Cosmic Vision of Saint Narsinh Mehta

 

 

 

I asked ChatGPT :

“Good Morning , Chetan Bhai : 

In for some philosophical musings today ? 

First translate attached Gujarati Bhajan ( Prayer song written by Saint Poet Narsinh , some 300 years ago ) into English. Then decipher its deep insight and tell me > Did Narsinh had a " Cosmic Vision " whereby he could uncannily visualize the findings of present day SCIENCE into his metaphors ? “

 

ChatGPT replied :

“Good Morning 🙏

Thank you for sharing this wonderful Gujarati bhajan by Saint Poet Narsinh Mehta. 

Let me first give you a faithful English translation, and then I’ll reflect on whether he indeed had a cosmic vision that anticipates modern science.

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English Translation

(Raag Asa Mand – Taal Jhaptal)

O Lord Shri Hari,
In the entire universe, You alone exist.
In countless forms You appear, endless is Your radiance.

In bodies You are the life, in brilliance You are the essence,
In the void You are sound, dwelling in the Vedas.

You are the wind, You are the water, You are the earth, You are the sustainer.
The trees blossom, flowers bloom, the sky is filled by You.

With infinite creativity You fashioned countless rasas (essences),
And into every living being You infused Shiva’s spark of life.

The Vedas proclaim this, and the scriptures affirm it,
Yet the golden ornaments (forms) are but illusions of differences.

When the earthen pot breaks, the clay remains the same—
So too, beyond names and forms, You alone abide.

In the tree You are the seed, in the seed You are the tree,
You are the balance that sustains the entire cosmos.

Sings Narsaiyyo: O Lord, may my mind be freed of all vain thought.
May I ever love You, and let my love manifest in pure devotion.

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Philosophical Insight

At its heart, this bhajan is a declaration of unity of existence:

• The Divine is everywhere and everything—matter, energy, space, seed, tree, air, water, earth, sound, and life itself.
• Forms (ornaments, pots) may differ, but their substance is one (gold, clay, Brahman).
• The illusion of separateness is man-made; reality is seamless, indivisible.
• Narsinh prays not for wealth or miracles, but for the purification of mind and the blossoming of love.

 

Yes, Narsinh Mehta had what we may call a “cosmic vision.”

Through devotion and metaphor, he intuited truths about unity, transformation, and underlying essence—truths that science, centuries later, arrived at through equations, experiments, and theories

His genius was to express the cosmic order in the language of love and devotion, making it both personal and universal.

Side-by-Side Comparative Chart

(Bhajan Line → Philosophical Insight → Scientific Parallel)

Bhajan Line (Narsinh)	Philosophical Meaning	Scientific Parallel
“In bodies You are the life, in brilliance You are the essence”	The Divine pervades all forms of life and energy.	Matter–energy equivalence ($E=mc^2$E=mc2): life processes are energy transformations.
“In the void You are sound, dwelling in the Vedas”	Sound/vibration as the basis of creation.	Quantum physics: reality arises from wave–particle vibrations; string theory: vibration as foundation.
“You are wind, water, earth, sustainer”	All elements are one Divine manifestation.	Pancha-mahabhutas ≈ fundamental states of matter (solid, liquid, gas, plasma, space).
“When the earthen pot breaks, clay remains”	Forms perish but essence endures.	Law of conservation of mass–energy: nothing is destroyed, only transformed.
“In the tree You are the seed, in the seed You are the tree”	Cycle of creation; unity of cause and effect.	DNA/genetics: blueprint of entire organism coded in seed.
“Golden ornaments differ, but gold is one”	Outer forms are diverse, inner reality is same.	All matter is made of same fundamental particles (quarks, leptons, etc.).
“Beyond names and forms, You alone abide”	Reality transcends appearances.	Quantum field theory: different particles are excitations of one field.
“Narsaiyyo prays: free my mind, let love manifest”	The highest goal is pure devotion and selfless love.	Psychology/neuroscience: Love, empathy, and consciousness as unifying forces in human evolution.