.. vairAgya shatakam ..

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Text title : bhartRiharivirachita vairaagya shatakam

File name : vairagya.itx
Location : doc_z_misc_major_works
Language : Sanskrit
Subject : philosophy/hinduism/religion
Transliterated by : Sunder hattangadi sunderh at hotmail.com
Proofread by : Sunder hattangadi sunderh at hotmail.com
Translated by : Sunder hattangadi sunderh at hotmail.com
Description-comments : vairAgya from Bhartrihari@s three hundred-verse sets
Latest update : January 22, 1999
Send corrections to : Sanskrit@cheerful.com
Site access : http://sanskritdocuments.org


1 Condemnation of Desire
To Him who appears radiant in the shimmering rays, like half-
bloomed buds,
of the crescent moon which ornaments His head; who sportively
burned Cupid
like a moth; whose presence augurs supreme well-being; who,
like the sun,
inwardly dispels the dense darkness of ignorance engulng the
mind; who is
like a lamp of knowledge shining in the hearts of yogis; Victory
to Shiva!
= thirst (of desire)
= condemnation
= head
= made an ornament
= moon
= beautiful
= partially opened buds
= lambent beams
= shining sun
= sport

1
2

= burnt up
= unsteady
= passion
= a moth
= circumstances of prosperity
= in front of
= appearing
= spreading forth in the heart
= endless
= ignorance
= night
= heavy mass at the front
= smites away
= heart
= in the temple of
= of the yogi
= proves victorious
= light of knowledge
= Siva

Travelling across many dicult and dangerous places brought

me no
wealth; giving up pride of lineage, I have served the rich in vain,
without self-respect, in others homes; I have craved and eaten
like
crows in others homes; and still, oh Desire! instigator of
wicked deeds,
you prosper and even then remain unsatised.
= roamed
= places
= various

3

= dicult
= obstacles
= obtained
= not
= even a little
= result/wealth
= having given up
= birth in a caste
= lineage
= pride
= proper
= service
= having performed
= fruitless
= fed
= honor
= devoid of
= in others homes
= hankering after gain
= like a crow
= thirsting desire
= increases
= indicative of evil deeds
= not now even
= satised

Digging the earth for wealth, smelting the rocks for prcious
metals,
crossing the oceans, laboring to keep in favor of kings, chanting
incantations with a totally absorbed mind in cremation sites,
brought
4

me not even a broken piece of a glimmering shell. Oh Desire!

therefore,
remain contented.
= dug
= precious metals
= in quest of
= earth
= smelted
= stones
= precious metals
= crossed
= oceans
= chief
= royal
= with eort
= favored
= incantations
= worship
= utmost eort
= mentally
= carried out
= cramation grounds
= nights
= achieved
= a broken cowrie
= even
= not
= by me
= desire
= satised
= be

Enduring somehow in servility the talk of the wicked; holding

back tears;
smiling with a vacant mind; bowing low to wealthy but stupid
people; oh
insatiable Desire! What other futile deeds would you have me
dance in?
= wicked
= talk
= shabby
= somehow
= that
= servile attendance
= suppressing
= tears
= smiling
= even
= vacant
= mentally
= made
= wealth
= inactive
= dulled
= intellect
= obeisance
= also
= you
= oh Desire!
= with hopes thwarted
= what
= other
= hence
= dance
= me
6

Our energies, as ckle as the water drops on the lotus leaf, we

have spent
with thoughtless abandon. In front of the rich, with their minds
dulled by the
arrogance of wealth, we have sinned by attering ourselves.
= our
= all the vital forces
= unsteady
= lotus
= leaf
= water
= done
= what
= not
= by us
= depraved
= conscience
= performed
= which
= of the rich
= in the presence
= pride of wealth
= stupeed
= minds
= committed
= without
= shame
= own virtues
= reciting
= sin
= even

7

Forgiving out of weakness, giving up comforts of the home out

of lack
of fullment, tolerating the unbearable cold, wind, heat, with-
out
fullling austerities, thinking of riches day and night within-
tense
energy but not on Shivas feet,; thus have we performed the
actions of
the ascetic recluse, but devoid of the benets.
= forgiven
= not
= forgiveness
= comforts of home-life
= renounced
= not
= with contentment
soDhA
= inclement
= cold
= wind
= heat
= suered inclement weather
= not
= heated
= austerities
= meditating
= money
= day and night
= controlled
8

= breath and vital forces

= not
= of Shiva
= feet
=those very acts
= done
= which verily
= by reclusive saints
= those only
= of good results
= deprived of

We have not enjoyed mundane pleasures, but ourselves have

been devoured by
desires. We have not performed austeriries, but got scorched
ourselves,
nevertheless; time is not gone but we approach the end. Desires
do not
wear out, only we ourselves are struck down by senility.
= worldly pleasures
= not
= enjoyed

= we ourselves

= eaten up
= austerities
= not
= performed
= we ourselves
= burnt
= time
= not

9

= gone
= we ourselves
= gone
= desire
= not
= reduced
= we
= alone
= aged

Face covered with wrinkles, the head painted white with gray
hair, the limbs
feeble, and yet Desire alone stays youthful.
= with wrinkles
= face
= attacked
= grey hair
= painted white
= head
= limbs
= enfeebled
= desire alone
= rejuvenating

With desires receding, even much respect of many dropping

away, dear
friends close to my heart eeing to heaven, standing up slowly
with
10

the help of a stick, eyesight darkened by cataracts,even then

the
body in its stupidity, wonders at the prospect of death!
= receded
= desire for pleasures
= person

= respect
= also
= lost
= compeers
= gone to heaven
= swiftly

= dear friends
= as much as life
= slowly

= raise oneself slowly with the help of a sta
= covered by dense cataracts
= and
= eyes
= alas
= stupidity
= the body
= even then
= wonders at the thought of death

Hope, like a river, with fantasies as water, agitated by waves of

desires;
attachments to various objects serving as prey; abounding in
thoughts of greed,
like birds; destroying the foes of courage; surrounded by eddies
of ignorance

11

deep and dicult to cross; with precipitous banks of anxiety

such a river
the perfected yogis of pure minds, cross to enjoy beatitude.
= hope
= named
= river
= of the water of desires
= passions
= waves
= raging
= grasped by attachments to objects
= scheming thoughts (of greed)
= birds
= courage
= tree
= destroyer
= whirlpools of ignorance

= impassable
= great
= deep
= precipitous
= anxiety
= banks
= their
= cross beyond
= puried
= mind
= enjoy
= great yogis

12

I do not see true well-being accruing from actions repeated life

after life
in this world. On deep thought, I nd it fearsome this collection
of merits.
By this great store of merits further enjoyments can be pro-
cured. Attachment to
pleasures only brings more misery.
= sensual objects
= giving up
= futile eorts
= not
= produced through life after life
= performed

= see
= well-being
= accumulation

= of virtues
= engenders
= fear
= in me
= on deep thinking
= by great
= merit

= stream
=constant
= earned
= and
= sensual pleasures
= greatly
= produces
= misery
= giving
= those attached to pleasures


13

Sensual pleasures will surely leave us sometime, even if they

stay with us
for a long time. Then, what dierence does it make if the
people discard them
by their own choice? The mind is sorely aicted if pleasures
leave us
of their own accord. However, if people renounce them volun-
tarily, such
self-control gives innite bliss.
= certainly
= gone
= long time
= even after staying
= sensual pleasures
= departure
= what
= dierence
= give up
= not
= people
= that of their own accord
= leave
= on their own
= incomparable
= misery
= mental
= by themselves
= give up
= verily these
= self-control
= happiness

= innite
= specially give
14

Ah! knowledge of Reality gained by discrimination through

puried intellect
must be dicult. For it results from the absolute renunciation
of desires
which wealth enabled them to enjoy. The same obtained in the
past or present,
or to be obtained in the future, we are unable to renounce,
though they remain
as mere longings.
= knowledge of supreme reality
= discrimination
= pure
= minds
= do
= ah!
= dicult to achieve
= which
= discard
= bringing enjoyment
= wealth
= wholly
= those devoid of craving
= not obtained
= in the past

= not
= in the present
= not
= and
= obtained
= rm

15

= conviction
= desiring
= to obtain
= lasting
= to give up
= not
= able
= we

Blessed are they who live in mountain-caves,meditating on the

Supreme Light,
with the birds fearlessly sitting on their laps drinking the tears
of joy.
Our life fades away, revelling in fantasies in palaces or on the
banks
of refreshing ponds, or in pleasure gardens.
= blessed
= in mountain-caves
= living
= light
= supreme
= meditating
= joy
= tear drops
= drink
= birds
= without fear
= sitting on laps
= our
= indeed
= fantasies
16

= created
= palaces
- = on banks of waters
= sport
= pleasure gardens
= fast

= life
= fast
= weakens ..14..

For eating I have tasteless food once a day, after begging of

alms; the earth
for a bed, and my own body as a servant; for dress, a blanket
made from
hundreds of rags; and yet alas! sensual desires do not leave me!
= food by begging
= that too
= tasteless
= once a day
= bed
= and
= earth
= attendants
= dress
= worn out
= torn in hundred pieces
= and
= patched up
= alas
= alas
= even then

17

= sensual craving
= not
= give up

The poets give such metaphors as golden vessels to the breasts

which are
but two lumps of esh; the mouth, seat of phlegm and mucus,
are compared to
the moon; the loins, outlet for wet urine, are likened to the
forehead of
an elephant; thus glorifying the human form that is always
contemptible.
= breasts
= lumps of esh
= compared to golden jugs
= mouth
= saliva/phlegm
= seat
= yet
= and
= to the moon
= compared to
= owing
= urine
= fouled
= elephant
= head
= likened to
= hip and loins
= ever despicable
= form
18

= poets
= especially
= great
= done

Uniquely great is Shiva among the sensuous, for he shares half

the body with
His beloved; among the dispassionate no one excels Him in
detachment from women.
Rest of the people, stunned in infatuation by Cupids irre-
sistible arrows tipped
with serpent poison, can neither enjoy their desires nor give
them up at will.
= one, unique
= sensual
= stands out
= beloved
= body
= sharing
= Siva
= among the dispassionate
= people
= free
= woman
= company
= not
= from which
= superior
= irresistible, Cupid
= arrow
= snake

19

= poison
= smitten
= stupeed
= people
= rest
=infatuated by love
= not
= enjoying desires
= not
= give up
= able

Like a moth falling in re, not knowing its burning power; or

like the sh
caught in ignorance by the baited hook; we, despite knowing
the dangers, do not
renounce sensual pleasures. Oh! how profound is the glory of
delusion!
= not knowing
= burning power
= falls
= moth
= glowing
= in re
= that
= sh
= also
= due to ignorance
= sh-hook
= with
= sh also due to ignorance eats from the hook
20

= bait
= intellectual understanding
= even
= herewith
= we here
= complex and dangerous
= not
= give up
= sensuality
= profound
= power of delusion

When the mouth is parched with thirst, a person drinks cool

and sweet water;
when smitten with hunger the person eats rice, avored with
meat et cetera.;
when are with passion, he embraces the wife with great
rmness; thus, joy
is the remedying of these diseases(thirst,hungr,lust), and yet
how much distress
in these remedies!
= thirst
= parched
= mouth
= drinks
= water
= cold
= refreshing
= hunger-stricken
= cooked food
= eats

21

= made delicious by adding meat, etc.

= aroused
= ery desire

= very rmly
= embraces
= wife
= opposing
= diseases

= happiness
= upset
= persons

Owning towering mansions, with sons honored by the learned

and wealthy;
with a charitable and youthful wife, the ignorant people regard
this
world as permanent, and enter this prison of repeated cycles of
birth
and death. Blessed indeed is one who sees the momentary
transience and
renounces it.
= tall
= mansions

= sons
= honored by the learned
= immeasurable
= wealth
= benecent
= charitable
= age
= and
22

= young
= thus
= ignorance
= deluded
= persons
= thinking
= world
= permanent
= regard
= world cycles (creation-dissolution)
= prison
= having seen
= momentariness
= all that
= blessed indeed
= renounces

Distressed, misery written on her face, constantly tugged at her

worn-out
clothes by hungry, crying childrenif one were to see such a
wife,
what wise person, smitten with hunger, with a choked and
faltering voice,
would say Give me, fearing refusal of his entreaty?
= supplicant attitude
= poverty
= condemnation
= suering
= piteous faces
= always

23

= by children
= pulling
= worn out
= clothes
= crying
= hungry without food

= seeing
= not
= if it be
= ones wife
= request
= refusal
= fear of
= choking
= faltering
= jumbled
= voice
= who
= give me, thus
= speaks
= ones own
= on re
= of the stomach
= for the sake of
= wise

= man

Clever in undoing the knots of self-respect; like the moonlight

brightly
shining on the lotus of virtues; like a hatchet cutting o the
lush creepers
24

of our vaunted modesy such is the hard mockery of lling

the pit of
the stomach
= fond self-respect,like
knots,being cleverly cut


= greatly valued
virtues of the lotus in bright moonlight

= great modesty,growing
abundantly like creepers, cut by a scythe
= pit of the stomach
= hard to ll
= do
= undoing

Wandering in holy places or extensive forests, whose outskirts

are grey with
smoke of res tended by priests expert in rituals; a begging
bowl in hand
covered with a white cloth; entering from door to door to
appease the distressing
hunger by lling the stomach and sustaining the energy, is
preferred by a
self-respecting person to being a beggar among his compeers
every day.
= holy

= places
= forests
= or
= great
= white
= cloth covering

25

= begging bowl
= indeed
= taking
= experts in rituals
= brahmanas
= sacricial res
= smoke
= grey
= periphery
= door
= door
= enter
= man of self respect
= cavity of the stomach
= lling
= craving with hunger
= self-respecting
= energies
= preserved
= not

= day to day
= among ones peers
= beggar

Will the Himalayan ranges, cooled by the ne spray from the

waves of the Ganges,
and with the beautiful rocky plateaus habited by celestial
musicians, dissolve
and disappear, prompting people to disgrace themselves by
depending on others
for their livelihood?
26

= waves of Ganges
= minute bits
= spray
= cool
= celestial beings expert in the arts
= inhabited
= beautiful
= rock
= plateaus
= places
= why
= rocky
= destruction
= gone
= which
=humiliated
= dependent on others

= human beings

Have the roots and herbs from the caves gone out of existence,
or have
the streams disappeared from the mountains, or have the trees
yielding
succulent fruits on their branches and barks from their trunks
been
destroyed, which would lead these wicked folks, destitute of
good
breeding, to show their faces, with eyebrows dancing like wind-
blown
creepers due to arrogance of laboriously earning their meager
livelihood?

27

= is it
= roots/herbs
= from caves
= disappeared
= streams
= or
= from mountains
= destroyed
= or
= from trees
= juicy
= fruits
= bearing
= giving barks
= and
= branches
= gone
= whose faces
= extremely
= devoid of
= good breeding
= wicked
= misery
= acquired
= little
= wealth
= arrogance
= wind
= moved vy
= dancing
= eye-brow
= creepers

28

Now, accepting lovingly the sacred roots and fruits for suste-
nance and the
earth covered with fresh leaves of branches for a bed, let us go
forth to the
forest, where people whose minds are mean and devoid of
discretion, and who
always talk excruciatingly of the aictions of wealth, are not
even heard from.
= sacred

= roots
= fruits
= therefore
= enjoyable
= attitude
= make
= now
= the earth as a bed
= new
= leaves
= without grief
= arise
= go
= forest
= of the trivial
= unintelligent
= stupid
= minds
= where, of the rich
= always
= wealth
= aictions
= unfavorable changes
= excruciating
= talk

29

= even the name

= not
= heard

With fruits available at will in every forest, and cool, sweet

water from holy
streams in every place, and a bed made of tender leaves and
twigs, still these
miserable people endure sorrow at the gates of the rich.
= fruit
= at will
= got
= in every forest
= without sorrow
= walk on the earth
= water
= place
= place
= cool, sweet

= holy streams
= soft to touch
= bed
= tender
= creepers
= made of twigs
= suer
= grief
= still
= of the wealthy
= at the doors
= pitiable
30

Those who grovel before the rich, and those given to meanness
with their reason
satised with mere sensual pleasures, may I recall their days of
plight with
an inner smile, while lying down on a stone-bed in a mountain-
cave, during lulls
in-between meditation.
= who
= behave
= rich
= supplication
= suering misery
= who
= and meanness
= given to
= sensual pleasures
= contented
= minds

= their
= inwardly arising
= smiling
= days
= remember
= in intervals of meditation
= on the mountain
= cave
= bed of stone
= lying


31

The joy of those who are contented remains uninterrupted,

while those greedy for
wealth and with confused reason never have their cravings
killed. Therefore, for
what purpose did the Creator bring into existence the Meru
mountain of innite
riches, which serves only to glorify itself? I have no taste for it.
= they
= contentement
= uninterrupted
= felicitous
= their
= not
= interrupted
= happy
= they
= others
= wealth
= greed
= confounded
= reason
= of those
= not
= thirst, craving
= killed
= such
= whose
= done
= nished
= that
= by the Creator
= thus
32

= wealth
= in itself
= end
= gold
= glory
= not Meru (mountain of gold)
= to me
= like

Food obtained by begging alms is not humiliating, gives joy

that is
not dependent on fullling others needs, and is totally devoid
of
fear. It destroys envy, arrogance, pride, impatience, and the
stream of
miseries. It is easily available everywhere, without great eort,
and
regarded as sacred by holy persons. It is like Shivas feeding
house,
ever accessible and inexhaustible. Thus do the perfected
yogis describe it.
= alms
= food
= not humiliating
= pleasure, not dependent(earning,social duty,etc)
= devoid of fear
= totally
= wicked envy
= arrogance
= pride
= destruction

33

= sorrow
= ow
= removal
= everywhere
= everyday
= with little eort

= easily

= dear to the holy persons
= purifying
= Sivas
= feeding house
=accessible
= inexhaustible
= praise
= perfected yogis

4 Description of the transiency of Enjoyments:

There is fear of disease in the enjoyment of sensual pleasures;
in
lineage, fear of decline; in riches, fear of kings; fear of humil-
iation
in honor; fear of enemies when in power; fear of old age in
beauty; in
learning, fear of disputants; in virtue, fear of the wicked; in
body,
fear of death. All facets of mans life on
earth engender fear; renunciation alone is fearless.
= enjoyments
= trasitoriness
= description
34

= in enjoyment
= disease
= fear
= in lineage
= fear of disgrace
= wealth
= fear of more powerful kings
= in honor
= dishonor
= in strength
= fear of enemies
= in beauty
= old age
= fear
= in scriptural knowledge
= fear of debaters
= in virtue
= fear of the wicked
= in body
= fear of death
= all
= existece
= pervaded by fear
= in this world
= of persons
= renunciation
= alone
= fearless

Birth is attacked by death, and bright youth by old age; con-

tentment

35

by greed for wealth; peace of mind by seductive women; virtues

by the
envy of others; forests by beasts of prey; kings by the unscrupu-
lous;
and even fame by transitoriness. Is there anything on earth that
is
not aicted by something?
= attacked
= by death
= birth
= by old age
= and
= exceedingly
= bright
= youth
= joy
= by greed
= joy of self-control
= clever
= women
= wiles
= peoples
= envy
= virtues
= forests
= by beasts of prey
= by the unscrupulous
= by transience
= powers
= even
= destroyed
= aicted by
= not
= what
= by what
36

= indeed

Hundreds of varieties of illness root out health of people.

Adversities nd an
open door wherever Laxmi, Goddess of Wealth, is present.
Whatever is born,
Death is sure to make it powerless and aborb it into itself, again
and again.
Then what has the Creator made that can be regarded as stable?
= hundreds of ailments
= of people
= various
= health
= destroyed
= where the Goddess of wealth
= where
= lurk
= there
= open
= doors
= as if
= perils
= born
= born
= surely
= very soon
= powerless
= death
= makes
= its own
= then, what

37

= by him
= absolute
= by the Creator
= whatever is created

= stable

Sensual pleasures are transient like the breaking of high waves.

Life can end
in a moment. Youthful cheerfulness in infatuation lasts only a
few days. Wise
teachers, having realised that the whole revolving wheel of life
is lacking
in true worth, strive to achieve equanimity for the benet of the
people.
= enjoyments
= high
= waves
= broken
= unstable
= life
= moment
= destroyed
= few, indeed
= days
= youth

= buoyancy of happiness
= loved ones
= stays
= that
= wheel of existence
= that wheel of life, with no substance
38

= verily
= all
= knowing

= wise ones
= preachers
= humanity
= benet
= motivated for
= in their minds
= eort
= to attain equanimity

Sensual pleasures are as ckle as the ash of lightning in the

clouds. Life can collpse as easily as the drop of water on the
edge of a
lotus leaf swayed by the wind. Fickle are the longings in youth.
Quickly
realising this, let the wise ones engage their minds in equanim-
ity,
attained easily by courage.
= enjoyments
= in a mass of clouds
= play
= lightning
= eeting quick
= life
= wind
= dispersed
= lotus
= leaf
= attached

39

= like water
= insecure
= unsteady
= youth
= desires
= body
= bearing
= thus
= realising
= speedily
= in union with the Divine
= patience
= equanimity
= attained
= easily
= mind/intellect

= x
= wise ones

Life undulates like a wave. Youthful beauty lasts a few days.

Riches are
as short-lived as thoughts. The successive enjoyments are like
autumnal
lightning ashes. The beloveds embrace round the neck lasts
only
a moment. Lovingly tie your mind to Brahman to overcome the
fear of
crossing the ocean of cycles of births and deaths.
= life
= big wave
= changing
40

= a few
= days
= lasts
= youth
= beauty
= wealth
= transient as thought
= autumnal
= lightning
= occasional ashes
= whole series of enjoyments
= aroun the neck
= embrace
= yet
= and
= not
= long
= which
= by the loved ones
= given
brahmaNi in Brahman
= engrossed
= mind
= your
= existence
= fear
= ocean
= beyond
= to cross over


41

Life in the womb involves lying in discomfort amidst unclean

surroundings,
with the limbs conned. Enjoyments in youth are vitiated by
intense
sorrow when separated from the beloved. Even old age incurs
contempt and
derision of women. Oh, men! say, is there even a trace of
happiness in
such a life?
= with diculty
= impure matter
= amidst
= with the body cramped
= resides
= in the womb
= wife
= separation
= sorrow
= misfortune
= dicult
= in youth
= and
= enjoyment
= of women
= contempt
= laughing
= old
= emotion
= even
= undesirable
= in the wheel of life
= oh!
= men
= say
= when
= happiness
42

= a little
= even
= exists
= small

Like a tigress, fearsome is old age. Illnesses attack the body

like
enemies. Life ows like water from a leaky vessel. Yet, is it not
a wonder that man engages in actions not conducive to well-
being?
= like a tigress
= stands
= old age
= frightens
= diseases
= and
= enemies
= like
= attack
= body
= life
= ows
= broken
= pot
= as if
= water
= people
= even then
= wicked
= perform
= wonderful

43

Varied and transient pleasures make up this life. Then why do

you
wander here exerting yourself incessantly? The bonds of hope
arising
from desires, with their hundreds of strings, to be appeased to
attain
equanimity of mind, only faith in the word of the Supreme
Abode and
mental concentration on it can achieve it.
= enjoyments
= transient
= nature
= various
= by them
= only
= and this
= world
= that
= of which
= here
= do
= wander
= oh!
= people
= done
= exerting
= desire
= noose
= hundred
= peace
44

= disturbing
= mind
= for equanimity
kAma + desire
= arising from
= in its Supreme Foundation
= if
= faith
= our
= word

Where Brahma, Indra, and other hosts of gods appear as worth

as little
as blades of grass; where taste is lost for the greatest posses-
sions,
like the sovereignty over the three worlds; such is the unique
enjoyment
of Brahman, eternal, supreme, and immutable. Oh Pure One!
indulge not
in any pleasure that lasts no more than a
moment.
= Brhama
= Indra
= and other
= hosts of gods
= like blades of grass
= where
= stand
= consider
= which
= tasting

45

= tatsteless
= become
= sovereignty
= three worlds
= rulership
= and other wealth
= enjoyments
= who even
= he
= one
= only
= supreme
= immutable
= increases
= oh!
= saint
= transitory
= that other
= enjoyment
= pleasures
= do not
= engross

Description of the Glory Of Time:

Salutations to Time! Under your sway all these passed away to
form
mere memories: that enchanting city, that great king sur-
rounded by his
vassals and clever advisers by his side, beauties with moon-like
faces,
46

headstrong princes, and attering court-musicians!

= time
= glory
= description

= that
= enchanting
= city
= that great
= king
= surrounded by
= and
= that
= side
= his
= and
= that
= crafty
= counsellors
= moon
= disk
= faces
= wayward
= he
= and

= wayward princes
= courtiers
= songs
= all
= whose
= inuenced
= went
= memory
= way
= Father Time
= to him

47

= salutations

Where in some home there were many occupants, now there is

only one; where there
was one or successively many, none is left in the end. Thus does
Time expertly
play the game on the checker-board of this world, with crea-
tures as the pieces
to be moved, and throwing the dice of days and nights.
=where
= many
= in some
= home
= there
= stands
= now
= one
= where
= even
= one
= afterward
= many
= there
= not
= one
= even
= and
= in the end
= thus
= these two
= night and day
48

= throws
= the two dice
= process
= time

= checkerboard of life
= plays
= with creatures

With the sun rising and setting daily, life ebbs away, and Time
passes
unknowingly under the heavy burden of various activities.
Watching birth,
ageing, suering, and death, no distress is felt, for the world has
become insane by drinking the intoxicating wine of infatua-
tion.
= of the sun
= going and coming
= day after day
= shortens
= life
= aairs
= many duties
= burden

= heavy
= even time
= not
= not felt
= seeing
= birth
= old age
= calamity

49

= death
= fear
= and
= not produce
= drinking
= producing delusion
= stupefying
= wine
= mad
= become
= world

Watching the night following the day, creatures still vainly

persist in running
busily with various actions motivated by desires. Such repeti-
tious actions,alas!
born of desires bring us no shame, keeping us deluded in the
revolving cylces of
births and deaths.
= night
= that even
= again

= that
= even
= day
= seeing
= vainly
= creatures
= run
= persistently
= similarly
50

= set in motion
= results of past deeds
= various activities
= by actions

= repeatedly
= by desires
= thus
= by us
= by the revolving wheel of life
= by what reason
= we alas
= not deluded
= ashamed

To break away from the bondage of this world, we have not

meditated on
the Lords feet; nor have we performed rituals to acquire merits
enough
to open heavens gates. Nor, even in our dreams, have we
embraced a
woman with full-grown breasts. We have, by being born, only
served the
purpose like an axe to to cut the bloom of our
mothers youth.
= not
= meditated on
= the Lords feet
= in prescribed form
= wheel of life
= for destroying the (bondage) of the world
= heaven

51

= door
= ?? knocks
= merit
= even
= not accumulated
= woman
= rounded
= breasts
= pair
= even in dream
= embraced
= mother
= essentially
= only
= youth
= garden
= destroying
= hatchet
= we

Not having studied and acquired adequate knowledge to defeat

scholarly
debaters; not having gained heaven-high fame , like wielding
the sword
strongly enough to knock down an elelphants head; nor kissed
at moonrise
the tender lips of a woman! Alas! all youth has slipped by
fruitlessly,
like a lamp in a deserted house.
= not studied
= debaters
52

= conquering groups
= knowledge
= properly acquired
= by the sword-points
= elephant
= temples
= smashing
= heaven
= not
= taken
= success
= woman
= tender
= branch
= ??
= yellow
= not
= at moon-rise
= youth
= gone
= indeed
= fruitless, alas
= deserted home
= like a lamp

Faultless knowledge has not been gained, nor riches acquired;

nor
served the parents devotedly; nor, even in dreams, embraced
the beloved
with her dancing eyes; whole life has been spent, like greedy
crows,

53

in subordination to others.
= knowledge
= not mastered
= faultless
= wealth
= and
= not earned
= even service
= with due concern
= mentally
= not to parents
= rendered
= dancing eyes
= beloved
= in dream even
= not embraced
= this time
= greed for others food
= like crows
= motivates

Those who begot us have passed on into eternity. Those with

whom we grew up
have also become parts of memory only. Now with every
passing day our condition
is akin to the trees on the sandy banks of a river.
= we
= from whom
= born
= known to Eternity(dead)
= thus
54

= indeed
= they
= together
= with whom
= brought up
= subjects of memory
= they also
= have become
= now these
= have
= everyday
= coming near the end
= becoming
= similar
= condition
= sandy
= river
= banks
= trees

Mens life-span is limited to a hundred years. Half of it is spent

in
the darkness of nights. Of the remaining half, half is spent in
childhood
and old age; and the rest illnesses, bereavements, and vexatious
service
of others. Where is the happiness for creatures whose life is as
ckle
as the ripples of water?
= life
= years

55

= 100
= humans
= limited
= nights
= half
= spent
= of that
= half
= other
= and
= half
= again
= childhood
= in old age
= remainder
= illness
= separation
= sorrow
= along with
= serving others
= takes
= in life
= water
= ripples
= uctuating rapidly
= happiness
= where
= of creatures

For a moment like a child, for another moment a lascivious

youth; one
56

moment a pauper, another a wealthy person; at the end of life,

the body
worn out by age and covered with wrinkles, man enters the
abode of Death
like an actor exiting the stage.
= moment
= child
= becoming
= again for a moment
= youth
= lustful
= moment
= devoid of riches
= momentarily again
= and
= full of wealth
= old age
= worn out
= body
= actor
= as if
= wrinkle
= covered
= body
= human
= at the end of life
= enters
= deaths abode
= ??


57

6 Description of a dialogue between an ascetic and a king:

You are a king; we also, through service to our Teacher, have
been
uplifted in wisdom. You are famous by your wealth; our
successes
are broadcast in all directions by the learned. Thus, there is a
great
dierence between us regarding honor and wealth. If you are
indierent
towards us, we also are perfectly dispassionate towards you.
= ascetic
= king
= dialogue
= description
= you
= king
= we
= also
= serving
= teacher
= wisdom
= pride
= elevated
= famous, you
= by wealth and success
= the learned
= in all directions
= spread
= our
= thus
= honor
= riches
= great
= two
= even
58

= of us
= dierence
= if
= to us
= disregard

= you
= =3D we
= also
= perfectly
= indierent

You are the master of wealth; we are also masters of words.

You are
brave; we are ever skilful in subduing the pride of debaters. The
rich
serve you; we are served by those who would study scriptures
to purify
the mind. If you show no regard for me, I have none for you
either.
= lordship over wealth
= you
= we also
= and
= lords of speech
= in all senses
= hero, you are
= debaters
= pride

= subduing
= unfailing
= skill

59

= our
= serve
= you
= wealthy
= mind
= impurities
= to destroy
= me too
= desirous of learning
mayi in me
= also
= regard
= not
= to you
= if it be
= in you
= my
= absolutely
= quite
= o king
= no regard

We are content to wear tree-barks for clothes, and you with

rich dresses;
but the contentment is alike, and the dierence is not signi-
cant. He
whose desires are numerous is indded poor. If contentment is
in the mind,
then who is rich or poor?
= we
= here
60

= satised
= tree-bark as clothes
= you
= rich dresses
= similar
= as if
= satisfaction
= no dierence
= dierence
= he
= indeed
= is
= poor
= desire
= great
= in mind
= and
= contented
= who rich, who
= poor

Enough for us are fruits for food, tasty water to drink, the earth
for a
bed, and tree-barks for dress. I have no taste for the immodesty
of the
wicked, deluded by drinking the wine of wealth.
= fruits to eat
= tasteful
= to drink
= water
= also earth

61

= to sleep on
= to dress
= tree-barks
= and
= new
= riches

=drinking intoxicant wine
=deluded
= all senses
= disrespect
= to approve
= not
= enthused
= of the wicked

We shall eat from the begging of alms; we shall wear the sky
for clothing;
lie down on the earth for a bed; why bother with the rich?
= let us eat
= we
= alms
= the sky for clothing
= let us dress
= let us sleep
= on the earth
= shall we have to do
= what
= with the rich

62

We are not actors, nor jesters, nor singers, nor experts in

debating in court,
nor courtesans, to wish to meet the king.
= not
= actors
= not
= jesters
= not
= singers
= not
= and
= experts in disputations
= king
= seeing
= here
= who
= we
= seductive mistresses
= not
= desiring

In days of yore, these kingdoms were created by kings with

generous hearts,
ruled by others, and conquered or squandered like straw by still
others. Some
heroes even now enjoy everything in the universe. Why then
this inordinate pride
of ruling over a few towns?
= great
= hearted
=by the kings

63

= this
= world
= made
= in ancient times
= ruled
= by others
= given away
= and
= by others
= conquered
= like grass
= just as
= here
= indeed
= worlds
= others
= heroes
= fourteen
= enjoy
= for what then
= towns
= sovereignty over
= men
= who
= this
= arrogance
= feverish

The earth has not been left unenjoyed, even for a moment, by
hundreds of rulers.
64

Will its acquisition then bring any honor to any king? The dull-
witted, instead
of grieving, are joyous in owning even the most triing fraction
of it.

= not enjoyed
= whose
= even a moment
= not
= made
= hundreds of kings
= world
= its
= gaining
= who
= as if
= high honor
= earth
= that
= of a portion
= even
= portion
= that
= limb
= part
= even
= fallen
= in grief
= in duty
= give
= stupid
= on the contrary
= joy


65

The earth is a mere clod rimmed by water. Even the whole of

it is but an
atom. Hosts of kings enjoy it after ghting for it a hundred
times. With
their paltry and mean minds they may or do give; for it is not
strange
to them. But despicable are the men who would beg from them
petty riches.
= clay
= lump
= water
= by a ring of
= surrounded by
= all
= even
= this
= not even
= an atom
= fractioned it themselves
= that
= too
= battle
= hundreds
= of kings
= many

= enjoy
= they
= may give
= do give
= or
= what
= else
= cheap
= poor
66

= strange
= contemptible
= men

= mean
= paltry coins
= beg
= on them
= also
= who

His birth is worthwhile indeed, whose death provides his white

skull
as an ornament on the head of Shiva, Cupids enemy. Men
engrossed in
protecting their own lives, atter others showing immoderate
pride,
to what purpose?
= he
= born
= =3Dwho
= even
= placed
= by Shiva(enemy of Madana/Cupid)
= on the head
= white
= skull
= whose
= high
= held
= like an ornament
= by men

67

= life
= limb
= preserving
= by those who think of
= by them
= nowadays
= adored
= who
= person

= this
= incomparable
= pride
=fever
= aicted with

Control of Mind by Wisdom:

Winning the favors of others is hard; why then does your heart
seek to
appease the minds of others? With inward tranquillity and
abstaining
from social intercourse, wise thought will arise in you sponta-
neously;
and should you wish for anything what will you not acquire?
= mind
= inculcating wisdom
= control
= of others
= minds
= every day
= supplicating
68

= in various ways
= grace
= why
= to secure
= enter
= heart
= fraught with pain
= contented
= in your inner self
= by itself
=arising
= gems of thoughts
= many
= in solitude
= wish
= whatever
= wished for

= nurture
= not
= they

Oh Mind! Why do you wander about in vain? Rest somewhere.

Whatever happens is
bound to happen, of itself, not otherwise. Thus not recalling
the past, nor
planning for the future, I experience the joys that come,
without question.
= wander
= why
= mind
= somewhere

69

= mind
= for rest
= yourself
= whatever
= happens
= that thus
= not otherwise
= past

= mental memories recalled
= and
= future
= desiring
= withou debating
= coming on their own

= experience
= enjoyments
= I

Therefore, refrain yourself from the perilous maze of sense-

objects. Take to the
path of supreme welfare that can, in a moment, remove all
sorrows. Reach the
state of your True Self. Abandon the wavelike agitation and
change. Do not cling
to the transitory joys of the world, and now seek the tranquillity
of the mind.
= therefore
= turn away
= senses
= complex
= wearisome
70

= shelter
= way of supreme welfare
= total
= sorrow
= relief
= aairs
= capable of
= in a moment
= status of own Self
= reach
= give up
= your own
= wave
= agitated
= movement
= do not
= again
= seek
= transitory
= mundane pleasures
= mind
= be calm now

Clear up all misperception; worship the One in whose crown

the gem is
the crescent. Situate yourself on the banks of the celestial river,
Ganga. How can you rely on waves or bubbles, ashes of
lightning,
ckle fortune, ames of re, serpents, or hosts of friends?
= delusion
= cleanse

71

= them
= acquire
= liking
= half-moon, crescent
= gem on the crown(head)
= mind
= heaven
= river
= banks
= places

= attachment
= accept
= who
= or
= waves
= bubbles
= and
= ashes of lightning
= and
= wealth
= and
= ames of re
= and
= serpents
= and

= hosts of friends
= and
= reliability

Oh Mind! do not dwell on the thought of the capricious goddess

of fortune,
72

whose nature resemble the courtesan at the beck and call as the
king
moves his eyebrows. Clad in rags, and standing at the doors in
the
streets of Varanasi, let us beg for alms with our hands as bowls.
= O heart, think
= do not
= goddess of fortune
= frail
= this
= wandering
= haunt
= king
= eyebrow
= wrinkle
= moving
= business of
= street women
= ragged garments
= entering
= house
= doors
= in Varanasi
= in the streets
= hand
= vessel
= placed
= alms
= expect


73

If there be music playing in front of you, by your side expert

poets
from the South, and behind you the courtesans waving fans and
shaking
their bracelets with a clinking sound, then indulge unstintingly
in
these worldly pleasures. If not, O Mind! enter the realm of
beatitude
devoid of all thoughts.
= in front
= song
= skilful
= poets
= by the side
= from the South
= later
= tinkling of moving bracelets
= fan
= women waving
= if
= it be
= thus
= do
= mundane
= essence
= tasting
= attachment
= otherwise
= mind
= enter
= absolute
= transcending thought
= meditation

74

What if one acquires wealth that will full all desires? Even
stomping on the
enemies heads with ones feet? Or if riches bought friends? Or
even if ones
body lasts till the end of time?
= acquired
= prosperity
= all
= desire
= milked
= what then
= placed
= foot
= on the head
= of the enemies
= what then
= bringing
= friends
= by wealth
= what then
= last till end of world
= embodied beings

= bodies
= what then

If there be devotion in the heart and the fear of death and birth,
no ties

75

to family, nor agitation by passions; when there is the solitude

of uninhabited
forests, and dispassion, what gain can be better than this?
= devotion
= in life
= death
= birth
= fear
= in the heart
= attachment
= not
= towards kinspeople
= not
= born of lust
= passions
= company
= fault
= devoid
= without people
= in forest
= dispassion
= is
= what
= beyond this
= of supreme value

Therefore, meditate on the innite, ageless, supreme, luminous

Reality. Why these false thoghts about the unreal? The sovereignty
over
the world, with its accompanying pleasures, will appear as the
desires
76

of the petty-minded when compared to the pursuit of Reality.

= therefore
= innite
= ageless
= supreme
= eulgent
= that
= Reality
= meditate
= what
= by these
= unreal
= mental agitation
= whose

= associating
= these
= world
= sovereignty
= such enjoyments
= desires of pitiable men
= become

With such a ckle mind, you will enter the nether worlds one
moment,
y to the limits of the sky, or wander in all directions. Why, in
a
oundering manner even, do you not meditate on that Tran-
scendent Truth,
of the nature of perfection of your true Self?
= netherworld
= enter

77

= go
= skies
= crossing beyond
= spheres of all directions
= wander
= mind
= ckle
= even mistakenly
= become
= pure
= how
= in the Self
= not
= highest Truth
= remember well
= supreme detachment
= reach
=by which

8. Discrimination of the Immutable from the Mutable:

Of what use is the study of Vedas, scriptures, mythology, the
extensive
codes, and the bewildering labyrinth of rituals which promise
a passage
to heaven, which is but a hamlet of hutments? The only way to
destroy
the burden of lifes sorrows like the apocalyptic re, is that
which
lets you enter the beatitude of self-ralisation. All else is but
bartering
78

for prot! = immutable = mutable

= essence
= discrimination
= how much
= by vedas
= by smritis

= puranas
= by studying
= by shastras
= of immense
= heaven
= village
= hut
= resting place
= resulting from
= by mazes of ceremonials
= freeing
= one
= life cycles
= sorrow
= burden
= condition
= destruction
= time
= re
= ones own Self
= bliss
= place
= entrance
= way
= everything else
= traders attitude


79

When the majestic Meru moutain collapses in the re of the

cosmic
conagration; when the oceans, in which reside numerous
sharks and
other aquatic animals, dry up; when the earth, even though
supported
by mountains, meets its end; what can you say about this body,
which is
only as steady as the ear-tip of a baby elephant!
= from where
= mount Meru
= of great fame
= falls down
= at the end of a time cycle
= re
= surrounded by
= seas
= dry up
=replete
= crocodiles
= sharks
= homes
= earth
= goes
= end
= earth
= holding
= by the feet
= also
= held
= body
= what
= news
= young elephant
80

= ear
= tip
= unsteady

With feeble limbs, unsteady movements, teeth that have fallen

o,
poor eye-sight, worsening deafness, drooling mouth,; with
relatives
disregarding what you say, the wife oering no help, the son
turning
hostile, such, alas! are the miseries of senility. = limbs
= shrivel
= walking
= unsteady
= useless
= and
= rows of teeth
= eyesight
= lost
= increases
= deafness
= mouth
= and
= slobbers
= speech
= not
= valued
= and
= relatives
= wife
= not

81

= oer service
= alas
= misery

= mans
= old
= in years
= son
= also
= becomes unfriendly

When hair grows white on a mans head, indicating the discon-

cert of senility,
young women run away from him, like the outcastes well
encircled with bones!
= color
= white
= instantly
= seeing
= on the head
= condition
= old age
= caused by
= then
= mans

= characterised by
= bones
= hundreds
= abandoning
= go
= least respected
= well
82

= as if
= far away
= youthful

As long as this body is healthy and free of inrmity, as long as

senility is distant, as long as the faculties have not lost their
vigor,
as long as life is not enfeebled, till then should the wise ones
make
great eorts to reach the supreme goal of life. For what is the
use
of digging a well when the house is on re?
= as long as
= free from disease
= this
= body
= decrepitude
= as long as
= old age
= far o
=as long as
= and
= organs
= strength
= unaected
= so long as
= decay
= not
= life
= for ones own supreme welfare
= till then

83

= alone
= wise
= deeds
= eorts
= great
= on re
= house
= indeed
= well
= digging
= setting about
= what avails

Shall we live ascetically on the banks of the heavenly river, or

serve
humbly our virtuous wives? Shall we drink at the streams of
scriptures
or the nectarine poetry? With a life-span of a few eye-winks,
we do not
know what action to take!
= austerities
= practising
= what
= live

= heavenly river

= virtuous
= wives
= serve
= humbly
= drink
= currents of scripture
84

= varied
= poetry
= nectar
= essence
= not
= know
= what
= do
= few
= twinkling of an eye
= longevity
= people

Thease earthly rulers are dicult to please and ckle-minded

like the
horse, and we have strong desires, and intent on huge gains.
Senility
gnaws away the body and death steals this dear life. Oh Friend!
for the
wise nothing is as salutary as austerities.
= hard to please
= and
= these
= horse
= restless minds
= rulers og the earth
= we
= and
= ambitious

= vast
= gain

85

= mind bent on
= old age
= body
= death
= takes away
= dear
= life
= this
= oh, friend
= not
= other
= good
= in the world
= wise
= except
= austerities

When honor declines, riches squandered away, atterers de-

part, the
circle of friends dwindles, attendants leave, and slowly the
youth is
spent, the wise have only one proper way left to followmake
a home
somewhere on the side of a valley in the Himalayas, whose
rocks have
been made holy by the water of the Ganges.
= honor
= faded
= ruined
= and
= wealth

86

= wasted
=gone
= favors
= dwindled
= friends
= departed
= dependents
= destroyed
= slowly
= youth
= proper

= wise
= which
= Ganga river (daughter of Janhu)
= water
= purigied
= chief among mountains (Himalaya)
= valley
= on the side
= grove
= shelter
= somewhere

Enchanting are the moonbeams and the verdant outskirts of the

forest;
delightful is the company of the wise, and the poetry of stories;
charming is the beloveds face gleaming in tears of indignation;
all is
fascinating, except when the mind realises the transience of it
all.
= delightful

87

= moon
= rays
= grassy plots
= delightful
= in the forests
= delightful
= saint
= company of
= joy
= in poetry
= delightful
= stories
= anger
= covered
= water (tears)
= drops
= swimming
= delightful
= of the beloved
= face
= all
= delightful
= evanescent
= gone
= in the mind
= not
= nothing
= again

Living in a palace is pleasant, is it not? Or listening to music

with
88

its accompaniments? or the company of women, as dear as

life? But wise
persons have taken to forest life, having realised that these are
as
ckle as the shadow of a ickering ame on the uttering wings
of
a delirious moth.
= pleasurable
= palace
= not
= is it
= to live
= pleasant to listen to
= not
= music with accompaniments
= is it
= or
= life
= joy of woans company
= no
= in fact
= much
= pleasing
= but
= hovering
= moth
= wing
= wind
= shaken
= ame of a lamp
= shadow
= unstable
= having understood
= all
= wise ones
= to the forest

89

= gone

-

-

9 Worship of Shiva
My son! Since creation, in our search in all the three worlds,
we have not seen
nor heard anything that can act like a trap to control the mind,
deeply and
inexplicably infatuated with sensuality, like an elephant wildly
excited by the
female elephant.
= worship of Shiva
= from the very beginning of creation
= three worlds

= this
= searching
= oh dear!
= like that
= not
=even
= our
= in sight
= in hearing
= gone
= or
= who
= this
= gives
= arousing sensuality
= mysterious, and deep
= pride
90

= enraged
= infatuating
= control
= elephant trap
= play

The vows of roaming freely, eating pure food, associating with

holy
persons, and cultivating spiritual wisdom, yields only the fruit
of a
pieceful mind. Even after prolonged contemplation, I fail to
understand
that such lofty austerities can control the mind and lead it to
peace.
= which
= this
= ones own free will
= wandering
= without meanness
= eating
= with
= holy
= company
= vedic wisdom
= cessation of worries
= sole vow
= result
= mind
= restrained
= external
= also

91

= long time
= also
= thoughtfully
= not
= know
= whose
= this
= cosummation
= noble
= austerities

The fantasies of the heart are exhausted,; youth has also left
the
body. Alas! Virtues have proven barren for lack of discrimi-
nating
admirers. The mighty, unforgiving, all-consuming Death is
gathering
speed. What is the proper action? Alas! there is no way other
than to
surrender oneself at the feet if Shiva.
= worn out
= verily
= fantasies
= and
= in the heart
= gone
= and
= that
= youth
= alas!
= in the body
92

= virtues
= and
= barren
= fruit
= gone
= those who appreciate virtue
= without
= what
= proper
= fast
= coming near
= powerful
= time
= death
= relentless
= alas!
= known
= Cupid
= destroyer
= foot
= pair
= freeing
= is
= not
= other
= way .83..

Between the great Lord of the universe, Shiva, and the inner-
most Self of
the universe, Vishnu, there is no dierence for me. However,
my devotion

93

is to Shiva, holding the crescent moon on His head.

= Shiva
= or
= of the universe
= Lord
= Vishnu
= or
= universe
= innermost soul
= not
= essential dierence
= admission
= is
= my
= still
= devotion
= crescent moon
= on the crown

Sitting peacefully on the banks of the celestial river, in the

bright scattered glow of the moonlight, when silence pervades
the
nights,distressed by the thoughts of birth and death, when shall
we roar
the names of Shiva, and reach the state of holding back tears
of ecstasy?
= bright diused
= moonlight
= white glow
= somewhere
= banks

94

= seated happily
= soundless silence
= at night
= heavenly river
= miseries of birth and death
= fearful
= repeatedly calling Shiva
= thus
= loud
= voice
= when
= attain
= internal
= copious
= tears
= ecstasy
= condition

Forsaking all, with the heart full of the most tender compas-
sion, recalling
the sorrowful fate, let us spend the nights in holy forests, in the
glow of
the autumnal moonbeams, meditating on Sivas feet, our sole
shelter.
= giving away
= all
=tender
= compassion
= lled with
= heart
= remembering

95

= cycles of creation and dissolution

= undesirable
= eects
= destiny
= we
= holy

= forest
= full
= autumnal
= moon
= rays/beams
= nights
= spend
= Shiva
= feet
= meditation
= only
= refuge

When shall I spend my momentary life on the banks of the

heavenly
river in Varanasi, wearing just a loin-cloth, holding my folded
hands
over my head, and weeping loudly, Oh! Lord of Gauri!
Conqueror of the
demon Tripura! Ever auspicious and having the third eye (of
the Supreme
Light)! Have compassion on me!
= when
= in Varanasi
= on the banks of the celestial river
96

= stay
= dress
= loin cloth
= on the head
= raised
= folded hands
= oh!
= Shiva (husband of Gauri)

= slayer of Tripura
= giver of supreme good
= with three eyes
= have mercy
= thus
= crying
= a moment
= as if
= spend
= days

After bathing in the waters of the Ganga, worshipping you with

the
choicest fruits and owers,with my mind meditating on you,
seated
on a bed of stone in a mountain-cave, enjoying the bliss of the
Self,
surviving on fruits, joyfully engrossed in the spiritual precep-
tors
instructions, Oh! Cupids Enemy! when will you free me with
your
grace, from the sorrow of having served the rich?
= after bathing

97

= by Ganges
= waters
= pure
= owers
= fruits
= oering
= o Lord!
= to you
= concentrating
= mind
=
= mountain
= cave
= stony
= by the bed
= blissful in the Self
= eating fruits
= teacher
= words
= devoted to
= your
= grace
= O Thou Enemy of Cupid!
= sorrow
= freedom
= when
= I
= with
= shark
= feet [ a shark on the feet (sign of uncommon
prosperity)]
= man
= service
= released

98

When shall I be free from the roots of action, leading a life of

solitude,
dispassion, serenity, with my hands serving as a bowl, and the
sky for clothing?
= alone
= free from desire
= peaceful
= hand
= vessel
= naked
= O Shiva!
= will become
= action
= root out

= capable

Using the hands as a bowl, contented with the naturally pure

food from
alms, resting in any place, constantly viewing the world to be
worth no
more than a blade of grass, experiencing uninterrupted supreme
joy even
before the body falls, for such aspirants alone the grace of Shiva
makes
the path of liberation easy of attainment.
= hand
= used like a vessel
= nature
= pure

99

= by begging alms
= contented
= where
= anywhere
= resting
= almost a blade of grass
= world
= constantly
= seeing
= giving up
= even
= of the body
= uninterrupted
= supreme
= bliss
= knowledge
= path
= who
= even
= grace of Shiva

= easy
= attain
= of yogis

The Way of Life of a Self-Realised Ascetic: Wearing a loin-

cloth worn-out
and tattered into a hundred rags, with a wrap-around in similar
condition,
free from anxiety, eating food from alms begged without any
expectations,
100

sleeping in a forest or a cremation-ground, roaming freely

without
hindrance, ever indrawn and calm, and also established in the
great joy
of Divine union, -for such a one even sovereignty of the
three
worlds is beneath comparison.
= a self-realised ascetic with the highest spiritual
freedom
= the way of life
= loin cloth
= hundred
= torn
= much worn out
= rag
= again
= of the same condition
= free from all diturbing thoughts
= without expectation
= food got by begging
= eating
= sleep
= in a cremation ground
= in a forest
= freely
= without hindrance
= wandering
= ones mind
= very peaceful
= always
= steadfastness
= yoga
= festive joy
= also
= and

101

= when
= three worlds
= by sovereignty
= what

Will the wise ones show greed for this universe, which is but a
mere mirage?
Indeed, the ocean is not agitated by the movements of a sh!
= universe
= reection
= mere
= what
= for greed
= wise
= a small sh
= by movement
= ocean
= agitated
= not
= indeed
= become

Oh Mother LakShmi! devote yourself to someone else! Do not

long for
me! Those who covet pleasures are under your sway; what are
you to us
who are dispassionate? Now, we want to subsist on alms
gathered and
puried in a bowl instantly made from the leaves of Palasa tree.
102

= mother
= O Laxmi!
= serve
= someone
= else
= me
= long for
= do not
= indeed
= earthly
= in enjoyments
= desiring
= your
= captive
= what
= free from desires
= are
= immediately
= put together
= palAsha
= leaf

= ??
= vessel
= sanctied
= articles obtained by begging
= only
= in the right way
= we
= attitude
= wish


103

With the earth for a bed, the arms for a large pillow, the sky
for a roof,
the gentle breeze for a fan, the autumnal moon for a lamp,
renunciation
as conjugal bliss, the sage sleeps in contentment and tranquil-
lity,
like a sovereign of immense glory.
= great
= bed
= earth
= ample
= pillow

= arms
= canopy
= and
= sky
= fan
= pleasant
= this
= breeze
= autumn
= moon
= light
= abnegation
= wife
= company
= elevated (rejoicing)
= blissful
= peaceful
= sleeps
= sage
= not small (undiminished)
= glory
= king
= as if
104

Living on alms, unattached to the company of people, ever

acting with
total freedom, devoted to the path of dispassion towards the
exchange
of wealth, such a one is a true ascetic. Wearing worn-out rags
thrown
in the streets, using a blanket received by chance for a seat,
without
pride or selshness, the ascetic wishes solely for
the joy of the controlled mind.
= eating alms
= society
= unattached
= free in actions (independent)
= always
= give and take
= indierent
= path
= pursuing
= who but
= engaged in austerities
= living
= in the streets
= thrown away
= shattered
= worn out
= garment
= gotten by chance
= blanket
= seat
= without pride

105

= without egoism
= self-control

= enjoying the happiness
= bound by only one
= desiring

Is this person an outcaste? or a twice-born? or a sudra? or an

ascetic? or else some master yogi with the mind lled with
philosophical
discernment? When people address the ascetic thus, doubting
and debating
garrulously, the Yogis themselves walk awy, neither angry nor
pleased.
= outcaste
= what
= this
= twice-born (initiated in scriptures)
= or
= servant
= thus
= what
= ascetic
= what
= or
= truth
= discrimination
= expert
= mind
= supreme yogi
kaH - who
= also
106

= what
= thus
= arising
= doubt
= argumentative
= garrulously
= accosted
= by people
= angry
= on the way
= not
= only
= pleased
= mind
= go
= own way
= yogis

The creator has provided for serpents air as food, got without
violence
or eort. Beasts are satised with eating sprouting grass and
laying on the ground. Likewise, for people intellectually able
enough
to cross the sea of birth-death cycles, some such means of
living has
been created. Those who seek this are able to bring to
nal cessation the play of their natural attributes.
= without killing
= without eort
= obtainable
= for eating

107

= by the Creator
= air
= provided
= vicious
= beasts
= grass
= feeding on sprouts
= contented
= lying on ground
= transmigratory life
= ocean
= capable to cross over
= intelligence
= inclined to
= made
= that
= of people
= to them
= seeking
= go
= constantly
= all
= ending

= qualities (inertia, activity, and understanding)

Seated in the lotus-posture on a stone in the Himalayas on the

banks of
the Ganga,; attaining yogic sleep by the practice of meditation
on the
Supreme Reality; with deer, old with age and free from fear,
caressing
108

their bodies against mine- will such fortune come to me?

= on the banks of river Ganges
= Himalayas
= stone
= bound/sitting
= lotus posture
= transcendent truth
= meditation
= practice
= in the prascribed manner
= Samadhi (with consciousness of the external world
lost)
= going/falling
= what
= by them
= resulting from
= my

= happy days
= where
= they
= fearless
= rub
= old deer
= own bodies
= body
= my

The hands serving as a sacred bowl, subsisting on the never-

dwindling
alms obtained while roaming, the vast expanse of the sky
serving as

109

a dress, and the earth for a stable, spacious bedpeople with

such
dispassion are blessed indeed, for they have renounced the
poverty of
attitude seeking mundane pleasures and thus giving up worldly
contacts,
and inwardly contented in heart fullled by accepting solitude,
and thus able to uproot all actions ( the roots of future rebirths
and deaths).
= hand
= vessel
= pure
= wandering
= obtained
= alms
= never running short
= food
= ample
= cloth
= space
= ten directions
= xed
= bed
= spacious
= wide earth
= whose
= without associating
= absorb
= matured
= inwardly
= blissful
= they
= blessed
= forsaking
= deprivation
= contact
110

= best of objects
= actions
= root out

Oh Mother Earth! Oh Wind, my Father! Oh Fire, my friend!

Oh Water,
my good relative! Oh Sky, my Brother! With clasped hands
this is my
concluding salutations to you! My association with you all
resulted
in an accumulation of scintillating merits, culminating in abun-
dance of
pure knowledge, which helped me overcome the marvellous
sway
of Unreality! May I now unite with the Transcendent Truth!
= O Mother
= Earth
= O Father
= Wind
= O Friend
= Fire

= O my good relative
= Water
= O Brother
= Sky
= tied to
= only
= with you all
= last
= salutations
= clasped hands

111

= with you all

= association with
= developed
= good deeds, merits
= wide
= trembling, resplendent
= without blemish, pure
= knowledge
= discard
= all
= delusion
= wondrous power
= merge
= in the Transcendent Reality

Encoded and Translated by Sri Sunder hattangadi sunderh at

hotmail.com

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.. vairAgya shatakam ..
was typeset on April 10, 2015
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