The
Lover, out of boundless love,
Takes the form of the Beloved.
Both are made of the same nectar
And share the same food.
Out of supreme love
They swallow up each other
But separate again
For the joy of being two.
They are not completely the same
But neither are they different.
How intense is their longing
To be with each other.
This is their greatest bliss.
Never, not 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 & inanimate,
Arising from within themselves,
They never 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.
They created a difference
To enjoy this world.
When that "difference"
Had one glimpse of their intimacy
It could not help but merge
Back into the bliss
Of their eternal union.
Without the God,
There is no Goddess,
And without the Goddess
There is no God.
The entire universe is too small
To contain them,
Yet they live happily
In the tiniest particle.
The life of one
Is the life of the other,
And not even a blade of grass
Can grow without both of them.
Only these two live
In this house
Called the universe.
When either one is asleep
The other stays awake
And plays the part of both.
Should both of them awake,
The whole universe
Would vanish without a trace.
They become two
For the sake of divine play,
But in every moment
They seek to become one again.
Both of them see together,
Both of them are seen together.
They are happy only when together.
Shiva has become all forms:
Both dark & light,
Both male & female.
By the union of these two halves
The whole universe comes to be.
Two lutes make one note.
Two roses make one fragrance.
Two lamps make one light.
Two lips - one word.
Two eyes - one sight.
Shiva & Shakti - one universe.
Though appearing separate
They are forever joined,
She
cannot live without Her Lord.
And without Her,
The one who can do everything
Cannot even appear.
How can we distinguish
These two from each other?
He appears because of Her,
And she exists because of Him.
We cannot tell sugar
From its sweetness
Nor camphor
From its fragrance.
To capture light
We take hold of fire.
To capture the Supreme Shiva
We must take hold of Shakti.
Light illumines the Sun,
But the Sun itself
Creates that light.
The glorious Sun & its light
Are one & the same.
An object has a reflection:
When looking we see two images,
Yet there is only one thing.
Likewise, this world is a reflection
Of the Supreme Lord.
We may see two,
Yet only One exists.
Out of pure emptiness
She gives rise to the entire world.
Everything depends on Her.
Yet She exists only because
Of Her Lord.
Her form is the whole world,
It is the glory of God made manifest.
God Himself created Her form,
God Himself became that form.
Seeing Herself beautifully adorned,
She could not bear that Her Lord
Might have less then Herself.
And so she adorned Him
With every name & form in the universe.
Merged in unity
There was nothing to do.
So Shakti, the bringer of good fortune,
Created this world for the sake of divine play.
She reveals Her Lord's splendor
By melting Herself & becoming everything;
And
He glorifies Her,
By hiding Himself completely.
Out of His great love to see Her
He becomes the Seer of the universe.
If he could not watch Her play,
He would have no reason to exist.
To meet her call
He takes on the form
Of the whole universe;
Without Her He remains naked.
He is so mysterious & subtle,
That while apparent
He cannot be seen.
It is by Her grace alone
That He comes into being.
She awakens Her Lord,
And serves Him a feast
The size of the universe.
With great delight
He swallows up every dish
And also the one who serves Him.
While He is sleeping,
She gives birth to all that exists
And all that does not exist.
While She is sleeping
He has no form at all.
Look!
He is hidden,
And cannot be found without Her.
For they are mirrors,
Each revealing the other.
Embracing Her,
Shiva enjoys His own bliss.
Though all the joy
Of the world belongs to Him,
There is no joy without Her.
She is His very form,
But Her radiance comes from Him.
Blending into one,
They enjoy the nectar of their own union.
Shiva & Shakti are one,
Like air & the wind,
Like gold & its luster.
Shiva & Shakti cannot be separated.
They are like musk & its fragrance,
Like fire & its heat.
In the light of the Sun
There is no difference between day & night
In the Light of the Supreme Truth
There is no difference between Shiva & Shakti.
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.