Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Muslim / Sufi Yoga / Hindu 15th Century	About Kabir Timeline (15th Century)
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English version by Andrew Harvey Original Language Hindi	My body is flooded
Commentary by Ivan M. Granger Themes   Bliss   Fire   Lover and Beloved       Recommended Books The Bijak of Kabir, Translated by Linda Hess / Translated by Shukdeo Singh The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry, by Stephen Mitchell Kabir: The Weaver's Songs, by Kabir / Translated by Vinay Dharwadker Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West, Translated by Daniel Ladinsky One Hundred Poems of Kabir: Translated by Rabindranath Tagore, by Kabir / Translated by Rabindranath Tagore More >>	My body is flooded With the flame of Love. My soul lives in A furnace of bliss. Love's fragrance Fills my mouth, And fans through all things With each outbreath.     -- from Perfume of the Desert: Inspirations from the Sufi Wisdom, by Andrew Harvey / Eryk Hanut Amazon.com
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Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

This brief, beautiful poem by Kabir manages to touch on many essential elements common to the mystical experience.

With deep opening, there is a sense of being flooded or even overwhelmed by waves of heat, like flames or a fever. This is felt both on physical and subtle levels. These are the "flames of Love" that flood the body. When you relax into this awareness, the experience is not painful but one of indescribably peaceful delight. This is Kabir's "furnace of bliss."

And it is in this furnace, this divine alchemical fire, where the "soul lives." It takes deep stillness and clarity to recognize it, but the soul is always at home within this warm embrace. This is where the soul is seated in perpetual rest, in this sacred, transformative warmth -- whether or not we are too distracted to notice.

Often accompanying the awareness of blissful heat is a sense of a very subtle, wonderfully sweet flavor in the mouth, at the back of the throat. This taste is so subtle that it could be described as a "fragrance," something just barely tasted, yet imprinting itself indelibly upon the awareness.

In this state, when the awareness is turned inward, it is in bliss; when turned outward, there is only the unifying awareness of love. This is what Kabir means when he says, "Love's fragrance... fans through all things / with each outbreath." When we breathe out, when we turn the unified awareness outward, then the perfume of that bliss is carried outward and seen to permate everything one's perception touches. This leads to a sort of supreme Self-recognition in all things: There is bliss within and bliss without, there is only bliss flowing everywhere, through everything. You yourself are not separate from That. This recognition is the mystic's Love. It is the recognition of unity, the "fanning" of one's identity, the pouring of oneself, one's breath and presence, into all things, with an unhindered and equal flow in return.

Kabir is giving us a map, a grand path of Love that endlessly circles between the inner and outer:

Love -- flood, flame -- Bliss -- flavor, fan -- Love

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.