The Eternal Tree of Being
Prabir Kumar Gayen
A Hindu is a direct descendant of God,
A Hindu stands as the image of the Divine;
A Hindu is a river of Silence,
A Hindu—the hidden source of the Ganga.
The DNA that inherits the ancient,
Yet forever new culture, is Hindu;
Hindu is the root of creation,
The absolute state of Being.
The Veda—the luminous voice eternal,
The Upanishad—the seed of all becoming,
The Puran—the ever-renewing memory of time,
Declare: Hindu is no branch confined,
But the vast Tree that spreads through eternity.
Branches arise with varied music;
On one, the eternal stillness—where Buddha sits beneath;
On another, pale with renunciation,
Mahabir stands with closed, unshaken eyes;
Below, a mighty limb resounds,
Where Nanak sings with countless Masters.
The Tree of Hindu spreads,
piercing the sky of Time;
New branches unfold with new-born light.
On one, Lao Tzu hums the song of unity;
On another, Socrates chants of deathless knowing;
Elsewhere, Heraclitus bends in ancient murmur,
Whispering the secret of opposites,
And their hidden One.
Golden and silver branches surround,
Till the vast Tree becomes
An infinite sky of Consciousness.
Each branch silent with immeasurable knowing;
Gorakh, Vivekananda, Kabir, Shankaracharya,
Seated upon the mighty limb of Sanatan Dharma,
Singing the song of humanity.
Yet they know,
Another tree grows beside it,
With branches dark and poisoned.
Against Love, it breeds hatred;
Against Compassion, it worships
The murderous minister of Darkness;
Against Dispassion, it argues and deceives,
Offering the perversion of desire as heaven;
Against the gospel of Love,
It raises its hand to kill the innocent.
O sons and daughters of Vishnu,
Of the Absolute Brahman,
Divide not your pure religion
Into fragments of pride and blindness.
No—never was the Hindu divided in essence.
A Brahman is no higher than a Shudra;
A Shudra is a Brahman in becoming.
The Brahman is the guide through light;
The other—the seeker in devotion.
As Krishna and Arjuna,
As Ramakrishna and Vivekananda,
As Rama and Hanuman,
So flows the eternal relation.
God—the great Vishnu, the silent Shiva,
Is the Father;
And Hindu, and Christian, and all
Are but branches of the One Sanatan root.
Divide not the One into lesser forms.
Can the eye claim to be greater than the hand?
Or the hand above the tongue?
Or the tongue above the feet?
Or the feet above the heart?
Hindu is a mountain
From which four sacred rivers flow,
Fragrant and eternal,
With myriad streams: Tao, Tantra,
Yoga, Torah, and Talmud.
Krishna is Christ-consciousness;
Buddha is Krishna-consciousness;
Mahabir—the austere song of renunciation
In the silence of Buddha.
Heraclitus—the Ganga of thought,
Flowing from the Bodhi Tree
To the ancient soil of Greece,
Rising to the heights of Lao Tzu,
And dissolving at last
In the unseen Kailash of Being.
O Masters of all religions,
O seekers and lovers of Truth,
Unite against the deadly tree
That bears only poisoned fruit
For all humanity.
Let the Ganga unite
With the Nile, the Volga, the Huang He,
With Euphrates and Tigris,
Let all rivers become One Ocean.
Let Socrates, Plato, Lao Tzu, Heraclitus,
With Buddha, Mahabir, and Jesus,
Join hands with Vivekananda, Ramakrishna, Kabir,
Standing beneath the Temple Eternal,
Lighting the flame of Love and Compassion for all beings,
So that no poisonous tree
May ever again
Strike at the root of Creation,
No, never again,
For no reason, in no age.
@Prabir Gayen
01/04/26/5: 42 PM.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem