Living a life of increasing righteousness, my
Devotees grow in strength and in faith, and
Call upon me in their prayers.
Praising my might,
Repenting of their transgressions,
Petitioning for my grace, and
Thanking me for all they have,
My devotees pray without end.
In their awe and in their fear, my devotees
Dare not call my name but
Abasing themselves and
Averting their eyes, they
Call me Father, they
Call me Lord.
Absent of Self, my renunciants
Address me not as Father,
Nor call upon me as Lord.
Self-less, they recognize no “other,” and
Being Self-less, affirm spirit and
Spirit only.
Empty of Self and
Absent of “other,”
My renunciants offer me no praise and
Sing me no songs.
Living a life of increasing Self-lessness, my
Renunciants come to me with
No prayers for forgiveness,
No acts of contrition or repentance,
No petitions for bodily comfort or safety.
--- *** ---
My renunciants have found
My peace, a peace beyond sound and
A wonder beyond words.
In the absence of an “other,” my
Renunciants, from undifferentiated spirit,
Stand mute.
My renunciants pray
Without wishing to receive;
My renunciants pray without endS.
With every breath they take,
In every thing that they do,
My renunciants pray to me;
Their very being is their prayer.
Whatever their place in society,
Whatever their trade,
Their calling, their career,
My renunciants act –
In the knowledge that
Every action rightly committed,
Every act arising from no-Self,
Is an act of union,
An act of Charity,
An act of prayer.
--- *** ---
Devoting their skills and their talents to
What needs to be done,
My renunciants act,
Detached from the results of their actions.
My devotees work;
My devotees pray.
My devotees pray as they work;
They pray without end.
My renunciants work;
They work without endS.
Their work is their prayer,
Their prayer is their work.
My renunciants, in
Doing are at peace;
My renunciants, in
Not doing, are at peace.
Breathing in is their prayer;
Breathing out is their prayer.
Sitting, standing,
Coming, going –
All of life, in movement and in repose, is prayer;
All of life is spirit only.
With no need to seek me –
For am I not their birthright? –
Renunciants, emptying themselves of
Self, are filled with me – with spirit only.
--- *** ---
Renunciants are closest to me because,
In the childlike purity of their hearts,
They make no distinctions –
No in, no out; no up, no down.
No left and no right.
No good and no evil,
No me, and no you.
In their Self-lessness, renunciants
Return to undifferentiated spirit only –
That which existed before
They became themSelves, needful,
In their isolation, of warmth, and
Of comfort, and of protection.
In their Self-lessness, renunciants
Return to a peace that
Cannot rightly be called “union,” for
There is no “other” with whom to be united;
They return to a peace that
Cannot be called "emptiness," for
Here they find love, they find Charity,
They find the peace of simple Being.
Untroubled by the past,
Unworried for the future,
Untouched and unmoved,
Renunciants merely ARE,
As I AM.
Of spirit only,
My renunciants walk
Their paths,
Living lives of peace,
Living lives of Charity.