Like bubbles in the water, the worlds rise, exist and dissolve in the supreme Self
“Like bubbles in the water, the worlds rise, exist and dissolve in the supreme Self, which is the material cause and the support of everything.”
(Adi Shankara —Ātma-bodha)
Plop. Plop. Plop. Bubbles bursting forth, arising anew. Fleeting forms expanding, floating up, up into the open air. Joyful spheres, momentary existence soon subsiding, returning to shimmering source.
Fizz whispers the bubbles: “We surface, we pop, we dissolve.” Comic delight at each appearance, disappearance. Playing parts in a cosmic water ballet.
Sploosh crash hiss reply surrounding seas, washing white dots into and out of being. “You bubble, we ripple. Supporting your dance, the womb of your birth pangs and demise sighs.” Rhythmic waves follow no bubbles but set the stage for endless bubbling.
Meanwhile… Pop! Pop! Goes another brace of liquid jewels. “We are born of, supported by, subsumed within.” Shining with temporary individuality, melting into temporariness.
Plink plunk echo subsurface springs, artesian wells of endless fount. “We rise up, spill over, laugh and cavort.” Gurgling upsurge, resurfacing as effervescent orbs. Once more to live momentarily midair before re-submersion.
Glug glug pours the oceans and arteries of the planet. “You wells, you bubbles, all come from and go back to us.” A single body of existence, pulsing tides, currents and eddies forming temporary shapes. Identity mirages are sustained briefly on marching crest waves.
Whoosh, crash splash sing waves against sandy shores. Flung high, suspended en masse before gravity regains rule. Existence extended, tension gathered, collapse imminent. Sand grains whispering “As above, so below. A cycle of condensation, dissipation. All are same sea, same bubbles, same shores.”
Fizz sigh exhale the rising-falling foamy giants. “We are the backdrop of bubbles’ theatre.” Upholding stage for appearance play. Macrocosm consistency allowing microcosm variability. Providing context for ephemeral jewels to emerge, disappear, and reemerge within.
Pop pop pop repeat the bubbles through it all. Condensations, and distillations of surrounding soils. Distinct universes shimmering rainbow hues. Manifesting, demanifesting, ever-reprising temporary roles as joy bubbles in the water. Knowing maxims of material cause and ethereal effect to be but conceptual mirage. Simply awakening, subsiding within eternal shift. Supreme source, supreme self, supreme dance.
Plop plop plop.