CONTENTS
Sections · Poems · Parvas · Cantos
PRELIMINARY POEMS 11
Unfamiliar Letters 11
Death Song (Folk Song) 11
SECTION I — WHEN DREAMS MERGE 12
Beyond the Current of Time, the Light of the Infinite 13
From the Threshold of Questions to the Sky of Liberation 21
A Palmful of Earth, Eyes Full of Truth 25
Dew of Seven Directions on a Single Leaf 29
Dawn Unknotting the Knots of Sorrow 36
The Flame Keeps Changing, the Light Moves On 40
Four Windows and One Open Sky 43
The Home No Fist Can Hold 47
The One Who Sees Beyond the Mirror 51
A Still Sky Within the Breath 55
Each Particle Has Its Own Face 58
The Fire Beyond the Smoke 62
An Unnamed Light Behind Many Names 66
The Sky Within, the Sky Without 69
Three Doors, Toward the Same Infinite 72
A New Dawn Waking Between Two Winds 77
SECTION II — DREAM, WAKEFULNESS AND BLENDED TIME 83
Before the Dream 84
Fortunate 85
Going, Going 87
The Kettledrum Player of the Shamil Baja 88
Mandakini in the Midst of the Sky 89
The New Order 90
The Human Being of the New Order 90
The Dalit of the New Order 90
The Priest of the New Order 90
The Marketplace of the New and Old Orders 91
When Machine and Cat Both Think Me Dead 92
Alas, Kumarila!! 95
Forging a New Truth on the Strength of Reason 97
The Fire of Aspiration 97
Beyond the Index and Table of Contents 98
Practical and Theoretical 99
Air Enters the Bellows of My Body 100
The Tune Rising from the Kabiraha's Kansi 101
Stirring the Fire of Aspiration with the Bhujanathi 102
Gluttony 103
Bhaisath 104
Dhenuar Ghani 105
Reciting the Charm, I Shall Set the Chhatta 106
Playing Bakchhuchharu with Bhikhu 107
Fish and I Floating in the Light 108
I Read the Standing Vine 109
Let the Shraddha Not Go to Waste 110
Shalatur Village 111
The Great Six-Lane Road 112
The Concrete Jaiṭh 114
I Don't Know Whether I'll Return, or... 115
Ghazal 117
Nature, Purusha 118
Haiku / Senryu / Tanka 121
Kundaliya 123
Flag Song of Mithila 124
Among Dreams Breaking as They Arrive 125
Jyoti, I Fell Deep into Thought 125
I Forgot Again - A Tiny Form of Karna's Death 126
Katihari 127
A Witching Afternoon 130
The Unsteady Pillar Stands 131
On the Far Side of Sleep 132
Dreamless Void 135
Beside the Village Pond 135
On the Seashore 136
Omniscience 138
Beyond the Dreamless Void 142
In the Trench of Hatred 142
As Long as I Remain 143
Chaturahasta 144
The Old Witch 145
And Then, the Decision Will Be Made 147
If I Put My Trust in You, in This Nature 148
Ghari Puja 150
Narashamsi 155
Nigadati Kusumapure'bhyarchitam Jnanam 161
Dream 162
Silence Has Its Own Speech 164
Memory-Fear 166
Dream-Discipline 166
When the Support of Argument Loses Meaning 175
When Dreams Merge 176
The Unfathomable Edge of the Moment 176
The Book of Miracles 177
A Pause in Thought 179
Fear Loosens Its Grip 180
The Practice of Conflict 181
The Empty Space in My Identity 182
The Outer Rim of the Clock 185
Search Here 186
The Testimony of Life 187
Shabdashastram 188
Before My Own Claim 189
Maya-Avidya 190
The Thinker 191
With the Passing Day 193
The Threshold of the Body 194
To Recognise and to Understand 195
Dih 196
Human Being 197
The Question of the End, Today's Day 198
When Dreams Merge 199
Truth Settling into Steady Wisdom! 209
This Life Is Not Bad at All 211
Ambition 212
When You See Him Laugh and Tears Come to Your Eyes 213
SECTION III — DEW, THRESHOLD AND THE AFFECTION OF HOME 215
Beyond the Threshold 216
Affection at an Unknown Ghat 217
The Bird of Speech 218
Footprints of the Cloud 219
A Song Dwelling in the Fingers 220
Beyond the Eyelids 221
Beyond the Cupped Hands 222
The Feet's Own Road 223
Wind Within Speech 224
A Place in the Row for Everyone 225
A House Made of Mist 226
How Many Leaves in One Name 227
The Threshold Recognised Again 228
The Half-Open Door 229
The Courtyard Open to All Directions 230
Dawn in a Child's Speech 231
The Shadow of an Empty Peg 232
From the Other Eye's Place 233
Wings Within the Earth 234
The Unspoken Voice of Colour 235
The Still Place Within 236
Awake Even Beyond Sleep 237
The Greenery of a Crooked Road 238
The Bird That Flew from the Throat 239
SECTION IV — MEANING, LANGUAGE AND THE LIGHT OF FOLK LIFE 240
New Leaves from the Root 241
Yesterday's Seed 242
Between Two Roads 243
One Water, Many Waves 244
The Empty Low Stool 245
The Question Beyond the Feet 246
The Far Shore of the Mind 247
The Hunger Beyond Bread 248
A New Flower on the Loom 249
To Sprout Again 250
The Open Eyes of Dawn 251
The Speaking Courtyard 252
Touching the Earth 253
Beyond the Map 254
The Shape of Desire 255
A Bridge of Voice 256
The Stairway of Happiness 257
The Doorway of Alpana 258
An Equal Plate 259
The Craft of Living 260
The Eye and the Palm 261
I Am Watching 262
I Like It 263
Will It Surely Happen? 264
The Shade of the Priceless 265
The Colour of Labour 266
Beyond the Name 267
The First Day of Speaking 268
Look Again 269
Each Leaf Has Its Own Green 270
Form with Colour 271
A Path Inside the Knot 272
The Many Colours of "Why" 273
Light in Cupped Hands 274
The Silence Behind the Question 275
What Remained Unsaid 276
The Language of Play 277
The Silent House Within 278
The Stairway of Cause 279
Veiled Light 280
Meeting of the Gaze 281
When Even the Dream Slept 282
Three Shores of Sleep 283
On Unsteady Ground 284
Tomorrow's Dawn 285
The Window of the Possible 286
The Heat of This Moment 287
Awake or Dreaming? 288
Whom Did I Recognise First? 289
The Voice of What Ought to Be 290
Your Pain 291
The Wind of Speech 292
In the House of Words 293
A Voice Learns 294
Everyone's Square 295
Flower and Measuring Tape 296
The Weight of One's Own Feet 297
Outside the Mould 298
Under the Open Sky 299
Beyond the Body's Boundary 300
Waking with the World 301
The Stone in the Palm 302
From the Solitary to the Together 303
The Anklets of Time 304
Flowers in Countless Ways 305
The Light of the Touchstone 306
Measure and Measured 307
Many Roads of Encounter 308
Not Every Key Is the Same 309
Its Own Light 310
An Open Sitting 311
Open the Question 312
The Cord Slowly Untangled 313
Boat and Shore 314
The Open Forest of Meaning 315
Trust in a Statement 316
The Door of Testing 317
Where Meaning Still Remains 318
Every Light Has Its Own Direction 319
SECTION V — LANGUAGE 320
The Language That Makes Its Home Within 321
Maithili's New Field 322
When Thought Finds Its Own Speech 323
New Questions in Old Letters 324
From Roots to Horizon 325
The Swaraj of Thought Within Swaraj 327
Our Own Earth, Open Sky 329
The Campus of Questions 331
The Questions That Still Ask for Answers 333
The Touchstone of Experience 336
The Threshold of Five Decades 339
The Question Behind the Visible 342
The Human Being Within Creation 345
Culture Within Value 349
The Open Question Between Individual and Society 354
A Lamp in the Cellar of Knowledge 359
The "I" Within the Body 364
Art Beyond the Boundary of Beauty 367
The Road to the Undivided Sky 371
The Light of Meaning Beyond Sound 374
Light at the Inner Door 381
A New Dawn in the Courtyard of Humanity 387
Where One Human Being Is Another's Light 391
The Light of the Invisible Balance 397
Many Skies in a Broken Mirror 405
The Blazing Threshold of Decision 419
Our Breath in the Pulse of the Earth 432
Dawn Through One's Own Eyes 448
A New Current in the Old River 462
The Unnamed Light Behind the Lamp 475
Lamps Arriving from Every Direction 485
SECTION VI — QUESTIONS 495
The Question Flowing Behind the Fixed Image 496
The Sky of Thought Beyond the Axis of Liberation 497
Liberation Is One Question, Thought Has Many Paths 498
In the Forest of Shruti, Whose Voice Is Original? 499
Silent Questions Within Limitless Utterance 500
Many Writings of Time upon the Body of the Sutra 501
The Final Distance Between Witness and Prakriti 502
From the Knot of Illusion to the Silence of Non-Difference 503
Many Opposing Directions Within One Name 504
The Offering to Fire and the Solitary Ledger of Karma 505
Life Beyond the Threshold of the Four Aims 506
Not the Wall of a List, but the Living River of Questions 507
From the Smoke of Sacrifice to the First Light of Reason 508
Seven Doors of the Object, One Eye of the Witness 509