What Rasa Is For Me

Rasa is one of those Sanskrit words that has a long history and is not easily translated in to English. In ancient Sanskrit (here we are talking about thousands of years ago) rasa meant the sap of a tree. (Wikipedia) The sap of a tree flows and contains the essence of the tree. Gradually poets began to use "rasa" to apply to the essence and flow in music, dance, art and poetry. It came to mean the emotions of creativity and eventually spirituality and by the time of the Upanishads nearly 3000 years ago, rasa would be used to describe the divine nature of the gods. A little over 1000 year ago, the word came to be associated with Krishna. Chanting the Hare Krishna could produce the transformational experience that would result in healing and wholeness. Some Jews, Christians and Muslims can experience this in their prayers and meditations, musicians in their music, physicists in Quantum Physics. It is about a higher level of conscious. It is what I feel while listening to the final chorus of the Rolling Stone's "You Can't Always Get What You Want" while watching a sunrise.

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Buddha Socks

Buddha Socks Days do not number The miss-steps of my soul’s journey Years and decades of seeking and searching Lost and looking—occasionally knowing Only for a moment with certainty Before the trance of daily life and doing the laundry Overshadow insights that would unlock The mystery of socks tumbling in the dryer Socks don’t know emotions— They just know our feet. They wrap our heels and toes unconditionally Paying no attention to the emotions of the moment The funeral, the wedding, another day at work— The socks are just there for us After a day of being very human We take them off and toss them into the laundry Perhaps socks Are the Buddha (I don’t know the original dates on this. It is actually two separate poems which I found in old journals and merged into one poem I luv it…)

DESCARTES AND THE CRAZY MAN

Sometimes, when I wake up in the morning The world is not what I want it to be But the world is still the magnificent mystery In which I am stuck between Plato’s ideals And Jesus’s Kingdom and Buddha’s Nirvana And the crazy man at the bus stop The world—It is in your face. It won’t let you go. Descartes got it right. Throw it all out. It is all A bundle of thought knots: concepts—illusions Birth and death and memory and hope A dance with realities we don’t understand You Think: The fact that you can doubt your doubts Is a clue. There is a you behind the you you think You are—who loves the ideals, lives in the Kingdom, Dances in Nirvana and gives the crazy man at the bus stop A hug—He stares at you thinking you are crazy.

Dancing at Funerals

The chimney sweepers come to dance At the funeral of one of them who fell Now free of the soot and dark labor Free to dance—free of soot and poisoned Air free to breathe in paradise while they Return to chimneys—waiting The wives and sisters morn he who brought Food and laughter hugs and love now gone-- Who knows where-- Will the brothers lovers Fill the gap-- Dread and hope feed the wheel That keeps turning in this gray dreary world Where life is a never ending quest Where the dance at the funeral is That birth is just a ticket to paradise

CurranPoem

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