22 Jan 2024
Chhandā Gītam
(Divine song of Smt. Chhanda)
[Smt. Chhanda sent the following poem describing her spiritual journey starting from childhood. She is the second unimaginable item apart from the unimaginable God or Parabrahman. She is the climax devotee in both theoretical and practical phases. This is my unshakable declaration. At the age of 12 yrs, she had the vision of Goddess Saraswati in human form, who told her “Why to worry? I am there with you”. After some years, she also had a vision of milk sea on which Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa merged with Shri Datta Swami, who is the contemporary human incarnation of God Datta. She was always singing devotional songs on God Krishna. I am sending this to all devotees for inspiration in spiritual journey and I know that she will fight with Me for doing this. But, the spiritual development of every devotee is My desire. I wrote a poem on her when she did unimaginable practical devotion and the poem is :- “Chhanda means the meter in which a poem is composed, the poem follows the meter and not vice versa, Similarly, Chhanda is followed by the practical devotion, and Chhanda did not follow the practical devotion”. Shri Datta Swami is very much attracted to her spiritual journey because from childhood itself, she was having very high fascination for the contemporary human form of God, which is main essence of the spiritual knowledge of God Datta. – Swami (Shri Datta Swami)]
Datta Swami – The Ultimate
Chhanda, the daughter of Anil and Anjali,
Divine thoughts move around her mind fully.
Her worldly birth takes place in such an atmosphere,
She dances around with mind, immersed in blissful sphere.
Mother wants her to concentrate at least on idol worship,
Even forcefully she can’t, finding it a total hardship.
Whenever she touches the feet of the idol,
She always desires the feet to be original.
When she wants to see the eyes of the Divine Mother,
She can’t get satisfied with anything other.
Even if she touches the hands of the idolic God,
Can’t that become the real? She is lost in that thought!
She is worried with various feelings in mind,
Has she committed some sins of that kind?
She wants to have God on the soil of real earth,
But how? Perhaps in her devotion, there’s some dearth!
(dearth: inadequacy or lacking)
Father is compassionate—understanding her as full of questions,
Till the moment she doesn’t get answers; there won’t be any solutions.
She has a mind full of thoughts and maybe unreal feelings,
Knows that God will not come to her, she being full of sins.
Starts she, to read spiritual passages in newspaper,
Ramakrishna’s thoughts cover her, just then and there.
Indifferent she stays, involved in different activities otherwise,
But the same thought, time and again, comes before her eyes.
Tender is her age; indeed, not more than ten,
Divine thoughts are close friends playing in her heart-garden.
When all head to temple to ask from God some worldly thing,
She wants God to appear on Earth, above which there is nothing.
And then she feels why God would come to her;
Has she done anything to bring God near?
By now, Swami Vivekananda has touched her heart,
How come Ramakrishna entered his life—full from part?
Will the dream of hers, anytime become a reality?
When will God Himself come into her life with full clarity?
The stories of devotees and Human Incarnations attract her.
Still, she searches God—how does He appear in reality to be at par?
She is worried that she does not possess any good quality,
Still, she feels God in her mind as her own with equality.
She is suffering, most time from worries and anxiety,
She doesn’t like idol worship; has complaints a plenty!
She keeps on asking all about the significance of fasting,
“Can anyone achieve God through this?” she goes searching.
Answers from nobody make her satisfy,
All fails. Irrelevant it is, they all reply.
She never ever accepts this,
“Can God descend with that ease?”
At last, before her eyes she could see,
The beautiful motherly form of Goddess Saraswati.
Her desire partly fulfilled without any complication,
The Mother’s touch granting fearlessness and satisfaction.
Then in time, comes a change, a twist;
In the mind raises full storm, O Christ!
Her age was in between school and college.
Lord Krishna began to occupy Saraswati’s cottage.
Lord Krishna, meaning the strongest attraction;
She feels Him—the mind again full of affection.
What to do? Where to go? How to pray?
She asked her inner self to show the light of the day.
The love that Chaitanya Maha Prabhu had for Krishna Dev;
In her mind, like a tsunami, love rises as a huge wave.
The flow of time takes her all along,
No idea if things are near or far long.
Then as usual, the journey of worldly life begins,
With the human life to live, she steps in.
Whenever she closes her eyes, in the meantime,
To see God – without any chant, hymn or chime.
(Chime: music used for a harmonic sound)
She notices His divine feet, covering earth to sky,
A dust particle like she, on those feet may never fly.
Time and again, an unclear picture comes into her vision,
She’s told to jump, assuring safety that nothing will happen.
Alright, she needs to jump; it’s like a lone boat in mid-ocean,
Puzzled, she counts seconds, counts minutes. No motion.
A foggy character, a small one covered with a rag,
(foggy: unclear or blurred as if by fog)
(rag: a waste piece of cloth)
Just like a Godly figure, packed in a bag.
Sometimes, she sees Him to be covered in green,
Sometimes, it is another colour, as clear as it is seen.
But the face part is never clear,
Still the girl doesn’t put away her Dear.
Thus, the divine play goes on for long,
Which ends in seeing Ramakrishna along.
The girl fights with Him—an objection,
“Can’t you come to the front?”, cries her devotion.
“If you don’t appear before me as I see others in real,
I’ll leave everything. I am hopeless”. That seals the deal.
God finally releases the flood of love,
Tells her, “I am coming, keep it up as you move.”
Next, she feels the presence of Vivekananda,
He asks, “Tell me, what’s in your restless mind, O Chhanda!”
Thus, she carries on the fight to see the real God,
Clueless, she couldn’t find the relevant abode.
Then one day, her mind faces divine revelation;
Sees Datta Swami fully merged with Ramakrishan.
(Ramakrishan is Ramakrishna Paramahamsa)
Two wonderful forms of God come along the milk ocean,
By boats, moving slow. Opposite is their motion.
At last, the two boats touch each other,
Sees Ramakrishna and Datta Swami merger.
Magnificent is the scene,
The two mix in a plane.
Ramakrishna being the past, is the backdrop,
Datta Swami comes ahead, who never goes flop.
(flop: to fail completely)
Ramakrishna says, “You wanted me in relation;
I only came to you, in another form. You see the revelation”.
This clears the picture, real turns unclear vision,
It’s Swami - the invisible, full becomes the mission.
By that time, she has tasted the knowledge of Swami,
Of unparalleled depth; can’t find such a preacher extraordinary!
Swami says, one has to apply the preached knowledge in practical,
You will receive respect from all aspects, not in any form that is parallel.
Such is the glory of that knowledge,
Which cuts all worries with its sharp edge.
If you are able to apply in time,
You will attain the Goal divine.
The deeper the level of the devotee’s suffering,
The greater is the bliss she ends up attaining.
Otherwise, what is the need of that knowledge on Earth?
It is the test of the devotee; uplifting from any level of dearth.
(dearth: inadequacy or lacking)
Sometimes, she wonders, can the divine test be meant for her too?
Can’t believe her luck. She knows her capacity; that which is true.
Of reaching God, she knows she has no worthiness,
Her feet hold firm on the path only by His kindness.
The more she reads knowledge, the more she gets fascinated.
It is the only knowledge on earth. Swami made it milkified.
Since long she has been studying physics;
Still unable to find why the world is like this.
Then Datta Swami laughs at her slowly, slowly,
Says He is the Lord—answer to her devotion lovely.
He says that His knowledge is the main glory,
No comparison; no way to feel sorry.
His knowledge proves that He is the eternal Lord,
He is her Almighty, follows Him, word by word.
Not many have that luck, does not happen to every soul,
She believes, Swami assures, “Approach your goal.”
She rests all her faith in Him,
The belief on self is only dim.
That’s why she leaves every pleasure on His feet,
The devotee-God union is placed on such height.
The void that remained in her mind for so long,
Only Datta Swami fills and completes all along.
The fullness is so absorbing, the world seems negligible,
She leaves everything and goes to Swami; only that is memorable.
Swami says one can’t see the real Parabrahman,
She smiles and says, “That is not needed, Swami is that one”.
When she sees the wonderful radiating form of Swami,
Comparable only to Himself; and with none from this bhūmi (Earth).
She is grateful to Swami that He had accepted her,
Otherwise, she would have lost in darkness—if not with fear.
He says that she knows Krishna as her God,
Thus, she is dipped in the devotional thought.
The love for Krishna in her heart, is known to none,
The way Swami expressed it, she got stunned!
No thought, no imagination remained out of her reach,
The blessings of Swami bring everything, she is out of speech.
The things that were out of thought someday,
Swami brought all to her heart, after the hard day.
“Does anything remain unheard, unseen to Him?”
This thought comes to her, as one that is prime.
She heard that God can listen to the self-inner,
Swami has proved that and becomes dearest to her.
Having tasted the blessings of Swami,
False seems all relationships worldly.
Swami’s love in words is inexplicable,
Feel it yourself, for it is not explainable.
Such is His love,
No sorrow in glove.
(glove: covering for the hand)
The more she sees, the more she thinks and gets surprised,
It’s only God who can make it that easy, leaving her puzzled!
Swami proved that it’s only love which attracts,
He Himself comes into devotee’s life—that’s how He responds.
Does she have the power to bring God to the front?
Only He can take her beyond the ocean-life; far & distant.
If an impure soul like her could achieve the blessings,
The soul having more purity can discover more links.
Wherever He keeps her—Vaikuṇṭha Loka or hell,
(Vaikuṇṭha Loka is the abode of God Viṣṇu)
She should achieve Him without any fail.
She wants to be blessed so that she can be in His devotion being His feet-dust,
Her internal utmost desire is this much, and this is the last!
She feels her life is fulfilled, since He is there in her life,
Maybe she did something pious. Maybe she had some drive.
She feels His presence each and every moment,
Thus, should be the direction of spiritual development.
Swami is knowledge; Swami is devotion; Swami, the main thought,
Without Swami, she is the gemless serpent; its value turned to not.
Once He has come into her life, He should never leave her alone;
In all future births, let her be at His divine feet, all and one.
What else to say to Swami, who is God, the ultimate?
May she keep her love for Him and let it be her fate.
What did He see in the undeserving that He offered so much love on her?
She desires and prays to see Him in her forever—be she near or far,
“Attractive vision of You, heart full of Your mesmerizing smile,
This slave may proceed to goal remembering that after crossing mile.”
(Shri Datta Swami is called Swami by devotees)
★ ★ ★ ★ ★