Noise

 

Noise, noise, everywhere.

I woke up in the morning.

I switched on my Wi-Fi.

The noise came in the form of zillion notifications.

I went about my morning routines of

cleaning, cutting, and cooking.

The noise came in the form of devotional chants,

from the neighbouring house.

I made my cup of tea and sat on the balcony.

I was inhaling the freshness around.

I was taking in the beauty of the rising sun.

Soaking in the change of colours 

and the mild warmth of the golden rays.

Tring, Tring, Beep, Beep,

the noise of the vehicles moving.

It brought me back to the reality of

all that awaited my day.

Ah, how I wish everything could pause, 

just for a little while,

allowing me a few more minutes,

of quietude,

of aloneness,

of nothingness,

of losing myself to the experience.

Before my household wakes up,

And my chores take over. 

How I wish I could hold on to it,

This state of happy nothingness,

Just for a bit longer before I begin the day!

To live in this state of happy nothingness,

Was my deepest craving and desire,

And then I met with this something 

And that changed everything.

It started with the altar of my God and

slowly made its way into my heart.

I didn’t know,

It seeped in very slowly,

Like the wetness, you find on the walls after the rains stopped.

I found it manifest in things around me and

realized it was in my heart.

With it, I could find my happy nothingness, 

In cooking dishes,

In riding a bike,

In weeding the garden,

In gazing at the sunrise,

In everything.

Suddenly the noise around disappeared,

I often wondered how the magic appeared,

The Tring and the Beep continued 

But I knew not when it existed.

It was then this realization dawned,

That something was tuning out the noise around,

Gifting me with happy nothingness!

Devotion,

That something, 

I always felt in the altar of my God,

It made its way into my heart.

Slowly but steadily,

It taught me to see and not just glimpse,

It taught me to listen and not just hear,

It taught me to feel and not suppress,

It taught me to live and not just exist.

It taught me the power of the present moment,

To live it with no past or future in it.

To live it with complete focus and intensity.

To live it to the hilt.

When I let devotion into my life,

The noise found its way out.

Making the very act of living my life, 

An act of devotion.