Professional Documents
Culture Documents
2011
[28th May 2011]
These poems are intended to enhance the understanding of our cosmic relationship or the spiritual interconnectedness with cosmos. The poetry reading on the 28th of May 2011 was an extraordinary experience for the participants which enabled them to ponder on the spirituality one needs to nurture from within. The Flowing Speech Rhythm of these poems makes it easy for the listener to grasp the core of each poem. One needs to read, re-read and enter to the spirit of the poems. Ravindra Ranasinha read these poems with all the spiritual force causing the audience to experience the stillness and silence as aimed in every meditation.
2
erika dias, the poetess, became an observer at the poetry recitation session. I got goosepimples the way ravindra recited the poems, said erika. It is this ultimate happiness/ bliss that we aim in our lives. It is the conscious maturity of a person of his present moment that brings him/her this Nirvanic/Heavenly experience.
She received many awards for her poetry from Thailand, Australia and the United States of America , including an honorary doctorate from the World Academy of Arts and Culture in California in 1991 for two of her books of poems.
An introduction
All over the world there is a growing realization that mankind must renounce its egoistic plundering of the Earths bounty and evolve new standards and goals to ensure that planet. The survival is possible only through a way of living at peace with you and the universe. The poems we have this evening communicate to those interested, a cosmic vision for life. The term Dhamma means to see things in nature as it is and live in nature as it is, holistically; being consciously fully awakened to the holistic nature which then sustains the universe. It is this wisdom we seek through this poetry. erika dias She has published several books of poetry. She writes extensively on spiritual and environmental issues and writes also poems for children. She has discovered through over 35 years of meditation that at the appropriate time and place, one strikes upon nothing but wisdom to guide one's life.
The latest recognition of her work was the prestigious award from the UN ESCAP in Bangkok on the UN International Women's Day on March 4th, 2004, as an Outstanding Woman in Buddhism. She is an internationally famous poet and Her writings encircle the world with peace are some of the ways she was introduced by a member of the Selection Committee at this award ceremony at UN ESCAP. ravindra ranasinha He is a dramatist, sociologist, journalist and a teacher in literature who researches widely on the current socio-cultural issues. He writes profusely on the multicultural aspect of Sri Lankan society and focuses his thoughts on making school education a multicultural sphere enabling children to accept and appreciate diversity in the social environment. He is also a social activist attached to the Friends of Tibet Global Network supporting the cause of the Tibetans to free themselves from Chinese suppression. He can be reached at: ravindra.ranasinha@friendsoftibet.org
A Tiny Morsel
We only get a tiny morsel from the divine From their vast splendours of creation Mozarts, Angelos and Einsteins are so so rare On this earth planet where learning is Almost still, like the tortoise Most of the time Like the birds and the bees Cyclically with habits Nothing new, nothing fresh Creations
Be a Tao
Learn to flow with the tide Do not resist If you resist, then it persists Move on in your canoe The past with fear, anxiety, guilt Like the receding back waters You let go to in that motion On its own accord And so you joyously Move with the tide With your mind light and buoyant
Stress beats you up With such fluctuations And ailing comes With a vengeance
And also happiness So watch out for healing Takes man to the height of elation In deep peace in the deep blue sea And then lets him down to the bottom Where the waters are still Of depression Diving deep into your core nature So we are in motion Like the waves of an ocean For your eternal well-being. Up and down, back and forth Sometimes thundering waves Erupting cyclone like emotions Sometimes gentle ripples With a touch of sadness That cocoons your stillness and silence
Tired
Tired of labeling Tired of classification Tired of dissecting Tired of names of forms Old subjects but new jargon Shut your ears to this endless words Shut your ears to theory Words, words, words The conditioned and the conditioning Show me the practice you know The peace and love and enlightenment Give me no words I beg of you, be silent
8
Teaching
I am tired Of teaching preaching I am tired Of intellectualizing Your words Ive heard before In shelves, libraries And in markets Over flowing
For these too pass away Without a change in inner me I see these things So ordinary So let my conditioning Shatter to pieces By letting go Every moment And from my inner core Where I energy Cannot be found Let wisdom
Supermarkets
Everyday of the week Everyday of the month You purchase things At the supermarket Many cans, and packs of things
Somethings forgotten Dusty, cob-webbed, musty In corners, shelves Your lovely God given space For peace and tranquility Is now stifled, clogged Cluttered like a garbage pit
Your house is cluttered with them Plastics, wood, metal Clang clanks of many sizes, shapes Tiny, miniature supermarket homes To live in
10
Doomed to Die
Mumbo Mimbo The elephant mama Took Mumbo Nimbo Baby elephant By his little trunk And led on and on Walked on and on On parched, cracked earth Seeped in the scorching sun Hitting on stumps of trees Felled some time ago Eroded hard earth Baking in the sun She said, rocks polished and weathered Strong glare on my eyes My feet are tired Of the burning earth No shade to be found Little one, Mumbo Nimbo Rest now between my feet My trunk will be your shade I see in the horizon No green trees meet my eye Where man resides We are doomed to die No green roof over us No green food to munch So rest my little one To wait for the cool night To trek on and on To seek the green trees Our future abode Or is it a mirage Are we doomed to die?
11
Distorting their minds Confused, desperate Mind vulnerable and weak Hidden criminal society
In society Clever psychic skills Swaying gently Of the many hands Caressing hands Beyond the scope Enchanting warm affection Of archaic courts of justice With oozing charm So my sister Cast in spell Watch the goddess You miss the invisible hands With her many hands Stabbing in the back Know it when they sway Bitter / sweet duality And reach you with oozing love In those many hands With awareness, understanding Swaying the innocent You can dodge the swaying hands
12
Teeming Life
From the turbulent shallow seas And even in the surface of the serene deep blue seas Teaming life, half-plant, half-animals, jellyfish, Corals, worms, snails, crabs, shell-fish, algae And fish of all kinds in unspeakable beauty Vibrates with life like a jostling market place In this giant chemical churning pot, Seen and unseen by the naked eyes And in this sea, the blue, blue sea Where life first appeared on earth Wonders of creation with evolution Moved on and on, endlessly
13
This chemical watery lab You must see the sea! And learn the lessons of evolving
14
And in wisdom Insight live Then see in a single life Your million years of violence
Comes surging from the past Is nipped and ceased forever With anger, hatred, envy And enjoy the lightness Crystallized in a moment Freedom, bliss So watch your mind Incredibly yours Its movements And closely guard Your thoughts, your words, your deeds Like the tender eyes of the mother Follow her precious toddler To steady and hold The fumbling, falling ways
15
Universal love energy And then you can call That dirty beggar boy on the street your son, as you do Your own dear son
Know then You have reached the supreme heights Of refined cosmic universal energy You have reached perfection And your mission in life is complete
But open your mind spaciously Flexibly, infinitely To that vast cosmic, infinite
16
The Explosion
Boundless space Unfolds Explodes in cosmos The starry Milky Way Not far, far away Dear friend
Accommodate and explode In space That wondrous space With openness and stillness To embrace And find in it Infinite, boundless peace That brings wisdom Love and well-being
Within yourself Is a universe Where everything Create and recreate Disintegrate and dissolves
17
The Eternity
Time is with you See it ticking With the clock Now let it tick With your good Your bad And see them moving With the clock So live in this moment Of rising, then passing And let go all With that ticking Then you are
18
Without the time Without the ticking Without the clock And then you are With eternity The constant Your timeless nature
The Sea
From the shallow sea Of ignorance Where the waves are Rough and turbulent I wandered off the shore On a raft To the deep blue sea Where calm and serene Waters of wisdom stayed
19
Divine Guru
I longed to see him In his real garb Not Buddha, Krishna or Allah I know But my own inner divine guru Then one day I woke up with a start At dead of night There he was Just next to me A gracious Handsome lord Translucent milky white
20
With wisdom lines Curving his neck His cheeks And forehead too Looking through me With wisdom eyes To say he knows me Through and through As in every move He stays My guardian Wisdom spirit guru The precious crystals Of diamonds A glossy dazzle, in the night
That brilliant light in a trillion fold To light up ablaze And dim all objects, matter with that glow of cosmic oneness
Strange Earth
Can there be a stranger place than earth Where dirty paper money Rules you And for this dirt even families Lose their harmony
Can there be a stranger place than earth Where steady affection with kindredship Is so so rare Mistrust, suspicion, Is common place everywhere There is a planet somewhere, I think
22
Peace is Space
It is here, there, everywhere Look! And there it is, in and out See! And there it is stillness and silence Of this space
When the inner you is empty Of words and thoughts, man-made, imperfect You deeply relax Anger, hatred, envy and greed has left Nothing else to hold but that Precious stillness and silence Then see! The inner is also that Anxiety and fear will leave
23
Balancing in Harmony
The atom in us Is our living logo imprint All over us, in cells or in molecules With electrical forces of repulsion And of attractions It is balancing in neutral precision So, so charmingly So, so harmoniously Simulating in us to live With those skills of neutrality Balancing in harmony within In harmony without Merging in divine, Cosmic vibrations
24
At Liberation
At liberation Silky white cosmic clouds Will envelope you Cosmic wings of pink, blue, Silver hues Will flutter around you Both the cosmic clouds And the cosmic wings Will shower you With blessing vibrations of peace On no more birth, death And birth again
25