BEES IN THE GARDEN - henryrasof.com...yet Dr Balamuralikrishna singing the Jagadanandakaraka krithi of Saint Thyagaraja* makes this saint come alive and takes us higher still beyond

BEES IN THE GARDENPOEMS BY THE MASALA MYSTIC

Edited by Henry Rasof

Poems by the Masala Mystic © 2019 by Henry Rasof 1


View of Varanasi (at one time called Benares or Banaras), the holiest Indian city, from the Ganges, the holiest Indian river. The cloudy air probably includes smoke from the many cremations that take place along the banks of the river. I say "probably," because it also is possible that the hazy air is a kind of physical metaphor for maya, the veil of illusion that the Masala Mystic writes about in many of his poems. If you are cremated in Varanasi, it is said that you will not be

reincarnated on Earth.



I give my poetry away, and give myself along with itBut first I look for people who can value what I give.

—Mirza Ghalib

Mirza Ghalib

Edited by Henry Rasof

TEMESCAL CANYON PRESSLouisville, CO

2019


Books of Original Poetry by the EditorSouls in the Garden: Poems About Jewish Spain (2019)Here I Seek You: Jewish Poems for Shabbat, Holy Days, and Everydays (2016)Chance Music: Prose Poems 1974 to 1982 (2012)The House (2009)

Web Sites by the Editorhenryrasof.comwww.medievalhebrewpoetry.org

copyright © 2019 by Henry Rasof

All rights reserved.

No photograph, regardless of the source, may be reproduced, copied, transmitted, or linked to in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, or by any information storage or retrieval system.

Except for brief excerpts used in reviews, no text in this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the editor or his representative. To obtain such permission, please write or email:

Henry RasofTemescal Canyon Press116 Monarch StreetLouisville, CO USA [email protected]


Dedicated to seekers, mystics, and poets of all faiths and of no faiths;men, women, and children;

young and old; of all gender and sexual orientations;

in all places and worlds; of all nationalities or no nationality;

dead or alive;in the past, present, and future



CONTENTS

Who Was, Is, or Will Be the Masala Mystic?..........9

Beyond the Unknown..........13A Gathering of Bees..........17What Is Maya?..........19Questions for the Road..........22The Doors of Perception..........23Hungry, Noisy Birds Revisit the Big Questions..........28Maya and Morning Glory..........32Praying for Rain..........36Jagadanandakaraka 1..........37Jagadanandakaraka 2..........41Mari Mari Ninne Moralida Nee..........43Three Nirguni Bhajans..........45The Salt Doll of Sri Ramakrishna..........50The Death of Swami Vivekananda..........52

Notes..........56Sources of Quotations..........57Sources of Photographs..........59Names and Terms..........63

Poets and Spiritual Teachers..........63 Names of God, Gods, Goddesses, and Legendary Figures..........63Terms..........64

Further Reading..........66About the Editor..........69


Eventually one realizes that one cannot depend on anyone. . . . One has to "go it alone." . . .

One sees that one has to make the journey of understanding by oneself. . . ." —Jiddu Krishnamurti


WHO WAS, IS, OR WILL BE THE MASALA MYSTIC?

The poet calling himself the Masala Mystic is somewhat of an enigma. From his preoccupations with the kinds of concepts associated with Hinduism—like maya—and with Indian philosophers and mystics, one would assume that he himself was or is Indian, specifically a Hindu. However, the impressive breadth of his vocabulary and knowledge of different religious traditions leads one to wonder if indeed this is the case. The references to Taoism, Buddhism, and Islam; to Greek, Egyptian, and other ancient gods and goddesses; to Jesus; and to medieval Jewish philosophers may seem out of place in the work of a poet focused mainly on Indian ideas. However, Jews have lived in India since at least about the sixth century B.C.E., Buddhism originated in India in the fifth or sixth century B.C.E., Christians may have lived in India for about two thousand years, Zoroastrians and Muslims have lived there since the seventh century, commerce existed between India and other countries, the British landed in India in the seventeenth century India and ruled much of it until the mid-twentieth century, and ideas have no geographic boundaries. That said, the Mystic seems closely related in worldview to spiritual teachers like Sri Ramakrishna, an Indian Hindu whose teachings have a universalist ring to them.

When did the Masala Mystic himself live, or is he still living? Although he is mentioned in The Persian Letters, another work compiled by this editor and dated to the eleventh century, the many references in his poems to nineteenth- and twentieth-century spiritual teachers suggest he lived no farther back than the nineteenth century. Nothing eliminates the possibility that he is still alive in 2019, when this book is being edited. His age, gender, birth name, religion, caste (if he was or is Hindu and alive before the caste system was banned in 1950), and any other personal information are unknown.

Of course, the Mystic may have lived much longer ago and his original poems rewritten or embellished by other people along the way. The Mystic could be one man, or even many poets adopting his name. He even may be of the future. Since there's no way to support any of these notions, the editor has decided to assume that one man wrote the poems. As a contemporary poet writes, about a magical house:

No one knows how old the house is, when it was built, or where. The house is like a house without a history; when you are in it the past doesn't exist. . . . But the house has a history; it is just not in the books. . . . But the house is real. The house exists--wherever you are, whoever you are, have been, or want to be. The house, which is always on tour and has been everywhere, which never really goes anywhere, exists in every place on earth, in every time in history.

This could apply to the Masala Mystic.

The editor came across a large collection of the Mystic's unpublished poems in a library in Chennai, India, during one of the editor's three trips to India in search of poetry, music, spirituality, and, curiously, masala dosas, the heavenly Indian crepes.

The original poems are in Tamil and in English. The editor organized and edited fourteen of the English poems for this volume. He added the epigraphs and other quotations, based on references in the poems.

May your own spiritual path be enriched by these poems!


(above) Famous music hall in Chennai, in South India, called the Carnegie Hall of South Indian (Carnatic) music.

(below) Masala dosa referred to in text. Yum!


The best of all true thingsis a true heart.

—Kabir



. . . sometimes truth flashes out to us so that we think that it is day, and then matter and habit in their various forms conceal it

so that we find ourselves again in an obscure night, almost as we were at first.

We are like someone in a very dark night over whom lightning flashes time and time again.

—Rabbi Moses Maimonides, The Guide of the Perplexed

Statue of Rabbi Moses Maimonides in Córdoba, Spain.


Beyond the Unknown

is there a God and if so does this God have form and what is its natureand if not what else is there?

some say that God exists and has both form and no form or even that God sometimes has form and sometimes does not

these questions are of interest and the questioners as well but what if anything does any of this meanand does anyone care even if God does exist which i think is the case?

does any of it matter when the music is strongwhen the music is beautifulwhen the music is ecstatic and ethereal?

walter pater said that all art aspiresto the condition of music, namely, pure formyet compared with the music itself, so what?

i have seen this God on a jeweled thronein a hypnagogic visionbut does this compare with a Bach suite?

people make statues of gods and Buddhasand these are often extraordinarily beautifulbut can anyone say as beautiful as the buzzing of a beehive?

in Japan a temple hall with 1001 statues of the goddess of mercyconcentrates their compassion in a way that cannot be describedyet compared with a Bach violin sonata . . .

the jade Buddha in Bangkok spoke to meand I didn't even have to give an offeringbut the formlessness of a musical composition speaks even more mysteriously

and what about the little black statue of the goddess Kali that almost comes alivein the Ramakrishna temple at Dakhineswar, India, where Sri Ramakrishna and his wife Sarada Devi lived

yet Dr Balamuralikrishna singing the Jagadanandakaraka krithi of Saint Thyagaraja* makes this saint come alive and takes us higher stillbeyond the unknown

__________Two versions of this composition can be found on pages 33 to 35 and on pages 37 to 38 of this book.


The Sanjusangendo Temple, near the city of Kyoto in Japan, houses 1001 statues of the Kannon Bodhisattva, the goddess of mercy. To the right and in front of these images are their guardians, strongmen formerly bad guys but converted to protecting the other images. This remarkable temple is a vortex of compassion.


Kali statue at the Ramakrishna Temple in Dakshineswar, north of Kolkata. She also can be seen adorned in red and other colors.


A Gathering of Bees

does God exist?bees gathering nectar in the garden. if there is no God, how explain anything?bees gathering pollen in the garden.

if there is a God, did this God create the world from nothing?bees gathering pollen in the garden.

if there is a God who didn't create the world from nothing, then what was the something?bees gathering nectar in the garden.

if there is no God, where did the universe come from?bees gathering pollen in the garden.

what is the meaning of life?bees gathering pollen in the garden.

is there life after death?bees gathering nectar in the garden.

bees gathering pollen in the gardenis all there is

bees gathering nectar in the gardenis all there is


What Is Maya?

A divine life upon earth . . . can only come about by a spiritual change of our being and a radical and fundamental change, an evolution or revolution of our nature. The embodied being . . would have to rise out of the domination over it ofits veils of mind, life and body into the full consciousness and possession of its spiritual reality. . . . —Sri Aurobindo

When the mind, the cause of all cognitions and actions, becomes quiescent, the world will disappear.—Ramana Maharshi

is everything really an illusion?i do not think sri aurobindo knowshis arguments reveal the web of maya

ramana maharshi says there is no worldwhile krishnamurti says we are the world

swami vivekananda saysmaya is the illusionthat we are separate from God

bees know there's a worldas they seek the last pollen of the seasonon the mint flowers in my garden

and the flowers themselves know. . . .it's their last chance to spread their fragranceuntil next year

the tree squirrels knowsearching my porch for the magical peanutsto get them through the winter

the Indian roller birds know toothey are all over the placecollecting nuts to squirrel away

chuang tzu askedwhether we dream of butterfliesor whether butterflies dream us

but is there really no worldbeyond our perceptionno perception beyond the world?

is everything just one?sounds good i'm just not sure


Chuang Tzu Chuang Tzu

(left) Butterflies. Are we dreaming the butterfies, (below) Swami Vivekananda. Swami Vivekananda


The symbol of Sri Aurobindo: the lotus The symbol of The Mother incorporates an original flower floating on water in a six-pointed mandala in the form of a flower color wheel.star. Curiously, his consort, The Mother, had a Sephardic-Jewish father.


Questions for the Road

will i ever understand South Indian music?i don't think so

what about the mystery of sexual attraction?probably not

does Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed have a secret message?i wish i knew

what about Neoplatonic emanations?the professor wouldn't let me ask more questions

why couldn't my mathematician father act rationally?several score years says i haven't a clue

why does an old sweetheart say "i don't want to talk about it" so often?beats me

why do some busy people never answer letters while others always do?your guess is as good as mine

where do people go when they die? if i knew, i'd be famous

is there such a thing as reincarnation? whatever people say, it's hard to believe

if one soul ascends and another descends on the Jewish sabbath, how can Jews gain an extral soul?only God knows

why do i think i will never love again while other people say i'm such a catch?a feeling, just a feeling

Performance space in Chennai, South India,

during Margazhi, Music Month.


The Doors of Perception

He sat in a particular style. His left foot was on the ground, But his right leg was put on the knee of his left leg. There was a heavenly smile on his face.—Description of Shirdi Sai Baba.

If the doors of perception were cleansed Every thing would appear . . . as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up,Till he sees all things thro' the narrow chinks of his cavern.—William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.

Shirdi Sai Baba as described above.


is there more to life than meets the eye?can clouds blown by the wind mean something special?

do zen buddhistshave a corner on truth?

does kabir have the answers?after all, no one even knows if he was hindu or muslim

Cloudy skies in Puducherry, formerly Pondicherry, in southeastern India, where Sri Aurobindo and The Mother lived.

like shirdi sai babawhose face graces my wallet calendar

life seems full of questions and contradictionsi would like to think i know at least some of the answers by now


and how to resolve some of the contradictions

saying, like kabir, the Mystic says this, the Mystic says that

but in our worldso brutal and complex

where daily tragedies of spilled bloodmake both seekers and nonseekers alike

sick to their well-fed stomachsthe meaning some of us so desire

seems to drains from those well-meant cloudsonly to fall to earth and create more havoc. . . .

once many years agothe whole universe became crystal clear to me

as if blake's doors of perception had been cleansedwith beautiful old poems soaked in supernatural solvent

everything appeared infinite and for a few moments i actually knewthat meaning of life that i and everyone else is so keen to find

According to a dialogue between Zenmaster Hui Hai—the "Great Pearl"—and a pupil:

Q: When we are looking at something, does the thing looked at exist objectively within the sphere of perception or not? A: It does not.Q: When we (look around and) do not see anything, is there an absence of something objective within the sphere of perception? A: No, there is not.


Hungry, Noisy Birds Revisit the Big Questions. . . the God whom I love is inside.—KabirI am dyed in the love of . . . /My Beloved.—MirabaiAn individual should hold an awareness of God and His love all the time.

He should not separate his consciousness form the Divine. . . .—Rabbi Moses Nachmanides.Our Krishna . . . is a thief! . . . He has stolen my heart, taken away my everything!—Surdas

Hungry, noisy birds. In this case, Patagonian penguins!What would the Mystic think?

nobody really knows if the world existsnobody knows

nobody really knowsif we are the worldnobody knows

not krishnamurtivivekanandaor ramana maharshi


Ramana Maharshi, with someone's reflection.

nobody really knowsif there is a God or godsnobody knows

if we and God are one and the samenobody knowsnot adi shankara or this guru or that

nobody really knowsif there is a God, and if so, whether God has qualitiesnot maimonides or nachmanides or any other rabbi

nobody really knowsif there's a heaven or hellnobody knows

or if there is reincarnationor if whether karma determines anythingor even if there's such a thing as karma

nobody really knowsif the soul is immortalor even if there is such a thing as a soul

nobody really knowsif life has a purposewhether good and evil are real


although rabbi nachmanides says our purpose is to know God and praise his name

nobody really knowsif emptiness is the ultimateneither kabir nor bulleh shah

nobody really knowswhether there is or was a krishnanot mirabai or any of the other Indian saint poets

nobody really knowswhy our minds work as they dowhat and why projection is

if all paths to realization are the same as ramakrishna saysor whether there is even such a thing as realizationand if there is, what or why it is

there are a thousand ways to fool ourselveswhether with a koan like joshuor a mantra like maharishi

staring at a mandala like the dalai lama sitting quietly and doing nothing like the zen masters

Mandala


or following the ramanawho says when we ask who am I and eliminate the body and senses, what is left is awareness and the nature of Awareness is existence-consciousness-bliss.

and so i sit at my deskmy back killing mesilence around me

indian roller birds chortle in the yarda flock of black birdsis looking for worms

i will not ask their purpose or say they have a message for mei will not interpret their sounds and songsnor attribute meaning to their movements

there is no conference of the birdsthey are just a bunch of hungry, noisy birdsgoing about their business

i notice the tangle of wires on my deskhear a car go bytwitch my head and remember to get my tea


Maya and Morning GloryMaya's the great swindler—now I know.—Kabir.

Maya is the magical power in creation by which limitations and divisions are apparently present in the Immeasurable and Inseparable.—Paramahansa Yogananda

The anklet of delusion jingles andproduces the sound of spicy scandal. . . .Illusion was bound as waistband on the waist—Surdas

The Matrimandir at Auroville.

Signs in Auroville, near Puducherry, Southeast India, the utopian community founded by The Mother,Sri Aurobindo's consort. She loved flowers and used them as symbols of human qualities. If you visit

just one utopian community in your lifetime, this is the one.


Maya you have once againTaken over my mindLetting me think of nothing else

You have tricked me againInto thinking everything is illusionThat the world is unreal

You also have tricked the great rishisAnd philosophers, and the yogis tooLike Yogananda, and poets like Surdas

You say the gods are unrealThat formlessness is the only realityThe not-this, not-that paradigm

You say my soul is the same as the BrahmanThat everything is oneThat you are only the mistaken perception of separateness

That something existsBeyond what I see before meThat a greater reality exists beyond that of my senses

All these years you have fooled meInto sometimes thinking I am in my head too muchAnd other times in my body too much

You say God sometimes has formAnd sometimes doesn'tAnd sometimes doesn't exist

You want me to think either God is everything, or everything is GodOr nothing is God, or God is nothing

That all of my thoughts and conceptionsOf God and existence are wrongOr that there is no God, so what's the problem?

You even want to trap meInto saying the only reality is watching the bees in my gardenCapture the last mint-flower pollen of the season

You even want to trap me into thinking youDo not exist, that the idea the world is illusionIs illusion itself . . .


Sun or moon or illusion or illusion itself?

. . . Or into thinking the one I am now addressing Is real and that life indeed is but a dreamAnd my dreams the only reality

But you know something, Ms Maya?You do not trick me; I now know your tricks.Everything is not illusion.

Everything is not youAnd you are not everythingI am not the victim of wrong thinking

My life is not a dreamI have awakened to see thatThe only reality is what is under my nose

The whole world's my morning gloryConvolvulaceae

Heavenly blue, Milky Way,All the varieties of whorl


I close my eyes before sleepAnd your flowers spin in dizzying array

I bury my nose in your pollenAnd lick your stamens

Your ovaries mesmerize meAnd their fallopian tubes

Your spiral folds hypnotize meThere is no other reality

Maya cannot penetrateMy oneness with your colors

Nothing is illusoryWhen I am with you

I may think there's more to lifeThan your delicate whirling petals

But there isn't. I can't be fooledCan't be fooled ever again.

*******

The Vedic scriptures declare that the physical world operates under one fundamental law of maya, the principle of relativity and duality. God, the Sole Life, is Absolute Unity; to appear as the separate and diverse manifestations of a creation He wears a false or unreal veil. That illusory dualistic veil is maya. . . . . .—Paramahansa Yogananda.


Praying for Rain

this time of year rabbis pray for rainchristian ministers preach the sin of birth control

muslim imams call for the death of jewsbuddhists hack muslims to pieces

indian hindus force-convert christiansmuslims kill christians, and jews target one another

job asks why there is evilall I can say is that

believers in god have a problem with this questionyes there is more to life than meets the idea

some clouds do have special meaningnot everyone is intolerant, and each day brings good news too

all i can do is play or listen to some musicto keep myself afloat through another day

The famous and angelic South Indian vocalist Sudha Ragunathan and her accompanists performing in India.


Jagadanandakaraka 1

Refrain:

Are you man or god?Rama or Vishnu?Once born or incarnation?Whatever you areWhoever you are:Eager to giveYou bring bliss

Do you have form?Are you perfect white flowerOr eternal white moon?Whatever you areWhoever you are:Your sweetness is transcendentLanguage of compassion.

How digest the hive’s hidden honey? The Moon.How live in both the poet’s heartAnd the mute’s?Whatever you areWhoever you are:You create weather in poets’ hearts,Shatter ignorance with hurricane force.

Hurricane.


Are you the great sapphire of IndraWhose net holds sun and moonWithin absolute, beautiful oneness?Whatever you areWhoever you are:As death’s enemyYou light up life’s mystery web.

Can one being guard holy sacrificesAnd bring a shine to corroded beautyWith a touch of his feet?Whatever you areWhoever you are:Peaceful, soft, mantra-adept,Your joy envelops the world.

Do you follow us from birth to deathIn the same peerless form?Do you really answer all prayers?Whatever you areWhoever you are:As essence of love and desire, the Ramayana story itself,You help us conquer our pride.

Are you the moon that lights pure hearts,Flying charioteerWhose feet the monkey god Hanuman rubbed with his lotus hands?Whoever you areWhatever you are:Brahma, the Creator, worshipsThe slayer of demons: pride and arrogance

Are you Shiva, primal energy of Creation residing in the divine Om, source of everything;Brahma and Vishnu; form of forms–who killed the foe of Indra, the sky god,And now provides compassion to shelter the innocent?Whoever you are Whatever you are:Beyond description, you control time by creating and destroying.You love the arts, spreading joy among the righteousYou are the essential eternal Vedic wisdom of unknown origin

What arrows did you useTo break the demons’ egosAnd protect holy men and gods?Whoever you areWhatever you are:Valmiki, most radiant of poets, spread your fame in the RamayanaWhile your servant Thyagaraja sings your praises.


Are you the eternal consciousness of the universeSolar son, slave of your devoteesWho turns demons to angels?Whoever you areWhatever you are:You are unchanging, pure belovedOf Thyagaraja, humble author of these songs, who worships you.

Do you, draped in golden silks, have countless virtues,An arrow able to pierce seven hardwood treesFeet splendid as the rising sun?Whoever you areWhatever you are:Your fame is infiniteYou dwell in the heart of poets.

Whoever you are Whatever you are:Your brother Lakshmi’s belovedYou are generous with both gods and saintsWhoever you are Whatever you are:Your glance, like that of the lion-faced incarnation of Vishnu the preserver,Frightens elephants and drives off the sinful.Great devotees like Thyagaraja praise you.


Hanuman

Hanuman, the monkey god.


Jagadanandakaraka 2

Refrain:

I salute you, Rama,Consort of Sita,For bringing us blissAs you, descended from the sun of suns,Worshipped by the lesser gods,Descend to earth, eager to give.

You are moon in eternal galaxy,Most perfect white flowerIn a field of transcendence,Thief of form and formlessness,Agelessly beautiful, sweet-tongued,Benevolent to the receptive.

Bees. Snake in raspberry bushes.

You show us an unknown hiveAnd how to digest its honey;Destroy the dark clouds of ignoranceLike a hurricaneLive in the hearts of poets,

You are the great sapphire of Indra,Father to the creator, whose net holdsThe moon and sun within an absolute, beautiful onenessLighting the web of life beyond understanding.You sleep with the purest of snakes, worshippedBy destruction, though enemy of death.


With a mere touch of your feet you restore lifeTo a perfect beauty hardened by lust and jealousy,Defend the sacrifices of the wise,Learned the mantras for strength and endurance.Your mind at peace, you tame your softer side, grant favorsTo Brahma your son, let your joy envelop the world.

You are beginnings, middles, and endsIn one incomparable formWho answers all prayersWhile conquering our pride,Essence of love and desire,The Ramayana story itself.

You ride the flying chariot,A moon lighting pious hearts.The monkey god Hanuman, who proved his mettle in your service,Rubs your feet with his lotus hands.You conquered the demons of arrogance, pride, and other character flaws.Even Brahma worships you, who are immortal.

You are the elemental energy of CreationResiding in the elemental sound OmYou are Shiva, Brahma, and Vishnu.You killed the enemy of the sky god.You are abode of compassion Who shelters the innocent.You are the essence of the eternal Vedas.


Mari Mari Ninne Moralida Nee(You Have No Thought of Mercy)

Mercy does not enter your thoughts Even when I entreat you again and again

O Ceres who is everywhere in the worldYou were not in a hurry when your garden needed youYou did not ignore messages from strangersOr neglect to ask them how they were after their long journey

I have heard you tell of your mercy with your potatoesYou who swim in the river of lifeWho is one with the oceans though the currents are strongPlease—why do you ignore me while you help Indra, the sky god, who needs no help

Mercy does not come to your thoughtsEven when I entreat you again and again

O Great Cere-ji who listens to the flowers and herbsWho asks how they are each morning

Who inquires into their deepest emotionsWho is curious about the aphids that crawl among the petalsWhat have I done that you drink deeply from every flowerExcept those in my garden, to which you flit only briefly

That you tell the world of your exploitsBut only cursorily inquire of mine, or not at all

Mercy does not come to your thoughtsEven when I entreat you again and againO Ceres of the sun and starsOf the clods of earth, the shallots and zucchini

I do not think you really want to knowAnything about me or to understand who I am

My other friends praise my poemsThey tell me something in them has changed their lifeThey ask if they can share one with a friend People I hardly know or do not care about provide the sweet nothings you do not

Mercy does not seem to be coming into your mindEven when again and again I entreat you


You think nothing to avoid hurting the feelings of the monkey god HanumanTo assuage the loneliness of Shiva's and Parvati's son GaneshTo defer to the wishes of Rama's brother LakshmanaYet when I cry out for just a sideways glance, your head remains turned away

And so please understand that it is not good for youNot to be pleased with Saint Thyagaraja and his servant Masala Mystic

Ganesh(a), the son of the god Shiva and his consort Parvati, brings success and removes obstacles..


Three Nirguni BhajansThe pilgrims go to Mecca./My Mecca is my lover Ranjha./I am crazy indeed.—Bulleh Shah. He is the immortal Lord,Eternal, all powerfulGiver of joy and salvation Bountiful and merciful.—Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh guru

The Sikh Golden Temple, Amritsar, India.

One

your god is an idolmine has no form

your god has no formmine is an idol

your god is zeusmine is watching storm clouds forming

your god is the sun god ramine is feeling the sun warm my body on a winter day

your god is elmine doesn't have even two letters

your goddess is astartemine is my lover's perfect body

your god is the unpronounceable name of god mine cannot even be spelled


your goddess is shekhinah the jewish divine femininemine is seeing the divine in all women

your god is the zoroastrian wise lord ahura mazdamine is all light, all the time, everywhere

The farvahar, one of the Zoroastrian symbols.

your god is brahma the creatormine is creation itself

your god is vishnu the preservermine is things as they are

your god is shiva, the destroyermine is watching beetles eat my raspberries

your god is the brahman, the deep down of existencemine is the deep down of existence, nameless

your god is buddha, the enlightened onemine is a full belly

your god is tao, the waymine is another way

your god is jesus the son of godmine has no name and is no one's son

your god is a heavenly fathermine is watching my father praying to go to heaven

your god is the mother of jesusmine is the memory of my mother

your god is allah the merciful and compassionatemine is treating everyone with mercy and compassion


your god is an idolmine has no form

your god has no formmine is an idol

Two

your god is onemine is infinite

your god is threemine is without number

your god created the worldmine is the mystery of creation

your god emanated the worldmine is the mystery of each particle of the world

your god has books written about itmine is illiterate

yours is a god of lovemine is the act of love

yours can be described by worksmine just is

your god is male or female or bothmine has no gender

your god has preachers and gurusmine has just me

you pray to your godi do not know how to pray, to what, to whom, or why

nor do i understand prayer or prayerswhatever the language

all i know is unseasonably hot days pleasantly cool nights

and bees praying to the mint flowers in my garden


Three

i am not into priests or rabbisimams or ministers, spiritual leaders or guidesnot into pundits, preachers, experts, or gurusenlightened beings, people with special namesindicating some level of "spiritual" attainmentnot into systems, categories or levels steps or rungs, heavens or worlds anything multilayered

i am not into any divisions in the world between peoples or in consciousnessthe world is my placeall people my peopleall definitions yours not mineall groups yours not mine

i both belong and do not belongto any religionbelong and don't belong to no religioni belong to them allfinding ecstasy in synagogues and mosqueszen gardens, basilicas, sikh, and hindu templesas well as in gardens, at the seashore,on mountain peaks, taking a nap during the day,sitting quietly, doing nothing,and watching the bees in my garden

do not make me a bhakti or shaiviteneoplatonist or negative theologianecstatic or vipassynisti sense the something otherthe something elsethat has neither name nor colorneither sound nor dimensions

that is neither infinite nor finitecolored nor colorlessformed nor formlessnow nor thentemporal nor timelessdescribable nor indescribable


mostly it is the inexpressiblethe bees in the gardenimmersing themselves in the last of the pale pink and white flowerson the slowly browning wild mint leavesin the heat of the dayit is the beesand watching themand watching them

Mint in the garden, but the bees are in hiding.


The Salt Doll of Sri RamakrishnaThe bliss of God-Consciousness always exists in you. It is only hidden by the veiling and projecting power of maya.—Sri Ramakrishna

By day I merge with the homeless, unseenBy night I am a salt doll,Reading storiesOf a salt doll immersed in the ocean,Slowly dissolving, wantingOnly to save the world.

Breath goes inOne side, out another.Amazing how the ancient sages cataloguedDifferent forms of consciousness. YetIs there a world,Or is there not? Brahman is not this,Not that, but if so . . .

I am a swimmer in all worlds, dark and light, loverOf the in between, a vast oceanAnd its vastness, the idea of vastness,What it’s not,Salt, the doll, and its dipping,Dissolving, water and fish,Light shining through, and blood,Forests, trees, now See it, now . . .

(above) Cartoon in Ramakrishna Math,

Mylapore. (right above) Ramakrishna Math.


The Death of Swami Vivekananda

everything was unexpected:the shutters closedthe three-hour meditationthe three-mile walk beforethe breakfast taken with relish

everything was unexpected: the shutters closed the three-hour meditation the three-mile walk before the breakfast taken with relish

boiled seeds of the jack-fruit boiled potatoes plain rice and ice-cold milk— (“spiritual men are fat”)

everything was deliberate and full of meaning; “he had arisen rather early “the solitary meditation . . . was the most striking; “he entered quiet conversation; “he had closed all the windows and bolted the doors; “he broke forth in a touching song; “never before had he . . . “most singular of all . . . “this remark startled him . . . “another unusual incident . . . “still another strange occurrence . . .” ‘“whenever death approaches me "all weakness vanishes’”

having fulfilled the prediction (of his Master)and finished his public workin every action his inexhaustible energy was turned tohis disciples embodied the realization of brotherhood

on the day he himself had chosensix years before from the Bengali AlmanacJuly 4, 1902all weakness vanished

at eight pm Friday eveninghe asked someone to fan himthen he lay down on his bed


in the rooma couch, a five-foot-high mirrorspring mattress (never used)canvas cot, table and tea setAt 9 he trembled a littleand breathed deeplyhis eyes were still lit by the firekindled years before by Ramakrishna,his Master

“then all was quiet for a minute or two—he breathed deeply once again. . . and all was over”his eyes

his whole countenancethe manner in which he spoke and walkedwere enthralling

it was apoplexybut none of the doctors could agree“he looked so fresh and healthy”“he changed sides once“and shortly after“cried out as babies cry out as if dreaming”

he touched all who would touch himthe simple sight of him caused them ecstasyin the afternoon he gave a long Sanskrit lesson“the grandeur of flight into Realitythe choicest mango of Realizationthe thin veil of mayawas broken;the ‘I’ expandedthe Book of Experience forever closed”:

and what is maya? he askedexcept the illusion of separatenessand distinctions in all aspects of lifefrom the smallest grain of sandto its Creatorhe also said that "maya . . . is simply a statement . . . that the very basis of our being is contradiction. . . ."

the body was left upstairsuntil the next dayhis “sleep was a meditation on God”


there was a little bleeding on Saturday(which proved that the aperture of Brahmahad been pierced when he left the body)and entered samadhiafter so many years thinking he could put it offuntil he had saved the rest of humanitybeginning with the realization at the southern tip of Indiathat a navel-gazing monastic life was not for himtheir bonds with him had been slowly dissolvingthey were painedthey were his slaves in love

finally there was no doubtno distinction between sexes or castesbetween his perfect Hindiand his flings at the Christians

when smoking or passing out sweetswhen breathing the balmy autumn airwalking through the green fieldsthe meadows with the paddiesor in the South; in Chicago;in California:“Come to hear me. I shall do a little bomb throwing.”

the body lay in the monastery“he chose to die;“he was never healthier in his life”the weary, tortured body of the fatherthe devil, the patriot

the bowl of ashes“whose spirit has set their souls aflame”

the news spread like wildfireall were paralyzed with griefa bad dream

finally there was no doubtthe flames leapt across the Gangesflowers shot into the air

the businessmanthe punster“to free India from the developing poisonof Hinduism”the tired child slept on its left side


The Ganges River in Varanasi, India.


NOTES

pages 33‒35 and 37‒38. Two English versions—by the Masala Mystic himself—are given here. of Jagadanandakaraka, the first of the pancharatna krithis, five devotional songs (the "five Jewels") composed by Saint Thyagaraja (1767–1847), a South Indian composer and the most famous Indian composer of devotional songs. This krithi was written in Sanskrit, the others in Telugu, one of the vernaculars of the region. The first version avoids too many references to Indian mythology, in particular the Ramayana, the main inspiration for the song, which praises Rama, an incarnation of the god Vishnu and the hero of the Ramayana. The second version has more mythological references and attempts to stick more closely to the original.

Two excellent renditions of this song can be found on the Internet by clicking the names of two famousperformers of South Indian (Carnatic) devotional music: M. Balamuralikrishna and M. S. Subbulakshmi. If you like this kind of composition, you can search for other recordings on the Internet or at the library or in a music store selling recordings of Indian music.

Pages 38‒39. This seems a free, personal adaptation of a song written in Telugu by Saint Thyagaraja (1767‒1847). You can find many recordings of the original song on the Internet, including by M. Balamuralikrishna, T. M. Krishna, K. J. Yesudas, and other luminaries.


SOURCES OF QUOTATIONS

Title pageRussell, Ralph, ed. The Oxford India Ghalib: Life, Letters and Ghazals. New Delhi: Oxford

University Press, 2003, p. 346.

Epigraph Krishnamurti, J. You Are the World. New York: Harper & Row, 1972, p. 11.

Epigraph The Bijak of Kabir. Trans. Linda Hess and Shukdeo Singh. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002,

p. 95.

Epigraph Maimonides, Moses. The Guide of the Perplexed. Vol. 1. Trans. Shlomo Pines. Chicago and London:

The University of Chicago Press, 1963, p. 7.

Who Was, Is, or Will Be the Masala Mystic?Rasof, Henry. The House. Louisville, CO: Temescal Canyon Press, 2008, last page.

What Is Maya?Sri Aurobindo. The Mind of Light. New York: Dutton, 1953, p. 65.The Spiritual Teaching of Ramana Maharshi. Boston and Shaftesbury: Shambhala, 1988, p. 4.

The Doors of PerceptionGanguly, H. S. Saibaba of Shirdi. New Delhi: Diamond Pocket Books, no date, p. 15.The Zen Teaching of Hui Hai: On Sudden Illumination. Being the Teaching of the Zen Master Hui Hai,

Known as the Great Pearl. Translated by John Blofeld. London: Rider & Company, 1962, pp. 48‒49.

Hungry, Noisy Birds Revisit the Big QuestionsKabir: Ecstatic Poems. Versions by Robert Bly. Boston: Beacon Press, 2002, p. 63.Alston, A. J., ed. The Devotional Poems of Mirabai. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2008, p. 42.Nachmanides quote. https://www.azquotes.com/author/48810-Nahmanides. Nachmanides also spelled

Nahmanides.Subramanianm V. K. Sacred Songs of India. New Delhi: Abhinav Publication, 1996, p. 243.Embree, Ainsle T., ed. The Hindu Tradition. New York: Vintage Books, 1972, p. 198.Nachmanides quote. https://www.azquotes.com/author/48810-Nahmanides. Nachmanides also spelled

Nahmanides. The Spiritual Teaching of Ramana Maharshi. Boston and Shaftesbury: Shambhala, 1988, p. 3.

Maya and Morning GloryHess, Linda. Singing Emptiness: Kumar Ghandharva Performs the Poetry of Kabir. London: Seagull

Books, 2009, p. 82.Paramahansa Yogananda. Autobiography of a Yogi. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1959,

pp. 44 and 273.


Subramanianm, V. K. Sacred Songs of India. New Delhi: Abhinav Publication, 1996, p. 242.

Three Nirguni BhajansSain Bulleh Shah: The Mystic Muse. Transcreated by Kartar Singh Duggal. New Delhi: Abhinav

Publications, 1996, p. 49.Guru Gobind Singh. Zafarnama. Translated and introduced by Navtej Sarna. Haryana, India: Penguin,

2011, p. 3.

The Salt Doll of Sri RamakrishnaThe Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. Translated by Swami Nikhilananda. New York: Ramakrishna-

Vivekananda Center, 1977, p. 277.

The Death of Swami VivekanandaPhotograph by Henry Rasof.All quotations except one are taken from The Life of the Swami Vivekananda: The Semi-Centenary

Birthday Memorial Edition. Vol. IV. Mayavati, Almora, Himalayas: Prabuddha Bharata Office Advaita Ashrama, 1918.

This quotation—"maya . . . is simply a statement . . . that the very basis of our being is contradiction. . . ."—is taken from Selections from Swami Vivekananda. Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1975, p. 109.

Further ReadingIggeret HaRamban. https://www.sefaria.org/Iggeret_HaRamban.1?lang=bi. From the letter of

Nachmanides to one his sons. Ramban is an acronym for Nachmanides.


SOURCES OF PHOTOGRAPHS

Note: HR= the editor.

p 1Mint in the editor's garden. HR photo.

p 2 Varanasi, India. HR photo taken in India.

p 3 title pageMirza Ghalib. HR photo taken in India.

p 6Mint in the editor's garden. HR photo.

p 10Music Academy in Chennai, India, and dosa. HR photos taken in India.

p 12Rabbi Moses Maimonides. HR photo taken in Córdoba, Spain.

p 14Booklet describing Sanjusangen-dō, the Japanese temple with the 1001 Kannon Bodhisattvas.

p 15Kali statue in Ramakrishna Temple in Dakshineswar, India. Found on Pinterest and posted by

CuteSasha. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f4/1e/7f/f41e7fae8cfdd98f39801452eedfed67.jpg.

p 18Butterflies. Cindy Gutafson, https://www.pexels.com/search/butterfly/.Swami Vivekananda. HR photo taken in India.

p 19Gate with symbol of Sri Aurobindo in Puducherry (formerly called Pondicherry), India. HR photo

taken in India.Color Wheel of the Mother at Auroville, India. HR photo taken in India.

p 20Performance space in Chennai, India. HR photo taken in India.

p 21Shirdi Sai Baba. HR photo taken in India.


p 22Esplanade in Puducherry (formerly called Pondicherry), India. HR photo taken in India.

p 24Penguins. HR photo taken in Patagonia, Argentina.

p 25Ramana Maharshi. HR photo of a photo of the Ramana in Tiruvannamai, India.

p 26Mandala at Auroville, India. HR photo taken in India.

p 28Signs and Matrimandir at Auroville, India. HR photos taken in India.

p 30Sun or moon. HR photo.

p 32 Sudha Ragunathan concert in Chennai, India. HR photo taken at the concert.

p 33Moon. HR photo.Hurricane Dorian. Courtesy NOAA.

p 36 Hanuman. HR photo taken in India.

p 37Bees. https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2014/04/17/09/33/honey-bees-326334_960_720.jpg.Snake in raspberries. HR photo.

p 40Ganesh. HR photo taken in India.

p 41Sikh Golden Temple in Amritsar, India. HR photo taken in India.

p 42 The faravahar, one of the Zoroastrian symbols. https://www.freeimages.com/premium/faravahar-iran-

zoroastrian-symbol-2138985.

p 45 Mint flowers. HR photo.


p 46Cartoon. HR photo taken in India.Ramakrishna Math. HR photo taken in India.

p 50Ganges river in Varanasi, India. HR photo taken in India. Acre, Israel, Nahmanides, also known as the Ramban. (Wikimedia Commons) wall painting in Acre, Israel, honoring Nahmanides, also wn

p 63The editor or possibly the Masala Mystic at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India. Unknown

photographer.

p 64The editor or possibly the Masala Mystic. Selfie or unknown photographer.


NAMES AND TERMS

POETS AND SPIRITUAL TEACHERS

Adi Shankara (8th c.)—Seminal Indian philosopher who believed that the individual and divine souls are one and the same. Also known as Adi Shankaracharya.

Buddha (6th‒5th c. B.C.E.)—the historic Buddha was Indian. Buddhism is a path built around the concept that the cause of psychological suffering is attachments.

Bulleh Shah (1680‒1757)—Indian Sufi poet.Chuang Tzu (369 B.C.E.‒360 B.C.E.)—Chinese Taoist philosopher. See Tao. Dalai Lama—title of the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists.Kabir (14th‒15th c. or 15th‒16th c.)—Indian poet who wrote about the formless God and urged people

to find God within themselves.Krishnamurti (1895‒1986)—South Indian philosopher who lived in India and in Ojai, California, one

of whose principal teachings was to follow our own wisdom rather than that of gurus.Maharishi (1918‒2008)—yogi who founded the popular Transcendental Meditation movement. Mirabai (1498‒ca.1546)—Indian poet who, when she married, married Krishna first and then her

human husband. Early Indian feminist, if not the first. Also called Meera.Maimonides (ca. 1135‒1204)—rabbi and most important Jewish philosopher. See Judaism.Mirza Ghalib (1797‒1869)—famous Indian poet who wrote primarily about love.Moses ben Nachman (Nachmanides). Nachmanides (Moses ben Nachman) (1194‒1270)—rabbi, mystic, and biblical commentator.Ramana Maharshi (1879‒1950)—Indian spiritual teacher one of whose main teachings was asking

"who am I?"Saint Thyagaraja (1767‒1847)—most famous Indian composer of devotional music.Shirdi Sai Baba (19th‒20th c.)—beloved Indian spiritual teacher.Sri Aurobindo (1872‒1950)—Indian spiritual teacher known for his Integral Yoga. Sri Ramakrishna (1836‒1886)—most important Indian spiritual teacher, one of whose main

teachings was the unity of all religions.Surdas (1478-1573)--blind Indian poet.Swami Vivekananda (1863‒1902)—chief disciple of Sri Ramakrishna.Vivekananda. See Swami Vivekananda just above.Walter Pater (1839‒1894)—famous English art, literary, and cultural critic.Yogananda (1893‒1952)—Paramahansa Yogananda, an Indian spiritual teacher who founded the

Self-Realization Fellowship, with headquarters in Southern California.

NAMES OF GOD, GODS, GODDESSES, AND LEGENDARY FIGURES

Ahura Mazda—the good Zoroastrian god, meaning "wise lord." Zoroastrianism is an ancient religion from Persia, but today there are many Zoroastrians in india, where they are called Parsis (or Parsees).

Allah—term for the Islamic God.Astarte—ancient near-Eastern goddess.Bodhisattva—a being whose sole purpose is to guide others toward enlightenment.Brahma—creator god in the Indian trinity.


Buddhas—enlightened beings in the Buddhist tradition. See Buddha. El—another name for the Jewish God but also of other near-Eastern cultures. See Judaism.Ganesh (also Ganesha)—Indian elephant god, a son of the god Shiva, and the god of success,

wisdom, and good luck.Indra—the Indian sky god and king of the gods.Jesus—son of God in Christianity.Job—in the Hebrew Bible the personage whose personal struggles lead to the concept of theodicy—the

problem of evil: how can a good God create suffering and evil?Joshu (b. 778)—Chinese Zen master.Krishna—one of the most popular of the Indian deities, who comes to earth in human form as an

earthly incarnation of the god Vishnu.Lakshmana—younger brother of Rama in the Ramayana. Lakshmi—consort of the god Vishnu. Rama—hero of the Ramayana and an incarnation of the god Vishnu.Shekhinah—in Judaism, the feminine presence of God.Shiva—the destroyer in the trinity of Indian gods.Sita—consort of Rama in the Ramayana.Sun God Ra—ancient Egyptian god.Vishnu—the preserver in the trinity of Hindu gods.The Unpronounceable Name of God—reference to the four-letter Hebrew name of the Jewish God:

Yod Hey Vav Hey, abbreviated in English YHVH. See Judaism.Zeus—Greek king of the gods.

TERMS

Aperture of Brahma—trapdoor in our skull through which our soul leaves our body when we die.Avatar—earthly reincarnation of a god. Bhakti—devotional worship.Blake's Doors of Perception—In his poem "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" the English poet

William Blake (1757-1827) says: "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear . . . as it is: Infinite."

Brahman—underlying substance—reality—of the universe and all beings. Universal self, as opposed to individual self.

Carnatic Music—South Indian music.Ceres—dwarf planet in the asteroid belt. Conference of the Birds—a famous work by 'Attar, a medieval Persian Sufi. Convulvulaceae—plant family to which the morning glory and related flowers belong.Ganges—Indian holy river.Guide of the Perplexed—famous philosophy book by Rabbi Moses Maimonides.Hindu--follower of Hinduism, an old Indian religion.Hypnagogic--vivid visual images sometimes seen when falling asleep.Imams—Muslim religious leaders.Islam—monotheistic religion founded in the seventh century by Mohammad and one of the Abrahamic

religions, the other two being Judaism and Christianity.Judaism—Near-Eastern religion originating about four thousand years ago and "founded" by

Abraham. Thus the term "Abrahamic religion" applied to Islam and Christianity, which share a


common belief in one God. Members of "the tribe" are Jewish, and "Jewish" describes everything from beliefs to food.

Karma—actions in a past life or lives that affect us in this life.Krithi—South Indian devotional song.Koan—question in Zen Buddhism meant to take us out of our conceptual mind and into a place of

enlightenment, e.g., What is your face before you were born?Mandala—geometric or artistic design with spiritual significance.Masala—Indian spice mixture.Maya—illusion.Muslim—adherent of Islam.Negative Theologian—someone who uses negative statements to demonstrate something, e.g., this is

not God, that is not God, etc., to show that God cannot be named or described. Neoplatonic Emanations—term has something to do with Neoplatonism, though what, isn't clear. See

next entry.Neoplatonist—adherent of Neoplatonism, a philosophic school founded by the Greek philosopher

Plotinus (ca. 204‒270 C.E.). See https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plotinus/#LifeWrit.Om—the sacred sound of the universe, often chanted.Nirguni Bhajans—Indian devotional songs praising the formless God.Rabbis—Jewish religious teachers. See Judaism.Ramayana—one of the two great Indian literary epics.Rishis--Indian saints.Salt Doll—image from the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna to explain that God with form and God

without form are one and the same; just different states. Samadhi—spiritual/religious enlightenment.Shaivite—follower of the Indian god Shiva, the destroyer.Sikh--follower of Sikhism, a monotheistic religion founded in north India. Sufi--one type of Islamic mystic. See Islam.Tao—in the Taoist "religion," most easily but vastly too simply translated as "way."Vedic Wisdom—wisdom from the Vedas, the main Hindu scriptures.Vipassynist—practitioner of Vipassyna, a meditation practice originating in Southeast Asia.Zen—Japanese word meaning, approximately, "meditation."Zen Buddhists—practitioners of Zen Buddhism, a Japanese form of Buddhism with an emphasis on

sudden enlightenment.


FURTHER READING Alston, A. J., ed. The Devotional Poems of Mirabai. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2008.The Bijak of Kabir. Translated by Linda Hess and Shukdeo Singh. New York: Oxford University Press,

2002.Dalai Lama. https://www.dalailama.com.Drazin, Israel. Nachmanides: An Unusual Thinker. Jerusalem, Israel: Gefen, 2018. Embree, Ainsle T., ed. The Hindu Tradition. New York. Vintage Books, 1972.Ganguly, H. S. Saibaba of Shirdi. New Delhi: Diamond Pocket Books, No date.The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. Translated by Swami Nikhilananda. New York: Ramakrishna-

Vivekananda Center, 1977.Heehs, Peter, ed. The Essential Writings of Sri Aurobindo. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1998.Hess, Linda. Singing Emptiness: Kumar Ghandharva Performs the Poetry of Kabir. London: Seagull

Books, 2009.Kabir: Ecstatic Poems. Versions by Robert Bly. Boston: Beacon Press, 2002.Kornfield, Jack. Teachings of the Buddha. Boston: Shambhala, 2007.Krishnamurti, J. You Are the World. New York: Harper & Row, 1972.Lao Tzu. The Way of Life: A New Translation of the Tao Tse Ching. Translated by R.B. Blakney. New

York and Toronto: New American Library, 1955. Lorenzen, David N. Praises to a Formless God: Nirguni Texts from North India. State University of

New York Press: Albany, NY, 1996.Lutyens, Mary. Krishnamurti: The Years of Awakening. New York: Avon, 1975. The first volume of her

three-volume biography of Jiddu Krishnamurti.Maimonides, Moses. The Guide of the Perplexed. Vol. 1. Translated by Shlomo Pines. Chicago and

London: The University of Chicago Press, 1963. Mirabai: Ecstatic Poems. Versions by Robert Bly and Jane Hirshfield. Boston: Beacon Press, 2004.Narayan, R. K. The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic. New York:

Penguin, 2006. Many translations and retellings.Osborne, Arthur, ed. The Collected Works of Ramana Maharshi. Samuel Weiser: York Beach, ME,

1970.Palmer, Charles, trans. The Book of Chuang Tzu. New York: Penguin, 2007. Many other books on him.Paramahansa Yogananda. Autobiography of a Yogi. Los Angeles: Self-Realization Fellowship, 1959.Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli, and Charles A. Moore, eds. A Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy. Princeton,

NJ: Princeton University Press, 1957.Russell, Gerard. Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms: Journeys into Disappearing Religions of the Middle

East. New York: Basic Books, 2014. Chapter 3 is on Zoroastrianism.Russell. Ralph.The Oxford India Ghalib: Life, Letters and Ghazals. New Delhi: Oxford University

Press, 2003.Sain Bulleh Shah: The Mystic Muse. Transcreated by Kartar Singh Duggal. New Delhi: Abhinav

Publications, 1996.Selections from Swami Vivekananda. Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1975.The Shambhala Guide to Sufism. Carl W. Ernst. Boston and London: Shambhala, 1997.The Spiritual Teaching of Ramana Maharshi. Boston and Shaftesbury: Shambhala, 1988.Sri Aurobindo. The Mind of Light. New York: Dutton, 1953.Subramanian, V. K., ed. Mystic Songs of Meera [Mirabai]. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications, 2005.


Subramanian, V. K. Sacred Songs of India. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications, 1996. Chapter 7 has songs by Surdas, and chapter 10 has songs by Thyagaraja. Also included in this book are poems and songs by Kabir, Mirabai, and other of the saint poets. This author also has published, in this series, nine other volumes of "sacred songs."

Suzuki, Shunryu. Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice. New York and Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1970.

The Tibetan Book of the Dead: The Great Liberation Through Hearing in the Bardo. Translated by Francesca Fremantle and Chogyam Trungpa. Berkeley and London: Shambhala, 1975.

Varma, Pavan K. Adi Shankaracharya: Hinduism's Greatest Thinker. Chennai, India: Tranquebar/Westland/Amazon, 2018.

Watts, Alan W. The Way of Zen. New York: Vintage, 1999.Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings. Compiled by Paul Reps. Garden City,

NY: Anchor Books, no date. The Zen Teaching of Hui Hai: On Sudden Illumination. Translated by John Blofeld. London: Rider &

Company, 1962.


________________________________________________________________________

When you arise from your learning, reflect carefully on what you have studied, to see what in it you can put into practice.

—Rabbi Moses ben Nachman (Nachmanides)_________________________________________________________________________


ABOUT THE EDITOR (?)

The editor or possibly the Masala Mystic in front of the Sikh Golden Temple, in Amritsar, India. Although he looks angry at something, maybe you are projecting, since looks deceive.

Henry Rasof has degrees in music, creative writing, and Jewish studies and has been writing poetry, fiction, and nonfiction since 1964. After a long career in book publishing, he taught creative writing at the University of Denver. He now gives occasional poetry readings and writing workshops. His work has appeared in Beatitude, Jewish Currents, the Boulder Jewish News, Kansas Quarterly, Midstream, Numinous, Partisan Review, and X-Peri, among other print and online publications. He has published four books of his own poetry—Souls in the Garden: Poems About Jewish Spain (2019); Here I Seek You: Jewish Poems for Shabbat, Holy Days, and Everydays (2016); Chance Music: Prose Poems 1974 to 1982 (2012); and The House (2008)—and hosts two web sites: henryrasof.com and www.medievalhebrewpoetry.org. His newest edited collection, available in 2019 only as a .pdf document on henryrasof.com, is The Persian Letters: A Medieval Persian General's Wartime Letters to His Wife. On his next trip to India he hopes to visit, among other places, Pandarpuhr, Shirdi, Chettinadu, Auroville, and the tomb of the Persian‒Indian Jewish/Muslim poet Sarmad.


The editor of this book or the Masala Mystic? Only time will tell.


Documents

BEES IN THE GARDEN - henryrasof.com...yet Dr Balamuralikrishna singing the Jagadanandakaraka krithi of Saint Thyagaraja* makes this saint come alive and takes us higher still beyond