I AM A BEE, THY FEET THE FLOWER

O Lord, my heart flutters over Thy feet
Like the bee on a flower.
The bee sucks honey,
My heart drinks nectar.
The bee plays for a while,
But I play eternally.
The bee leaves the flower,
I stay at Thy feet for ever.
My life is fulfilled in Thee.
What a consummation —
Sweet, glorious, ecstatic!
Am now one with Thee — become 
Thy very image.
— Swami Ramdas

 Explanation given by Pujya Swami Satchidanandaji:
Oh my Lord, I am thinking intensely of your holy feet. I compare myself to the bee that flutters on a flower and sucks honey, but I drink nectar. The bee plays about only for a while, but I remain at Your feet eternally. Whereas the bee has to leave the flower, I stay at Thy feet for ever and my life is fulfilled in You. What a consummation, sweet glorious and ecstatic. I am one with You and have become Your very image. I have become Your very embodiment!
Prologue:
Way back in 2001-2003, we — a few devotees — used to wait in the passage of Ramana Building in Anandashram, for Pujya Swami Satchidanandaji to come out for a walk. I used to keep thinking of this poem while we waited there holding on to Pujya Swamji’s slippers.

How I understand it:
In this poem Beloved Papa has compared the love of a bee for a flower with his love for God. The bee hovers over a flower and the heart of the devotee (Beloved Papa) flutters at the feet of the Beloved One — God.

“Bee sucks honey, my heart drinks nectar,” the outcome is the same, both, the bee and he, relish the bliss of nectar at their purlieus. The difference, however, is that the bee plays for a while and then leaves. The devotee prefers to stay at the feet of the Chosen One eternally. This is because the life of the devotee finds fulfilment at the feet of the Divine — where he realises his oneness with the Divine — becoming the image Divine!

Reading of this poem, written in free verse, conjures word-pictures in the mind. One can almost see oneself offering obeisance to the Chosen Ideal throughout the reading. Though written more than half a century ago, the poem is relevant and inspiring to today’s reader-devotee as the feelings of love and devotion dealt with are just as relevant.

As in most of Beloved Papa’s poems, duality leads to the non-dual state. Here too, through the last two lines Beloved Papa reinforces the idea that the culmination of devotion is becoming One with the Divine and then the devotee lives as the very image of the Divine. 

The last line has been separated from the previous line to stress the importance of the point that we then live, move and have our being in the Divine as the embodiments of the Divine — thus “Thy very image”.

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