The Hovering One

by Devara Dasimayya

English version by A. K. Ramanujan
Original Language Kannada

Ramanatha,
who can know the beauty
of the Hovering One

who's made Himself form
and of space
the colours?

-- from Speaking of Siva, by A K Ramanujan

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Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

This handful of words remains almost undefined, walking us along that thin border between frustration and delight.

I mean, what is Devara Dasimayya trying to emphasize by naming God "the Hovering One"? Several of this holy man's songs recognize the Divine within the ether or akasha, the subtle atmosphere that permeates all material existence as a living field of knowledge. I suspect he is saying that God "hovers" in the ethers, just barely hidden behind the multiplicity of material existence.

The Divine hovers, too, beyond all form, but from that airy formlessness, has inexplicably manifested form and color -- the entire kaleidoscope of surface reality.

But those are just statements to satisfy the intellect. Dasimayya's question still rings in the air: Who can truly know, fully appreciate, and directly witness that beauty -- from the apparently tangible to the most teasingly subtle? Who bothers to cultivate the vision that can take in the wholeness?



Recommended Books: Devara Dasimayya

Speaking of Siva



The Hovering One