Jnaneshwar

"The Nectar of Self Awareness"


I honor the God and the Goddess

The eternal parents of the universe.

The lover, out of boundless love,

takes the form of the Beloved.

What Beauty!

Both are made of the same nectar

and share the same food.

Out of supreme love

they swallow each other up.

But separate again

for the joy of being two.



They are not completely the same

but neither are they different.

None can tell exactly what they are.

How intense is their longing

to be with each other.

This is their greatest bliss.

Never, even in jest,

Do they allow their unity

to be disturbed.



They are so averse to separation

That even though they have become

this entire world,

Never, for a moment, do they let a difference

come between them.



Even though they see

all that is animate and inanimate,

as arising from within themselves,

Never do they recognize a third



They sit together

in the same place,

both wearing a garment of light.

From the beginning of time

they have been together,

Reveling in their own Supreme love.



The difference they created

to enjoy this world

Had one glimpse of their intimacy

And could not help

but merge back into the bliss

found in their union.



Without God ,

there is no Goddess

Without Goddess,

there is no God.

How sweet is their love!

The entire universe

is too small to contain them

Yet they live happily

in the tiniest particle...



Embracing each other

they merge into One,

As darkness merges with the light,

At the breaking of dawn.



When we discover their Unity

All words and all thoughts

dissolve into silence

Just a when the Universal deluge comes.

the waters of the ocean, and of the Ganges,

will merge into one...



A reflected image disappears

When the mirror is removed,

Ripples merge back into the water

when the wind becomes still.

When sleep comes to an end

a man returns to his own senses.

Now my individuality has come to an end,

and I have returned to Shiva and Shakti.



Salt gives up its salty taste

to become one with the ocean;

I gave up my individual self

and became Shiva and Shakti



When the covering is removed

the air inside a plantain tree

merges with the air outside.

and this is how I honor Shiva and Shakti---

By removing all separation and

Becoming one with them.



-----Jnaneshwar