GLIMPSES OF ETERNITY.........

“GLIMPSES OF ETERNITY ETCHED IN STONE”

          ---------AJANTA AND ELLORA-------

Hard and unyielding rock, molded with such sheer grace.

Timeless yet beauteous images carved on the rock face.

Bedecked, with frills, etched ornaments silk, and lace.

Cave after cave, inspiring awe and wander.

In a line, one, after the other, the next, better than the other.

What was the magnificent inspiration, to create beauty, so rare?

Caves and viharas, with sculptures and paintings, mesmerizing.

Unparalleled skill and techniques on display, tantalizing.

Ruins! Yes but taunting the demons of time and their brutal ravaging.

Exquisite themes, of the Master’s Enlightenment.

Immense grace, contentment and fearlessness, arising out of attainment.

The cosmic fragrance, of this mighty flowering, stilling all argument.

All chiseled in cold stone and, yet so throbbing and vibrant.

Centuries and colossal quantities of grime, failing to dim the ecstasy and delight.

Eons old and yet so current, clear but somehow confounding is their sight.

The puzzles inherent in the cycle of life, painful but fulfilling too.

Agonizing without the wisdom, of the One present in the two.

Uncertainty and death, powerful youth, so effervescent, understood by so few.

Ananda and his swooning bride, depicted with the Buddha and his begging bowl.

Reclining in Samadhi, with Ananda tears streaming, finally peeping into his soul.

Searching for what he had seen in his Master serving in the attendant’s role.

Majestic, and out of this material world.

Are the caves of Ajanta with many a story untold?

In this saga of apparent creation and destruction, which with time does unfold?

---------------WG CDR PSIS PAUL-------------------------