Beloved strangers come together,
\nFeel how opposing energies flow within you.
\nLet your life be like a forge,
\nAnd you smith, metallurgist, and object of artistry.
\nWith each action,
\nShape yourself as an instrument and alchemize experience
\nTo approach the Infinite.
\nIn times of suffering and doubt
\nRecall that
\nPains from the past are not fates to be cursed
\nBut material to be recast, alloyed, and nursed into new shape,
\nPlunged back and forth from furnace to cooled pool,
\nAgain and again:
\nLike ghanti bells rung during a Ganga Aarti
\nBy priests whirling brass snakes in enflamed circles
\nChanting Sanskrit songs amongst fragrant smoke
\nAs sun and moon move across horizon lines.
\nLike the damaru drum keeping beat
\nFor Lord Shiva\u2019s celestial dance
\nAtop the demon which seeks to lure the undiscerning to
\nForget and ignore their connection to Purity and Eternity.
\nAnd when full of joy and faith,
\nUse memories of times defined as light and sweet
\nto ring like a singing bowl,
\nbut silently \u2014 a soft Om rising unbidden in the chest,
\nAs designs in shape and kind,
\nTo guide your efforts at perceiving the unstruck sound
\nWith others also seeking the wisdom which proclaims:
\nNo matter your state \u2013 suffering or bliss, in love or in hate,
\ncreation, preservation, destruction, illusion, or liberation \u2013
\nIf you have breath, then you are blessed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Beloved strangers come together, Feel how opposing energies flow within you. Let your life be like a forge, And you smith, metallurgist, and object of artistry. With each action, Shape yourself as an instrument and alchemize experience To approach the Infinite. In times of suffering and doubt Recall that Pains from the past are not … Continue reading “Let Your Life be Like a Forge”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[128,94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-india","category-poetry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8e7kf-2cc","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8444"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8451,"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8444\/revisions\/8451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arielsheen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}