Masterpiece

Last Friday, the last of six verses of Nirvana Shatakam (Atma Shatakam) was posted along with the Tamil Translation thereof. This Shatakam addresses the very complicated inquiry of “Who am I?”. Though the answers provided by Adi Sankara appears very simple from an over all reading perspective, the subject itself is the essence of the Advaita philosophy and I can vouch for myself that my understanding is not even at the “skimming” level in this field. My attempt however provides me a reminder that what was attempted was just a drop of water in an ocean. This was also reinforced by the quality of comments that I received from my friends and relatives. One of them was in the form of a poetry rightly titled “Master Piece”. It simply moved me – what deep understanding of the subject and what an expression! The author wanted to remain Anonymous and clearly stated that “spirituality decreases when it is attributed to a person. I was but a scribe.” Here is that Masterpiece

Master Piece

And so I chiseled

Stone by stone

For there was to be none

Better

Than this

For He had given me the skill par none

They had borne support as they must

And All the world had but come together

To make this dream come alive

The sculpture that would reveal it all

That masterpiece before we fall

The true identity that we all search

The salvation I was looking for

And as I painstakingly

chipped each piece away

True hue of its, I want to bare

Art of mine I trust

Though in me, I felt rust

And as it revealed itself

The masterpiece I see! All its glory!

In shock, I recognize

The masterpiece!

The masterpiece…

Its nothing but me! my story!

For while in search of

Our destiny

We fail to see

Lost our sight

For such is our plight

This masterpiece is the star

That carves the stone beyond par

For however tall the sculpture stands

Shows it not

But What a masterpiece

The sculptor was!