I say this for samsara is a tantalizing web of self-fulfilment, ego, self-centrifugal and I-gratification. Without judgement simply put -it’s like that only! The fascinating web of maya, the mesmerizing windows of the giant marketplace of our world designed make us hapless before its myriad seductions. How much, how soon and how completely can we devour its teasing tastes is the race we all enter wittingly and with all we know as our senses and passions.

The other must wait! Only after I have eased my gluttony can I think what I owe other sentient beings, the earth, the air, etc. And not surprisingly, that time never comes conclusively in our lives, for appetites by nature grow, samsara’s seductive ways intensify and often a lifetime seems too short a span to gratify all I can set my heart on.

Someone with a sage like nature calls it all illusion. Yes indeed it maybe so but look at how wonderous and delicious is the illusion! All that is manifest captivates and ensnares- so is that not the design too of nature and the Way? Absolutely!

Zen –the only wisdom school clearly sidestepping the paradox of sacred and profane- indicates all as perfection including the illusion and instead avers that only in seeing the whole can you know the parts. Only in knowing the essence can you truly savour its exotic templates. And perhaps samsara is the most exotic of all.

But few experience its exotica

Instead like the mythical salamander most human lives are doomed to live samsara like their ring of fire- trapped within its intensity, unable to escape and yet drawn eternally to that fate. The High road is the invisible invitation to break the ring of fire, to draw from it -warmth and passion rather than captivity. To saunter as a Lord of the earth and its elements, enslaved by none.

In a nutshell this is the clarion call of enlightenment. Simple and uncomplicated in its essence, sensible and transparent in its promise and deep in its profundity. It says to us as if to the cowering lion- you are no sheep, and to the quivering eagle the sky is only yours, your flight its majesty. That is all that enlightenment is- our wake up call.

Few heed this call and of them even fewer wake up. And most of us wonder how to know the ones that do. How do we identify the ones who see the whole, know the parts and then savour all without entrapment?

They are the ones who flower into that rare state-compassion. Blossoms in the snow! Amidst the cold fields of self-gratification they brave all to reign as mystifying fruits of beauty and abundance. Nestled in the misty heights of man, they flower against all odds, beckoning to those who aspire to dizzy heights that amidst the harsh cold of the rock and the ice blooms the most fragrant, radiant flower.

The compassionate heart brings with it the most powerful transformative experience not only for the recipient but also for the one who allows it to flow from within. Compassion is spontaneity, it is rising above ones fears, it is about transcending the personal and going with the flow of life. It is about responding to the call of the heart and pushing aside the fearful, self obsessed mind. It is godliness for it has no boundaries, is devoid of personal stakes, it is expansive, inclusive and liberated action, rooted in faith, harmony and a sense of great well being.

Compassion cannot be known or understood unless you behold the one who is truly liberated. For with freedom from illusion comes the freedom to accept all, the freedom to cross from samsara to nirvana and back at will, the freedom to love and cherish all creation without discrimination and boundaries, the freedom to see heaven in a grain of sand and a mountain of sand in the grandest heaven. Free to will peace and serenity for all who suffer, courage to douse the ring of fire that traps them and acceptance for those who burn with impunity.

The enlightened heart is nothing but the full moon of compassion. Shines within the dark night of samsara, leaves its depths and laws undisturbed yet lights up the surface of the waters for all those who wish to know the light, masters the night, lends it mystery and beauty and embraces and soothes uniformly and indiscriminately as completely as only the Divine heart can.

In our imagination of the cosmic heart or God we wonder how loving, magnificent and abundant must be its depths. Compassion is the fountainhead of that which we covet as Divine. Enlightenment is merely the road to the silent lake at whose centre the effulgent, inexhaustible fountain of divinity awaits as the compassionate heart.
For he/she who discovers the essence of truth/self witnesses it many folds wherein lie liberation, play, the warp and waft of samsara and Nirvana, love as an eternal melody, joy, abundance laughter and immortality.

The seed is existence, the rock hard terrain –illusion, misty heights are consciousness and compassion the exotic bloom. For if and when you come upon such a one- be sure to remember that you are witnessing the rarest sight- a blossom in the snow.

In my second post I will share some wonderful stories of compassion as I hope you will too.