I knock at every heart.

Liberation is the goal of human life.
They describe in self confident notes
Various qualities of ultimate liberation.
Once you attain liberation they say
You are permanently in blissful happiness.
You are beyond pain and beyond pleasure,
You are beyond sorrow and beyond joy.
No action is needed, nor any respite,
You become bliss,eternal, immortal.

I listen to them with humble patience.
Their words do make my heart sad,
Untold tears fill my eyes incessantly
For their words are as empty as ashes.
Their words are echoes of thousand centuries,
They are vehicles of age old ideas.
Their words stink of callous isolation,
They smell of stagnation of brain, of mind.
My heart weeps, it melts in compassion.
I knock at every heart and tell them:

Freedom is not a utopia, it is a fact of life.
Freedom is not a goal, it is a fact of life.
Permanent there is nothing, not even freedom.
Life is ever new, ever fresh, ever changing.
Happiness is not beyond pain and pleasure,
It is pain, it is pleasure,it is joy and sorrow.
No bliss, no happiness can isolate a free mind,
It vibrates, it dances, it plays with life.
Freedom is alertness, it is dynamic awareness.
You are free, liberated, if you see it.

They look at me with wonder in their eyes,
They smile at me with surprise.
We have read the scriptures they tell me,
We have been taught by prophets,by holy masters,
We believe them, we live according to them.
We’ll control, discipline, master our mind.
Freedom is our goal, we’ll get there one day.
Thus they close their hearts, their eyes, their ears.
My heart weeps, it melts in deep compassion,
I knock at every heart, I walk my way alone.

By
Vimala Thakar.