the world as we know it

| 1 MINUTE READ | an exploration of origins

from a latent presence in a void
we arose

as the emptiness of space, devoid of coordinates
condensing into objects, creating distance
set adrift into movement, creating time

our existence has mostly been imbued with intangibles
a pervasive silence, an unfathomable infiniteness

that descended into the world as we know it
as the main character in an unfolding story
of appearances and disappearances
that make us believe
that things that begin
must come to an end

even as drops of mist still arrive onto windows
seeds turn into trees and fall in their shadows

beneath the body and breath
beyond the heart and mind
is a stillness that reminds us
we came from the void

-x-

The canvas on which the world unfolds cannot be seen, touched or defined – but is the ground on which everything exists. It is referred to as the Tao or Spirit – the mystical roots of our ordinary daily lives. It was there before the beginning and will be there after the end. It is the constant that animates the cycles of the world. It is the indescribable aspect of who we are. And reflected in the stillness within.

41 thoughts on “the world as we know it”

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      1. Dear Anand,

        I read your poem. It took me back to the visuals of a film series by Carl Sagan called Cosmos.
        What he told in a whole series of film, you spoke in a moment of beautiful verse….
        Even though Cosmos was about astronomy and space, it was also metaphysics…the concept of Nothingness, the Black Hole…..ah, but the Potential! Swirling in Space was Humanity, nothing but “star dust”….and so on!!!!

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      2. An hour ago, Ishwar
        was telling me about science having found a new blackhole the size of a grapefruit which holds 3 EARTHS! Your poem
        amplifies the insignificance of our lives!!!!
        Beautiful! Thanks!

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  4. Anand you are talking meta-physics. My experience gives me the understanding that in spite of trillions and trillions of objects appearing and disappearing , not a single snow flake falls at a wrong place. Cheers

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  10. Anand , another fantastic piece .
    Your writing never seizes to amaze me.
    You write such profound things so effortlessly..
    You are blessed with phenomenal talent.

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  13. Hi Anand , do you think we come from the void …. I think there was life before … at one point it was silent but always glorious …. what do you think….
    ONCE I met an older gentlemen … I always met him when I had questions to life ….sometimes I thought „does he really exist or only in my mind „ but he really did exist …. and one day he said „ They all ask me where do we go after we die , and. I answer „ where we came from …..I liked that easy answer …
    Lovely regards from France where we are with our boat on a canal tour …. 🙏

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    1. Tina, I love the simple clarity with which you enquire. the truth is the way each of us come to understand it. What intuitively appeals to us and makes sense. Because i think we judge things as true by the peace they bring within us. And the feeling of peace within us can never be wrong

      Your old friend was completely right. We go where we came from. back into that glorious silence

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  14. Hi Anand,

    Thanks as always for sharing. It’s lovely to read and an unexpected gem that comes my way every once in a while. This poem struck home, on how we are a momentary atom in the entire evolution of the cosmos.

    Keep them coming old friend.

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  16. One word, Exquisite!
    About fourteen billion years ago the Big Bang occurred from NOTHING!
    Is the Universe tending towards that NOTHING from which it originated?

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  17. Dear Anand,

    Your blog on ‘The world as we know it’ is profound.

    Took me directly to the opening stotras of Durga Atharvasheersham:

    All the Gods approached the Goddess and asked her – “ O Supreme Goddess, who are you?”
    She revealed herself thus
    अहं बह्मस्वरूपिणी।
    मत्त: प्रकृति-पुरुषात्मकं जगत
    शून्यं चाशून्यं च।
    I am Brahmana (The Supreme God).
    Prakrati & Purusa emerge from me.
    I am the void at the start( space) and the void at the end (destiny)

    अहमानन्दानानन्दौ। अहं विज्ञानाविज्ञाने
    अहं ब्रह्माबह्मणी वेदितव्ये।।
    अहं पश्चभूतान्य पश्चभूतानि
    अहमखिलं जगत्।।।।
    I am the state of happiness as well as unhappiness;
    I am the Conscious and the unconscious;
    I am Brahmana (Supreme God) and Abrahmana (Illusion);
    I am the five elements and also different from them;
    I am the whole universe.

    Sangeeth

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  20. Well done! The poet in me loves your opening,

    “from a latent presence in a void
    we arose

    as the emptiness of space, devoid of coordinates
    condensing into objects, creating distance
    set adrift into movement, creating time”

    —although the Astronomer in me says that’s not the Big Bang! 😉

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  21. Dear Anand,
    Your blog triggered off so many memories for me!

    In my reading days, I remembered one of my favourite poets, Pablo Neruda , who left me with the same sense of enchantment as when I read your words….
    I’d like To share some of his verse:

    And it was at that age…..poetry arrived
    In search of me.
    No they were not voices, they were not words, not silence, but from a street it called me,
    From the branches of night,

    There it was, without a face,
    And it touched me.

    Something knocked in my soul,
    Fever or forgotten wings and I made my own way deciphering that fire

    And suddenly I saw
    The heavens unfastened
    And open,
    Planets,
    Palpitating plantations,
    the darkness perforated,
    Riddled
    with arrows, fire, and flowers,
    The overpowering night, the universe.

    And I, tiny being,
    drunk with the great starry void,
    likeness, image of mystery,
    felt myself a pure part
    of the abyss.
    I wheeled with the stars,,
    My heart broke loose with the wind.

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  26. Profound… The Buddhist and Vedantic view…combined. The coming, staying and decaying aspects of impermanence; “drops of mist on the windows”..transports me into a surreal world… expressed through the eternal void inside the heart.. beautiful. thanks for this wonderful piece

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  34. We are all passengers sailing toward a limitless unknown horizon. The storms and calms shape our being. If we look back, our memories remind us of who we have become. Our boat is our constant reality, We look left and right, and realize that other realities have always been around us. We sail on, oblivious to our fate. Thank you for your wisdom……….

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