Fire of Devotion

 

The sun does not warm the earth by being nice.

In whichever old language divine praises are sung,

all Traditions are in agreement that it be done with devotion.

If it is not one's native tongue so much the better,

knowing the sense and direction of the content

neither requires knowledge of every word, nor will the mind

be thus hampered with linear conceptual thinking.

Pronunciation is of more value, also rhythm and melody.

For this, devotion is needed.

And what is this devotion?

It is the fire of present love, of love being present.

It is natural that one feels lazy, too familiar, unmoved, or some panic.

And it is natural to one's discipline, to resist this influence.

Go into that love, go into the gut of it, the heart of you,

renew it, fall in love every time and be a lover.

Nothing is ever lost, and the gain

is in every moment one returns inward to that love.

This love goes out to all who would awaken,

if you would just recite once more

that prayer, that mantra, that hymn -

for the sheer love of intoning it, hearing it,

in your own voice.

Inspirations may come, you keep at it.

Reminders may come, of those in need of succor.

You keep at it, and hold it in that gut, sing from your heart.

Be present, and if you are not present yet-

get there by love's own blazing radiant will.

Let every recitation count, every repetition, every syllable and note.

First time is the last time...is always the first time.

You fall in love - and stay there.

It will give you presence of mind for the outer life;

it will give you the tenderness to nourish others;

it will give you the intestinal fortitude to go forth into steady combat,

in defense against the tyranny of the day.

The tyranny of conformity and flatulently flat-talking relativisms,

of platitudes of political correctness and its iron grip on the soul,

of the deadening cudgel of manipulated thinking

by a jaded, complacent era.

And the tyranny of that which most deny exists,

much less appreciate the imminent and gathering danger.

When one takes a medicine against illness,
sometimes the active substance is given inside
a compatible, neutral fluid - as with infusions, injections, drops.
The fluid carries the substance into the intended environment.
Just so, is the devotional intensity of your love that substance,
carried through your singing and recitations,
neutral of ego, of preferences or self-consciousness,
into the intended environment - reaching you, reaching all.

Prana sends its breath throughout your bodily form,

strengthening your immunity, your patience, your determination.

When you sing with devotional prana,

it begins to sing you, carrying off into the world -

and you become the Word.

This is love, in action.

The sun does not warm the earth by being nice.

Temple As Body As Temple: Resurrection

When in John 2:19 it reads, “I will rebuild this temple...“

this body was meant – his body, his temple.

Scrub those walls clean, scrub yourself raw,

make yourself holy, obey every rule and law!

He also said, your piety is its own reward,

if it's reward you're after you have it. Word

is far more important than rules and diet:

for in the Beginning was it, so don't deny it!

When the word, each syllable and letter's intaken,

on the breath in devotion, out of sleep you'll be shaken.

The prana of conscious breath drawn by concentration

of will toward the Beloved, courses through – anticipation

will not help you here, but arduous patient dedication

and service, living life to its fullest. And no easy sollution

will make suffering go away, that is the nature of our condition –

still, when spirit is followed and ego is stilled there comes a fruition

of love's tireless work, and the body is temple, even that crucifixion

proved the fulfillment, your temple's his Body – your body, and no fiction.