Shanti means peace. Sunday morning I stood in the Catskill woods inhaling morning mist as it dissolved into the mountain. My tongue tasted the confluence of all five elements at once and some minuscule balance within me came to center.
There isn’t much to be said about losing someone beautiful…I hope as his being merges with the universe, kissed by death like the mountain in the mist, that he can lose himself and rejoice in his surrender to the cosmic embrace.
I may never read the Upanishads or the Vedas in their entirety, but I am so grateful that Sanskrit has come alive in me again. Here is a most radiant summation of wholeness excerpted from the Ishavasya Upanishad, part of the Yajur Veda. Let the shlokas resound in every grieving heart, that there may be no notion of grief any more…
ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात्पुर्णमुदच्यते
पूर्णश्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते ॥
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥
wanderings + wonderings 