A poem in C.G. Jung's memoirs of Maharshi's India

I know that without me

God can no moment live:

Were I to die, then he

No longer could survive.

Angelus Silesius 

The Great Swan

Chanting her transforming Name-

OM KALI OM KALI OM KALI,

empowers Lord Shiva,

Who is transcendent Knowledge,

to drink the negativity of all beings,

turning His Throat dark blue.

Without Her protection

such poison would be deadly,

even to the highest Divinity.

(''Great Swan, Meetings with Ramakrishna'' by Lex Hixon)

A Blue Fire

The alchemists had an excellent image for the transformation

of suffering and symptom into a value of the soul.

A goal of the alchemical process was the pearl of great price.

The pearl starts off as a bit of grit, a neurotic symptom or 

complaint, a bothersome irritant in one's secret inside flesh,

which no defensive shell can protect oneself from.This is

coated over, worked at day in day out, until the grit one

day is a pearl.

(from 'A Blue Fire' by James Hillman)

Taoist Meditation

Taoists use meditation to cultivate health and longevity

and to attain the highest level of spiritual development,

the union with the Tao.

In the early stages of spiritual development, meditation

is used to clear the mind, minimize desire, balance the

emotions, and circulate internal energy.

In the later stages, it is used to help the practitioner to be

united with the Tao, the undifferentiated origin of all things.

(From ''The Shambala guide to Taoism'' by Eva Wong, Shambala 2000)

Hydra

Eyes......................................................................medium

Hair.......................................................................medium

Weight...................................................................medium

Height....................................................................medium

Distinguishing Features...............................................none

Number of Fingers......................................................ten

Number of Toes.........................................................ten

Intelligence.............................................................medium

What did you expect?

Talons?

Oversize incisors?

Green Saliva?

Madness?

(From ''SELECTED POEMS'' by Leonard Cohen, 

Viking Press, 1966)

About the Advaita Vedanta in two paragraphs

Advaita Vedanta is the secret doctrine of Hinduism. It is the doctrine of Affirmation through Negation and it literally means NOT TWO, meaning ''One''. One reason for this is considered to be Advaita Vedanta's discipline of NETTI NETTI, ''neither this, nor that''.

Advaita is as ancient as Hinduism, but according to some true pundits like Ken Wilber, it is a sect that runs higher than others of the East, Zen Buddhism and Taoism, but to name a few. The prominent saint of Advaita in the 20th century and its best known exponent is considered to be Sri Ramana Maharshi.