Game Contest Game: Decoding VS Poems

8030 · May 19, 2024

Hello, dear students of the School and participants in this game! The contest is coming to an end, and it is so joyful to see that so many people responded and took part in this event

It was very interesting for me to read the participants’ interpretations and create my own. I agree with 5 55555 : I would never have noticed some of the poems if someone had not deciphered them here

For one last time, I decided to take part as well. I turned to the poem “The Blizzard,” which captivated me with its positivity.

Do not fear the blizzard’s gusts...
It is the Lord playing the flute.
And do not fear earthly foul weather,
It is winter dancing with joy.

This quatrain is beautifully characterized by the phrase, “Everything that happens is for the best!” Any misfortune that happens to a person in one way or another is not necessarily evil at all! Sometimes, on the contrary, it is the Creator’s mercy, because without trials the human soul cannot develop or grow. A person becomes mired in mundane everyday affairs, and the soul falls asleep instead of gaining the experience for which it came here, to Earth. Yet no soul has ever been given trials beyond its strength.
Cold snow flies and swirls.
And once again someone knocks and beats upon the door...
Do not be afraid—the trouble will not come—
It is an Angel knocking at the window.

So where does the strength of the human soul go when a person undergoes trials? Why does it seem to many people that all this is simply unbearable? The answer is: strength is consumed by fear. Sometimes a person becomes so frightened by events and engages their imagination so vividly, inventing all kinds of horrors for themselves (which do not exist in reality and are not even expected to occur), that they give up and surrender without even trying to look at their misfortune from another angle. And all because a person does not have enough faith in the Higher Powers. It seems to them that they are alone on Earth, without support, and that no one will help them cope with the heap of trials. But that is not so at all! Everyone has a Guardian Angel whom they can and should always turn to for help, advice, and comfort. Help, guidance, and signs showing how to act correctly will certainly come! Sometimes events occur that a person considers a misfortune, but quite often these events prevent an even more terrible misfortune that might have happened to them. They simply do not understand this because they are inside the situation and cannot look at it from above, as Angels do.
Again, the night has presented us with dreams.
The windows are painted with flowers.
Once again, white roses on the glass
Were drawn with the brush of frost.

This quatrain says that in every event, even the most frightening and unattractive, one can see something good. In this case, night represents what is unmanifested and unknown in a person’s soul. When something is unclear, it once again causes fear. One can stand still, be afraid, and go nowhere. Or one can see a special beauty in the unknown and dream up new possibilities. One can whine and complain to everyone about one’s evil fate and say that “nothing can be seen through the frosted glass,” or one can see beautiful roses in the frost patterns—a springboard for spiritual growth and greater awareness. As they say, some people see that “the glass is half full,” while others lament that “the glass is half empty.” But the glass is the same; it does not change. Everything depends on one’s point of view.
So open yourself, soul, to Nature.
Live freely, like the wind!
And do not fear the blizzard’s gusts...
It is the Lord playing the flute.

Here we see a call for a person to finally free themselves from their imagined, often unsupported and unfounded fears, unite with their Rod (Pri-roda), the Higher Powers, and see the natural order of things. And to feel free from the captivity of their own illusions. The only thing they truly need to know is that the “gusts of the blizzard”—the trials—are normal; that is how it should be. On Earth, things are never always smooth and good, otherwise there would be no evolution. That is precisely why “the Lord plays the flute”: He creates the Wind of Change, removes the old, gives birth to the new, and changes everything established into something different and unfamiliar.... A person may pessimistically feel that everything has fallen apart, that “life is over,” that “the blizzard has knocked me down and I will never get up.” However, such a view does not give a person strength; it only takes it away. A positive view of the world is far more reasonable: yes, everything has fallen apart, but that only means it was not viable or that its time on Earth had simply come to an end. This is not the end at all, but a new beginning of something far more global and grandiose than what came before. Life will become more interesting, richer, and more colorful! One only needs to tune in to the New Wave and believe that the Higher Powers are always nearby and will guide us in the right direction.

On this positive note, allow me to take my leave

Thank you all for your attention and participation!

330 · May 20, 2024

Today the grove carried me away

This poem is one of the greatest antidepressants!

How do you restore and renew yourself?

Many people do not think about themselves at all. They ignore their needs and make mistakes in the process, continuing to work without the slightest pause, simply wearing themselves out, while others lead an unhealthy lifestyle. Suppose that something similar happens to you at some point. What do you think it could lead to?

If you do not stop in time, think about yourself, and take care of your health, it may suffer, and you will need considerable time and money for treatment. Do you think the price of such a mistake is fair? How would you deal with this issue?

If nature itself takes this matter into its own hands, like a caring mother, like the most fitting, dear-to-the-heart, beloved, pure, kindred soul, and gives you peace, emotional comfort, fulfillment, renewed strength, harmony, coziness, clarity about your path, inspiration, and an awareness of the depth and beauty of life, then surely this will help you resolve the matter, would you agree?

In that case, I strongly recommend walking, wandering, and taking walks in nature to resolve all the issues we discussed earlier, whether overwork or an unhealthy lifestyle. What do you think of the suggestion? Are you ready to take advantage of it?

This poem is a feast, a celebration of poetry. It will help you feel nature (and perhaps yourself) more fully (more deeply), allowing you to restore and renew yourself more effectively. Read it.

So, what is a birch grove? Firewood! And that is true. Someone who has never ventured deep into a grove will see only a material resource in it. That is a superficial view.

Now let us go further.

From the very first lines, we are told that the grove carried the author away. What are your first associations with this word? Correct: we are used to young women carrying men away. But here, unbelievably, the charmer herself did it—he only had to step into the grove, and the grove carried him away. (Just kidding

)

And where did it lead the author? Deeper into his ideas about nature. Deeper into himself. Deeper into memory, to the origins, to the beginning of life. Into a cradle, to his mother, who rocked him to sleep. The author remembered his childhood, when he was still a tiny child, safe beneath his mother’s wing.

The author could have returned to such a place only in a dream, but here it appeared to him while awake.

Wow, how she aroused some of the most pleasant memories in an instant. With nature, it is easy to go deeper into yourself.

Here, a magical effect is added. The mind paints a picture of either a girl or an apparition. The grove is associated with the image of a girl. She beckons him deeper into his ideas about himself, lures him onward, and intensifies the effect, infecting him with her happiness until he shrieks with delight, into uncontrollable ecstasy.

She enchanted the author. Sex is at the forefront of men’s minds, so the maiden shed her clothes. This clearly inspired the author even more. He walked over the leaves as though they were clothing.

A kind of uncontrollable breathing begins—poetic breathing, the breath of passion, the breath of emotion, the breath of restraint.

Hypnotizing him, she wants the author to forget everything—home, work, everyday duties, and tasks. Her game must completely bewitch him, as we would say today. She tried with all her might. But all she achieved was incredible charm, along with immersion into the depths and, through that, renewal, cleansing, and being filled with her essence.

And she continued, again and again, to inspire him. Perhaps to heal him. To beckon him onward and warm his soul.

The grove carried him away from everything negative and superficial—everything that an infant who has just entered this world does not possess, or that a person in love does not see through anything but the prism of goodness.

According to the law of higher aesthetics, there is no minor key in nature, nor can there be. We draw the highest optimism from it.

What is nature to you?

I embrace you with poetry,
Yours, 330.

Веретенников Сергей · May 21, 2024

The competition has ended.
I am grateful to all the participants in the competition, because each interpretation had its own distinctive touch, its own vision, and its own effort to see the hidden meanings.

There are no “right” or “wrong” interpretations. Everyone experiences their own states. And if these are spiritual states, then it means that “the arrow has hit the target.”

As the Author, I am always pleased and interested to know how my Reader understands my poems.
And of course, poems are a vast world of images, while it is difficult to put their understanding into words.
But all my poems have a certain direction. This direction often has a spiritual image.
For example, “the shepherdess who smiled at me” does not refer to literal events at all...
It is the Soul.
But some people also see very superficial things in my poems and perceive them that way.
Often my poems have double and even triple meanings. That is, today a person reads a poem and sees one meaning, while 10 years later they see several more meanings.

I must say that all the participants in the competition made a great effort.
And that is why it was difficult to choose the winners.
Of course, one could say that we all won here, because we received aesthetic pleasure from the most sublime form of enjoyment in this world—art. Poetry is part of it as well.

Winners:

Winner: 8030 - Prize: 12000

Winner: 070787 - Prize: 6000

Winner: 196228 - Prize: 3000

The winners can see their prize in the form of an increase in Virt-Money at the School.

The following receive consolation prizes of 2000:

873415
303707
000888

8030 · May 21, 2024

Hooray, hooray!!!! Thank you so much, Teacher!

I was very happy to participate and to read the interpretations by the other participants! Indeed, every poem is like a portal into a special mood. And this portal opens if a person is attuned to it at that point in their life, ready to perceive what lies hidden behind the words... So reading the interpretations of the other participants was very fascinating for me, because that way I was able to look not only into my own “portals,” but also into those of others

A special, heartfelt thank-you for the wonderful prize—it will be very useful to me

873415 · May 21, 2024

8030 , heartfelt congratulations! Your interpretations were very subtle, precise, and light. For me, it was an amazing experience to see something hidden where, just moments before, there had seemed to be nothing at all. Where I would not have seen anything, you noticed pearls and showed them to us.

A deep bow to Teacher,

Веретенников Сергей , for the opportunity to practice such an unusual skill and to learn to search for another meaning. It is like magic, when something completely new and different emerges from one thing.
You begin to learn to see hidden meanings not only in poems.

The Teacher’s poems opened up to me as another way of comprehending spiritual truths—a new way, through feelings. It is very unusual and truly touches the heart. Some kind of fairy-tale miracle...!

8030 · May 21, 2024

873415 , congratulations to you as well!

I sincerely thank you for your kind words!

You know, thanks to this contest, I realized many interesting things about myself. Especially through the example of the poem "Gold." I absolutely agree with you that through such exercises you learn to notice and become aware of hidden meanings. But it’s not enough just to notice them—you also have to express them somehow so that others can understand! As I wrote above, the idea of decoding "Gold" came to me back in March, but I only managed to do it now. And this is not accidental! Looking back at my life, I realized that during these two months I happened to complete the "Dream Master" course—and there, as you understand, you learn to translate the language of dreams into data and information that the conscious mind can understand (and not only that). And it was precisely this skill I had developed that allowed me to see so much in "Gold"

After all, poems are almost like dreams. A person sees the picture painted by the poet through the images produced by their own subconscious and imagination. And if this person knows how to work with their subconscious and has established a connection with it, they can perceive more information from the images that come to them. Well, something like that...

Once again, thank you so much for your congratulations!

55555 · May 21, 2024

We have wonderful winners! In general, I had no doubt that 8030 would win, and I’m very glad I was right. Today I reread the poems and interpretations once again—there was so much new to discover, a real treasure. Everyone who participated did a great job; it was interesting and enlightening to watch each person, and there is plenty to aspire to.

070787 · May 22, 2024

It’s very, very nice—thank you, OM Shanti and everyone who took part in the contest!!!

8030 , congratulations on your Gold

and I’m very happy to receive Silver

Indeed, the contest was magical, with so many interesting interpretations; everyone put a piece of their soul, love, and bright, kind feelings into it.

Many of the poems revealed by the participants and the Teacher opened up to me from a completely new perspective, much deeper than I had initially imagined.

Once again, I thank you all and wish you new victories on the path of Spiritual Growth!!!

Веретенников Сергей · Aug 30, 2024

The dog is the mind.
The captain is the person—his life.

This person understands that only HE lives his life. He is its master—that is why he is the captain of his life, not someone else.

He understands that life does not always turn out the way he wants. But that is the whole point of life—you never know what will happen.

The captain knows that the most important thing in life is the sea.

And going ashore is only for filling the holds, patching up the ship, having fun... In other words, feelings are temporary pleasures and entertainment. Sooner or later, they will deceive you if you start thinking they are the most important thing.

Therefore, it was predictable that the one who had lost her attention would be treated ironically in this poem.

The one who lost her attention is the feelings.

Today she hands out cookies to you, and tomorrow to others.

She gives illusory happiness to whoever pays.

Someone runs after this temporary happiness, trying to catch it... The whole world runs (the sailors).

But not the captain. He knows that he is ashore here only temporarily.

And the storm is temporary too. It will rage for a while, and then everything will grow quiet again.

Yes, he may give in to his feelings temporarily—that is why it will storm for a while and then calm down.

Only the mind will whine. But you are the captain, and the mind will always whine because it follows you wherever it does not want to go.

But you love your mind and feel sorry for it. Like a dog.

Gaff (hook) — Wikipedia seems like something reliable. But illusory happiness always slips off it.

But only “fools” in this material world think that happiness will always be caught forever.

And the Author of this poem also writes ironically in the poem that he takes all the questions life throws at him with a smile.

But many people take them SERIOUSLY

That only adds to their suffering when temporary happiness leaves them.

The captain is already very experienced. He does not fall for all these tricks of temporary happiness. That is why he explains to his mind that it only stormed a little

It is nothing serious.

And he knows that all that will remain from this temporary happiness is fatigue.

For the captain, this fatigue is like the tiredness after working out at the gym.

He knew it would come. And when your muscles ache a little after training, it is kind of nice.

But nothing more.

The captain is not afraid at all that Life constantly throws new riddles (questions) at him. Yes, he does not know the answers, but he searches for them himself.

281208 · Jan 2, 2025

1111 said:
The following poem by S. Veretennikov, “The Elder,” deeply touched me. It is long, but its subject is a person’s life on earth amid worldly bustle, unable to find joy and happiness. And only the elder pointed out the path to follow....
So,
View attachment 7045
View attachment 7046
The knowledge passed down from teacher to student has been forgotten. And it is also unclear whom one should receive it from. Few of them remain. The young soul’s journey is only beginning. It sees no goal and no joy; only something still glimmers within—it still exists. It raises a prayer to the heavens and asks for mercy.
View attachment 7047 View attachment 7047
According to the man’s faith, he met a Teacher—an elder who was filled with love and a happy smile, and from whom peace (serenity) emanated. And he asked the elder: “What are you—a saint?” From a single glance into his eyes, he determined who stood before him. As they say, the eyes are the mirror of the soul. What great luck that the shepherd met a Saint on his journey. But the saint was modest, replying only, “God knows everything.”View attachment 7048
The Teacher gives the shepherd the right to choose. What does he desire, and what path should he take? “All paths lead to God.” Here it should be noted that the man wants to get to heaven and find a maiden there so that he can marry her. He does not know that this is a path of suffering and pain. Until he walks the path and gains experience, the soul cannot determine what it is seeking and what it truly wants—to find peace and serenity. The Saint is ready to help him on his journey...View attachment 7049
The shepherd’s wish came true, but the joy did not last long....and once again he comes to the Teacher.View attachment 7050
There was happiness, but over the years it changed. Love somehow disappeared. An emptiness arose in his heart. A dark forest—the soul is in despair; what should he do? Perhaps happiness lies in wealth? He tries to test his fate. View attachment 7051
The wise man is ready to show him the path to wealth. The shepherd stands before him with reverence. How to reach heaven, and now how to gain wealth in order to achieve all this—the path is indicated: practices. Life continues without stopping, in an endless cycle. As he passes through life, the shepherd is unhappy again and again. Until he understands what he needs to attain. Step by step, he must pass through the path of suffering. And now he understood—he wished to find joy in his heart. At last he realized that knowledge would give him peace and serenity.View attachment 7052
The Teacher invisibly guides his student and helps him walk his path through suffering and pain. Movement is life. He is already close to his goal. He surrenders himself to his Teacher: “Show me the path I should follow.” The shepherd is now ready and mature enough to accept knowledge from the Teacher. Until then, he had only asked for his wishes to be fulfilled, but they had brought him no happiness. He had not found peace in his soul. The Teacher reassures him, saying, “God is with you; do not worry.”
View attachment 7053
The soul sought peace and delight. It fell and rose again. But the soul was happy with nothing..
Our pleasures do not lead us to Truth, to our true goal; they bring only suffering. The soul is searching for itself and cannot understand where its true place is.

View attachment 7054
The shepherd lived in bustle and haste. And the Teacher points out the path to him: stop and feel yourself Here and Now. Stop being distracted by the external world; turn inward. And you will find peace and tranquility, a beautiful and different world. Time passed. The heavens opened before him. The elder departed into another world, and that shepherd took his place, becoming an elder for others...
To come to God, a person has to travel a long path of pleasure and suffering in order to surrender himself to the Teacher, who will guide him and show him the path of Joy and peace. All paths lead to God.
Holy personalities taught that a person needs to receive a material education, work everywhere, start a family...in order to realize what is ultimately most important in life and what the soul desires.
This verse partly reminded me of a dream I had many years ago. The elder was in that dream. I asked where I should go. He pointed forward with his hand. And I flew through the air; the sun did not set but moved from left to right. There were trials along the way; I would stop, then continue moving forward toward the Sun...

The poems and the interpretation resonated deeply with my heart.
Thank you!!

001 · Jan 9, 2026

Although the contest is over and the coveted prize has slipped away, that is not what draws me to write this response. I am driven solely by the desire to bear witness: Om Shanti’s creative work is alive, and its echoes find their way to hearts through the veil of time. This is its enduring value, its immortal echo. I sincerely believe that taking part in this game, in an attempt to decipher the intimate lines from the collection “A Little More Than Silence,” published nine years ago, will also become a step in my own spiritual ascent.

I would especially like to express my deepest respect to Om Shanti for the titanic effort (the details of which are recorded in the article “Deciphering the Poetry of the Soul”) invested in creating this book—an effort that an outside reader may not even suspect upon first touching its pages. I would like, with even the slightest gesture, to support that former Om Shanti who, more than twelve years ago, poured all the pain boiling in his heart into an article and shaped it into a final address.

Time is an inexorable stream, carrying change at dizzying speed. Whereas before we could only listen to Om Shanti’s works, filled with bottomless depth, now we can both see and hear them! Truly, human potential is boundless, and only people themselves can fetter it with chains of illusion, erecting barriers of the Ego and self-deception.

I deliberately skimmed the deciphered titles of the poems so as not to immerse myself in that symphony of feelings, in the catharsis experienced by everyone who saw the lines from a new angle and was moved to a stream of revelations. But I could not—and did not want to—skip one of them,

873415 —the poem “Heart.” The words of Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh about a chaste attitude toward a person—as the source of love, as the first conscious vision—pierced me. When you neither condemn nor reject them, but grieve over their woundedness and are ready to devote your life to healing and transforming everything painful and corrupted.

Remarkably, the analysis has not even begun, yet the words are already flowing like a river. Apparently, the very atmosphere of this field has that effect. I hope my interpretations will not be too crude, for I understand that the prism through which I perceive things is still clouded by an unrighteous life and its consequences. I chose a shorter poem for myself, although that may prove more difficult. Please forgive in advance my shallow understanding, which I hope will deepen with time; perhaps I myself will be astonished at how far I was from the Truth when creating my first deciphering.

As is usually the case, coincidences are not coincidences. I wanted to provide a description of the book and, to my delight, the very first poem turned out to be short and happened to be on the same spread. Therefore, I will begin my analysis with the first poem presented in the collection, “To You.” That is where I will begin my examination. I will try to be as concise as possible and set out my own understanding of what I have read.

The poem is an address to every reader, and perhaps to the author himself, as though to a reflection of the Higher Self. The author seeks to enter the dungeon where the soul is imprisoned, using various keys: song, text, perhaps even a mantra (“heavenly whispers”). For this spiritual effort, he is ready to accept only a small portion. From there, the meaning eludes my understanding. Not wishing to engage in speculation, I honestly admit this. It concerns a gift born of imagination (is the whole world a game?), a blessing of divine love. Yes, none of this is simple. And now I ask myself why such a long introduction was necessary if the analysis ultimately failed. But I believe that acknowledging one’s own mistakes and recognizing the insufficiency of the result is also a valuable step on the path to self-improvement and further growth.

873415 · Jan 9, 2026

Incredibly amazing—I started rereading my own post with the interpretation, and it felt as if someone else had written it. I’m amazed that I could have written something like that. “The effect of Mahapurna School.” And a year later, the poem I interpreted before looks different—it reveals other facets.
It’s a wonderful feeling when, suddenly, in the midst of a multitude of important things, you stop and remember: I have missed Mahapurna School terribly. And you can come here and study at any time, in a pure, open, welcoming space. This is a great blessing of our time. I bow low to you, Teacher!

Веретенников Сергей · Jan 22, 2026

What is the Grey Horse about?

Veretennikov Music | Music and Songs | Sergey Veretennikov

First and foremost, it is dedicated to everyone who follows a spiritual path—the path of goodness, love, justice...

You cannot understand the Grey Horse if you are not like that.

In this world, White always wins.

But the Grey Horse will win someday, unexpectedly, when NO ONE in this world expects it.

That is how true spirituality works.

You go on for a long time, do good deeds, and everyone laughs at you, hates you, and so on.

That is normal in a world where strength and the majority prevail...

And everyone knows that White will win again.

In this world, people always bet on whoever wins more often.

No one needs the Grey Horse.

After all, everyone laughs at it.

It does not force its way in, and it does not run over others....

That is why it always loses.

But it is the Grey Horse after all

4257 · Jan 22, 2026

So that is what the Grey Horse is about. This is usually what people say about grey horses when they do not know what to expect from one or what potential it holds within.
Thank you for the interpretation. Om Shanti. Of course, the Grey Horse will have its day in the sun too.

Веретенников Сергей · Jul 16, 2026

***

She is the ideal, a creation of spring,
Of her alone, beautiful dreams I sing.
Her hair is silk, her eyes emerald-bright...
They say it isn't true? Well, they're lying outright.
Every word she speaks is balm for the heart,
Every glance brings the freshness of the sea...
I would not believe my own eyes from the start,
If I lived without dreaming of love's mystery.
Her heart is a vast, untouched garden.
Within it, her soul prays to God...
I would gladly lose myself there forever.
But who knows the way to that garden?

Poem by Sergey Veretennikov
My book of favorite poems is still available to you — Your Yoga. A Little More Than Silence. A Collection of Poems

Explanation:

This is about the human Soul, from the perspective of a person walking the Spiritual Path.
The person is, in a sense, saying: I know what the Soul is like — it is beautiful!

She is the ideal, a creation of spring,
Of her alone, beautiful dreams I sing.
Her hair is silk, her eyes emerald-bright...

Then, with a touch of sarcasm, he says that no one believes him or takes seriously what he says about the Soul.

They say it isn't true? Well, they're lying outright.

Then he again marvels at the Soul:

Every word she speaks is balm for the heart,
Every glance brings the freshness of the sea...

And again, he is sarcastic about the people who do not believe him. He even emphasizes that he himself used to be the same — an atheist. Yet he immediately points to the Path: one must dream of love. Because most people are mired in hatred and worldly bustle...

I would not believe my own eyes from the start,
If I lived without dreaming of love's mystery.

The author of the poem compares the Soul to an innocent and pure creation, so that the Reader can grasp at least some images of this world that are comprehensible to them.

Her heart is a vast, untouched garden.
Within it, her soul prays to God...

Moreover, the person says that the Soul is still so incomprehensible to him that he is only capable of marveling at it; he still knows nothing about it for certain.

I would gladly lose myself there forever.
But who knows the way to that garden?

1301 · Jul 17, 2026

Веретенников Сергей , quoted message

One of my favorite songs was written to these verses. When I listen to it, I feel the desire to move forward and remain true to myself.

Веретенников Сергей · Jul 27, 2026

YELLOW FLOWERS

The grove scattered yellow flowers.

Why, then, did you smile so sweetly?

And hiding a tear in your blue eyes,

You later walked across the earth in tears.

The wind scattered the silk of your hair,

And the late haymaking smelled of grass,

You touched the earth with a tender hand,

And blue mist rose above the river.

The birds promised to return in spring.

I feel like sobbing, but I must smile.

A silvery light flashed from behind the clouds—

That was God’s answer to my question.

The wires howl, and I shiver a little,

And once again I feel the Essence so vividly.

And now, looking at the flowers, I know

Why you smiled so sweetly.

Author of the poem: Sergey Veretennikov (2000), author of the Your Yoga website and the Mahapurna School.

Interpretation:

On the surface, this poem is about a woman, autumn, sorrow, and some kind of parting.

But at its core, it is about death, transformation, and the return of the Soul.

Here, death is not shown as final destruction, but as autumn, after which a new spring will inevitably come.

The key is hidden in the very first line:

The grove scattered yellow flowers.

In reality, the grove most likely scattered autumn leaves across the ground.

But the author calls them not dead leaves, but yellow flowers.

What most people perceive as withering, old age, and death, a spiritual person sees differently.

For an ordinary person, a leaf has fallen—meaning it has died.

But here it has turned into a flower.

In other words, the death of its external form did not destroy its beauty. On the contrary, only now has another meaning of that beauty been revealed.

And then She appears:

Why, then, did you smile so sweetly?
And hiding a tear in your blue eyes,
You later walked across the earth in tears.

This woman is not merely an earthly woman.

She may be an image of the Soul, which knows far more about the world than the person addressing her.

She smiles, though there are tears in her eyes.

At first glance, this seems contradictory: if you are in pain, why are you smiling?

But the Soul sees both earthly pain and what lies beyond that pain at the same time.

She cries because she has to part.

Because everything earthly is dear to her.

Because even understanding eternity, the Soul does not become devoid of feeling.

But she smiles because she knows: the parting is not final.

The person does not yet understand this. That is why he asks:

Why, then, did you smile so sweetly?

He sees her smile, but does not yet know its reason.

Then the boundary between the woman and nature begins to disappear:

The wind scattered the silk of your hair,
And the late haymaking smelled of grass,
You touched the earth with a tender hand,
And blue mist rose above the river.

She seems to dissolve into the surrounding world.

Her hair mingles with the wind.
Her touch awakens the earth.
After her movement, mist rises above the river.

This is no longer simply a woman walking across a field.

It is the Soul bidding farewell to the earthly world.

Or Nature itself, taking on a woman’s form in order to convey some secret to a human being.

The mist also appears here for a reason.

Mist conceals the familiar outlines of the world. When mist rises, things cease to be as definite as we are accustomed to seeing them.

The same happens when one comes into contact with the spiritual: the familiar material world momentarily loses its solidity, and a person begins to sense that something else exists behind visible reality.

But the final hint is given in the following lines:

The birds promised to return in spring.

The birds fly away.

To someone watching them in autumn, they seem to disappear forever.

But the birds know what the person who remains does not: they will return.

Thus, the birds here are an image of Souls.

They leave the familiar world, but do not disappear.

Spring will come—and they will be here again.

This may symbolize a new birth, the return of the Soul, resurrection, a new meeting, or awakening in another world.

What matters here is not a literal explanation, but the very principle:

departure does not equal disappearance.

Autumn does not destroy life.

It merely leads it inward, into an invisible state.

And the person gradually begins to understand the woman’s smile:

I feel like sobbing, but I must smile.

These words can be understood as an attempt to hide one’s pain from those around us.

But here the meaning is deeper.

The person wants to cry because his earthly heart is experiencing loss.

But at the same time, he already senses that what is happening cannot be perceived only as a tragedy.

One must smile not because it does not hurt.

And not because one must pretend to be strong.

But because behind the pain, a knowledge of eternity is revealed.

This is a very difficult smile.

People smile this way not out of joy, but out of understanding.

The person is still crying, but has already begun to see beyond his tears.

And then a direct answer comes:

A silvery light flashed from behind the clouds,
That was God’s answer to my question.

God does not answer with words.

No voice appears from heaven to explain everything in detail.

The answer comes through the silvery light that flashes among the clouds.

That is, through a momentary inner illumination.

The clouds are the person’s sorrow, doubts, and lack of understanding.

And the light is knowledge that briefly breaks through them.

That moment is enough for the person to understand what matters most.

God answers him through Nature itself:

yellow leaves resembling flowers;

birds promising to return;

mist above the river;

light among the clouds.

The entire surrounding world becomes a message.

But after the illumination, earthly reality does not disappear:

The wires howl, and I shiver a little,

It is still cold.

The wires still howl.

The person is still lonely and a little afraid.

Spiritual illumination does not mean that a person stops feeling pain.

He remains human.

But now something greater than this pain appears within him:

And once again I feel the Essence so vividly.

The essence is that life does not end together with the disappearance of visible form.

The body may depart.

The leaf may fall.

The bird may vanish beyond the horizon.

A loved one may disappear from our sight.

But none of this yet means final death.

What seems like an end may merely be a transition.

And so the final lines return us to the beginning:

And now, looking at the flowers, I know
Why you smiled so sweetly.

Now the person has received his answer.

She smiled because she knew what he did not yet know at the time.

She had already seen spring beyond autumn.

She had already heard the returning birds, although they were only preparing to fly away.

She had already seen life within what seemed to others to be death.

And the yellow flowers become the poem’s central symbol.

They are not merely autumn leaves.

They are the beauty of departure.

They are earthly forms that have completed their journey but have not lost their essence.

The grove seems to scatter them before the person so that he may finally understand:

“Look more closely. You call this death. But could death really be this beautiful?”

The poem says that true spiritual knowledge does not abolish tears.

It teaches us to smile through them.

Not because there is no loss.

But because spring is already concealed behind every autumn.

And perhaps the woman in the poem is the Soul itself, which turned back for a moment before departing and smiled at the person.

She did not explain anything to him.

Because this cannot be explained in words.

She simply smiled.

98765 · Jul 27, 2026

A wonderful interpretation of the hidden meaning.... “Because Spring is already hidden behind every Autumn” — as a theme of transition to a new level: from the “yellow” Manipura to the “green” Anahata. And then: “...and hiding a little tear in your blue eyes...” — tears form in eyes that are blue, like Vishuddha.... “...then you walked across the earth in tears...” This chakra represents realization—expressing oneself in the world. It seems to be a parting (yellow flowers are given on such occasions, as a sign of farewell to...), but these are not leaves the color of decay; they are flowers—the intermediate stage in a plant’s development, since flowering comes to an end while new life arises in parallel—the fruits of flowering, seeds—the divine code of life, a new life story on a new level, since no two plants have identical patterns (for example, the arrangement of veins on leaves, skin patterns, etc.), and those grown from seeds are all the more different (new living conditions, etc.). “And a blue mist rose above the river” — then the “blue” color is mentioned—Ajna.... This is the space where a concept or idea is born; it says that everything follows God’s intended script—the theme of the soul’s reincarnation after gathering experience (seeds), which will gain Love in God’s heart (Anahata), and then fly (like birds in spring) into a new realization.... Yellow is also the color of gold—of eternity, as it were (a metal that does not easily deteriorate)—and of the Sun (the source of life). A grove consists of trees. A tree is a symbol of the unity of two worlds (roots in the earth—the root chakra Muladhara; although its color is not named, this is the poem’s first phrase: “The grove scattered yellow...,” in which “grove” comes before “yellow,” and then, above the surface (in the air)—the trunk and everything above it). All the chakras seem to be present here except the violet one. But silver is like white, and it would not be white if any color were absent from the spectrum.... A complete, healthy, living aura of a natural being. And the mist also speaks of a transitional form—it is no longer water as such, i.e. it is not on the ground, but neither is it pure air, since it is still water suspended in the air, like tears—not a product of the earth’s inanimate natural objects (this is a formulation from school concepts; in fact, everything is alive), but of a rational human being, i.e. of another level (although nature is essentially wiser than humans, as life experience shows), but still.... “...silver light. In response to my question, God sent an answer” — the silver Light points to the unity of life, its wholeness—Life is both Birth and Death, i.e. a natural, inevitable cycle.
I couldn’t resist... I wanted to add something, because I like life-affirming themes about the true structure of the world....
A wonderful topic. Thank you!

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