What would you like done with me?

St. Teresa is Bernini's sculpture

For you I live and come to be --
What would you like done with me?
Sovereign, awful majesty,
Knowing till eternity --
Goodness, gracious to my soul,
Highness, godhead, one and whole,
Look at this nonentity
Singing of her love for thee --
What would you like done with me?

I am yours, because you made me,
Yours, because you then redeemed me,
Yours, because you suffered for me,
Yours, because you clamored for me,
Yours, because you did not lose me,
What would you like done with me?

What commands then, good my lord,
By such a creature should be done?
Or what office have I won,
Being but a slave abhorred?
Can't you see me, my sweet one?
Me, my sweet one, can't you see
What would you like done with me?

Right here is my heart, you see,
Lo, I put it in your hand,
My body, soul, all I command,
My entrails and my loving thee.
Redeemer sweet who married me,
Since I gave my all for thee,
What would you like done with me?

Give me life or give me death.
Give me honor, give me shame,
War or peace, it's all the same.
Give me sickness, give me health.
Weakness, strength, I won't complain.
Come what may, I'll let it be.
What would you like done with me?

Give me wealth or poverty,
Give me rest, or anguish fell,
Give me sadness, give me glee,
Give me heaven, give me hell.
Light of life, pray hear me tell
How I surrendered all for thee.
What would you like done with me?

If you will, teach me to pray.
If not, give me aridity.
From all good things your praise I'll say --
Or else, give me sterility.
O thou sovereign majesty,
Peace I find alone in thee.
What would you like done with me?

Wisdom give me, if you will,
Or, if you choose, give ignorance.
Give me wealthy circumstance,
Or give me thirst and hunger still.
Give me shade or light until
I'm tossed about unceasingly.
What would you like done with me?

If you command, at rest I lie,
For your love's sake I'll idle be.
Or if my labor's your decree,
Working hard, I want to die.
Tell me, "Where and how and why?"
Sweetest love, I ask of thee.
What would you like done with me?

Give me Tabor or Calvary,
Desert or the fruitful earth.
Be I Job in his sad dearth
Or John at bosom sucking free.
Perhaps I'll flourish gracefully,
Or sterile stay, if such must be --
What would you like done with me?

Be I Joseph, cast in jail,
Or Joseph, lord of Egypt's shore,
Be I David, punished sore,
Or David, king whom all men hail.
Be I Jonah in the whale,
Or Jonah safe, miraculously
What would you like done with me?

Be I silent, be I speaking,
Bearing fruit or bearing naught,
Let the Law show forth my fault,
Or Gospel soothe, if such you're seeking.
Be I happy, or by pain caught,
I only live when I'm with thee!
What would you like done with me?

For you I live and came to be --
What would you like done with me?

Saint Teresa of Avila  (1515-1582)
– translated from the Spanish by Alan D. Corré

Red Coral

Piero della Francesca's The Brera Madonna (detail)

It is interesting that different religions accept a coral as an influential symbol. Obviously red coral represents blood and life-force energy and it does its sacred.
Coral is known to be used as a gem since prehistoric times. This jewel has acquired meaningful and symbolic implications in many and disparate cultural contexts, strengthened by the totality of the folk beliefs and the religious ideologies of each country and society.

Has a history of religious meaning and is one of the seven treasures in Buddhist scriptures.
In western cultures, coral had religious significance before christianity. The ancient greeks connected coral with Perseus cutting off Medusa's head, when the gushing blood changed into coral upon contact with the sea. For this reason, they saw coral is a symbol of rebirth. Later, some came to believe that the red of the coral could represent the blood of Jesus Christ and resurrection.

In hinduism the Nine Navratna Locket consists red coral. Coral mala is used during sadhana or worship of Lord Ganesh, Hanuman, Lakshmi and Mars planet. Rudrakshas and red coral can be worn together for maximum benefits for people with birth nakshatra Mrigashira, Chitra and Dhanishtha.

 Anyway, the jewel in general becomes a symbol of the internal beauty inherent in each person, which can at times be concealed by appearances.  Symbol of your eternal beauty.

OM TAT SAT

Tere Ishq nachaiya

The Sufi doctrine of love suggests that everything in the universe is whirling because of the attraction of this pure love ( ishq ). Its not only the atoms or celestial bodies, its also the blood circulation in our body which whirls around the heart. This primordial love can be traced back in the sacred traditions.
The song captures the ecstasy of the divine lover and complains of separation, complains of the ruptured heart and asks the Divine Who is the Healer to come and rescue the lover.

Tere Ishq nachaiyaa kar key thaiyaa thaiyaa

Your love has made me dance like mad

Tere Ishq ne dera mere andar keeta
Bhar ke zeher payala main taan aape peeta,
Chaiteen Bohareen wey tabiba nahin te main mar gaiyaan
Tere Ishq nachaiyaa kar key thaiyaa thaiyaa

Falling in love with you
Was like taking a sip of poison
Come my healer, forsaken, I am sad.
Your love has made me dance like mad


Bulleh Shah , Punjabi Sufi poet

14 Maheshvara sutras

nR^ttAvasAne naTarAjarAjaH nanAda DakkAm navapanchavAram 

uddhartu kAmassanakAdi siddhAn etadvimarSe SivasUtrajAlam

At the end of the cosmic dance Lord Shiva the Lord of dance, sounded his damaru fourteen times.

For the sake of the upliftment of sages like sanaka. 

According to legend, these sutras were written by Panini upon mystically hearing the beats of Siva-Nataraja’s damaru (hourglass-shaped drum).  It has been said that the mantra is God in the form of sound.  Therefore, words are an extension of that power. The tantra stresses the importance of sound as a divine substance and vehicle for salvation.  And hence, entire cosmos is in the form of
 these sutras.The 14 sutras are (in ITRANS format):

aiuN

R^iL^ik

eo~N

aiauch

hayavaraT

laN

~nama~NaNanam

jhabha~n

ghaDhadhaSh

jabagaDadash

khaphaChaThathachaTatav

kapay

shaShasar

hal

Among those present at Nataraja’s dance was Panini. For him these 14 sounds meant the fourteen cardinal sutras of Grammer and on them he based his “Ashtadhyayi”. Given are the 16 vowels and 33 consonants that are evolved from these 14 Shiva Sutras.

16 vowels (a – ch)

a, Aa, i, Ii, u, Uu, ri, rii, lri, lrii, e, ai, o au, am, ah

33 consonants (ha l)

ka, kha, ga, gha, gna
ca, cha, ja, jha, jna
ta, ttha, da ddha, nna
ta, tha, da, dha, na
pa, pha, ba, bha, ma
ya, ra, la, va
sa, sha, sa
ha

  

OM NAMAH SHIVAYA

It is more than possible

William Turner "Light and Color" 

"What is this awesome mystery that is taking place within me?
I can find no words to express it:
My poor hand is unable to capture it,
In describing the praise and glory that belong
To the One who is above all praise,
And who transcends every word . . .
My intellect sees what has happened,
But it cannot explain it;
It can see, and wishes to explain,
But can find no word that suffices,
For what it sees is invisible and entirely formless,
Simple, completely uncompounded,
Unbounded in its awesome greatness.
What I have seen is the totality recapitulated as One,
Received not in essence but by participation.
It is just as if you lit a flame from a live flame:
It is the entire flame you receive."

"What point is there in trying to explain all of this to you,
Or trying to make you understand it all?
If you yourself have not felt it by personal experience,
You will be unable to know it."

"Do not say that without His presence it is possible to be saved.
Do not say that one can possess the Spirit
Even if one is not consciously aware of it.
Do not say that God cannot be seen by human beings.
Do not say that humans may never see the light of God;
Or at least that it is not possible for this generation.
My friends this is never impossible.
It is more than possible—for those who desire it."

The Byzantine saint and poet Symeon the New Theologian (949–1022) is one of the Christian world's greatest mystics, if such a term can properly be used of ancient writers.

Tell and still it is hidden

Nasir-ol-Molk Mosque, Shiraz, Iran by Rowan Castle

Knowledge of inner experience
many come asking for.
Struck dumb savoring the sweet,
whose mouth will tell the tale?

The sign of the dumb
only the dumb understand.
Likewise the joy of a sage
only a sage knows.

Not of written words
but of experiencing:
When the bride meets His embrace
the guests all fade away.

That which sees cannot speak,
which speaks cannot hear,
that which hears cannot explain.
Why tongue, eyes, ears?

What is full empties out;
What is empty fills up.
Empty, full - neither to be found.
The experience is this.

Such a wonder! It is never told.
Tell, and still it is hidden.
Koran and Vedas couldn't write it.
If I say it, who will listen?

Kabir

How to tell

There is nothing that does not come from him.
Of everything he is the inmost Self.
He is the truth; he is the Self supreme.
You are that, Shvetaketu; you are that."

"Please, Father, tell me more about this Self."

"Yes, dear one, I will," Uddalaka said.
"Strike at the root of a tree; it would bleed
But still live. Strike again at the top;
It would bleed but still live. The Self as life
Supports the tree, which stands firm and enjoys
The nourishment it receives.
If the Self leaves one branch, that branch withers.
If it leaves a second, that too withers.
If it leaves a third, that again withers.
Let it leave the whole tree, the whole tree dies.
Just so, dear one, when death comes and the Self
Departs from the body, the body dies.
But the Self dies not.

"There is nothing that does not come from him.
Of everything he is the inmost Self.
He is the truth; he is the Self supreme.
You are that Shvetaketu; you are that."

"Please Father, tell me more about this Self."
"Yes, dear one, I will," Uddalaka said.
"Bring me a fruit from the nyagrodha tree."

"Here it is, Sir."

"Break it. What do you see?"

"Nothing at all."

"That hidden essence you do not see, dear one,
From that a whole nyagrodha tree will grow.
There is nothing that does not come from him.
Of everything he is the inmost Self.
He is the truth; he is the Self supreme.
You are that, Shvetaketu; you are that."

"Please, Father, tell me more about this Self."

"Yes dear one, I will," Uddalaka said.
"Place this salt in water and bring it here
Tomorrow morning." The boy did.
"Where is that salt?" his father asked.

"I do not see it."

"Sip here. How does it taste?"

"Salty, Father."

":And here? And there?"

"I taste salt everywhere."

"It is everywhere, though we see it not.
Just so, dear one, the Self is everywhere,
Within all things although we see him not.
There is nothing that does not come from him.
Of everything he is the inmost Self.
He is the truth; he is the Self supreme.
You are that, Shvetaketu; you are that."

"Please, Father, tell me more about this Self."

"Yes, dear one, I will," Uddalaka said.

"As a man from Gandhara, blindfolded,
Led away and left in a lonely place,
Turns to the east and west and north and south
And shouts, 'I am left here and cannot see!"
Until one removes his blindfold and says,
'There lies Gandhara; follow that path,'
And thus informed, able to see for himself,
The man inquires from village to village
And reaches his homeland at last-- just so,
My son, one who finds an illumined teacher
Attains to spiritual wisdom in the Self.
There is nothing that does not come from him.
Of everything he is the inmost Self.
He is the truth; he is the Self supreme.
You are that, Shvetaketu; you are that."

-From the Chandogya Upanishad 6

Kun fa ya Kun!

This song is a great composition that recalls some of the themes from the esoteric knowledge of the Sufi Science. The title of the Song, "Kun Fa Ya Kun" is a famous Quranic verse which is a Symbol / Sign of God's Mystical Creative Power. Kun (كن) in Arabic means "Be" and "fa Ya Kun" (فيكن) means "Thus It is" / "So It is." The verse is from the Quranic Chapter, Surah Ya-Siin which is also called the Heart of the Quran because of the importance of the reminders / message that it carries. Here is the context in which the verse Kun Fa Ya Kun appears:
Does man not consider that We created him from a [mere] sperm-drop - then at once he is an open disputant? And he presents an (argument of) likeness for Us and forgets his own creation.
He asks (in confusion): "Who will give life to the bones when they are disintegrated?"
Say: "He will give life to them Who brought them into existence in the first place, and He is cognizant of all creation."
He Who has made for you, from the green tree, fire. and then from it you kindle (fire). Is not He Who created the heavens and the earth able to create the like of them? Yes Indeed! and He is the Superb Creator (of all), the Ever-Knowing.

 Innamaa amruhu izaaa arada shay-an an yaqoola lahu: Kun! fa ya kun!.

Surely His Command, when He wills a thing, is only to say to it: "Be! and it is!"
Therefore glory be to Him in Whose hand is the Kingdom of all things, and to Him you shall be brought back. (The Qur'an 36:77-83)

Kun! fa ya Kun!, Kun! fa ya Kun!

Music - A.R. Rahman
Film - Rockstar
Singer - A.R. Rahman, Javed Ali, Mohit Chauhan
Lyricist - Irshaad Kamil

O God's friend, Nizamuddin!
O Nizamuddin, the friend of poor.

Advance your blessed feet. Appear!
Making the boundaries disappear,
may you fill this void, the abode of your Beloved.
Its empty without you, come fill this void.

O Dyer, O Dyer!
We dye in Your color.

Be, and it is! Be, and it is!
Be, and it is! And It is!
Be, and it is! And It is!
Be, and it is! And It is!

When there was nothing nowhere,
He was the One, only One.

He is the one Who is in my soul,
He is the one in your soul,
Dear Lord is the one that is the Mystery (all around).

Be, and it is! Be, and it is!

Allah the Sublime, the Magnificent says the truth.

Color my heart and my mind with Your color, the Color Divine!
In exchange, take all that is mine.

Morning showers its blessings (when) I adore You,
and it purifies dark night soul of mine.
My spirit's nourishment comes from Your sanctuary,
O Master, O Beloved...

Be, and it is! Be, and it is!
When there was nothing nowhere,
He was the One, only One.
Kun fa ya Kun, Kun fa ya Kun!

Allah the Sublime, the Magnificent says the truth
His Messenger, the Generous Prophet says the truth
The blessings and peace of Allah upon him.

It would be your generosity upon me, my Master,
I pray to you, please free me from the bonds of the self,
Grant me visitation to my True Face -
Free me from the bonds of the self,
freedom from the self.

With vanities of my mind,
burdens of my misdeeds,
Carrying, where I am going?
I have no idea!

You live within me, and now,
where have You brought me?

I live in You,
I have only followed You,
I am but Your shadow.

You created me,
I did not fit within the world,
But You embraced me,
Only You are the Truth.
Only You are the Real.

(You Command) Be, and it is! Be, and it is!
Be, and it is! Be, and it is!

When there was nothing nowhere,
He was the One, only One.

When there was nothing nowhere,
He was the One, only One.

Verily, when You will anything
Your Command only is, "Be," and it is!
(Please intend noble aspirations and direction for me).

Allah the Sublime, the Magnificent says the truth
His Messenger, the Generous Prophet says the truth
The blessings and peace of Allah upon him.
Benediction of grace and peace upon him.

Hafiz

The roof of Hafiz's tomb in Shiraz

Tired of Speaking Sweetly

Love wants to reach out and manhandle us,
Break all our teacup talk of God.

If you had the courage and
Could give the Beloved His choice, some nights,
He would just drag you around the room
By your hair,
Ripping from your grip all those toys in the world
That bring you no joy.

Love sometimes gets tired of speaking sweetly
And wants to rip to shreds
All your erroneous notions of truth

That make you fight within yourself, dear one,
And with others,

Causing the world to weep
On too many fine days.

God wants to manhandle us,
Lock us inside of a tiny room with Himself
And practice His dropkick.

The Beloved sometimes wants
To do us a great favor:

Hold us upside down
And shake all the nonsense out.

But when we hear
He is in such a "playful drunken mood"
Most everyone I know
Quickly packs their bags and hightails it
Out of town.
From: 'The Gift' Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

I've Said It Before and I'll Say It Again

I've said it before and I'll say it again:
It's not my fault that with a broken heart, I've gone this way.

In front of a mirror they have put me like a parrot,
And behind the mirror the Teacher tells me what to say.

Whether I am perceived as a thorn or a rose, it's
The Gardener who has fed and nourished me day to day.

O friends, don't blame me for this broken heart;
Inside me there is a great jewel and it's to the Jeweler's shop I go.

Even though, to pious, drinking wine is a sin,
Don't judge me; I use it as a bleach to wash the color of hypocrisy away.

All that laughing and weeping of lovers must be coming from some other place;
Here, all night I sing with my winecup and then moan for You all day.

If someone were to ask Hafiz, "Why do you spend all your time sitting in
The Winehouse door?," to this man I would say, "From there, standing,
I can see both the Path and the Way.

From: Drunk on the Wind of the Beloved/ Translated by Thomas Rain Crowe

Laughing At the Word Two
Only

That Illumined
One

Who keeps
Seducing the formless into form

Had the charm to win my
Heart.

Only a Perfect One

Who is always
Laughing at the word
Two

Can make you know

Of

Love.

From: 'The Gift'  Translated by Daniel Ladinsky