GURU TIGER

SONNETS OF EXPERIENCE

GURU TIGER

When you're gripped in Guru Tiger's jaws,

Best keep quiet and rest between his paws.

Tiger takes good time to finish his task

To eat up ego so one day we'll bask

In the bliss of sat chit ananda,

As promised by Great Lord Ramana.

So welcome all that tiger proposes,

All vain vasanas he gently disposes,

'Till one's ready to enter the sacred heart.

That's the chosen chewing of tiger's art,

There's never any cause for sad dispair,

Because kind loving tiger's always there.

Rest assured he'll munch mad monkey mind,

And brave sadhak liberate, so we shall find

EGO GHOST

SONNETS OF AWAKENING

EGO GHOST
If by devil ego ghost you're haunted
Don't worry, just struggle on undaunted.
That phantom can be quickly laid to rest,
Enquiry and surrender are the best
Means for ending this malevolent pest,
Who chatters ceaselessly without due rest.
Ego will be slain through Guru's grace,
To be rid of soon without any trace.
Ego ghost hides our bright Sun of Self alas,
Self's shining light lies clouded by a mass
Of vain vasanas which have to die,
Then all is well and peace at last is nigh.
We exorcise grim ego ghost from the heart,
To awaken before death, when we duly depart.

SOME THOUGHTS ON POETRY

The best poetry should transcend the passing fashions of the time so it remains relevent to the future generations yet to come. We need to return to what Ezra Pound called 'melopoiea'"wherein the words are charged, over and above their plain meaning, with some musical property". Rhyme is useful to create this effect, embracing the traditional guide lines of English prosody which have served genius well in the past. Robert Frost said that "Free Verse is like playing tennis without a net". Nowadays there are poems published in even the best Literary Magazines consisting merely of prose broken up into line breaks and called poetry. Every century needs a genius to sweep away the rubbish of the past and set a new standard for the next generation.He is yet to come

Alan Jacobs

REACH HIS FEET

SONNETS OF EXPERIENCE



REACH HIS 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 yearn to reach Bhagavan's lotus 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'll lead to endless frustration,
A kind of perveted mental peturbation.
We should take refuge in Sri Ramana's grace
Inside our heart, True Saviour of the race!

TIGER'S JAWS

SONNETS OF EXPERIENCE

TIGER'S JAWS
Lie quietly in our tiger guru's jaws,
He'll never ever let us leave from there.
Give all our weighty burdens into His care,
Bliss, grace and mercy rest in His paws.
His teaching opens wide salvation's doors,
He rules with perfect justice wise and fair,
He loves all sadhaks who will risk and dare
Surrender ego's mind into His loving claws.
Suffering pilgrim cried in dire dispair,
'Pray Guru save me from my wretched fate',
The Tiger Guru roared within his lair,
'Give me your mind before it is too late'!
Pilgrim was saved; he knew his own Real Self,
Freed from evil egotistic demon elf!
.

TRUE HEART

SONNETS OF EXPERIENCE

TRUE HEART
'Home is where the heart is' so people say,
But it's not that pulsing pump on the left,
Real heart is Spiritual all the way,
It's wiser and even much more deft,
It dwells deep inside the yearning breast.
Where divine wisdom and real peace do dwell,
There rests aspiring soul beneath the chest,
Search for her and all will be found very well.
How to find that true home is our holy task?
By devotion and enquiry we can find out,
If we sincerely and prayerfully ask,
Then by grace all's revealed with a mighty shout.
"Come to me my dear child, come home at last,
You were prodigal once, now I'll ever hold you fast".

DREAD DESIRE

SONNETS OF EXPERIENCE

DREAD DESIRE
If we throw fuel on strong desire,
'Twill set ablaze a fierce forest fire,
Taking us away from effort needed
For the sadhana we've been heeded,
By dear Sat Guru dwelling in the Heart,
From through God's boundless grace we'll never part.
Disastrous desires are gold and lust
These wanton urges will hurl us in the dust.
'Tis wiser to act from the purity of Love
As preordained by the good Lord above.
A dangerous threat is mindless greed,
Desiring what we never really need.
All our wants are provided by Grace,
If we keep full faith and dread desire efface.

HEART'S LAMENT

SONNETS OF EXPERIENCE

To Thee Oh Lord our ego mind we render,
Offering this knave in supreme surrender.
Pray take this thief laid at your lotus feet,
So our happiness may be made complete.
We're still under the yoke of tyrant mind,
Separated from Thee, who's ever kind,
Deliver us from rogue desire we do pray,
So we may know the bliss of Love each day.
Meanwhile patiently we need wait and be,
Keeping still while yet appealing to Thee.
Pray show mercy on your helpless Devotee,
Who's ever pining to be soon set free,
The Heart laments until we can abide
With one's immortal Self our waiting bride.

TOTAL SURRENDER

SONNETS OF EXPERIENCE

TOTAL SURRENDER
Love whatever state of mind one's in,
Don't complain, that may become a kind of sin.
Good sadhak must ever persist persist,
And never what Lord God's ordained resist.
That's the true spirit of real surrender,
Ego must be willed to fully render
Itself up at Sat Guru's lotus feet,
To make Self Realisation quite complete.
Total surrender is not an easy task,
We continue to strive and then ask
Who Am I? with all our strength and might,
'Til we reach dear Self always held in sight.
Restless mind tempts one to stray away,
We must keep it in check throughout each day

END OF SAMSARA

SONNETS OF EXPERIENCE

END OF SAMSARA
Life's just one long muddled mundane melodrama,
Played on awarenesses screen, a great panorama,
Making up the dreaded dream of sad samsara;
We're both the actors, enjoyers and the camera.
Escape! practice the teachings of Bhagvan Ramana,
Pursue the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta,
Along with the Knowledge of Bhakti and Jnana.
Surrender and Self Enquiry is the sadhana,
With mind control, dhyana and mantra japa'
All toll the death knell of predestined Karma.
We'll slay that dreaded ego demon Taraka,
We'll be no longer deceived by Mother Maya,
We'll reach the blissful state of blest Nirvana,
We'll rest, Self Abiding at the feet of Arunachala

SRI BHAGAVAN REIGNS

SONNETS FROM EXPERIENCE

SRI BHAGAVAN REIGNS

Bhagavan reigns, He's there, everywhere;
Consciousness explodes in pure fresh air,
Guiding each move and deed that's preordained.
Good health and happiness are all maintained.
He bears our burdens on his shoulders strong,
He leads us on the Mountain Path preventing wrong.
Victory is His who lives for evermore,
To help those grieving in samsara sore.
He's full of good will and boundless love,
Like Dakshinamurti who came down from above,
Silence is His highest teaching supreme,
He wakes us up from our nightmare dream.
All power to the Name of Great Lord Ramana,
Saviour of souls from the world's magic Maya.

GRACE

FROM SONNETS OF EXPERIENCE

GRACE

He can be known by enquiring "who frees?"
The Master who dwells in the cave of our heart,
Not separate from one's Self, but being the start
Of our search from bondage to release.
The Sage appears when the soul is ready,
With strong gaze of grace he says "be aware
Your Self 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 this mighty sword.

Alan Jacobs

THE ROYAL WAY

We're like skinny skeletons in clothes of flesh and blood,
Sleep walking in a puzzling dream of hide and seek.
The mind's like some milk cow merrily chewing cud,
Be strong and rein it in, here's no place for the weak.
It's very wise to leave each single day behind,
Like a flowing stream be free from worry and woe.
Our problem dear friend lies in the sad ego mind,
It must be seized and then ordered out to go.
Blind ego can never know the spiritual heart,
Only the surrender of this vain treacherous foe,
Will reveal the way to use the sacred art
Of Self Enquiry, then truth we'll surely know.
This is the trusted royal path to liberation,
A way which shall surely lead to Self Realisation

CINEMA SHOW

In life's turbid film shown on one's awareness-screen,
Midst tragedy adventure and panorama,
A figure appears up to now whose not been seen,
But he wields some strange power over the drama.
In a strong voice that's precise, wise and commanding,
He calls "wake up from this wretched picture show!
I'll tell you how for your sake, and I'm demanding.
Surrender your mind to me and then you'll know
The way out is through Enquiry and Surrender.
Obey my words with faith, false ego you'll render,
Which makes you a mere slave in a cinema reel,
Cease being a puppet in a false shadow play,
You'll live a new life that's truly truly real,
And live in blissful peace now and every day".

SHIP OF DREAMS

Life's a choppy churned sea for re-born Souls,
All playing strange roles sailing in a ship of dreams,
Ordained by God Almighty to make them whole
For Enlightenment and Liberation as He deems.
Many are their changing scenes in time and space,
Untill soul's reborn after a deep sleep of rest.
One day when worn out by suffering in that place,
Soul enquires and by divine grace he's truly blest,
He prays to awaken from this salty sea of tears.
Through the Jnani Sage's grace God sends us His teaching,
Which tells how to awaken from our dreams and fears,
His answer's the Real Truth for which we've been seeking.
We learn the Advaita Vedanta of the Sages,
As its been revealed to man through so many ages.

BY THE BORE HOLE

As much needed water's reached by boring a well,
Determined effort must be made, for a long spell
Of time, drilling deep down with Om through mental earth
To Brahman, in spiritual heart where bides new birth.
Meeting moisture on the surface of ego's ground,
Sadhak persists 'til blissful Self's again re-found.
The heart opens through surrender and devotion,
He feels in right side of chest a pulsating motion,
So he keeps on churning with Om, drilling steady,
'Til his Master pulls him in when He is ready,
To greet him with love and grace. In this earnest quest,
All is well, unfolding, and happens for the best.
Sadhak's now settled blissfully deep in the heart,
Because with zeal he copied the bore hole drillers' art.

A HEARTFELT PRAYER

Oh Bhagavan, art Thou 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 through 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 to liberty!
Oh grant your protection, and play Thy part,
So we may quickly reach you here in the Heart.

BIRD OF PREY

BIRD OF PREY

By one swift plunging eagle swoop,
Dive into the heart searching for the source
Of that arrogant egotistic troop,
Which claim to be ones I, and with force
Hides bright light of Self from prisoned me.
When Soul prays with yearning to be free,
The Dive comes to ones rescue in the heart,
Mind is crushed, that's Enquirys sacred art.
The flight of that brave eagle left no trace,
Our Dive restored the light of one's original face.
A lone huntsman walked out to trap some prey,
He wished to snare his dinner for that day.
His hawk snatched a sparrow in the chrystal air.
Like birds of prey, catch ego, and be free of care.

PRAISE THE PRIMAL POWER

A perfected pure primeval Power,
Places precious feet firmly on our soul,
To stay with us, and protect us, each hour,
With aim of making us complete and whole.
We're filled with praise for that Primal Power,
Who bears the burden of our predestined life,
Who's one's sole refuge, a potent tower,
Sent to shield us from all that causes strife.
The Master's key is 'Surrender to that Power',
Place our whole life in His mighty hands.
That Power is Brahman, sure refuge, our
Saviour from mental shackles iron bands.
That Power lives in our spiritual heart,
Self Realisation He'll soon impart.

ALL IS WELL

All is well unfolding as it should,
How can it be otherwise than good?
That's the Enlightened Sage's wake up call,
His mantric message transmitted to us all.
We only see the surface of a dream,
On our consciousness-awareness screen,
Then by grace comes the teaching of the Sage,
To free us from the bondage of our prison cage.
He tells us "Simply, please just Self Enquire,
Surrender to 'That' spiritual fire
Of the Sat-Guru dwelling in your Heart.
Then some fine day from ego you'll surely part,
That's all dear friends you really need to do,
To discover your own True Self who's really you"!

HEART OF FIRE

Let's stoke a blazing fire deep in the heart,
Throw all tendencies on that funeral pyre,
Then invoke our Self, purified from mire.
That's indeed true pilgrim's need and art;
Although in life, we play our destined part,
As actors on the screen of life, set to enquire
Who Am I? and in Self abidance then retire.
Thus a new fulfilled life begins to start.
If fate forces us to play a certain role,
Pray do so without anxious attachment,
That's so essential to make one whole.
Live a tranquil life in calm detachment,
That must be the earnest pilgrim's goal,
To fill with love and bliss, heart's crystal bowl.