It is often said that God is beyond words, that heavenly experience cannot be uttered, and the truth of things is not easily written in a language of ordinary logic.

Even so, out of their great compassion for humankind, enlightened sages of the past have expressed the Truth in eloquent words, including through poetic expressions. Left with us today, for example, are the elevating songs of Milarepa and Guru Nanak, and the carefully worded teachings of Lao Tzu, Kabir, and Rumi. Many a beautiful line of poetry has helped to soften the rigid cement that sets the minds of human beings in a maze of ignorance.

Supreme Master Ching Hai, a spiritual teacher and poet herself, has cherished the art of poetry since her childhood. She has often shared and discussed the poems of past saints during lectures, as in this February 2007 international gathering in Hsihu, Formosa (Taiwan).

“…The rest of the world may sleep, but real lovers throughout the night talk inwardly with God. All through the night, God is calling us. Rise up! Use this time richly, you poor man. If you don’t, you will burn with regret, when your soul’s separated from your body.” Voilà.

Is that beautiful? Yes. And he is not making a veiled poetry. He is not writing it just so that we praise him say, “Ah, what a good poem you have written.” He was not writing this just for satisfy his poetic tendency, or even to share it with a couple of poetic friends, who will admire his mastery of the chosen words. No, no, no. He has written this, because he cannot not write. Because this is his experience, his inward experience.

Supreme Master Ching Hai went on to explain the reasons that so many spiritual Masters used poetry to reach humankind. Because poetry appeals to the heart, also to the intellect, also to the emotion of man. Therefore, many of the Masters in the old time, they favored poetry as a teaching. He used a lot of poetry to send it to his disciples. Or maybe that is also the mode, mode of that time. Yeah? Fashion.

All the Masters write poetry. Or maybe also, many of the Masters, they are very artistic themselves. Or maybe after they get enlightened, all their dormant talents sprung up to life, and they know how to write poetry, they paint pictures, dance and sing and all kinds. So this is one of the talent that has been awaken in some Masters, after they get high enlightenment.

And it’s easy to remember, easier to remember a poem than a whole big lecture.

So poetry is a very good instrument to teach people, and make them remember very well.

Over the course of countless lifetimes, humans have collected so much information that then remains as mere habitual thinking. To some degree, the Masters’ poetry helps to uplift us out of these self-induced webs of illusion. The Tibetan yogi and teacher Milarepa often spontaneously sang in verse, employing metaphors of nature that could be grasped by the Tibetan Buddhists he taught.

“Realizing the groundless nature of ignorance, My former awareness, clouded and unstable Like reflections of the moon in rippling water, Becomes transparent, clear as shining crystal. Its sun-like brilliance is free from obscuring clouds, Its light transcends all forms of blindness, Ignorance and confusion thus vanish without trace. This is the truth I have experienced within.”

Guru Nanak, the first of the great Sikh Masters, was very fond of the teaching method of using verses and music. He would often recite his own verses in order to expand people’s consciousness. Accompanying him through his travels was the faithful Mardana, who played the rebab, a stringed musical instrument, as Guru Nanak sang. Drawings often depict them together. Guru Nanak was very fond of daily metaphors with meanings of the highest order. His words were originally in Punjabi, a language he is also credited with enriching through elements of Sanskrit and other languages.

Guru Nanak himself, at his moment of enlightenment, uttered one concise line, “There is neither Hindu nor Muslim,” meaning, the experience of God is beyond religion. The experience of his enlightenment itself was indeed beyond any words. Yet, Guru Nanak knew the beneficial effect that devotional song and poetry might produce upon those sincerely yearning to be free.

“Discipline is the workshop; patience, the goldsmith; the anvil, one's thinking; wisdom, the hammer; Fear, the bellows; austerities, the fire; and feeling, the vessel where the deathless liquid is poured. In such a true mint is forged the Word, and those on whom He looks do their rightful deeds. Nanak says: the One who sees, sees. He observes.”

It was Siddhartha Gautama, or Shakyamuni Buddha, who once said that there are perhaps 84,000 methods a spiritual Master might employ to enlighten people. This is according to how many different ways a person’s mind may need to be unravelled, and how many karmic bonds must be severed. Naturally, Lord Buddha concentrated his teachings in poetic words. Thus, the ground was made fertile for planting the true seed of enlightenment.

“Those who are slaves to passions, run down with the stream (of desires), as a spider runs down the web which he has made himself; when they have cut this, at last, wise people leave the world free from cares, leaving all affection behind.”

Meanwhile, other spiritual teachers have used the poetic form to convey deep symbolic meanings that are rooted in the consciousness of many. The Mahabharata is a fantastic Hindu epic which was written millennia ago whose tales are deeply imprinted on the consciousness of many Hindus.

Perhaps it is why Indian guru Sri Aurobindo chose this culturally familiar love story of Savitri and Satyavan as the platform for his 12-volume, 20,000-line epic Savitri. The tale of Savitri and Satyavan, Sri Aurobindo explained is, “one of the symbolic myths of the Vedic cycle. Satyavan is the soul carrying the divine truth of being within itself but descended into the grip of death and ignorance. Savitri is the Divine word, daughter of the sun, goddess of the supreme truth, who comes down and is born to save.” Sri Aurobindo’s verses seek to uncover the veiled mysteries of the universe and the purpose of existence within its grandeur.

“Although he knew, still refusing to know, Although he was still refusing to see. Unshakeable he stood claiming his right. His spirit bowed; his will obeyed the law Of its own nature binding even on Gods. The two opposed each other face to face. His being like a huge fort of darkness towered; around it her light grew, an ocean’s siege.”

In what appears to be the climax of the poem, Satyavan, who fights to remain attached to the negativity of his ego, eventually can only surrender to Savitri’s overwhelming universal light. Rumi’s legacy is one not only as a great spiritual sage but also the producer of some truly treasured poems. The epic proportions of his universal wisdom are successfully conveyed into a language familiar yet with a scope of much greater magnitude. The deliverer allows us to see a glimmer of what heavenly place he has been.

“Separation from companions is unwise Treading the path without light is unwise If the throne and scepter have been your prize Descent from prince to pauper is unwise. For Beloved, the you in you is disguise To focus on the you in you is unwise. If once to heavenly abundance you rise Desperation and impotence is unwise. Hear the thief’s greedy and fearful cries Fraudulent deception too is unwise.

Able-body, chains & shackles unties Idleness of such a body is unwise. Your foothold gone, your soul freely flies Wingless & featherless flight is unwise; Given wings, reach only for Godly skies Flying away from God’s Will is unwise. To you, phoenix, demise is mere lies Phoenix running from fire is unwise.”

In our times, Supreme Master Ching Hai shares with us exquisite poetry that deeply inspires an elevated consciousness within. Her verses from earlier years encompass the wide range of human life experiences, traversing memories of past lifetimes and evoking longing for God’s solace and illumination.

Other poems express the heart of one who has finally found reunion with the Divine. Still others lovingly give voices and sympathy to the beings, like the animals, the trees, the Earth, in their plights of despair and silent suffering. People from diverse cultures, including artists, musicians, poets, and writers, have extolled and celebrated Supreme Master Ching Hai’s poetry for their generous depth in meaning and richness in style.

Moved by Supreme Master Ching Hai’s pure and heartfelt love in her lyrical expressions, many distinguished composers have set her verses to music, including American award-winning composers David Benoit, Bill Conti, Fred Karlin, Al Kasha, and Bob Kulick, and legendary Aulacese (Vietnamese) composers such as Phạm Duy. As our program concludes, we invite you to listen to the poem “Eternal Beloved,” composed and recited by Supreme Master Ching Hai.

I descended to this world, searching for you My eternal beloved, mired in this life of turbulence. Sailing the boat of Perfect Wisdom through the turbid sea, From the gate of birth and death to the purgatory! I have searched for you in the land of Hades, Eons have passed to near your traces, The beauty of your essence still pure within the soul Yet in a fleeting moment, your whereabouts are unknown! Where have you gone amidst the tangle of trails? Do you remember a glorious incarnation beckoning? An instant of illusory thoughts, thousands of ties arise With this physical self, all solemn promises buried. Flesh and bone immersed in the mist of the tainted shore, The soul bewildered in this earthly realm Each step astray in life's labyrinth, The road back to the sacred land is farther each day! I want to lead you beyond the clouds, Where there are brilliant light, divine music, and lotuses in bloom. Yet you remain lost in the kingdom of fantasy, Since ancient times in royal capitals, bound to the wheel of rebirth still! Know you not that I have arrive By my side, always a pink lotus blossom Waiting for you through countless incarnations, heart unwavering You promised to return, remember, my love? Come to me just like in olden days When creation was in a quiet slumber. Through the vast cosmos, we’re in rapture In the garden of the sun and moon, a promenade among the stars…

We are grateful to Supreme Master Ching Hai and all the Masters of the past and present who have shared with the world the most cherished messages from above, especially through poetry. May the verses awaken and comfort evermore souls in the special way that they do.

Thank you, loving viewers, for your company today on A Journey through Aesthetic Realms. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television for Our Noble Lineage, next after Noteworthy News. May the Divine Word within soothe your soul.