12:50 A.M., A next-to-last day joke

MV has invited a professor to lunch. He asked Madhu if I would like to meet with him, but Madhu deferred, reminding MV that I had come here for a special purpose. So I thought of telling MV this:

“Don’t you know that I am in a deep, inner mood? I don’t want to break it yet. I may meet with you or others on occasion and you may think that I am relating in a casual way, but actually I am absorbed in japa-vrata.”

That’s the joke.

But it’s true that I am clinging to my special space. I feel it is about to be taken away so I notice it. When you chant within the protection of undisturbed bhajana, it is simply different than pacing the floor between meetings, hurriedly “finishing your rounds” with a mind blazing full of schemes and agitations.

(_Begging for the Nectar of the Holy Name_)

JAPA POEM

On my next-to-last day at the japa retreat
I was invited to talk to
a professor, but I deferred.
I wanted to say to him: “Don’t
you know I am absorbed
in a deep inner mood?”,
That’s actually a joke.
Yet it is true I am in
a special space and I
don’t want to lose it.
When I leave this place
and have to take up
different duties, my attitude
will be different.