The song of the Free

I was originally planning to post The Song of the Sannyasin, but instead found this one, 'The Song of the Free' and liked it instantly.

Of all the people who have influenced my life and thinking, I would put teacher-student pair of Ramakrishna Paramhamsa and Swami Vivekananda at the very top. Swami Vivekananda (maybe I will write a blog on my admiration for him some time) was probably the only saint in modern times to lay stress on individual freedom as much as on spiritual freedom, or the freedom to practise any path towards God. In his words, "We are all born free, the sole aim is to realize that freedom". In this poem, he describes the nature of such a Free Being.


The Song Of The Free

The wounded snake its hood unfurls,
The flame stirred up doth blaze,
The desert air resounds the calls
Of heart-struck lion's rage.

The cloud puts forth it deluge strength
When lightning cleaves its breast,
When the soul is stirred to its in most depth
Great ones unfold their best.

Let eyes grow dim and heart grow faint,
And friendship fail and love betray,
Let Fate its hundred horrors send,
And clotted darkness block the way.

All nature wear one angry frown,
To crush you out - still know, my soul,
You are Divine. March on and on,
Nor right nor left but to the goal.

Nor angel I, nor man, nor brute,
Nor body, mind, nor he nor she,
The books do stop in wonder mute
To tell my nature; I am He.

Before the sun, the moon, the earth,
Before the stars or comets free,
Before e'en time has had its birth,
I was, I am, and I will be.

The beauteous earth, the glorious sun,
The calm sweet moon, the spangled sky,
Causation's law do make them run;
They live in bonds, in bonds they die.

And mind its mantle dreamy net
Cast o'er them all and holds them fast.
In warp and woof of thought are set,
Earth, hells, and heavens, or worst or best.

Know these are but the outer crust -
All space and time, all effect, cause.
I am beyond all sense, all thoughts,
The witness of the universe.

Not two nor many, 'tis but one,
And thus in me all me's I have;
I cannot hate, I cannot shun
Myself from me, I can but love.

From dreams awake, from bonds be free,
Be not afraid. This mystery,
My shadow, cannot frighten me,
Know once for all that I am He.

- Swami Vivekananda.


In the first few stanzas Swamiji glorifies the Free nature of Spirit saying it is so strong that neither the wicked forces of nature, nor the quirks of fate nor the calamities of life can break the Self. It verily reminds one of Krishna's words in Gita about the atman,
"nainam chindanti sastrani
nainam dahati pavakah
na cainam kledayanty apo
na sosayati marutah"

Or 'Him the weapon cannot pierce, Him the fire cannot burn, nor can the rains wet Him or the wind blow him away'
Such is the Self, or the true nature of Man.

The following verses sing the free nature of the Self and hence the poem becomes first person. The 'I', like Sri Krishna in Gita, speaks of the true nature of the Self. Hence I am neither a man, angel or a brute and so on. The Self is free of time, space and causation because each of these talk of duality, and Self has no duality.

'The books do stop in wonder mute' is the reiteration of the Upanishadic verses which mention the Self as 'neti neti' or simply 'not this, not this'.

The last but one verse, 'Not two nor many, 'tis but one,' is a simply wonderful explanation of Advaitic Bhakti. If I am One, all others are in me! Hence I cannot hate or shun anyone, but can only love them and in turn love myself. This is the biggest message of love, 'Love thy neighbour as you love thyself'. Swamiji gives a wonderful explanation of that teaching in this verse!

And the last stanza is a beautiful summary of the concept of Self-Realization!
My shadow, cannot frighten me,
Know once for all that I am He.
Maya, the eternal shadow that engulfs the human beings and makes him think that He is finite and keeps him engulfed in itself, cannot frighten the Self. The aim is to know once and for all, 'I am He'. I am the Infinite, Immutable, Immortal Bliss with no boundaries, no limitations, no form or attributes! I am He! Or in words of Upanishads, "Tat tvam asi".

May we all progress in our path towards the realization of our true Self!