It's not, never ever, about me
there's a Larger Purpose--the Ultimate Mystery

A good deed
   is even by the sky remembered
  long after you are gone
  in the Good Book your name shall be recorded

I am nothing
but Thy Will
I will be silent
humble, faithful, still

To sleep
to forget
not to
get out of bed

there's nothing
only a vacuum
the numbness of feeling
the delirious dream

in the mind
the phantoms roam
the emaciated eyes
seem blinded by foam

one more, just one more
the hand stretches for the syringe
to oblivion, sweet oblivion
another shot on the tattered skin.

We are each our own philosopher

             we should not be on the lookout for any other

I don't wish
to be identified
don't seek my presence
that's denied

and you now ask
why?
I've joined the monastery
to the world I die

troubled neither
joy or sorrow by
no more desire
at all have I

it's midnight
no star in the sky
I'll meditate
peace will draw nigh

Before you can become

     you'd need to embrace

     and live within the Calm-



    reason has no answer

    the heart tends to wander

    without the Stillness, you'd falter-



    the self and desires must die

    nothingness is the door to bliss

    we are each but a shadow that passes by

When I've arrived
at the edge of Nothing
I'd have known
it's a New Beginning

You were on the threshold of the Door of Understanding
which was about to open unto you
but It sensed you still had doubt due to your earthiness
and could not allow you to enter into its Inner Sanctum

Me?
you would find
in the GLOSSARY
OF NOBODY.

The postman had a sneer on his face
   when he delivered us letters at Squatters' Place

Call me poor and I accept gladly
  but don't say 'Fool' --it hurts terribly!

My grand-parents were poor
        so was mum and dad
        we lived in a hut long ago
        but such joyful days we together had!

Bow and tie
not my style!

If a million-dollar lottery I should strike
        90% would be given to charity
        no car would I purchase but a simple bike
        I have no knack at all for money!

My rich friend said to me:
    why don't you join Club Superior
    of which I am the President?
    he well knew I was poor and his inferior

Big coloured sign on a business-office door in the city:
      unless you wear a suit,  keep out--it's our company's policy.

Is it true a dog
would single out
a person badly-dressed
and bark aloud?

I wouldn't beg though I'm poor
    none would see me before the rich man's door

They who lived in mansions
       talked among themselves about me:
       ' that fella lived in a hut
         how come he's so happy?

So used to poverty
it's become a way of life
I've no home nor money
but am free from strife

The stern interviewer said to me:
    do you have a university degree?
    I replied no--positively:
    but my qualification is honesty.

The HM wrote to my wife and me:
     '   we reject your daughter's application
         our careful analysis shows clearly
         you can't afford: we aren't a charity concern'

The past looms larger
than the present
hearing and seeing is harder
clarity of mind is too often absent.

All that has been and seen
through the lenses of mindless time
each a vague and misleading screen
#blunted feelings and numb emotions# is* the outcome.

Childhood friends are now strangers
some have sadly  turned tormentors
yet too many are ceaseless grumblers
indifference does score large numbers.

Old age must be lived in being forgotten
the body-tree is decaying and deprived of vital sap
much of the past upon being recalled is still unforgiven
ongoing days are best likened to an inescapable trap.

I have nothing to prove

no one I need to move

Love---   at the end

you'd want to return

to the beginning

for more the heart will yearn

I will be caught
  in the end
  and chastised
  if I write
  to be recognised
  for in that guise
  a victim I will fall
  to silly pride

a  simple stringer
of words and thoughts
through the tumble
of life
a scribbler
a dabbler
a story-teller
on the insignificant side

let the real bards sing
I'll listen in deference
in humility abide

for a small voice
am I
that truth
I shouldn't deny

Pain and suffering is better borne by willing and uncomplaining acceptance.

It seems to me that stoicism is akin to Zen as both assert that the self is the root-cause of unhappiness

My endurance was born from patience

Life is attitude

Success has ruined more lives than failure

Poverty teaches lessons that last a lifetime; success-stories are passing clouds

A stoic is neither an escapist nor a coward--he is a realist as he understands the nature of life through his detachment.

Water will save your life in a desert, not wine.  

Do you not remember you used to despise water?

Excess is the cause of distress

Eat humbly, live simply, hold joys lightly; accept without bitterness in adversity.

Envy or jealousy is a common cause of much unhappiness

Of happiness I am never certain
but am sure of the presence of sorrow.

The wealthy person who worries about losing what he owns is more to be pitied than the poor person who is worried about his next meal.

Living life is a balancing act--
be balanced

Your darkest hour could be your moment of greatest triumph

No teacher nor any amount of reading could save you--
you are your own saviour

Discipline your mind and you would not be distracted.
This will empower your life.

Worry arises from fear. Fear arises from doubt. Doubt arises from lack of self-trust. Lack of self-trust arises from ignorance. Finally, ignorance is the product of a mind that is unwilling to learn.

When the mind is tranquil, things are seen in clarity and doubts are removed.

Knowing is not the same as feeling.  If such knowing is attained at the sacrifice of feeling,
does it have any worth?

Just as you feel pain in silence,
so should you celebrate joy--
they are both not intended to impinge upon any outsider.

The poor man has worries, but so has the rich man. No one knows which of the two worries more.

Endurance is stronger than courage.