MYSTICAL: "SOULWARD" BY SOMDATTA MITRA

Heaven is not where the souls rest in peace;

It's a soul's journey to Nirvana,

Where there is no war, no conflict, no hostility from the outer world,

Where love has a sweetness to define an existence of worship.

Where the emancipation of consciousness leads to aseity in a seraphic metanoia,

Where the fountain of kenosis lifts up the salubrious soul.

Perhaps heaven is not a destination,

But a direction the soul chooses to travel,

Where every fleeting moment of greed, self-conceitedness, and expectation

Finds its lasting finitude.

Where we don't expect any worldly gains,

Just seek a soul's journey to where love unlearns its chains,

Where peace whispers to the soul when the world becomes too loud,

Where the soul awakens like a lotus rising unstained from muddy waters.

And compassion conquers hatred, hostility, and depravity,

There life renews with a spiritual bliss,

A sacred heart finds a heaven's abode.

And the body perhaps returns to dust, its journey fulfilled in grace,

Just being a humble offering to the earth it borrowed from.

© Somdatta Mitra

- India

20.08.2026.

“SOULWARD” explores the idea of heaven as a spiritual journey rather than a physical destination. The poet presents the soul’s movement toward Nirvana as a process of freeing itself from greed, pride, expectations, conflict, and worldly attachments. Through images of a lotus rising unstained from muddy waters and a soul awakening to peace, the poem emphasizes spiritual purification and transformation.

The poem also highlights love, compassion, humility, and inner peace as essential qualities on this journey. It suggests that while the body eventually returns to the earth, the soul can attain fulfilment through spiritual awakening and grace. Ultimately, the poet portrays true heaven as a state of consciousness, love, peace, and spiritual liberation rather than merely a place beyond death.