Fire Waiting in the Wood
Bala Kanda, Chaupai 23
Doha 23 · Movement 1 of 2
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Nirguna and saguna stand before thought like two horizons of the same immeasurable Brahman. One offers no shape to the eye. The other comes clothed in beauty, gesture, relationship, and Leela. Both are beginningless. Both exceed description. Between them, Tulsidas raises the Name as the power by which either can be approached.
Fire sleeps invisibly inside wood. Its absence cannot be proven by touching the cool grain. When the proper action is applied, flame rises from what seemed silent and solid. In the same way, the formless abides concealed while the formed Lord shines openly, yet the essence is one fire. The Name brings its warmth into direct experience.
Brahman dwells within every heart, but beings wander poor beneath an inheritance they do not recognize. The jewel is present, covered by dust and mistaken for stone. Repetition of the Name becomes the patient hand that cleans, turns, and holds it toward the light. Then the hidden treasure does not arrive from elsewhere. It reveals the brilliance it always possessed.
The wood opens into flame, and the forgotten jewel answers the light.
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AI-created devotional illustration · Chaupai 23
Unlit wood and a gently burning wood piece illustrate the source's latent and manifest fire comparison.
Source reference and artistic choices
Gita Press code81 undated · PDF pages 47 · printed pages 45. Reader passage: bala-kanda-chaupai-023. Printed numbering may differ.
Source facts
- Two forms of Brahman compared with fire latent in wood and manifest fire, accessible through the Name
- Final comparison concerns recognition revealing jewel value
Artistic choices
- Equal wood/fire vignettes select source comparison; not literal definitions of Brahman or theological ranking
- Wood, slabs, brazier, flame, garden, pavilions and botanical frame imagined
An imaginative interpretation, not a historical portrait or documentary evidence.
अगुन सगुन दुइ ब्रह्म सरूपा। अकथ अगाध अनादि अनूपा।। मोरें मत बड़ नामु दुहू तें। किए जेहिं जुग निज बस निज बूतें।। प्रोढ़ि सुजन जनि जानहिं जन की। कहउँ प्रतीति प्रीति रुचि मन की।। एकु दारुगत देखिअ एकू। पावक सम जुग ब्रह्म बिबेकू।। उभय अगम जुग सुगम नाम तें। कहेउँ नामु बड़ ब्रह्म राम तें।। ब्यापकु एकु ब्रह्म अबिनासी। सत चेतन धन आनँद रासी।। अस प्रभु हृदयँ अछत अबिकारी। सकल जीव जग दीन दुखारी।। नाम निरूपन नाम जतन तें। सोउ प्रगटत जिमि मोल रतन तें।।
Nirguna and saguna are both true forms of Brahman, both indescribable, unfathomable, beginningless, and beyond compare. In my understanding, the Name is greater than both, for by its own inherent power it has brought both under its sway.