Lalan - As the man and woman in me
Ivan M. Granger July 2nd, 2008
As the man and the woman in me
by Lalan
English version by Deben Bhattacharya
As the man and the woman in me
Unite in love,
The brilliance of beauty
Balanced on the bi-petalled
Lotus bloom in me
Dazzles my eyes.
The rays
Outshine the moon
And the jewels
Glowing on the hoods of snakes.
My skin and bone
Are turned to gold.
I am the reservoir of love,
Alive as the waves.
A single drop of water
Has grown into a sea,
Unnavigable…
— from The Mirror of the Sky: Songs of the Bauls of Bengal, Translated by Deben Bhattacharya
/ Photo by Per Ola Wiberg..(PO…or Powi) /
These few lines are packed with the encoded alchemical language of Bengali Tantric Yoga. Let’s have some fun exploring its inner meaning.
As the man and the woman in me
Unite in love…
The man and woman that unite are “in me;” they are internal principles. It is the uniting of the masculine and feminine energies within the individual. This union in love, is the harmonizing of the solar and lunar energetic pathways that run parallel to the spine, called the ida and the pingala in Yoga.
When these masculine and feminine energies are brought into stable balance, the central energetic channel, called the shushumna, opens, allowing the primary life force, the Kundalini, to rise to the brow, to the two-petalled chakra, sometimes referred to as the third eye:
The brilliance of beauty
Balanced on the bi-petalled
Lotus bloom in me
Dazzles my eyes.
When the Kundalini energy rises to the crown, it creates a second, more transformative union. The Kundalini is the fundamental life energy, the energy of manifested presence. It is the universal feminine principal within the individual. When it awakens and rises fully to the crown, it merges with the masculine heavenly principal, often identified with Shiva. When the two “unite in love,” we are filled with the radiant light of enlightenment.
The rays
Outshine the moon…
The awareness is transformed. One no longer identifies with the limited body, but with a subtler, stronger, shining body of which the physical body is a mere reflection. This is the alchemically awakened body.
My skin and bone
Are turned to gold.
The heart fully opens. Why continue holding it shut? An immense love just pours through, unhindered. And we know a new sense of being truly alive. It is not so much the feeling that “I” am alive; rather, it is more as if the immensity of Life is felt, and lives through you.
I am the reservoir of love,
Alive as the waves.
Bliss fills the consciousness and becomes honey on the palette. We discover ourselves to be floating in an incomprehensibly wide ocean of nectar.
A single drop of water
Has grown into a sea…
And that sea is beyond form. It simply is. Everywhere. It is “unnavigable,” for where is there to go? We are eternally bathed by its waters. The work we have done is to finally recognize this immutable truth.
Did you bring your bathing suit?
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Lalan
India (1775? - 1891?) Timeline |
Lalan was one of the most famous of the Bauls of Bengal. The Bauls were usually itinerant musicians, living simply, singing songs of God. Their tradition incorporates aspects of the many rich spiritual traditions of Bengal, including Hinduism, Tantra, Yoga, and Islam.
Lalan born into a Hindu family. It is said that he went on pilgrimage to the holy city of Puri, but fell ill with smallpox. A Muslim Baul family took him in and nursed him back to health, and Lalan came to live as a member of their family.
His use of both Hindu and Muslim sacred language, ranging in mood from the ecstatic to mournful yearning, make his songs widely popular throughout Bengal.
Several of Lalan’s songs refer to the moon. The “unattainable moon” is often used by Baul mystics to describe the illuminating but ungraspable nature of the sacred experience.
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Beautiful poem. The opening line - ..as the man and woman in me ……reminds me of my time with the Bauls at the annual ‘mela,’ or gatherings, in Shantineketan and Bolpur, outside of Kolkata. Unlike conventional Indian society where there is a clear division between men and women, the Baul men and women seem to be totally at ease with one another, and comfortable alternating tasks.
Dear Ivan,
Tan is the trick of the soul,
For reincarnation on this earth.
Ask Shiva, the ling um,
Buddha, the Lord.
If,not any, go to Christ,
language may change, but not the way.
Regards.
salam
Hi, Greetings and Prayer!
Thanks for my first Daily Poem and Thought Of The Day.
I can tell I’m going to like these.
Your comments on ida, pingala(left and right chanels) and sushuma(central chanel) are most welcome as was the poem itself.
Thank you and many blessings!!
Christopher,
I hope these poems and commentaries continue to bring sparks of insight while we sail that central channel…
Ivan
Dear Ivan,
This is abdur Rehman BABA,
A very known pushto poet,from peshawar pakistan.
No one beholdeth Him with his eyes, nor can He be looked upon;
And yet, ineffable and inscrutable, He is manifest to all.
If any one should say, He cannot be seen, verily, He cannot:
And should he so say, He is, in truth, apparent unto all.
Without doubt and without distrust, consider Him immaculate
In all things soever, of which people are hard of belief.
No one hath lauded Him equal unto His just deserts;
Neither hath any one-sufficiently resounded His praise.
Out of the thousands of His excellencies and His perfections,
Deem not, that one, by Raḥmān, hath been adequately expressed.
Every day, priests minutely examine the Dharma
and endlessly chant complicated sutras.
Before doing that though, they should learn
how to read the love letters sent on the wind
to the rain, the snow and the moon.
IKKYU
Tommy.x.