The Conference of the Birds
Part II
Selected Teachings
of the Hoopoe Bird &
27 Photographs
(Part VI of an ongoing Pandemic inspired series)
#27
If you don't lose yourself
in the ocean of unity,
even if you are a descendent of Adam,
you are not truly human.
Hoopoe Bird, The Conference of the Birds, p.292 (trans: Sholeh Wolpe)
Introduction
This is the sixth of my ongoing series of projects inspired by the Coronavirus Pandemic, Donald Trump's disastrous, self-serving presidency and his unconscionable handling of the Pandemic. In this project, which is a continuation of my previous project The Conference of the Birds & Their Flight to Union, an exploration of Attar's 12th century epic poem, I am focusing on the Traditional Sufic teachings which he gives voice to through a Hoopoe Bird who is elected by birds from around the world to take them on a pilgrimage to find the enlightened, mythic bird, the Simurgh.
My previous project was published on November 2, the day before the Presidential Election. Despite all the Republican attempts to suppress the voting process in key states, the people have spoken loud and clear and Donald Trump has been officially voted out of the White House; Joe Biden, the President Elect will be sworn into office January 20, 2021 . . . despite all the lawsuits Trump has filed in protest of what he has been calling a "corrupt, fraudulent election" (every attempt has failed because his lawyers have not been able to come up with any substantial evidence for their claims). In the mean time Trump has been using his fraudulent claims to fire up his voter support base to give him money to help pay the enormous costs of trying to overturn the election. In the latest report I have seen he had received over 18 million dollars in donations, money which he can use in any way he wants . . .
I have more news updates about the Pandemic, and Trump's undemocratic-bazar behaviors to report, but I have decided it would be most appropriate to present the remainder of of that material on a separate blog page rather than in this project's Introduction. If you are interested in seeing my November 2 through Dec. 11 news report, please click here.
*
My previous project, The Conference of the Birds & Their Flight to Union was offered as a "prayer" to protect and support the voters of this country, our democratic process of voting, and the very real, immediate need for an authentic, caring, future-looking leader. In that project I outlined in brief strokes the narrative of Attar's epic poem in which birds from around the world met together to share their deepest inner longings for a True Leader and a more peaceful world. As their discussions progressed a compassionate and extraordinarily wise Hoopoe Bird offered responses to the birds' concerns and questions which emerged throughout the Conference. The Hoopoe, who gradually won the hearts of most of the birds with his wisdom, suggested they embark together upon a pilgrimage to find the Simurgh, a mythic all-knowing bird who lived in the constant, conscious awareness of its union with the Divine Presence. The Simurgh was believed to dwell in a mythic land known as Mount Oaf.
The Hoopoe bird (who is mentioned in the Quran as Solomon's trusted messenger) gives voice to Attar's vast collection of Traditional Sufic teachings and parables throughout the long poem's narrative. After the birds become deeply touched by the Hoopoe's teachings they decide to go on a pilgrimage to find the Simurgh. Then they take a vote to determine who amongst them could best guide them to the Unknown realm of Mount Oaf.
Of course the birds elect the Hoopoe Bird as their guide. The Hoopoe bird explains that the pilgrimage will require passing through seven very difficult and dangerous valleys in the mountains of Oaf. The valleys are named: 1) Love, 2) Gnosis, 3) Contentment, 4) Unity, 5) Wonder, 6) Poverty, and 7) Annihilation. When the birds hear how difficult the pilgrimage will be, only 100,000 of the birds attending the conference set out on the journey with the Hoopoe.
Attar's poem contains the following sections:
The Birds of the World Gather
The Birds Confer and Make Excuses (not to participate in the pilgrimage)
The Birds Prepare for the Journey
The Birds Complain and Boast
The Birds Voice Their Fears
The Birds Ask about the Beloved
The Seven Valleys
The Journey of the Birds
Epilogue
(Note: For additional information and interpretations regarding Attar's poem, visit my last project.)
About this project
My selection of the Hoopoe Bird's poetic-Sufic teachings have been placed amongst twenty-seven photographs, images I have been saving over the past two years or so for use in a special project like this one. A few of the quotations are words spoken by the Simurgh who meets briefly with thirty of the birds near the conclusion of the poem and speaks to them in silence.
(At this point in the narrative, of the 100,000 birds who embarked on the pilgrimage, only thirty (si-murgh) of them managed to survive the many trials encountered in the Seven Valleys.)
Following the conclusion of his poem, Attar adds a lengthy Epilogue which is a fascinating, revealing self-portrait of the artist. I conclude the project with some excerpts from Attar's Epilogue and then I add my own Epilogue plus one commentary, on image #27, the title photograph for the project.
(Note: All quotations I've selected from Attar's poem The Conference of the Birds have be drawn from an excellent contemporary translation by the Iranian-American poet and writer Sholeh Wolpe, published in hardback in 2017 by Norton & Co. After each quotation I have provided the page number from that publication.)
"Silent Conversations"
It is a well established fact that Sufi Masters or Sheikhs have silent conversations with other Sheikhs and their own advanced students. These Heart-to-Heart "unmouthed" interior communications address unsayable things, meanings beyond what words are capable of expressing.
(Rumi, the great Sufi poet, has written about this kind of communication with his Master, Shams of Tabriz. However it is not something unique to Sufism. As a student of Siddha Yoga Mediation I have read many stories of this kind of interior conversation between True gurus and their disciples in the various Yogic traditions, and they exist in the Christian and Jewish Traditions as well. After all, Saints of all Traditions live in a state of freedom from the limitations of the ego, the intellect and other aspects of the mind.)
A similar kind of communication can occur between images radiant with grace, photographs I like to refer to as True, living Symbols. In my experience there seems to be a continuous and ever-changing silent dialogue happening between symbolic images when they are placed in relation to each other such that their unique energies and potential meanings align with each other . . . in just the "right" way. The same potential exists when poetic texts are placed in evocative relationships with symbolic images.
None of the photographs you will be seeing below were made with this project in mind (with one exception, image #27, the project's title image), however all the included images function for me as Symbols and I have placed them in a sequential order determined by their visual and energetic attraction to each other and the carefully selected poetic texts.
The interactions between True symbolic images (and texts) generate a creative, transformational kind of energy--grace, shakti. And that energy is projected out in all directions as meaning which transcends the limits of words, the ego and the intellect, meaning which is directly (intuitively) accessible to the Hearts of those who give themselves to the images and their own Creative Process by participating in those silent conversations:
Since no one has the capacity to see the Beloved's face,
that Gracious One has given us a mirror to gaze
at the reflection of that resplendent Face.
That mirror is the heart. Look for the Beloved there.
p.76-77
Participation involves imaginatively entering the spaces between images and texts and "listening" to what they are saying to each other, then actively joining their silent dialogue. This Imaginal leap into that Intimate Space is often referred to as contemplation, which is a mode of being very similar to prayer, for prayer is nothing but an intimate dialogue between the divine Presence dwells within the contemplator's Heart and the presence of grace which dwells within True, living Symbols.
(Note: To learn more about contemplation please click on the link. An important aspect of contemplation is something called active imagination. If you visit this link be sure to see in particular sections #24, 59, 60 & 62 which deal specifically with active imagination as it is defined by the great Islamic-Sufi scholar, Henry Corbin and the philosopher-author Tom Cheetham.)
A Divine Play
As I've worked on this project and its preceding counterpart I've been reminded over and over again, through the Sufic teachings of the Hoopoe bird, of the divinity that belies the apparent craziness that has been manifesting in our world lately--the Pandemic, Donald Trump's corrupt presidency, and the high-level leaders of the Republican Party who have supported Trump and his inappropriate, illegal and mean-hearted behaviors either vocally or through their unwillingness to speak out against him.
As a student of Siddha Yoga Meditation I've become familiar with the ancient yogic teachings of Kashmir Shaivism which say, in brief, that this world is a divine Play of Supreme Consciousness, the Creative Power of the Universe. In this worldview every human action or thought is said to have a corresponding consequence or re-action, thus it follows that the world we are living in right now is one that essentially we ourselves have created by our actions, thoughts, beliefs and choices we have made. And equally important, this world has manifested --as it is-- for our benefit, so that we can learn the lessons we have needed to learn in order to more fully realize the divine Truth that each one of us is an embodied form of God, the inner Self, Supreme Consciousness. Attar's poem ends with this most important Sufic teaching when the thirty Birds who meet briefly with the Simurgh Bird in Mount Oaf realize that what they had been searching for already dwelled within their own Hearts.
*
Seen from the Yogic - Sufic perspective, it could be said that Trump has been a "teacher" for me, and hopefully the rest of this country and the entire world. He certainly has (unwittingly?) shined a light on many problems that have plagued this country and its Constitution for a long time and which have made us vulnerable to misguided, corrupted uses of power granted to Public Officials, and most especially the Office of the President. Trump, his fellow Republican Lawmakers (and their Corporate interests) have taken grave advantage of the outdated and often vague guidelines in our Constitution in order to manifest Separations ("divine and conquer") rather than Unity.
(Note: when I think of Separation in this context, what comes to mind for me are racism, poverty, the divide between the wealthy and the poor and disenfranchised . Isolationism, speaking more globally, would include the Trump Administration's dis-connect with other world powers in such things as the Paris Accord, the disrespect for Science and Climate Change, and the continued support of the fossil fuel industry.)
I hope the lessons we have learned over the past four years with Trump as President will help us forge more beneficial ways of proceeding into the future. The very life of our beautiful blue planet will depend on unified cooperation at every level--personal, local, state, national and international. May our next President and his Administration be guided by a higher vision than what we have witnessed over the past four years. May we be protected from self-serving, greedy, power-hungry abusers of power at every level--personal, local, state, national and international . . .
The Problem with Being Critical
I must confess, being critical of the actions of others is a problem in itself, and it has certainly been a problem for me. Being critical implies attachment to a position, and possibly an ego-based attitude of righteousness. According to Kashmir Shaivism every action that occurs is essentially performed by God because every human being is an embodiment of God's creative power. Each and every human being in this world is an equal actor in the Divine Play.
This idea is addressed in the Hoopoe Bird's (Sufic) teachings, and they have reminded me to be more watchful of how placing blame on others makes me blind to my own personal issues, such as fear, anger, frustrations due to impatience, and the need to be right.
The Yogic-Sufic teachings have reassured me that I can change my focus, my way of seeing and understanding, by turning my awareness inwardly, so that the seeing can become deeper and more pure by being channeled through the Eye of the Heart rather than through the ego, the intellect and other limited aspects of the mind. Inward (intuitive) visionary modes of perception have opened and expanded my awareness of the Unseen, the Invisible, the transcendent Absolute nature of Reality. On the other had I must work harder to recognize that my tendency to see problems in others are my ego's constant attempts to separate me from a Truer level of perception and understanding.
Interestingly, earlier today I received an email form a friend that contained a Buddhist teaching about this very thing:
"Anything which is troubling you,
anything which is irritating you,
THAT is your teacher."
Similarly the Hoopoe Bird spoke the words below to the 100,000 birds whose hearts had been opened by his wise and compassionate teachings in response to their individual concerns including their self-criticisms, their criticism of others, and more generally their criticism of "the defects" of this world:
If you keep looking for flaws,
how will you be able to spot the Unseen!
Free yourself from the defects of this world,
rejoice in the love of the Absolute Invisible.
You split hairs over the shortcomings of others,
but when it comes to yourself, you're blind.
But if you turn your probing eye inward,
the Beloved will still receive you, despite your faults.
p.233
Whatever is done, it is the Almighty's work.
When my heart bleeds, it's the Beloved
who endures the pain.
p.218
It was teachings like this that so impressed the birds at the Conference that they elected the Hoopoe to guide them in their search for the Simurgh in hopes that the divine Bird would fulfill their newly awakened inner longings to re-unite with God, the inner Beloved, the Absolute Invisible . . . and in their reunion, be returned to their True, Paradisal Origin.
The Power of the True, Living Symbol
Symbols, images radiant with grace--the creative power of the universe--are the spontaneous fruits of an extra-ordinary kind of seeing that is channeled (intuitively) through the Eye of the Heart. True, living Symbols give visual form to the "Unseen," the "Invisible" divine Presence. Symbols are gifts, divine manifestations, "the Almighty's work." I offer the photographs in this project to you with a heartfelt welcome to participate in the silent dialogues between them and Attar's poetic texts.
*
Attar concludes his poem with the birds (only thirty of the 100,000 birds completed the difficult pilgrimage) realizing that they and the Simurgh are One and the same. He does this through a play with words: si-murgh (means thirty) and Simurgh (means God, divine Self). The great Islamic scholar Seyyed Hossein Nasr explains this in (I think, a rather humorous way) in his excellent essay "The Flight of Birds to Union: Meditations upon Attar's Mantiq al-tayr (The Conference of the Birds). The moment of their recognition occurs in the fascinating - confused - transcendent - visionary experience of a mirrored reflection of themselves in the Simurgh. Nasr writes:
At that moment, in the reflection of their countenance, the si-murgh (thirty birds) saw the face of the eternal Simurgh [God] . . . . That Simurgh was veritably these Si-murge. Then amazement struck them into a daze. They saw themselves Si-murgh in all; and Simurgh was in all Si-murgh. When they turned their eyes to the Simurgh, it was veritably that Simurgh which was there in that place. When they looked at themselves, here too it was Si-murgh. And when they looked both ways at once, Simurgh and Si-murgh were one and the same Simurgh. There was Simurgh twice, and yet there was only one . . .
As they understood nothing whatever of their state, they [the 30 birds] questioned the Simurgh, without using language. They implored it to unveil the great Mystery, to solve the riddle of this reality-of-the-us and this reality-of-the-thou. Without the aid of language too, this answer came from Her Majesty [the Simurgh]: 'My sunlike Majesty is a Mirror. He who comes to see himself in that mirror: body and soul, soul and body, he sees himself entirely in it.' Seyuyed Houssein Nasr, Islamic Art and Spirituality, "The Flight of Birds To Union" (trans. used by Nasar in his essay)
Nasr concludes his essay with an excerpt from Attar's poem that speaks of the seventh valley or "station" of the pilgrimage: annihilation--the dissolution of the ego, the small self, the individual soul, and the merging with the Simurgh, the Universal Soul, the Supreme Self. It is the merging with God, the Oneness of Being, that is the goal of the Sufi Path. Attar writes in his poem:
To be consumed by the light of the presence of the Simurgh is to realize that,
I know not whether I am thee or thou art I;
I have disappeared in Thee and duality hath perished.
(trans. used by Nasar in his essay)
This understanding, it seems to me, sheds light on the mysterious nature of a True, living Symbol, for Symbols are images of Unitary Reality, images which conjoin the corresponding Imaginal counterparts between the outer-visible and interior-invisible worlds. The True, living symbol is a visual manifestation of grace, a visible manifestation of the "Absolute Invisible."
Perhaps those of us who have identified with the Birds and their quest will experience a glimpse of this Unified Reality in the innermost silent space of our own Hearts. The journey which the Birds undertook, guided and supported by the Hoopoe Bird, was both a physical and Imaginal-interior journey. This becomes clear in the Silent dialogue between Simurgh and the thirty birds:
"The valleys you traversed were in Me,
the bravery you displayed was Mine.
Come and obliterate yourselves in Me,
become Me to find yourselves once more."
p.332 (trans: Wolpe)
The dialogues and teachings with which the Hoopoe engaged the birds before and throughout their pilgrimage in search of the Simurgh played a major role in helping the birds accessing their own interior courage, discipline and creative powers, which ultimately made it possible for thirty of the birds to succeed in their inner journey and at last come into a consciously realized Union with with their own divine nature, which is the goal of Sufism and the goal of yoga. It is in this regard that I invite you to have your own silent dialogue with the images and texts in this project. In that prayer-like mode of being, the ego dissolves and one becomes merged in the Oneness of Being.
Prayer and the Contemplation of Symbols
The practice of Contemplation is a form of prayer, and prayer is an intimate, silent dialogue with the divine Self that dwells within one's own Heart. The grace that is radiantly present in True, living symbols is what makes the inner dialogue possible and revelatory.
One of the birds on the pilgrimage asks the Hoopoe Bird: "How did you come to know the Truth better than us? You are a seeker just like us; tell us, what separates you from us?" The Hoopoe Bird responds:
It is because Solomon's gaze
fell on me for one moment.
In that one glance I found grace.
When did anyone gain such grace by mere worship?
Do not give up praying, not for one instant . . .
Spend your life in prayer so that the great Solomon
may grace you with a glance.
Once you have Solomon's gracious approval,
you will become more than what I can ever describe.
The Hoopoe Bird Answers a Questioning Bird p.113-14 (trans: Wolpe)
The
Photographs
and
Selected Teachings
from Attar's Conference of the Birds
(Try clicking on the images: as you scroll down through the 27 images below, I highly recommend that you try clicking on the photographs, especially those images which are darker in tonality; when you click on the image once they will appear against a dark ground [rather than this white ground] and they will be sharper, more luminous, and with greater tonal separation. When you click on the image a second time it will become enlarged, giving you a closer view of selected details.)
Part I
________________________
#1
If you smell the deep ocean of my words,
you will hear the blood in my verses.
Attar, from his Epilogue, p.355
Seek what's behind the veil;
there you will find true beauty.
When the veil falls from the face of mysteries,
the world and its inhabitants will vanish.
p.166
#2
#3
Be friends with the Invisible.
That is perfect friendship.
Any love or friendship other than this
will bring nothing but agony, nothing but regret.
p.166
#4
Part II
________________________
#5
There is an invisible sun
hidden inside us all.
The day will come when the veil falls away
and that sun is revealed and shines,
and in its resplendent light
all virtues and corruption vanish.
p.292
#7
If a shadow becomes visible,
it means something has been unveiled.
p.76-77
#8
When a door is cracked open,
sunlight pours in. Shadows suddenly vanish.
What remains will be the Sun and you.
p.78
Part III
________________________
#9
Since all is one, there is no two.
There is no me apart from you.
p.291
_______________________
If you see the Beauty of the Friend,
look into your heart where that mirror hangs.
Behold your Sovereign in your heart,
that Beauty is inside even the smallest thing.
Whatsoever wears the shape of anything in existence
has come from the shadow of the beautiful Simurgh.
p.78
#11
If Simurgh unveils its face to you, you will find
that all the birds, be they thirty or forty or more,
are but the shadows cast by that unveiling.
So get over surfaces and delve into mysteries.
p.78
#12
Part IV
________________________
#13
When the sun of knowledge shimmers
in the Beloved's exalted sky,
you will see past the shell
into the kernel of everything.
p.273
#14
When the sun of knowledge shimmers
in the Beloved's exalted sky . . .
The secret of every atom will be unveiled
p.273
#15
When the sun of knowledge shimmers
in the Beloved's exalted sky . . .
you will see yourself as nothing,
become blind to everything
except the Friend.
p.273
#16
Part V
________________________
#17
Since no one has the capacity to see the Beloved's face,
that Gracious One has given us a mirror to gaze
at the reflection of that resplendent Face.
That mirror is the heart. Look for the Beloved there.
p.76-77
#18
The fire licking your throat is from Hell.
The fire you dwell in will blossom into a garden.
Comprehend without your head
and without ears, listen
to noiseless, unmouthed words.
p.30
#19
Spend your life in prayer so that the great
Solomon may grace you with a glance.
Once you have Solomon's gracious approval,
you will become more than what I can ever describe.
p.114
Part VI
_______________
#20
When the sun of knowledge shimmers
in the Beloved's exalted sky,
each traveler is given sight
according to his own measure and share;
each traveler regains her true rank.
A hundred thousand mysteries
will be unmasked . . .
It takes a stout soul of the Way
to dive headlong into that bottomless sea.
p.273
#21
A wayfarer sees the Beloved in everything,
hears and listens to the Almighty's words
and finds strength only through that Great One.
p.291
#22
Wayfarer, when you reach the Valley of Unity,
you will disappear from yourself.
You'll become lost because
the Beloved will appear
p.293
#23
Wayfarer, when you reach the Valley of Unity,
you'll become mute because
the Beloved will speak.
p.293
#24
Do you see?
The shadow and its maker are one and the same.
p.78
#25
Wayfarer when you reach the Valley of Unity,
You will see yourself as a part,
but also as the whole,
yet you'll be neither the part
nor the whole.
p.293
#26
(The following words were spoken by the Great Simurgh to the thirty birds)
"All that you have known, all that you have seen,
were illusions, all of it.
Nothing you have said or heard
was actually so.
The valleys you traversed
were in Me,
the bravery you displayed
was Mine.
Come and obliterate yourselves in Me,
become Me to find yourselves once more."
p.332
#27
_______________________________________
_______________________________________________
Attar, Sheikh Farid-Ud-Din, the twelfth century (1145-1220) poet-author of The Conference of the Birds added a long Epilogue to his masterpiece. Sholeh Wolpe, the translator of the version of Attar's poem I have used in this project, tells us that in the poet's time it was customary to devote the Epilogue to such an important work in praise of the King or whoever financially supported the creation of the work. However Attar was a pharmacist. His name mean's "herbalist and perfume maker." He never sought a position as a court panegyrist, and indeed he was "very proud of not living in the pocket of any patron or king." Wolpe also writes: "the Epilogue is a revealing portrait of the artist at the height of his powers as poet."
Attar's Epilogue is indeed a fascinating self-portrait, one in which he both praises himself and then is very self-critical. For a book containing the Sufi teachings that insist on the need to annihilate one's ego, it's odd to hear Attar begin his Epilogue like this:
Attar, you've scattered with each breath
musk-scented mysteries on Earth.
You've sprinkled your perfume from horizon to horizon.
You've thrilled and excited lovers.
You've strummed your music in the key of love.
This book is an ornament for the ages.
It offers something for both the high and the low.
If you come sad and frozen to this book,
its hidden fire will blaze and melt your ice.
Yes, these verses are magic:
they grow more potent with each reading.
They are like beauty under a veil
that reveals its loveliness slowly.
However, as you will see in the next set of quotes below, Attar gradually does reach deep into his heart. ~ It is not clear what Attar's relation to Sufism actually was. There are many scholarly speculations, but no one seems to know if he was ever initiated by a Master. His greatness as a poet possibly went un-noticed during his lifetime. In any case Sholeh Wolpe writes: "Reading [Attar's Epilogue] closely reveals that what appears as arrogance is in fact an intense sense of inadequacy when he compares himself with Sufi Masters." She also says the Epilogue "is a gorgeous end to a profound story; it is a beautiful display of our humanity, and how far all of us, including the poet himself, must go in order to step into the [spiritual] Path, let alone walk on it."
Attar writes, later in his Epilogue:
I've told you the story of the birds.
Comprehend it, grasp it, you fool.
Among lovers, only those with wings
flee this worldly cage before death comes.
Disengage from the mind to learn
the wisdom of spiritual faith . . .
*
What can I say? How long must I look
for something that has not been lost?
If I walked the Path, even for a moment,
would I be a poet writing poetry?
If I were anybody in the Path to the Beloved,
the P of poetry would always be the P in perverse.
The job of a poet is useless.
It is showing off the ego, so foolish."
*
I've found no kindred soul in this world,
so I've spoken through my poetry.
My heart has shed blood-tears to write these cutting words.
If you smell the deep ocean of my words,
you will hear the blood in my verses.
*
These lofty words are an antidote
for anyone sickened by extremism's poison.
I set my table with tear-moistened bread
and my own roasted heart, then invite
the angel Gabriel to share my food.
When that archangel partakes from my bowl,
how can I deign to break bread with just anyone?
Poetry is enough bread for me, especially
when I share it with such good company.
These translations are by Sholeh Wolpe from Attar's "Epilogue"
to The Conference of the Birds, pages 347-365 of the
2017 hardbound publication by Norton & Co.
My Epilogue
When Attar invites the angel Gabriel to share his food (his poetry), he is saying, in a heartfelt way, that his poetry is a form of worship, a form of prayer, a way of offering himself, his tears, his heart, to the purifying fire of the divine Presence. Similarly, photography and the whole of my Creative Process has become an integral part of my spiritual practice of Siddha Yoga Meditation.
(Note: my wife Gloria and I began practicing Siddha Yoga Meditation in 1987 after meeting Gurumayi Chivilasanada, the current head of the Siddha Yoga Path, in a two day meditation program with her. During the program we were graced by her shakti, her divine energy, and have continued on this path with Gurumayi to this very day. See my project Photography and Yoga)
Interestingly, the night after I completed the section above, Attar's Epilogue, I was reading Selected Essays, a book by Swami Muktananda, founder of the Siddha Yoga Path, and I came across a passage that addresses the idea that making art, or any other form of work, can be a form of worship or spiritual practice.
The nine essays in the book were edited by the writer, poet and literary critic Paul Zweig who met Swami Muktananda during his (Baba's) 1974 World Tour throughout the West. The essays were based on literal transcripts taken from Baba Muktananda's formal and informal talks many of which Zweig heard as he followed Baba on tour for an extended period of time in 1974. In Zweig's "Introduction" to Selected Essays he tells how he was fascinated by Baba's energy, his enthusiasm, the deep sense of certainty with which Baba spoke to audiences large and small. Zweig came to understand that whatever Baba spoke about was based in his own meditation experiences and his discipleship with the great Sadguru (True Guru) Bhagawan Nityananda.
Swami Muktananda would usually ask for questions from the audience after his formal talks and during informal meetings with smaller groups. Similarly Zweig follows each of the nine essays with a few of Baba's responses to questions he received from individuals to whom he had been speaking. I was was particularly struck by Baba's response to a question that followed the second essay,"Entering the Inner Spaces."
A man asked Baba: "Must I consider my work as a businessman an obstacle on the spiritual path?" And Baba answered:
Toward the end of the Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna answers this question when he says, "The same Supreme Being stretches in all directions. All activities and pursuits, all names and forms in this world are only different manifestations of the Truth." Anyone who worships God following his vocation is fulfilling the purpose of his birth. For example, a musician can worship God with music, provided he has no selfish motive. A teacher can worship God by teaching what he has to teach, provided he teaches selflessly. A businessman can worship God, providing he does it without selfish desire. A peasant can worship God by raising crops in his fields, provided he does it selflessly. By doing it selflessly I mean dedicating it to God. No matter what your pursuit in the world, if you dedicate it to God, it becomes a spiritual pursuit. No matter what your field of activity, if you were to follow it without personal desire for its fruits, that too would be great yoga.
Then a few night later, I came to another passage in Selected Essays which seems an extension of the quote above. I felt I must share it with you as well. It is a response to a question that follows the essay "Meditation." Someone asked Baba: "Instead of meditation with closed eyes, is not meditation better if one looks at the beauty of nature, the sky, trees?" Baba responded:
To look at the world with understanding in your eyes is an excellent form of meditation, for the Self pervades everything. Kabir speaks of "seeing in meditation." In fact, sahaja samadhi, or spontaneous samadhi, is the best and highest meditation. Wherever you look, you see not only things but the spirit which animates them. Because we do not always understand this, we close our eyes for a while. To see the Self in stones, trees, and space is the meditation of the high ones. Whatever and wherever you see, you see God. Whatever you eat and drink is an offering to God. Whatever you speak is His mantra. It is the Self that is eating, drinking, and seeing. The Self is in the self. . . You should see the same within and without. If you have seen within, then the same will appear outside also.
Both quotes by Swami Muktananda are from the 1995 SYDA Foundation edition of Selected Essays first published in 1977 by Harper & Row, edited and with an " Introduction" by Paul Zweig.
*
I dedicate this project, with heartfelt love and gratitude, to all those Great Beings who have fully realized their Oneness with God and have graced our world with their divine Presence, their True Teachings, and their sacred transforming energy. ~ I also dedicate this project to all the seekers of this world, those who, having become sickened by extremism's poison, are now in search of what it means to become Truly human.
One Commentary
__________________________________________________
Image #27 (click on the image)
Whatever exists in the vast outer-world
exists in the inner world too,
for the inner and the outer are one.
Swami Muktananda
Only one photograph presented in this project was made during the time I was working on this project: the image above, #27, a four-fold symmetrical photograph. I constructed the image using the #1 photograph in this project.
Image #1 (click on the image)
I was surprised at the degree of visual transformation that occurred when I conjoined the four identical images to each other so that they were reflected in each other above and blow, left and right. It is a very powerful image for me; I have added it to my earlier project: The Blue Pearl.
The vision of the Blue Pearl is, according to Swami Muktananda, founder of the Siddha Yoga Path, "the most significant of all the [inner] visions." "Yoga's fulfillment lies in establishing contact with the blue light, your innermost reality."
I will conclude this commentary and the project with three quotations about the Blue Pearl from Baba Muktananda's book Selected Essays. Though he makes a reference to "yoga texts" in the first quotation, and in the third passage he quotes the great Hindu poet-saint Tukaram (1600-1650), Baba always spoke about yoga only as it related to his own inner meditation experiences. Indeed, he writes in great detail about his own experiences of the Blue Light in his astonishing spiritual autobiography The Play of Consciousness. In my Blue Pearl project I have interwoven many quotes from Baba's autobiography amongst a selection of "Blue Pearl" photographs I have made over the years.
The three texts quoted, below, from two essays in Baba Muktananda's book Selected Essays, are aligned in numerous ways to image #27, a photograph that spontaneously burst into existence recently, while I was working on this project, through the grace of my Creative Process. It is, for me, an image radiantly alive with grace.
Swami Muktanana said:
Yoga texts say that the Blue Pearl is the heart seed. As a seed sprouts, explodes, and grows into a huge tree, likewise, the Blue Pearl contains the entire cosmos within itself. This meditative vision is the fruit of the inner yoga which is activated by Guru's grace . . .
Swami Muktananda, from Selected Essays, #4, "Meditation"
Within everyone there is a divine effulgence--the Blue Pearl, or nila bindu, which everyone should see. After you have seen it, you become steady and tranquil. Our outward beauty and our spiritual beauty derive from its essence. When it leaves us, we are carried away and thrown into a cemetery. Because of it, we are able to love each other; man is able to love woman. There is so much love in this light. It contains no maleness, no femaleness, for it is the same in both men and women. There is no East or West in it either, no Christianity, no Hinduism, no Islam. That light is pure blue Consciousness. No religion, faith, or race can reach it. It is the God who transcends all religions, and it is intensely beautiful. When you see it in meditation, you are speechless. Whatever we do is done simply to see it. After I saw the blue inner light, I was cured of my religious, racial, and national beliefs because I could see the same light in others too, and I could see that all these religious and racial distinctions were artificial. In that light they don't exist. Swami Muktananda, from Selected Essays, #6, "Experiences of a Siddha"
Tukaram says, "The lotion of the blue light of Consciousness was applied to my eyes, and their vision expanded. I overcame the figments of dual, nondual, heaven, hell, man, woman, high, low. My sense of difference was annihilated. I could see only the Atman everywhere, and I knew that the world had never been, that, in fact, there is no such thing as phenomena. What appears to be world is in fact Parabrahman, the Supreme Being. I became aware of So'ham, I am That, I am God." Swami Muktananda, from Selected Essays, #6, "Experiences of a Siddha"
____________________________________
This project was posted on my
blog's Welcome Page on
December 11, 2020
Related Project Links:
These two projects also juxtapose poetry with my photographs:
Welcome Page to The Departing Landscape blog which includes the complete hyperlinked listing of my online photography projects dating from the most recent to those dating back to the 1960's. You will also find on the Welcome Page my resume, contact information . . . and much more.