My heart bleeds for you, my brethren...

Oh God who knows no partiality!
Were you the One who created
the ones who bring "justice" at the cost of human lives?
the ones who enjoy abundance by plundering others?
the ones who blind themselves to obvious truths?
the ones who suffer innocently for no wrong of theirs?
the ones who remain scapegoats all their days?
the ones who rape the mother earth consciously?
the little ones, the feeble ones, the helpless ones,
the strong, the mighty, the powerful,
the ones who have weapons?
the ones who are innocent victims?
the ones who have no more tears left?
the ones who walk on dead bodies?

Tell me Oh God! Are you the One who created....

J Christy Femila

Visiting the Library in a Strange City

The Words reappear, slowly
developing
on a vast unknown
but precise number of pages

as I enter: the great building
empty of visitors
except for me, reading
the minds of the dead

moving with exaggerated
and slow-motion care,
as when assigned to lead
the blind kid to his classroom

forty years ago,
down rows
between dusty volumes, a light
snow beginning.

Franz Wright..

May I....

May I become at all times, both now and forever
A protector of those without protection
A Guide for those who have lost their way
A ship for those with oceans to cross
A bridge for those with rivers to cross
A sanctuary for those in danger
A lamp for those without light
A place of refuge for those lack shelter
And a servant to all in need.
For as long as living beings remain,
Until then may I, too, abide
To dispel the misery of the world.

Shantideva - 8th century Buddhist Scholar.

Hindu Peace Prayer

I desire neither earthly kingdom,
nor even freedom from birth and death.
I desire only the deliverance
from grief of all those afflicted by misery.
Oh Lord, lead us from the unreal to the real;
from darkness to light, from death to immortality.

May there be peace in celestial regions.
May there be peace on earth.
May the waters be appeasing.
May herbs be wholesome
and may trees and plants bring peace to all.
May all beneficent beings bring peace to us.
May thy wisdom spread peace all through the world
May all things be a source of peace to all and to me.

Native american Prayer for Peace

Oh Great Spirit of our Ancestors,
I raise my pipe to you.
To your messengers the four winds,
and to Mother Earth
who provides for your children.
Give us the wisdom to teach our children
to love, to respect, and to be kind to each other
so that they may grow with peace of mind.
Let us learn to share all good things
that your provide for us on this Earth.

Thou and I

I saw my Lord with the eye of the heart. I said: Who art Thou?

He answered:

Thou.


Al-Hallaj

God, Religion and Man

a few lines from the poems of Kabir, which express

his ideas about unity of God, Religion and Man.

No one reads Vedas in the womb.

No Turk was born circumcised.

Dropped from the belly at birth,

a man puts on his costumes

and goes through his acts.

On that day you and I had one blood,

and one desire for life

engulfed us.

The world was born from one mother.

What wisdom teaches separation?

When you came from the vagina, you're a child.

When you enjoy the vagina,

they call you a man.

No one knows this ineffable movement--

how could one tongue describe it?

If any man has a million mouths and tongues,

let that great one speak.

LiEs

They tell me
There's the moon and the stars
And the skies and nothing beyond the skies.
Lies!
There's God beyond the skies,
I tell you.
When that woman gave birth
To her little son
She didn't feel that the Earth
Travels around the sun.
It's all one to the tellers of lies
Who believe the Earth and the skies
Were not made by the One
Who never behaves out of fun,
But were made by chance
Like the meeting of a girl and a boy
Who came to dance.
Lies!
They call themselves wise
But would they tell me why
A girl doesn't look like a guy
Nor does sunset look like sunrise
Nor do I look like my siblings?
Would they please tell me
Who made the soul that makes the flute weep?
Who made the bird's twitter
Different from the bleat of sheep?
Would they be bitter
If I asked why
A vulture flies high in the sky
Whereas a peacock won't go that far?

Mohamed Ali LAGOUADER
Morocco

Fire in the Mountain! Run! Run! Run!

Run for money, run for fun;
Show your honey, none will shun
Your company, run, run, run!
Rough, rough, rough, life is rough:
I, he, she will laugh, laugh, laugh
At those who don't have enough.
Laugh, laugh, laugh:
That's rough stuff. But life is rough.
So run for money, run for fun;
Show your honey, none will shun
Your company, run, run, run!

Ya Subhanallah!

Mohamed Ali LAGOUADER
Morocco
Copyright ©2007 by Mohammed Lagouader
http://arabicwithlagouader.blogspot.com/

Boats..

Boats are safe in the harbour, but that is not exactly what boats are made for...

Stay Alive

"In the garden of humanity, whatever is not growing is busy dying"

John Powell, a Jesuit scholar in his book, Fully Human, Fully Alive.

We Will See

We will see,
It is definite that we too will see.

The day that has been promised,
The day that has been ordained for all times.
The day when the hard mountain of cruelty and oppression
will explode and will be blown away like wisps of cotton.

The day when this earth will pulsate and quake
under our feet, we who are deprived.

The day when over the heads of despots
lightening will angrily flash.
When all the idols will be thrown out
from this sacred world, the sanctuary (the kaba) of God.

We who just stand in lines of prayer (ahle-safa).
We who are despised and destitute,
rejected from the sacred sanctuary (the haram)
will be made to sit on the throne (masnad).

The day when all the crowns will be tossed into the air
and the thrones will be destroyed.

That day, the only name that will remain
will be that of Allah.
Who is both hidden and present,
the revealer and the revealed.

The cry "I am the truth" will rend the skies,
Which is I, you and all of us.

And sovereignty will belong to the people
Which is I, you, and all of us.


("We Will See," by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, as quoted in the
book "Islamophobia or Restorative Justice" by Dr. Charles Amjad-Ali)

Xenophanes

.... as for certain truth, no man has known it,
Nor shall he know it, neither of the gods
Nor yet of all the things of which I speak,
For even if by chance he were to utter
The final truth, he would himself not know it:
For all is but a woven web of guesses.


On the subject of gods.....

The Ethiops say that gods are flat-nosed and black.
While the Thracians say that theirs have blue eyes and red hair:
Yet if cattle or horses or lions had hands and could draw
And could sculpture like men, then the horses would draw their gods
like horses, and cattle like cattle, and each would then shape
Bodies of gods in the likeness, each kind, of its own.

Guru Nanak

Let mercy be you Mecca:
Instead of fasts use humility:
Seek no other paradise than abiding by the Word of your teacher;
For houris, seek in your paradise
The fragrance of the light
That streams from the Lord;
Seek no other palace or pleasure than devotion to God.
To practice truth is to be a Qazi (Muslim Judge)
To purify the heart is to be a Haji (a Muslim who has undertaken
the pilgrimage),
To shame the devil is to be a Mullah (a Muslim cleric).
To praise God is to be a Dervish ( a Sufi mystic known for ecstatic dancing).

Let your first prayer be God's praises,
Your second inner peace,
Your third humility, your fourth charity,
Your fifth subduing the five senses to God.
While you live, remember God.
Instead of washing your hands before prayer
Get rid of your evil deeds.

Guru Nanak.

Outer Forms of Religions....

There are many dogmas, there are many systems,
There are many scriptural revelations,
Many modes to fetter the mind:
But the Sant seeks for release through Truth.

Make your discipline the practice of Truth,
Make the square that you draw around your kitchen
The practice of virtue;
Make the ceremonial cleansing of your body
The meditation on the Holy Name
Let the heart first be cleaned
All other outward appearances of piety are worthless.



(Guru Nanak 1469-1539)

Monotheism

'THE REAL IS ONE, THOUGH SAGES NAME IT VARIOUSLY'

Rig Veda, 1, 164;46

Sacred....

Make your land a sacred area
For you are in the sacred area.

Make your age a sacred time
For you are in the sacred time.

Make this earth into a sacred mosque
For you are in the Masjid al-Haram.

For "the earth is God's mosque"
And you see that:
It is not


Ali Shariati (1933-77)

The Road NOT Taken

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:


Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

i have been pierced by the arrow of love

I have been pierced by the arrow of love,

what shall I do ?

I can neither live, nor can I die.

Listen ye to my ceaseless outpourings,

I have peace neither by night, nor by day.

I cannot do without my Beloved even for a moment.

I have been pierced by the arrow of love,

what shall I do ?

The fire of separation is unceasing !

Let someone take care of my love.

How can I be saved without seeing him?

I have been pierced by the arrow of love,

what shall I do ?

Bulleh Shah, translated by J. R. Puri and T. R Shangari.

Kurunthokai

What he said to his friend:

A girl of dark complexion is she:

Ever ready to embrace,

desirable in beauty,

with delicately bulging breasts

and long flowing hair!

How can I forget her and be at rest?

In her look is such longing

as in the look of a new-born tender calf

that longs to see its mother whose udders are ready to flow!

Kuruntokai 132

The Blossom of Unity

What to men is infidelity and sin

For me is Faith and true doctrine.

All the world's gall and bitterness

To my taste seems sweet, delicious.

An eye which sees the Truth

for lies has no sight at all:

For all 'untruth' that is conceived

Or what is perceived as lies, mendacity

Lies in the eyes themselves deceived

The vantage-point of men without veracity.

For in the brier-patch of pride and envy,

Deceit, hypocrisy, polytheism and jealousy,

The blossom of Unity cannot flourish.

Maghribi, Diwan-i Maghribi.

life....

Wisdom tells me I am nothing.
Love tells me I am everything.
Between the two my life flows.

Nisargadatta Maharaj

Open door

How long will you keep pounding on an open door
Begging for someone to open it?

Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya

Say I am You

Listen for the stream
that tells you one thing.

Die on this bank.
Begin in me
the way of rivers with the sea.

Rumi - Coleman Barks - from "Say I Am You"