Behold Your Beloved Within

Light and Sound on The Path

Behold Your Beloved Within

This is one of the few ghazals^ written by Sant Tulsi Sahib. This ghazal was written to explain the esoteric secrets of the spiritual path to a Muslim divine, Sheikh Taqi, who happened to pitch his tent in the neighborhood of Tulsi Sahib’s residence. The Saint impresses upon Taqi to seek God within his own self and not in the world outside. Much of the mystery of the inner realms becomes resolved at the eye center, from where the aspirant commences his spiritual journey.

Listen, O Taqi, seek not thy Beloved in the

world outside;

Within thine own self, behold the splendor

of thy Beloved

In the pupil of thine eye is a mole, wherein

is hidden the entire mystery;

Peep within and behold thou what lieth

beyond this dark curtain.

The secret of the fourteen realms will, for

certain, be disclosed to thee;

Let thy attention not slip, see that thou art

ever vigilant.

Listen! Thou art constantly being called

from the Most High.

There ever beckons thee the voice of thy

Beloved.

It is not meeting with the Beloved that is

arduous;

What is difficult, O Taqi, is that it is hard

to behold Him.

Without the grace of some realized Guide,

says Tulsi,

The path of salvation is distant, beyond thy

reach.

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^ A ghazal is a form of lyrical poetry, originating from the Persian literary tradition, which generally deals with the subject of love. Every two lines of a ghazal are usually complete in themselves.

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Cosmic Flight Through the Sound Current

Whose soul is attached to the Word, revels

ever in cosmic flight;

Revels ever in cosmic flight, and realizing the

Lord, plays with Him.

The mystery of the inaccessible and the

secret

of the scriptures he unravels.

He reaches his Home within and its essence

he comes to know;

In the lotus feet of the Beloved he sees

his true destination.

The happily married woman rejoices with her

Spouse every moment, O Tulsi,

For her soul is attached to the Word, and

revels ever in cosmic flight.

(Sant Tulsi Sahib of Hathras, India, Book of Shabdavali)