Poem displayed at the 'Mandala Temple'

Attended a day of the 'WATIS' conference on ecology and education at Visthar. Somebody told VS that we should see the mandala temple, and we went there. It was a beautiful place- the most notable thing I saw there was this poem displayed there-

To Look at Any Thing

To look at any thing,
If you would know that thing,
You must look at it long:
To look at this green and say,
"I have seen spring in these
Woods," will not do - you must
Be the thing you see:
You must be the dark snakes of
Stems and ferny plumes of leaves,
You must enter in
To the small silences between
The leaves,
You must take your time
And touch the very peace
They issue from.

~ John Moffitt ~

Thought this was beautiful... do we ever look at things, people in this way? do we ever make this kind of contact? if we don't, isn't life pointless then? half-lived? Searching for this poem on the net led me to-

http://www.panhala.net/Archive/To_Look.html

and I found this treasure of poems at

http://www.panhala.net/Archive/Index.html

Found this poem I had read but forgotten years back, out here-

Love

Love means to learn to look at yourself
The way one looks at distant things
For you are only one thing among many.
And whoever sees that way heals his heart,
Without knowing it, from various ills.
A bird and a tree say to him: Friend.
Then he wants to use himself and things
So that they stand in the glow of ripeness.
It doesn't matter whether he knows what he serves:
Who serves best doesn't always understand.

~ Czeslaw Milosz ~

I must learn to serve if I wish to understand... must get out and volunteer in some programs

So, why is this blog called "Undercover Yogi" and what will I write about?

Well..certainly not because I am one! But because I aspire to be one. This is not an original term I made up- it is borrowed from one of my yoga/ meditation teachers. I aspire to be a Yogi, by which I mean that I will always operate from a position of compassion, understanding and clarity. My responses to any situation will be driven by what the situation requires- not by petty concerns and agendas. Why "undercover"? Because I will live in the world, and engage with it, doing whatever it is I do externally...for my living etc.

A tall order indeed isn't it? It seems daunting given my several ineffective habits, given the load of karma I carry with me. At the same time, it doesn't seem too far away either, given all the support I have from many masters who have taken the pains to show me the path, and inspire me.....yet I sometimes feel..will I make the necessary commitment, will I be disciplined enough...

I plan to write about several things...and I hope I will soon (the first "intro post" was 14 months back...so you would be right to doubt my commitment to this blog)....

about

...spirituality
..the struggle to break old habits
...how we might be able to help ourselves and others in this struggle
...education and learning
...poetry and literature
...music....

Intro

Plan to start posting stuff on this blog pretty soon- spirituality, literature, music, poetry, leadership and other musings...