Comments on: Inspiration and intuition – spiritual value no.6

By: David Melik

David Melik — Wed, 11 May 2011 00:01:44 +0000

Oops, sorry. Now I see that my commentary got written in the middle of the quote somehow… but you should be able to see where the quote continues.

By: David Melik

David Melik — Tue, 10 May 2011 23:58:59 +0000

When I put that in quotes, somehow it removed my comment on it. That was from Edwin Arnold’s translation at sacred-texts.com. A translation I have by Swami Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada said the tree was the Vedas, IIRC, but I think it also said it represented Maya.

By: David Melik

David Melik — Tue, 10 May 2011 23:55:28 +0000

‘Krishna. Men call the Aswattha,- the Banyan-tree,-
Which hath its boughs beneath, its roots above,-
The ever-holy tree. Yea! for its leaves
Are green and waving hymns which whisper Truth!
Who knows the Aswattha, knows Veds, and all.

Its branches shoot to heaven and sink to earth,
Even as the deeds of men, which take their birth
From qualities: its silver sprays and blooms,
And all the eager verdure of its girth,
Leap to quick life at kiss of sun and air,
As men’s lives quicken to the temptings fair
Of wooing sense: its hanging rootlets seek
The soil beneath, helping to hold it there,’–Edwin Arnold’s translation at sacred-texts.com.

The painting that I saw in a translation by Swami Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada said the tree was the Vedas, IIRC. I think it also symbolized Maya or something, but I forgot the details.

As actions wrought amid this world of men
Bind them by ever-tightening bonds again.
If ye knew well the teaching of the Tree,
What its shape saith; and whence it springs; and, then

How it must end, and all the ills of it,
The axe of sharp Detachment ye would whet,
And cleave the clinging snaky roots, and lay
This Aswattha of sense-life low,- to set

By: katinka - spiritual

katinka - spiritual — Mon, 04 May 2009 06:56:34 +0000

I’d love to see a direct quote on that tree in the Bhagavad Gita.

By: David Melik

David Melik — Mon, 04 May 2009 03:13:49 +0000

Of course the etz-chaym is Quabalist, but the Bhagavad-Gita describes something like ‘an imperishable banyan tree rooted in [something] …,’ and one of the pictures in Swami Prabhupada’s version shows reality symmetrically reflected in a picture that has a tree on all of at least one side of the symmetry. I was talking more about inspiration as a reflective process of atma.

By: Katinka Hesselink - All Considering

Katinka Hesselink - All Considering — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 14:05:12 +0000

I think the tree of life is a Western idea – and to have it reflected in us reminds me of the Kabbalah. But I may be wrong.

By: David Melik

David Melik — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 13:12:09 +0000

That is interesting you say intuition is a spiritual value after considering whether to call value virtue, because if intuition is only part of inspiration then (similar to what Yogis may say) it can be considered a form within inspiration (spiritual process.) Then it is a distinct idea beyond the mind, and virtues are beyond the mind. Maybe it was actually a New Age person who said the causal body is an idea, but not coincidentally the angelic choir Virtues could be an idea of the Logos controlling our own logos. That implies a lot about what inspiration and intuition are. I am more sure that Yogis say something like the tree of life is reflected in us. (in the Bhagavad-Gita, at least illustrated with a painting.)

By: katinka - spiritual

katinka - spiritual — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 18:38:15 +0000

Glad you’re inspired by all this – I do try

By: 2Da1

2Da1 — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 11:37:29 +0000

Wow. Long time since I found a site this inspiring and filled with wisdom.

Thanks for sharing your insight. Will be dropping by a lot.

Peace and blessings,
2Da1

By: katinka - spiritual

katinka - spiritual — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 07:46:19 +0000

Hi Doug,
Nice to see you here. What you describe as intuition is, I think, usually called empathy. But good point. Very important.