Saint Issa
A Jewish youth,
an incarnate of God,
taking birth
to restore the dharma
that was lost
in a decadent age
of worldly attachments.
You see,
the timing was right
for the destined return
of this cosmic guru,
to the holy land
of a chosen people
waiting patiently
with arms wide open
for the return of their Messiah.
Feasting his gaze
upon the far East,
this pilgrim of love
set off on an epic journey
to that sacred citadel of self-realization.
Travelling on the old silk road,
this prince of peace
who taught
that the kingdom of God is within you
met many venerated sages
along the way,
who showed him how to transcend his own mind
and to drink from the cup of Emptiness.
Enduring the sweltering desert heat
for months on end,
this youthful prophet
at last arrived at his destination,
as snow-capped peaks
welcomed him
with foreboding grey skies
and ferocious winds;
were these ominous signs?
Not for this divine wanderer!
Higher and higher into the mountains he climbed,
until what was inside and outside merged
into the spirit of his soul’s revelations;
meditating in caves
where those before him had attained their own enlightenment,
this master of love soon attracted his own flock of faithful followers—
hungry for the wisdom that only a son of God can deliver
through an eternal vision of oneness.
For 17 years he remained,
Communing with Hindus and Buddhists alike
—his brethren—
performing miracles
and learning the myriad of ways
to ascend into the consciousness
of absolute bliss.
They call it his “lost years,”
but how could he be lost when he was already found?
Beating in the lotus of the heart
of Mother India.
A Peek Behind the Curtain
Leaving behind the rational concepts of my mind,
I peek behind the curtain of life to discover
undulating waves of cosmic vibrations
beckoning me to go beyond
the prison-house of knowledge
and into the wild fertile pastures
of an inner communion with the Highest:
That infinite source of wisdom
and the mother of the universe…
so sweet and tender is her love
that I go into raptures
and pray
to be an instrument of her divine song.
Witness
The hard times in life
that make us feel
despair and loss:
A broken marriage,
a child’s tragic passing
and a life endured behind prison walls
due to karmic choices and circumstances…
Unrelenting Isolation,
disease
and emotionally charged regrets from the past
pulling one like an anchor
deep down into the abyss
of the soul’s darkest night…
Be a witness,
suffering is not without purpose,
for if we could see just as God sees
then we might say:
“What grace,
What grace.”
An ode to my guru
A great sage went on a long pilgrimage in the holiest of mountain ranges, the Himalayas. Though not yet aware of the instrumental role he’d one day play as a highly beloved spiritual teacher here in the West, he nevertheless followed a deep and persistent calling within his own heart to ascend the metaphorical peaks of awareness.
While wandering through this vast and enchanted holy land, barefoot and penniless, this beautiful soul shared many profound moments with his guide, a deeply conscious being himself. One such moment occurred when this sage decided to break the days-long silence that had been maintained by telling his youthful guide dramatic stories about his past exploits as a hip professor and psychedelic guru back in America.
The guide, who in turn was accepted with open arms by mystics across India, expressed little interest in his stories and simply responded with the words: “Don’t think about the past, just be here now.”
And so, the pair walked many more hours in silence, visiting several temples and holy landmarks. But again, the sage broke the silence and started asking questions about how long their pilgrimage would last. Once more, the guide showed little interest in his preoccupation with anything other than the present moment, and replied with the following words: “Don’t think about the future, just be here now.”
In that instance, this great teacher got the message loud and clear. The present is the only thing that is real. And the present is where all the magic is.
Eventually, this influential mentor for so many made the choice to abandon all his attachments to both past and future and “be here now.” The rest is, as they say, history. This wise and venerated teacher went on to become a true holy man, penning many inspirational books drawn from his own direct experience of dedicating his entire life to the alleviation of human suffering.
As far as spiritual teachers go, he truly walked the walk. And as fate would have it, at the end of his now-famous pilgrimage through the mountainous heart of India, he met and fell at the feet of his own guru (one of India’s most authentic and transcendent saints, in kind), who transformed the hearts and minds of all his devotees through nothing more than pure love.
As a living testament to his boundless humility and compassion, this greatest of all the hippie consciousness teachers was, in his deepest essence, a faithful devotee who always credited his guru as the hidden director behind his own life’s path as a spiritual leader.
Perhaps the most profound lesson that can be imparted through his teachings is that learning to be fully present in the moment helps us to one day become love, the kind of radical and unconditional love that we have come to associate with a Christ or Buddha-like figure. Indeed, my personal guru is just that kind of figure in the heart and the spirit.
Om Shanti.
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