Thirst Quench Thirst
Hello... You can hear nothing but the sound of my voice.
You are lovingly placing your cursor over the hotlinked phrase below, clicking once and buying at least one copy of my new book of poetry, Thirst Quench Thirst.
Do not concern yourself about whether or not you actually like poetry, read poetry, or have ever heard of me. Those concerns, while certainly understandable, are beside the point. Sometimes you just need to trust your instincts. Like now, for instance.
Some of the poems in this blog are excerpted from the book, so if you're still not sure, simply scroll around and read.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention, the book is only $15.00. At 72 pages, that's only $20.8 cents a page (1/18th the cost of a Starbuck's Frappucino). Such a deal!
Still need proof it's worth the money? Click below and check out the reviews:
Thirst, Quench Thirst evokes a memory of the deepest longings of the soul. Reading Mitch's poetry reminds me of what I already know, but often forget." -- Joan Apter
"This poetry has touched the deepest recesses of my heart." -- Dermott Philpott
"Mitch's poetry touches a universal human longing; the ache for internal connection to the divine. He speaks in a personal, simple, accessible way about things that are ancient and deep." -- Erika Andersen
"Most great love poetry baffles the mind, but delights the heart. And great love poetry cannot be written without great love. Mitch Ditkoff's poems are intoxicating." -- John Adorney
"This is the kind of nourishment that penetrates to the core of Divine Love, and if deeply imbibed, its sweet nectar can be savored for a lifetime." -- Jamie Delay
"Mitch mixed the most profound -- almost indescribable -- with the kind of simplicity that somehow manages to capture a feeling. Lovely stuff!" -- Candice Wilmore
"This book of poetry, delightful and charming, takes me right to the heart of the matter gently, often with wonderful humor! I read and re-read these poems just to take the ride." -- Kim Greene
"Not bad, but buy this book anyway so I can get a higher allowance." -- Jesse Pouget Ditkoff
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 05:23 PM | Comments (0)
September 29, 2008What Moves Us All to Dream
What moves us all to dream,
to think, to love, to act,
to give it up for some great cause
or double back to pause before our plans
of having more or getting there
or going to the country fair
is the same for everyone --
the sage, the fool, the king,
the self-appointed ministers of fun.
Einstein said it best, I think,
or maybe it was Rumi,
both of whom were missing links
from this to that, from here to there,
mystics of the unseen arts,
demystifying what it is that moves the air
and the human heart.
Still I wonder what it is I thirst for in my bones,
what will be enough to feel.
Is it what I see with these two eyes
or what I know beyond them both
is always just a bit concealed --
that which seizes me from deep within,
the mirror of my soul, my other half, my perfect twin,
the one who knows, but doesn't tell
or if he does, it's just enough
to dig my tunnel deeper to the well
where all the seekers that I am have come to drink,
long before the first parable was told.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 09:20 PM | Comments (0)
September 25, 2008If You Have the Thirst to Learn More About What Maharaji Offers...
If you have the thirst to learn more about what Maharaji offers and know you want to receive Knowledge, there's a simple, practical way to prepare -- The Keys.
The Keys are a set of DVDs to help people, in the privacy of their own home, learn more about his method for tuning in to a deep place of inner peace. If you've already been viewing introductory DVDs or listening to introductory CDs, you may want to take your next step and view THE KEYS.
If you have friends interested in learning more about Maharaji and Knowledge, but are not yet committed to viewing The Keys,
forward them this link.
Or click below. It will take you to a set of other links, mostly from this blog, any one of which may help your friends on their way...
2. Home Base
3. VIDEO: Introducing Maharaji
4. Snow Day
7. VIDEO: What Is Maharaji's Role?
10. Keep It Simple
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:40 PM | Comments (1)
September 24, 2008The Temple of Your Heart
I just came across these inspiring words from Maharaji on innerlink.tv. A timeless message, indeed...
"Look in you. Look in your heart. And you will find the truest essence of your existence. Look within you and you will find the most beautiful waters. Look within you and you will find your solutions. Look within you and you will find your answers. Answers to which you don't even have questions to yet.
The holiest of all scriptures that ever will be, will be in the temple of your heart."
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:11 PM | Comments (1)
September 23, 2008Excerpts from Maharaji's Talk in Gainesville, Florida
The following excerpts are my best attempts at capturing, live, some of what Maharaji said at the Gainesville event on September 21. The following is not verbatim and, in some cases, I have paraphrased his words. MD
"A Master is a washerman and the student is the cloth. The soap is Knowledge. When, on the stone of practice, the cloth is washed again and again and again, the cloth begins to sparkle. You need to sparkle and shine bright because that is your potential."
"When there is a river flowing and the little tributaries join it, they lose themselves and become part of that big river. All the rivers that flow into the Ganges become just as holy."
"The trees that surround a sandalwood tree take on the aroma of sandalwood. Is it possible to keep such a company of that most beautiful thing that I begin to take on the qualities of it? If I keep the company of clarity, I too will take on the qualities of clarity. If I want to have that beautiful aroma of understanding, then I need to keep the company of understanding."
"Keep the company of light and you will begin to glow like that light. This is the true transformation of a human being."
"What is your truest need? To be content."
"Be simple. Be conscious. One second of being conscious will save you from a whole lifetime of trouble."
"People look out at all the things around them as their strength, but believe me -- none of those things will be there to support you. Know yourself. Practice Knowledge."
"If you practice Knowledge, you too will become timeless. And when you do, what do you care about how old you are?"
"In the realm of Knowledge it's always a new beginning."
"The only people who don't seem to respond to this message are the ones who are expired."
"This is the real deal -- the synchronous experience of being with Maharaji."
"What is the true thirst? Who are you? Are you just a puppet built of the papier mache of concept -- or are you something more than that? Pray to God that the answer is 'yes.'"
"We need someone to pay attention to human beings, not just issues. The issues will take care of themselves when we take care of human beings."
"We, as human beings, need to have the biggest faith in ourselves. It behooves everyone to become worthy of the faith of the person next to them. And this is what it means to be a good neighbor."
"Enjoy Knowledge. It just gets better and better and better."
"Enjoy yourself. Have a blast. Learn to be totally inebriated on peace."
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 01:24 AM | Comments (3)
September 20, 2008Miami Nice
Tonight I had the good fortune of being at an event with Maharaji at the Jackie Gleason Theater in Miami Beach. Here are some excerpts:
"I didn't just give you a glass of water. I talked you into digging a well in your own backyard. Any time you feel thirsty, feel free to go to that well and drink to quench your thirst. Never again will you need to be thirsty. Quench your thirst not once, but every day."
"Yogis are drunk on discipline. Priests are drunk on scriptures. Celibates are drunk on vanity. Monks are drunk on prestige. So what's left for you? What could you possibly get drunk on? I recommend being drunk on peace, being drunk on joy, being drunk on the fulfillment of the quest of a human being."
"Whoever gets touched by the magic of the heart, it's hard to ever be the same again. The next thing you know, you are at the most INCREDIBLE PARTY, inebriated not on prestige or discipline, but on peace, joy, and gratitude. For those of you who have stayed with it, the party is not abating. Welcome to the party -- the party of a lifetime."
"Enjoy yourself. It's OK. It's OK. Enjoy! You are capable of enjoying this breath. You are capable of enjoying this life."
"Everything you do externally, there is someone who does it better. But what you do internally... you are the best at that."
"A lot of people say 'I don't have time for all this stuff.' Well, make it your priority. Time is the greatest illusion. Don't be a victim to the illusion. Be clear. Stay focused."
"There are many people here who have received the gift of Knowledge and are coming to the twilight of their lives. But they are not alone. Knowledge is there. Peace! Feel it!"
"The idea is not to create, but to know the one thing inside of you. But not only to know -- to fall in love with that thing inside of you. Then... you will be rewarded. And guess what that reward will be? Peace."
"You are blessed. The hand of God is glued on top of your head. There is no greater blessing given to you. Feel that hand on your head and know you are being kissed by the infinite."
"Feel this breath. Feel this blessing and know there is a God. This is the incredible miracle."
"Every day is a beautiful day. Feel the passion from the depth of your heart. Do you know there is a passion only you can feel, an understanding only you can have, a fulfillment only you are capable of having?"
"Have fun! What is fun? Where truly the heart is entertained. Where truly you are filled with gratitude and joy."
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:28 PM | Comments (2)
September 19, 2008On My Way to See Maharaji Today
Okie dokie. I'm heading to the airport in an hour to fly to Florida. Going to see Maharaji at an event in Miami on Saturday, then again in Gainesville on Sunday. If you make it to either of these events, I hope to see you there.
Next week I'll do my best to post something here from both events. Until then... count your blessings, have fun, enjoy, breathe deep, and know the only thing not subject to bank closings, stock market crashes, spin doctoring, or mortgage crises is inside you.
That "thing" is what all great teachers from the beginning of time have been talking about. You already have it. The only thing left to do is discover it... pay attention to it... and enjoy it.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 09:09 AM | Comments (2)
September 17, 2008VIDEO: A Bowl of Peas
A very funny story told by Maharaji and some soulful expressions from an event in Montreal...
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:50 AM | Comments (0)
September 13, 2008KABIR: I Talk to My Inner Lover
I talk to my inner lover
and I say, why such rush?
We sense that there is
some sort of spirt that
loves birds and animals and the ants --
perhaps the same one who gave
a radiance to you
in your mother's womb.
Is it logical you would be
walking around entirely orphaned now?
The truth is you turned away yourself,
and decided to go into the dark alone.
Now you are tangled up in others,
and have forgotten
what you once knew,
and that's why everything you do
has some weird failure in it.
Kabir: Ecstatic Poems, Robert Bly
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 01:07 AM | Comments (0)
September 11, 2008What You've Liked So Far...
Since the launching of this blog on April 1, 2008, I've posted 168 items that have been viewed thousands of times. Of these, ten have risen to the top as the most viewed. Here they are:
1. When You Walk Into the Room
4. Home Base
7. This Thirst
10. Someone to Call
If you have other favorite postings or would like me to address specific topics not yet addressed in this blog, please let me know. Your feedback helps. Thanks!
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:38 PM | Comments (0)
September 10, 2008Plenty of Rumi for Everyone
I was dead, then alive,
weeping, then laughing.
The power of love came into me,
and I became fierce like a lion,
then tender like the evening star.
He said, "You're not mad enough.
You don't belong in this house."
I went wild and had to be tied up.
He said, "You're still not wild enough
to stay with us!"
I broke through another layer
into joyfulness.
He said, "It's not enough."
I died.
He said, "You are a clever little man,
full of fantasy and doubting."
I plucked out my feathers and became a fool.
He said, "Now you are the candle
for this assembly."
But I'm no candle. Look!
I'm scattered smoke.
He said, "You are the sage, the guide."
But I'm not a teacher. I have no power.
He said, "You already have wings.
I cannot give you wings."
But I wanted his wings.
I felt like some flightless chicken.
Then something said to me,
"Don't move. A sublime generosity is
coming towards you."
An old love said, "Stay with me."
I said, "I will."
You are the fountain of the sun's light.
I am a willow shadow on the ground.
You make my raggedness silky.
The soul at dawn is like darkened water
that slowly begins to say "Thank you, Thank you."
Then at sunset, again, Venus gradually
changes into the moon and then the whole night sky.
This comes of smiling back
at your smile.
The chess master says nothing,
other than moving the silent chess piece.
That I am part of the ploys
of this game makes me
amazingly happy.
- Rumi
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 03:22 PM | Comments (0)
September 09, 2008VIDEO: Within You Is a Joy
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 08:45 AM | Comments (0)
September 06, 2008Doing the Seeming Impossible
OK. Here's a wake up call for all of us who think our life or work challenges are impossible. Click below to see what this chap accomplished, then ask yourself whether or not what YOU'RE trying to accomplish (i.e. stay conscious, grow your business, make a transition, write a book, practice Knowledge, forgive someone, etc.) is really so difficult to pull off.
For more inspiration, click on the link below the YouTube video.
Thanks to Chris Tardieu for forwarding this video.
MORE INSPIRATION TO GO BEYOND THE "IMPOSSIBLE"
"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." - Goethe
"There is no such thing as a long piece of work, except one that you dare not start. - Charles Baudelaire
"What is now proved was once only imagined." - William Blake
"You must do the thing you think you cannot do." - Eleanor Roosevelt
"Genius is infinite painstaking." - Michelangelo
"A pile of rocks ceases to be a rock pile when somebody contemplates it with the idea of a cathedral in mind." - Antoine Saint-Exupery
"Whenever anything is being accomplished, it is being done, I have learned, by a monomaniac with a mission." - Peter Drucker
"No idea is so outlandish that it should not be considered." - Winston Churchill
"I am looking for a lot of people who have an infinite capacity to not know what can't be done." - Henry Ford
And here's an intro to my new book about a neanderthal who also accomplished the seeming impossible. Go for it!
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 09:54 AM | Comments (0)
September 05, 2008Rumi and Kabir Bowling
Last year, as I understand it, Rumi was the best selling poet in the United States -- 800+ years after he was alive. Amazing, eh? Clearly, there is something timeless and universal in his words. Kabir, too, is still being widely read -- as is Hafiz, Gibran, and a host of other ecstatic poets from times gone by.
Many people assume these guys must have been praying, meditating, and going on pilgrimages all the time. I don't think so. All you have to do is read their poetry to see how down to earth they were, how irreverant, and how funny.
Anyway... this next piece is an homage to Rumi and Kabir -- my little fantasy of how the two of them might have spent an evening -- in a bowling alley -- if they were still alive today.
Read it aloud, with some drama in your voice, for maximum value.
I have been to the place where Rumi and Kabir
are bowling all... night... long.
They are rolling perfectly round balls
down a perfectly polished alley,
laughing at the sound of the pins falling down
again and again and again.
Every time they bowl a strike even when they miss
which is often, their aim wandering in fabulously random ways
around this grand interior space.
Rumi orders a shot of Red Eye,
Kabir, a Bud Lite,
their clinking of glasses
some kind of esoteric temple bell ritual
neither of them understand.
They keep drinking and laughing and drinking again,
knocking back the elixir of their late night bowling life
and muttering under their barely moving breath
about the strangers outside returning home from yet another night shift.
Rumi opens his mouth to speak, but nothing comes out --
Kabir, long beard flecked with foam, orders a second round
and then a third as if the world was on fire.
Suddenly Rumi glances over his left shoulder.
More pins fall, this time leaving a perfect 7-10 split,
Kabir, knowing he never has to write another poem
to prove himself whole, leaps from his chair and hurls himself
down the perfectly polished alley, arms outstretched,
moving at the speed
of lite
beer.
Bang!
Both pins fall,
like... cedars in Lebanon,
like... Adam from Grace,
like... trees in a forest with no one close enough to hear whether anything
has actually happened or not.
No one except Red Eye Rumi swiveling in his chair
and pointing to the door.
A small man, in a starched white uniform, enters,
many keys hanging from his belt.
"Hey, you two! What are you doing here? This place is closed!"
Rumi smiles, tilts his head back and talks into his empty glass
now megaphone for the moment.
"I beg to differ, my good man,
this place is not closed.
It is open!
If it were closed we would not be here.
Open it is, I say! Wide open!
Like the Red Sea,
like a window on a summer night,
like the eyes of a young man upon seeing
the most beautiful woman in the world walk across the room,
her body the perfect mix of spirit and flesh.
Open, I say, like a book, like the sky,
like the heart of one not yet disappointed
in the ways of human love.
Go about your business, friend, and leave us here,
two happy hieroglyphs of love."
"We have a perfect game on Lane 23,"
intones a disembodied voice over the PA system
"A perfect game!"
Rumi and Kabir pull over another chair, pour another drink
and beckon to the man in the starched white uniform,
many keys dangling from his belt.
"Good friend, come closer, come drink with us.
Come now!
The night is still young."
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 07:39 AM | Comments (0)
