Just as a nose might become a fragrance,
Or ears might give out a melody
For their own enjoyment,
Or the eyes might produce a mirror
In order to see themselves;
Or flowers might take the form of a bee,
A lovely young girl might become a young man,
Or a sleepy man might become
A bed on which to lie;
As the blossoms of a mango tree
Might become a cuckoo bird,
Or one’s skin might become
Malayan breezes,
Or tongues might become flavors;
Or as a slab of gold might become
Articles of jewelry
For the sake of beauty;
Just so, the one pure Consciousness becomes
The enjoyer and the object of enjoyment,
The seer and the object of vision,
Without disturbing Its unity.
A Shevanti flower bursts forth
With a thousand petals;
Yet it does not become anything
But a Shevanti flower.
Similarly, the auspicious drums
Of ever new experiences
May be sounding,
But in the kingdom of Stillness,
Nothing is heard.
All of the senses may rush simultaneously
Toward the multitude of sense objects,
But—just as, in a mirror,
One’s vision only meets one’s vision—
The rushing senses only meet themselves.
One may purchase a necklace,
Earrings, or a bracelet;
But it is only gold,
Whichever one receives.
One may gather a handful of ripples,
But it is only water in the hand.
To the hand, camphor is touch,
To the eye, it’s a white object,
To the nose it is fragrance;
Nonetheless, it is camphor, and nothing but camphor.
Likewise, the sensible universe
Is only the vibration of the Self.
The various senses attempt to catch
Their objects in their hands-
For example, the ears
Try to catch the words;
But as soon as the senses
Touch their objects,
The objects disappear as objects.
There’s no object for one to touch;
For all is the Self.
The juice of the sugarcane
Is part of the sugarcane;
The light of the full moon
Belongs to the full moon.
The meeting of the senses and their objects
Is like moonlight falling on the moon,
Or like water sprinkling on the sea.
One who has attained this wisdom
May say whatever he likes;
The silence of his contemplation
Remains undisturbed.
His state of actionlessness
Remains unaffected,
Even though he performs countless actions.
Stretching out the arms of desire,
One’s eyesight embraces
The objects she sees;
But, in fact, nothing at all is gained.
It is like the Sun
Stretching out the thousand arms
Of his rays in order to grasp darkness.
He remains only light, as before;
Just as a person, awakening to
Enjoy the activity of a dream,
Finds himself suddenly alone.
Even one who has attained wisdom
May appear to become the enjoyer
Of the sense objects before him;
But we do not know
What his enjoyment is like.
If the moon gathers moonlight,
What is gathered by whom?
It is only a fruitless
And meaningless dream.
There is really no action or inaction;
Everything that is happening
Is the sport of the Self.
The undivided One
Enters the courtyard of duality
Of His own accord.
Unity only becomes strengthened
By the expansion of diversity.
Sweeter even than the bliss of liberation
Is the enjoyment of sense-objects
To one who has attained wisdom.
In the house of bhakti (devotional love),
That lover and his God
Experience their sweet union.
Whether he walks in the streets
Or remains sitting quietly,
He is always in his own home.
He may perform actions,
But he has no goal to attain.
Do not imagine
That, if he did nothing,
He would miss his goal.
He does not allow room
For either remembering or forgetting;
For this reason,
His behavior is not like that of others.
His rule of conduct is his own sweet will.
His meditation is whatever
He happens to be doing.
The glory of liberation
Serves as an asana (seat cushion)
To one in such a state.
God Himself is the devotee;
The goal is the path.
The whole universe is one solitary Being.
It is He who becomes a God,
And He who becomes a devotee.
In Himself,
He enjoys the kingdom of Stillness.
The temple itself is merged
In the all-pervasive God;
The motion of time
And the vastness of space
Are no more.
Everything is contained in the Being of God.
If a desire
For the Master-disciple relationship arises,
It is God alone who must supply both out of Himself.
Even the devotional practices,
Such as japa (repetition of God’s name), faith and
meditation,
Are not different from God.
Therefore, God must worship God
With God, in one way or another.
The temple, the idol, and the priests-
All are carved out of the same stone mountain.
Why, then, should there be devotional worship?
[Or why shouldn’t there be devotional worship?]
A tree spreads its foliage,
And produces flowers and fruits,
Even though it has no objective
Outside of itself.
What does it matter if a dumb person
Observes a vow of silence or not?
The wise remain steadfast in their own divinity
Whether they worship or not.
Will the flame of a lamp
Remain without light
If we do not ask her to wear
The garment of light?
Is not the moon bathed in light
Even though we do not ask her
To wear the moonlight?
Fire is naturally hot;
Why should we consider heating it?
A wise person is aware
That he, himself, is the Lord;
Therefore, even when he is not worshiping,
He is worshiping.
Now the lamps of action and inaction
Have both been snuffed out,
And worshiping and not worshiping
Are sitting in the same seat,
And eating from the same bowl.
In such a state,
The sacred scriptures are the same as censure,
And censure itself
Is the same as a sweet hymn of praise.
Both praise and censure
Are, in fact, reduced to silence;
Even though there is speech,
It is silence.
No matter where he goes,
That sage is making pilgrimage to God;
And, if he attains to God,
That attainment is non-attainment.
. How amazing
That in such a state,
Moving about on foot
And remaining seated in one place
Are the same!
No matter what his eyes fall upon
At any time,
He always enjoys the vision of God.
If God Himself appears before him,
It is as if he has seen nothing;
For God and His devotee
Are on the same level.
Of its own nature,
A ball falls to the ground,
And bounces up again,
Enraptured in its own bliss.
If ever we could watch
The play of a ball,
We might be able to say something
About the behavior of the sage.
This spontaneous, natural devotion
Cannot be touched by the hand of action,
Nor can knowledge penetrate it.
It goes on without end,
In communion with itself.
What bliss can be compared to this?
This natural devotion is a wonderful secret;
It is the place in which meditation
And knowledge become merged.
O blissful and almighty Lord!
You have made us the sole sovereign
In the kingdom of perfect bliss.
How wonderful
That You have awakened the wakeful,
Laid to rest those who are sleeping,
And made us to realize
Our own Self!
We are Yours entirely!
Out of love,
You include us as Your own,
As is befitting Your greatness.
You do not receive anything from anyone,
Nor do You give anything of Yourself to anyone else.
We do not know how You enjoy your greatness.
O noble One!
It is Your pleasure
To become our nearest and dearest
By taking away from us
Our sense of difference from You.
Or ears might give out a melody
For their own enjoyment,
Or the eyes might produce a mirror
In order to see themselves;
Or flowers might take the form of a bee,
A lovely young girl might become a young man,
Or a sleepy man might become
A bed on which to lie;
As the blossoms of a mango tree
Might become a cuckoo bird,
Or one’s skin might become
Malayan breezes,
Or tongues might become flavors;
Or as a slab of gold might become
Articles of jewelry
For the sake of beauty;
Just so, the one pure Consciousness becomes
The enjoyer and the object of enjoyment,
The seer and the object of vision,
Without disturbing Its unity.
A Shevanti flower bursts forth
With a thousand petals;
Yet it does not become anything
But a Shevanti flower.
Similarly, the auspicious drums
Of ever new experiences
May be sounding,
But in the kingdom of Stillness,
Nothing is heard.
All of the senses may rush simultaneously
Toward the multitude of sense objects,
But—just as, in a mirror,
One’s vision only meets one’s vision—
The rushing senses only meet themselves.
One may purchase a necklace,
Earrings, or a bracelet;
But it is only gold,
Whichever one receives.
One may gather a handful of ripples,
But it is only water in the hand.
To the hand, camphor is touch,
To the eye, it’s a white object,
To the nose it is fragrance;
Nonetheless, it is camphor, and nothing but camphor.
Likewise, the sensible universe
Is only the vibration of the Self.
The various senses attempt to catch
Their objects in their hands-
For example, the ears
Try to catch the words;
But as soon as the senses
Touch their objects,
The objects disappear as objects.
There’s no object for one to touch;
For all is the Self.
The juice of the sugarcane
Is part of the sugarcane;
The light of the full moon
Belongs to the full moon.
The meeting of the senses and their objects
Is like moonlight falling on the moon,
Or like water sprinkling on the sea.
One who has attained this wisdom
May say whatever he likes;
The silence of his contemplation
Remains undisturbed.
His state of actionlessness
Remains unaffected,
Even though he performs countless actions.
Stretching out the arms of desire,
One’s eyesight embraces
The objects she sees;
But, in fact, nothing at all is gained.
It is like the Sun
Stretching out the thousand arms
Of his rays in order to grasp darkness.
He remains only light, as before;
Just as a person, awakening to
Enjoy the activity of a dream,
Finds himself suddenly alone.
Even one who has attained wisdom
May appear to become the enjoyer
Of the sense objects before him;
But we do not know
What his enjoyment is like.
If the moon gathers moonlight,
What is gathered by whom?
It is only a fruitless
And meaningless dream.
There is really no action or inaction;
Everything that is happening
Is the sport of the Self.
The undivided One
Enters the courtyard of duality
Of His own accord.
Unity only becomes strengthened
By the expansion of diversity.
Sweeter even than the bliss of liberation
Is the enjoyment of sense-objects
To one who has attained wisdom.
In the house of bhakti (devotional love),
That lover and his God
Experience their sweet union.
Whether he walks in the streets
Or remains sitting quietly,
He is always in his own home.
He may perform actions,
But he has no goal to attain.
Do not imagine
That, if he did nothing,
He would miss his goal.
He does not allow room
For either remembering or forgetting;
For this reason,
His behavior is not like that of others.
His rule of conduct is his own sweet will.
His meditation is whatever
He happens to be doing.
The glory of liberation
Serves as an asana (seat cushion)
To one in such a state.
God Himself is the devotee;
The goal is the path.
The whole universe is one solitary Being.
It is He who becomes a God,
And He who becomes a devotee.
In Himself,
He enjoys the kingdom of Stillness.
The temple itself is merged
In the all-pervasive God;
The motion of time
And the vastness of space
Are no more.
Everything is contained in the Being of God.
If a desire
For the Master-disciple relationship arises,
It is God alone who must supply both out of Himself.
Even the devotional practices,
Such as japa (repetition of God’s name), faith and
meditation,
Are not different from God.
Therefore, God must worship God
With God, in one way or another.
The temple, the idol, and the priests-
All are carved out of the same stone mountain.
Why, then, should there be devotional worship?
[Or why shouldn’t there be devotional worship?]
A tree spreads its foliage,
And produces flowers and fruits,
Even though it has no objective
Outside of itself.
What does it matter if a dumb person
Observes a vow of silence or not?
The wise remain steadfast in their own divinity
Whether they worship or not.
Will the flame of a lamp
Remain without light
If we do not ask her to wear
The garment of light?
Is not the moon bathed in light
Even though we do not ask her
To wear the moonlight?
Fire is naturally hot;
Why should we consider heating it?
A wise person is aware
That he, himself, is the Lord;
Therefore, even when he is not worshiping,
He is worshiping.
Now the lamps of action and inaction
Have both been snuffed out,
And worshiping and not worshiping
Are sitting in the same seat,
And eating from the same bowl.
In such a state,
The sacred scriptures are the same as censure,
And censure itself
Is the same as a sweet hymn of praise.
Both praise and censure
Are, in fact, reduced to silence;
Even though there is speech,
It is silence.
No matter where he goes,
That sage is making pilgrimage to God;
And, if he attains to God,
That attainment is non-attainment.
. How amazing
That in such a state,
Moving about on foot
And remaining seated in one place
Are the same!
No matter what his eyes fall upon
At any time,
He always enjoys the vision of God.
If God Himself appears before him,
It is as if he has seen nothing;
For God and His devotee
Are on the same level.
Of its own nature,
A ball falls to the ground,
And bounces up again,
Enraptured in its own bliss.
If ever we could watch
The play of a ball,
We might be able to say something
About the behavior of the sage.
This spontaneous, natural devotion
Cannot be touched by the hand of action,
Nor can knowledge penetrate it.
It goes on without end,
In communion with itself.
What bliss can be compared to this?
This natural devotion is a wonderful secret;
It is the place in which meditation
And knowledge become merged.
O blissful and almighty Lord!
You have made us the sole sovereign
In the kingdom of perfect bliss.
How wonderful
That You have awakened the wakeful,
Laid to rest those who are sleeping,
And made us to realize
Our own Self!
We are Yours entirely!
Out of love,
You include us as Your own,
As is befitting Your greatness.
You do not receive anything from anyone,
Nor do You give anything of Yourself to anyone else.
We do not know how You enjoy your greatness.
O noble One!
It is Your pleasure
To become our nearest and dearest
By taking away from us
Our sense of difference from You.
from Chapter Nine of his Amritanubhav, “The Nectar of Mystical Experience”
download the book by Swami Abhayananda:
Jnaneshvar: The Life and Works of the Celebrated Thirteenth Century Indian Mystic-Poet
https://www.themysticsvision.com/
Updating this post by adding a link to
AMṚIT’ĀNUBHAVA - THE NECTAR OF MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE
No comments:
Post a Comment