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The universe and I (after the Ashtavakra Gita)

The universe and I



Akshobhya



Isn't an existence, undivided from the cosmos, great?

I use my art and work to unfasten myself from the lens of my body.
How amazing that despite the specific properties of the human body,
I still exist in a universal self that goes nowhere, that comes from nowhere
And yet penetrates everything, like sugar in cane juice.

And the universe is pervaded by the phenomenology of the self.
The fakir's illusory snake is born when the gawper doesn't see a rope.
Jars must become clay, waves must become water,
And ornamental bracelets must become gold, become metal.

I own my-self.

In the end, the pressing in of materialism is unreal,
It is the product of all-embracing being, not the cause.
My body is a part of reality or it is nothing.
Therefore, when I light up my being, I light up reality.


Calm and unburdened now, I was once tricked
Into believing that matter birthed me. Never again!
Look at the way that the waves, foam and bubbles rise,

A piece of cloth is made from its threads,
The universe is not separate from you.
If my greater self is pure intelligence,
My bounded self is ignorance.

You own your-self.

Detaching,  the nature of reality is revealed.
I love this greater self, that is so skillful
That it sustains a universe for eternity.
Holding on to this greater idea of self,
I can extend myself to the absolute.


My bounded self is ignorance
And it imagines foolish magnification.
But this world is not bounded or unbounded,
That's the nonsense of a bad dream.

Forget illusion, be your greater self.
Your cage is mentation, the slice and dice desire
To live as a pure rational cognitive entity,
As thought without being.

We own our selves.

If you observe the limitless ocean you will notice
How mind arises upon a coiling wind,
Mind and false universes are the wind
and waves that cross the oceans.
Strange that waves of ego and reality arise in me.


Individuals and empires cross each other and,
Playing off, each against the other; disappear.
And when the wind of mind has stilled and died away.
When the bracelet is gold and the gold is merely yellow metal,
Then the trading boats of the universe
Will sink with all cargoes and manifest.

By Phil Hall


With thanks to Mike Hall

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