‘I Cannot Fathom Your Love of Form’

Wonder

The flute has but to touch his lips and see —

Women run wild at the sound, out into the forest,
Forgetting to take their garments with them —

The flute has but to touch his lips.

A cow looks up from her grazing,
Her calf lets go of her nipples,

The flute has but to touch his lips,

And a bird shuts his eyes to listen,
Quiet as a seer in deepest contemplation.

Neither creeper nor grass quiver now,
Though a light scented breeze blows between them;

Now even the Jamuna, Surdas, wants to slow down,
Stay back and listen. See: Her waters retreat.

The flute has but to touch his lips.

(Surdas: Anand Thakore)

The Greatness of Pandharpur

No wear! No tear! It’s priceless! It’s free!
We have seen on the bank of the river Bheema
That which lies beyond all contemplation:
Absolute Being! — with our own eyes!

The inexpressible sprouting out in a form
Leaving out no detail
Without doubt, devotion dispels
All illusion — moving or still!

The frontierless universe
With nothing left beyond itself
Is present here
On the Brick.

Nivrutti marvels
How Pundalik made tangible
As a fully realized form
That which is beyond expression!

(Nivruttinath: Dilip Chitre)

Who is the one
That conceives?
Who is the one
That is born?
O Benevolent One
I cannot fathom
Your love of form

Who is the one
That asks?
Who is the one
That gives?
O Benevolent One
I cannot fathom
Your love of form.

Who is the one
That experiences?
Who creates
That experience?
O Benevolent One
I cannot fathom
Your love of form.

Who is the one
That manifests?
Who is the unmanifested One?
O Benevolent One
I cannot fathom
Your love of form.

Says Tuka, it is
You everywhere
And You are everything
Other than You.

(Tukaram: Dilip Chitre)

Before I could say,

“He became cowherd
fish
wild boar, “

he became a million million.

(Nammalvar: A. K. Ramanujan)

The Paradigm

We here and that man, this man,
and that other in-between,
and that woman, this woman,
and that other, whoever,

those people, and these,
and these others in-between,
this thing, that thing,
and this other in-between, whichever,

all things dying, these things,
those things, those others in-between,
good things, bad things,
things that were, that will be,

being all of them,
he stands there.

(Nammalvar: A. K. Ramanujan)