Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Secular or Eclectic Yoga / Hindu : Advaita / Non-Dualist Contemporary	About Ivan M. Granger Timeline (1969 - )
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Original Language English	Every Shaped Thing
Commentary by Ivan M. Granger Themes   Sun	Sighing, every shaped thing turns heavenward. Your altar cannot seat the thousand thousand idols. Holding them, what do you have? Each gilded god says: "I am impoverished by the sun. I can only point up."   2002
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Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

I wrote this poem when I still lived on the island of Maui. I was standing outside with a scattered forest of eukalyptus and wattle trees in front of me and Haleakala volcano to my back. I was standing there in a state of deep meditation, when I opened my eyes -- and I just saw how everything is reaching, turning, pointing heavenward. The material world, when objectified becomes a confusing tangle of desire objects; but when seen truly, quietly, it acts as a great signpost guiding us, pointing out the direction.

All of creation -- every person, every thing, even every idea, "every shaped thing" -- is just a reflection of the divine radiance present everywhere.

Whenever we desire a thing... or person or experience, we artificially deify it, the desire and mental fixation becoming a low form of worship. We may tell ourselves, "I want this, I want that," but what we unknowingly crave is not the thing itself, but that spark of the Eternal barely glimpsed within it. The desired object becomes a "gilded god" -- false in the sense that it is not truly the wholeness we seek; but also, like an "idol," when approached sincerely and openly, material creation embodies something essential: it points to the Divine which it reflects.

No individual can ever gather enough objects of desire to satisfy desire. Every time we acquire that desired object or experience -- a new job, a new lover, money, an ice cream sundae -- there is a fleeting sense of satisfaction... and then it's gone. And we're already feeling desire again and looking for the next object to hang the desire on. We're looking for the next thing that shines for us. But it is not the object we actually seek, it is that shine. And that shine is the spark of the Divine.

When we learn to see in gold the glimmer of the sun, then we see that everything shines -- everything! -- ourselves included. And then we are truly satisfied.

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.