MYTH, MANTRA, MUSIC, & MEANING

Presentation on Who Is a Guru

GURU PURNIMA at MADHUKARA

Thursday, July  30th, 2026, 6:30-8:15 p.m.

Canal Winchester, Ohio

POETRY

Śrī Ātmānātmāshṭakam Illustrious Octet on the Selfless Self

by Rāj Ṛishi Soma-Rudra Dās Gaṇu

“On the destruction of conditionings, the sage is wholly absorbed into Lord Vishṇu the all-pervading Spirit,

like water into water, space into space, light into light.”

—Ādi Śankarāchārya, Ātma Bodha, 53

I've arrived at THIIS, now that there is no ‘I’ who can arrive;

Yet THIS is no progression, for there’s neither far nor near—

For THIS is always present, here for everyone alive;

And even when you think you’re going there, you still are HERE.

Yes, THIS is always present, naught else is existent even.

You feel you’re part of THIS, but THIS is Wholeness without sections.

No bounds divide my body from my soul or earth from heaven:

In infinite expansion, I’m devoid of all directions.

No name, no home, no history—not born, I’ll never die—

And nothing can I ever own: real Self can only BE.

Though having naught, I want for naught, no ‘I’ to satisfy;

I’m permeable to all things—nothing stops or sticks to me.

I sense no things but am all things encompassed into One;

I’m tensionless—intentionless—no cravings to fulfill.

The future tense exhausted, nothing’s needed to be done:

Let entities & situations be just what they will.

In loving all as Self & not abusing & debasing,

The trash is turned to treasure & Spirit is formed in flesh.

Past baggage gone, I smile without cause & without ceasing,

 Thus blessing every being manifesting ever fresh.

In boundless Light, all is revealed to be Divine Love’s revel:

A līlā of delight—a game of jests—a jig of glee.

Eyes cleared of brimstone motes, I see that God’s just playing devil,

And even hell is Heaven, for real Self is ever free.

No need to wear these beads that count the chants of sacred Name—

I AM the Name, the holy Oṁ, the whole Creation’s hum!

The beads are now a victory wreath for winning at God’s game,

And having won, I’m One with Him, beyond the strung beads’ sum.

At last, now that I truly live, I peacefully could die,

Yet death in sooth is naught!—ethereal, real Self won’t change.

This body is a cloud that will disperse, yet I’m the sky:

Within my Vishṇu-blue vast space, all shapes shall rearrange.

Raves for Raj Rishi as Writer

“a very fine writer…He possesses an amazing intellect with a cogent view of the influence of mythic and fantastical thinking on the history of literature…I can honestly say I have never known anyone with such broad knowledge of fantasy literature, fairy, and folk tales.”

—Eloise Klein Healy, first Poet Laureate of the City of Los Angeles,

Founder of Arktoi Books & Eco-Arts

“a wonderful writer, his research and poetic ability render him similar to the Classical scholar/poet Robert Graves.”

—Miriam Robbins Dexter, Ph.D., author of The Living Goddesses

“His writing is utterly brilliant, full of wisdom and insight, erudite, eloquent, and enlightening.”

—Brad Keimach, former Teaching Artist for the Lincoln Center Institute,

Conductor Emeritus of Glendale Youth Orchestra

POETRY

VERSES for the EVADAH Shakta-ShaiVa 1-LoVe ReViVal

Śrī Śrī Ārdhanārīśvara Chaturdaśa-pāda-Stotra

Very Illustrious Sonnet for Our Half-Lord Half-Lady

by RAJ RiSHI The Reverend Soma-Rudra Dās Gaṇu

Of Goddess-God I sing the Body eclectic—

Male right side linked with female on left side,

Our Lord’s and Lady’s idols meld, allied

In synergistic image asymmetric:

Three-eyed Yogī with Empress even-eyed

To consummate original urge orectic

Are fully merged, resolving dialectic

Divides by Love’s Divine Form unified,

Resisting reason’s razor analytic

As single Yang-Yin sign connecting sexes,

Long Liṅga joins lush Yoni at loins’ nexus.

Hail, lunar-solar Self hermaphroditic,

Ashen Śiva sheathed in Śakti’s fiery shine

As the white bull blissfully lies with the red lion.

—Composed on Hariyālī Tīj Kali-Yuga Varsha 5118

(25th of July A.D. MMXVI)

Śrī Śrī Ārdhanārīśvara Navadaśa-pāda-Stotra

Very Illustrious Villanelle for Our Half-Lord Half-Lady

 by RAJ RiSHI The Reverend Soma-Rudra Dās Gaṇu

Hail, Lord and Lady in one body bound—

Feel Śakti spark in Liṅga spine aligned:

Her shapely Figure fused with His spacious Ground.

Lord Śiva’s dressed in hides while Śakti’s gowned,

Both savage Sage and cultured Queen combined,

Hail, Lord and Lady in one body bound!

Join Śakti’s play in Nature’s cycling round

With Śiva’s peace of Spirit’s static mind:

Her shapely Figure fused with His spacious Ground.

In sexes’ syzygy all strife’s atoned:

Pale Bhole and black Kālī one Love entwined.

Hail, Lord and Lady in one body bound!

Hear Spanda Pulse in Nād the Unstruck Sound;

See Symbol’s Image one with Meaning signed:

Her shapely Figure fused with His spacious Ground.

O Mother-Father, heal our World-Soul’s wound—

Reveal sole Self in diverse forms divined!

Hail, Lord and Lady in one body bound:

Her shapely Figure fused with His spacious Ground.

—Composed on Shashṭhī of Aśvina Śukla Paksha, Kali-Yuga Varsha 5122

(Autumnal Equinox, 22nd of September A.D. MMXX)