Fire

Poem 2, from Mystical Poems of Jnaneshwar

Mass of conscious bliss,

putting His oneness on fire,

shows in His oneness

the many.

These forms,

ever-changing,

ever forming,

from the formless.

Lord of the great goddess,

joy of joy.

From beginning to end

always the One.

Perfect,

ancient,

primordial.

our thoughts

We hear in this verse an echo of the Mundaka Upanishad, when it says:

Yathaa sudeeptaat paavakaad visphulingaahaa

Sahasrashaha prabhavante saroopaahaa

Tathaksharaat vividhaa somya bhaavaahaa

Prajaayante tatra chaivaapayanti

Just as sparks

from a blazing fire

made in its likeness

fly,

in a thousand ways,

so these creations, thoughts, feelings

arise from that imperishable being

and merge back into it.

Formless, that Being,

luminous, unborn, pure,

the inside and outside of all;

beyond all.

From it come

body, mind, and life,

heart, space, and breath

ocean, mountains.

All this is that Being,

all action, effort, penance.

He is the nectar, the supreme, the Brahman.