Inside the body <br />is a little place. <br /> <br />you could say that <br />this is like a lotus <br />for it floats on the surface of the waters of life <br />and opens its petals to the heavens, <br />rejoicing to be alive. <br /> <br />or you could say that <br />it is like a house <br />for it is where you return for rest and re-creation <br />within the love of family, <br />within the safety of its walls. <br /> <br />or you could say that <br />it is like a city <br />for it has a palace and a treasury, and many officers <br />such as mind and intellect <br />to fulfil its needs. <br /> <br />yet within that little place, <br />a space, <br />as large as the universe itself. <br /> <br />we should know about that space. <br /> <br />within it are comprehended <br />the heavens and the earth; <br />the elements, sound, air, fire, light, water, all that’s underfoot <br />that arises from the earth, returns to dust; <br />whatever is, and what is not; <br />all in that little space <br />which because it is space <br />is unbounded. <br /> <br />it does not age with age, <br />with wrinkles nor gray hair, nor <br />with forgetful mind; <br />beyond all sorrows, since sorrow comes <br />from separation; <br />free to have desires, <br />since it satisfies all desires <br />and lives in its own satisfaction; <br />that satisfaction, they call bliss – what else? <br /> <br />you need not seek outside for this; <br />all this is in your heart.<br /><br />Michael Shepherd<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/0032from-shankara-on-the-chandogya-upanishad-8-1/
