WHEN WE SAY I

[Pravin Kumar]

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When We Say ‘I'

When we say ‘I’,
It’s often a lie.
Denoting an apparently separate being,
From its looming extinction fleeing …

Fearing the engulfing nothingness,
In which there seems not more but less.
Avoided by expansion of image-self,
Acquiring more power, prestige and pelf*.

Alas this effort is all in vain,
For death annihilates this illusory gain.
This is the root of our anxiety and fear.
Transcend these, see what’s always Here!

Discover what at the core you really are,
This needs no prestigious fancy car!
Nor money, influence, name or fame,
Part and parcel of the great cosmic game.

That which sees our every thought,
Of which, at school, we are not taught,
In which all our sensations appear,
Without which we would not know they’re here.

The constant conscious perceiving presence,
Our innermost, fundamental, vital essence.
Which is ever aware of the turbulent flow
Of objects perceived as they come and they go.

Here complete stillness and silence reign,
Absolute peace with nothing to gain.
For this just witnesses the cosmic play,
Utterly untroubled by whatever may …

* Pelf - ‘Money, especially when gained dishonestly’ Oxford English Dictionary.
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A poem from 'Poetry From Beyond The Separate Self' based on a chapter of 'Beyond The Separate Self'.

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 see comment on photos.

COLIN DRAKE