Thine Ever-Changing Face

Thine Ever-Changing Face

Thine ever-changing face of ocean and sky

I beheld with great joy.

Sometimes calm, unruffled,

Thy ble Face silently suggests:

"I am the creator of all creation - be calm with Me."

Sometimes Thy face breaks into endless laughter

And ripples of light

Displaying silver muscles.

Sometimes Thy skiey oceanic Face

Storms and howls at me:

"I can destroy all creation."

Sometimes Thy boundless Face

Wears the gloom of Nemesis and the sad clouds

Sorrowing with the sorrows of the world.

Sometimes Thy sea-Face smiles; or, scorchingly aglow

With violet rays to burn the darkness of disease,

Thy sunny ocean-Face reveals paternal warmth and care.

Sometimes Thy pale blue sky-and-ocean Face

Wears the dark veil of night

Adorned with the beauty mark of the moon,

And eyes me with maternal love.

Sometimes Thy sky-ocean Face

Suddenly is dark with gloom

And saddened into oblivion of all things,

Meditating on Thy own Spirit alone, saying:

"So long I entertained thee

With My cosmic emotions

Of calmness, power, fear, joy, meditation,

Sun, moon and storm.

Now I hide my Face

Into the bosom of eternity

That thou mayest be able to behold My unseen Face

Sleeping in dreamless wakefulness

Behind the shroud of nothingness."

Yet How Elusive

Yet How Elusive

I looked for You

Ever since You breathed individuality

Into my soul dew

And separated me from You

Because I am the wave

Jerked out of Your sea

I've ever tried myself to reunite

With Your boundless bosom of freedom and light -

Though lashed

And by all other waves and by karma dashed -

Yet again and again

The storm of my own desires o'er the cosmic main

Would send me sailing alone, sad,

With colliding brother waves, cruel restive mad,

I am the wavelet life in great unrest

Swimming on Your cosmic sea-breast.

And yet how elusive You are

So near and so far.

My little life swam in loneliness and worries

Beneath the vistas of centuries,

Beneath countless lights of mily way , moons and suns,

Beneath the darkness of many desires undone,

Beneath the fogs of intricate incarnations

And 'neath clouds of doleful delusions.

Now at last I discovered

Just beneath my ignorance You lay covered,

'Twas I who ignored You -

Not You, not You -

When You were so near

Kept by my absent mind so far:

The ocean of life

Through all my strife

Supporting , ever-sustaining

Ever-pursuing, ever watchfully remaining

To protect me from harm

Just beneath the truant wavelet of my little life

Blessed with Your sheltering charm.

- Paramahansa Yogananda