Thursday, May 5, 2005

I Am An Ocean

I am an ocean : on the surface names and forms
ruffle and ripple like waves, tides and storms.
But sat, chit and ananda are my depths,
waters untroubled by viraha or death.

So listen : When I say that Krishna saves,
I do not mean he stops or stays the waves.
It means we meet him in the inner deep,
a holy realm beyond profoundest sleep.

I do not fear or shy from karma’s phal;
I do not seek freedom from my sins or hell.
The Name pulls me with infinite grace
To my deeps where They are e'er enlaced.

I am an ocean : on the surface names and forms
ruffle and ripple like waves, tides and storms.
But being, knowledge and love fill my depths:
Where no curse shall e'er trouble me, nor regrets.

Waves too are the verses you have just read.
Why make these waves? What needed being said?
It's this: You too are an unfathomable sea,
So sink the horned hare, and be with me.




First posted on Gaudiya Discussions (May, 2005)

1 comment:

  1. The "horned hare" means illusion, the unreal. It is a translation or play on śaśa-śṛṅga ("the horn of a hare") a typical nyāya example to denote vikalpa, an impossibility that nevertheless can be created by the power of words alone.

    Yoga-sūtra 1.9: "Dependent upon a verbal knowledge only but devoid of a real object is the vṛtti called imaginary cognition (vikalpa)."

    ReplyDelete