Awakening

I was alone on the lonely mountain when I heard thy voice in the song of a spring bird. I opened my eyes and beheld thy form. I looked within and found thee in my heart. The light of the new dawn has touched my soul and I am awakened with the vision of thy all-pervading universality and thy transcendental infinity.

When I came out to greet the dawn thy light touched my soul and filled my heart with the peace of thy bliss. Thy life animates the seed to grow into the beauty of a plant. Thy divinity inspires my soul to unfold the glory and grace of thy perfection. Thou dost reveal thy splendor through thy created universe. I look at the grandeur and beauty of nature and a feeling of adoration overfills my heart. I bow before the grandeur of thy form. I lose myself in thy formless being. It must be that my soul has touched thy glory. Then, O all-pervading God, unveil thy mystery which is hidden within me that I may realize thy perfection in my soul and manifest thy divine attributes in my life and self-expression.

The dawn heralds thy coming to my heart and the twilight opens the door of thy immortality to my soul. I gather the morning flowers in my hands and I feel thee everywhere. Would my garden of flowers be beautiful without thy light? Then touch my heart with thy divinity that all the virtues of love and grace may blossom forth in their fullest glory in my being.

Why do the flowers not bloom in the winter? Is it because the spring then would be devoid of beauty and loveliness? The beauty of spring draws thee closer to my heart. With devotion and purity let me receive thee nearer to my soul.

The flowers and the foliage are my fellow devotees. I worship thee in the companionship of these souls of thy creation in the temple of thy cosmic nature. Only the thought of thee inspires beauty in my heart; then the exquisitely sweet pansy must be in ever-adoring contemplation of thy perfection.

Nature has put on the robe of beauty and I behold thy permeating grace and glory in all and everywhere. As the little lake plays with the stars above so let my senses catch the beauty of thy manifested glory.

Some mystic hand must have painted the butterfly, else how could such exquisite colors have decorated its wavering wings? The bluejay gathers the azure from the sky above. The cardinal borrows its beauty from the setting sun. The violet draws its sweetness from the kindly earth, but my soul imbibes the glory of God from everywhere. Then let me in humility receive the grace of thy wisdom, power and love to inspire my heart.

Like the song of the morning bird let thy wisdom and love awaken me from the slumber of spiritual forgetfulness.

“Awakening” by Swami Premananda
From The Inner Path to God