Jana

One of the most important things for me now is trying to develop as a person and a poet, to love All and be of service, to live my life in God/Guru, to know the Self. Here is a poem I came across in an International Yoga Teachers Association journal:nitya darshan (permanent divine vision)/Heart aches at the separation,/ but soul knows your omnipresence./Eyes roam the hills seeking/ your vision,/ but I drink of your nectar/ in the wind through the trees./Hands stretch out to grasp/ your elusive form,/ but with silent reverence/ you are ever in my heart./Ears strain for the sound of/ your voice,/ but you whisper to me through/ each person's words./Voice sings in love of/ your name,/ but the flute of your guidance/ is beyond sound./Thoughts follow the echo of/ your words,/ but the spirit soars high in/ blissful remembrance./Peace, Bliss and Joy, - Jana........................................................ .. BY THE EDGE/Sit by the edge of dawn and/the sun will rise for you./Sit by the edge of night and/the stars will shine for you./Sit by the edge of the/stream and the nightingale/will sing for you./Sit by the edge of silence/and God will speak to you./ by Vivekananda................................................ A POEM BY PETREA KING/ Ready or not, someday it will all come to an end. There will be no/more sunrises,no minutes, hours or days. All things you/collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else./Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance./It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed./Your grudges, resentments,frustrations, and jealousies will finally/disappear. So,too, your hopes, ambitions, plans and to do lists/will expire. The wins and losses that once seemed so/important will fade away./It won't matter where you came from, or on what side of the tracks/you lived, at the end. It won't matter whether you were beautiful or/brilliant. Even your gender and skin colour will be irrelevant./So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?/What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built; not/what you got, but what you gave. What will matter is not your/success, but your significance. What will matter is not what you/learned but what you taught. What will matter is every act of/integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched, empowered/or encouraged others to emulate your example./What will matter is not your competence, but your character./What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how/many will feel a lasting loss when you're gone./What will matter are not your memories, but the memories that live in those who loved you. What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what./Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident.It's not a matter/of circumstance but of choice. Choose to live a life that matters. (by Petrea King, published in the (Australia) International Yoga Teachers Journal Oct-Dec 2008)