Worship
Govinda, worship Govinda,
O foolish one! Worship Govinda.
The rules of grammar profit nothing,
once the hour of death draws nigh.
Mooda Jaheehi DhanaagamaTrushnaam |
Kuru Sanduddhima
Manasi Vitrushnaam ||
Yallabhase Nija
Karmopaattam |
Vittakam Tena
Vinodaaya Chittam ||
Renounce, o
fool,
your ceaseless thirst
For hoarding gold and precious gems;
Content yourself with what may come
through deeds performed in earlier lives.
Devote your mind to righteousness and
let dispassion be your law.
Naaristanabharanaabheedesham Drushtaa |
Maa Gaa
Mohaavesham ||
Eitanmaannasava
Saadivikaaram |
Manasi Vichintya
Vaaraan Vaaram ||
Lust at the sight of a woman's body
springs from ignorance, springs from error;
Inwardly reason, over and over,
bodies are flesh, blood and fat.
Uncertain
is the life of man
As rain-drops on a lotus leaf;
The whole of human kind,
is prey to grief and ego and diseases.
While a man supports his family,
see what loving care they show!
nearing the time of dissolution
But when his aging body falters,
none, not even his nearest kin,
will think to ask him how he fares.
While man's
soul remains in his body,
Fondly his family wish him well;
But when the life-breath leaves its dwelling,
Even his wife will flee in fear.
Lost in play is the carefree stripling,
Lost is his sweet-heart's charms, the youth;
The old man broods upon his sorrows
None, there is, alas, whose spirit
yearns to be lost in the Parabrahman.
Who is your
wife?
And who is your child?
Strange indeed is this mortal world!
Who are you?
And who is your own?
Brother, ponder on these things.
Good association breeds detachment;
Detachment leads to freedom from delusion;
Undeluded, one contacts changeless Reality,
Contact with Reality, bestows Liberation while alive.
Youth being
fled, what good is passion?
Water gone, what use a lake?
Where to be found our friends and kinsmen?
Once the money's all exhausted,
Where is the world? When Truth is known?
Boast not of youth or friends or wealth,
Swifter than eyes can wink,
by Time, each one of these,
is stolen away,
Abjure the illusion of the world,
And join yourself to Timeless Truth.
Sunrise and
sunset,
daylight and darkness;
Winter and springtime,
come and go,
Even the course of Time is playful,
But man's vain hope, alas! goes onward,
Timelessly onward, evermore.
Dreaming of wife, dreaming of wealth,
Why do you roam restless as the wind?
Is there none to take you in charge?
Know then, my friend, in all the three worlds,
The company of the good is the only boat
That can take you across the samsara sea.
Many are
those whose locks are matted,
Many whose heads are closely shaved,
Many who pluck out all their hair,
Some of them wearing robes of ochre,
Some of them clad in other colors;
All these things for their stomach's sake,
Seeing Truth revealed before them,
Still the deluded see it not.
Feeble has grown the old man's body,
Toothless his gums and bald his head.
But there he goes upon his crutches,
Clinging firmly to fruitless hope!
Seeking for
warmth, the penniless beggar,
closely crouches before his fire,
Or sits with only the sun to warm him,
nightly he lays him down to slumber,
Curling up to keep out the cold,
Hungrily eats his beggar's portion,
Out of the bowl his hands provide him,
Takes up his dwelling under a tree,
Still in his heart, a helpless prisoner,
Bound with the chains of empty hope.
Though for the sake of his salvation,
Man may go on a pilgrimage to Ganga Sagara,
Keep his vows and give to the poor,
Failing the Knowledge of the Highest,
Nothing of this assures him freedom,
Even in the span of a hundred lives.
Make a
temple or tree, your home,
Clothe yourself in the skin of a deer,
And use the bare earth for your bed,
Avoiding gifts and sense delights,
Could any fail to be content,
Blest with dispassion such as these?
Plunge in Yoga or in enjoyment,
Mix with all or stand severely apart,
For the heart that delights ever in Brahman,
It is bliss, bliss, bliss, bliss without end.
Let a man
but read from the Gita,
Drink of the Ganges but a drop,
Worship but once the Lord Almigthy,
And he will set at rest forever,
All his fear of the King of Death.
Birth unceasing! Death unceasing!
Ever to pass through a mother's womb!
Hard to cross is the world's wide ocean,
Lord, redeem me through Thy mercy.
Rags cast
off along the highway,
Serve as a garment for the monk;
Freed from vice and freed from virtue,
Onward he wonders, in his sight,
nor I, nor you, nor the world exists.
Who am I? And who are you?
What is the place from which I come?
Who is my mother? Who my sire?
Pondering thus, perceive them all
As fancies only, without substance,
Give up the world as an idle dream.
Vishnu
alone it is who dwells,
In you, in me, in everything;
Empty of meaning is your wrath,
And the impatience you reveal,
Seeing yourself in every one,
Have done with all diversity.
Be not attached to friend or foe,
To son, or kinsmen, peace or war,
If you aspire to Vishnu's realm
Look upon all things equally.
Give up the
curse of lust and wrath,
Give up delusion, give up greed,
Remember who you really are,
Fools are they that are blind to self,
Cast into hell, they suffer there.
Everyday recite from the Gita,
Chant the thousand names of Vishnu,
Cherishing him within your heart,
Take delight to be with the holy,
Give your riches away to the poor.
He who
yields to lust or pleasure,
Leaves his frame a prey to disease,
Yet, though death is the final ending,
None foreswears to sinfulness.
Remember, riches bring in grief,
Truly no joy abides in them;
A rich man even fears his son,
Thus is the position everywhere.
Control the
self, restrain the breath,
Sift out the transient from the true,
Repeat the holy name of God,
And still the restless mind within,
To this, the universal rule,
Apply yourself, with heart and soul.
Cherish your Guru's lotus feet,
And free yourself without delay,
From the enslavement of this world,
Curb your senses, and your mind,
And see the Lord within your heart.