Tag: krishna

thirst, bhakti poetry

Téa NicolaeLeave a comment

happy Vijayadaśamī! 💙 from this month’s newsletter of Śabda Institute. honoured that my poem accompanies the announcement of such an exquisite offering 💙 in this highly auspicious time, may our longing fuel our sādhanā, and may our devotion sweeten its unfolding. 💙

Dear One, 

The Śabda Saṅgha is continuing its study of the Bhagavad Gītā with a new theme – that of Bhakti Yoga. In honour of this new cycle of study, we are pleased to share a beautiful poem of longing and devotion by one of Kavithaji’s students, Téa Nicolae.

thirst
infused with devotion
my days unfurl tenderly
chinks fissure the armour plate of the self
and life dances through the cracks
madly enamoured
i long for the Beloved’s caress
my throat, so swollen
my mouth, so parched
my Beloved quenches the thirst:
grace pours down in ripples
i drink hastily

luster

Téa NicolaeLeave a comment

a poem for Kṛṣṇa Janmāṣṭamī…  💙

luster

burnt with longing,

i am a river scorched

by the summer sun

shimmering haze of light,

my swithered heart

i find you in the pause

i have not seen heaven

but i have seen moon’s luster

dripping onto your hips

he who dwells in my heart

is the white lord of pandharpur,

the one who plays

monsoon one,

your waist is my altar

there is no need

for pearls

when you are there

wishing beautiful celebrations to everyone! Jai Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the enchanter of the heart! 💙

molten gold by Téa Nicolae

Téa NicolaeLeave a comment

the whisper of your name, Beloved,

coats my heart in molten gold

and enfolds my core in aureate luster.

in the whisper of your name, Beloved,

my eyes shine like rhinestones

and my teeth gleam like pearls.

i adorn myself with your name, Beloved.

i wear you, the most precious gem,

as empresses wear their lavish jewels.

what is the need for riches,

when Keśava rests on my tongue?

🦚 “molten gold”, poem inspired by a delicious full moon meditation on Hanumān Jayanti at @sabda_institute & originally shared in our Śabda Sangha. below, the beautiful painting: “Madhava” by Dhrti Das & Ramdas Abhiram Das. 

my papers + Mahābhārata as seen by Giampaolo Tomassetti

Téa NicolaeLeave a comment

so thrilled to share that i finished the two papers i’ve been working on these past months: “Feminine Dimensions of ‘God’: The Deification of Mahābhārata’s Tragic Heroine” & “The Western Revival of Goddess Worship”. 🤍

my first essay explored the richness of the non-dual concept of ‘God’ by addressing the intricate worship of Draupadī, Mahābhārata’s enigmatic female character – whose tragic and distinct storyline establishes her as a multifaceted heroine: a devoted wife; a caring mother; an abused and vindicative woman; a polyandrous empress; an avatar of the Goddess; the Supreme Parāśakti, the all-pervading absolute reality herself; the celestial Śrī. i argued that, through the worship of an abused & vengeful woman, her devotees are deifying the entirety of the human experience. 🤍my second essay employed a discourse rooted in psychoanalysis, and was centred on the therapeutic values Goddess archetypes hold for the traumatised female psyche + commented on the ramifications of the phenomenon of religious revival in a secular age.

🕊i have adored writing both, no matter how frustrating the writing inevitably got at times. i had so much fun with the two topics, which i’m very passionate about, but i especially enjoyed delving into Mahābhārata – three months in, and i still am absolutely fascinated by it and in awe of the beautiful Draupadī, who i’m sure will be the subject of much of my future research. 🌹

on this occasion, attaching here the marvellous paintings of Giampaolo Tomassetti, who dedicated 17 years of his life to studying & painting the Mahābhārata 🤍pictured:

Kṛṣṇa & Balarāma in Dvārakā (my favourite 🕊)

Kṛṣṇa advising the Pāṇḍavas

Draupadī meets Kuntī

Kuntī & Karṇa

Kṛṣṇa comforting Draupadī after ~ dice match & disrobing ~

Kṛṣṇa reveals his universal form (Govindarūpiṇī)

Kuntī & Sūrya

Kṛṣṇa, the Pāṇḍavas, Draupadī & Kuntī in Indraprastha

Bhīma & Hiḍimbī

Dvārakā

The heartfelt tale of Mīrābāī: poetry, subversion and unbridled devotion

Téa NicolaeLeave a comment

🕊 Ankle Bells 🕊

🕊 Mīrā dances, how can her ankle bells not dance?
“Mīr is insane,” strangers say that. “The family’s ruined.”
Poison came to the door one day; she drank it and laughed.
I am at Harī’s feet; I give my Beloved body and soul.
A glimpse of the One is water: How thirsty I am for that! 🕊

🌺 Mīrā the Lotus 🌺

My One, the love that binds us cannot be broken.
It is hard as the diamond that shatters
the hammer that strikes it.
As polish goes into the gold, my heart
has gone into you.
As a lotus lives in its water, I am rooted in you.
Like the bird that gazes all night at the passing moon,
I have blinded myself in giving my eyes to your beauty.
She who offers herself completely asks only this:
That the One loves Mīrā as fully as the One is loved.

🌷 A Great Yogi 🌷

🌷 In my travels I spent time with a great yogi.

Once he said to me.

“Become so still you hear the blood flowing

through your veins.”

One night as I sat in quiet,

I seemed on the verge of entering a world inside so vast

I know it is the source of

all of

us. 🌷

~ poems written by Mīrābāī, mystic poet, bhakti saint and devotee of Krishna. 🦋 she is a great inspiration of mine! although she was married off to a prince at a very young age, she refused to become a homemaker and did not renounce her smouldering devotion to Krishna. she thus continued dancing ecstatically, singing in temples and openly conversing with sāddhus. her in-laws could not accept a woman so free, and tried to kill her repeatedly. they failed each time, and, in turn, Mīrā left and set out on a series of pilgrimages. she devoted her life to illumination and bhakti poetry, and it is said that she merged with the image of Ranchorji at the time of her death. 💙 may we all dance through life so freely 💙

photo of me from a soft day, in which i swayed in my white dress and read Mīrā until my eyes were wet with longing 🙂