A SONNET CORONA

A SONNET CORONA

All beings yearn to be happy, always;

Happiness without a tinge of sorrow,

To enjoy a life of carefree days,

Taking no burden of thought for tomorrow.

When restless mind’s at peace in deep sleep,

What glimpse of worry, grief or despair?

So happiness lies within, buried down deep.

How to find this treasure, awake, aware?

Ask the question, who am I, and from where?

That’s the essential means of the holy task,

Ending ego’s ‘me’ and ‘my’, that’s there.

No pleasure endures in things of this Earth,

Enquire within, who basks behind our mask?

To regain that Selfhood we lost at birth.

2.

TO REGAIN THAT SELFHOOD

To regain that Selfhood we lost at birth,

First consider well the cinema screen,

To understand that, gains merit and worth.

On the screen there appears a tense drama,

The film begins and we enjoy the show.

Fire, flood, sex, death, a vast panorama;

The screen’s unchanging, but the film’s a shadow.

The simile teaches, strange as it may be,

That both seer and seen make up the mind.

On Consciousness as screen, all action’s based.

To know that is true, is the clue to be free,

A guiding beacon that’s so rare to find,

Now and forever for eternity,

That’s the Sage wisdom by which we are graced.

3.

SAGE WISDOM

That’s the Sage wisdom by which we are graced,

We’re taught the silver screen as a metaphor.

Seated in theatre stalls, now we are placed,

To proceed with clarity and enquire some more.

The bright theatre lamp is the light supreme,

Illuminating both actors and the scene.

We see stage and the play only by light,

Yet when action ends, the lamp remains bright.

Just as woven cloth and its colour white

Are never, ever perceived as apart,

So when mind and light both unite,

They form ego, knotted and bound in the heart.

Of all that we’ve ever learned since birth,

That’s the high wisdom proclaimed on Earth.

4.

HIGH WISDOM

That’s the high wisdom proclaimed on Earth,

How to make mind to merge in its source?

Only by enquiring with all of one’s force,

The central question regarding its birth,

The ultimate scrutiny of “Who Am I”?

As thoughts froth forth like waves on the ocean,

They’ll all be slain by such introspection,

Unveiling the Self, the lost inward eye.

Pearls lay buried on the deep ocean floor,

Attracting divers to search for this goal.

Holding their breath they plunge to the core

Of the ocean bed, for the pearl oyster’s soul.

To gain this gem in the heart’s sacred place,

Just seek for the source where mind is based.

5.

SEEK FOR THE SOURCE

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,

Surrender knowing all will be well,

Surrender whole heartedly with one accord,

Take safe refuge in the all loving Lord!

6.

TAKE SAFE REFUGE

Take safe refuge in the all loving Lord!

For life’s a dream and sleeping dreams are short,

The waking dream is long; both stem from thought.

The Real is beyond both this waking and sleep.

The sword of enquiry slays dream states deep,

So reaching their substratum, numinous,

The state of pure consciousness, Self luminous!

Blissfully aware, yet awake in sleep.

As the cockerel crows ready to sup,

At the roseate dawn of first morning light,

Awareness pours into the near empty cup,

Granting a moment’s taste of Self insight.

This light is the eye that forever sees,

Who can be known by enquiring “who frees?”

7.

WHO CAN BE KNOWN BY ENQUIRY

Who can be known by enquiring “who frees?”

The Master who lives in the cave of the heart,

Not separate from one’s Self, being the start,

Of the final search from bond to release.

The Sage appears when the soul is ready,

With strong gaze of grace he says “be aware

That God and his wisdom are already there!”

He acts as a brake to make the mind steady,

While mercy flows freely in sunshine and air,

Hindered only by our being unready.

If you come to him, meekly with an empty cup,

His grace is then bound to fill it up.

The Master’s glance is the grace of the Lord,

He cuts you free with his mighty sword.

8.

HE CUTS YOU FREE

He cuts you free with his mighty sword,

To guide you surely, on the upward way

To Self Realisation, your real birthday!

Consummation of “That” the Sage’s word,

Is “rest in the Self,” which is always heard.

In him, place great trust and affirm, say yea

As certainty! Our Real Self blazes away,

Ever surrendered to the almighty Lord,

Revealing great peace for Realisation’s sake,

Renouncing belief that a rope is a snake.

The seeker surely becomes “the great find”,

His own blissful being, the summit in kind,

This great Teaching eternally frees,

One with the Self, as the Absolute sees.

9.

ONE WITH THE SELF

One with the Self, as the Absolute sees,

He answers all our prayers and our pleas;

We must first enter that dear sacred part,

Not the fleshy pump that throbs on the left,

But the sacred core: by being skilful and deft,

We find that on the right; is the real Heart!

By harnessing breath, being adept and bright,

We dive with great skill and all of our might,.

There dwelling in depths of our true Heart’s cave,

Lives the shining ”Unity” blazing as Self,

Pulsation of I-I, where all shadows cease.

So fixing gaze there, finally, off we stave,

Perverted, wandering, demonic mind elf,

Returning to “Self”, our birthright of peace.

10.

RETURNING TO SELF

Returning to Self, our birthright of peace,

Is knowing that all this vile body performs

Was predestined before it ever took form.

So from stress, despair and fretting, pray cease!

Our freedom dwells in our natural State,

Renouncing “I Am The Doer” notion,

Detached from fruit of form’s puppet motion,

Yet grace can avert even predestined fate!

Be like a skilled actor on this stage of strife!

Play with goodwill the part you’ve been given,

No matter how strangely you find you are driven,

Knowing who, truly you are, in this life.

Until fate pulls down the final curtain,

Know you’re Self not body, know that is certain!

11.

KNOW YOU’RE THE SELF

Know you’re Self not body, know that is certain!

In this Realisation, there’s no cause to leave home,

You can strive in the city, there’s no need to roam.

To change style of life would all be in vain,

For mind remains with you, until it is slain.

Demonic ghost ego, source and fabric of thought,

Create body and world, whereby we are caught.

Change of place, never changed the way we behave,

Whether living at home, in a forest or cave.

There are two ways by which our bonds may be freed:

Either ask “to whom is this strange fate decreed?”

Or surrender false ‘me’ to be then stricken down,

So praying intensely for ‘my will’ to cease,

We leave it to grace, to grant us release.

12.

WE LEAVE IT TO GRACE

We leave it to grace, to grant us release.

God will do this through the gaze of his Sage,

He sends down His messenger for every age,

To those who yearn and pray for great peace.

The Realised Sage lives on here and now,

Without confusing the Self with the mind.

Humble, compassionate, loving and kind,

Wisely profound, as his way clearly shows.

He steers the vessel of firm devotees,

Fulfilling everyone’s spiritual need.

In deep silence, he sits, with perfect ease,

To awaken those, whom his teaching well heed.

Graciously, his great glance of initiation,

Drives the mind inwards, to Self Realisation!

13.

DRIVE THE MIND INWARDS

Driving the mind inwards, to Self Realisation,

He grants safe passage through life’s stormy ocean;

What frail soul will ever be excluded

From the presence of the holy Supreme?

No matter how depraved or deluded,

His mercy never ends, and will always redeem,

Raising the soul from the depth of depression,

To free one from the ‘I am this body’ obsession.

From passions that churn desire and aversion,

His fair breeze wafts clear equanimity;

Enmeshed no more in worldly adversity,

Never perturbed by praise nor foul enmity,

We learn that there’s the greatest giving

In knowing all are Self, and so truly living.

14.

KNOW ALL ARE THE SELF

In knowing all are Self, and so truly living,

We thank the great Sage who is ever giving.

We praise the Lord, who leads us to his feet,

His gracious gaze is eternally sweet,

Without ceasing, he’s forever reviving,

He grants that freedom, our real surviving.

He severs the grip of bondage’s chains,

He frees the soul, where confusion reigns,

He bestows both compassion and deep peace,

He sends out his grace to grant us release.

He teaches the truth that Consciousness is all,

And Self Enquiry to raise us up from our fall.

We praise God Almighty whom is ever living,

This crown of my verses is our thanksgiving!

15.

REGAIN THAT SELFHOOD

To regain that Selfhood we lost from birth,

That’s the Sage wisdom by which we are graced,

This is the high wisdom proclaimed on Earth.

Just seek for the source where mind is based.

Take refuge in the all loving Lord,

Who can be known by enquiring ‘who frees?’

He cuts you loose with his mighty sword,

One with the Self, as the Absolute sees.

Returning to Self, our birthright of peace,

Know you’re Self, not body, know that is certain!

We leave it to grace, to grant us release.

He drives the mind inwards, to Self Realisation,

In knowing all are Self, and so truly living,

This Sonnet Corona is my thanksgiving!

SLEEP MEETS DEATH

SLEEP MEETS DEATH

CAST

MORPHEUS

THE GOD OF SLEEP

THANATOS

THE GOD OF DEATH

MOTHER NIGHT

TIRESIAS, A SAGE

FEMALE CHORUS

SCENES  ELYSIUM AND EARTH

Opens with Greek Classical Music CD supplied.

CHORUS :

The Gods of Sleep and Death, met one silvery winters day,

Sleepy, dozy Morpheus and grim Thanatos were twins

They’d met to enjoy some cut and thrust, in verbal play,

Every word was couched in broad smiles and hearty grins,

( Shots of two young men laughing and joking)

Then their dreaded, Mother, Queen of Night appeared upon the scene,

And what she had to say was definitely not serene!

MOTHER NIGHT APPEARS

Sons, stop your idiotic foolish chatter will you please!

Your stupid ideas of humour are like some disease,

What I have to tell you is most critical and grave,

 Please think, how my worldly kingdom we can save,

Those earthling mortals are plotting a revolution,

To cast off my yoke of government as a solution

For their many deserved sufferings and multiple ills,

I want you to find a way to keep them meek and mild,

At the moment they’re threatening to get quite rough and wild!

THANATOS

I could have them slaughtered quick as a lightening flash,

As dreaded God of Death this is my universal role,

We’ll give them all a noxious plague, they’ll fall in a mighty crash,

Then Mother you can start a new race again, obedient and whole.

MOTHER NIGHT

No, no, my most morbid murderous blood thirsty son,

This is not what in any way that I desire to be done!

Morpheus, perhaps you are a better, much wiser man,

Can’t you think up some more intelligent plan?

MORPHEUS

I’ll weave a magic spell of dreams for them instead,

In which these muddled mortals will be meekly led

To weakly graze in shadows grey, like sheep at play.

Compare these two states, attend well to what I say!

Brief is the sleeping dream that you enjoy in bed,

But a waking dream is stable, and stays until you’re dead.

Listen! Learn some real truth, that’s my well tried way;

All feels real to the sleeping dreamer’s satisfaction,

But the stuff of dreams is merely a mental reaction!

I’ll hypnotise them so that they dream their life away,

They’ll be peaceful and never revolt by night or day!

MOTHER NIGHT

“Thank you son, my dear, for having such a great idea,

If they’re sent to sleep  by Thee, where’s my need to fear?”

Tell me how you’ll achieve this miraculous feat,

To listen to your plan will be a most delightful treat!

CHORUS

What you’re about to hear is quite a novel scheme,

So draw close and lend your most attentive ear!

He’s going to put them into a state of dream,

Then their wicked Mother will feel free of fear.

MORPHEUS

In my great magical cinema show,

As wizard director I’ll deftly dim the light,

Plot a soap opera to project for them tonight.

Like puppets they’ll act on the silver screen below.

They’ll think they’re the sole doer’s of their acts,

Ignorant of all real cosmic truths and facts!

CHORUS

But one wise Sage whose own true Self does know,

As earth’s patrons settle down for this epic sight

To thrill their feelings with shock, horror and delight,

Warns them way down on  planet earth below,

The dangers of this hypnotic magic picture show.

Scene :Earth

Opens with trumpet music

TIRESIUS speaks

Lantern, screen and slides, that  flow

Are emanations from the senses and the mind.

The show you’re watching is a shadow play,

In each human’s will, a spool unwinds his day.

As knowers of the Real, you’re like the blind.

So stop reacting! There’s a much wiser way;

In your blissful, Conscious Self, be still and stay!

All objects are soap bubbles in the mind,

Each being’s driven by One Almighty God!;

He causes clouds to weep and mountains nod.

Consciousness strives through senses five to find

The magic of a dream fit to trick the blind.

For each instrumental part unwinds

Through assonant chords and dissonant notes.

The whole concerto grosso together floats,

Performing ethereal music of the spheres,

For the lone enjoyment of  His celestial ears.

Yet we’re more than piano rolls of sound,

We flow from continuo, a monochord profound,

Played by a virtuoso, improvising with cosmic force,

From the vast silence of His infinite resource.

This life of ours is a bewildering dance

Whirled by a wild Dervish God divine,

Drunk on vintage Dionysian wine,

Wildly turning, nothing left to chance.

Upon the mellow pipes of circumstance.

He choreographs a play of space and time,

Every glance upon Earth’s stage is His rhyme.

Universes glide through His mystic stance.

With rolling drums of thunder, mark His stamp;

(SOUND THUNDER)

In symphony of spheres, hear His tune.

Effulgent Sun shines as a beacon lamp,

His finger ever points towards the silver Moon.

He’s the Alone, whereby all things are done;

Divine dancer, dancing, and the dance are one.

ELYSIUM

MOTHER NIGHT

My son’s, did you hear what Tiresias said, we can’t have that

He’s warning them, now your clever plan will fall down flat!

THANATOS

Don’t worry only a few will understand and wake up from sleep

The rest will go on dreaming  under Morpheus’s clever spell,

Don’t worry Mother all will be well, very, very well!

They’ll carry on living in the same old way, harmless as grazing sheep.

SONG OF ENLIGHTENMENT

SONG OF ENLIGHTENMENT

I’m full as a mountain lake after summer rain
That’s fed the sacred stream and source of holy wisdom, 
love.
A flame sent by God to ignite his planet from above.
The golden glow of heat on burnished plain,
Gilds leaves on this path down pilgrim’s lane,
Warming earth, her gritty ochre clay,
Water, sea of mercy, so green and grey.
Air, the sweet breath of life that’s free from pain,
Crystalline beyond any loss or gain.
I am without a central ‘I-notion’ resident at home,
There’s no me to be elated or badly hurt by fear,
Pleased, perplexed, precious, pouting, proud, or simply here
To feel depressed, anxious but a soul free to roam
On inward seascape of bubbles, froth and foam.
Abidance in the heart, Real Self, there's no need for lofty tracts.

Seated in the temple shrine of the spiritual heart,
Nestling on the dexter side of my heaving breast,
Not on the left where the fleshy pump pulses in the chest,
Dwells ‘I Am’ which wakens Self to start.
Oh, what is oneness, truth and wisdom’s art,
Into which God shot love’s rose-flowered dart?
Who's bound or free as honoured friend and conscious guest,
Behind the nervous body-mind and now at last unfurled,
Space for a universe to happen in, lustrous and impearled?

Deep in my spiritual heart, I am the one, unborn,
Uncaused, deathless, I am, uniquely perfect, new, absolutely free!
I ask what is this tempestuous, stormy, troubled sea?
Where mind froth foams spuming from dusk to dawn,
On the ocean of Self lit by a fiery morn.
What is creation, world dissolution?
I ponder, and search for some solution.
Who and what is seeking?
King, bishop, queen or pawn,
Sporting on this chequered emerald palace lawn?
What is the goal of seeking?

Is it peace, freedom, liberty?
Who is the bold seeker who craves this final absolution?
Has he found an answer,

An ultimate resolution?

Yes, I am pristine, pure as the driven Himalayan snow,
Or pellucid stream pouring from pinnacle’s height,
Chaste, flawless, stainless, without blame, blemish, and wintry white.
I trickle down the mountain valley’s flow,
Free! I’m curious, what is there to know?
By what dubious method is knowledge gained,
To what spurious end when it’s attained?
I have no problems here, now or there below,
I’ve surmounted grief, all sorrow born of woe,
Simply stated, I know what's meant by wrong and right.
Our universe by creation, preservation, is maintained
By grace of god and his mighty will, all creatures are sustained.
Here, awakened now, I'm steady and perfectly still.
As an adamantine rock in the restless ocean stands,
Unmoved by cyclonic gale, tidal wave or shifting sands,
What of oppositions, healthy or ill,
Pleasure, pain, to heal quickly or to kill,
Distraction, perturbation, meditation,
Reflection, negation, confirmation?

I welcome all as God’s almighty will
He accepts ‘what is’, as gracious grist to time's grinding mill.
Gently by grace of god, in mercy he breaks all bondage bonds,
In a great paean of praise and total affirmation,
He rests with consciousness, his Self, the great consummation.

I have lost the monotonous merry-go-round of thought,
The perpetual treadmill of self-opinion and words,
Mainly cynicism and lies, the parroting chirp of birds,
A poisonous brew so bitterly fraught
With the mistaken idea that I ought
To cherish the mind as chief,
And then be mugged by thought, the villainous thief!

So that is the lesson my dear Master brought,
Ignore the scorpion stings of concepts wrought
With such inner discussion and debate.
Here's consciousness, consciousness is here.
A precious gift beyond all belief,
The ending of thought.
Now there's peace, ultimate joy and relief.

I am clarity, bright as a diamond, crystal, lily-white.
So what is illusion? To this question I meekly yield,
Finite mind can’t understand the infinite field,
The magic of Maya is but a slick trick of light.

So my Master gently wipes away all sad grief and tears,
All is well, unfolding as it should to allay such foolish fears.
With not the slightest hint of duality,
One without two,
Unity, wholeness, existence, holistic, all seamless,
Without separation, pure consciousness, love, awareness,
No division between me and you,
Emanating from the primal source, who
Am I, but that? I am eternal, the same
Being as truth and God without a name.

At last i know the little ‘me’ who can never do,
All that happens is the will of God right through and through.
I rest in the spiritual heart, blissful, benign and blameless,
So what is my greater Self to the mighty god of flame?
So my master to his students does plead,
Be still, motiveless when you perform a deed.
Forget all those books, aims, efforts, teaching and kneeling,
After all the hard years you’ve zealously worked and toiled,
Open wide, relax, and never by the worldly snake be coiled.
I’ve no limits or borders, I’m no longer bound,
No hedges, fences, verges, remain for spacious me,
Nothing arises, I am empty capacity for all to see
That all is well, my true Self I've found.

I traced my ‘I thought’ like a hunting hound
And knew my primal source the light of day,
And now as consciousness I’m free to play.
I rest in the heart on a sacred mound,
Where my naked feet walk on holy ground.
I am freedom, enlightenment, joy, bliss and liberty!

Nothing ever was, I am God, what more is left to say?
I am that, absolute, unique, ever primeval one,
As consciousness, love, awareness, effortless bliss,
Embraced by the love of God,
Blest by his all gracious kiss.
In light of glory, radiant as the sun,
I am homogeneous, second to none.

What care I now for freedom or liberation?
In life or death or gaining Self Realisation?
Or for my destiny predisposed to run,
Reborn in another womb 'till kingdom come?
And after transmigration, at-one-ment I may miss.
My master halts this baffling mental perturbation,
I let go, abiding in my heart of silent adoration.

Alan Jacobs

GALAXY OF WORDS

    GALAXY OF WORDS

    Mind's a loud noisy galaxy of words,

    Much sometimes wise, most highly absurd,

    Outdoing the squawking of parrot birds

    Incessant talking like one's never heard.

Mankind's tormented by all that's verbose,

Preventing deep Silence that lies so close;

If he would dwell there quietly at rest,

'Twould reveal his true Self, and  'THAT' he needs best.  

REFLECTION ON PERFECTION

REFLECTIONS

Everything's perfectly perfect,

On this we should primarily reflect.

Perfect was all that happened in the past,

And the present's perfect while it lasts.

The future will be perfectly perfect too,

Why? Sages pose this question just for you.

Because all's preordained by a loving God,

For the growth of souls however odd.

The world's a field of predestined karma,

Which explains the weird world drama.

We view it horizontally on a screen,

Consciousness awareness feeds us with this scene.

Vertically it's a progress from birth to death,

But there is no death once we take in breath.

We're reborn until Self Realisation,

The promised bliss of Liberation.

We must try to will the state we're in now,

Because it is God's Will, but don't ask how?

His mighty will must be trusted by us all,

Then there's peace from which we never fall.

Hand over the burden of all mind's cares,

Freedom belongs to he or she who dares!

That this subject of this reflection,

So ponder on perfection in this direction.

COSMIC DANCE

COSMIC DANCE

Life's a strange mysterious cosmic dance,

Piped to a merry tune of circumstance.

Sometimes tragedy great joy then romance,

All's preordained with nothing left to chance,

Freedom comes from a great Guru's glance,

He slays damn ego with Self enquiries lance,

His words of wisdom our souls ever enhance,

Demonic monkey mind shall cease to prance,

So we pray to adopt a surrendered stance,

Then arrive at sweet Samahdi's great trance,

To Self Realisation we'll onward advance.

AJ

HOLY QUEST

HOLY QUEST

Be a great invigilator,
A wise master investigator,
And with all of one's might and force,
Locate the deeply hidden source,
Of that demon Arch Usurper,
Satanic infamous traitor,
Vexatious ego called 'me'
Chattering away incessantly.

Enquire within with all of one's might,
Posing the iconic question 'Who am I?'
'Till the ghastly ghost takes flight to flee,
And we're transformed to blessed liberty,
From endless rebirth and to be forever free.

BRAHMAN

BRAHMAN

I am Brahman,

Brahman am I.

I am not 

This base body mind

I am Brahman.

Everything I see,

On the screen 

Of Consciousness

Awareness

Is also Brahman,

And I am THAT.

All is well,

Very very well

Unfolding as it must

So just trust

That Great Power

Brahman,

THAT knows the way.

Pure SELF Consciousness Awareness

Indeed is AUM

Brahman,

Greater than the greatest without end,

He or she who understands THAT

Meditates on AUM.

He or she conquers all worlds.

That spirit who's in the Sun,

The Moon,

Lightning,

Space,

Air,

Fire,

Water.

Is Brahman.

That spirit reflected in my mirror,

Of pure Self Consciousness

Awareness,

I adore THAT as Brahman.

THAT, indeed, from which

Dream Beings come,

And live,

Then departing from here re-enter,

Seek to know Brahman.

Brahman is food.

Out of food,

Dream Beings come,

Live, and into food,

They, leaving from here,

Again re-enter.

Seek to know Brahman

Through austerities

Of Surrender

And Self Enquiry.

Brahman is the life breath,

Mind and No Mind,

Knowledge,

Love and bliss,

Oh how wonderful, wonderful,

Truly wonderful!

When men and women brood

Over the Brahman,

There emerges

Renown, splendour,

Strength and manliness.

Brahman

Was indeed this world

Appearing in the beginning,

Boundless, unborn,

Unexplorable,and unthinkable,

Nothing above or below.

He is inconceivable,

The Highest Atman,

Immeasurable, unborn,

Unexplorable, 

Beyond verbal description.

When the Seer sees Him,

Shining like a gem of gold,

Creator Lord and Spirit,

Source of Brahman.

Then wise men or women,

Renounce the concept

Of Good and Evil

Uniting all in the Eternal

Highest One.

Like a mountain ablaze,

Deer and birds all flee,

From he or she who knows

Brahman.

When mind is merged

With Self,

It is Brahman,

The pure eternal One.

THAT is the true way.

Brahman has two forms,

Mortal and immortal,

Mobile and immobile,

One exists here,

The other transcends.

Brahman was this world

In the beginning,

The One,

The  boundless,

The inconceivable,

Highest Atman,

The Soul immeasurable.

Brahman

Unborn, unexplorable,

Unthinkable,

Is THAT whose Self

Is Infinitude.

It is He, who when

The whole world

Disappears;

Alone,

Remains awake.

It is He who awakens

The pure spirit,

Through Him alone,

In Him again,

It disappears.

His apparent form

Is full of splendour,

Like bright sunlight.

He who dwells in the Heart,

And He who shines in the Sun,

All these are that One,

The One alone.

Control of breath,

Withdrawal of senses,

Meditation,

Fixing the mind,

Sinking into trance,

Are infallible means to attain

Communion with Brahman.

All is then Brahman,

And I am That.

Liberation

Is attained,

Now and forever,

Amen.

AJ from the Upanishads