Journey of the Heart

In my vaishnava faith, or bhakti yoga, poetry is an art… … a way of expressing our deepest feelings towards Krishna, the Supreme Lord. This poem was written a day before Chennai the Ratha Yatra festival, in the city of Chennai, India, where I live. It is an ancient festival in which the deity of the Lord of The Universe, also known as Jagannatha comes out of the temple for all to see and be blessed. My poem is about Lord Jagannath’s appearance and his most attractive features. After attending Sri Kshetra Parikrama in December, which is a 19 mile pilgrimage of Puri, Orissa -home to the most ancient Lord Jagannatha temple- my love for Jagannath wonderfully increased immensely. This, in turn, inspired me to write this poem about him. To the Lord of The Universe I surrender my body and my soul. For his pleasure and for the pleasure of his devotees, and all who read it, I have written this poem. Hare Krishna. Lord of The Universe When I was young ...

Much of the mystic love poetry from India revolves around musical and theatrical expressions that portray the loving relationship between the soul and God… One such celebrated relationship was that between princess Mirabai and her divine beloved, Krishna. Born in the sixteenth century  into a noble Rajput family, Mirabai married into a family that did not take fondly to her devotion to God. Consequently, she went from royalty to mendicant, and decorated her spiritual path with poetic songs. I first heard of the great poet, Mirabai in the early 1970’s while I was living and studying bhakti yoga at the Hare Krishna temple in Los Angeles, California.  As I had a background in the performance arts Mirabai’s life instantly spoke to me. Her fusion of spiritual sentiments with song resonated with my passion for music, drama, dance, and the devotional path to loving God. In 1968 I serendipitously met a devotee by the name of Mirabai, who taught me that the perfectio...