Who Am I?

I am a transcultural voyager
Who finds meaning in life
As I course from language to language,
From physics to philosophy,
From music to metaphysics,
From Gita to Gregorian Chants,
From Mozart to Musicals,
From Tansen to Thygaraja.
From feasting to fasting.
I experience mystical thrills
From Maxwell’s equations and from meditation.
From Feynmann diagrams and from Buddhist mandalas.
I am addicted to alliterations,
Deeply committed to spreading science
And Enlightenment.
I recognize the positive contributions of religions.
I am a dedicated bridge-builder
And a dreamer of Peace.
And I think that what really matters in life is
Whether one is kind and
Compassionate to fellow beings,
And brings smiles and laughter
To those with whom one interacts.
As I see it, from a long-range perspective
The stages of Life, are:
Hungry screams.
Unintelligible noises.
Intelligible noises.
Some intelligent noises.
Unintelligible noises.
Eternal silence.
Leaving behind
Some tearful eyes,
Fond memories,
Photographs,
And finally faded remembrances
That melt away into oblivion.
V. V. Raman

MEDITATION ON SHIVA

Shiva Oh Mystic Power, Auspicious is Your name.
The Vedas call you Rudra, Your wrath has gained much fame.
As third of the Triple MUrti, dissolution you do bring
Yet as Pashupati, You protect each living thing.
You are the source of conscious self, and this is a vision of You
In our sacred history: You have a neck all blue
With a coiled cobra all around, and body smeared in gray,
With a chain of skulls, clothed in deer skin, they say.
Your Third Eye turned KAma to dust in his day
And fills us with awe in a very intense way.
In the mystic vision, You are on KailAs Mount
And of the sacred Ganga , your matted hair is fount.
You are known as KAla – Time that has no end,
Also as SaMkara – Beneficent, to all a friend.
You are MahAdeva, in our humble view,
And by a Thousand Names we often worship you.
But Your spiritual secrets are very much more
Than all the names and forms, and all our tradition’s lore.
You are the abstract One that brings to complete naught
All that ever emerged as things and as thought.
Not just the bloom of flower and the beat of heart
But everything comes to end that ever had a start:
From whisper frail of the gentle breeze
To ancient rocks and sturdy trees,
From leptons, hadrons, and atoms so tiny
To the shining stars and galaxies many.
All that have had a birth and all that evolve
Sooner or later, they all must dissolve.
You are the grand mystery behind impermanence,
And the final dot that ends every sentence.
The breath that at last lulls the lungs for certain,
The rope that at last closes the cosmic curtain.
From here below to up on high
Of the grandest show You are the final sigh.
Whenever on You I meditate
I grasp much better my earthly state.
OM namaShivaya!