The seed lay split asunder.
A tender sprout peeked from it, a bud of curiosity.
Pranavam began to take form.
Then, as the cosmos watched, as the artist watched,
there sprouted a sapling, a sapling with a single leaf holding precariously.
The sound of Pranavam now settled on the leaf
like a Yogi meditating in the lotus position.
The wandering note now became focussed.
Focussed on a single atom...a single atom which swayed under the power of the note.
A single atom in which the skies lay curled up in convolutions.
Gently the atom unfurled, evolved.
It grew in circles releasing energy it knew not it had.
Seven circles burst forth from the atom and widened into seven skies.
A glow was born when the seventh sky lay open.
A glow like no other...a glow that blinded the eyes of the cosmos and the artist.
A glow that lay refulgent and blazing.
A glow that was like a thousand suns blazing in the shape of a lotus.
And now a stream of light flowed from the glow.
A stream that slowly became a river.
A river of nectar which watered the sapling.
Pranavam now steadied itself on the gurgle of this stream.
Jal Jal Jal Jal went the stream speaking with the silence of the eyes.
It caressed the sapling and overflowed.
From the skies rained nectar on the sapling.
The blazing glow now cooled into a second light
A cooler light from which the nectar still flowed.
The two glows now bathed the sapling in light and nectar.
The sapling trembled in anticipation, setting of another vibration.
A vibration which unleashed the tame winds.
The winds burst forth with grace like fragrance from a blossom.

A small digression...

As of now most of you would have got wind of where I'm going in this Genesis section. The cantos so far (and a few more cantos to come in the future) are an attempt at visualizing creation. Not just creation of the universe but the creation of anything - a child, a thought or even this poem. As the BLOG title says, the poem is a journey of man in search of the universe and the universe in search of man. The poem starts with the division of the one into many and ends with the many uniting in the one. It is an artist's view of our Adhvaitha sidhAntham. The reason I'm pausing to explain here is to show the process and the common threads that run through the cantos so far.

To start of with, the first few cantos depict void and stillness. There is an essential nada, nihil at the beginning. This is the primordial nirguna brahman, the Sivam which is in more than one sense a Savam (corpse). And then as we see, an eye is opened and light is born. Now both the opening of the eye and light being born are expressions of knowledge. Therefore, the nirguna brahman which stays inert now gets its first sensation, first gunA that is knowledge. What knowledge is this? Knowledge of itself. Knowledge that is put in the words 'Aham brahmAsmi' (Not to mention the pun between eye and I). Where am I proceeding from here? From knowledge shall result desire and from desire action...gyAna sakthi, ichA sakthi and then kriyA sakthi.

But again if you read through the cantos, nowhere have I yet endeavoured to show that this inert brahman realizing itself. It is this process of obtaining this knowledge that is being described now. And this process proceeds by the acquisition of senses. The first sense sight happens when the eye meets the light. This results in the seed of knowledge being born. This seed of knowledge then bursts into the very first sound - the Pranavam. Here we have the next sense born, the sense of hearing. Of course there is no ear described which is hearing this sound, but anyways I'm not concerned with describing the physiology associated here.

Now along with these senses, you can also observe the thread of the elements coming in one after the other. Sight is born and it results in the flame in the eye of the cosmos. Pranavam opens up the seven skies (the relation between sound and the sky is very deep in Hindu philosophy). Then there is water that flows in the form of nectar and lastly the winds being released in the recent canto. One flaw here is that there is no pattern in the evolution of the elements like typically it should start form the sky (that which has no form, no movement and is in fact closest to a void) then wind (that which has no form but can move and can be felt), then water, fire and earth. I know I have gone off the track here, but I thought it much better to adhere to my initial flow of thoughts. There might be a reason why this sequence occurred to me and I can if I try to sit and think explain the reason as well, but laziness rules!!!

And now to this particular canto which has been put today. I have mentioned the skies bursting open. Here, I have taken a small risk, a slight venture into something that I revere and crave but have made no attempts at all. Let me reiterate. The seven skies as described lay curled up in an atom and then burst open revealing a glow from which nectar flows. This nectar cools the glow resulting in a second glow. It is not difficult to guess the idea of Kundalini suggested here what with the obvious reference to the sahasraRa, the thousand petaled lotus. It was a freak imagination an attempt to think of the sun and the moon as results of the Kundalini awakening in the brahman itself. I have specifically not used any technical term in the canto because my own knowledge or experience there is nil.

That brings us to another point. Because I'm trying to portray adhvaitic ideas here or because I refer to some practices adhered in this wonderful philosophy, do not assume that I know anything of it or I practice it. My knowledge in this is almost completely factual. Which consequently means that I might be wrong and inadequate more often than not. But this poem is not a Yogi's visions or experiences. It is merely a poet's imagination of what he desires deeply in spite of his penury and callousness; in spite of him being aware of how lowly and unspiritual a creature he is. Therefore, he prays with sincere love and devotion (though his sincerity maybe tainted with ignorance) that his faults be forgiven.

Back to the cantos from tomorrow...

P.S. Perhaps I should pause to explain the poem once in a way like this so that at least one person gets a clearer idea of it…which is me!! ;-)