O nameless one,
You exist with many names,
a few defined, many indefinable
& incomprehensible, above illusion
Above ‘Maya’s magic’
Awaiting our awakening, to comprehend
some of your luminous manifestations
And the reason for our origin
O formless one
Acquiring countless forms
You transform effortlessly at will
Vacuum & dark matter to plasma & life
And each new ‘avatar’ equally dear
Transmuting effortlessly you materialize
Love and compassion with your mere breath
O the precursor of ‘OM’
O Father, the creator
While you stoically wore the label of an ‘orphan’
With no known ancestral lineage or family tree
No known location to point your source of origin
Or to anchor your roots & divine pedigree
To define what was before
your manifestation
And what would be after
our realization of you
O benevolent one
Whence once with the primordial sound ‘OM’
You unwound the fractal coil of creation
Steadily building the tempo with your ‘damru’
You spun out matter and light,
the trance of your rising tempo
created many a vibrations, colliding, disoriented
You exhaled pulsating universe and its diverse versions
galaxies sped without direction
O Supreme of all forms!
Benevolence personified
You established order, energy, wave and matter
Volunteering to be the ‘inert’ the bedrock for the Universe
You welcomed ‘Shakti’ to play the ‘catalyst’
Chartering the principles of cause & affect
And spun out the cosmic cycle known as time
With it the seven ‘Maha boothas’ basic elements
O Powerful One
Lord of power and beauty unparalleled
A zillion plus sun resplendent in your smile
You are ‘Amrit’ for weakened mortal souls
While you yourself swallowed the vilest of poison
terrible ‘Halahal’ for the perseverance of Universe
O Naked yet most venerable one
In your nudity, devoid of material embellishments
Swathed in ashes of death and cosmic dust
You in your most unadorned form
Your body resplendent is the
Indigo sky dusted with stars and meteorites
O carrier of the trident and the drum
draped with the symbolic serpent
O Adi Guru, the original teacher and guide
You chose to walk with us on earth
As a scavenger unclad,
preferring to dance in the
crucible of the ‘shamshaan’
You teach us many a lesson, the futility of this body
And the limitations of the material associations,
O Kindness personified
Knowing our trials and tribulations,
having mastered birth and death
and the tribulations of ego
What am I but a mere speck
Caught in this great wheel of ‘karma’
And I am blind to my choices, my paths
With only one thought I fast today, this ‘Mahashivratri Night’
I spin inexorably towards you,
to unravel the mystery that is your
For in your truth is my existence
To complete this state, my journey,
I need to attain you
(Image courtesy: Artist Ramchandra Pokale).
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