SHAME

I met a holy man who roamed the streets without any garments of any kind outside

He did not appear to be afflicted by shame or fear nor any kind of material desire

The people who came across him scampered away from him out of their shame inside

While he did not in the least bit seem bothered by their disgust or hypocritical ire

I followed him around town to know more about him and the exact state of his mind

He appeared oblivious to his surroundings as well as me; he really seemed not to care

Was he an enlightened one in communion with the divine or one with fevered mind?

I thought of talking to him but he kept talking to himself so that, I did not really dare

The holy man seemed to realise what I wanted and that I wished to communicate

Without my having communicated the same to him he could understand and beckoned me

I approached him full of fear and trepidation so much so that I felt the urge to defecate

But he soon made me feel at ease and expressed that he was harmless as if to assure me

I asked if he felt ashamed of being nude or if he felt afraid that people would stone him

He looked at me as if I was some weirdo and then gently explained to me as if I were a child.

“I am ashamed only of lust, perversion, corruption and sin; not that which was given by him

I am only afraid of getting caught in the mire of the desires of the mind, which can make me wild”

“Man has been fooled by his senses”, he continued. “Fooled into believing all illusions

Fearing that which he should not while being unafraid of that which he should fear.

Man has been fooled by his senses, he continued. Fooled into believing all delusions

Remaining unashamed of his corruption and vice while being ashamed of his body so dear”

“I am not ashamed of nudity but would be ashamed if I were ever to cheat or betray someone

I am not afraid of anyone but would be afraid of God and afraid of entering into sinful ways.

I am only afraid of my Ego getting the better of me and ashamed when it dominates all action done

I am only ashamed of being egoistic and being full of my self to worry about what anybody says”

I asked him why he had taken it upon himself to remove and throw his clothes to become nude

He said he had dome this as a means to renounce himself of all his desires and overcome his ego

I asked him if I too needed to practice this to remove my own ego and become a real cool dude

He replied that there was no need as long as I was not afraid of sin and not ashamed to be so.

I thanked him for his thoughts so pure and holy; I just walked away in a daze into the haze

My ego shattered and my mind so vacant; I meandered through life completely broken

The more I really understood what he meant; the more life appeared to me as a maze

The more I really understood his explanation; the more my defenses appeared a mere token

We wear our shame in which we take pride; in the form of designer clothes

For our physical nakedness leads to foul, uncomfortable and wicked thoughts

And the human form has become the fount of all that the divine Lord God loathes

Including carnal desires & material desires which seep from insecure minds with doubts

We have lost the sense of fear for that which we really ought to be afraid off and fear

We have lost the sense of shame for that which we really ought to be ashamed off and avoid

We fear the dark but are not afraid of doing wrong; for we really don’t care

We are ashamed of walking naked but to corruption and vile lust we fall for the lure