Who That?

---

Who That?

A Poem

Courtesy Priti Ghosh

Behold the dire carnage of a battle recurrent,
A victory for the gods did the Brahman beget.
The gods in vainglory imagined, ‘this we did’,
And Brahman in silence his progeny watched.

Looming an Yaksha appeared and gods in quandary,
Dispatched Agni to know the stranger by enquiry.
‘Who thou, and thy power?’, Brahman asked.
‘Agni primordial, I burn and transmute’, Agni said.

Brahman said,’This blade of grass thou must burn’,
And Agni with flames of doom by the blade did turn,
Not a singe, no scar upon the blade came.
Agni to the gods, ‘Of that, I know not the name’

Vayu approached the Yaksha now, the query thrown,
‘Who thou, and thy power?’, to the god again.
‘Vayu, primordial mover, I animate all’.
Brahman said, ‘Move then, this blade of grass feeble’.

The tireless mover defeated by the blade,
Back to the gods returned and his report made.
Indra, they deployed, to subtly ascertain,
But The Yaksha now disappeared to Indra sudden.

Pensive Indra brooded in silence,
In him a tapas did commence.
As a mounting flame his query rose,
To the peakless tops where Uma did repose.

Indra asked, ‘who that?’, and Uma pealed,
‘That Brahman, by That your victory decreed!’
Indra, of the gods since became prime,
For he learnt first this secret lore sublime.

All that moves and hears, thinks and sees,
All that was and will be, by Brahman alone is.
Heed O hearer, this lore most ancient,
Of Uma and Indra and Brahman transcendent.

Note: Offered to the Divine Mother, on Day 5 of Navaratri 2019, by Kali’s Brood and Murli R.