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The Decision

To decide
Is to commence
A journey of self-actualisation.

It is to lay the very path
That you and countless others
Will eventually come to walk on.

It is to take responsibility
For yourself and for those
Who depend on your care.

To decide
Is an act of faith.
It is prayer in action.

It is to be ready
To put in the heart and sweat
To make the new work.

A decision
May be a tough choice
Resulting in heartbreak and sorrow.

But in the final analysis
A decision is a poetic promise
That you must make to honour your life.

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Life is to be Made

Play an active role
In your own life:

Make tough choices.
Create joy.
Give love.
Provide space.
Bring intelligence.
Leverage opportunities.
Earn respect.
Work for a cause.
Acquire experiences.
Develop capability.
Dream and then recreate the dream.
Inspire and influence.
Leave. Know when you’re not needed.
Accept your fate with faith.
Rest. Redeem yourself.

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What Faith Is

We enter every day
Not knowing what awaits us
We operate on the faith
That we will be conveyed.

Faith is deep and silent
It’s secure and real
Unshaken and undeterred
By the havoc wreaked by emotion.

Faith alone is knowledge
Because of it
I can wait, watch and listen
And see past my own misconceptions.

Faith is a promise
That all that you need
Will be provided to you
And all that needs you, will come to you.

Faith is acceptance-
An understanding
That all our experiences
Are the intent of a larger design.

Faith is the ground
On which realization
Will eventually stand, victorious-
Having defeated all delusions.

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The Ultimate Choice

Every expectation for happiness
Is met with sorrow.
The ultimate outcome
Of all pursuits
Is disappointment.

Perhaps happiness is not
Something to be expected;
Or something to be pursued…
Its place isn’t at a distance
Somewhere in the future…

It’s a way of being
In this moment
A way of seeing…
A way of meeting and greeting life
With nothing more than your presence.

Happiness is a choice.
It’s when you choose
To put gratitude before demand
Appreciation before dismay
And love before hope.

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15th August (A Day. A Commemoration. A Manifesto)

Although we stand
On the foundation
Of an ancient past
We must-
At every single moment
Intentionally free ourselves from it.

The struggle for independence
Is not over yet…
Every generation must leave behind
Dead ideas and settled stereotypes
And be committed to
Self-discovery and self-actualization.

The pain of our past
Must be transformed to faith
A faith that can see
In our ordinariness
An extraordinary expression of divinity
And in our dreams, the power of prayer.

We must rise
On the merit
Of our accrued wisdom
And not on the foolish
Avarice for things
That are effectual or notional.

And thought…
That is the architect
Of the abode
We live in
Must itself abide in openness
…in a heart free of fear.

We have a lot of work to do;
Many battles to fight
Many adversaries to win over
Many rough terrains to traverse
Many mountains to climb
And many bridges to build.

And this work
That needs to be done-
Is in essence,
A solitary quest.
It’s our search for redemption
And freedom…from our own smallness.

And just as Nanak told Mardana
“It is my blessing that
The Good and the Pure
Be separated from the clan
And be scattered to spread the goodness…”
Sanctify your solitary effort.

Do well by doing good
Do well by keeping at heart
The Larger Good.
Independence, after all
Is not freedom from responsibility
But freedom in responsibility.

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Learning

Learning can give nothing but anxiety
To one who considers himself ignorant.

And learning is wasted on one
Who believes he already knows

Learning is not an acquisition.
It’s a quality of being-

Present. Attentive. Deferential.
Surrendered to the Truth.

Learning is intelligence in action
Not the intellect in inertia.

Learning, in essence
Is an act of deep love.

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A Great Question

“Who are you?”
The question is an unsettling one…
The answer to it
Depends on context…

Without a context,
Who am I?

A great question is one
That dislocates certainty
And puts it on a quest.

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The Leader

Small fears but great connivances
Scores kept
Scores settled
Projects won
The designation acquired
And the pride served…
Work for many- great as it may be
Is but a means to an end;
It’s an end that is sadly often trivial…
Simply because it is self-serving
And not a means to deliver
The grand promise of the work itself.

The Leader
Is simply a person who recognizes
The true value of work
Its nature and its way.
Work is more than just a means
To profit- personal or corporate.
At its heart, it’s a contribution
Of that which is most worthy in you
The leader simply shows others
The merit in the reasons for which
Selfless work must be undertaken.

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The Search for Promise

There is occasionally
An hour
That is eventful…
A pivoting moment
Where you stand
Divinely reminded
Of what is worth
Living for
And what is the worth
In losing.

To a seeker
No occurrence is vain.
Everything colludes
To provide you
With new meaning
Fresh insight
Or an accepting wisdom
Where the vision that clearly sees
Differences and distinctions
Begins to blur.

Watch this moment
Absorb its essence
Feel your emotion
But do not emotionalize
The moment.
Humanity is not a particular
Flavor, after all
It requires no recipe.
It’s a quest… To be human
Is to search for promise.

Posted on by solangesuri2015

Life

Even though
I tended to my plants
With unfailing care

They still withered
And died
Too soon.

Nevertheless
New life sprouted quickly and
Once again life bloomed.

Death, I learned
Is not the end of life
But its release.

So, mourn not my end
For what will end
Was never life.

A wise soul once said:
“You’re never more alive
Than when you’re dead.”