Let humanity be touched by the highest creations of God- Sant Darshan Singh ji Maharaj
A haiku is a diary of events seen from a dual perspective and written in shorthand. It is poetry in the seasonal mood. - Kenneth Daniels
" the ancient pond
frog makings
new wave"
Basho
Two Liners
This blog is an experiment in a spiritual view of haiku. For me haiku is a brief poem comprising a composite picture and lines of an active and passive nature united by a seasonal mood, and written in the present tense For me four qualities are most important in am haiku: paucity of words, juxtaposition of concrete images, seasonal mood, and yin and yang line rotation. Rarely my poems exceeds two lines or more that 11 syllables
bathe
now sit
Yin and yang lines
I refer to my two lines as yinlines and yanglines and may have either 2, 4, 6, 8 even(or yin) syllables or 7, 5, 3,1 odd (or yang)syllables in alternate lines totaling either 3, 5, 7 , 9,11 or more syllables in the haiku. What matters is not the fixed amount of syllables employed in an haiku but the rotation of brief odds and even lines as well A poem may be written:
yinline 2 syllables plus yangline 1 syllable= 3 syllables
or yangline 7 syllables plus yinline 8 syllables = 15 syllables
And so on but my poems do not go beyond 11 syllables. I think this is a scientific way to harmonize the elements of haiku. But what is more important is the rotation of active/passive elements in the haiku, with a meaningful exchange between the actors (or images) in focus. It is this pattern which may make the real difference between a haiku and any short English poem.
Sometime I write three lines but maintain the rotation of yin and yang lines:
morning simran
two biscuit
good start
Note that by comparison it would appear that the three-liner English haiku has three yanglines 5-7-5. But we know that haiku is basically two part fragment and phrase. Therefore if the three line we divided in two parts we would have 5 syllables line (yangline ) and 12 syllables line (yinline).
The
Lesson of the Autumn Season
Message from Sant
Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj
Featured in Highlights Newsletter, September 28, 2011
This is the first week of autumn. Autumn marks the end of
summer, and for many it means an end to vacation, and a time in which we go
back to school or work. Some associate this time of year as an ending, as
leaves fall off the trees and there is a chill in the air. Yet, those who have
a spiritual angle of vision look at autumn in a different way. There is a beautiful
verse by the great poet-saint of the last century, Sant Darshan Singh Ji
Maharaj, which says:
The season may be that of autumn,But
with his coming, O Darshan, life has been infused with spring.
In this verse, Sant Darshan Singh Ji
is pointing out a paradox. He says that even though it is autumn, spring has
arrived. Autumn represents a time in which the leaves on the trees wither and
die. The blooming spring has long passed and now the greenery is fading to the
fall colors—the red, orange, and yellow colors that come before the bare
winter. With the falling leaves, hopes also fall. The world is preparing for
the bleak, dark, and cold winter ahead. Yet, there is a switch here. Even
though it is autumn, spring has suddenly burst into bloom. How has this
happened?
When we invert our attention within
through meditation, we find that we have within us eternal springtime. We feel
as joyous as if spring has arrived. Through meditation, our spirits are renewed
and rejuvenated. All the bleakness, sorrow, and disappointments of life are
washed away and vibrant life has returned.
We may be burdened by the sorrows of
life. We may be suffering physical pain; financial difficulties with the
economic crisis, falling stock prices, and a slowing economy; or problems at
work or the loss of our jobs. Yet, when we meditate and tap into the spiritual
realms within, suddenly for that time our attention is focused within, all the
problems seem to disappear. We are so filled with the blissful radiation and
effervescent joy from within that we forget our problems for a while.
Sant Darshan Singh Ji used to relate
an incident from his own life. At one time, he had fallen ill and could hardly
get up from the bed. Family members and friends were fearful of his condition.
When Sant Kirpal Singh Ji came to his house to pay him a visit, Sant Darshan
Singh Ji suddenly got up from the bed to greet him. Everyone was amazed at how
someone who could hardly move a few moments before was infused with such energy
and vibrancy. In the meantime, the doctor had been called. When the doctor
arrived, he looked around the room and said, “Which one is the patient?” Sant
Darshan Singh Ji had been so infused with life that he no longer appeared to be
ill. This is typical of what happens to many people in the presence of a
spiritual Master or saint who puts us in touch with the divine treasures within
by giving a contact with the divine Light and Sound within us.
When we meditate on the inner Light
and Sound, we become so uplifted and intoxicated that we do not notice the
pains of the body or our problems. It may be cold, rainy, or bleak, but we find
ourselves as joyous as if it were a sunny, spring day.
There are people who may be so ill
that they can scarcely do much, but when they go to a satsang, where there is a
group meditation in a spiritually-charged atmosphere and discourses on
spirituality, they describe how they forget their pains and sorrows for awhile.
This is the power of the spiritual radiation we get from meditation and being
in a spiritually-charged arena. It has the power to pull our attention into the
place of divinity and peace within us so that we forget our body and our
problems. We are fed and nourished by the spiritual radiation from within that
renews us.
We are all looking for panaceas or
cures for all the ills of the world. If we truly want to escape the autumn of
life, let us sit in meditation and turn our lives into perpetual spring. We can
learn to meditate on the Light and Sound of God. Then, each time we meditate on
the Light and Sound, we will be connecting with the renewing force that can
turn the autumn of life into a springtime garden of blossoms.
The Soul's Forgetfulness
Message: H.H. Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj
Featured in Highlights Newsletter, November 10, 2011 
One of the festivals of autumn is Diwali, which was recently
celebrated. There is a beautiful verse by Kabir Sahib referring to the diya, or the lamps lit on Diwali, which says:Like the blind uselessly lighting a diya when they cannot even see, the secret of our true self lies within our house, yet we are seeking outside. The whole world is on fire; all are consumed by desire; without the saint’s knowledge, all are wildly searching here and there, but not finding what they seek. Kabir Sahib’s conclusion is that we have the Light or diya within us, but seek it outside. The soul has the spark of God within, but seeks fulfillment in the outer realm. It is like a blind person who lights a diya or a lamp when they cannot even see the light. This forgetfulness of God causes the soul to seek only in the outer world for that happiness and bliss already within. Kabir Sahib is saying that the whole world is consumed by desire. This plight is not just limited to a few souls. It has happened to souls everywhere. Understanding our attraction to this physicial life There is a story about a soul living in the spiritual realm of God who once said to God, “I do not understand it. Being here with You, one is filled with unbounded ecstasy and love. Why are there so many souls circulating through the lower realms? Why are they so attracted to life in those realms? Look at life in the physical realm alone—filled with sickness, disease, suffering, old age, and death? Why don’t they want to come back Home to your spiritual abode?” God replied, “I ask myself the same thing. Why don’t you visit those lower realms and see what the problem is, and return to tell me.” The soul descended to the lower realms to find the answer. When the soul reached the physical region, it had to be born into a physical body with a physical mind. It found itself in the body of a baby being born to a set of parents. As the parents were the first people it met, it tried to ask them the question, “Why do you want to stay in this physical region when there is a realm of God filled with love and ecstasy?” However, the baby discovered it could not speak. It was trapped in this little body with no way to speak to its parents. The only sound that came out was a piercing cry or little coos. Stuck in this form, the soul decided to learn to speak so it could ask the parents this question. Unfortunately, it took several years for it to learn how to progress from crying to a few words to sentences. During that time, the baby was given all kinds of toys to play with, foods to eat, and activities in which to engage. The parents spent the time teaching it all kinds of information and skills. There were other babies and toddlers with whom to play. Life was filled with many activities. Because the soul had a mind, the mind was always restless and curious to learn more and more about the world. By the time the soul was capable of asking the question for which it had come down to this world, it had forgotten the question. It was so excited to see all the sights and sounds of this world that it forgot its original mission. Its whole life passed engaged in the attractions and enticements of this world. It enjoyed the delicious foods, the entertainment, the luxuries, and the pleasure of name and fame, power, and possessions. When it came time for the body in which the soul had inhabited to pass away, suddenly it remembered God. The soul within cried out as its body neared its end, “Oh, my God, how could I have forgotten You? My whole lifetime has passed and I too have become caught up in this world. The mind and body has kept me attracted to finding happiness down here, forgetting the unbounded happiness I had when immersed in You. Now I see why there are so many souls stuck in this physical realm.” Our soul is weighed down with a mind and body The condition of being weighed down with a mind and body is the lesson of autumn. The soul has left its abode in the eternal realm of God with its state of happiness, freedom, timelessness, and love. It has taken residence in its new home in regions of suffering, bondage, time, and separation from God. The love it enjoyed has turned to the pain of separation. Separated from God, it seeks a return to the state of happiness and love. However, having forgotten God, it seeks joy in the materialism of the world. As long as it is looking for light in the wrong places, it suffers separation from God. It mistakes the world as a source of its happiness. In pursuit of happiness in the lower realms, it gets entangled in a life of anger, lust, greed, attachment, and ego. These create more karmas for the soul, like falling into a mud pit, and the soul cannot get free of them. We are in fetters and chains that keep us in bondage. Kabir Sahib, though, is saying there is a way out of these chains. He says that we are in this condition without the knowledge imparted by the saints and spiritual Masters. Kabir Sahib is saying that the situation is not hopeless. We can escape this cycle with knowledge of a spiritual teacher or Master. Masters come to this world to remind us that our true home is in God. They want to awaken us to realize we are not the body and mind, but the soul. They come to free us from this state of forgetfulness to take us back to the Lord. In this verse, Kabir Sahib is saying that he wants the soul to realize that this physical world is temporary and we shall leave it one day. He says we can take nothing of this world with us when we breathe our last. He wants us to wake up from this sleep of forgetfulness and attachment to the world and find the Light of God within us. We can do so through meditation on the Light and Sound of God. Saints and Masters come to wake us up. Saints and Masters want us to know that we are caught in the autumn season of the soul, and that we need to return to the summer season of the soul, in the eternal land of God, with its happiness, freedom, timelessness, and love. |
