A Part or Apart

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A Part or Apart

See how well all in nature live life
Without self-importance, possessiveness—therefore fear
We are all very much a part of nature’s fabric
But we somehow stand outside and visit

Why feel more important than our brethren?
Every blade of grass, insect and person
The mechanisms we’ve made to try to promote unity
Each further divide by unique insistence

We are already a part of something very grand
Why not feel being ‘a part’ and never apart?
Starting apart, we drift further apart only
Feel the vital connection that already exists

So much to learn from our real kith and kin
Relatives and friends are a small part of all
You are vitally related to all and every thing
All that you see is verily your own self only

Can a wave stand apart from the ocean?
Can wind ever stand apart from space?
The sun never stands apart from you
The rains quench the thirst of one and all

Creation is not exhausted by humanity
You are brother and sister to all you see
This real organic connection already is
Great is the gain in making this real within

We worry about all that must be tended to
But we worry unnecessarily, says Krishna
The heavy burden we carry is by our own choice
This choice makes you a visitor in your own home

Once again the flute bearer whispers to us
“I do everything but please do something too
And, kindly take all the glory of deeds well done
Though I am doer, deed and done to as well”

How wonderful to know what is needed
To do what needs to be done but wisely
Not in lieu of our self-created responsibility
But as one responsible in the widest sense

Act as a good steward of all and everything
Doing what needs to be done for the best of all
Embrace nature fully and feel embraced too
Break down all walls that ‘I-so-late’

Feeling abandoned is self-generated
It does not take time to get over this
The seed is thought—resolve anew now
With firm determination discard all limitation

Why will nature not heal you nicely?
If you only accept you are a part of her
In healing you she takes care of her self
If only you feel ‘a part’ and not apart

Self-created and self-sustained are all walls
Divisions are the mind’s creation only
The mind that is divided—sees division
The mind sees and experiences itself only

Every moment is a golden opportunity
To accept unity as the truth of things
Then, each action must be holy testimony
And the heart feels nature’s embrace in return

What glory it is to feel one with all
Not just in theory or empty words
But when the whole being acts naturally
As ‘a part’ of all—we never feel apart at all

Just this much we are asked to do
Our little part in things but as part of all
This simple request is the master key
Wonderful is the experience that awaits

We are asked to do our part as ‘a part’
In doing so never feel apart from the whole
But we want to write the book—play God
So God lets us play but the stakes are high

Swami Suryadevananda