Karnamrita das:<\/p>\n
I often think about
\nthe nature of writing,
\nespecially poems which
\nare a new medium for me.<\/p>\n
I have spoken about it before
\nthough I am compelled to reexamine
\nit from time to time, as it’s
\none of my creative outlets.<\/p>\n
With you, sharing my experience
\nand feelings with people in
\nvarious environments, though
\nhaving this desire is curious.<\/p>\n
The hope is that my desire
\nto express will correspond
\nwith your need to understand,
\nto think of life more deeply.<\/p>\n
Here I am sitting
\nin the store day after
\nday, thinking and feeling
\nabout my conditioned self,
\nthe soul and God, Krishna.<\/p>\n
Being visited by so
\nmany different bodies
\nand minds that carry
\na unique soul
\nwith the same God within.<\/p>\n
The Kindred Spirits store
\nhas an esthetically pleasing
\natmosphere radiating Peace:
\nShanti, grounding peoples’ energy
\nand opening their hearts to share.<\/p>\n
The atmosphere manifested first
\nwith intention, then pastel colors, scents
\nposters, gemstones, crystals, prayer flags
\nDivine images and statues–all combined
\ntogether to attract souls to come to relax.<\/p>\n
An old expression is that “the
\neyes are the index of the soul”,
\n“the face the index of the mind”,
\nwhich I think about as I meet and
\ninteract with people, sharing energy.<\/p>\n
These meetings can be an incredibly
\nrevealing experience, as everyone is
\na diverse story, combining countless
\nbirths, now displaying a particular
\nchapter or flavor of this life’s book.<\/p>\n
Fascinating combo of dualities, opposites of
\nyoung or old, attractive or not,
\nrich or poor, confident or afraid,
\nhappy or depressed, energetic or tired
\nfaithful or doubtful, religious or spiritual.<\/p>\n
Today’s world has increased the number
\nof ways in which people can divide themselves–
\nseparate groups of country, region, religion,
\nrace, ethnicity, gender, likes or dislikes,
\nsports teams or types of games–all false for the soul!<\/p>\n
Mind tends to compare and evaluate
\ncategorizing or labeling, putting into
\nneat boxes–it’s natural, yet so limiting
\nso we have to go beyond stereotypes
\ncompassionately looking for the soul.<\/p>\n
Bhagavad-gita teaches us to see
\nthe modes (gunas) working in all
\ncircumstances, in the huge variety of
\nbodies, seeing the soul within without
\nnegative judgment–we are not better.<\/p>\n
People are who they have
\nbecome by thinking & acting
\nwith piety or sin–conditioned
\nsouls having a human, animal, plant
\nexperience–we have to see spiritually.<\/p>\n
All can be teachers for me:
\nwho am I attracted to
\nor put off by—and why?
\nwho will give me a lesson about
\nmyself, or who can I help, being a light?<\/p>\n
Who causes me to forget my true self
\nby their beauty or shakti?–
\nwho reminds me of the ugly form
\nof Nature, of how the beautiful soul
\nassumes gross forms, yet’s still attached!
\n(it is up to me to remember Krishna!)<\/p>\n
Everyone’s affected to varying degrees
\nby false ego which wants to be
\nseen as attractive, intelligent, funny,
\na good conversationalist–my self included,
\nso we sometimes compete to speak our truth.<\/p>\n
Practice makes perfect, so we have to
\nbegin our day with sadhana, chanting
\nHoly Names, hearing about KC and
\nKrishna’s lila, and appreciating the
\npower of saintly association.<\/p>\n
The more we come to
\nspiritual vision, the more we
\ncan be “in the world, not of it”,
\ninteracting with others, fulfilling
\nour duty, while remaining unaffected.<\/p>\n
While I work in the world to earn,
\nand learn my weaknesses and use
\nmy strengths, I pray to see everyone
\nas a beautiful, though forgetful soul,
\nwho may be helped by my degree of purity.<\/p>\n
If our heart is a holy place,
\nthe residence of the God–
\nRadha Krishna–then whoever
\nwe interact with will be blessed,
\nour well wishing will uplift.<\/p>\n
So, I see the importance of creating a
\nplace of peace and beauty, where we can
\nconnect deeply, spiritually, offering
\nsupport and encouragement to turn to God,
\nwithout having material attraction or repulsion.<\/p>\n
That can be a Temple or Tirtha (holy place)
\nor any sacred space we create,
\nlike our home–or even a room or closet,
\na business like this, a retreat center–
\nthough ultimately it must come from our heart.<\/p>\n
Places only become holy or remain
\nso by the pure hearts of advanced
\ndevotees; thus we are advised not to
\njust take a bath in a holy place but to
\nassociate with saints–a walking holy place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Karnamrita das: I often think about the nature of writing, especially poems which are a new medium for me. I have spoken about it before though I am compelled to reexamine it from time to time, as it’s one of my creative outlets. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[92,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-karnamrita-dasa","category-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6799\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}