Guest guest Report post Posted March 19, 2010 A week end Poem from Ivan Granger Here's your Daily Poem from the Poetry Chaikhana -- My body is flooded By Kabir(15th Century) English version by Andrew Harvey My body is floodedWith the flame of Love.My soul lives inA furnace of bliss.Love's fragranceFills my mouth,And fans through all thingsWith each outbreath. -- from Perfume of the Desert: Inspirations from the Sufi Wisdom, by Andrew Harvey / Eryk Hanut Amazon.com / Photo by superde1uxe / ============ Thought for the Day: The map of the human soul is a topographical map, with mountains and valleys, and rivers of life everywhere. ============ Here's your Daily Music selection -- The Rough Guide Arabic Cafe Listen - Purchase More Music Selections Hi Alan -The warmth of today's poem must have appealed to me. As I look out my window fresh snow is falling, gathering on rooftops and in branches, outlining all the world in white. Beautiful though it is, I'd rather Kabir's furnace of bliss!--This brief, beautiful poem by Kabir feels like it should be repeated during meditation. At first it is a sort of affirmation; it becomes a map, then it becomes actual experience.My body is floodedWith the flame of Love.With deep opening, there is a sense of being flooded or even overwhelmed by waves of heat, like flames or a fever. This is felt both on physical and subtle levels. These are the "flames of Love" that flood the body. When you relax into this awareness, the experience is not painful but one of indescribably peaceful delight. This is Kabir's "furnace of bliss." My soul lives inA furnace of bliss.And it is in this furnace, this divine alchemical fire, where the "soul lives." It takes deep stillness and clarity to recognize it, but the soul is always at home within this warm embrace. This is where the soul is seated in perpetual rest, in this sacred, transformative warmth -- whether or not we are too distracted to notice.Love's fragranceFills my mouthOften accompanying the awareness of blissful heat is a sense of a very subtle, wonderfully sweet flavor in the mouth, at the back of the throat. This taste is so subtle that it could be described as a "fragrance," something just barely tasted, yet imprinting itself indelibly upon the awareness.And fans through all thingsWith each outbreath.In this state, when the awareness is turned inward, it is in bliss; when turned outward, there is only the unifying awareness of love. This is what Kabir means when he says, "Love's fragrance... fans through all things / with each outbreath." When we breathe out, when we turn the unified awareness outward, then the perfume of that bliss is carried outward and seen to permeate everything one's perception touches. This leads to a sort of supreme Self-recognition in all things: There is bliss within and bliss without, there is only bliss flowing everywhere, through everything. You yourself are not separate from That. This recognition is the mystic's Love. It is the recognition of unity, the "fanning" of one's identity, the pouring of oneself, one's breath and presence, into all things, with an unhindered and equal flow in return.Kabir is giving us a map, a grand path of Love that endlessly circles between the inner and outer:Love (outer) -- flood, flame -- Bliss (inner) -- flavor, fan -- Love (outer)Have a wonderful weekend!Ivan Share Your Thoughts on today's poem or my commentary... Donations to the Poetry ChaikhanaOnce again, I want to send out a big thank you for everyone's generosity in supporting the Poetry Chaikhana:- Terri (MI), Priscilla (NH), Amanda (OH), Sushmita (CA)I am so grateful for each and every contribution. 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