Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
A person may pour their heart into the grandest images they can picture. They fill their mind with them day and night.
Soon they are riding the bull and shaking the little drum, just like the picture they hold.
Namdev says that even the grandest picture of the divine is a door, not the end of the road.
Siv siv kartay jo nar Dhi-aavai — a person keeps calling "Shiva, Shiva" and holds him in mind. Shiva is a great god in Hindu tradition. He is often shown riding a bull and shaking a small hand drum, the da-uroo. Namdev says the one who fixes on that picture ends up riding the bull and shaking the drum too. The mind fills up with the forms it looks at.
Namdev says this with respect. He is not saying any god is nothing. Think of a beautiful stained-glass window. You can stare at the glass all day. Or you can look through it at the whole sky. Even the grandest form is a window like that. The One, who has no form at all, is bigger than every picture the mind can hold.
Can a picture of something ever become so vivid you forget it is pointing beyond itself?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI