Darshan Singh - How did I ever think silence the language of love?
Ivan M. Granger May 9th, 2008
How did I ever think silence the language of love?
by Darshan Singh
English version by Barry Lerner and Harbans Singh Bedi
How did I ever think silence the language of love?
What I thought would not come to light was in plain sight.
I hear my silence talked of in every lane;
The suppression of a cry is itself a cry of pain.
The beloved’s regard was but a flash of light;
How innocent to think I’d found eternal bliss.
These, too, in the end were the gardener’s: the lightning and the wind
And that handful of pitiful straws I’d called my nest.
Darshan, the glances I’d fancied voiced my love –
Even they couldn’t convey the unplumbed depths of my longing.
— from Love’s Last Madness: Poems on a Spiritual Path by Darshan Singh, Translated by Barry Lerner / Translated by Harbans Singh Bedi
/ Photo by obenson /
Let’s spend a little time with this poem…
This poem is a lovely way to address some of the initial encounters of mystical union.
The opening couplets are explore interweaving themes of silence and awareness of the Divine. Esoteric traditions all over the world use inner silence, profound psychic stillness, as a way to open up to the vision of the Divine. But here Darshan Singh confronts the limitation of the practice–
How did I ever think silence the language of love?
What I thought would not come to light was in plain sight.
As we explore deeply, we discover layers to silence. Superficial silence is effortful. It is a striving for something not seen. It is, in effect, a rejection of the common perception of the common world.
Yet Darshan Singh shares with us his deeper realization, that the Divine speaks to us in the language of love, and that language is whispered everywhere, in all things. He seems to be urging us not to cultivate a holiness born of rejection, but one born of profound recognition of the Divine already here, already everywhere, in plain sight.
Further, in silence is discovered a quiet, all-pervading sound. So, even in silence, that silence is filled with a song, the language of love.
I hear my silence talked of in every lane;
The suppression of a cry is itself a cry of pain.
First, I love the humorous play of words with these lines: He ‘hears’ his silence, and it is talked about everywhere. The acclamation of his attainment of silence makes his silence noisier.
And that second line says so much. Merely holding thoughts back can open a few doors, but it ultimately becomes a practice of suppression. Suppression cannot be the ultimate fulfillment, for it too is “a cry of pain.”
Where then does that leave us? How is silence and clear vision attained without suppression of thought. Think of it this way: Learning to hold thoughts allows us to finally understand deep silence. When that is discovered, when we learn to rest in that true silence, surface thoughts are of less consequence.
The beloved’s regard was but a flash of light;
How innocent to think I’d found eternal bliss.
That first ecstatic flood of light the mystic experiences is life changing. Joy indescribable. Wholeness. Unity. Supreme contentment. Many mystics have trouble admitting that they have not (yet) attained the Ultimate. Too many mystics reach this level, and thinking they have found eternal bliss, hang out their guru shingle — only to find the experience slipping through their grasp. Like lightning, it fills the world with light, and then returns into itself.
And that’s the issue: It is an experience of enlightenment, but it is not yet Enlightenment. Any ‘experience’ is something that happens to you; it has a beginning, and also an end. True Enlightenment, on the other hand, must be stable, lasting. One must not simply experience it, one must become it.
At this stage we must find within ourselves “the unplumbed depths of longing” that will lead us through the adept’s initial plateau into the wide open vista of true Awakening.
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Darshan Singh |
Sant Darshan Singh Ji was a modern poet-saint and guru of the Sant Mat lineage within the Sikh tradition.
Darshan Singh lived a life of balanced engagement with the world that he called “positive mysticism.” He was a family man and led a respected career as a civil servant working for the Indian government. He also published several collections of poetry. And he was a spiritual teacher to thousands, teaching a pathway of Surat Shabd Yoga, the yoga of light and sound.
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Dear Ivan,
The poem selected is a song of Silence, which sings so loudly the song of LIght and Love .And, then …… your thoughts ………. you sing that song with such sweet Silence ………..
true understanding , true enlightenment is the mystical union of Silence and song , word and silence …… where the word is no more word , is Silence …. where Silence , not a word, is no more Silence , but is naught other than the word …….
listening to the song, one experiences that silence, one moves into the Silence of Being , which is termed ‘ enlightenment’ ……….. the presence of Being , just the presence, this Moment Now !
….. and the song and the commentary are One …… Darshan and Ivan are Not-two !
beloved of the Existence is Ivan, and a blessing to all is Existence’s gift of Ivan’s life dedicated to sharing all that he is ….
narinder ………..
For Spiritual Seekers longing for the divine mystical union with that Silence :
1. the longing culminates in Grace, and the personal experience ( knowing) of the Un-knowable ……
2. the paradox of Action ( effort) and Grace gets resolved in that experience….
3. that resolution of the paradox is the state of being, where ‘doing’ is ‘ doing’ nevermore …… where all becomes a ‘ happenning’…… Grace ……
and yet, there is no running away from ‘ doing’ what needs being done …. there is NO ‘ running away’, because you are not into doing any more …. running away cannot happen ….. all happens as it happens …. Existences Play , with narinder-ness in total acceptance of it … a part of Existential Play and Doing …
4.TILL THAT ‘HAPPENS ‘………. Doing, much Doing is the Way ….. and it is the Knowers of Truth that guide us into attitudes and conduct to strive for ……… Bhagvada geetha gives to the seeker, the threefold practise of ‘ Karma-yoga’( action , surrendering the ‘ fruit’ to the Lord),Bhakti ( devotion) and Gyana ( Knowledge of the True ) . All the scriptures speak nothing else …… they speak and shriek, in love of the seeking heart,what is the Way…. , of the Karma and ‘ Dharma’
5.The final test of ‘having arrived’ … is your conduct … and who is to judge the conduct ? …. you, yourself , of course …..! …… it is the movement of the self , for the self; … and it is the self , which chooses to die to the self , to realise the Self ….
6. Poetry Chaikhana , is Existence’s Gift to the Seekers on the sacred Path of love and Light through Ivan !!
……………… the last thought that comes to the mind is …….. that the self, when it ‘arrives’, it knows that it has not yet arrived …
…….. he, who Knows, knows now , that he ‘does not know’…….
…………….narinder
You don’t comment on the lines:
These, too, in the end were the gardener’s: the lightning and the wind
And that handful of pitiful straws I’d called my nest.
I was intrigued by the choice of tense here: past, and past perfect. He has come to realize that his earlier understanding of the world, and his place in it, was mistaken. Did he think that the lightning and the wind were something else, or someone else’s (his own? nobody’s?). Just as he thought he had a nest to call his own?
I feel that he is in a high, still, exposed place, no longer depending on old assumptions about enlightenment, sureness, self. Stripped down to a simple, pure feeling that he calls longing (and calls out, since silence and suppression of feeling are also shown to be delusions).
Thank you, Ivan, for the invitation to “spend time” with the poem. Thank you for helping me to understand that which I did not. I appreciate your gentle and clear explanation with layers unfolding. The poem is beautiful and I am glad that I now have a knowing of it. I love the photo.
I also appreciate the words of wisdom shared by your readers, and their gratitude for your gift.
Being a gardener, I wonder about the “gardener’s” line: “lightning and wind”.
The gardener, the one who reaps and sows? (and for me as a partner with G*d in creation) not only receiving the “bliss” but the elements to make it so: Vision, movement, sound, form, color, discomfort, surprise, awe.
BlesSings of renewed health to you, love and joy,
Joy