Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Secular or Eclectic Yoga / Hindu : Advaita / Non-Dualist Contemporary	About Ivan M. Granger Timeline (1969 - )
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Original Language English	Adi Atman 9: you you
Commentary by Ivan M. Granger Themes   Moon   Night   Sun   Trembling   Wine	Adi Atman, I am a fool I place a picture before me and say      -- you you hosanna hari hari bol! daybreak and I whisper to the sun      -- you full moon night and I cry out      -- you summer downpour the thunder crash shouts for me      -- YOU drowning drunk from too much seawater I sputter      -- you you you shambo shankara! I am a grasping fool I say -- you -- and you are gone when I remember to shut up then you are here and I am gone   2004
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Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

Each poem in this cycle is addressed to Adi Atman, to the Divine as the Primal Self.

Everything -- everything! -- reflects the Eternal Self to us, but we cannot grasp It. The act of grasping, trying to hold onto something, requires us to break reality down into separate parts. We're not talking here about grasping something with the hand; we are talking about grasping with the mind, the awareness. But the limited mind can only hold onto separate parts, named things, God as not-self ("you").

I am a grasping fool
I say -- you --

and you are gone

There is a dilemma here: On the one hand, to say "you" is to acknowledge God, the Divine Presence. On the other hand, to say "you" is to push God away, to externalize God, to alienate God. Of course, we don't really alienate God; instead, we alienate ourselves from God.

Name It, alienate It, try to grasp It... and It is gone. What we seek is the Wholeness that is our very own nature, not some foreign 'person' or 'thing' -- not an external object that the mind can lay hold of. The Living Whole can't be grasped. The only way to claim It is to be claimed by It. The only way to gain It is to lose ourselves within It amidst deep, deep silence.

when I remember to shut up
then you are here

and I am gone

Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2008 by Ivan M. Granger.
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