No Sunset

The sun of this world is blinding,

if you stare into it long enough

with mortal eyes.

The sun of inner wealth

is brighter still and blinds as well,

but you will only know it with eyes turned inward.

Staring into that with longing,

with concentrated devotion,

you will be granted sight where once you were blind.

When I look at an image of this beloved Swami

I am moved inward, seeing with my heart

that sun of love, unborn, undying, never setting.

Warm, detached, constant, radiating Self,

simple and majestic, seeing all, feeling all,

and knowing only joy.

Lighting all worlds, transcending death,

burning, burning, burning, never extinguished.

Suffers not, judges not, residing in perfection.

All the worlds are held in its rays,

all life is sustained in its glance,

every form is nourished without asking.

The sun of this world is a metaphor of that sun,

given us as a reminder to return and to remember.

And what we call night is likewise always there,

but passive, no longer dominating -

as a dark room is merely space in the absence of light,

when the lamp is lit darkness knows to leave.

The sun of conscious love, with us from the beginning,

with us through the ages, radiating heart of original Self,

accepts any who come, full of beneficence.

There I will make my home.