A Look At Life -98 Poem by Smruti Ranjan Mohanty

A LOOK AT LIFE-98
BY SMRUTI RANJAN MOHANTY

A JOURNEY

The world outside,
no doubt, is beautiful and fascinating,
but it is nothing in comparison to
the inner world
where you hardly live.

You have travelled a lot,
your mind wandering here and there.
Your organs of sense searched
for happiness everywhere—
yet you failed miserably;
real happiness you found nowhere.

Now, when there is no outer world to roam,
lock down your outings
for a change.
Look within.
Go inside and see what lies therein.

Just close your eyes
and sit for a few minutes.
That will convince you
of the treasure
that lies deep within.

As you go deeper,
move along the spine—
layers of consciousness will unfold
until you become the whole
and your identification is complete.

Expand your consciousness
and be the universe.
Contract yourself to a dot.

Feel you are the ocean and the mountains.
Feel you are the atom—
the protons and neutrons in the nucleus,
the electrons orbiting around.

Think you are eating
through thousands of mouths.
You are suffering
in millions of bodies.

You are taking birth
and dying every moment.
You are Krishna and Arjuna,
Dhritarashtra and Duryodhan,
and the beheaded Belalasen
who could see nothing
but the Sudarshan Chakra
cutting alike friends and foes.

You are in the mid-sea
surrounded by water—
yet inside you
there is hardly any water.

That visualisation
will introduce you to yourself
and bring you closer to reality.

Be a spectator.
Watch your breath—
you will realise
you are not the breath.

Watch your body and mind—
hands, legs, eyes, ears,
and the other organs of sense.
You will realise
you are neither body nor mind.

You are that consciousness
which drives body and mind to action
without being involved.

Consciousness has neither birth nor death.
It is immune to pleasure and pain.
It is untouched
by the pairs of opposites.

It is above time and space.
It has been there since infinity,
when there was neither time nor space.

Consciousness is not many—
it is one,
that pervades, holds,
and in fact
is the whole universe.

And the journey you began outside
ends quietly
within.

Smruti Ranjan Mohanty©
India
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