THE DANCE OF AWAKENING

[Pravin Kumar]

The Dance Of Awakening

An e-mailer liked my advice on staying awake,
By identifying with Pure Awareness and being alert,
Relaxing into This, no great effort to make,
Re-investigating at the advent of any needless hurt.

This stops the yo-yo between being awake and asleep,
Natural, for so long have we misidentified as a ‘thing’.
Recognizing Awareness stops us getting in too deep
Into our ‘story’, thus averting unnecessary suffering.

The re-awakenings produce a feeling of relief,
As the burdens of the illusory ‘self’ are let go.
When awake these dissipate, for there is no grief,
Caused by worldly objects as they ebb and flow.

The concept of ‘instant enlightenment’,
Is debunked by this commonly occurring yo-yo,
For enlightenment should be permanent,
Not, ‘tween sleep and awakening, this to and fro.

Enlightenment denotes being constantly awake,
Achieved by establishing true identification,
So ‘being Pure Awareness’ we do not forsake,
Cultivated by experiential investigation.

Or by into Pure Awareness a relaxation,
When further discoveries may take place,
For this overcomes all misidentification,
Allowing us new paths and routes to ‘trace’.

Even then the ‘dance of life’ carries on,
Joyfully embodied, with a ‘lightness of being’,
Thus other ‘gems’ we may come upon,
As no illusory ‘small self’, hampers our ‘seeing’.
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This is a poem from 'Poetry From The Happiness That Needs Nothing' based on chapter sixteen of 'The Happiness That Needs Nothing'.

COLIN DRAKE