‘The Lord Is as if He Were Not’

Breakthrough, Endgame

The wind sleeps
to lullabies of sky.

Space drowses,
infinity gives it suck
from her breast.

The sky is silent.
The lullaby is over.

The Lord is
as if He were not.

(Allama Prabhu: A. K. Ramanujan)

The Lord has entered my being.
I make pilgrimage within myself and am purified.
I met Him.
He found me good
And let me lose myself in Him.
‘Beloved! If you find me fair
My pilgrimage is made,
I am cleansed.
More than the sacred waters of Ganga, Yamuna
and Tribeni mingled at the Sangam;
More than the seven seas,
More than charity, almsgiving and prayer
Is the knowledge of Eternity that is the Lord. ‘

Nanak says: he who has worshipped the Great Giver of life
Has earned more merit than those who
bathe at the sixty and eight places of pilgrimage.

(Guru Nanak: Khushwant Singh)

That actor Nagar¹ has come in disguise
Opened a shop filled with impish tricks
Saints have unmasked him
Have hurled his weighing scale and measures
Into the flowing river.

(Sami: Mohan Gehani and Menka Shivdasani)

He is a true trader who has brought riches home,
Who, in trust, has exchanged his heart with the Beloved,
Who dishonours none
Who believes this world to be transient,

Like a dream.

(Sami: Mohan Gehani and Menka Shivdasani)

Fire, fire! The town in flames!
But it’s no bane
to denizens of the air
freely flying.

It’s the rats
that scurry and shriek!
All those too weak
to take to the air.

Akha says,
the seer is not shaken
by phenomena.
He navigates the sky
on practiced wings.

(Akho: Gieve Patel)

Wrapped up in Yourself, You hid from me.
All day I looked for You
And when I found You hiding inside me,
I ran wild, playing now me, now You.

(Lal Ded: Ranjit Hoskote)

In the infinite dark,
Who placed the inordinate light,
Its opposite?
Darkness is
Light
Is
Itself—
The same!
There!
What kind of marvel is this?
One is not afraid of the other.

Seeing
The elephant and the lion
Together
Feeding
I was amazed,
O Gogeshwara.

(Allama Prabhu: H. S. Shivaprakash)

If they see
breasts and long hair coming
they call it woman,

if beard and whiskers
they call it man:

but, look, the self that hovers
in between
is neither man
nor woman

O Ramanatha

(Devara Dasimayya: A. K. Ramanujan)

Horizontal He is:
He is vertical.
Down and across
One intense light.

God is not uniform:
What makes Him
Homogeneous
Is purity of the heart.

Arguments about
His unity or duality
Are condemned
To continue.

Says Tuka,
You must come
Out of your involvements
And vested interests
To grasp Him
Whole.

(Tukaram: Dilip Chitre)

I sense him here. My God. From the temple. Here.
In my home. The roof has flown off.
I am open to the sky.

Until this happens to you, you’re condemned
To play out those old roles of the ego.
You’re going to live in those old illusions
And wonder why nothing works as it should.

Welcome to maya.

Muktai offers this milk of instruction:
One God: every possible emotional state.

(Muktabai: Jerry Pinto and Neela Bhagwat)

If I say one, it isn’t so.
If I say two, it’s slander.
Kabir has thought about it.
As it is,
so it is.

(Kabir: Linda Hess and Shukdev Singh)