You can find God?
By finding your Soul Mate
Who will agree to everything you say?
By having a lovely castle
With flowers all around
And No Trespassing signs that people will actually obey?
By having children who will do what you say,
And earn the honor of becoming a bumper sticker
On the rear of your car?
By having a sculpted body,
Beautiful enough to be in an underwear ad?
By going on cruises to visit happy islands;
By attending spas with their facial creams and boiling water?
By belonging to a community
Where everyone knows your name,
And may even carry your bags?
Go to hell!
That’s right.
You heard Janaka's words.
You must go to hell
And pull down your pants
To sit upon the steaming coals,
Open wide your mouth
And swallow fish hooks
That tear apart your guts,
And plunge heart first
Into a pit of stakes.
And as you feel yourself
Pierced and burned
And ripped apart
Smile
Laugh
Chant
And sing.
And like a spider’s web
Licked by a candle flame,
The horrors will disappear.
And there will stand the Beloved,
Offering a bowl of tears
To wash your cuts,
To sooth your stomach,
And to cool your burns.
So smile
Laugh
Chant
And sing.
And go straight to hell
If you see those doors open,
With the Name upon your lips.
What you call your hell
Will vanish
Into the Light
Of the Beloved’s Heaven.
Janaka has been to hell.
A hell he created
With plenty of time on his hands.
And so many dear ones
Were kind enough to play their parts.
Now holding hands with my Beloved,
Where are my scorched footprints to be found?
What a joke!
Janaka Stagnaro 2003
janakastagnaro.com