Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2001 06:41:23 -0500
Subject: Re: There Once Was a Chariot 


i have been thinking of chariots

more these past few days

listening to his voice
on tape again

as he read of bhishma on his bed of arrows

        i have been thinking of how the charioteer
        knew
of amba
and 
shikhandi
and
karna
and
ekalavya

but said 
nothing

        to suggest the different ways in which to think the world

        to the conflicted warrior
        
i have been thinking about how
generations
have simplified
all
the charoteers'
and their 
words

        if 

eternity is an illusion
        living a performance
       believing is within the logic of the performance
oh but so many ways of believing....
and seeing beauty side-by-side with grief
performing it
knowing it
        

perform
we must
        
        karmanyevaadhikaarasthe

whose authority?
to do what?               

At 06:30 AM 10/28/01 -0500, you wrote:
>There once was a chariot
>
>waiting
>
>and waiting
>the world revolved around it
>not vice versa
>
>in all its glory
>
>indecision halted
>the driver not driving
>
>but the archer
>oh, yes, the archer
>
>blue-skinned wisdom shone forth
>many-armed, many-faced
>writhing in liberation
>
>one day all the world at war
>spun and spun
>
>but the chariot sat motionless
>in peaceful agony
>
>an eternity of now
>
>but now, it changed
>
>began to move
>
>because eternity was an illusion
>
>rejoicing again and again
>
>
>[c 2001 thomas fortenberry.  many thanks to the bhagavad-gita]
>
>
>
>