Vedic Worship

To sit and submit
The offering of incense and candles
And be inspired
By the life of the Master
And those who came before us
To show us the Way

That there is some Truth
To all the Teachings
That Love exists
That true love is all that there is

But how to see?
With all the suffering
With all the pain and loss
That each and every one experiences

The great Mother Kali
In her most feared form
With the severed heads
And the sword she carries

The sword that cuts the bonds of ego
And the very same sword
That cuts through your heart
When your love is taken
When you friend is lost
Forever or so it seems

How to love when it all seems
Like the world is against you
And that God could not possibly be
Responsible for all the evil
That shines so clearly in front of us

With each passing news cycle
With each act of anger
With each act of protection
Of oneself for oneself
That hurts so many
That hurts deep within your heart

But it is all worship is it not?
Worship with work
Worship to look after those
With whom you are held responsible
Worship to look after oneself
Who is also God’s creation

To pray for your friends
To pray for your loved ones
That they would be relieved of their suffering
That they would not feel pain
And only feel love and be happy

And to find the strength
To even pray for those
That have hurt you
To those that have treated you poorly

To those that are less fortunate
To those that must beg for food
And sit on the streets with no shelter
In the cold and dark nights

How is that this God of ours
Could let the world be so?
Is this not one of the greatest of mysteries?

But faith we must have
In the divine bliss we feel
When the light of the Master
Shines through us
When a glimpse is given
And a nod of approval made
That we will be saved in the end

But until then it is all worship
Worship in prayer and meditation
Worship through chanting of the sacred name
Worship through work and charity
Worship through eating and drinking
Worship through laughter and play
Worship through music
Worship through games and competition

It is all the play of the Lord
But how can we see?
Without the grace of the Lord himself
That the light shines for all of us

Even in the depths of suffering
And through this pain
The transformation occurs
The greatest of all alchemical reactions

As the soul is transformed
From the physical body
Bound to desire and karma
Into a being of light
That can be a beacon of Truth

To show the way for those around us
And illustrate that there is hope
For each and every one of us
In this grand illusion that we call Life

In this grand and ceaseless game
Where everyone chases
That which cannot be caught

And yet in the end
We must all suffer the same fate
As the body decays and death calls upon us
And our lives pass before us in an instant

And all we can hope for
All we can yearn for
Is the light of love to touch us
And for forgiveness to be granted
For all our trespasses

To each and every one that we have hurt
As we have looked after ourselves
Over the endless years of living
Only to protect ourselves in the end

And yet only hurting ourselves in the process
Not knowing the whole time
That what is within us is within them
And to love another is simply to love oneself

And so we worship
On the mat, deep in meditation
And then off the mat
In the world that we must live in

That the Lord has created for us
With Her grand illusion
The greatest of plays
Her beautiful Maya

With pain and joy
But most importantly Life itself
That is the greatest of all gifts

If we can but understand
Be given the gift of Knowledge
And the fire of the burnt ego
Within which our true beings can shine through

Until then worship we must
Worship of the One inside us
Who is the very same One
Who sits beside us and guides us
And who sits within
The heart of all