[An excerpt from a letter to brother Moyo, who penned this week's powerful Awakin reading: Reflexions From Death Row and DailyGood.]

Last weekend, some of us went to Southern California and attended a couple of the Awakin Circles. Then on Sunday we were invited to a church service. When we were asked to participate in the service, brother Nipun -- one of the two sons whose parents' live at the Kindness Temple -- started by saying that it was the 71st anniversary of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He reflected that the bombings happened on the 6th and the 9th, and in the two days between, there was a pause. And he said: “It got me thinking that sometimes we have these momentums, even for the most atrocious acts in the world, and if we don’t have that pause in a deep enough way – in a way that interconnects us – it’s very hard to shift that momentum once the ball gets rolling.” Then he and later another beloved sister, Audrey, shared some kindness stories that set the tone and ambiance for what am about to describe.

In this historic Mayan-inspired church, a bit more than a couple hundred people had assembled.  And it was my turn to share a kindness story. Almost a decade ago, I learned a practice from a Dakota Medicine Man, Jim Miller, that acknowledges -- in a beautiful way-- the presence of each and every person in the audience by saying "I love you all". This combined with another practice to remind us of our impermanence in this World and our natural path going back to emptiness, I use to remind people that this very moment could be very well the last opportunity we might have to be in each other's (physical) presence. So, if that is the case, these words flow through me: "Most of you don't know me, but I'd like you to know that I love you all" and then, as i make eye contact with each sister or brother, I land for an instant in that spacetime of loving unity that is always present, that energy that it is always available.

This time, as I was sweeping many shining eyes, in what it felt like a long silent pause, something different happened.

I started to recognize and to feel simultaneously, the nonsensical stupidity and horrendous atrocities of the atomic bombs AND at the same time, the immense love SO present in that sanctuary. I felt the coldness of concentration camps -- from the Nazis to the immigration ones, say, in Arizona -- and the warmth of what felt like a family reunion. I felt the ignorance of mass incarceration of the new Jim Crow and the freedom of a brother like you despite been physically locked up. I felt the soul-piercing, heartless murders of black and brown people done by the police alongside our innate capacity for a profoundly colorblind joy. I felt all that, in that moment, in the church.

As the powerful black sister -- Gino, who sang earlier -- and I sweetly locked eyes for a moment and then, right after, with the white sister who was the head of the choir, one after the other, sweetness after sweetness ... the volume of love and unity got louder and louder inside my being, as another kind of choir of giants resembled the energies of citizens of the world like Gandhi, Aung San Suu Kyi, Thich Nhat Hanh, Martin Luther King Jr., Vimala Thakar, Jaganatthan and Krishnammal ...

Then, some silent words descended shouting in my mind/heart: "How could anyone hurt this excruciating beauty? How could anyone hurt each other if they ever experience this magnanimous love?" "How could anyone miss this vivid experience of the peaceful beauty of our hearts?" And yet, the scars and wounds are facts. I was feeling a mix of intense (heart) pain and deep love.

As I looked over the crowd, some familiar faces but mostly unknown kindred all harmonized in pin-drop silence, I saw tears streaming down so many of those faces. It felt like an ocean of indescribable sparkling beauty.



I, then, felt shivers all over my body -- goosebumps. I felt light and was overcome by a tremendous emotion. I teared up, and even sobbed, while the different color of skins blurred into a big master piece painting of ecstasy, witnessing a web of loving happy humans in front of these very eyes. In appreciating each pair of teary, glowing eyes shining a radiant kinship like majestic stars, my heart melted like an eternal river, I surrendered to the flow of what is and I felt transported to the skies of fearlessness and freedom.

So beloved brother Moyo, if for some reason this is the last time that am writing to you, I'd like you to know that I love you brother! <3 :-)

May you be taken away by the wonder of the innercosm, your internal wilderness so that your inner pilgrimage never forgets the map of the heart of humanity and ultimately, the Earth.

Jai Jagat! Gloria al Planeta! Glory to the Planet!