MENTAL ILLNESS AND AWAKENING

[Pravin Kumar]

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Mental Illness and Awakening

A friend diagnosed with mental illness
With assorted symptoms and many a mood swing,
Found that these don’t trouble Awareness,
Which openly embraces and loves every thing.

He asked about ‘others’ and whether
There are many ‘points of consciousness’ or only one?
All are (in) Awareness, at rest for ever,
Fleetingly manifesting, as the many, just for fun.

Sometimes his mind spins on being special or bad,
Wondering if karma caused his condition,
When misidentified he suffers and feels sad,
But this says nothing about his true ‘position’.

For karma affects only the Jiva,
That is to say the body/mind.
Once one realizes that one is Siva,
Pure Awareness, then it cannot bind.

He also finds his illness to be a gift
Forcing him to see clearly what’s taking place,
Exposing that suffering happens if
He misidentifies with the mind/body ‘space’.

About the value of sangha we agreed,
Discussions with true friends a great aid,
For in many blogs and books we read,
We find opposing views displayed.

He said what matters is in the heart,
Being loving, non-judging and kind.
For in Reality we’re all one, never apart
And, as such, universal love we find.

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A poem from 'Poetry From The Simplicity of Awakening' based on a chapter of 'The Simplicity of Awakening'.

I write (and read) these posts, based on my meditations and contemplations, as much for my own benefit as for that of 'others'. For this helps to keep me 'awake' in this illusory, and impermanent, world ... our perception of which is based purely on our physical, and mental, configuration.

For more poems, articles, photos etc. see the comment on the photo.

COLIN DRAKE