Philosophers over
the ages have tried to capture the transcendence of the Absolute through words,
but few succeed. Language is inherently dualistic. There is the word, and there
is its object, however, the absolute is non-dual, beyond description. The most
famous effort to capture this non-dual Absolute through language was via
negativa – neti, neti (not this, not this). In this definition,
any reality that can be captured by language is, by definition, not God.
This negative
definition of the Absolute by the Vedāntins would be very unsatisfactory to the
followers of tantric Hinduism. For them reality is not an illusion but the very
manifestation of the Absolute. The supreme consciousness congeals itself into
the materiality of the manifest universe. The unmanifest consciousness, Shiva,
manifests itself in this world through his inherent Shakti, the feminine
principle inseparable from Shiva (or in academic-speak, they are ontologically
the same but manifest differently).
The non-dual
consciousness, though devoid of all materiality, is the source of all
materiality. The yogi realizes this unity of reality in the deepest recess of
his consciousness. Verbalizing this ontology through poetry is exceedingly
difficult. This is a far cry from the dualistic Bhakti poetry where God has a
form and participates in the worldly līlā, and therefore it becomes
easier to describe the deeds and glory of the Lord through poetry. Among the tantric
practitioners, Jñānadeva, Lāl Ded and Utpaladeva, are some of the few saints
who have composed devotional poetry. In what follows, I will highlight Jñānadeva
attempt to capture this non-dual reality via poetry.
The great 13th-century
saint of Maharashtra, well known for his commentary on the Bhagavad Gītā, Jñānadeva
was an initiated Nātha Yogi, a practitioner of Shaiva tantra. In Nātha
world-view, the reality is one; bhakti and its object is one; the name of God is God itself! When a devotee
worships God in devotion, it is God worshipping God! The world appears dual due
to the Shakti of Shiva, but in reality, everything is Shiva. Jñānadeva, in his brilliantly evocative
Marathi poetry, Amṛtānubhava manages to capture this non-dual nature of
reality, the mysterious interplay of Shiva and Shakti, that is unmatched in the
history of Hindu literature. If you are lucky enough to read the first few
chapters of Amṛtānubhava, please read it in the original Marathi. For
our purposes, we will quote the verses from the first chapter of Amṛtānubhava,
translated by S.Abhayananda.
The lover (Shiva) out of boundless love
Has become the beloved (Shakti)
Out of love for each other, they merge;
And again, they separate for the pleasure of
being two
Though they perceive the universe
Of inanimate and animate creation
Emanating from themselves
They do not recognize a third
They sit together on the same ground
Wearing the same garment of light
From time past remembrance they have lived
thus,
United in Bliss
Difference itself merged in their sweet union
When, seeing their intimacy
It could find no duality
Because of God, the Goddess exist
And without her, he is not.
They exist only because of each other
How sweet is their union!
The whole world is too small to contain them
Yet they live happily in the smallest particle
Jñānadeva
here is trying to describe the paradoxical nature of reality. The consciousness
manifests itself out of sheer fullness of its being, but this manifestation is
impossible without an active principle which is called Shakti. But Shakti is
the very being of Shiva. When they separate, the world of diversity manifests
itself, but this separation is not possible because if everything is one, there
is nothing to separate from. Jñānadeva writes,
They become two for the purpose of diversity
And both are seeking each other
For the purpose of becoming one
Each is an object to the other,
And both are subjects to each other
Only when together do they enjoy happiness
It is Shiva alone who lives in one forms
He is both the male and the female.
It is because of the union of these two
complements
That the whole universe exists
Two lutes: one note
Two flowers: One fragrance
Two lamps: One light
Two lips: One word
Two eyes: One sight
These two: One universe
The
entire universe is a play or manifestation of Shiva and Shakti, who are both
one but manifest differently. Without Shiva, Shakti cannot exist, while Shiva
cannot manifest itself without Shakti. They are twins but united in a primal
bond. Jñānadeva says they are like sugar and sweetness or sun and its rays;
both different and yet have the same source. In the same vein, Jñānadeva writes
Through her,
The absolute void becomes the manifest world
But her existence
Is derived from the Lord
Shiva himself becomes his beloved
But without her presence no universe exists
Because of Her form,
God is seen as the world
But he created Her form
Of Himself
Embarresed by her formless Husband
And her own graceful form
She adorned him with a universe
Of myriad names and form
Although he is manifest
He himself cannot be seen
It is only because of her
That he appears as the universal form
While he sleeps, she gives birth
To the animate and inanimate worlds
When she rests
Her husband disappears
Here
Jñānadeva is describing the interplay of Shiva and Shakti. When one does not
recognize Shiva, one can only see his manifestations, Shakti, but when one sees
Shiva (or gain enlightenment), the Shakti disappears into the unmanifest void
of Shiva. Jñānadeva says that the seeming duality of Shiva and Shakti will
vanish once the devotee can set their ego aside. In the deepest state of
mediation, as the ego dissolves into nothingness, at that very moment, Shiva
embraces Shakti in an eternal embrace, both merging into the primal unity of
the uncreated existence.
Note:
I have just captured the beginning few pages of Amṛtānubhava. Meditation
on this profound poetry of Jnanadev itself is a means to transcendence. As
mentioned, I have followed the translation of S.Abhayananda, which I find more
poetic than other translations. Readers wanting to read Amṛtānubhava in
English can also use the translation of OP Bhairut, widely used in academia for
Jñānadeva studies.
6 Comments Write a comment
ovipaqosuii 8:51 PM | October 03, 2022
ekabemupeqobe 9:28 PM | October 03, 2022