering

This is a gathering of Lovers.
In this gathering
there is no high, no low,
no smart, no ignorant,
no special assembly,
no grand discourse,
no proper schooling required.
There is no master,
no disciple.

—Rumi

Depths

You’ve been walking the ocean’s edge,
holding up your robes to keep them dry.
You must dive naked under, and deeper,
Under, a thousand times deeper!

—Rumi

Art essay by NARENDRA KINI