Empty Core (limited)

Hey guys.
Here is another one shot I had written last month.
Just a warning, I will be taking it down soon.

Empty core

nasadasin no sadasit tadani? nasid rajo no vyomaparo yat |
kimavariva? kuha kasya sarmannambha? kimasid ghahana? ghabhiram ||

(rigveda book 10 hymn 129)

There was neither non-existence nor existence then.
There was neither the realm of space nor the sky which is beyond.
What stirred?
Where?
In whose protection?
Was there water, bottomlessly deep?

Darkness reigns outside, as within. Tiny pinpricks of lights scattered across the sky seem to mock the emptiness within me. Tiny grains of sand fly with the wind. One joins the other to become a golden storm.

I journey. I travel. I seek meaning.

The chanting rises with the moon. Small earthen lamps join the silvery strands on the ripples. Multitudes of forms throng her banks- some saffron outside, some saffron within. They sing to her, they laugh, cry with her. And call her Mother. They join her when they are back to ashes. They are bound to her.

There are those who walk for months, year after year, down the same road, to the same deity that awaits them. Over mountains and rivers, through towns and cities, singing, dancing and chanting with a devout frenzy. They call each other 'Mauli' Mother, united by their bond of love.

The nameless faceless crowds congregate, their faces lit with devotion. Primordial urges of deceit, anger, jealousy and lust are suspended in time, lost in the clangs of the bells and the baritone of the hymns.

I am chained by those primitive inclinations. I cannot transcend them even momentarily, like the others.

I doubt them. I doubt their beliefs.

I envy them. I envy their beliefs.

Jyotiraham viraja vipapma

(Mahanarayan Upanishad)

I am a flame, untouched, pure…

My own soot smothers me. My own black obliterates me.

I cannot see the light.

Notes:

The piece is basically on Spirituality.

There are some things that need to be explained though:

Rigveda: An ancient scripture in Sanskrit (one of the four vedas)

Mahanarayan Upanishad: One of the 18 Upanaishads or texts that explain the vedas

The first italicized paragraph refers to the evening aarti at the banks of the Ganges. The second refers to a tradition called 'palkhi' in which lakhs of people walk to a pilgrimage called Pandharpur every year. Each person calls the other as 'Mauli' i.e. Mother from a small child to the very old people, irrespective of their ages.

This small piece is very different from what I was going to write. The heart superseded the mind and this was the result.

It's confusing, yes. Even to me.

Written for WCC June.

Prompt:

"In the beginning there was nothing and God said 'Let there be light', and there was still nothing but everybody could see it." - Dave Thomas.

Wow, wow, wow! This was spectacularly, amazingly brilliant! ⭐️

Originally posted by: whimsical

Wow, wow, wow! This was spectacularly, amazingly brilliant! ⭐️

Thank you so,so much for sharing, Pooja!

I love the fact that you don't over-explain things that cannot, and should not be explained in the first place. I feel that spirituality is a personal thing, an individual's journey towards self-realisation or realisation of God, one of the two, or maybe something else altogether. Such an exploration is, I feel, by its very nature, bound to be confusing at some point. And I absolutely love the fact that you present it as such, without adopting the oft-opted for normative approach, which I am unable to digest, especially when it is used in connection with spirituality.

I love many things about this piece, some which I am unable to articulate. But what I love best is its raison-d'etre. I have always felt that it is important to explore one's individual experience of spirituality, instead of merely following the crowd into performing rituals. Otherwise one runs the danger of lapsing into blind beliefs and shallowness. Both of which I think can be very dangerous.

Rituals have an ethos behind them and to perform them without grasping the underlying philosophy, without feeling the underlying values espoused by them, seems meaningless. All that one does then is to fulfill a social function that has nothing to do with spirituality. On the other hand, one can be 'spiritual' without rituals, because it is what's inside one's mind that matters ultimately.

The reason why I think mindlessly following man-made rules can be dangerous because then, one could be lulled into doing anything, including things that go against the philosophy of the religion one belongs to, eg destroying the Babri Masjid or bombing the World Trade Centre. Such actions are, I feel, based upon a shallow understanding of what spirituality is about and are, at their heart, socio-political and not 'religious.'

I could go on and on... 😊

Thank you once again for such an engaging piece of work. I love everything about it, the spontaneous stream-of-consciousness type style, the references... It's by far the best thing I have read on the forum. I haven't read much, I must admit, but of what I've read, this is my favourite!

Absolutely brilliant. Ok, yes, I've said that before. lol.

Thanks a lot Nisha! I was in a strange mood the day I wrote this. Even though lot of people entangle religion and spirituality, we'll find that most religions and spiritual ideals culminate into one thing at the end of the day. Rituals are just embellishments that we add to satisfy ourselves and remind ourselves of a greater conscience. That's just my opinion, though. :) Thanks again.

Originally posted by: scarlett.lady

This was unusual. I don't have a spiritual head unfortunately to feel it. But that doesn't take away your credit to weave the words as you do...

I could also not re-read the concluding lines. They were powerful in a darkly real way.

[S.L.]

Thanks a lot for checking this out. :)

I am not a very spiritual person and for me divinity shifted with my mood swings.But not anymore. I did experience something to change that.