Be soft

                                   Be soft.

                                   Do not let the world make you hard.

                                   Do not let the pain make you hate.

                                   Do not let the bitterness steal you sweetness.

                                   Take pride that even though

                                   The rest of the world may disagree,

                                   You still believe it to be a beautiful place.

Your children

                               Your children are not your children,

                               They are the sons and daughters

                               Of Life’s longing for itself.

                               They come through you but not from you.

                               And though they are with you

                               They belong not to you.

                               You may give them your love

                               But not your thoughts.

                               For they have their own thoughts.

                               You may house their bodies

                               But not their souls.

                               For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,

                               Which you cannot visit,

                               Not even in your dreams …

                                                              -- Khalil Gibran

You are to live

                                               The whole has created you to live.

                                               To live here as profoundly as possible.

                                               To live as dangerously as possible.

                                               The whole wanted you to be so alive,

                                               Alive at the peak – wildly alive –

                                               That’s why you are sent here.

Not Buddha, but Shiva

                            The final stage of a human being is not the sage,

                            Not Buddha, but Shiva – Nataraj.

                            Buddha has gone very deep,

                            But the outer is missing, denied.

                            Shiva contains all, contains all contradictions –

                            Contains the whole of God choicelessly.

                            He lives in the innermost core of the shrine

                            And dances on the outer walls too.

                            Life is a dance.

                            You have to participate in it.

                            And the more silent you become,

                            The deeper your participation.

                            Never withdraw from life.

                            Never renounce life,

                            Because in renouncing life

                            You will be renouncing God Himself.

                            Be true to life,

                            Be committed to life.

                            Be utterly for life.