You can inscribe the Quran on a robin's egg. But when the little bird hatches and shatters the shell, its first cry contains every word that Gabriel told Mohammad.
You may study all the Torah scrolls and every jot of Talmud, but allow yourself to be surprised by a scarlet berry on a naked twig, and there is no revelation but the winter sky.
Practice Ayur Veda, chant the Gayatri, memorize the Upanishads, but when you crush one grape on your tongue and compare the sweetness, a drop of nectar wipes away the mind.
Thus I repeated the name of Jesus, practiced his love sayings, watched and prayed all through the night. But only when my flesh felt the dawn, and my heart heard the sparrow's Gospel, did I receive the gift of tears.
O Scholar, pundit, pious friend, O seekers of wisdom and people of the Book: do not deny this breath in your body.
If you want to know what true faith is: gaze, touch, drink!
There are no advanced practitioners here in the present moment. We are all beginners!
No comments:
Post a Comment