An Esoteric Analysis of Manatita’s Poem “the Love of All Loves, Abiding in This Silence”

There is a fundamental Principle in Spiritual Philosophy:

"All things are One."

All beings – sentient and non-sentient - come from the same Source, and will experience true happiness only by returning to this Source. All life-forms are a journey into the Awareness of this Truth, an opportunity for the Creator to experience in and through us, the infinite possibilities of Self-transcendence.

God, Love, One … the Source of All existence, are just some of the names attributed to the Creator. He is Eternally Existent in the Silence of Infinity. He is the Love in All Loves, the Unchanged and at the same time continually changing through the evolution of His Creation!

This higher bliss experienced by the regenerated Soul that returns to oneness with her Creator, is described in this sublime poem which is word-crafted with Love by Manatita. Let's enjoy it:

I would like to kiss You, but what

You ask, is beyond my expectations.

I want to feel Your breath against my cheeks,

Your Love stabbing my Heart with a thousand thrills!

I see … You wish me to come alone,

To leave all my pearls and lovers behind?

Good! The rose has given me her fragrant

Garment, to serenade Your Heart.

Immortality has become tangible and holds

My hands, my caravan of shadows, are now behind me.

Aye, the one called Christ, has entered my Temple,

The fire of Buddha, melts within my soul.

O Allah! You’re also here? Don’t confuse me!

My Beloved smiled and said: “O Lantern, you are

The Love of all Loves, abiding in this Silence.”

It refers to this moment of the seeker's life when he understands where his happiness lies… to an inner recognition that only when we re-discover our Source, will we embrace Love with all of our beingness.

“I would like to kiss You,...”

“…I want to feel Your breath against my cheeks…”

The moment we kiss again the One and only Lover who really exists, then and only then, will we experience ceaseless happiness in the Silence of Eternity. Nevertheless, as expressed so eloquently by the following verse:

“…but what You ask, is beyond my expectations.”

What Love asks us to do in order to complete this oneness, seems to be far beyond our potential, because She asks us to sacrifice the “self” that we have created so far… the one that is normally identified with the mind, with ego and separation.

Our Heart, on the other hand, prepared for this very moment, through our Spiritual effort and our struggle on the Inner Path, knows that this sacrifice will be our Renaissance! This contradiction exists in this beautiful verse:

“Your Love stabbing my Heart with a thousand thrills!”

The words "stabbing" and "thrills" are so wisely chosen to present this contradiction.

Stabbing is associated with pain and fear, but here the poet uses the word not to express anxiety, but a powerful surge of Love, likened to a ’thousand thrills’ of spiritual Delight. This is an inner state of enthusiasm and joy … the thrill of meeting all these beautiful ecstasies that the Heart knows to be in the realm of infinitude.

And we have to be freed from all our delusions in order to make this leap:

“I see … You wish me to come alone,

To leave all my pearls and lovers behind?”

Freed from all we think that define us and are our wealth - remember what Jesus has told us: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5: 3). Unchained of all that we have fallen in love with, in this material world, such as glory, passion, condemnation and so much more - how many lovers we have, indeed!

“Good! The rose has given me her fragrant

Garment, to serenade Your Heart.”

Here the rose is a symbol of all that is quintessentially beautiful and unconditional, offering its ‘fragrant garment’ to serenade God’s Heart. When this happens, his True Self can be freed from the bonds that keep him away from this Source of Happiness.

Our re-born Self, being given God’s unconditional Love and service as a new "garment", is now ready to sing to the Heart of All Hearts, to the Source of All Sources, to the Love of All Loves!

“Immortality has become tangible and holds

My hands, my caravan of shadows, are now behind me.”

Consequently, when we have denied all the passions and bonds of selfishness, the True-Self understands that there is no end and limitations to Love, there is no death. The Heart realizes that it becomes Immortal when it is unconditionally surrendered to Love, when we stand re-born in front of the Light of His Love.

With the Light in front of us, all shadows are left behind us, not in front of or beside us, just behind us! What a wonderful picture! And then, even this caravan of shadows that was following us acquires meaning, because it has served its purpose by taking us to a fuller life.

“Aye, the one called Christ, has entered my Temple,

The fire of Buddha, melts within my soul.

O Allah! You’re also here? Don’t confuse me!”

This moment, when we acquire the consciousness that we are an indivisible part of the Love of the One, we feel our connection with all the great forms of Divine Love that have been manifested in this material world. We feel Christ, who enters the Temple of Our Soul and becomes one with us. We feel the fire of Buddha's Love, melting the last remnants of the thoughts of separation.

We feel the ultimate miracle! We feel in harmony with Him who is the One, and that, even that last moment, confuses us. We wonder:

"How can I, the small, the insignificant, become one with you, my God?"

“My Beloved smiled and said: “O Lantern, you are

The Love of all Loves, abiding in this Silence.””

And He will tell us:

“You are I, and I am you, always One. You have always been the Love of all Loves, abiding in this Silence. You have had to travel countless trips to finally understand that through all your changes, out of all your choices, this Love is birthless and deathless …unchanging in the Silence of the Eternal Now.”

For me, this is much more than a sublime poem. It is the smile of the Soul, in front of the mirror of Love, when she sees the face of God and knows that this is not an idol but her true image! It is a reminder that we all are Love. So, there is no one else, no enemy, no stranger, no brother or sister, only Love.

Honestly, when I read this poem, I want to embrace the whole world and so embrace myself, which is to embrace God! This is the power that the word of Love has, and I am so grateful to my brother Manatita, who once again becomes an expression of this word of Love and reminds me that I have always been the Love of All Loves. Gratitude!