Granum Sinapis
by Granum Sinapis (Anonymous)English version by Ivan M. Granger
Original Language German
In the beginning,
far beyond the senses' reach,
resides the Word, eternally.
O great treasure,
source from which is ever born the source!
O Father's breast,
from which the Word
ever streams in ecstasy!
Even so, held in the divine heart,
there resides the Word.
From the two comes a flood:
the glowing ember of love.
Both bound,
both known,
the sweet spirit pours itself out
in perfect harmony.
Inseparable,
the three are one.
And do you know? No?
It knows itself entirely.
Within the union of the three
is a startling revelation.
Reason has never grasped
this ring:
Here is a fathomless depth.
Check and mate
to time, and form, and place!
The wondrous circle
is the welling source,
while its center sits supremely still.
Mind,
shunning all effort, climb
the peak of this one point!
The pathway winds its way
to a wondrous desert,
a wide expanse, spacious,
beyond measure.
The waste
has neither time nor space;
it is a strange place.
Never has a foot crossed
this desert's domain,
nor has reason
reached it:
It is, and yet no one knows what.
It is here and there.
it is far, it is near.
It is deep, yet also high.
It is as it is,
and not this or that.
It is light, it is clear.
It is perfectly dark.
It is unnamed,
and unknown.
With no beginning and without end,
it rests in pure peace,
naked, unclothed.
Who knows its location?
Who can step forth
and say its shape?
Become like a child,
fall deaf, be blind!
Your something
must become nothing;
all substance, all nothingness -- prod further and higher.
Let go of place, leave behind time,
abandon the pictures of the mind!
Walk without a way,
the narrow path,
and so will you come upon the open field.
O my soul,
go out, and let God in!
My whole self, sink
into the emptiness of the Eternal,
sink into the bottomless flood!
If I flee from Thee,
come Thou to me.
If I lose myself,
then will I find Thee,
O great good beyond being!
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/ Image by Hamed Saber /
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This poem's full title is Granum sinapis de divinitate pucherrima or The Mustard Seed of the Most Beautiful Divinity, usually just shortened to Granum sinapis or The Mustard Seed. The mustard seed of the title is, of course, a reference to Christ's parable in which the tiny mustard seed can sprout and grow into a great tree that gives shelter to all creatures. That which is most humble and overlooked, when cultivated, expands and takes on surprising life, providing a welcoming home to all beings, as it gives meaning and flavor to our experiences.
The poem's primary image is of a mysterious desert.
The pathway winds its way
to a wondrous desert,
a wide expanse, spacious,
beyond measure.
This desert is not lifeless. It presents itself as a spiritual vastness, an openness. The desert is eternal and everywhere, knowing neither time nor space. It is unlike anything else, since all of creation emerges from its emptiness— Its nature is unique."
Never has a foot
crossed the desert's domain.
Not only can one not enter this desert physically, but the ego or the false self, with all of its subtlety, is unable do so, as well.
Whatever it is, it is incomprehensible to the logical mind ("nor has reason / reached it"). It can only be experienced.
Its elusive nature becomes a riddle:
It is, and yet no one knows what.
It is here and there.
it is far, it is near.
It is deep, yet also high.
It is as it is,
and not this or that.
The desert is what it is, beyond the ability of the conceptual mind to define it. It is everywhere and always. It is not limited by the duality of this as opposed to that. It is the living harmony of all things at once.
I am struck by the lines:
With no beginning and without end,
it rests in pure peace,
naked, unclothed.
There is no effort in its existence. For us to perceive it, we too must become effortless, natural, stepping free from the constant work of the mind. To do this we must, Become / like a child, / fall deaf, be blind! We must "Let go of place, leave behind time..."
We must be completely open and free from the safe limitations of preconceptions, able to "Walk without a way..."
and so will you come upon the open field.
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German Mystical Writings: Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart, Jacob Boehme, and others | ||||