The Cosmos in Verse

The Five Elements

The five elements came to rest upon the universe —

water, earth, fire, air, and consciousness were born.

Water became motion, and wound itself around the cosmos.

Earth, the planets and their hosts journey on through it.

Fire gathered its inward force and blazed out into particles;

from it came gems and rubies, and a scattering of lights,

which became stars and constellations — filled with crimson radiance,

standing self-luminous.

Air, a confluence of many winds, contending and still,

carries the current of the universe forward.

Consciousness, an inward stream, silently wove the midnight —

spiritual force, soul, supreme soul, guiding the cosmic field.

In this field the atoms and the all-atoms stood as forms,

as great powers that abide.

The ultimate atoms, the cosmic atoms, stood as the essence of Shiva —

as magnetism, as forces, as fields.

And when these two dualities became one,

the whole universe turned to a ray of lasya and tandava;

sound and echo, melody and tenderness

began to sing as pure sweetness of note.

The dark one, white-eyed, rose out of the darkness.

The seven colours danced as a rainbow.

Earth became maiden; nature and being were joined,

and creation carried on its course —

a boundless play of bliss,

dissolving at last into the merging nights.

The Lasya of Shiva's Three Eyes

The lasya of Shiva's three eyes —

the unfolding play of creation.

In darkness, a lamp of snow; Shiva, blue-formed.

Stars, and the milky roads between them.

Blazing eyes, ramparts of light.

Sun and moon, his open hands of rays.

Motion itself the sound the damaru makes.

The dance of Brahman is the grace-note that bears the universe.