The Holy Name

When the true Being, the Heart Itself,
Emerges slowly and spreads out
As awareness, countless are
Its Names. Of these the first is I.

With this first Name of I, as its
True meaning, shines Eternal Being.
Since I as Being shines, the phrase
I AM too is the Name supreme.

Of all the many thousand Names divine
None is so true, so beautiful, so apt
As this I AM for God abiding ever
In the heart transcending thought.

All things perceived by those Self-orientated
Thunder with the powerful voice of silence
In the egoless heart's firmament
The Lord's own Name of I, I, I.

If turning inward and saying "I",
One meditates unceasingly,
On this name I, it will take one
To the ultimate source of the illusive "I"
Seemingly born of the useless body.

The word "I" seems to mean at first
The body-bound ego. But this "I"
Appears and disappears.
Looked deeper, the correct import
Of I is seen to be the Self, which is
The ego's ground and source.

~ Sri Muruganar, The Garland of Guru's Sayings