Tag: Tree of Life

Rumi’s poem ‘That breath breathing – human being.’ & Shankara’s ‘Tree of Life’ – Advaita Vedanta summary

I can think of no poem or teaching that presents better our reality as Nondual and our citizenship of two realms than this beautiful poem by Rumi.

Poem starts at 1.min 6 seconds in;

http://www.worldprayers.org/archive/prayers/celebrations/not_christian_or_jew_or.html

‘That breath breathing – human being.’

Not Christian or Jew or
Muslim, not Hindu,
Buddhist, Sufi, or Zen.
Not any religion

or cultural system. I am
not from the east
or the west, not
out of the ocean or up

from the ground, not
natural or ethereal, not
composed of elements at all.
I do not exist,

am not an entity in this
world or the next,
did not descend from
Adam and Eve or any

origin story. My place is
the placeless, a trace
of the traceless.
Neither body or soul.

I belong to the beloved,
have seen the two
worlds as one and
that one
call to and know,

first, last, outer, inner,
only that breath breathing

human being.

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Rumi 13th Century – as re-presented by Coleman Barks c. 1995
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 VIDEO:  https://youtu.be/GaNgsh1Ei6o
Tree of Knowledge – 8th century mystic Adi Shankara

A: I am unattached, I am

unattached, ever free from

attachment of any kind;

I am of the nature of Existence- Consciousness – Bliss.

I am the very Self, inexhaustible

and changeless.

 

B: I am eternal, pure (free from

maya), liberated, formless,

indestructible and changeless.

I am of the nature of infinite bliss. I am the very Self,

inexhaustible and changeless.

 

C: I am pure consciousness by

nature, delighting in Self alone,

I am the nature of indivisible

bliss. I am the very Self,

inexhaustible and changeless.

 

D: I am the indwelling

consciousness, I am peace

beyond the universe, I am

eternal bliss by nature, I am the

very Self, inexhaustible and

changeless.

 

E: I am the supreme Self beyond

all matter, the supreme Shiva

beyond all cosmic appearance, I am the

very Self, inexhaustible and

changeless.

 

F: I am beyond all shapes

and forms. I am of the nature of

pure consciousness, never

subject to decline. I am of the

nature of contentment. I am

the very Self, inexhaustible and

changeless.

 

G: I am by nature the inner Ruler,

changeless, all pervading. I am

by nature the witness of

everything. I am

the very Self, inexhaustible and

changeless.

 

H: I am by nature without support

and yet I support all things. I

am by nature the fulfilment of

desires. I am the very Self,

inexhaustible and changeless.

 

I: I am beyond all mental states,

beyond all body changes. I am

the witness of all states. I am

the very Self inexhaustible and

changeless.  

 

J: I am unattached, I am

unattached, ever free of

the nature of Existence –

Consciousness – Bliss. I am the

very Self, inexhaustible and

changeless.