Rupa Anand 

Rupa Anand started writing poetry in 2008. A resident of New Delhi, India, she is a spiritual seeker under the guidance of Swami Nikhilananda Saraswati, Regional Head, Chinmaya Mission Delhi, a master of Advaita Vedanta.  It is to her teacher and the entire spiritual lineage of India that she is indebted, for managing a pretty radical shift in her understanding and perceptions of Existence and the World. 
 Life’s ever-changing situations and constant movement have made her intuitively aware of a deep sense of stillness and silence that underlies and runs through the cacophony and madness of day-to-day living. Her poems are expressions of images, thoughts, ideas, emotions and events that somehow get etched upon her mind or psyche. She has gotten her B.A. (Hons) in English Literature, travelled extensively and lived in many countries. Her passions include gardening, bird watching, photography and animals. 

e-mail：Chinmaya.Rupa@gmail.com

        Ticketless

Ticketless I arrived

And ticketless I travel

This continuous journey of

Existence –

The conductor waves me on

As if in acknowledgment

Of my ticketless travel!

I traverse the stations

Each interesting and more colorful

Than the previous -

Off loading baggage at each stop -

Unable to resist adding some too!

Each station – a compartment

Of my life with its occupants

Whose faces shine and smile

And beckon –

I try to keep going

Ticketless –

If I am not caught

Till now –

Then it is Infinity

That protects -

And keeps me humble

I try to not to hurry -

Lest I stumble and fall flat

That will be lesson enough

To keep pride at bay and

To understand that this

Ticketless travel is prearranged

A gift voucher of sorts -

I wonder how many more

Trains to catch and

Stations to visit –

When will I dispense

With the entire luggage?

And how much more time

Till the next travel is initiated?

Ticketless, of course!

September 15^th 2012

At the feet of the Master

        Listen

Listen to birds

Listen to children

Listen to words spoken

Listen to that which is unspoken

Listen to open skies

Listen to clouds

Listen to falling rain

Listen to the rhythm of the universe

Listen to the space inside you

Listen to the space inside others

Listen to that which is unheard

Listen to that which is not thought of

Listen to stillness

Listen to nothing at all

Listen with attention

Listen with sincerity

Listen with love

Listen to silence

For God’s sake

Just Listen

Every one wants to be heard

Let’s live in the silence between words

Let’s abide in the silence of knowing

Let’s be the silence of it all

March 29^th 2011

At the feet of the Master by whose Grace we learn to truly listen!

        Tell Me How?

Tell me how not to be pliant like a willow

When winds of deceit and subterfuge blow?

To stand correct and straight amidst

Overwhelming corruption and hate?

Tell me how to fight war and strife

With a white glove and no knife?

To cry a little more now and then

On seeing killing, riots and mayhem?

Tell me how to tolerate and bear

The mindless destruction of Life everywhere?

How to feel a wrenching pain

As hunters shoot down for profit and gain?

Tell me how not to turn my face away

From gnawing poverty and hunger every day?

Tell me how to experience the same

Of those tortured and maimed?

Tell me how to be a lotus in the lagoon

Despite muddy waters, in full bloom?

Tell me how to revere and hold sublime

All Life in its variety Divine?

Tell me how, Oh Sage, to pray                                                                                                    Bringing Compassion, Awareness and Oneness

Into our lives each day?

February 15^th 2011

          I Wish

I wish I were that mountain, still,

majestic by itself.

I wish I were that cloud, adrift,

in an azure sky.

I wish I were this rosebud, pink,

waiting to be opened.

I wish I were that pine tree, tall,

whistling in the wind.

I wish I were the colour, green,

in a tuft of grass.

I wish I were that fragrance, sweet,

in a frangipani flower.

I wish I were that voice, divine,

in a koel's song.

I wish I were that beaming smile,

upon a friendly face.

Who knows I might have been them all, once upon a time?

Who knows I might be them again, in another time?

        Poetry to Me

A movement

of images

A dance

of words

A ballet

of feelings

A kaleidoscope

of impressions

A cloudburst

of emotions

My naked

thoughts

in party attire

To Delight

Amuse

Surprise

and render

speechless sometimes

A few words written 

without music

Yet in tune

and always

an offering

April 14^th 2011

(By the sheer Grace of my Teachers)