Happy Birthday, George!

Watch out now, take care
Beware of falling swingers
Dropping all around you
The pain that often mingles
In your fingertips
Beware of darkness

Watch out now, take care
Beware of the thoughts that linger
Winding up inside your head
The hopelessness around you
In the dead of night

Beware of sadness
It can hit you
It can hurt you
Make you sore and what is more
That is not what you are here for

Watch out now, take care
Beware of soft shoe shufflers
Dancing down the sidewalks
As each unconscious sufferer
Wanders aimlessly
Beware of Maya

Watch out now, take care
Beware of greedy leaders
They take you where you should not go
While Weeping Atlas Cedars
They just want to grow, grow and grow
Beware of darkness (beware of darkness)

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

This book is an allegorical tale of a Brahman boy who seeks peace and enlightenment after leaving his well off circumstances. He sets his goal to self-denial and ascetic life among the numerous holy men than roamed the land in that time. After dissatisfied with ascetic life he seeks love and wealth in the city. His best friend becomes the follower of Gotama Buddha but Siddhartha is not satisfied to do the same. Finally he meets the ferrymen and learns to listen to the river. This and meeting and parting with his son are the heights of the book. The river represents the eternal and timeless existence and oneness, and the meeting and parting with Siddhartha’s son represents the attachments as obstacles to reach enlightenment.

The finale of the book is the best expression in any book what is inexpressible; enlightenment and the Ancient Wisdom cannot be taught explained or otherwise conveyed to the uninitiated. Time and space lose its meaning and search for teachers, wisdom and external solutions will just hinder finding what is already within us, the Atman, the slice of godliness and holy, to which people of the east, bow and offer the cute hand gesture, Namaste.

P.S. I liked this book so much that I HAD to publish it in hard cover. Please, read it if you have not already.

Available soon on Amazon (ISBN 978-0-9824994-5-0)