“None need I remove to place another in my heart;
My heart is large enough to accommodate each and all.”
The heart is the container in the mind in which others find a place within the self. The more malleable the heart, the more numerous the presences it can contain. A rigid heart can hold only so much, and is prone to crack when stretched, whereas a flexible heart can expand to encompass multitudes.
The secret of expansion is witnessing the One in the many. Perceiving separate beings—beings imagined as separate from oneself, from each other, and fundamentally, from God—is exhausting. Perceiving the One shining out in innumerable names and forms, by contrast, buoys the spirit and deepens the contentment of the witness.
The voice of the One declares, “I am contained in no thing, but I am contained in the heart of the sincere worshiper who loves me.” The heart devoted to the All-in-All has room for each and all. “My heart has become capable of all forms,” sings Shaykh al-Akbar.
For the heart that beats for God, love is not a fixed resource. Love is God; hence there is no end to its supply.
A feeling arises, like the turning on of a light. A generous glow suffuses the universe. Everything is woven into everything else. Meanings succeed meanings in a vast regress as far as the eye can see. The Ancient Bird is on the wing.
Music of the Spheres: Gamaka Commentaries, Vadan
The heart is the container in the mind in which others find a place within the self. The more malleable the heart, the more numerous the presences it can contain. A rigid heart can hold only so much, and is prone to crack when stretched, whereas a flexible heart can expand to encompass multitudes.
The secret of expansion is witnessing the One in the many. Perceiving separate beings—beings imagined as separate from oneself, from each other, and fundamentally, from God—is exhausting. Perceiving the One shining out in innumerable names and forms, by contrast, buoys the spirit and deepens the contentment of the witness.
The voice of the One declares, “I am contained in no thing, but I am contained in the heart of the sincere worshiper who loves me.” The heart devoted to the All-in-All has room for each and all. “My heart has become capable of all forms,” sings Shaykh al-Akbar.
For the heart that beats for God, love is not a fixed resource. Love is God; hence there is no end to its supply.
A feeling arises, like the turning on of a light. A generous glow suffuses the universe. Everything is woven into everything else. Meanings succeed meanings in a vast regress as far as the eye can see. The Ancient Bird is on the wing.
This feeling must always be kept alive.