The Magic pool

At one level the Song of Songs draws on very deep levels of the unconscious. The whole question of human sexuality is addressed, and ancient rites related to fertility are also evoked. Essentially, however, the Song of Songs is not pessimistic about those powerful human drives that seek passionately for life. But the ambiguity of human emotions is also recognized.

In the Mahabharata there is a chapter about the Magic Pool. Here Yudhishthira is tested by Dharma, the god of world order, who is also equated to Yama, Lord of the Underworld. Yudhishthira who has been afflicted by a mysterious thirst, comes to the pool longing to drink of its cool waters. But a voice warns him not to drink of the waters, because they are poisonous. Instead, the hero is asked to answer various questions related to the very meaning of life. Only after debating with the spirit of the pool is Yudhishthira finally allowed to drink of the waters, which now represent healing life.

The Spirit of the Grove

The symbol of the seed which has to die if new life is to come forth, can be understood in a number of the passages that speak of the significance of death. Creation evolves out of the primal chaos—the Spirit brooding over the waters. But out of this first creation, there emerges the Psyche, which embodies the energies of Creation, and evolves towards consciousness. It is like the onion, which has many layers. As you peal off the different layers, you gradually come to the heart, which is the essence of the plant. It is from this centre that a new sprout breaks forth. In Indian thought these layers, or envelops, which constitute the human psyche, lead ultimately to what is called the ‘Ananda Maya Kosha’, that is the covering of pure bliss, that is the essence of all that the psyche embodies. This is the centre of the labyrinth, which it is necessary for the seeker after wisdom to travel.

The symbolism underlying the theme of the garden or the sacred grove reminds one of the Creation story at the beginning of the book of Genesis. The waters of life are both extensive as in the image of the vast oceans, and also intensive, as in the figure of the spring, or enclosed pool at the heart of the grove. This enclosed pool is like the opening or gate to another dimension, a kind of inner cave which is the vortex from which the spiral of life begins. It is also the eye of the Creator, watching over the primal couple.

Pillar of Fire

The Song of Songs is also a greeting to the Sun. The Beloved is described in glowing terms, like the pillar of the sun. “My lover is radiant and ruddy. His head of purest gold”. We might recall the famous psalm 19: “High above, he pitched a tent for the sun, who comes out of his pavilion like a bridegroom, exulting like a hero to run his race.
He has his rising on the edge of heaven, the end of his course is its furthest edge, and nothing can escape his heat.”
The lover is like the radiant sun that descends into the oceans. It is also like the pillar of fire that led the Israelite people through the Red Sea. Here we have the symbolism of fire related to water. The flame rises up, whereas the waters flow down, seeking the lowest place.

Greeting the Sun

The Song of Songs is about Remembering, of turning towards God, and transforming emotions into feeling for God. This is the essence of what in Indian thought is understood by Bhakti, or Devotion. Feelings are a primal energy, which are embodied in the human psyche. These feelings can be chaotic, and ambivalent, but it is important that we do not reject or repress them. What is required is to canalise these energies into the spiritual domain, making them vehicles for a longing for what is noblest in the human soul. That is the essential quest underlying the discipline of Yoga.

Mountain of Meeting

The journey of the soul is through a landscape that has various features. This is not just the external landscape, but is an inner world, that resembles the outer world. Pilgrimage is a path taken by those who are searching for a Holy Place in the landscape. The heros of the Mahabharata, who were called the Pandava brothers, were forced to go into exile for fourteen years. During this time they wandered in the wilderness, and went in search of holy places, where sages had settled down in Ashram retreats. This part of the Epic is known as “Thirtha yatra”, that is the pilgrimage in search of Thirthas, which means springs, or sources of water. Very often a spring, or source of water, is associated with the primal holy place. It was at such a site that they met the mysterious sage Markandeya, who told them the story concerning Savithri, daughter of the Sun.

But in contrast to the magic pool that is found in the forest, is the Holy Mountain. The mountain, in Indian poetry is often associated with the meeting of lovers. It is the meeting of earth and sky. It is from the heights of the mountain that the stream pours down to give life to the earth
The image is composed on a triangle, with its base firmly on the ground, and its apex pointing up to the sky like a pyramid. This upward pointing triangle symbolizes the Covenant that binds together heaven and earth. To the right of the Mountain form we see the sign of the letter AUM in Sanskrit. This is like fire. This primal sound, which represents the Divine in creation, can also be understood as the tree of life, or Burning Bush, in which the voice of God was heard by Moses as he pastured his flock of sheep near the holy mount Horeb.

Kurisumala : symbol of the meeting of spiritualities.

When I started to work on this series of pictures on the Song of Songs, I had gone back to Kurisumala, which is a hill in the Cardamom hills in Kerala. Here the Apostle Thomas is meant to have passed over the hills to go to Tamilnad. A hill in this area is called the Hill of the Cross (Kurisu mala), where St. Thomas is supposed to have camped. It is here that an Ashram was founded at the foot of the mountain by two monks from the West—Dom Bede Griffiths, and Francis Acharya (Mahieu), who came to India in 1955. The Ashram was formally established in 1957. It is here that I felt that a meeting of two spiritual traditions took place, one from the Contemplative tradition of the West, and the other an Eastern approach to the spiritual quest. It is in this spirit that Dom Bede Griffiths was to write of the “Marriage of East and West”

The Womb House

The Third Poem in the Song of Songs opens with the question:
“What is this coming up from the desert, like a column of smoke, breathing of myrrh and frankincense and every perfume the merchant knows ?
See, it is the litter of Solomon.”
The word “Litter” or “bed” is the Hebrew Mittah—a place used for sleep, rest, recuperation from illness, feasting and revelry (Ezek. 23.41. Esther 6.1) It is often carried on the shoulders (I. Sam. 19.15) and can also serve as a bier (II Sam. 3.31)
Royalty, and the wealthy had beds ornamented with Ivory (Amos. 6.6) or Gold and Silver (Esther 1: 6). The bed is the nuptial bed, but is also associated with death. Among the Indian Warli tribes, the newly wed couple are placed in a litter, and covered with a cloth, as though they have died together. Marriage is a dying to the old world, and a rebirth to a new life together. The poet Kabir speaks of death as a kind of marriage—a time when we are united with our true Self.

The Bride is called “Shulamite” (Song of Songs, 7:1) This title derives from Shalom, a state of fullness, being at rest, without fear. It is used in a Messianic context. Even the name 'Solomon' is linked to Shelem, an ancient fertility god. This name also appears in the city Jerusalem, abbreviated as Salem (Gen 14:18, also Ps. 76:3)
The theme of the Bridegroom coming for his bride was an important image among the school of followers around John the Baptist. Thus we read in John 3.29 “It is the bridegroom who has the bride: but the bridegroom’s friend who stands outside and listens for his voice is very glad when he hears the bridegroom speak. So this joy of mine is now complete”


In the centre of the city is the Temple where a new wholeness is discovered. The Holy of Holies in the Temple is sometimes compared to a womb, whose mysteries are veiled behind a curtain. Here the King and his Bride are wrapped together in the sacred form known as the Mandorla, which is shaped like the almond seed or chrysalis.