Week 1: Ahimsa Paramo Dharma

 

Please read the following two poems before watching this video.

 

An Irish Airman Foresees His Death

by: William Butler Yeats

I know that I shall meet my fate

Somewhere among the clouds above;

Those that fight I do not hate,

Those that I guard I do not love;

My country is Kiltartan Cross,

My countrymen Kiltartan’s poor,

No likely end could bring them loss

Or leave them happier than before.

Nor law, nor duty bade me fight;

Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,

A lonely impulse of delight

Drove to this tumult in the clouds;

I balanced all, brought all to mind,

The years to come seemed waste of breath,

A waste of breath the years behind

In balance with this life, this death.

 

 

A Garden Beyond Paradise by Jalaluddin Rumi

 

Everything you see has its roots

in the Unseen world.

The forms may change,

yet the essence remains the same.

 

Every wondrous sight will vanish,

Every sweet word will fade.

But do not be disheartened,

The Source they come from is eternal—

Growing, branching out,

giving life and new joy.

 

Why do you weep? –

That Source is within you,

And this whole world

is springing up from it.

 

The Source is full,

Its waters are ever-flowing;

Do not grieve,

drink your fill!

Don’t think it will ever run dry—

This is the endless Ocean!

 

From the moment you came into this world

A ladder was placed in front of you

that you might escape.

 

From earth you became plant,

From plant you became animal.

Afterwards you became a human being,

Endowed with knowledge, intellect, and faith.

 

Behold the body, born of dust—

how perfect it has become!

 

Why should you fear its end?

When were you ever made less by dying?

When you pass beyond this human form,

No doubt you will become an angel

And soar through the heavens!

 

But don’t stop there.

Even heavenly bodies grow old.

 

Pass again from the heavenly realm

and plunge into the vast ocean of Consciousness.

Let the drop of water that is you

become a hundred mighty seas.

 

But do not think that the drop alone

Becomes the Ocean—

the Ocean, too, becomes the drop!