SOUL'S STRONG YEARNING

SOUL'S STRONG YEARNING

SOUL'S STRONG YEARNING IS EVER EVER BURNING,
 TO BE WITH THE BELOVED, DEEP IN THE HEART.
 POOR BOTHERED BRAIN IS EVER WHIRLING, TURNING,
 STRUGGLING TO KNOW HOW DEAR GOD WILL IMPART
 THE KNOWLEDGE OF OUR OWN TRUE SELF WITHIN,
 BUT VEILED BY DENSE CLOUDS OF WANDERING MIND,
 DARK SHROUDS WHICH POINT TO IGNORANCE THEREIN.
 SADLY OUR OWN TRUE NATURE WE FAIL TO FIND.

THE SAGE SOLVES OUR ANGUISH AND TELLS US HOW,
 HE SIMPLY SAYS 'SELF ENQUIRE AND INWARDLY DIVE,
 NOT JUST FOR TO MORROW BUT RIGHT HERE AND NOW.
 ONCE SELF REALISED, WE SHALL EVER EVER THRIVE'!

~ Alan Jacobs

Alan Jacobs Advaita Vedanta

For those Friends who are especially interested in the Teachings of Ramana Maharshi . I have a new Page on Face Book called Alan Jacobs Advaita Vedanta just click LIKE to join

SPIRITUAL WARFARE

Let the shattered ego raise its tattered flag,

Pennant of Surrender, which it will drag,

Battered, when Self Enquiry makes it fall,

Scattered by Self Realisation, once and for all.

Mad hatter mind is most defiant

And doesn't matter to be Self reliant,

But earlier or latter it's force will fall,

To the mighty power of the God of all.

Because ego's flag isn't meant to last,

It's cast down by the stormy blast,

Of the Sat-Guru's benevolent grace.

Good pilgrim now knows his original face.

Ego's death means it will not grow fatter,

Feeding on endless natter and chatter,

Beaten troops surrendered, their flag they waved,

Thus the Guru beats ego and devotee is saved.

DEEP IN SUN SEARCHED GROWTHS

The torrid rains are over, bright Sun begins to shine;
Locust flies seem horrid, swarming in God’s light,
Hanging like a curtain, clouding out clear sight.
Squadrons manoeuvre; is this perhaps some sign
Of locust ego ‘I’s, veiling Real Self sublime?
Golden sunset falls, I enter soul’s dark night,
Some insects soon die off, or swiftly take to flight,
Clarity dawns from Real Self benign, divine.

If we wish to maintain our sanity,
And not obscure Real Self through egotism,
We need surrender to God all vanity;
For living from ‘false me’ is stigmatism.
Far better to live from the Self Supreme,
Pure Consciousness! and awaken from life’s dire dream!

WAIT ON WAITING

There's no need to be impatient, wait!
Freedom will happen when ones time is ripe,
Don't worry about lack of progress; fate
Has already determined awakening's date.

We dance to a merry tune played by His pipe;
So rest assured, before it is too late,
Sun of Self shall shine, darkness GOD will swipe,
Then we'll reach the Self Realised State!

ENQUIRE WITHIN

Enquire within, who basks behind our mask?
 To regain that Selfhood we lost at birth.
 Just seek for the source where mind is based.
 You travel alone on a mystery train;
 By this metaphor we're comfortably placed,
 To travel by providence free from pain.
 So put all your heavy luggage on the rack,
 Only a fool carries it on his head!
 Be glad, accept the predestined track,
 Rest quietly, safe at home on your bed!
 Surrender in joyful jubilation!
 Surrender utterly to God's almighty will,
 Surrender with total resignation,
 We leave it to grace, to grant Realisation.

PROUD PARROTS

 

Words, words, words, screech pretty plumed parrot birds,

In vast sky of mind they fly from the blue,

They're crying out calling, begging to be heard,

Demanding attention from you, dear you.

This flock cloud bright Sun of Self and light,

They create an ignorance black as night,

Delusions must go, a case of grave demand,

We try our best, then leave it all to Self's command.

Whether from the North or the Southern Pole ,

It's wise to follow Guru's teaching and then be whole!

KARMA

This so called 'world' appearing on the screen

Of Consciousness pure, is but a dire dream.

Moving pictures form a wierd shadow show,

They deceive us more than we can ever know.

The Truth is that this falsely named 'real world',

Unveiled and horizontally unfurled,

Is but a Karma field, a diorama,

Invisible, yet a verticle panorama.

When this mystery is well discerned,

By 'world's drama', one is less concerned.

Verticle lines of destiny run through each soul,

When added up together, we'll know the whole.

THE GREAT USURPER

To claim I am the sole doer all alone,
Is the cardinal crime of woman and man;
It means that ego's usurped God's throne.
To be free of this grave sin, if we can,
Surrender monkey mind at His lotus feet,
Then Self Enquire with all of one's might.
This way we'll soon be whole and complete,
Revealing Self,source of truth and light.
The Universe rests in Great Brahman's arms,
In joyful bliss of sat chit ananada,
Devotees are blest by Bhagavan's charms,
Inside our hearts dwells Great Lord Ramana.
Let him take over the burden of life,
This way we end all mental storm and strife

TO ARUNACHALA

Oh dweller in Arunachala high,
Beholding Thee and falling at Thy feet,
Pressing them against my head, I am replete
With love for Thee; I wish my ego so to die
Fully surrendered in obeisance to Thy
Holy will, which I once again entreat.
My perverted mind, pray now defeat.

Free me from wilful weeping and mournful cry!
I wish to enjoy that heavenly bliss
Which does not even come to Brahma;
Seal my lips with Parvati’s fragrant kiss,
So I can breath the perfume and aroma,
From her blue full blown lotus flowers,
And bathe in blessed grace throughout all hours.

ON THE PATH

 Let me be a student, humble as can be,
Or the proud house holder of a fancy home,
An ascetic, standing stiffly like a gnome,
Or any other form, as it pleases Thee.
What use is this on the path to liberty?
Oh Bhagavan, when my Heart-lotus is Thine,
I become yours, no longer `me' or `mine';
One's burden of life is Thy responsibility.
... Whether I dwell in town or in mountain cave,
My mind will still go wandering along with me

The solution that Lord Ramana gives to save,
Is rest at peace, and be eternally free,
Just surrender monkey mind to one's dear Self,
And slay that sad ghastly ghostly ego elf.

A NOTE ON POETRY AND WESTERN CLASSICAL MUSIC

It is the very first time that I have written prose on this site. I append below my essay on the Secret of Westen Classical Music.
Just as music corresponds to a relationship between the harmony of sound and the soul, so the higher poetry is an arrangement of words which convey a certain musicality and meaning which strikes an harmonious chord or resonance in the soul .

I append my Essay.

THE SECRET OF WESTERN CLASSICAL MUSIC

Alan Jacobs

In western classical music, the melodic harmonious scale discovered by the Pythagoreans called the diapason, musical scale, or octave, corresponds with the essential harmony inherent in the Soul of mankind.

Every note struck by a musical instrument touches its correspondence in the emotions of the soul, and when this is in harmony, evokes a feeling of delight and pleasurable contentment.

Each musical instrument sounds a different voice in this magnificent symphony.This is why Classical Music is healing and therapeutic. If there is too much dissonance it becomes disturbing.

One day while meditating upon the problem of harmony, Pythagoras chanced to pass a brazier's shop where workmen were pounding out a piece of metal upon an anvil. By noting the variances in pitch between the sounds made by large hammers and those made by smaller implements, and carefully estimating the harmonies and discords resulting from combinations of these sounds, he gained his first clue to the musical intervals of the diatonic scale. He entered the shop, and after carefully examining the tools and making mental note of their weights, returned to his own house and constructed an arm of wood so that it: extended out from the wall of his room. At regular intervals along this arm he attached four cords, all of like composition, size, and weight. To the first of these he attached a twelve-pound weight, to the second a nine-pound weight, to the third an eight-pound weight, and to the fourth a six-pound weight. These different weights corresponded to the sizes of the braziers' hammers.

P.D.Ouspensky notes in his book The Search For The Miraculous that if you divide 7 into 10 you arrive at the ratios of the musical scale which coincide with the construction of the Sufi Enneagram. (see Wikipaedia for notes on the Enneagram)

To a degree music is rooted in Nature, that is in bird song, the babbling brook, waves breaking on the sea shore, the rustle of leaves in trees, and certain animal sounds. In man, as part of nature there is the desire to dance and sing when happy.

The ancients believed that the movement of planets created a music of the spheres. Mystics like Kabir heard the 'unstruck music' deep in the spiritual heart; and heaven is often envisaged as a region where angels play musical instruments and sing.

Probably the most conspicuous ancient thought about music is the doctrine of ethos, which describes the effects of sound on human behaviour and therefore its moral influence. Aristotle, in his Politics, explains how the different kinds of music, imitating specific feelings (anger, kindness, love), can affect a human being with the same kind of feelings. Therefore, says Aristotle, someone who listens to the wrong kind of music will grow up to a bad person, and vice-versa. Consequently, Aristotle (and also Plato) recommended the right kind of music in the education of young citizens. The doctrine of Ethos describes the effects of music on the human soul.

Sacred Music lies in the holy melodies of plainsong and polyphony and to-day we have Church Music and the great Symphonic Masses. Oratorios and Requiems.

Atonality and excessive discordance without melody and harmony are disturbing to the Soul and are listened to with difficulty.

The composer Lawrence Ball has wriiten that any form of music can be used for meditation. The important thing is that it not disturb one's attention from becoming aware of itself. It establishes an "energy discussion" with the deep unarticulated realm of experience. If music can assist in taking a large percentage of attention off itself into the interior of the Self, then it can be particularly useful.

Schopenhauer one of the very few Philosophers who have written about the metaphysics of music says that melody is the soul of music. So melody pleases us greatly as it is soul speaking to soul.

In brief the musical tone scale discovered by the Pythagoreans conforms to an aesthetic reponse of the soul which we term harmony, and this is what music is, a pleasurable sensation caused by harmonious resonance in the soul of man.

ARUNACHALA MOUNTAIN OF GRACE

Parrots love to glean among ripening luscious fruits so fine,
But beware of little lemurs or there'll be no sparkling wine
Of ecstacy this morn, ushered in by radiant ruby dawn,
When prayer and meditation declare the soul's to be reborn.

Striding up the sacred roseate mountain path,laughing aloud,
Far away from the noisy, hurried, bustling maddening crowd,
While lucid dew drops, rainbow edged, grace the heavenly scene,
Pilgrim laughs, striving hard to wake up from his daunting dream

Of mundane life, which prisons sleeping mankind's worldly throng.
So now he fills his lungs with air and sings a joyful song,
"Hara, hara, hara, maha deva, om namah shivayah!
All praise our great Sat-Guru beloved Bhagavan Ramanayah!

Let us prostate before his gentle soft lily lotus feet,
Then his boundless Grace will surely heal our weeping soul complete,
And lead us to enlightning moksha through his penetrating gaze,
Where we shall bathe in sat-chit-ananda all our blissful days.

Trust that great magnificent power which truly knows the way,
It thrives inside our own dear Self if we honour 'That' each day,
All will be well, very, very well, unfolding as it should,
Then we'll emerge free! laughing out of sad samsara's wood.

HUSH

Hush

To still your mental play is real service to the Sage;

Be ego-free, pursue a heart-filled, virtuous way.

Wisdom is, dear ardent child of this current age,

To still your mental play.

A peaceful disposition welcomes each auspicious day;

It’s foolish to react with over elation or with rage;

See each stage of life as God’s predetermined fray.

If you need to toil to earn a decent living wage,

Be unattached, enjoy this teaching’s Truth, I say

Be quiet, calm the breath, take hold and then engage

To still your mental play.

9

GRANT PROTECTION

 Oh Ramana ! are You not also Great Lord
And firm friend of the spiritually poor?
In earnest we pray, open wide your door,
To the sweet music of that merciful chord,
Which You can graciously well afford,
To heal our wounded hearts, so sore.
Aid us in practice to move closer toward
Your Lotus Feet, and then walk on, forward
... To Realisation of the Self for ever more.
All our faults will be forgiven by Thee,
That's the duty of a loving father for
Ever willing to help his child reach liberty!
Oh grant our protection, and play Your part,
So we may quickly find you there in the Heart.

ALL HE ASKS

One swims and dives deeply in a large tank,
Walks in a fearful, empty jungle wood,
Climbs a mountain peak where fresh air's so good;
Pick pretty posies by a river bank,
But we don't know how to give You thanks!
All one needs to do as one truly should,,
Is worship your lotus feet to be understood.
You do not need to be decked with flowers,
You're already the beautiful sublime,
These outer forms waste many precious hours;
The true sacrifice which is really prime,
Is to give one's mind to the Self in the heart,
That's all Sri Ramana asks, from the very start

SPRING

The spring sun streams through my window frame
Opening wide to limitless vasts of saphire blue,
Red roses are sparkling with diamonds of dew.
My heart hymns praises to Him without a Name,
A great love for Self and all equally the same.
I draw the curtains of my room, enlarge the view,
From tattered folds a powdery dust soon flew
Across the scene, obscuring sunlight's flame.

As cloud did clear I saw each dusty grain
As a world held in a solar radiant beam,
Universes in Brahman's mighty magic dream.
My mind fell into my heart, no words explain;
I am the light, the sun, the room, the view,
The dust, the Self, and Brahman; so are you.

REACH HIS LOTUS FEET

Whether it be a pot or heavy lump of clay,
Or the microcosmic atom in my breath,
Whether it be smoke, fire or mountain way,
Will any serve as a cure for painful death?
We're only blocking love by logic chopping,
We must bow to reach sweet Bhagavan's feet,
But monkey mind keeps dropping off and hopping,
Instead of abiding in His bliss replete.
The heavy weight of reason and causation,
Will never take us to Self Realisation,
Instead they will lead to endless frustration,
A kind of perveted mental peturbation.
We must take refuge in Sri Ramana's grace
Inside our heart; True Saviour of the race!

TURN WITHIN

Break down the flood gates of imprisoned mind,
Let deep waters of love flow freely to flood
Soul's hard places that are best left behind.
Make great effort with all one's strength and blood.

Turn within and find the source of ego dark,
Then 'twill fall down and die in dire defeat.
Soul will then arise, ascending like the lark,
Filled with bliss of awakening ever replete!

A SONNET FOR RAMANA

Let me rest at your feet, my Guru Supreme,
Soft as the beautiful blue lotus flower.
Let my speech, with all its might and power,
Be prayer to awaken, from life's dire dream,
And constantly illumine my inner scene.
Then uttering your praise, I'll never cower
With fear, or lose faith, by which you endower
My soul, by light from your effulgent gleam.
Let my palms be clasped, in worship of Thee,
My hearing tuned to the words of your story,
My mind in meditation and ever free,
My eyes resting on your formless glory.
So through which all my senses, will I learn
To be worthy, and your boundless grace to earn.

DEVOTION

 THE SELF is very dear to all: from dearest love,
Unbroken Bhakti flows, like stream of golden oil.
Guru knows Self within, as his dear God above.
His child, after determined and persistent toil,

May see his Guru apart from Self, yet melts
Mind's strained logic, to find Faith in Him alone.
That blesed ever flowing fire of love, smelts
Soul's dross. His heart's desire, becomes his own.

The one who attaches mere form to Holy Name,
With Bhakti ripe, and knowing Truth complete,
In time transcends that image just the same.
The blossom on the bough flowers Self replete!

The fool who prays for selfish ends desired,
Fulfilment never finds; then he soon begins,
To love for sake of happiness, by God inspired.
This prayer, being granted, he conquers and wins.

In love with that One, the golden flow unceasing,
Soul grows a white lotus of purest devotion,
In calm stillness, its root in depth increasing,
Within heart's vessel to lead us o’er the ocean

Of strife, letting soul unfold, as Self of sky,
The One all wise, unlidded, and all seeing Eye!
  

OUR GREAT POWER

Cleave and cling to our Great Power dwelling inside our heart,
God , the Self, or Sat Guru, whose promised pledge shall impart
All that we need to reach the glorious goal of liberation,
His gift of grace granting us the bliss of Self Realisation.

He teaches us through each precise preordained situation,
Pleasant or unpleasant as it may be. We learn by intimation
The way to remove lurking latent tendencies which shroud
The brilliant sunlight of the Self like a storm-black cloud.

Trust that Great Power which knows the way, unfolding as it should,
All is very, very well, Brahman is All, and very, very good!

FEEL I AM AWARENESS

FEEL ‘I am awareness’, absolute, pure, ever free

From strife. Let your skiff’s white sail unfurl to bless;

Be kissed by the soft breeze of love, on the open sea,

Feel ‘I am awareness’.

Unattached to mind or body, our life is choiceless,

Free as an auburn autumn leaf which tumbling from the tree,

Is blown by the breath of breeze and rests effortless,

To sip love’s flowering scent like a bumble bee,

In the radiant rose garden of essential beingness;

That, for us, dear friends, is the golden master key.

Feel ‘I am awareness’.

HARMONY DIVINE

Love's harmony lies in the sweet unstruck music,

Heard in the spiritual heart by those whose ears,

Are tuned into this subtle sacred angelic art,

And hear ethereal rhythms from galactic spheres.

There are no words to describe this awesome sound.

Once heard the prison walls of selfishness fall down,

And blissful inner feelings all in unison resound

With holy joy, bestowing love's most precious crown.

A deaf mute deprived of hearing and vocal speech,

Prayed to hear the magic of a chanting human voice.

God in His mercy, which he always grants to each,

Cured his ailment so the poor boy could now rejoice.

The highest form of music to him was then revealed,

By such harmony divine, the blessed lad was healed.

Alan Jacobs

GOLDEN DAWN

I watched our friendly Father Sun wake up this morn,
A blazing ball of fire, he made a radiant dawn,
Painted with brilliant crimson orange flame,
Great Sun glorified God's sacred awesome Name.
This colour clothes the robe sanyasins wear,
They worship God with loving souls so fair.
We can be inner sanyasins pursuing Truth,
And like the rising Sun of light forsooth,
Shine with blissful Love ever in our hearts,
Reminding us of Him, each new day we start.
We fall in love with Love afresh each morn,
Like that golden ball of flame, which makes our dawn.
The real dawn is to awaken from samsara,
And begin a new life of sat-chit-ananda!

DAFFODIL

Easter Lily, named by those whose blooms we love,

Golden yellow, surging wild in wood or field,

They open fresh  perfumed petals to yield

To sunlight, shining down from high above.

 We wait for the sign of the peaceful dove

To save us from Noah’s  flood when soul is healed,

 And our covenant with God is truly sealed,

Mad  demon ego receives his killing shove.

Emblem of all that's  good in Christ's Teaching,

The Easter Lily shines as floral light, 

The Christian Way of Love is ever reaching

The hearts of those who for redemption fight.

This flower of Beauty feeds the yearning soul,

Of those who crave salvation, to be made whole.

CERTAINTY OF FAITH

Take the deep leap into firm certainty of Faith,
With determined unshakeable fearlessness!
Let Your mighty mountain ranges be our shield
Against sense storms of restless monkey mind.

Enjoy complete untroubled care free unworried calm,
By handing over our whole fictional burden
Of distress, concern, stress, and fancied anxiety
About our ordained duties and many affairs,
To our Lord of Love and infinite compassion,
Great Power in the heart, Self of our own Being,
To whom we've unconditionally surrendered,
Taking sole refuge with worshipful devotion.

Even tribulation is welcomed as for the best!
We gain mind control through repetition of His Name,
And dive into the Heart, questing for the source of 'I',
Full of gratitude for his boundless love and grace.

FORGET ME NOT

A SONNET

Pretty petulant petals of brightest blue,
 Petty adornment gracing gardens of love,
 Emblem of Adoration to our Great God above,
 For Remembering Him is right worship true;
 Prayer will bring Him ever closer to you,
 As Noah's praised, when he saw a snow white dove,
 That showed the end of that flood, which drove
Righteousness from Earth, except for a few.

When man falls into a dark ditch too low,
 God in his mercy sends His messenger down,
 To lift up the level in nation and town.
 Thus we'll never forget Him, even more so,
 Remain loyal as His flock, in order to show
 Salvation; when we too gain Realisation's crown.

RAIN

Thank God for morning's dew-drenched emerald lawn,
And the gentle rain that waters harvest fields,
That fills the mountain's sacred rivers so forlorn,
And aids all gardeners to gain rich floral yields.

The fresh spring water quenches dry thirst of man,
It cleanses all it reaches with its liquid hand,
This heavenly element upholds our days for a span
Of time. For your gift of rain our gratitude is grand.

In the desert of life treading on dry sands of time,
Dwell your oases of Truth to feed our soul's dire need;
We bathe in temple waters, a sacred rite divine,
To purify. Our quest for Truth you'll always feed.

Welcome the rain by singing hymns of holy joy,
The flood of God-Love which will never, ever cloy.

EGOTISTIC WILL

Ego's-will is always wanting events to go its way,

But Divine will may have other preordained schemes.

When matters take a different turn of play,

Better surrender to His will then regret sad ego's dreams.

It's certainly most egotistic and very very odd,

That we think we know much better than Great Almighty God.

It's better to rest secure in his wise and loving hands,

Then be controlled by ego's self centred tyranic bands.

When God wills something then we must will it too,

Then we're in harmony with His will and that is really true.

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BEAUTY

The beauty of a sparkling star filled sky,

A ruby red rose opening in bloom,

A radiant ruddy roseate dawn ,

Fill one with awe, and pose the question why?

Beauty ravishes and destroys men's gloom,

A stepping stone to God, and why we're born,

To love the creator of such beauty,

And devotion becomes an easy duty.

GOOD DOCTOR GURU

Sad ailing mankind needs a healing balm,
His errant restless mind to cure and calm,
That cool collyrium is pure devotion,
The perfect therapeutic tonic lotion.

Good Doctor Guru is both wise and sage,
He knows the right dose for this manic age.
Self enquiry's the treatment he prescribes,
Gently his Direct Path he well describes.

His medicine will lead us to liberation,
The final goal is Self Realisation.
Ego's gracefully removed by such skill,
The patient no longer suffers or feels ill.

Sweet harmony and peace completely reign,
Pilgrim no longer feels his aching pain,
He abides in everlasting blissful joy,
A state of love that will never  cloy!

This is the death of maddening mental pain
And horrid habits, vicious vile and vain,
So all who endure a worried worldly life,
Will find his medication ends their strife.