Why Should I Believe and Worship
Why should I believe and worship
Jesus, who was nailed to the Cross
Whose face riddled with sorrow
Sells tickets to those who fear the morrow?
Mohammed, a life colored by a desert so barren
Leaving a legacy of Killing, then Heaven?
The Buddha, royal living, desire bashing
The magic of creation unseen
Through the lenses of suffering?
Or Shankara, the monist supreme
Politics of the time compelling
From Maya herself, a hiding?
The great hero, Mahavira’s following
Still flash his weapon of endless Fasting?
Vallabha, Madhva and Ramanuja
“My way is better than where you are.”
Golden shackles nevertheless
Stuck in the rut of Sampradaya?
Have they not all come and gone?
So the Alchemist in me sees fit
To only worship the Unknowing Known
That through the cycles of night and day
Of seasons and rain, happening again and again.
The fire that is in the hearth
In the conflagration, the same.
My very own breath and the exaggerated wind.
Creatures dashing to ease their needs
No lesser than mine.
The human juggling, all joys and sorrows
Knowing but not saying
That there will be a tomorrow.
The firmament beyond with stars a twinkling
Beckon me to a Freedom from afar
Unbound by names and forms that cast me into a mold
To those who wish to chase me
I nod to say “Not in Your Hold!”
For I continue to relish
Life’s Honey Divine
Not even a footprint
Will I leave behind.
Oct. 16 2009, Santa Rosa