LOVE IS NOT A FORMULA by Urmila Devi Dasi

Spiritual practices are an entering into a personal relationship of love...

...not a mechanical formula.

This poem is a reflection on that reality, as I experience it.

Love is Not A Formula

'Madhava' by Braja Sorensen

Oh my dear Madhava

To push a button

That opens up, then

The world within us

Awake from chrysalis.

It’s a dance, my king,

Where angels sing

And love perfumes

Hearts’ inner rooms.

How can one make

A way to take

Love, essence of life,

Cut it with a knife

Bottled in a jar

Studied from afar?

Photography by Quoc Dinh

Love always resists

An analysis.

Capture is hopeless

And force is useless.

If we want to control,

We remain like a mole

Who desires the sun

While beneath everyone

Digs deep in the ground

Where the sun is not found

I do want to love

And need grace from above

For I’m too poor to know

How real love I can show

Can’t remember the key

That unlocks the real me

(This poem was published in the book Journey of the Heart: An Anthology of Spiritual Poetry by Women, Balboa Press, 2014. Available by clicking here.)

Urmila Devi Dasi (Dr. Edith Best) has been practicing bhakti yoga since 1973 and travels the world teaching the science of the Bhagavad Gita and the practical application of bhakti to life. She has a PhD in education and has three decades of experience teaching primary and secondary students, which include 19 years of experience as a school administrator and leader. She has published VaikunthaChildren, a guidebook for devotional education, The Great Mantra forMystic Meditation, dozens of articles, and Dr. Best Learn to Read, an 83 book complete literacy program with technology enabling the story books to speak in 25 languages at the touch of a special “pen”. Urmila and her husband, Pratyatosa, have three grown married children and eleven grandchildren. In 1996, Urmila and Pratyatosa entered the renounced order of life, or vanaprastha, in Sanskrit. You may connect with her through her website here, or subscribe to her on Facebook.

~If you are interested in seeing your poetry appear in this blog, or submitting a poem by a woman that has inspired you, please click here for submission guidelines. I greatly look forward to hearing from you!~

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