In God Makes the Rivers to Flow; An Anthology of the World’s Sacred Poetry & Prose, Eknath Easwaran includes a selection from the Sri Ramakrishna entitled “Dive Deep, O Mind.”  I’ve written the following poem-like reflections inspired by this selection.

The Ocean of God’s Beauty

Dive deep, O mind, dive deep in the Ocean of God’s Beauty;

If you descend to the uttermost depths,

There you will find the gem of Love.

—Sri Ramakrishna

What do you find in the uttermost depth of God’s Beauty?

The gem of Love.

That love is brighter than any earthly gem.

It glistens.

It shines.

It gives off a holy light.

To dive deep in that ocean!

To find that perfect gem!

To know a love that transcends all fault or error!

To look in the mirror and see only God’s glory!

To go a day without finding fault with oneself or another!

To abandon “would,” “should,” and “could.”

To abandon “if only.”

To say “yes” to the moment.

To choose to be in the bath when one is in the bath, to go nowhere else with the mind.

It seems impossible.

The mind is a monkey that doesn’t want to be tamed.

It dashes from one thing to the next, even when you pull on its chain.

The monkey hits itself, as if by punishing itself it could know love.

Love is love, not punishment.

To find the gem of Love is to know God’s glory.

To find the gem of Love is to melt in God’s embrace.

To find the gem of Love is to hold an infant in one’s arms.

To find the gem of Love is to play with a puppy.

To find the gem of Love is to dance all night long.

To find the gem of Love is to hear celestial music.

It is the end of the journey.

It is the beginning of a new journey.

It is an adventure in consciousness.

It awakens pure joy.

The heart warms from within.

It burns with a holy fire.

It is a glimpse of eternity.

When we dive deep into the ocean of God’s Beauty, we also rise higher than the heavens, beyond the sun, beyond the galaxy, into endless ecstasy.