A Search In Secret India

 

search secret indiaA Search in Secret India by Paul Brunton was published in 1934 and instantly became a classic of spiritual literature. It is the story of one man’s personal odyssey –  A search to find the real meaning behind life. Through his entertaining and illumining journey, Paul Brunton shows a glimpse into a relatively unknown side to India. An India of fakirs, astrologers, Spiritual Gurus and a living spirituality. Students on any spiritual path will enjoy sharing the experiences and universal truths of this book.

 

Disillusioned by life in England, Paul Brunton hoped to find in India, a spirituality his soul was eager to find.  The book combines a rigorous Western journalistic standard with a sympathy and openness to the Spirituality of India. Just a few decades before, his compatriot, Rudyard Kipling had famously said. “East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.” But, Brunton was a pathfinder in breaking down this barrier and seeking a union in diversity.

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A Fleeting Life

A fleeting life is all we have. So why do we boast, why do we disproportionately exaggerate our earthly, mortal and brittle achievements? The physical in us, no matter how strong, fails us when the Prince of Gloom appears. When death appears, the physical deserts us no matter how strong it is, the vital deserts us no matter how enthusiastic it is, the mind deserts us no matter how brilliant it is, the heart deserts us no matter how kind and pure it is.

A fleeting life is all we have. Why then do we listen to the dictates of the physical world, the temptation- world? Why? Why? Why do we not listen to the dictates of the all-illumining and all-fulfilling soul? Why? Why? Why do we dine each night, all night long, with ignorance-sea? Why do we sport with darkness-dragon every day, all day long? Why? Why? Why do we not love God even conditionally, if it is impossible for us to love God unconditionally? Why? Why?

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Confused by Thoughts

confused-ideas

” Confused by thoughts,
we experience duality in life.
Unencumbered by ideas,
the enlightened see the one Reality.”

– Hui – Neng

VOYAGE – Chidananda Burke

In open casket dark and gleaming

richly draped in mourning velvet,

I turn into the setting sun,

my final journey now begun.

So calmly swift this polished boat,

so calm and bright the golden sea;

and just ahead, the bright horizon;

and just beyond, the splendor free.

Forgotten all those clumsy dreams

rising up in dark of mind;

earthly beauty left behind.

Now I touch, I drink the sun!

This I, once thick with form and flesh,

slowly rising

through dense atmospheres of life,

now pulses with light –

a glowing awareness

without center or source,

a luminous stillness

in the calm luminous stillness,

the endless course.

                                                      CHIDANANDA BURKE
 

Photo by Kedar