Spiritual Life
Sudheendra Chaitanya
Spiritual life is to be led, for its own sake.
Not a profession,
Where you narrow down to a field,
And work to grow up the ladder,
Reaping honest rewards on the way.
Not building a home,
Where you choose every feather that goes into the nest,
And weave a mingle of sweet harmony,
Fastening strings of lasting bonds.
Not uplifting society,
Where by a streak of altruism and sacrifice,
Affected by the uneven disparity on display,
You discover a cause and move it,
From the fringes of society to its centre,
Through a fiery revolution.
Not a revolt against anything,
Vices, ignorance, insensitivity, or their tribe.
For you discover more enemies,
As you fight them.
Not an ongoing course on self-refinement,
For endless is this self-imposed condemnation,
To non-maturing student-hood.
The richness of spiritual life,
Cannot be captured in a diligent practice,
Nor can it flower by faithful adhesion to values.
God does have a great role to play,
Because he alone unveils the mystery.
It is being anchored in a core,
That goes against nothing of this world;
A search for new meaning every hour,
Readiness to revisit the current structure every day,
A flight into the open in freedom,
An inner cheer that is undiminished in adversity,
Living in a light that gives no heat.
A path never tread before;
Unearthing a profound sanctity,
The mind never thought existed.
Touching a silence that has raged,
Since the beginning of existence,
Where conflicts cease to remain.
Difficult it is to fathom,
The depth, pervasiveness, and endearing quality,
Of a true but rare Spiritual life.