We walk or drive, travel the world, on our phone, with a book
always moving, asking questions, seeking answers
we walk the labyrinthine ways of our own mind, often in circles
finding little rest from the endless journeys that lurk there
We move with others, or alone, with new or old, at different times
we come together like seaweed, tossed by the waves of time,
and again separated, thrown again, more waves
We move with the seasons, the animals, the stars above and earth deep within
we move with the day and the night, the dusk and the dawn, awake and asleep
And we are moved to tears, joy, anger and some, by sights or sounds unseen
as we journey somewhere, for some good reason, for some right end
we move with the markets, the madness, and the mayhem in a world
overflowing with individual desires for being the first, the best, the greatest
we move and one wonders how there is room for us all
We turn and start another journey – another direction, an opposite way
the janmastami journey, recognising Krishna’s presence in our lives
by walking it we lose all we have gathered in this world
which we will lose anyway, when that moment comes, or has come
and taken us, limb by limb, bit by bit, until we are journeyed out,
journeyed over the hill into the next life, next body or next world
But, oh, we will gain on this journey that which we cannot ever imagine
an identity we have long forgotten, that shadows us as we move about the world
and emerges more clearly as we walk with Krishna in our lives
walk with sunshine, and sweetness, and relationships of love
a journey with full moons of rasa dances, and new moons of hidden stories
a journey with consciousness, intention, care and kindness
a journey of grace, gratitude, and goodness
This janmastami journey is a beginning and an end, a spiritual journey
it’s the answer to a call from the heart, a response to Thoreau’s sense that
‘most men live lives of quiet desperation’, or some other kind of suffering
that pushes us past our comfortable numbness and causes us to sit up
pack our bags and head out the door on this journey within.
It is both hard and easy. Stay with it, and let it bring us home.
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