The supreme
consciousness ordained.
Countless arrows of
questioning intent,
Yet life
smiles.
Still,
She calls
forth
The newly sprouted
desires.
Life!
What is life?
Immaculate, pure, a
transparent ray of light.
Or,
A forgotten, deep,
unshakable faith.
Perhaps,
An unaffected!
Formless!
Manifestation of
His sovereign essence—
A visible
expression
Of an infinite,
ever-flowing source of power,
A tiny
fragment,
Cast upon the
earth.
Or a yearning,
Entirely scorched,
accursed.
Life is born,
A being,
Captured in the
blind embrace of desires.
A grand pause,
A barrier of closed
doors.
A blind
alley’s
Unreachable turn.
Who is it that
abandons her,
Disoriented, lost
in her wanderings,
Cruelly,
alone,
Leaving that
eternal, unbroken, impenetrable bond—
Why was that
fleeting breath
Confined forever in
the prison of the five elements?
Why did desires
awaken within it?
Why did this wave
rise in her heart—
That I, too, may
exist,
Amid nature’s
wondrous, innate expressions,
In the deeply felt
sighs of the soul.
Moment by moment
changing, fragrant,
Newly
blossoming,
Kissed by the
spring breeze,
In the colors and
blooms of the seasons.
An ornament of
purity’s fragment,
Swiftly drawn,
descending,
Facing the
enclosures of the five elements,
Immersed,
overwhelmed, spellbound,
In the enchantment
of temptations.
Rising,
falling,
Eternally
emerging.
He was
unnamed,
But now!
Naming him—
(Jee-va !) Life
The sky of
consciousness and mind,
Va,
The breath of life
residing
In the abode of
souls,
Life itself!
Forgotten
past,
The present
mocked.
Upon the
thousand-petaled lotus of the five elements,
She,
A trembling drop of
dew.
Caught in the web
of tendencies,
The vast illusion
of Maya.
The fragrance of
life, imprisoned.
This,
The law of
universal consciousness,
The cycle of
rebirth, summoned forth.
Oblivious to what
was, what is, and what will be,
Life’s
incarnation,
Nature’s
design.
The rhythm of birth
and death.
Everywhere, a
shadow of painful delusion.
Time’s anklet
rings—
The mind, restless,
bewildered!
Nature, the
beloved, dances with swift feet.
Rising and falling
sounds,
Moments created,
moments erased.
The world!
A stage for this
colorful play!
Each moment
fleeting, perishable, cyclical.
This is the
unshakable, destiny-declared S
Definition of the
world’s existence.
Birth—
Its breath.
Nature—
Blossoming,
flowering, fruit-laden, bowed by weight.
In the end, the
ultimate conclusion—
Womanhood’s
peak,
The goal of
motherhood.
A long-awaited
desire.
Ninety-one kalpas
before Vipassi Buddha,
The eldest daughter
of King Bandhuma,
Stood in Buddha’s
cottage,
Scattering
sandalwood powder everywhere,
Her heart silently
immersed in prayer.
She stood,
Golden-bodied, with
a radiant face,
In the essence of
truth, consciousness, and bliss.
Just as
Kausalya, queen of
Saket, was revered,
As Devaki and
Yashoda were overjoyed—
So too,
May I be made
proud.
May I receive the
fortune
Of being a
glorious, revered mother.
My lap—
Illuminated,
blissful, and blessed by your light.
Lifetimes have
passed.
Who can know the
mysteries of nature?
So much dust
Has settled on past
memories.
Yet,
In the depths of
dormant consciousness,
An unknown thorn
continues to prick.
Who can know?
Past lives—
Even in the
present,
when has
familiarity blossomed?
Alone,
A mind pierced by
the thorn of memory.
She—
Became the queen of
the Kapilavastu king.
Year after year
passed,
With no joy.
An empty lap,
A mind deep in
thought.
The queen’s heart,
restless for no reason.
A storm stirred
within her mind,
Awakening forgotten
memories.
One evening,
At twilight,
Mahamaya
beheld—
The calm, pure
moonlight bathed the serene blue sky.
A golden plate
bloomed,
A silver lotus
mesh.
It was the Ashadha
full moon, round and radiant,
The bright and
incomparable light of the full moon.
The gentle breeze
was cool and fragrant.
Everywhere, the
vines, bushes, and mango blossoms swayed,
Drenched in the
nectar of beauty.
The moonlight
poured forth—
An endless,
milk-white cascade.
A woman’s
heart!
Heavy with the
fragrance of longing!
Weak—
Slowly,
Her feet moved
toward the sleeping chamber.
Her mind!
Full and yet
helpless.
With a deep
sigh,
The queen lay down
on her bed,
Gazing at her
reflection in the moon’s mirror,
A dull, empty
gaze.
How the
moonlight,
Proud of its
beauty, sculpted from frost,
Seemed to strut
before her.
The still
world,
The silent, round
moon—
And somehow,
slowly, gently,
Sleep came
tiptoeing,
Drowsy and
soft.
A deep
slumber.
Her body and soul
immersed in peace.
When did it
descend,
Into the garden of
her mind,
The fragrant
saffron mesh of the lotus,
In a celestial,
unparalleled,
Divine dream?
From the east,
It appeared—
A luminous,
radiant, pure white young elephant.
Glorious and
exalted.
It lifted its
graceful trunk,
Holding a silver
lotus,
With a thousand
petals—
Glowing
bright,
Like the radiant
moon.
After circling her
bed three times,
It merged,
Disappearing into
her womb.
Even in the
dream,
The queen’s
heart
Became
restless.
Suddenly
startled,
She awoke.
Ah!
What symbolic,
prophetic message
Did this dream
carry?
Why?
Why did I see
The white elephant
with its curved trunk,
Holding the silver
lotus?
It could have
been—
A swan, a peacock,
a bull, a deer, a blue jay,
A chatak, a
chakora, a chakang, a papiha.
It could have been
anything.
The white
elephant—
A symbol of purity,
supreme peace,
The dispeller of
deep-rooted illusions.
Illuminating all
seven worlds,
The remover of
obstacles,
The ultimate
refuge,
Bringer of joy,
happiness, and prosperity—
Lord Ganesha or
Vinayak.
The one without
blemish,
The destroyer of
the three kinds of suffering,
The one who leads
to supreme knowledge.
Ga—
The embodiment of
unwavering wisdom, the target of sages’ meditation!
The supreme sky,
the highest realm, the bestower of freedom,
The remover of
ignorance.
The embodiment of
Om,
The complete,
supreme lord,
The radiant deity
of gods and the sun.
The supreme,
blazing, powerful, resplendent one—
Illuminating the
seven worlds,
Shining like the
sun across the universe.
Resounding,
The vast expanse of
cosmic space echoing,
Each atom
vibrating,
Resonating with the
great proclamation, ‘Tat tvam asi—You are that.’
The manifest and
unmanifest, eternal and indestructible,
The foremost, the
greatest of elephants,
The spiritual sun
of the world.
The sound of the
universe,
Vibrating in colors
and forms,
A burst of light
illuminating the cosmic expanse,
The all-knowing,
sustaining the entire creation.
Ganesha,
The essence of the
ultimate truth,
Residing in the
sixteenth plane.
Ja—
The destroyer and
creator of the illusionary web of the universe,
Complete with the
three gunas—
Sat, rajas,
tamas—
Encompassing
dissolution, beginning, and end,
The source of
creation,
The web of desires,
the flaming coil of greed.
Thus—
The white elephant,
wanderer of the spiritual realm.
The embodiment of
complete knowledge, seeker of nirvana,
The bliss of all
blisses,
With temples
dripping,
Eternal nectar of
wisdom flowing ceaselessly.
The curved
trunk—symbol of Brahman’s head.
Maya—the deceptive
veil of the throat.
Maya—Brahman’s
enchanting power.
Devotion—the
supreme, unchanging state.
The radiant,
blazing silver lotus—
Beautiful,
Uplifted,
The auspicious,
white, shining trunk,
Breaking through
the illusion of the world.
The
trunk—unchanging, unending, destroying illusion,
Shattering the web
of the universe.
The one who
separates milk from water.
The swift, sharp,
fragrant discerner of wisdom,
A symbol of supreme
knowledge and insight.
Om—
The form of nectar,
the peerless, eternal sound.
A, U, M—Brahma,
Vishnu, Mahesh.
The creator,
sustainer, destroyer—
The endless essence
of existence, consciousness, and bliss.
Attachment and
detachment, destruction and creation—
The great, vast,
immeasurable spectrum of life,
Manifest
Brahman.
The heart of all,
the foundation of strength,
The core of
breath.
The unseen,
eternal, unchanging.
The essence of
Ganesha—water,
The complete
dissolution, the great dissolution.
Na—the abode of
nirvana,
The one who sleeps
on a banyan leaf,
The one beyond the
manifest and the unmanifest,
Uplifting,
Shaking off all
forms of delusion,
The lowest feet of
the supreme.
All that is
perishable and imperishable,
The one immersed in
the essence of the universe,
Master of the ten
senses and the mind—
Lord Ganesha!
The Brahman-headed,
thousand-hooded,
Residing in the
lotus with a thousand petals,
Sheltering
Saraswati,
The poet, the
god,
The one with the
form of a lion-elephant,
The complete
Brahman, Brahmanaspati, master of speech,
The seer of
beauty,
Embodiment of the
great sentence,
The form of
purpose, infinite glory,
The eternal fame of
the supreme head,
The work of the
gods,
The quick to
please,
The unfailing form
of Om,
The form of
Brahman, the bestower of knowledge,
Sustainer of
creation.
The giver of the
seven rays of light,
The champion of
purity,
The formless and
the formed,
The spotless,
The one who
destroys the serpent of delusion—
The ultimate glory
of Garuda.
The silver
lotus—
Unstained, blooming
across the seven realms.
Water, earth,
sky,
All fourteen worlds
fragrant,
Illuminated by the
spotless fame of the moonlight.
The complete
Brahman—blazing,
The infinite light
shining across the vast ocean of space.
Ra—the seed of
fire.
Ja—Vishnu,
liberation, the void.
Ta—immortality.
Ka—Brahma, Vishnu,
desire.
Ma—Shiva, the moon,
water, Yama.
La—Indra,
movement.
Thus—
The silver
lotus—
A sign of the
immortal realm.
Joy, prosperity,
fortune,
The consecration of
success.
The crown of
Brahman,
The light of
sevenfold wisdom,
The
truth-bearer,
The
thousand-petaled lotus in full bloom, sparkling.
Unshakable,
unwavering—the eternal pair,
Sada-Shiva and
Tripura Sundari,
Immovable, pure,
and serene.
The elephant,
Ganesha, Vinayak—
The embodiment of
supreme Brahman and wisdom.
In the drowsy eyes
of Queen Mahamaya,
A dawn of desires,
colorful and smiling, bloomed.
Perhaps, this is a
blessed dream,
Bringing an eternal
promise long awaited.
I too—
Shall be like
Kaushalya, Yashoda, Parvati, and Aditi,
Glorified, honored,
joyous with boundless pride.
This—
Is the sacred
descent of Ganesh,
The destroyer of
sorrows,
Thrilling every
fiber of body, mind, and life.
Water, earth, fire,
sky—
All trembled with
joy.
The Queen
thought,
What is this
invitation?
Whose summons is
this?
Her every limb
quivered in excitement,
Eager, awaiting the
unknown.
Why, on the lotus
of my heart,
Is there a shower
of pure nectar?
Is the churning of
the ocean beginning
Upon this radiant
earth?
Is the nectar being
drawn?
From the sky of my
mind,
Is descending
eternal,
Spotless, supreme
knowledge and consciousness?
The bright light of
wisdom,
Illuminating body,
mind, and soul—
Whose presence is
this?
King Shuddhodana
saw the Queen,
Her mind heavy with
thought,
Her noble, luminous
figure,
Marked by fatigue,
weariness, and grief.
Soon, the King
Invited sixty-four
esteemed Brahmins.
With all due
reverence, offering water for their feet,
He welcomed and
honored them.
With folded hands,
humbly he spoke—
"O revered
ones,
Ponder upon the
Queen’s dream.
Whatever signs,
good or bad,
Make haste to
reveal and address them.
The Queen has been
restless all night,
Stirred by a
whirlwind in her mind,
But she has spoken
nothing to anyone.
Please calculate
and reassure her,
Bring her some
peace."
After a moment of
silence,
Having made their
calculations,
All the Brahmins
spoke as one—
"O King,
The most fortunate
Queen
Has stepped onto
the path of motherhood.
The dream is
exceptionally auspicious, O King.
The child that will
be born—
Will be a
revolutionary of the age.
If he remains in
the householder's path,
He will undoubtedly
be a universal monarch.
But if he
renounces,
He will surely
be
A Buddha,
One who opens the
doors to truth."
The human
mind—
So full of
confusion.
The Queen was
pleased,
Yet bowed her head
in deep thought.
She reflected,
Perhaps, the prayer
of some birth
Has been
fulfilled.
Her inner self,
long tormented by penance,
Now sweetened with
the honey of fulfillment.
Life,
Filled with
fragrant blossoms of essence,
Danced with joy at
every moment.
All merits seemed
to rise.
Life—
For this purpose
alone,
Nothing else was
needed.
Her mind, bathed in
moonlit milk,
Overflowed with
joy.
The Queen,
Majestic and serene
as a river of divine grace.
Motherhood,
The essence of all
womanhood,
Its culmination,
its sacred core.
Days passed.
The golden lotus
grew heavier with fruit.
One day,
With exuberance,
Queen Mahamaya said,
"Today—
On this full moon
of Vaishakh, under Pushya Nakshatra,
My heart
longs—
To go to my
father's house."
King Shuddhodana
gave the order.
All preparations
were made for the journey to Devdaha.
The royal men,
women, and servants,
Golden palanquins
were prepared,
All food
supplies,
Medicines, fruits,
and flowers for the Queen's care,
And various gifts,
encrusted with gold,
Clothes, arranged
in jeweled chests.
In full royal
splendor,
The kingdom
rejoiced in celebration.
With her
attendants,
Her heart
overflowing with joy,
The Queen set out
for her father's home.
Lifting the curtain
of the palanquin,
Smiling, amazed,
delighted,
She gazed—
At the vibrant
grandeur of nature's beauty,
The clean, washed
sky above,
Like a sapphire
dome.
Rows of brilliant
white cranes,
With wings spread
wide in the wind,
Flew with
delight,
Filling the air
with joyous energy.
The Queen's
body,
Heavy with the
weight of motherhood, felt weary and forlorn.
She gazed silently
and smiled within.
With hands folded,
both beginning and end,
The sun and moon
seemed to sway.
Bathed in the water
up to her neck,
In wonder and deep
enchantment,
Mahamaya saw all
around—
Dense clusters of
dark shadows, lush and leafed,
Underneath a vast
tree,
Creepers and shrubs
intertwined,
Embracing each
other, entwined together.
Flower-laden,
blossoming with fragrant blooms,
The sal trees
swayed in delight.
The evening sun’s
seven-colored rays
Scattered their
vibrant powders
Over the fresh
green treetops,
Creating a myriad
of vivid patterns.
Here and there,
ponds and rivulets,
With blue lotuses
stirring the mind to new joys.
Nature became the
beloved—
Draped in a
multi-colored scarf of greenery and flowers.
Drunken with bliss,
each limb languid,
Flower pollen and
saffron—
Adorning leaves
with a touch of beauty.
The buzzing bees,
like tiny bells,
Danced restlessly
with agile, quick steps,
This beauty—
So unparalleled,
utterly pure, and unique.
Nature's
playground—
The dense, shaded
deodar and chinar,
The flame tree,
sacred peepal, amla, and mango.
Here, forest
streams,
There, cascading
waterfalls,
In blooming lakes,
strange water flowers.
In mutual
conversations,
Amid playful games
and delights,
The distance of
twenty-five miles,
Unnoticed, slipped
away.
Here arrived the
enchanting grove of Lumbini,
The borders of
Kapilavastu were left behind.
This,
The naturally
beautiful garden, laden with blossoms,
A fragrant,
delightful forest,
Was the
long-desired secluded forest of Shakya Queen Lumbini.
Mahamaya's mind
became restless, utterly restless.
She gazed—
Her body in full
bloom,
The Queen's lovely
face glowed.
A plan was made to
descend there and rest.
Mahamaya was
exceedingly joyful.
She saw, in the
west, the sun, weary and crimson,
The green treetops
of the sal trees,
Became tinged with
a twilight hue, blending green and red.
The sweet chirping
of birds—
They descended to
rest amid the entwined green foliage.
The Queen, weary
from the journey's burden,
Tired and restless
with beads of sweat.
She descended there
into a clear pond,
And with a serene
mind, she bathed.
On the water,
Was reflected,
Her radiant,
captivating, unique shadow.
In the same
water,
The rising moon
from the east,
And,
The setting sun
from the west—
Both reflections
emerged clearly.
Descending alone,
solitary,
In the moonlit
forest,
An unanswered
beauty,
A deep, undeniable
yearning filled the heart.
An unparalleled
enchantment,
A mirror of the
mind,
To whom, where, was
this surrender happening?
Wherever the shadow
fell upon the water,
That beauty’s
essence was stirred with longing.
Unable to bear the
weight there,
The water,
turbulent and wavering,
Filled its cupped
hands and splashed.
Brilliant
diamond-like cascades,
Blossoming buds in
the water.
The evening
redness,
Had turned
dark.
In her hand,
A pot filled with
nectar, like the full moon.
The Queen saw the
enchanting white sky,
Swiftly, she came
to the pond's edge.
While ascending,
under her foot,
A stone came,
The Queen
staggered,
Her whole body’s
strength was consumed.
On her delighted,
dew-kissed, lotus-like radiant face,
The shadow of pain
appeared.
Her mind suddenly
grew anxious.
She could not walk
even twenty steps,
With her right
hand,
She grasped the
bent branch of a sal tree.
Something stirred
within her mind.
Worried,
distressed, her body trembled helplessly.
In her womb, a
swirling, life-ending contraction.
Ah! What a fierce,
overpowering gust of wind.
It shook her to the
core,
Every limb,
A sudden storm-like
violent spasm, a swoon.
Before her eyes, in
a half-conscious, limp state,
Her awareness saw a
fog rising.
This moment—
Life—
A clear, vivid
imprint of countless past births.
Nature lying down,
on the brink of childbirth, a new awakening.
A call for a new
creation.
The Queen,
A dignified,
glorified mother.
This is that
long-sought moment of alignment,
The moment.
Time loosens,
The anklets of
birth and death's duration.
This,
The breath and
exhalation of time,
Life,
Is just a single
moment,
Within its
span.
What is life?
An eternal,
unanswered question.
Birth date,
Fate’s decree.
Destiny, fortune, a
preordained drought.
In a golden cradle
sways the newborn child,
As in a halo of
radiant light,
Centered, the full
moon.
Four great kings
respectfully covered him
With deerskin,
Then the royal
attendants took him
In silken garments
and cane baskets.
Emerging from the
silk drapery,
The Lord
stood,
Blossoming,
unfading, freshly blooming,
Eternal, pure
lotus, fragrant,
Adorned with
diamond-like dew clusters,
Bright and
jubilant.
A manifestation of
the golden womb,
Diminishing the
arrogance of countless suns.
Within the
thousand-petaled lotus,
The essence of
saffron pollen mingled,
Rejoicing in the
hues and splendor of spring,
In the mind's
Vrindavan,
In the lotus-like
heart.
With supreme grace
and fullness,
The face like a
blooming lotus, unmatched in grandeur.
Manifest,
embodied,
The icon of
Truth-Consciousness-Bliss.
With broad, serene
eyes, deep as a windless ocean,
He first gazed
steadily toward the east.
From the ocean of
wisdom-milk arose,
This,
The liberation from
curses.
Then he surveyed
all ten directions.
Towards the
north,
The Lord looked to
move.
Four Brahmins waved
gem-studded
Golden
parasols,
Other divine beings
reverently presented,
Sword, turban,
footwear, ornaments,
Jewelry as
gifts.
Beneath each
step,
A lotus
bloomed.
Seven steps,
The Lord took.
Lined up on the
earth, seven lotuses,
Smiling like the
autumn moon.
Upon the seventh
lotus,
He stood,
The Lord spoke with
utmost joy,
"In the world,
I am supreme."
These seven
lotuses,
Seven jewels of
creation,
Seven suns of the
inner mind,
Centers of life,
the seven knots unbound.
Each petal
opened,
The
thousand-petaled lotus bathed in nectar.
Within, a river of
milk-white moonlight bloomed,
A secret, profound
light,
One glimpses its
presence.
A resonating echo
spreads,
Lying within the
mind’s bamboo flute,
A mere touch
resounds the unstruck melody.
Aimed effort, clear
and undisputed.
Again the gaze
lifted and paused,
Towards the
north,
Where dense forests
stood,
Waterfalls
cascading, wild rivers flowing,
The ancient tale of
glory,
Filling the
heart,
The Himalayas,
crowned with snow, rise high,
Firmly positioned,
fearless, unshaken.
On the horizon of
knowledge,
The sun of wisdom’s
radiance,
Returns again and
again,
Carrying intricate
rays of light,
With new
interpretations and reflections,
Pouring forth from
the liberated heart,
Meditative, wise,
thoughtful,
Sages, yogis, and
saints,
Bearing their pure
fame and glory.
This,
The northern
forested mountainous region,
Within its heart
hides,
An inexhaustible
treasure of knowledge.
Revealed were some
past recognitions,
Accumulations of
penance and deeds from past lives.
Familiar seems the
ancient, humble northern mountains,
The rare
snow-capped range.
This place,
Which has only
given
Pure wisdom.
This is the
attainment of eternal peace.
This place has
never,
Deceived those
steadfast in their resolve.
The emptier it
seems,
The fuller it truly
is.
In front, directly
visible,
A newborn
child,
The sole foundation
of life.
The helmsman.
The supreme
Lord.
Divine, celestial,
brilliant, radiant,
A blazing
aura,
Scattered in beauty
and grace,
Captivating the
heart, enchanting the mind,
Like a silver
moonlight,
Glistening,
fluid,
The heavenly Ganges
flowing.
The deep blue sky
is bathed in light.
The earth, lost in
divine emotion,
From a thousand
streams, light pours everywhere.
The surged,
restless, mighty waves,
A garland of light
brushing the sky,
Flooded with nectar
churned,
A life-giving,
intoxicating wine.
The Lumbini
forest,
Resplendent in
beauty, joyous, limitless.
The sounds of
auspicious music echoing in the air.
The Queen,
Filled with
joy,
Her heart’s
desire,
Fulfilled today in
the forest.
She gazed
unblinkingly at the child,
Pressed the divine
face to her heart,
With all the
adornments,
Overflowing with
great joy.
All the royal men
returned to Kapilavastu.
The king
heard,
Of the auspicious
birth of the precious son,
Throughout the
city,
Conch shells were
blown, and gold coins scattered.
Whoever came to the
palace gates,
Was sent back,
With abundant gifts
and offerings.
He gave an
order:
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