on this path 
	many have walked past ...
	autumn deepens 

I recently learned that certain fish cannot sleep for more than six minutes at a time. If they sleep longer, they die because they forget to breathe. They always live in groups so they can wake each other up.

A book about Ramana Maharshi tells me that the saint used to get up at 3 a.m. to work in the kitchen. Many people would help him at this hour because they enjoyed his silent company—no questions, no clarifications, just simple, silent work. They all benefited from his silence during those hours.

I’m wondering if, as we get older, we lose the art of sleeping and then convince ourselves that sleeping fewer hours is a good thing. It is almost blasphemous, but I can’t help thinking that maybe Ramana Maharshi suffered from insomnia, too?

	first light ... 
	the aroma of coffee from 
	a gold-rimmed cup 

Bio: Kala Ramesh