Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Yoga / Hindu : Advaita / Non-Dualist 17th Century	About Akha Timeline (1600? - 1650?)
<<Previous Poem | View All Poems by Akha | Next Poem >>
English version by Krishnaditya	What could be the Other when First is naught?
Commentary by Ivan M. Granger Themes   Birth, Rebirth   Honey   Wine       Recommended Books Wings of the Soul: Poems of Akha: The Spiritual Poet of India, Translated by Krishnaditya	What could be the Other when First is naught? What is to dwell when nothing is born? Viewers none, who can bear witness? Untouched by tongue, taste the nectar blessed. Akha, you will understand if you view this sensibly, It's the possessed who grieve for father's father.     -- from Wings of the Soul: Poems of Akha: The Spiritual Poet of India, Translated by Krishnaditya Amazon.com
<<Previous Poem | View More Poems by Akha | Next Poem >>

Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

Akha is teasingly pointing out the dilemma faced by the mind -- which always wants to break reality down into separate elements of meaning.

How can the limited mind understand reality when full nondual Unity is finally experienced? How can God be something "Other" from oneself. If there is no "First," then there is no last, and no separation at all, not even from God. There is nothing "Other" than Being, which is your very own Self. If there is no separation, no duality of opposites, then in the deepest level of reality, nothing is born and nothing dies; there is only Existence. Without duality, there can be no viewer, no witness to the experience of life, only Life itself. Only in this expanded selfless Self can the "nectar blessed" be tasted; but who tastes when there is no "tongue," no separate 'taster'?

The intellect bends and twists, tying itself into knots trying to resolve these riddles, and never succeeds because it it doesn't actually 'know' anything. It can only pretend to slice reality into smaller and smaller pieces and hold those pieces up against each other to compare them. The limited mind can never grasp reality whole, unedited. When the mind is still, truly at rest, when you "view this sensibly," perception still occurs and reality is finally seen in its undivided state, without first passing through the fragmenting filters of the limited mind. Then the undivided truth is known -- though who can put it into words? It becomes a game of riddles...

The limited mind attached to limited forms cannot comprehend, while the Jnani, the one who truly knows, chuckles at the mind's acrobatics.

Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2008 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.