There Is No Limit to the Joy Inside

Poem 238, from Mystical Poems of Jnaneshwar

There is no limit to the joy inside -

limitless, deep, profound.

Deep down there, Govinda has become all,

pervading the universe, and then some more.

Inside, outside, there is no limit to Him.

All is Narayana, forever Narayana.

My I-ness can't register another.

This is what my Lord Nivritti has done.

our thoughts

Govinda, knower of the senses, and Narayana, lord of men, are both names of Krishna, or Vitthal. The text literally says “there is more of Him left after filling the universe.” Jnaneshwar’s experience is the vedic experience Aham Brahmasmi “I am Brahman.” I am Brahman: therefore, I am all there is. There is no other left. If I can see myself as consciousness, I can only see everything else as consciousness. Seeing myself simply as “I”, as consciousness, leads to Poornoham, the perfect I. The adepts say that this experience is that of pure joy. For every experience in reality is the experience of union, of joining, of burning together the seer and the seen into the fire of consciousness, into a flame of love. As Shaivism would say, every experience is a chamatkaara, a miracle. Utpaladeva says in his Ishvara Pratyabhijnya: Chitihi pratyavamarshaatmaa paraavaak svarasoditah. “Consciousness is always deeply of itself, ever dancing in its own bliss”.