The Self as Enjoyer

He is spirituality itself. He is beyond all these things. 

Whether you are a musician or you are an artist; whatever it is you are, He will enjoy, 

as He is the enjoyer.

And He will enjoy whatever is simple, whatever is given with the heart, He will enjoy. Whatever is expressed with the heart He will enjoy. 

- HH Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, Shivaratri 2003

Shri Shiva and His family by Raja Ravi Varma, vintage print.

Shri Shiva is the Universal Self, residing in the heart, the Enjoyer of Creation.

Today is Shivaratri, the Hindu festival devoted to Lord Shiva.

Goddess Excellently Bright

Queen and huntress, chaste and fair,

Now the sun is laid to sleep,

Seated in thy silver chair

State in wonted manner keep:

         Hesperus entreats thy light,

         Goddess excellently bright.

Earth, let not thy envious shade

Dare itself to interpose;

Cynthia's shining orb was made

Heaven to clear when day did close:

         Bless us then with wished sight,

         Goddess excellently bright.

Lay thy bow of pearl apart

And thy crystal-shining quiver;

Give unto the flying hart

Space to breathe, how short soever:

         Thou that mak'st a day of night,

         Goddess excellently bright.

-Ben Jonson (1572-1637), English poet and playwright

Johannes Vermeer, Diana and Her Companions (1650s).

In this painting, possibly the earliest existing work by the Dutch master Johannes Vermeer, female companions of the goddess Diana (Artemis) solemnly wash her feet. 

The theme of women in quiet, reflective moments would become a recurring feature of Vermeer's work as it developed.

The hart (deer), object of the chase, is a symbol of the god Shiva (the Self) residing in the heart. The goddess of chastity, Diana, crowned with the moon, resembles the Hindu goddess Parvati, whose sole aim was to win the love of Lord Shiva and become one with the Self.

What you desire

A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. 

No man can serve two masters. 

Your life is shaped by the end you live for. 

You are made in the image of what you desire.
- Thomas Merton

film still from The Wings of Desire.

Until you have loved

"Until you have loved, you cannot become yourself." 

-Emily Dickinson

Mural in Amherst, Massachusetts, home of the American Self-realised poet Emily Dickinson.

















Dickinson used 'slant rhyme' or half rhyme frequently in her works. In her poem "Hope is the thing with feathers" the slant rhyme is soul—all.

Hope is the Thing with Feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all.