16 May 2021
तव करुणैव हि सर्वं दत्त!
तस्याः परमस्ति न किञ्चित्तु ॥
tava karuṇaiva hi sarvaṃ Datta!
tasyāḥ paramasti na kiñcittu ॥ (Chrous)
O Datta! Your kindness alone is all in all. Beyond that there is nothing else.
करोम्यहमिति हि सोऽहङ्कारः ।
तव कोपान्तो नाशयितव्यः ॥
karomyahamiti hi so'haṅkāraḥ ।
tava kopānto nāśayitavyaḥ ॥
When the soul thinks that it is the doer, such a thought is ego. You get furious and destroy that ego. Before God Himself thus destroys the soul’s ego, the soul should destroy its own ego.
लौकिक ममकारो न हि बाध्यः ।
स एव यत् त्वयि समर्पणीयः ॥
laukika mamakāro na hi bādhyaḥ ।
sa eva yat tvayi samarpaṇīyaḥ ॥
There is no need for the soul to destroy its fascination towards worldly bonds. Instead, the soul should merely divert that fascination towards You.
[This means that the ego should be destroyed by the soul because God gets furious with an egotistic soul. But the soul’s fascination for the world need not be destroyed. Leaving it as it is, it only needs to be diverted towards God. There is no need to destroy it; only its direction is to be changed.]
त्वदयनगम्यौ बिल्हणतपसोः ।
विचारणीयौ विनिमयपूर्वम् ॥
tvadayana gamyau bilhaṇatapasoḥ ।
vicāraṇīyau vinimayapūrvam ॥
The path and the goal of poet Bilhaṇa and the sage involved in penance respectively, are to be carefully considered before mutually interchanging their paths and goals.
[Poet Bilhaṇa was walking in a forest, immersed in the thoughts of love for his darling, Yāminī Pūrṇa Tilaka. While walking, his foot accidentally touched a sage doing extensive penance for God. Bilhaṇa did not notice it since he was immersed in his thoughts of love. The sage, however, got furious and was about to curse Bilhaṇa. But Bilhaṇa asked the sage a question. He said that since he, Bilhaṇa, was immersed in the love of his darling, he did not even notice the sage and that his foot touched the sage. The sage too was supposed to be immersed in God’s love. Then how come the sage noticed it? With this question, the sage was astonished. He realized that Bilhaṇa’s path of being totally immersed in love was correct, even though his goal was not correct. Bilhaṇa’s goal was only an ordinary lady. The sage also realized that his own goal was correct. His goal was God, which is the highest goal. But his path was not correct. He was not totally immersed in God’s love. Then, the sage proposed that the two exchange their mutual goals and paths. The sage maintaining his goal as God, adopted Bilhaṇa’s path of being totally immersed in love. Bilhaṇa, maintaining his path of being totally immersed in love, adopted the sage’s goal, which was God. The result was that Bilhaṇa became a saint by the new name Līlā Śuka. He wrote the most beautiful devotional epic called Śrī Kṛṣṇa Karṇāmṛtam.]
★ ★ ★ ★ ★