from a caterpillar to a butterfly

Sitting, listening in a class, Fidgety I get. A sense of restlessness, I cannot comprehend. And then I hear a whisper of words, I take a deep breath and try to focus. Playing with my children, I feel my hands twitching, To pick up the mobile, And browse Instagram. And then I hear a whisper of words, I take a deep breath and try to focus. Talking to a loved one over the phone, Listening yet not listening, I keep thinking, Of what’s next. And then I hear a whisper of words, I take a deep breath and try to focus. Don’t we all do this? Physically in a place, But mentally elsewhere? Body doing a thing, While the mind, Thinking an entirely different thing. It is here I hear a whisper of words, Of my Guru nudging me to be, To be present in the moment, To be living in the moment, To be experiencing the moment, To be aware of the moment. And I take a deep breath, Willing my mind back to my body, Wanting to be aware, Wanting to be fully there, To experience life, Moment after moment, to its full...

Deep down in a space, At the very bottom of my heart, It lies buried and forgotten. It was once the light of my life, And the sparkle in my eyes, Now it lies completely abandoned. It shows its presence, In my most alone moments, Crying to be recognized, And seeking to be acknowledged. But I am lost in my world, Of practicality and social norms, That all it leaves me with, Is a touch of melancholy. My forgotten dream…

Into my womb, she came, With her, she brought faith. Testing me every other month, With names that had my heart go numb. Motherhood as old as the world, Always come with a scare that makes you go cold. Every mother here, Will vouch for this fact without fear. Yet we indulge in it, A journey laborious yet sweet, That leaves scars on our bodies, Yet our heart and mind fulfilled. Mine was one such journey, Like the potter, she held me inside, While life chiselled me outside, Rooted in faith was all she asked, To deliver the miracle that she was.

It reveals itself in our sleep. It also keeps us up without sleep. It gives wings to our thoughts, Vision to our life and becomes The mission our life is meant to be. It is nothing but an illusion, If we choose not to believe. It is everything and a reality, If we choose to give it all it needs. It is the beginning, And in achieving it is the end,  It is available to all, to you and me. To see it, a mind is all we need. To live it, a will is all we need. It is the ladder that has taken many, To heights impossible to reach. It is the basis for progress and evolution, It is the originator of our civilization, It is the power that makes rags to riches possible. It is a dream that all of us desire in reality. Dreams, Ignite, Kindle, Inspire, And awaken, Us, To possibilities infinity. This festival season, Wishing each one of you, Dream dreams that inspire you, To aspire most and more in life. 

  I met her in my twenties, When I was my most vulnerable self. She tucked me into her embrace, With warmth and love. Together we have travelled ever since, I the fish and she the big blue sea. Often, I wondered, How did she come to be? This exalted emotion that she is meant to be. Beyond all religions, Beyond all geographies, She holds humanity on its knees. She is loved and cherished by all, She is the anchor to life for many. For those who let her in wholeheartedly, She weaves in her magic with miracles many. Holding on to her,  Life becomes merry. She is in trust and in belief, She is in love and in bhakti, She is the end and the means to the end, She is one we hold on to till our very end. She is the way to God we all so wish to meet. She is a five-letter word called Faith. Faith is that belief in our God, Faith is that emotion we feel towards life, Faith is that feeling that influences our choices, Faith is that conviction we hold on ourselves. Faith as small as a mustar...

Running, running, running, All the time. Thinking, thinking, thinking, All the time. One after the other, Days go by, Like the sheets on the daily calendar. Morning, noon and night, Glide through like the clouds in the sky, Moving to the rhythm of the wind, While I to the tick-tock of my clock. Hours, minutes and seconds go by, Like water running through a sieve, There, yet not there. My life is moving at a pace, That feels like an endless race. Pause, I tell my mind. Relax, I whisper to my heart. Guilt threatens to well up, But I have a stronger reason, It is called my sanity. I simply let everything be, And let go of my illusion, Of control, Of importance, Of irreplaceability, And plunged right ahead, To the most deserving ‘me’ time. Away from everything, Yet strangely feeling closer, Surrounded by clouds, Gazing at the horizon, With the sun on my eyes, With heart fluttering with joy, In wonderment with nature, In awe of life, In my aloneness, I realized, What a magic life is, What m...

  Hey women, You are the giver of life, You are the provider of life, You are worshipped as Shakthi and the Yin. Do you recognize this? As you go about your day? You are an overflowing fountain of love, You are empathetic and compassionate, You are a multirole wonder, A professional or a homemaker, You are everything that you are and much more. Do you recognize this? As you go about your day? Hey women, Do you live in a box? That the society has defined long back. Do you live in judgement? From a world that loves to judge. Have you ever wondered, What it would mean to step out of the box, For once,  To live a life of your own, For your happiness, On your terms, Without guilt, For yourself. Maybe you do. Maybe you don’t. Maybe you feel it. Maybe you ignore it. Maybe you are caught between the should and the shouldn’t.  What would it mean to live, not seeking permission? What would it mean to live without constant guilt? What would it mean to live beyond the sense of duty? ...

  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 noth...

  Through the year they lay, Hoping to be lit, Waiting for their moment, To get enlightened, To shine bright!  These little lamps... What beauty... What light.... Such a warm joyful feeling,  They bring to a cold dull night. How they seize their moment, With intensity and delight, They burn with all their might, To show us who they are.. These little lamps, So delicate to look, So fierce to touch, Dispel the darkness, With just a tiny wick.  Patiently wait, For your moment, To shine,  To burn,  To light-up, To create, To become,  What you are meant to be!

Oh! What a beauty! My big white beauty, Painted in the dark night skies, Your rays are always white, They fill us with so much joy, In seeing your majestic form.. memories come alive, A constant companion in many of our lives, We love to see you full and bright, You are an icon of childhood fun and wonderment. You are a witness to several of our deep experiences. You have been a constant companion silently guarding us and guiding us. You are an inspiration... a sun, can never make you less.. you are original and one of your kind. Gazing at you has revealed several of our heart desires, We wonder what more mysteries you behold. A day brightens up with a glimpse of you, Oh how lovely it is to watch you! Today you are a sight to behold, Enchanting is your presence, My white beauty,  Painted in the dark night skies!

That pull of the heart toward the one amidst all distractions, That craving of the soul for just another moment, That fixation of the mind on that one thing, That feeling of overflowing oneness with the one, Is Devotion.

  Oh, I kept searching, Amidst all the chaos and yelling, For an anchor, To keep my sanity. It kept eluding me, Day in and day out, It kept dodging me, Every other minute. I turned to music, I turned to prayer, I turned to sleep, Hoping to find it at least. It sent its nemesis, In everything and Everyone around me, Leaving me trembling with fury. Not caring anymore, I walked out aimlessly. I turned a blind eye and a deaf ear, Wanting only to seek my refuge.  It then dawned on me. While soaking in a beautiful sunrise, By the light blue sea, Feeling the gentle morning breeze, The truth you resist,  are the battles you fight. Simply Accept or  Simply Let go. Click… something fell in place, The knots seem to untangle, Suddenly it all made sense, This chaos and my search. My battles are the truths, That I am unwilling to accept, That I am too attached to let go, The veil covering my sight. The heart rejoiced, At this newfound clarity, And I danced my way back, To the chao...

  There in the nothingness, So deep and so dark, So expansive and so vast, Was heard the very first sound. It is the sound of creation, With it came the universe, Of galaxies, stars and planets, With it came light that sustains us all. Oh, this sound, The witness to creation, The essence of existence, Is the scared sound of life. Hidden in every living cell, This hum of the universe, Gives life, Creates life. To utter it, To chant it, To experience it, To just be one with it, Is to witness creation, Of an inner world, From nothingness, To everything. From darkness to light, From apathy and agony to peace, From fear to faith, From feeling to being. From everything, the perceivable, To the nothingness, the unperceivable, From everything, materialistic, To the nothingness, spiritual. This sacred sound of the universe, Has its way, of creating us, And recreating us, From everything back to the nothingness. The power of the chant AUM...

There in the night, A very dark night, Under the dim twinkling stars, In grass moist with dew, I met you for the very first time… You descended on me, With a force so intense, I stood there numb, yet spellbound, I stood still, yet jubilant inside.  Comprehending the unfolding of my feeling… Was it delight? Was it love? Was it joy? Was it happiness? Was it bliss? I tried to name you, You seemed like all of it, Yet much more, You felt like all of it, Yet much deeper. As I was still figuring you out, Going through all of the emotions, Yet none, There settled in a calmness, within, Nothing like I have ever felt before. It gave me new eyes, It created a new understanding, It gave me new perceptions, It created a new reality, It created a new me. A new me, that decided to seek you in everything, A new me, that resolved to hold you above everything. A new me, that realised the futility of pursuing anything but you, A new me, that embraced you with open arms. A new me, that finally met and...

There is something about it, That heals a bruised heart, That burns the stress away, That calms the turmoil inside. There is something about it, That creates everything, out of nothing, That creates life even from a tiny speck. In it starts a world, in it, we end.  There is something about it, That every time I touch, Time stands still,  The world seems not to exist.  There is something about it, That weaves its magic on me, Leading me to happiness, Leading me to joy. There is something about it, The touch of the soil, That takes me to a place I always wish to be Connecting me to a peace deep within. There is something about it, That creates magic within, The magic touch, The touch of the soil…

What is it with a night? It brings a soothing peace, It calms us with its presence, It claims us in our sleep. What magic is it this night? That we are transformed in its presence. We are not aware and yet we are reborn It gives us hope, it heals our pain. There is something about this thing called night, That changes everything. It puts us to sleep yet creates us within. Releases something and adds so much more. I am grateful for the night, For its presence and embrace.  Through it I am no more. I become one with many. In its arms I surrender, day in and day out. To heal, to reprogram, To reorient, to reinitiate,  To restart a new, me…

  There in my sleep, I was awakened by a dream, A dream in which I asked myself, Do you love me? What a silly question, I said. Of course, I love you! Now, you go back to sleep. I brushed it aside, ready for a deep slumber. But this dream me, persisted. It asked, why do you love me? I replied, why does anyone love? Because they like. Oh, said the me, You love me because you like me? Ah, but what about the times, When I am angry, do you still love me? What about the times when I am sad? Do you still love me? What about the times when I am reckless? Feeling guilty and pity, do you still love me? What about the time when I feel insecure? Do you still love me? What about the times when I did a wrong? Do you still love me? Ah, why this sudden inquisitiveness, Why this sudden urge to know, I wondered? I looked at this dream me with a smile, My heart overflowing, I said. I love you not because you are loving. I love you even when you are angry. I love you not because you are happy. I love...

  Who is God, I was told, God is everything, God is everywhere, God is infinite, God is nothingness. I felt blank and totally lost.  Wondering, What is He? Where is He? Why is He so abstract? I was unable to comprehend Him, I was unable to relate to Him, I was unable to see or understand Him. Lost in this deep mystery called God. I searched, I kept looking, For some explanation, For some sign, For some understanding. It came to me in different forms, In articles I read, In the speeches I heard, But I still craved to understand more… It was then a miracle presented into my life, It came in the form of my Guru, Who held my hand and took me into his lap, Lovingly, patiently He taught me to look, He showed me the God present in music, He showed me the God present in dance, He showed me the God all around in nature, Oh, is this what they meant when they said, God is everywhere, God is in everything? It no longer seemed so abstract, The experience showed me God is here and everywher...

  Over the vast blue sea, That seems to meet the sky, Rises a red and yellow ball, Spreading its glow and shine, Sometimes presenting without a drama, Sometimes peeping from behind the clouds, This golden ball gives us rays and sunshine. Ah, this is nature, What beauty and shine, Shimmering in the water below, Lighting the skies above, It leaves us spellbound, Dissolved in its majestic sight, We lose ourselves to it, Without a blink or a flicker, This is nature, as I have always known, I cherish it deep, in my hearts corner. There it stands, towering and gallant, Romancing the clouds grounded and valiant, Many mysteries and secrets holding in its bosom, It calls to me expectant in anticipation, It takes me through its bends and curves, Each time revealing a tiny part of itself,  I squeal in excitement at the view around, Ah this is nature, So enormous yet so delicate, Lush greenery amidst the color of the earth, Tiny stream flowing between the huge rugged rocks, It is so huge,...

There, in a universe so big and vast, With millions of galaxies and billions of planets, One tiny speck of dust, kept keying away in a Mac, What was it about, what was going on? Oh, was it about a series or a movie? Was it about a learning or a realisation? Was it a prose or a poetry? This tiny speck of dust was a mystery known. Oh wait, who is this cheerful face,  With eyes that sparked joy, With mouth that carried a smile, This tiny speck of dust lit the place bright. Oh, what a wonder to behold and know, An inspiration to some, An enigma to many, This tiny speck of dust was the one for many. A voracious reader, a passionate writer, A casual singer, an amateur cook, A loving spouse and a doting parent, This tiny speck of dust is a multirole wonder. Oh, I can see your brows go up, I can see your eyes squirt, Who in the world is so humble? Yes, you are right, it is I, it is I! Oh, now that you know it is I, And what you know are out of the way, Come let us explore, This tiny speck ...