The dark night….

“The night is dark and I am far from home….

Lead kindly light, amidst the circling gloom….. Lead thou me on”

This hymn by Saint John Newman, suddenly came in to me, as I once again sat at my desk.

In came this observation, all nights don’t seem so dark, do they?

Well, of course not, came the answer from within.

However, as the sun sets, in emerges darkness.

In actuality the sun never rises and sets, however it appears to us that it does, due to the earth’s rotation.

What seems to be an outward phenomenon, seems to be reigning within too, causing me to realise that the sun never sets..

You just move away, when you choose to ignore it and plunge into darkness.

Nostalgia just set in, and I reminisced my stay at Vandevi, my jungle home, where being close to nature, I got to understand its phenomenon, within and out.

The morning sun rise always gave me a certain high, making me joyously intoxicated as the birds chirped and peacocks squawked joyously around.

At dusk, a sinking feeling arose from within, and as I watched the sun set, the birds fly home, well that was when my heart sank as if all was lost.

This happened for days at end, until one day I observed deeply . The darkness was within me, I had moved away from light.

As I looked deeply at myself, aware of what was taking place from within, and seeing what just happened, a transformation took place.

For instead of trying to find reasons and ways of overcoming this feeling, I looked at it, accepted it and surrendered.

Hands up I told myself, and as I did so, everything seemed so natural as is.

Nature has a way, of teaching you its ways, if you let go and look deeply into it.

Its wonderful and then came in a feeling of ecstasy, one I cannot describe.

On this very note, I discovered another intriguing one.

Accepting the night is one thing, and sleeping soundly through it is another.

A sound sleep at night , calms your body and mind,

A natural balm to the weary mind,

Then why does sleep evade you,

and when it eventually does come to you, why does it robs you of its soundness?

That is when I asked myself,

Did I miss out on goodness?”

Awaiting an answer eagerly, here’s what sprang up,

A sound sleep at night is a gift for the wise, who know how to conduct their day,

For a lost day, leads to a lost night.

A lost day, is one, which starts off in a rush, without any meaning or order,

Doing things you have to do, without really being in them, grumpy and unkind to all around,

And as you go about without the goodness of being, you rob yourself and cause pain around,

Then for sure, you have all night, to brood and repent, and try to put in order, the disorderly day.

And if by chance you happen to sleep, you’ll be working all through the night in your dreams,

trying to change the events of your day, and rubbing soothing balm on the wounds of the ones you inflicted.

As my heart sang ” For every job that has to be done, there is an element of fun, in the most delightful way” ( Mary Poppins, Just a spoonful of sugar…)

I then asked myself, “Could I enjoy work during the day ?

So to me a task well done, with fun is the order needed to straighten up everything.

Out with the tangles of disorder, I told myself.

By order I mean, not a time table day, but one enriched with the goodness of being,

One in which I am aware of my every action, and my every action am I.

And then as the day passes off, into the night,

A strange calm presides over,

Changing the disorder, into an order , and

Now, as I rest my head on my pillow, I am one with it.

Dead to the world, I sleep through,

As my day turns to night, the order of the day, becomes order at night.

Order within and out, and order flows to order,

For can you ever imagine a messed up disorder, suddenly transform into order?

The wise men were the ones who always wanted a good nights sleep to rejuvenate for a new day.

That new day will have all the order, as a well rested body and mind , can never have a disorderly day.

Cheers to the wise, and as you welcome the night, you know that all you want, ever, is to sleep sound.

Wise men always cracked ” Do your job well to have a good night’s sleep”

The connection of the day to the night was never so clear earlier as it is today.

So guys , the crux in life is to know what you want,

And as we wade through life’s ups and downs, all we need is to end it all,

With a good night to fall back on….

Good night to you all…