Poetry

[Confused]

The Third Way

The path is straight and narrow,
found either on taking the right or taking the left,
and sticking to it with a will of the adept.

In the duality of the right and the left,
I feel like a helpless child tossed from the cliff.
The logos chose its mores,
and offers me the chore,
of choosing between the right and the left,
and between the up and the down,
and between the light and the dark.

As I mused at my condition,
the celestial waters poured on me one day,
and said -- "dear child,
why art thou confused?
Lo and behold,
there is a yet more a subtle path,
the path on which you have the choice,
of not having to make the choice,
between the right and the left,
and between the up and the down,
and between the light and the dark."

Said to me that wondrous voice of Balance --
"Take thou that path of the Tao.
There beyond the dual paths,
lies a way that is ever subtle,
which is called the way of the Tao.
The way that is beyond the roads of duality,
for it indeed, is the third way, the way of unity."

I took the celestial waters into my palm,
and inquired at my own reflection within.
The image of my reflection,
contorted in extreme revulsion,
for it knew the perversions,
that I had committed in my many diversions,
away from the realm of all creative unification,
in the desire to bend to my will,
all divine manifestations,
descending and ascending into the Tao.

The waters revealed,
my self to the self.
As my book became unsealed,
I writhed and wriggled,
on hearing the sound from the bell of the Tao.
As blisters broke,
through out my mind and my body,
I invoked the celestial waters,
to offer me soothing succour.

I asked of the limpid celestial river --
"Tell me, what is this way of the Tao?
Tell me, how can I tread it?"
The face behind the waters smiled,
as it saw its little child,
humbled before the power of the mighty mother,
and willing to be schooled,
in the way of the Tao, the ALL father.

The face exuded peace and its resonant voice rang,
and it said --
"My dear child, the way of the Tao,
is revealed to those,
who see that they are,
only humble channels of the ONE,
called also as the Tao - the being beyond all beings,
the mystery beyond all mysteries,
and the nursery of thy true ancestry"

The sweet river,
continuing its message,
said further to me thus --
"The way of the Tao,
is close at hand for those,
who, having sensed their role in creation,
allow the Tao,
to just flow through them,
so that in that sensation of letting go,
the ego reaches a state of non-desire.
That state O my dear child,
creates a life of no ego,
and in that moment,
comes the Tao,
before the eyes of your mind,
and you become a blessed channel,
in the here and the now,
of the divine Tao."

I inquired further of the waters --
"What happens then?"
The self of the waters,
sprinkled a few petals of itself on me,
and said --
"Then my child,
you become one of no memory and no identity,
you cease to have a past and a future,
as you exist in the NOW,
in complete harmony with the Great Tao,
in the all that there is"

I folded my hands in gratitude,
and shed a tear of beatitude.
The Celestial River then,
breached in the middle,
opening to me the middle way,
the third way, the way of the Tao.