Symeon the New Theologian - How is it I can love You

[Guest guest]

Another interesting poem sent by kind permission of Ivan Granger.

 

--- On Wed, 18/3/09, Poetry Chaikhana <ivan wrote:

Poetry Chaikhana <ivan[Poetry Chaikhana] Symeon the New Theologian - How is it I can love YoualanadamsjacobsDate: Wednesday, 18 March, 2009, 4:17 PM

 

Here's your Daily Poem from the Poetry Chaikhana --

 

 

 

 

 

How is it I can love You

By Symeon the New Theologian(949 - 1032)

English version by Ivan M. Granger

How is it I can love You within me, yet see You from afar?How is it I embrace You within myself, yet see you spread across the heavens?You know. You alone. You, who made this mystery, You who shinelike the sun in my breast, You who shine in my material heart, immaterially.

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Thought for the Day:

The path of forgivenessis the path of freedom.Forgiveness is a rebellionagainst the ego's self-importance.

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Hi Alan -A riddle for us today. How can God dwell in such a small house as the human body and awareness, yet permeate the vastness of creation?Symeon is not asking these questions as an intellectual game, however. This is not a dry theological exercise. His questions arise from the genuine surprise at this paradox as it reveals itself through direct perception: The Divine is both intimate and all-encompassing, within yet everywhere. The intellect can't comprehend how this can be, yet the mystic is confronted with it undeniably. With total disregard for the mind's inability to grasp this truth, a giddy radiance pours out from your breast while, at the same time, it fills the universe.Have a beautiful day!Ivan

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[Guest guest]

Dear Alan:

 

Pranams for all of the effort you put into the sangha

as an instrument of His guidance for all of us!

 

The poem below is a beautiful expression of what

we have been exploring together in the thread started

by Palanji.

 

The Divine paradox as only a mystic can express it :-)

 

--

How is it I can love You?

By Symeon the New Theologian

(949 - 1032)

English version by Ivan M. Granger

 

How is it I can love You

within me,

yet see You from afar?

 

How is it I embrace You

within myself,

yet see you spread across the heavens?

 

You know. You alone.

You, who made this mystery,

You who shine

like the sun in my breast,

You who shine

in my material heart,

immaterially.

 

To add a few of Shri Ramana Maharshi's quotes from the

link I had posted in my short note to Palanji, the one below

contains one of my favorites, his famous... " Bhakti is jnana mata. "

 

" You say you offer your body, soul and all possessions to God.

Were they yours that you could offer them? At best, you can only

say, 'I falsely imagined till now that all these which are yours were

mine. Now I realize they are yours. I shall no more act as if they

are mine.' This knowledge that there is nothing but God or Self,

that I or mine don't exist and that only the Self exists, is jnana.

Thus there is no difference between bhakti and jnana.

Bhakti is jnana mata or the mother of jnani). "

 

 

And this, to highlight the poem's expression of the mysterious

Divine paradox...

 

Question: The bhakta requires a God to whom he can do bhakti.

Is he to be taught that there is only the Self, not a worshipper

and the worshipped?

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi: Of course, God is required for sadhana.

But the end of the sadhana, even in bhakti marga [the path of

devotion], is attained only after complete surrender. What does

it mean, except that effacement of the ego results in Self remaining

as it always has been? Whatever path one may choose, the 'I' is

inescapable, the 'I' that does the nishkama karma [motiveless

acts], the 'I' that pines for joining the Lord from whom it feels

it has been separated, the 'I' that feels it has slipped from

its real nature, and so on. The source of this 'I' must be found

out. Then all questions will be solved.

 

Question: If 'I' also is an illusion, who then casts off the illusion?

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi: The 'I' casts off the illusion of 'I' and yet

remains as 'I'. Such is the paradox of Self-realization. The realized

do not see any contradiction in it. Take the case of bhakti. I

approach Iswara and pray to be absorbed in Him. I then

surrender myself with faith and concentrate on Him.

What remains afterwards? In place of the original 'I',

perfect self-surrender leaves a residuum of God in which

the 'I' is lost. This is the highest form of devotion [parabhakti]

and surrender and the height of vairagya [non-attachment].

 

You give up this and that of 'my' possessions. If you give up 'I'

and 'mine' instead, all are given up at a stroke. The very seed of

possession is lost. Thus the evil is nipped in the bud or crushed

in the germ itself. Dispassion [vairagya] must be very strong to

do this. Eagerness to do it must be equal to that of a man kept

under water trying to rise up to the surface for his life.

 

http://bhagavan-ramana.org/bhakti.html

 

Bowing my head with the prayer that

I may cast off all illusions impeding my vision

such that there is nothing left to see,

 

 

Radhe