Conduct and the Highest Spiritual Good

Conduct and the Highest Spiritual Good

The Omnipresence of Bhagavan

[1257]

(Lavani melody - Tala Kaharva)

What a wondrous drama this world is. Upon its stage, the action desired by the divine Actor continually unfolds. One is costumed as a son, another has donned the attire of a father. Another becomes an affectionate mother and performs the actor's work. One is dressed as a wife, another as a husband, and they speak of love. One becomes a friend; another becomes an enemy and strikes. One plays a king, another a pauper; one a coward, another exceedingly brave. One becomes deeply compassionate, another violent and terribly cruel. One is a brahmana, sudra or outcaste; another becomes a fool. One assumes the disguise of a great scholar and speaks profound words. One weeps, another laughs, and another remains grave. One groans in distress, while another maintains composure. All remain fully faithful to their respective disguises. The fitness of anyone who acts even slightly against the role is destroyed. Within their minds, however, all understand their true relationship. Therefore attachment cannot blind them. They regard nothing whatever as truly their own, yet upon the stage they vigorously assert their claims. In the same way, let everyone play every game in the world without inner change, following each blessed gesture of the Lord of maya, the supreme Actor and Hero.

[1258]

(Raga Gauda-Malhara - Tintal)

Behold the entire universe as Hari's form. Nothing anywhere exists without Hari; the world of bewilderment is false. Unseen and stainless, He pervades the whole universe and is its foundation. There is no separate support and no one apart within Hari, only Hari's expansion. Exceedingly near and exceedingly distant, wondrous, within the world yet beyond it, He is like ghee within milk, fire within wood, and tree, fruit, leaves and branches within the seed. In this way Hari pervades the entire universe, filled with boundless bliss. Beholding Him in this manner even once, one crosses the ocean of becoming.

[1259]

(Lavani melody - Tala Kaharva)

Why do you continually wander through every bed of the universal garden, O gardener? For whom are you gathering flower after flower and adorning a lovely branch? Do you not behold within these blossoms the beloved form of the One for whom you weave extraordinary garlands in manifold ways? Seed and sprout, branch and offshoot, garden bed and bower, vine and leaf: every particle is filled with that Enchanter's sweet being. The lotus's tender pollen and the redness of the blooming rose, the greenery of the entire garden of the universe, are steeped in Him. Receiving His sweet laughter, ever-new buds continually blossom. Receiving His lovely intoxication, bees revel in delight. Receiving His melodious voice, birds sing in every direction. Beholding Him in the form of clouds, cataka birds and peacocks rejoice. Having woven your garland, where will you go to search for Him, O gardener? Behold His enchanting form within these very flowers.

[1259, continued]

His beloved form fills their beauty and color, fragrance and pollen, the form for whom you gather them one by one and weave an extraordinary garland.

[1260]

(Raga Mand - Tala Kaharva)

Hari dwells within all, and all are His forms. His enchanting and supremely incomparable beauty is hidden within everyone. Whether the rasa is beautiful, utterly repellent, furious or peaceful; whether birth or death, happiness or sorrow, auspicious or inauspicious, dreadful or lovely; every object, circumstance and living being, every diverse and wondrous arrangement, all are His bodies of lila, conscious and unconscious, small and great. Beholding them again and again, let the heart rejoice and bow to all. Forever give happiness to everyone and work for their welfare.

[1261]

(Raga Sivaranjani - Tala Kaharva)

Brahmana and outcaste, god and demon, human and animal, bird, insect and moth; wealthy and poor, educated and unlettered, man and woman, embodied and bodiless; tree and vine, mountain, river and ocean, fire and wind, water, earth and sky: Hari is eternally complete within all, and His one light shines within all. Names, forms and conduct differ, yet in reality there is not the slightest distinction. The same undivided Supreme Reality, Saccidananda, thoroughly pervades them all. The wise person who forever beholds the Lord within all and all within the Lord continually beholds the Lord, and Bhagavan continually beholds that person.

[1262]

(In the style of Lavani - Tala Kaharva)

Becoming human and demon, cow and lion, elephant, crow and peacock, flower and fragrance; mother, father, child, husband and wife, joining manifold relationships of mine and another: in how many forms does that Beloved continually draw near us. At times He gives tender affection; at times He gives terrifying distress.

[1262, continued]

Recognize the Beloved within everyone and continually honor all. For His happiness and pleasure, conduct every relationship appropriately.

[1263]

(Raga Bhairava - Tintal)

Within Isvara there is never birth or death, origination or destruction. This entire wondrous world is the Lord's lila embodied in recreation. Every duality of the world is entirely an expansion of the Lord's lila. All arise from the Lord, and the Lord alone is their foundation. The playful Lord is eternally nondifferent from His lila filled with diverse rasas. Beholding His mastery of lila again and again, laugh and do not grieve. Immediately recognize the playful Lord within each lila. Ask the Lord for this blessing: "May this recognition never disappear."

[1264]

(Raga Mand - Tala Kaharva)

Sri Rama, the playful Lord, delights throughout the entire universe. His splendid lila filled with diverse rasas unfolds forever.

[1265]

(Raga Des - Original Tala)

Whatever inert and conscious existence there is within the world is pervaded by Isvara and shines through Him. Keeping Isvara beside you, enjoy everything through renunciation. Whose is wealth? Never become attached to it.

[1266]

(Raga Sivaranjani - Tala Kaharva)

All-powerful, the inspirer of all, treasury of every power and foundation of all; Supreme Lord of every realm, knower of all and generous friend of everyone: such a Lord is the ocean of compassion and remains forever beside you. Placing His fear-dispelling and blessing hand upon your head, He bears your attainment and preservation.

[1266, continued]

Behold and experience this; forever understand yourself as fully protected. Grateful to the Lord, your natural Friend, continually sing the account of His virtues. With body, mind and speech, always conduct every relationship in harmony with the Lord. Let every action and thought be offered for His worship and pleasure. At every moment and every step, let the Lord alone be your sacred object of worship. Let life be filled with worship of the Lord, and let Him alone be every means and goal.

[1267]

(Raga Bhairava - Tala Kaharva)

Behold Hari within every object, bow inwardly and rejoice. Within every condition, behold Hari's beneficial and auspicious arrangement. See Bhagavan adorned everywhere throughout the universe, smiling gently. Continually drink the divine rasa of His incomparable sweetness and beauty. Do not allow grief, despair, attachment, fear or pride to draw near. Cling forever to the Lord's sacred feet and permit no interruption.

[1268]

(Raga Mand - Tala Kaharva)

Remain forever devoted to the welfare of others and never harm another. Always regard everyone's happiness and welfare as your own benefit. Know with certainty in your heart that Sri Hari dwells within all. Abandoning pride, serve everyone according to your ability. Every object belongs to Hari, and every mind and intellect are Hari's. Engage them in Hari's service and bring purification to all.

[1269]

(Raga Hamira - Tintal)

Within the home of one who serves mother and father well, within the home of a faithful wife, within the home of a noble man who has conquered his senses, within the pure home of one devoted to guests, and within the home of an honest merchant who lives by rightful earnings, You, O Lord, forever dwell, regarding each as Your own home.

[1270]

(Raga Des)

The wise person who continually beholds conscious Sri Bhagavan within all is never removed from Hari's sight. Hari personally comes and carries that person to His supreme abode, forever granting His own delightful form of conscious bliss.

[1271]

(Second Lavani melody - Tala Kaharva)

Sky, wind, fire, water and earth, sun, moon and stars; every moving and unmoving being, all directions and trees; lakes, rivers and oceans: everything is Sri Hari's body. Knowing this, one offers exclusive reverence to all.

[1272]

(Raga Khamaja - Tintal)

The one worshipful Deity alone performs lila of infinitely diverse kinds. According to individual taste, He is worshiped in different forms. This alone is the supreme duty and dharma, the essence of life: with pure understanding, worship Him alone through one's own work.

[1273]

(Raga Todi - Tintal)

He alone is without qualities and without form, the distinctionless Supreme Reality. That very One possesses qualities yet remains formless, the differentiated principle governing creation. That very One is Bhagavan with qualities and divine form, the playful Lord of pure being. Without qualities, with qualities and with form, all are the one indivisible and supremely great Reality.

[1274]

(Raga Bhimpalasi - Tala Dipacandi)

He pervades all that moves and does not move and is the foundation of the entire universe. Forever omnipresent, within Him all the activity of the universe proceeds. He eternally pervades every particle, and atoms and immensity are His expansion. Nothing is ever empty of Him, for He is every form and every configuration. Manifest and unmanifest are both entirely He; He alone is formless and formed. He assumes worshipful descents within symbols of wood, metal and stone. Everyone may worship that Lord according to individual feeling and refined inclination.

[1275]

(Raga Malakosa)

Brahman with qualities and without qualities, formless and formed; the indwelling Self, Supreme Lord, all-pervading One, universe and foundation of the universe; Om, sacrifice and Lord of sacrifice, all nature, person, the Supreme and the Veda; without distinction, eternally differentiated and joined in difference-and-nondifference; every form, pure, all-pervading, eternal and beyond all; pure being, yet again made of the three qualities though transcending them; Narayana, Narasimha, Sri Krsna, Rama and Gopala; the sun, Sakti, Ganesa, Siva, Rudra, the Self-born and Time: Names, forms and lilas are diverse, but Vedanta teaches one Reality, the Upanisadic truth beyond speech, mind and understanding.

[1276]

(Raga Vagesvari - Tala Kaharva)

Every pleasure and enjoyment of this mortal world, terrible, impermanent and an abode of sorrow, appears sweet yet is filled with heavy poison, a disease ending in hellish pain. Remove these at once from the mind and worship Sri Bhagavan from the heart. Forever behold His sweet and sublime form within all that moves and does not move. With body and mind, perform all His works solely as service. Attain Vaikuntha, Hari's supremely rare and auspicious abode.

[1277]

(Campaka melody - Tala Kaharva)

To protect the body, establish complete peace in the mind and forever secure the highest welfare, You Yourself, O Bhagavan, come in the form of food. Receiving it through the senses, You carry it to Yourself. Thus without effort You transform my eating into sacrifice. Offered to You, that food becomes sacred prasada. The three worlds are satisfied through it, and affliction and despair disappear. You are the food, the offering and the one who offers; You are the indwelling One. You are the receiver, nature, the Supreme Person and the person situated in nature. You are everything, and within everything You remain forever beside me. O Lord, may I continually worship You through every action.

[1278]

(Raga Kalyana - Tintal)

Who are You who forever remain awake within my secluded heart, O Beloved? Who calls through restless life-breath, anguished by separation, O Beloved? I am trapped in the world among diverse tasks and manifold arrangements, O Beloved. Who are You who desire my companionship within them? Tell me, O Beloved.

[1279]

(Raga Bhupali - Tintal)

How incomparable and exceedingly beautiful You are throughout the whole universe. You are infinite, filled with nectar and honey, the beloved treasure of the world's life. You alone pervade the universe, and the entire universe is steeped in You alone. Every atom of the whole universe is made from an atom of Yours.

[1280]

(Raga Vihaga)

Praise and blame, worship and contempt, sweet honor and disgrace; illness and health, life and death are equal. All are the Lord, and Bhagavan eternally fills them all. Devising manifold arrangements of feeling, He performs play in diverse ways.

[1281]

(Raga Vagesri - Tala Kaharva)

Within every condition of deprivation, Isvara is my complete support. Within every hunger of mine, beloved Isvara gives food. He travels continually beside me as my guide. My Isvara remains with me always, every moment throughout the day. I have now become discerning, and truth has spread through life. The lovely confluence of patience, compassion and love surges within me. I am everything and can certainly do and become anything, for the gracious Lord, truth embodied, dwells within me. Disease cannot touch me, for that Isvara Himself is my health. Ever ready for my sake, He is the abode of limitless and unfailing power.

[1281, continued]

Isvara alone is my everything, and I know no fear, for sacred love, truth and the Supreme Lord are enthroned here.

[1282]

(Raga Jaijayavanti - Tintal)

Gain and loss, happiness and sorrow, prestige and blame, honor and disgrace are all impermanent dualities, or else arrangements fashioned by the Lord Himself. Nothing is ever truly gained through them, or else they all secure one's welfare. They are all produced by the Lord's natural and infinite grace. Keep firm trust within the mind in His auspicious arrangement. Whatever the condition, never become agitated or even slightly dejected. Everything in the world is impermanent, and all its activity is filled with sorrow. Yet the boundless grace of the beloved Lord, our most natural Friend, continually rains down.

[1283]

(In the style of Lavani - Tala Kaharva)

Do not despair, do not be afraid and do not let the slightest despondency enter your mind. Go to the feet of your natural Friend and receive the gift of His grace. Making the lowly His own and bringing them happiness is His natural disposition. His heart forever delights in purifying the fallen. Weeping, say to the ocean of mercy, "O Lord, deliver me. Remove sorrow, misfortune, faults and evil deeds, wicked insistence and corrupt thoughts." The remover of the threefold afflictions, Hari, will take them away the moment He hears your cry. That shoreless ocean of compassion will give you a place among His servants.

[1284]

(Raga Bhimpalasi - Tintal)

Seeing the moonless night filled with dreadful darkness, do not become even slightly despondent. The radiant sun will certainly rise and destroy the darkness. Do not fear dense clouds, rain, storm and lightning. The sky will become stainless and bright, and a fragrant, gentle breeze will blow. Do not be afraid on seeing the agitated ocean's terrifying, towering waves. Graceful waves will appear calm again, and this scene will change. Do not grow agitated on beholding the fierce heat of terrible summer. A stream of cooling water will rain down and carry away every affliction. Dreadful dissolution is only the hidden form of ever-new and honey-filled creation. Within it, the incomparable Lord of rasa and playful lila hides and laughs ever anew. Within terrible and beautiful dissolution and creation, He alone eternally remains perfect. To behold His lovely presence within all is the true seeing and attainment.

[1285]

The one forever steeped in the exceedingly sweet remembrance of Bhagavan remains continually absorbed in bliss and personally becomes filled with bliss. The world's flames can never burn such a person, for every affliction has been quenched and made peaceful and cool. Whenever people of the world come near that person, they all quickly become happy without effort, for a fountain of nectar continually flows there. The poison of sorrow, crisis and death cannot remain there. The pure river of the Bhagavata's happiness flows forever, and ever-stronger waves of the sweetest bliss arise.

[1286]

(Raga Vagesri - Tala Kaharva)

Caught in maya's current, you are swept away after losing knowledge. You keep plunging here and there and suffer needless distress. Come out of the current at once. Do not fear; leap and seize the Lord's hand. Calling to you with outstretched arms, He walks beside you to save you. Look this way just once at the Lord's vast, protective and blessing hand, and see how He stands ready that very instant to draw you out and lift you. The moment you look, He will raise you and seat you within His divinely comforting lap. Incomparable, sacred delight belonging to Bhagavan will pervade your life.

[1287]

(Raga Paraj - Tala Kaharva)

Bitterness and difficulty enter human life in manifold ways. At times they become exceedingly terrible and overwhelm body and mind. When someone loses hope and begins to weep, they weigh still more heavily, multiplying in numerous forms and inflicting immense sorrow. The coward who becomes afraid, abandons courage and tries to flee cannot escape; he falls and is badly crushed. But when one trusts in divine strength and stands firm before them, they become afraid and flee, and one cannot be made miserable.

[1288]

(Raga Sohani - Tala Dadra)

I know what sin is, yet I remain continually absorbed in sin. I can never separate myself from it. Lowly and powerless, I have now come to the Lord's refuge. Now my one great reliance is upon the compassionate Lord alone.

[1289]

(Raga Todi - Tintal)

When You alone are my wealth and riches, how could I be poor? When You are my tender-hearted Beloved, how could I be without companionship? When You are my perfect health, how could I be ill? When You Yourself are my Husband, how could I be an enjoyer? When You are my certain hope, how could I despair? When You are my prosperity and spiritual perfection, how could I be dejected? When You are my fearless state, how could I be ruled by fear? When You are my loving Master, how could I be subject to another? When You are the mind within my mind, how could I be without heart? When You are my eternal bliss, how could I be listless? When You, my Lord, are beside me, how could I be orphaned? When You are my powerful hand, how could I be unarmed? When You are my auspicious and pure virtues, how could I possess bad qualities? When You are my attributeless Self, how could I remain bound to attributes?

[1290]

(Raga Vagesri - Tala Kaharva)

Isvara, our natural Friend and supreme benefactor, remains forever beside us. His hand is always extended to offer divine and comforting refuge. That Lord continually rains a sacred shower of peace's nectarean rasa. Forever He gives His utterly pure affection with supreme generosity.

[1290, continued]

Look toward Him and turn your gaze away from the world that faces away from Him. Without Him, only sorrow and affliction and a creation of darkness and fear exist here. Turn toward Him immediately and take exclusive refuge at His feet. Fulfill your birth and life, and become eternally fearless now.

[1291]

(Raga Todi - Tintal)

Place unwavering trust in the eternally compassionate and auspicious Lord. Worship Him continually, abandoning every hope placed in worldly beings and objects. Never become even slightly despondent through fear of planetary conjunctions or similar events. Let sin and demonic feeling be naturally destroyed according to the Lord's will. Forever hold the Lord's beautiful and sacred lotus feet reverently within the mind. Through His supreme grace, everything will become truly auspicious and delightful. Continually beholding the Lord within all, perform actions for everyone's welfare. Making you His own forever, Sri Rama will always keep you safe.

[1292]

(Raga Bhairavi - Tintal)

Remain forever joyful and continually behold the dark Syama cloud beside you. Remain forever established in Him and always keep delight within the mind. Receive the great bliss of the eternal rasa dance, and behold its ever-new unfolding. Continually experience the wondrous play of the sacred, divine and purely conscious Lord.

[1293]

(Second Lavani melody - Tala Kaharva)

Remain happy, fulfilled and content, forever free of disturbance. May the boundless, unbroken ocean of pure and sacred rasa nectar surge within your heart. Remain forever submerged in it and personally become an abode of happiness in rasa's nectar. Behold only the Lord's ever-new and exceedingly sweet form, the essence of beauty.

[1293, continued]

May no other feeling or any insubstantial worldly being or object remain. Blend and unite with the infinite Lord, crossing beyond the limits of place and time.

[1294]

(Raga Jangala - Tintal)

Remain happy and eternally peaceful, forever absorbed in bliss. May the beloved son of Nanda alone dwell within the region of your heart. May He alone remain unobstructed before your eyes, always and everywhere. Remain forever immersed in His rasa, with no other aspiration left.

[1295]

(Raga Pilu - Tintal)

May Sri Radha and Nandalala dwell within your heart in whichever form they please, filling it with immense affection. Abide eternally within that form while They fill you with blessed joy. May supreme delight in Them continually increase through all time. May They appear outside as well, divine and filled with rasa in every direction. May your mind, a sweet royal swan, continually gather the pearls of remembrance. May mind and body remain so absorbed that every entanglement is forgotten. May Their supremely comforting care and protection continue forever.

[1296]

(In the style of a Ghazal - Tala Rupaka)

Become His and cling continually to His feet. Never move away; remain forever embraced by His heart.

[1297]

(Raga Des)

Those saints who forever worship with feeling both the devotee and Bhagavan attain the rare and stainless service of the Lord's feet.

[1298]

(Raga Pilu - Tala Kaharva)

Offer every remaining breath to Rama. Continually remember the Lord, filling the mind with delight. Death itself will die forever and never draw near again. Reaching Rama's abode, you will become His servant.

[1299]

(Raga Mand - Tala Kaharva)

With the mind, continually contemplate the Lord's lila, the abode of rasa. With the tongue, forever repeat Hari's supremely sweet Name. Whatever lawful action you perform with the body by day or night, let the body thrill at every moment with the feeling that it worships the Lord.

[1300]

The Lord's boundless grace rains continuously and without distinction upon all. Yet faithless and dwelling in delusion, we are unable to experience it. But the supremely generous Lord's grace never deprives anyone. Giving the appropriate medicine, sweet or bitter, it continually removes disease and impurity.

[1301]

(Raga Pradipa - Tala Kaharva)

Whatever you eat, whatever sacrifice you perform, whatever you give, whatever austerity or any other act you undertake, offer it respectfully to Me. I, Bhagavan Himself, shall joyfully receive it all from you. Freed from the bonds of auspicious and inauspicious action, you shall attain the highest welfare.

[1302]

(Raga Bhairava - Tintal)

The one who has ever looked with the heart's eye into the Lord's inmost being loses every duality and becomes stainless and absorbed in bliss. Darkness and every cause of darkness are destroyed at the root. That person attains infinite light, utterly pure, cooling and comforting.

[1303]

(Raga Kalingada - Tintal)

Why do you not place your trust in the Lord? Visvambhara, sustainer of the whole universe, will fulfill your hope. Seeking happiness, you stumble here and there and wander forever dejected. Happiness is never found in sense-objects; that longing is itself filled with sorrow. Continually contemplate the lotus of the Lord's feet, and the world's terror will end. The mind will remain immersed in infinite bliss, forever rejoicing in supreme delight.

[1304]

(Raga Todi - Tala Kaharva)

If you wish to be free of the dreadful sorrow of birth and death, keep the mind continually joined to the sacred remembrance of Sri Hari. Do not retain the slightest attachment to enjoyments; remain devoted to the Lord's feet. Forever serve everyone, becoming a devoted servant of the Lord's devotees.

[1305]

(Raga Paraj - Tala Kaharva)

If you desire supreme peace, abandon ego. Renounce possessiveness and desire, retaining not the slightest attachment to enjoyment. Or place uninterrupted and immense trust in the Lord's natural friendship, for He is omnipotent, Lord of all, all-knowing and perfectly wise.

[1306]

(Raga Sivaranjani - Tala Kaharva)

Serve the world with the body and belong to Hari with the mind. With pure understanding, stand firm in reality and attain the liberated state.

[1307]

(Raga Jangala - Tala Kaharva)

Give the Lord complete authority over what is good or bad for you. Let everything in life unfold freely according to His will. Continue consciously performing auspicious actions in harmony with His pleasure, but never mistakenly retain the slightest attachment to action or its result. With trust, perform every task as service to the Lord. Abandon every fear and despair, and forever keep fearlessness and joy in the mind.

[1308]

(Raga Vagesri - Tala Kaharva)

All enjoyments of the world of nature are impure, incomplete, impermanent and without essence. They are wombs of sorrow, destroyers of peace and happiness in every way, mines of sin and abodes of fault. Faith, craving or hope for happiness within them is futile. Yet caught in their net of delusion, the world groans.

[1308, continued]

Until the poisonous expanse of delusion's net is completely removed, the flame will continually grow and cries of anguish will resound. Only the nectar of the Lord's love can rescue one from this fire. The instant the sun of love rises, darkness is destroyed. Therefore immediately open the heart's treasury of love's delicious nectar. Increase it from moment to moment, and divine Bhagavata happiness will become embodied.

[1309]

(Raga Jangala - Tintal)

Open and sever every bond of the material world, nature and maya. Forever experience only an indivisible relationship with the Supreme Self. Abandon rebirth, travel to another world, good destination and bad destination alike. Attain divine and sweet love for the Lord who is Saccidananda.

[1310]

(Raga Des)

Let one abandon hope in the world and place trust in the Lord. Then one breathes in happiness and never remains dejected.

[1311]

(Raga Imana)

The one Bhagavan fills the entire moving and unmoving universe. Everything, inert or living, small or great, is His form. The one who continually honors everyone with reverence, worships through personal work and gives happiness and welfare, the discerning person who forever worships in this way, receives immeasurable love from the greatly pleased Lord.

[1311, continued]

The one Self dwells within all and is the Self and abode of everyone. Hindu dharma sings this supreme truth. Amid every practical distinction, it maintains equal feeling and continually secures the natural welfare of all.

[1312]

(Raga Mand - Tala Kaharva)

Dharma purifies the mind. Dharma gives elevated character. Dharma is forever everyone's friend. Dharma gives wondrous fruit. Dharma destroys adversity. Dharma destroys every sin. Dharma illumines direct knowledge. Dharma fills life with delight. Dharma alone is everyone's foundation. Dharma alone is the essence of life. Dharma delivers everyone. Dharma alone is utterly pure conduct. Dharma removes maya's dreadful darkness. Dharma spreads radiance in every direction. Dharma keeps one forever absorbed in merit. Dharma gives boundless divine happiness. Dharma removes conflict and distress. Dharma removes attachment and hatred. Dharma completely removes violence. Dharma gives rise to extraordinary compassion. Dharma removes every exhaustion. Dharma removes delusion and unrest. Dharma removes every confusion. Through dharma one attains eternal peace. Dharma never leads astray. Through dharma sattvic aspiration increases. Dharma removes concern over suffering. Dharma brings about fathomless renunciation. Through dharma desired aims are attained. Through dharma every material purpose is attained. Through dharma one attains desirelessness. Through dharma one gains liberation, the abode of happiness. Within dharma are natural nonviolence and truth. Within dharma is all eternal right conduct. Within dharma dwell virtues worthy of reflection. Within dharma impermanent feelings disappear. Within dharma there is no base selfishness. Dharma's one goal is the highest spiritual good. Within dharma all human aims find fulfillment. Within dharma the complete Brahman is the one meaning.

[1312, continued]

Within dharma there is no place for corrupt understanding. Dharma is a mine of stainless wisdom. Through dharma one continually rises. Through dharma one attains Sri Bhagavan. Dharma naturally removes sin. Dharma gives rise to sacred feeling. Through dharma the feeling of service grows. Through dharma awareness of Bhagavan grows. Dharma develops divine discrimination. Dharma destroys the threefold afflictions. Dharma gives rise to trust in the Lord's feet. Dharma makes one the Lord's servant. Through dharma one attains an unshakable bond with the Beloved. Dharma bestows sacred good fortune. Dharma gives rise to detachment from sense-objects. Dharma gives love for the Lord's feet.

[1313]

(Raga Gauda-Malhara - Tala Kaharva)

Through it, desire and anger, greed and pride, jealousy and envy, and longing for unreal sense-objects, hatred, hypocrisy, violence, falsehood and every fault are destroyed. Complete purity prevails in eating, drinking, relationships and conduct. Understanding remains forever unwavering in the certainty that liberation is life's goal. Like a skilled actor, one carefully follows the conduct prescribed by personal dharma, regarding it as the highest good and never adopting the thought of another's dharma. The lovely flowers of renunciation, nonviolence, service and others' welfare blossom. Worship and adoration of Isvara proceed continually, desirelessly and with love. Through auspicious personal work, worship of Bhagavan occurs naturally and without cease. The river of peace's nectar surges, flooding every bank. All moving and unmoving beings appear within the Self, and the one Self forever appears within all. This firmly realized discernment does not remain even slightly distant. Isvara appears within all, and the entire universe appears within Isvara. No natural fault or impurity can arise or remain.

[1313, continued]

Pure and exclusive possessive love rests at the Lord's feet, while taste and eagerness for service increase. This is the sacred form and utterly pure feeling of eternal Hindu dharma.

[1314]

(Raga Des - Original Tala)

Service to the Lord alone is obligatory action. Forever continuous and filled with love, it alone is the highest dharma. With every sense, with body and mind and continually with intelligence, may this eternally desired service forever proceed. May not the slightest desire for comfort or enjoyment ever remain. May there be no wish whatever for liberation or union with personal happiness. May only the relishing of love's nectarean rasa remain. This worship of Hari alone is the crown jewel upon the head of every dharma.

[1315]

(Raga Malhara - Tala Kaharva)

Understand the one Self within all, eternally undivided, immortal, real and nondual. Within everyone is that natural Self, complete knowledge and conscious bliss embodied. May everyone have the necessities of life, and may everyone receive the bliss of knowledge. May no one remain sorrowful; may all freely receive appropriate happiness. To secure the happiness of every living being in this way, continually and according to one's capacity, is dharma; petty, ego-driven and impermanent selfishness is forever adharma.

[1316]

(In the style of Lavani - Tala Kaharva)

Wealth and majesty, material success, position and authority, honor and respect; abundant means of enjoyment, a healthy body and powerful senses filled with attachment: all are incomplete, impermanent and momentary; all are filled with death and abodes of sorrow. Upon attaining them, never forget even for a moment the boundless ocean of loving rasa at the Lord's feet.

[1316, continued]

Utterly impure material enjoyment is never the goal of human life. Its one goal is unwavering and eternal union with the Lord, free of all distinction. Let every noble thought and action of mind, intelligence and senses serve this end. This is humanity's sacred duty and its one pure dharma.

[1317]

(Raga Imana)

Exclusive love forever resting in the pollen of Hari's lotus feet is the greatest of all dharmas; blessed is the one in whom it dwells.

[1318]

(Raga Des)

I bow to the supremely sacred lotus feet, the root of dharma, where my mind, an intoxicated bee, dwells absorbed in drinking rasa.

[1319]

(Raga Bhairava)

The discerning servant has neither possessiveness nor desire, neither attachment nor pride, but a heart filled with humility and renunciation. Abandoning service, a servant desires neither prosperity nor heaven. Service alone is the supreme fruit, supreme dharma and liberation.

[1320]

(Raga Ramakali - Tala Jhumara)

Father is a sacred ford, mother is a sacred ford and Sri Acarya is a sacred ford. Husband and wife are sacred fords to one another, and the noble call the guest a sacred ford. Compassion and charity are auspicious sacred fords, and the pure, enchanting mind is the teacher among them. Rama's Name is the sacred king of fords, removing every impurity and purifying the world.

[1321]

(Raga Janakali - Tintal)

Disregarding personal happiness, continually make the people happy. By practicing them yourself, spread right conduct, service, austerity and truth. Perform and cause to be performed actions that continually increase love for Isvara. Always conduct rule with justice and compassion: this is the dharma of an excellent king.

[1322]

(Raga Des)

Mouth, arms, thighs and feet each occupy their own place. They are limbs of one body, each with its particular function. Their spheres and tasks differ, yet their importance is equal. All are forever necessary, and the work of each is great. In the same way, one society has four limbs, mines of happiness: brahmana, ksatriya, vaisya and the pure, discerning sudra. The brahmana continually acquires knowledge and distributes it. The strong and heroic ksatriya remains continually devoted to protection. The vaisya earns wealth justly and gives gifts to all. The sudra continually contributes labor and secures immense welfare. For the good of the one body of society, all four are blessings. All four arose from the Lord, and Bhagavan dwells within all four.

[1323]

(Raga Imana)

Truthful speech that is beneficial, sweet and measured, and continual self-study; endowed with learning, humility and discernment, a peaceful heart devoted to justice; tranquility, sense-restraint, faith, renunciation, purity and continual engagement in auspicious work; study and teaching, sacrifice and officiating at sacrifice: these are the brahmana's dharma.

[1324]

(Raga Vasanta - Tala Kaharva)

The vaisya endowed with justice and dharma produces abundant grain through agriculture. He tends animals and generates wealth, never acting carelessly or harmfully. He continually conducts utterly pure trade and forever honors truth. He never wrongfully takes another's wealth and keeps every account clean. He never abandons honesty and continually gives for the welfare of brahmanas and cows. Claiming no personal ownership over wealth, he remains generous and shares it. He conceals no part of his profit and gives the state a tenth as tax. The state in turn respects him and never plunders him recklessly. Clever, industrious and skilled in work, he gains the position of steward of wealth. To the extent of his ability, he continually worships the gods and practices devotion to the Lord.

[1325]

(Raga Adana - Original Tala)

Devoted to vows, fasting, discipline and austerity, giving according to his means and affectionate to servants; compassionate and humble, avoiding others' wives and devoted to his own wife: all these are beautiful deeds. Dedicated to right conduct, purity and good character, simple, truthful and discerning; serving mother and father, filled with faith, devoted to pure dharma and free of pride; he earns wealth justly and continually keeps faith in the Lord. As far as possible he gives happiness to everyone and troubles no one. He honors every member of the family, maintains them all and respects each one. Sri Bhagavan continually rains the nectar of grace upon such a householder.

[1326]

(Raga Bilavala - Original Tala)

That son alone is worthy who continually honors father and mother, serves them with body, mind and wealth, and naturally gives them happiness. A devotee of Bhagavan, master of his senses, renounced, capable, peaceful, virtuous and wise; serving community, family, relatives and people, truthful, measured and beneficial in speech, and learned; grounded in dharma, devoted to austerity, high-minded, frugal, generous and steadfast: such a son carries his lineage across and spreads its great renown.

[1327]

(Raga Khamaja)

The wife who regards service to her husband as immeasurable good fortune renounces every personal pleasure and becomes the foundation of service. Seeing venerable mother and father as Isvara directly, the serving son understands this to be the goal of life. Where wife and son thus become exclusive servants, that pure home, that lineage and the earth itself become exceedingly blessed.

[1328]

(Raga Bhupali - Tala Kaharva)

Understanding his wife as half of himself, a husband continually joins her in dharma. He never mistakenly insults her by regarding her as lowly, a maid or a slave. He continually regards her as his intimate friend and always offers pure respect. "She continually completes what is lacking and removes every passing uncertainty. She carries away anxious weariness and gives comforting peace to the heart." Seeing his wife in this way as virtue embodied, he gives her the heart's incomparable love.

[1328, continued]

He accepts her as queen of the home and recognizes her equal rights. Continually seeking her excellent advice and consent, he conducts affairs within and beyond the home. With sweet speech and exceedingly gentle conduct, he always honors and welcomes her. He gives her pure happiness without cease: this is the husband's stainless and delightful dharma.

[1329]

(Raga Jujari - Tintal)

Indian men and women possess equal rights within the home. Complementing one another, they generate immense strength. As a cart's two wheels necessarily move it forward, so together the two continually conduct the work of household life. Only when both wheels remain active on the cart's two sides does it proceed smoothly and continually toward its goal. If anyone were to join both wheels upon the same side, movement would cease and the cart would remain where it stood. In the same way, the woman tends and performs all work within the home, while the man oversees outside affairs and the work of earning wealth. The woman is sovereign of the home and the man directs external work. Each is the other's servant and friend; each is also the other's master. The home is one, yet their fields of work remain distinct. If their work were not differentiated, the home would be destroyed. Through their union, the form of household life flourishes beautifully. Their mutual love increases, and incomparable happiness and good fortune grow from moment to moment. Each gives happiness to the other while remaining free of desire for personal happiness. Because neither is selfish, neither heart ever becomes impure. They honor one another, maintain right conduct toward each other and repeatedly inspire one another toward the Lord.

[1329, continued]

Where there is renunciation, there is love, and love itself is the abode of happiness. Household life for India's women and men is delightful when filled with renunciation, love and happiness.

[1330]

(Raga Paraj - Tala Kaharva)

Living beings, objects, sights, literature, clothing, food and recreation that awaken craving for sense-objects and cause the intellect to embrace indiscrimination, that make mind and senses delight in adharma and abandon the support of scriptural bounds, that increase love of adharma and encourage unrestricted self-will, causing decline and increasing limitless sorrow and unrest in life, are all corrupt association, expressions of demonic tendency that must be abandoned. Let sattvic holy company make the intellect discerning. Let mind and senses become restrained and be colored by sacred dharma. Let restraint and discipline accord with dharma, and let the mind take the form of Isvara. Through welfare for every being, let life become an abode of peace and happiness.

[1331]

(Raga Lavani)

Crown jewel of the universal assembly, regarding all like himself and sustaining the world; victorious hero under the Lord of the universe, true friend of all that moves and does not move; comforting treasury of nectar for saintly water-lilies, sun for the lotus-grove of devotees; refuge of the lowly, light of travelers and support of the people; greedy for the world's welfare, renouncer of the whole world, enjoyer of the earth; enamored of the unattached, beloved child of the Mother filled with the wisdom of life; supremely ready to remove others' sorrow though the body is without self-serving urgency; skillful player in the drama of the world and wish-fulfilling jewel for spiritual seekers.

[1331, continued]

Effective guide of those who have lost the path and foundation of the unfortunate; stainless establisher of loving devotion, elevated feeling and renunciation; supreme herald of the Lord's word and knower of profound feelings; pure speaker and interpreter, uprooter of every corrupt disposition; guide upon the path of desireless action and steady leader on the path of Sankhya; guardian of the vows of truth and nonviolence, destroyer of every impure path; destroyer of the threefold afflictions, nourisher of austerity and deliverer of devotees; remover of sins and life-restoring medicine for those attached to sense-objects; purifier of the fallen, the earth, spirits and ancestors; ornament of the world and disgrace to the battlefield of attachment and hatred; unyielding protector of true dharma and devourer of worldly entanglements; cutter of the diseases of enjoyment and pride of wealth, trader in the jewels of truth; skilled interpreter of people and their treasure, chief among Rama's brokers; hidden, unknown treasure of the worlds and owner of genuine goods; crown jewel of divine virtues and supreme ideal of the great: the learning and strength of scholars are powerless to describe your glory.

[1332]

(Raga Vasanta - Tintal)

The saint is a great mine of virtues. Abandoning every worldly desire, the saint accepts love for Rama's feet. Sorrowing at others' sorrow and rejoicing in others' happiness, the saint regards the lowly person's adversity as personal. Knowing the whole universe as filled with Hari, the servant permits no pride to enter the heart. The voice utters words that are sweet, always beneficial, pleasing and true. Free of desire, pride, delusion and greed, the saint regards happiness and sorrow equally.

[1332, continued]

Absorbed in drinking the nectar of Rama's Name, giving honor yet personally without pride, such a knower enters the world to send the fallen to Hari's realm.

[1333]

(In the style of Lavani - Tala Kaharva)

The true guru is one who personally possesses essential knowledge of the Lord and is the great sacred embodiment of tranquility, restraint, renunciation, equality and love. Through the radiance of exemplary conduct, such a guru dispels the disciple's darkness and ignorance, turns the disciple toward the Lord and naturally gives a life of radiant purity. Forever serve such a true guru, regarding the guru as Bhagavan. Follow with faith, humility and devotion, offering worship and honor. Remain knowingly obedient in action, speech and mind. Through the guru's natural grace, prosperity and supreme welfare arise.

[1334]

(Raga Pilu - Tala Kaharva)

The saint's mind is stainless and gentle, speech is restrained and feeling utterly pure. Naturally self-controlled, the saint remains eternally and continually absorbed in the Lord. Life is simple, plain, pure, free of impurity and devoid of outward display. Miracle-working is regarded as tainted, futile and without essence. Attracting people in order to continually instruct them, repeatedly telling them a message received from the Lord, and awakening faith in oneself to bestow great benefit upon them may seem good, but the saints described here do not accept this way. Without any miracle and without giving any instruction, their silent and truthful life naturally conveys the divine message.

[1334, continued]

Through that life, the entire moving and unmoving universe is naturally purified. A divine atmosphere forms and spreads sattvic feelings and thoughts. Making causeless divine grace of the Lord their foundation, genuine seekers walk firmly upon the path of practice after accepting every renunciation. Remaining far from exhibition and display and abandoning pride, those great saints quickly reach the Lord's rare feet.

[1335]

(Raga Durga - Tala Dipacandi)

In one for whom not the slightest possessiveness remains anywhere or at any time, every being, object and circumstance begins to convey the message of equality. Not the least pride in any object or condition remains. Through the complete dissolution of ego, knowledge of the Supreme Reality arises. Such a person forever lives in the world and performs every work according to proper rule, yet never acts at all, remaining stainless and free of ego. Appropriately performing the drama of beautiful names and forms, the person remains forever untouched, free of attachment and desire, and unchanging. Hatred, anger, grief, fear, anxiety, envy, jealousy, elation and resentment can never touch such a person, whether decline or advancement occurs. Truth, nonviolence, nonpossession, nonstealing and incomparable contentment in every way; a compassionate heart continually engaged in service and a faultless life filled with auspicious virtues. Sorrowing with another's sorrow, the person serves as far as possible; rejoicing in another's happiness, the heart fills with immeasurable delight. There is no craving for happiness and no agitation in sorrow. Free of duality, the person remains absorbed in the pure conscious Self. Not the slightest harm ever comes to any living being through such a person. Generous wisdom and power remain forever devoted to everyone's welfare.

[1335, continued]

Yet every pure and beautiful act of conduct becomes an ideal for others. Such a person alone is liberated while living, supremely sacred and knowledge embodied. Tranquility, sense-restraint, devotion to others' welfare and service to Isvara and guru are natural qualities. Supreme detachment remains naturally pure, without the slightest taste for enjoyment. Nor does one become insistently attached even to renunciation. One remains undivided as the perfect, transcendent, conscious form of bliss. Naturally one performs every auspicious action joined with right conduct and never abandons personal true dharma through temptation or fear. Yet in essential being, the knower of reality remains forever beyond dharma and adharma. Those who know only outward appearances cannot understand that inward state.

[1336]

(Raga Sankhadhvani - Tintal)

The poor person whom Hari honors becomes exceedingly wealthy. The fool whom Hari loves becomes exceedingly wise. The unfortunate one whom Hari calls His own becomes a treasury of good fortune. No one equals the person whom Hari embraces against His heart. Fortune and merit, virtue and glory, all serve the dust of that person's feet, as do seekers and perfected beings, renowned gods and kinnaras, sages and seers, Indra and Brahma.

[1337]

(Raga Candrakosa - Tala Kaharva)

Isvara is eternally radiant with joy, established in the bliss of His eternal essential being. Lovers absorbed in Him likewise continually relish the bliss of rasa. Every auspicious arrangement of the Lord bestows incomparable happiness upon them. Knowing and trusting Him, they therefore remain forever smiling. This serenity of mind continually keeps their minds and bodies healthy. They remain established in the Lord's form of bliss and are never situated in material nature.

[1337, continued]

This stainless joy continually expands pure knowledge. Unchanged, they then spread happiness ceaselessly far and wide. The Lord dwells forever within their utterly pure and happy minds. Therefore ever-new delight continually radiates from their lives. Wherever these smiling servants of the Lord, filled with eternal bliss, go, the stainless light of bliss immediately unfolds.

[1338]

(Raga Ahira Bhairava - Tala Dhamara)

Although you may have committed countless terrible sins and wicked acts, although you may be the foremost leader among the world's sinners, ready to suffer dreadful fruits among the creatures and crocodiles of hell, even then, boarding the boat of knowledge, you will cross the boundless ocean of becoming.

[1339]

(Raga Des)

The wise and discerning person remains forever equal amid praise and blame, happiness and sorrow, honor and disgrace.

[1340]

(Raga Khata - Original Tala)

Yogic powers, glories and perfections are exceedingly rare and not easily attained. Yet liberation cannot be obtained through them, say the perfected and experienced authorities. The greatness of the sages' yoga is certainly extraordinary. Through it they could know the whole reality of Isvara's creation. Then, leaving even this behind, they advanced toward the conscious supreme abode. Reaching the Supreme Lord, they merged in Him and became eternally absorbed in bliss. This alone is the ultimate fruit of the highest yoga and the eternal goal of yogis. Therefore they practice, accepting the one Lord as their object of worship.

[1340, continued]

The most perfectly united are those who worship Bhagavan with their inmost selves, remaining eternally and continuously exclusive and filled with faith in the Lord.

[1341]

(Raga Kamoda - Tala Dipacandi)

One who forever beholds the one Bhagavan within everything inert and conscious; who sacrifices everything for the service and welfare of all; who always sees the Lord's benevolent arrangement within personal happiness and sorrow; who is forgiving, suffers with others' sorrow and wisely devotes oneself to their welfare; whose senses, life-breath, intelligence, mind and body remain forever absorbed in the Lord's service, having abandoned every impure relationship with inert and living existence; who remains devoted to right conduct yet never feels the slightest pride, and, though learned, has no attachment to birth, work, social order, stage of life or lineage; who, free of attachment and hatred, properly conducts relationships for the Lord's service, yet nowhere performs anything whatever through any kind of ego; whose possessive love and attachment rest solely in the Lord, whose every action is worship of the Lord and whose pure devotion rests in Him alone; whom even the rare enjoyments of the worlds cannot bewilder, and who under no circumstances abandons the sacred union of remembrance of the Lord; who remains forever attached to the Lord's utterly pure, sweet and enchanting Names and lilas, free of every latent desire; whom the virtues of divine wealth serve and thereby become blessed, who renounces both enjoyment and liberation and is an exceedingly fortunate exclusive devotee; who remains equal amid beings, objects and circumstances, eternally beyond duality, while the Lord's sweet music forever streams from every particle of one's being: the one eternally adorned with such divine virtues and feelings is the highest Vaisnava, absorbed in the Lord, worthy of service and profound honor.

[1342]

(Raga Jaunpuri - Tintal)

The "I" is offered in the Lord's service, and sweet possessive love rests only in Him. Natural equality has arisen amid every duality such as happiness and sorrow. Desire for enjoyment and liberation has vanished, leaving not the slightest latent craving. Delusion has disappeared, and attachment, hatred and the anguish of fear of death are destroyed. The mind remains eternally and continually absorbed solely in remembrance of the Lord. Abandoning every pride, one remains continually lowly before Him. Forever one performs only the work of the Lord alone and continually beholds His sweet, enchanting and delightful face within everyone.

[1343]

(Raga Syamakalyana - Tala Dhamara)

Whatever is received in the world, fame or infamy, honor or disgrace, wealth or poverty, auspicious or inauspicious, pleasant or unpleasant, happiness or sorrow, gain or loss, birth or death, health or disease, all are certain arrangements filled with welfare, fashioned for one's good by Sri Bhagavan, wisdom embodied and crown jewel of friends. Knowing this, the deeply faithful devotee remains forever content. Within every condition, one receives the great touch of the auspicious Lord. Free of elation and despair, one remains forever immersed in supreme bliss. Heart and understanding remain eternally and continually joined to the Lord. Such a person becomes exceedingly dear to Him and is endowed with supreme divine equality. Ever-new love for the Lord continually arises within the heart. Exclusive possessive love rests in the Lord alone, and one's rare, peaceful Bhagavata life becomes complete.

[1344]

(Raga Bhairavi - Tala Kaharva)

Free of hatred, friend of all and support of the lowly and distressed; empty of possessiveness and ego, equal in personal happiness and sorrow, forgiving: such a saint is generous.

[1345]

(In the style of Lavani - Tintal)

Free of desire, anger, greed and pride, untouched by grief, delusion, fear and fatigue; knowledge embodied, firmly established in desirelessness and deeply immersed in sacred, supreme loving rasa; eternal peace, eternal bliss, eternal and utterly unwavering fulfillment; naturally devoted to every being's welfare, endlessly equal and without possessiveness; harder than a thunderbolt toward personal interest, yet tender as a flower toward others' welfare; firmly established in divine wealth, forever a treasury of knowledge and realized wisdom; filled with unbroken and perfect bliss, sacred love and stainless knowledge; Bhagavan Himself forever pervading every pore; body, mind and speech pouring an uninterrupted stream of divine rasa: again and again I bow at the lotus feet of such saints.

[1346]

(Raga Jaitakalyana - Tintal)

They inwardly renounce hypocrisy, honor, pride, position, fame and splendor. They never mistakenly keep the slightest attachment to sense-enjoyments, wombs of sorrow. They are free of desire, anger and greed, and devoid of corrupt conduct and understanding. They are without possessiveness, ego and fear, without malice, enmity or violence. Not the slightest wish remains to display miracles, wonders or spiritual powers. They have no desire for self-worship while assuming the garb of renunciation. Their simple, natural and plain life is pure and endowed with divine wealth. Not one action or movement of body or mind opposes scripture.

[1346, continued]

Peaceful restraint, mastery of the senses, renunciation, forbearance, equality, truth, nonviolence and the spirit of service; purity, austerity, endurance, compassion, humility and delight in contemplating the Lord; seeing the Lord forever in every living being, they honor all; they work for everyone’s happiness and welfare, regarding this as the sacred and supreme dharma. Or, seeing their own Self in all and every being within the Self, they understand others’ happiness and sorrow by comparison with their own and always act accordingly. Those who are such ideal human beings are alone true saints. Serving them and keeping their company naturally ends the bondage of worldly existence.

[1347]

(Raga Puriya - Tintal)

They regard criticism of others as falsehood and neither listen to it nor repeat it to anyone. Praise of themselves displeases them, while hearing others praised always brings them joy. They behave humbly toward the young and offer pure respect to elders. Forgetting their own comfort, they give comfort to others and thus, naturally generous, attain supreme happiness. They remain spontaneously compassionate toward the lowly and love everyone without guile. They practice no deceit whatsoever and daily observe the discipline of pure simplicity. They keep speech and conduct always under control and remain free of possession and accumulation. They take no delight in worldly entanglements and remain absorbed in remembrance of Hari. As they wish others to act for their welfare, so they act toward everyone. They always behold Hari in all: this is the dharma and conduct of a saint.

[1348]

(Raga Narayani - Tintal)

By whose touch, sight and remembrance even the gravest sins are instantly erased, those saints, naturally generous in disposition, continually work for the welfare of the world. From them the boundless, stainless radiance of Bhagavan spreads throughout the world, dispersing every affliction and darkness and extending luminous devotion and knowledge.

[1349]

(Raga Ragesvari - Tintal)

Those in whom there is not the slightest possessiveness, attachment, hatred, egoism or pride; who are filled with simplicity, self-restraint and stainless devotion to the welfare of all beings; who possess forgiveness, compassion, serenity, sense-control, every divine virtue and pure Self-knowledge: remembering, meeting and serving such saints assuredly brings welfare.

[1350]

(Raga Sivaranjani - Kaharva)

Those who have attained Bhagavan, who is eternally composed of knowledge, eternal knowledge itself and the eternal foundation of knowledge, and who has appeared in embodied form as their most beloved Lord; when an unbroken union with Him remains within and without, knowledge no longer serves any purpose there, nor does yoga retain any purpose.

[1351]

(Raga Bhupali - Tala Mula)

Without Hari’s grace, one does not obtain sacred satsanga, by which the grave delusion that happiness lies in enjoyment is shattered. At once one becomes detached from every enjoyment of this world and the next, and firm, exclusive love arises for the lotus feet of the Lord. Any company that makes enjoyment appear pleasurable increases attachment to sense objects in the mind and, born of delusion, makes attachment to what is called comfort keep growing. Though it may bear the name satsanga, it is certainly bad company, for it dyes one’s life in the fault-laden color of maya.

[1352]

(Raga Vibhasa - Tintal)

A life in Bhagavan, free of pleasure and pain, is supreme bliss itself, for the auspicious presence of the Lord remains freely and perpetually within it. The senses, mind, understanding and consciousness remain continually engaged in His service, and life stays immersed in the ocean of nectar that is divine rasa for Bhagavan. Not the slightest separate existence of the material world remains anywhere; only the reality of Bhagavan, composed of being, consciousness and bliss, remains.

[1353]

(Raga Ramakali - Dhamar)

Practitioners devoted to the attributeless and formless attain the great state of kaivalya, at once merging into Brahman like salt in the ocean. But kaivalya cannot satisfy those devotees who love Him; liberated devotees journey to the supreme abode and there find fulfillment.

[1354]

(Raga Jangala - Kaharva)

The one ultimate, supremely sacred goal of a human being is Bhagavan alone; one who undertakes the discipline directed toward Him is truly wise and human. Only then does the auspicious reality of humanity shine forth, and only then does the pure development of the full range of divine human qualities occur. Not only human beings: every moving and unmoving creature receives happiness and repose from them, and through them pure, spontaneous service to the entire universe continues without interruption. All their conduct and thoughts perpetually become forms of worship; through their own work they continually carry out only the service of the Lord. Devoted to the welfare of every being, masters of the senses and possessed of knowledge and realization, they are no longer touched by false maya, possessiveness, arrogance or pride.

[1354, continued]

Free of elation, resentment, grief and expectation, naturally endowed with equality, a current filled with every being’s welfare continually flows from them. Through such pure service of the Lord they attain supreme prosperity, and then reach the highest good, realized as attainment of the Lord’s feet.

[1355]

(Raga Mand)

The human being is one who, becoming truly human, serves the whole world. Such a person receives the fulfillment of human life, the sweet fruit of the Lord’s grace.

[1356]

(Raga Paraja - Kaharva)

Mother, father, deities, guru, elders, cows, brahmanas, the sick, the afflicted and the utterly lowly; animals, birds and every other creature, whether pure and beautiful or impure and unclean: one who serves all with faith, gives fearlessly, and, with a heart filled with awareness of Bhagavan, brings them happiness while knowing them as the Lord; who never mistreats anyone and gives honor to all; who conquers the senses and mind and regards another’s wealth as dust; who continually protects others’ welfare and always safeguards their rights; who distributes well-being and security to all and personally embodies auspiciousness; who abandons the desire for personal comfort, regards others’ happiness as one’s own, and, dedicating everything to their welfare, becomes supremely happy and wise; who inwardly honors the fallen, neglected and humiliated, giving body, mind and wealth and taking their suffering and sorrow in return; who continually benefits one’s neighbor, relinquishing personal comfort to remove their pain; who renounces the company of the wicked and always keeps the blessed company of saints; who properly fulfills the duties of social order, community, lineage, home and family, yet renounces delusion and possessiveness and fills life with equality.

[1356, continued]

One who always sees the same Brahman in a brahmana, an outcaste, a dog, a cow and an elephant, yet conducts every relationship properly, understanding unavoidable distinctions to be beneficial; who remains devoted to duty according to scripture and the judgment of saints; who never becomes unrestrained and never acts merely by personal whim; who does only what is lawful and right, never growing proud, and seeks for every action the one supreme fruit, pure and exalted love for Bhagavan; who at all times contemplates the Lord’s sacred names and countless virtues, surrenders mind and understanding, and loves His feet without desire: the demon of corrupt understanding always remains far from such a human being. Such a person alone is called the ornament of the world and a true human being.

[1357]

(Raga Bhairava - Kaharva)

One who always and everywhere experiences the Lord’s touch in life, who is not inflated by worldly pleasure and feels no resentment in sorrow, who rejoices in every circumstance bestowed by the Lord: that life is successful, for it has attained such excellence. One who forever sees the beautiful Lord alone in the animate and inanimate, and tirelessly serves with body, mind and wealth to the extent possible; whose every action is undertaken solely for the Lord’s service: that life is successful, that birth alone is truly happy and crowned with beauty. One who always contemplates the Lord with exclusive feeling, surrenders mind and understanding to Him, and sees nothing else; in whose mind no degraded rajasic or tamasic tendency ever arises: that life is successful and beautiful, and that life alone is supremely blessed. One whose love rests only at the Lord’s sacred lotus feet, whose possessive love belongs to Him alone and who has abandoned every other possessiveness.

[1357, continued]

Whose pure and supreme love rests in the Lord alone, with natural detachment from the world of sense objects: that life is successful in this world, renowned for holiness and truly fortunate.

[1358]

(Raga Jangala - Kaharva)

Human life has this one sacred and exalted goal: to worship through noble actions and attain Bhagavan, the supreme good. Forgetting this, one who becomes devoted to enjoyment and continually lives carelessly strays from the goal and ruins one’s future life. Entangled in futile and harmful actions, one commits new sins every day; squandering life, that person of corrupt understanding falls unaided into hellish states.

[1359]

(Raga Sivaranjani - Kaharva)

This precious human life keeps passing uselessly away. Forgetting the Lord, the supreme good, we accumulate what is harmful. Abandoning contemplation of Him, night and day we remember enjoyments; attachment to them increases daily, as do fear, fatigue, grief and dejection. Thus we forsake the good path and advance enthusiastically along the wrong one; new sins accumulate and the heart’s anguish continually grows. We do not know what unbearable and terrible consequence will follow. There is only one means of escape: worship Sri Rama.

[1360]

The supreme good of human life is sacred love at the Lord’s feet. This is humanity’s supreme yoga; this is its true security and welfare.

[1361]

(Raga Todi - Kaharva)

Enjoyments are impermanent, forever incomplete, momentary and mines of sorrow. We see this directly, yet desire them while imagining them to be filled with happiness. Every day we form new wishes and devise many means, but what we want is not obtained, and we remain disappointed and helpless. If it is obtained, desire then arises to acquire still more; meanwhile, even what has been gained begins moving toward destruction. Fear of that destruction always remains, and grief descends when it is destroyed. The realm of enjoyment is perpetually filled with these innumerable fears and sorrows. So long as the delusion that happiness lies in enjoyment overshadows the mind, new sorrows keep arriving and happiness and peace can never be found. If we desire lasting happiness and peace, let us abandon expectation from enjoyments and lovingly worship only the blissful Lord, our supreme friend. Let us know Him alone as ours and remain exclusively His. Through His one sacred refuge, life becomes successful and supremely blessed. This is life’s ultimate fruit and its one pure goal. For this alone let us pray humbly and continually at the Lord’s feet.

[1362]

(Raga Vasanta - Kaharva)

All the varied enjoyments of the senses are deep mines of terrible sorrow. They produce only the illusion of happiness; not the slightest trace of happiness exists in them. “Surely every wish of mine will succeed this time. This time all suffering will end, and happiness will be boundless.” This hope for false happiness keeps the mind in immeasurable unrest. It wanders continually, yet finds no sign of happiness anywhere.

[1362, continued]

If success comes somewhere, pride in that success immediately grows; but on seeing another’s greater success, the heart becomes deeply dejected. Meanwhile the die turns again somewhere and a burden of sorrow arrives. One weeps and laments anew, unable anywhere to cross beyond suffering. Each day brings a new fear, new grief and shattered hope at every step; each day towering waves rise in a fresh and terrible ocean of sorrow. Even then possessiveness does not leave, nor does attachment to enjoyment recede. New craving grows daily in the mind, and new desire for enjoyment grows with it. While life remains perpetually restless and sinful, its end arrives. One dies sorrowfully in attachment and possessiveness, carrying an immense load of sin. The human birth has failed, and then one must undergo immeasurable experiences in various births and hellish states, helplessly or through circumstances born of past karma. Understanding this, do not lose human life through forgetfulness in enjoyment. Become detached from enjoyment, worship Hari and reach the farther shore of worldly existence.

[1363]

(Melody Khambhavati - Kaharva)

However accomplished in learning and the arts, affluent and given to enjoyment; whether emperor, president or a saint who has abandoned home; those whose minds remain related to material enjoyment, body and name continually receive unrest and suffering, and their bondage does not break. Those who are not established in enjoyment but remain continually established at the Lord’s feet taste healthy happiness, the nectar of perpetual peace beyond all opposites. Though utterly poor, lowly and abandoned by everyone, they remain happiness embodied, forever attached to the infinite divine Lord’s feet. When the stainless sun of love for Bhagavan shines divinely, the dense darkness of sin and sorrow disappears and radiant joy spreads everywhere.

[1363, continued]

There a sweet current of rasa flows, flooding the entire world. Not even the slightest bitter poison of sensual corruption remains anywhere.

[1364]

(Raga Palasi - Kaharva)

May mind and understanding remain sattvic, and may the heart forever delight in service. May the pure wish for the welfare of all beings continually increase in life. May life be peaceful and free of anxiety, never touched by grief or the heart’s burning. May it be free of fear, negligence, arrogance and hypocrisy, and eager to serve the Lord’s feet. May there be long life, health, worthy children and wealth and honor joined with dharma. Through every action may Bhagavan alone be worshiped beautifully and always. May thoughts be auspicious, conduct pure and every lawful noble action stainless. May surrender to the Lord be exclusive, for it is humanity’s highest dharma.

[1365]

(Raga Bhimapalasi - Kaharva)

So long as the mind believes that enjoyments will grant the happiness it desires, the powerful disease of craving enjoyment will continually remain active. That craving will bring unending sorrow and generate sins; the fruit of those sins will be terrible pain, hellish experience and extreme anguish. Enjoyments are certainly always incomplete, momentary and fields of sorrow. The heedless person who imagines happiness within them and longs for them is a fool. Human life has only one supremely pure and sacred task: to worship selflessly and continually in order to gain freedom from worldly bondage. Higher even than this is the incomparable goal of prema, the fifth and supreme human attainment, for whose sake great sages and realized knowers undertake severe austerity.

[1366]

(Raga Pilu - Kaharva)

You have received the rare human body, the great abode of spiritual discipline. Do not lose it in enjoyments; worship Sri Bhagavan. May all the darkness of delusion’s night disappear and the sun of knowledge arise. May you be freed from rebirth and find a place at the Lord’s feet.

[1367]

(Raga Bhimapalasi - Kaharva)

One eternal reality, the conscious Self, pervades the moving and unmoving universe. With discerning vision, may we behold it at all times within everyone. May we always understand everyone’s happiness and welfare as self-interest, as our own happiness and welfare. May we not restrict the self, but continually expand it without limit. With body, mind or wealth, may we neither intend nor cause anyone the slightest harm. Renouncing every kind of violence, may we always desire the welfare of all. May we embrace pure and deeply beneficial renunciation and duty. Abandoning delusion and possessiveness, may we naturally relinquish wealth, position and authority. May we never hoard objects or become impoverished through a lack of what is real. Renouncing fashion and addiction, may we keep life simple, peaceful and pure. May we gladly and humbly give the deprived money, land, honor, education, intelligence, sound counsel, refuge and whatever else we can give without pride. May we continually behold Bhagavan in humans, demons, animals, birds and insects alike. May we act according to our proper role, yet never harm or dishonor anyone. Every object belongs to the Master, who has merely entrusted authority over it to us. May we preserve and care for it and regularly offer it in the Lord’s service. Wherever someone lacks something, Bhagavan Himself is asking for it. May we humbly give the Lord His own possession and feel no pride.

[1367, continued]

May we always serve everyone solely as pure service to the Lord. May the sacred spirit of service increase, and may the Lord forever keep us capable of serving. May we never cast the slightest aspersion on any sacred dharma or school of belief. May we neither say nor do anything that disturbs another’s mind. We may strive justly to protect rightful livelihood and rights, but the effort must be lawful and scripturally sound, while our trust remains in God. May we never seek the refuge of adharma and never abandon truth. Though body and wealth be lost, may dharma, truth, faith in the Lord and love for Him never be lost. May life have one purpose alone: sacred and exclusive love for the Lord’s feet. May actions, thoughts and possessions become blessed as offerings for His worship.

[1368]

(Raga Bhairavi - Kaharva)

The terrible cycle of birth and death can never end until a human being worships Bhagavan with a faithful heart. Worship frees one from delusion toward enjoyments, the wombs of sorrow, and makes one saintly. Through it, a human being then attains the eternal, blissful supreme abode.

[1369]

(Raga Paraja - Kaharva)

Human being, embody humanity; only then will life succeed. Do not become veiled by delusion and absorbed in sense enjoyment; do not waste life. Humanity has only one form: let life be surrendered to God. May body, mind, understanding and love rest in the Lord alone; may life be filled with His service. May the Lord be seen in every being, and may life be filled with contemplation of Him. Free of attachment and anger, endowed with contentment, may life become supremely sweet. May life be free of criticizing others and of discussing or contemplating their faults. May it continually protect others’ happiness and consume their sorrow.

[1369, continued]

Renouncing expectation and craving, may life deeply love the Lord’s feet. With consciousness resting in Him, devoted to Him, may life be wholly offered. Beholding the Lord in the moving and unmoving world, may life be filled with peace and detachment. Forever permeated by the Lord, may life know unsurpassed happiness.

[1370]

(Raga Bhairavi - Kaharva)

Today the human being has become a demon, a monster, a merciless ghost and fiend. Becoming a cruel killer, one performs a naked dance of brutality. Humans, animals, birds, other creatures, insects and moths are all terrified. Having become destructive, that shameless wrongdoer sings songs of peace. Every day one makes new weapons of destruction and devises new systems of ruin. Knowledge and science are being spent upon this degraded work. All actions, obscured by the darkness born of this demonic tendency, increase enmity and violence and become abodes of grief and sorrow. Throughout life one remains crushed beneath endless anxiety, unrest and suffering. After death one will fully undergo terrible torments in hellish states. Every creature will tear and devour that person and inflict extreme pain; all hope that the anguish and torment might end will be destroyed. Again and again one will receive sorrowful demonic births. No power will prevail, and no one will hear the anguished cry. Born human, one will be poor, diseased, humiliated and deprived of limbs, forever scorched by suffering and distress, lowly and groaning. Reflecting on all this, abandon violence and increase love. Cause no living being pain, and secure the welfare of all.

Forever behold God in all and always honor everyone. To the best of your ability, serve the welfare of all and humbly give the gift of happiness.

[1371]

(In the style of Lavani - Kaharva)

Completely renounce fear, agitation, anger, despair and anxiety. Abandon delusion and dejection; extinguish the terrible fire of enmity and hatred. Let hope, patience, peace and courage arise, and let the mind be filled with joy. Be certain that fulfillment will be attained, and place complete trust in the Lord. Remain always surrendered to Him and perform every action for His sake. Stand unwavering on the good path and continually repeat Sri Hari’s name. Where refuge in the Lord is joined with constant zeal for noble action, victory, divine power, renown, prosperity and limitless righteous order will surely abide.

[1372]

(Raga Pilu - Kaharva)

Bhagavan alone dwells within every living being. It is right to bow continually, regarding Him within them as always worthy of service. Let body, mind and life-breath remain devoted to the welfare of all beings; only then do wealth, possessions and prosperity bring welfare. If even a thought of harming a creature enters the mind, it is an offense against Bhagavan, polluted and sinful conduct. Individual self-interest has consumed the interest of the living world. The human has become a demon and forgotten the highest spiritual good.

[1373]

(Raga Vagesri - Kaharva)

That is gross ignorance which entangles a human being in sin, fills one with demonic feeling and keeps one immersed in wealth and desire that ought to be renounced. But that too is certainly grave ignorance which fills the mind with unknowing, generates pride and keeps one absorbed in permitted enjoyments while forgetting the Lord. True knowledge fills one with divine qualities, makes one the Lord’s servant, and, ending all conflict and desire, keeps one forever engaged in His service.

[1374]

(Raga Sivaranjani - Kaharva)

May mutual love prevail among nations, without the slightest enmity or opposition. May all desire one another’s welfare and offer one another beneficial understanding. May calamity and famine disappear, and may each land abound in grain, vegetables and fruit. May everyone have food, clothing, home and land, and may every deprivation be removed. May contentment abide pleasantly in pure lives free of craving for enjoyment. May all receive every innocent necessity useful for life. May everyone be healthy in body and mind, with pure food and habits. May lawyers and physicians take up other beneficial occupations. May fear and terror exist nowhere, and may fearlessness and joy prevail. Attaining happiness and peace, may all freely perform sacred actions. May every slaughterhouse close, and may the cruel impulse toward violence disappear. May everyone desire to make every living being fearless and happy. May countless cows give milk in abundance, supplying immeasurable milk, ghee and curds. May innumerable strong oxen extend abundant agriculture across the earth. May everyone love truth and follow the conduct of varnashrama. May sacrificial smoke fill the sky and the sound of the Veda resound.

[1374, continued]

Yet may everyone have one pure and supreme goal alone: transcendent Bhagavan. May the wise offer every action, thought and possession for this purpose. May all behold the Lord in every living being and serve everyone’s welfare with honor. Through their own work, humbly and modestly, may all worship the immutable Lord. Lord, may the spiritual radiance of India once again unfold in fullness, spreading its supremely cooling, joyful light throughout the scorched world. With body and mind, may all perform their own work as a sacred enactment for the Lord’s worship. Free of possessiveness and attachment, may they act in accordance with His command. O auspicious, supremely compassionate Rama, beyond all and present in all, fulfill this beautiful and humble prayer of the people of India.

[1375]

(Raga Bhimapalasi - Kaharva)

Lord of all, indwelling knower of every heart, all-powerful foundation of everything, hear our sincere prayer and pour forth Your boundless and unceasing grace. Lord, grant us who dwell in India this auspicious blessing: may we become fully and purely strong in both material and spiritual power. May we never abandon the eternal dharma: valor, courage, love, freedom from hostility and attachment, the welfare of every being and universal security. May we worship Bhagavan through battle itself, offering our blood upon the field, and enthusiastically sacrifice body, mind and wealth in their entirety. May we uphold a beautiful and auspicious ideal of valor, power, strength, dharma and renunciation. May the demonic ascendancy of injustice and oppression disappear. May demonic corruption, recklessness and wicked nature be wholly destroyed. May we attain complete victory, and may sattvic joy spread everywhere. May we never desire the slightest harm to anyone in any manner. May all rise, may everyone be happy, and may the dharma of love expand.

[1375, continued]

May every living being be happy and peaceful, and may all sorrow disappear. Within this entire universe of apparent difference, may we behold one unbroken unity.

[1376]

(Raga Vagesri - Kaharva)

May hatred, resentment, enmity, violence, retaliation, disgust, arrogance and pride be eradicated completely. Forgetting every division, may all honor everyone. Ending the distinction between self and other, may all work for everyone’s supreme welfare. May they suffer deeply in others’ sorrow and rejoice greatly in others’ happiness. May they behold the one Self in all, and may spontaneous love arise toward everyone. May all continually carry responsibility for everyone’s welfare and security as for their own. Through every action may they worship the Lord alone, and continually drink the joyful nectar of love for Him.

[1377]

(Raga Madhuvanti - Tala Ghumali)

May people worship and encourage worship of the deity according to their respective faith and tradition. Study of the Veda, sacrifice and disciplined recitation of the Gayatri are foundations of welfare. Recitation of the Saptasati, Rudrabhisheka, repetition of the Mrtyunjaya mantra and Narayana armor; reading the liberation of Gajendra and undertaking the sacred seven-day Bhagavata recitation are noble acts. May they faithfully complete recitations of the Valmiki and Manasa Ramayanas, and with faith and trust continually sing and repeat Bhagavan’s name. May they give guar seed, cottonseed, husks and fodder to hungry cows, and with faithful hearts give cows to pure and worthy brahmanas. May they respectfully give food to people afflicted by its lack and continually act so that the suffering of distressed people is removed.

[1377, continued]

May they secretly assist helpless widowed sisters and students. May they construct wells and undertake every measure to relieve the hardship of scarce water. May Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs all practice conduct consonant with their respective dharmas. May followers of Jesus and people of every other faith offer compassionate prayer and supplication. May everyone repeatedly perform and encourage these virtuous works in place after place. They are immutable and auspicious means for the arising of good understanding, peace and happiness.

[1378]

(Raga Jagaudamalara - Kaharva)

One who practices truth, nonviolence, service, restraint and saintly conduct toward all, always acting while understanding personal welfare to lie solely in the welfare of every being, never undergoes any torment in a future birth, but journeys to exalted divine realms and receives rare and abundant enjoyments. Yet the wise person who through these noble actions always worships Sri Bhagavan, while inwardly detached from the enjoyments and sense objects of this world and the next, and whose exalted goals are remembrance and service of Bhagavan alone, attains radiant love for Him as the darkness of ignorance disappears.

[1379]

(Raga Bilavala - Dipacandi)

Those noble men who are devoted to truth and dharma, unattached and dependent upon righteous earnings; who regard every other woman as mother, sister or daughter; who do not steal, remain content with their condition and always speak sweetly; who tell no lie for any purpose and remain forever established in truth; who abstain from harming others, see equally, are compassionate and never cruel; who are devoted to worship and free of selfish desire, journey to divine realms.

[1380]

(In the style of Lavani - Kaharva)

One who feels not the slightest inward pain even on hearing abuse, and does not become angry even when provoked; who never speaks bitter words that pierce another’s heart, but speaks truthful, beneficial and sweet words that shower nectar; who grieves at others’ suffering and continually serves them, personally bearing hardship while always removing their pain; who abandons deceit, hypocrisy and pride and honors everyone; who belongs to Hari and worships Hari, regarding this as life’s supreme dharma; who through noble conduct removes others’ suffering and ignorance: that person is the finest in the world and remains forever great.

[1381]

(Raga Bhairava - Kaharva)

One who takes pleasure in another’s pain is profoundly unfortunate. The truly fortunate human gives up personal comfort to remove another’s sorrow. Give your happiness to everyone and take upon yourself all their suffering. The supreme Father, God, will regard you as exceedingly dear.

[1382]

(Raga Jangala - Kaharva)

May the mind be mastered, the senses restrained, and truth, nonviolence and pure conduct established. May there be devotion to every being’s welfare, and may all dealings be joined with renunciation. May detachment arise toward enjoyments and sense objects, and firm attachment to remembrance of the Lord. May love for His lotus feet increase continually with every passing moment. Forever beholding Syama’s lotus face everywhere, may eyes and mind become greatly blessed. May life succeed by attaining pure and exclusive love for Sri Hari.

[1383]

(Raga Sivaranjani - Kaharva)

That person alone is victorious and free, truly heroic and strong, whose mastered mind and senses continually perform pure and exalted noble actions. Desire, anger, greed, intoxication, possessiveness, attachment, delusion and ego, all these faults, become supremely pure virtues, spiritual means and treasures among the jewels of devotion. Desire remains forever devoted to the Lord’s feet and continually deepens the spirit of service. Anger does not permit the slightest impure thought to gain an opening, but instantly destroys every tendency opposed to worship. Greed continually increases for the blissful essence of the Lord’s exceedingly sweet remembrance. The pure intoxication of the wine of His love forever pervades every limb. Possessiveness belongs completely to the Lord alone, remaining perpetually unwavering and unbroken. Attachment rests exclusively and without end in His sweet, enchanting, sacred, divine and supreme beauty. Delusion remains exclusively absorbed in hearing the rasa-filled deeds of the Enchanter. Ego becomes only the lowly servant of a particle of dust from the Lord’s feet. The eyes always behold Syama manifested everywhere in the moving and unmoving world. The ears continually hear His graceful and beautiful deeds adorned by the sound of the flute. Every limb forever receives the touch of His conscious and divine body. The nose constantly rejoices in the fragrance of the divine garlands upon His sacred form. The tongue continually tastes the flavor of prasada and remains immersed in supreme bliss. Hands, feet and tongue stay constantly engaged in service through their respective functions. The hero who thus masters mind, senses and body and keeps them appointed to the Lord’s service is victorious in fullness.

[1384]

(Raga Pilu - Kaharva)

One whose mind is forever inhabited by desire, anger, intoxication, delusion, greed, envy, hatred, deceit, enmity and masses of sin, remains continually miserable and commits ever-new sins, receiving immeasurable anxiety, sorrow, unrest and fear. Compassion, nonviolence, humility, forgiveness, peace, contentment, uprightness, service, serenity, reflection, restraint, sacred vows and the pleasing of Hari: the person whose mind forever houses these virtues is blessed. That pure conqueror of the mind attains exclusive devotion.

[1385]

(Raga Todi - Kaharva)

Regarding another’s suffering as their own, they strive to remove it. Giving up personal comfort, naturally generous and free of pride, they make others happy. Regarding others’ welfare as self-interest, they abandon personal interest to serve it, and these greatly fortunate people experience incomparable happiness therein. They sacrifice their lives to protect others, inwardly regarding this as their own great good fortune. They do not consider it a favor to anyone in any way; their conduct is as natural as the sun giving light. These noble people of humble and modest heart advertise no obligation owed to them. Bhagavan Himself continually showers the nectar of His grace upon them. Nothing anywhere then remains difficult for them to attain. They naturally become supremely sacred, embodiments of the highest spiritual good.

[1386]

(Raga Lalita)

A friend serves in every way and gives every form of happiness, personally choosing suffering for the friend without the slightest pride. By naturally imparting knowledge, the friend removes corrupt conduct, understanding and sin, and serves the other like one’s own self: such a friend is supremely wise.

[1387]

(Raga Sohani - Dadra)

I am within the nation and the nation is within me; nation and self are not two. The nation’s interest alone is mine, without distinction anywhere. Its gain is my gain and its loss is my loss. This alone is the identifying mark of one who serves the nation.

[1388]

(In the style of a ghazal - Kaharva)

So long as the search for enjoyments remained and happiness appeared to lie within them, worship of God could not arise, nor could the face of happiness be seen.

[1389]

(Raga Vihagada - Tala Mula)

To feel sorrow at another’s happiness and pleasure in another’s pain is a most grievous sin. Causing another pain for one’s own comfort produces terrible anguish. Tears of the eyes carry away the painful afflictions outside, while tears from within destroy dreadful and terrible sins.

[1390]

(Raga Pilu - Kaharva)

Wealth, people, position and authority that continually increase limitless craving and desire all bring sorrow. The one supreme happiness that produces ever-new, innocent and sattvic joy is the mind’s pure contentment. One who has no expectation or craving and in whom no desire remains, whose mind possesses the wealth of contentment, is exceptionally rich.

[1391]

(Raga Vasanta - Tintal)

Regard as sinful only those actions whose result destroys even a little of another’s or one’s own welfare; never allow them to draw near. Regard as virtuous those actions whose result surely and naturally benefits both another and oneself; always embrace them with joy.

[1392]

(Raga Bhupali - Tintal)

Wealth, relations, position, authority, fame, renown, land, buildings, children and honor all have beginning and end, are momentary and are mines of sorrow. Overpowered by delusion, the belief that happiness lies within them overshadows the human mind. Thus one seeks happiness there while sorrow and fresh unrest increase every day. Exceeding, eternal and infinite happiness inheres in the Lord’s own being alone. If happiness is desired, worship Sri Bhagavan with an exclusive mind.

[1393]

(Raga Rajakalyana - Tala Mula)

Remain vigilant and continually observe the feelings of the heart. May intoxication, pride, hypocrisy and demonic tendencies never arise even slightly. May the painful wish that one’s name and form be worshiped never awaken in the mind. May love for the Lord’s feet continually increase, and may joyful remembrance of Him remain.

[1394]

(Raga Asavari - Tintal)

One who always considers oneself lower even than dry grass fallen upon the road, and feels hesitant to sit among glorious people endowed with virtue; who, tolerant like a tree, silently bears cold, rain and heat, and gives sweet jambu fruits and mangoes to those who throw stones; who, even when cut, pierced or burned, naturally and spontaneously does good; one who continually performs kirtana in this way receives the Lord’s love.

[1395]

(Raga Devagandhari - Tintal)

The one whose attachment, desire, intoxication, greed, fear, envy, hatred, corruption, violence and enmity have all disappeared lives happily in this world. The one who always speaks thoughtful words that are truthful, loving and beneficial, and continually repeats the Lord’s name lives happily in this world. The one continually devoted to others’ happiness and welfare, forgetting all personal comfort, and always giving to everyone lives happily in this world. The one who never wants anything, whose love for the Lord’s feet is boundless, and who has surrendered everything at His feet lives happily in this world.

[1396]

(Raga Gandhari Todi - Tala Mula)

One who feels not the slightest pride in social order, caste, wealth, relations, youth, authority, high position, learning or knowledge; who clearly sees personal faults and remains aware of every mistake; who always sees virtues in everyone and whose respect for all continually grows; to whom every pleasure born of the senses and their objects always appears like terrible poison; whose attachment, desire, possessiveness and false ego have ended; who forever beholds Bhagavan alone in every creature, object and circumstance: the human being whose life is so formed is truly great.

[1397]

(Raga Suddha Saranga - Tintal)

May life be filled with restraint and observance and blessed by the practice of right conduct. May consciousness remain continually fixed upon the Lord, and feeling be stainless and exclusive. May there be detachment from sense objects, without the slightest attachment remaining in them. May enjoyments remain forever forgotten and love abide at the Lord’s feet. May mind and understanding be surrendered to Him, and may His remembrance remain at all times. May He never be forgotten even for a moment, and may the world’s entanglement not be remembered. May such a person’s death be successful and the difficult expanse of maya disappear. May one receive a place at the Lord’s feet and the perpetual privilege of sacred service.

[1398]

(Raga Syamakalyana - Ektal)

Remain free of hatred toward every living being and keep a friendly spirit toward all. Maintain a humble and active eagerness to bring happiness continually to those who suffer. Never take away another’s wealth, renown or rights, even in thought. Always conduct yourself toward everyone in a sattvic manner filled with truth, welfare and love.

Understand your welfare to lie in everyone’s welfare and the root of your happiness in everyone’s happiness. Never destroy another’s welfare or happiness, even mistakenly in thought. Forever beholding the Lord in all, give everyone honor and respect. May the one beloved Bhagavan alone always pervade the mind.

[1399]

(Raga Hamira - Tintal)

Renounce speech that is harmful, false, futile, bitter, critical or disturbing. Lovingly sing the Lord’s deeds, names and virtues every day. Turning away the mind’s impulses of desire, anger and greed, continually contemplate His deeds, virtues and names without disturbance. Abandon impure food involving violence and the craving of a gourmand. Eat simple, pure and sattvic food, relinquishing attachment to taste. Wear simple clothing, conduct yourself straightforwardly and live without display, free of artificial needs and deprivation, forever absorbed in serving the lowly. Abandon the company of worldly sensualists and seek satsanga. Forsake every futile and harmful activity of mind and senses and remain unattached. Maintain constant zeal for worship and firm faith in Bhagavan’s existence and grace. Cultivate pure love, action, attention and practice in works that support worship. Remain patient in terrible adversity, accepting the Lord’s auspicious arrangement. Regard love for Radha and Krishna alone as the one exalted purpose.

[1400]

(Raga Bhimapalasi - Kaharva)

Bhagavan alone is master of mind, senses and body. Through them, serve Him alone continually and without interruption. Home, prosperity, honor, dignity, position, pure opulence and comfort all belong to Him; joyfully and unceasingly serve Him through them all.

[1400, continued]

Creatures, objects, circumstances, talent, authority and a pure and honored family: continue offering them all respectfully and without ego to the Lord. The Lord forever dwells in everyone, and all are His forms. Honor them and bring each appropriate happiness according to your capacity. Become humble, abandon ego and destroy intoxication and pride. Become tolerant, restrained, pure-minded, friendly, saintly, rightly directed and wise. Completely avoid painful, harsh, bitter and harmful feelings and words. Become sweet, distribute sweetness and extend gentle welfare. May all be happy and prosper; may everyone receive peace and well-being and be rescued at once from misfortune, unrest, sorrow and corrupt understanding. Think and act entirely from this feeling. Always understand such service of the Lord as the foremost dharma. Joyfully sustain everyone by giving happiness and resources. Distribute love for the Lord’s feet, thus serving freely. Know with complete certainty that you are only an instrument. He alone is the operator and whispers His own mantra into every ear. He alone inspires, the power is His, the objects are His and He is their object. He alone is the one enjoyer; you are merely a fit occasion for His action.

[1401]

(Raga Bhairava - Kaharva)

Master body and senses, continually perform every auspicious action, avoid misconduct, practice restraint and serve selflessly each day. Speak sweet, truthful and beneficial words, abandoning all falsehood, bitterness and harm. Continually repeat the beautiful Lord’s name with tongue and mind. Keep compassion and gentleness in the mind and retain mastery over it, so that no inauspicious thought filled with attachment or hatred can ever gain control.

[1401, continued]

Forever behold the Lord within the mind and embodied outwardly in all. These are indispensable means for perfecting this world and the next.

[1402]

(Raga Mand - Kaharva)

Master the mind and remain forever free of attachment and hatred. Move rightly among sense objects but never become absorbed in them. Serve Bhagavan in this way and receive His great grace. May every sorrow end and all dejection disappear.

[1403]

(Raga Bhairavi - Kaharva)

Keep mind and senses mastered and never be even slightly careless. Eat measured, sattvic food without seeking the tongue’s pleasure. Abandon every disguise and deceit, hypocrisy and false conduct. Engage moderately in fitting activities that bring beneficial results. Forsake every prohibited and harmful act and perform only noble actions. Perform even these moderately and appropriately, and do only what belongs to your dharma. Do not surrender to tamasic sleep at the wrong time, excessively or without purpose. Sleep suitably at night so that fresh energy and rest arise. Do not remain uselessly awake day and night in attachment, anger, disputes and enjoyment. Remain wakeful for the Lord’s service, continually engaged in measured noble action and free of turmoil.

[1404]

(Raga Bhairava - Kaharva)

One who regards another’s welfare as personal harm and another’s growth as personal ruin; another’s renown as personal disgrace and another’s advancement as personal decline; another’s happiness as personal sorrow and another’s honor as personal insult: such a corrupt and ignorant human earns sin at every moment.

[1404, continued]

Illness and enjoyment, criticism and praise, harm and benefit, victory and defeat, honor and humiliation all arrive according to the destiny generated by one’s own actions. Without such action no one can injure us, but whoever becomes its instrument digs a mine of suffering for oneself. Whether circumstances are adverse or favorable in every way, both are prompted by the Lord and rooted in His compassion. Take benefit from them and always desire everyone’s supreme welfare. Giving personal comfort, body, mind and wealth, seek continually to rescue others from calamity.

[1405]

(Raga Sohani - Rupaka)

Apart from the wealth of worship, what other wealth will you desire? Apart from the nectar of love, what other nectar will you drink? Apart from the gain of satsanga, what other gain will you consider? Apart from the riches of service, what other riches will you seek? Apart from others’ welfare, what other dharma will you practice? Apart from contemplating Bhagavan, whom else will you contemplate? Apart from love for His feet, where else will you place affection? Apart from the mind’s corrupt thoughts, what other enemy will you slay?

[1406]

(In the style of Lavani - Kaharva)

Loving worship is true wealth, and divine qualities are real riches. Craving for sense objects is poverty, and forgetting the Lord’s feet is terrible calamity. The highest position and authority is the privilege of serving His feet. Worldly position and authority produce impure corruption in the form of arrogant intoxication. Purity, beauty, humility, truth, nonviolence, lowliness and freedom from honor are one side; impurity, ugliness, gross discourtesy, falsehood, violence, intoxication and pride are the other.

[1406, continued]

Only the life that attains sacred love for the lotus feet of the Lord is successful. The life that attains the false security of the world of enjoyment has failed.

[1407]

(Raga Pilu - Kaharva)

Remember Hari moment by moment; do not forget Him even for an instant. There is no gain equal to remembrance and no loss equal to forgetting.

[1408]

(Raga Pilu - Kaharva)

If you desire peace and happiness, never desire another’s sorrow. Rejoice continually in others’ happiness, unconcerned with your own comfort.

[1409]

(Raga Mand - Kaharva)

Craving for sense objects is dark and destroys the development of knowledge. Destroy it through the rising sun of worship.

[1410]

(Raga Paraja - Kaharva)

Every day and every moment, continually elevate mind and understanding. Joyfully keep increasing pure feeling and the purest thought. Always perform some sacred and auspicious work for others’ happiness and welfare. With body, mind and speech, do it selflessly as pure service to the Lord. Yet feel not the slightest pride in duty or anything else. Seek no return or reward; joyfully worship the spontaneous Lord. The object is the Lord’s, the inspiration is His, and the receiver too is the Lord Himself. Keep offering forever, erasing the imprint of false possessiveness.

[1411]

(Raga Bhairava - Kaharva)

May the mind be purified by contemplation of Bhagavan, truth and others’ welfare. May speech be purified by singing His name and by truthful, beneficial and measured expression. The body becomes pure through humility, nonviolence, continence and service to the guru. Food becomes pure when sattvic, free of violence and obtained through honestly earned wealth. Only action that readily accomplishes one’s own and others’ welfare is pure. Right conduct approved by scripture, saints and the wise is pure.

[1412]

(Raga Kedara - Tintal)

Conduct yourself in the world in this way: regarding the entire world as filled with Hari, love everyone. Bow generously and faithfully at the feet of mother, father and revered elders. Renouncing desire for results, regulate all conduct by their instruction. Country, community, lineage, family, wife, children, friends, body and household: forgetting self-interest, continually serve them all as appropriate. Perform every duty consonant with varnashrama according to rule, free of desire for its fruit and regarding duty alone.

[1413]

(Raga Vasanta - Kaharva)

May the son behold God in his father and the father Bhagavan in his son. May the wife behold God in her husband and the husband Bhagavan in his wife. May the master see the Lord in the servant and the servant Bhagavan in the master. May the guru behold God in the disciples and every disciple Bhagavan in the guru. May subjects behold God in the king and the king Bhagavan in the form of his subjects. May the sudra behold God in the brahmana and the brahmana Bhagavan in the sudra.

[1413, continued]

Whatever distant or close relationship anyone bears to another in the world, let conduct accord with that relationship while remaining joined to vision of the Lord. Intoxicated by pride and delusion, may no one ever harm or dishonor anyone. May all serve everyone’s welfare and honor, always beholding Bhagavan in all.

[1414]

(Raga Mand - Kaharva)

Bhagavan alone dwells within every moving and unmoving being. Beholding Him, continually serve everyone’s welfare and honor. Abandon hatred and aversion and love everyone. This is the pure, beautiful and joyful way to please the Lord. Distinctions of social order, community, lineage, country and varied doctrines are all the Lord’s play; indivisible Rama pervades them all. Let conduct recognize distinctions according to name and form, while reflection on the one Self remains perpetually equal within all. From head to foot, all are limbs of one body, yet distinct forms of treatment arise among those limbs. Desiring the welfare and happiness of all and loving everyone equally, they joyfully bear responsibility for everyone’s welfare and security. In this way, forever behold the Lord’s form in all and serve incomparably with beneficial body, mind and speech.

[1415]

(Raga Sohani - Dadra)

The circumstance Bhagavan has given is itself a form of spiritual discipline. Engage it with faith, and its fruit is great and incomparable. For the faithless person, a blind well lies everywhere. Through faith Hari is attained; faith is a form of the Lord.

[1416]

(Raga Desa)

The unreal never possesses being, and the real is never absent. Remain forever firmly established in the real; place no feeling in the unreal. Knowing every pair of opposites to be unreal, do not exult or grieve. Continually experience as grace the eternal reality of Hari.

[1417]

(Raga Mand - Kaharva)

If you desire welfare in both this world and the next, turn away from sinful action and always worship Bhagavan. Desire, anger, intoxication, greed, fear, bitter speech, pride, another’s spouse or wealth, causing another pain and dishonoring another: renounce them all completely, honor everyone, continually practice noble conduct and serve wise saints.

[1418]

(Raga Sivaranjani - Kaharva)

Keep no attachment to action and no possessiveness toward its fruit. Perform every action well, by the proper method and without corruption. An actor in a play maintains no possessiveness or attachment anywhere, yet suitably performs every role by becoming the corresponding character. There must be no error in the performance and no disruption of the drama upon the stage. The proper rasa must arise, yet conflict must not arise in the mind. In the same way, upon God’s stage of this world, play your role properly, according to its costume and solely for His pleasure.

[1419]

(Raga Mand - Kaharva)

Honor everyone continually and give pure love to all. Always keep the door of your heart open to everyone. Speak truthful words to all and conduct yourself purely. Be supremely generous and render auspicious service to everyone. Behold your Lord in all and give honor to everyone. Remain devoted to everyone’s welfare, abandoning every pride.

[1420]

(Raga Vagesri - Kaharva)

Always speak beneficial, measured, truthful and sweet words; eat beneficial, measured and pure food. Remain forever fearless and free of honor and intoxication, keeping pure thoughts in the mind. Let life be regulated, senses and mind restrained, and conduct pure. Free of attachment to sense objects, endowed with equality and forgiveness, be naturally generous. Let life be united with the spirit of service and desire everyone’s welfare. Remain forever steadfast in dharma and character, even if the body should perish. Give refuge to one struck by calamity and rescue that person from distress. Remain surrendered to the Lord and continually hone yourself upon the whetstone of dharma.

[1421]

(Raga Mand - Kaharva)

Day and night benefit others with body, mind and wealth. Forgetting argument and dispute, know this as the essence of human embodiment. The body becomes pure through service and wealth through giving. The mind becomes pure through worship of Hari; thus threefold welfare arises.

[1422]

(Raga Nata - Tala Mula)

Compassion does not consider caste or lineage, human, bird or animal, friend or enemy; country or religion, self or other, relative or foe, high or low, wealthy or poor; wise or dull, child or elder, woman or man. Everywhere it is free of distinction. It makes another’s pain its own and awakens sacred feeling. The person then immediately begins removing that pain as one’s own, making every natural effort to the limit of one’s power without advertising it. Remaining free of pride and regarding this as the Lord’s immense grace, one becomes supremely joyful upon removing one’s own pain in another.

[1423]

(Raga Bhairava - Kaharva)

The supremely excellent gladly bear personal loss while benefiting others. The excellent protect personal welfare while benefiting others. The middling pursue personal welfare without considering others’ welfare. The inferior destroy others’ welfare while imagining this to serve their own. The low continually harm others even without personal benefit. The utterly low harm others even while harming themselves.

Only that which always benefits others is dharma; through it one’s own true good is certainly and naturally accomplished. That which causes another even slight harm is adharma; through it one certainly and naturally causes oneself immeasurable harm. The wise therefore continually benefit others, because through this their own benefit also arises. Saints never harm even one who has harmed them.

[1423, continued]

Forgetting their own advantage and disadvantage, saints naturally benefit everyone. They never announce or say, “I am benefiting others.” Like the sun naturally giving light, they continually confer benefit upon all.

[1424]

(Raga Vagesri - Kaharva)

Behold Bhagavan forever hidden within the sorrowful, lowly, afflicted and sick. Respectfully serve them as appropriate with body, mind and wealth, honoring them. Do not laugh at sufferers or proudly neglect them. Never display the false grandeur of wealth, position, caste or power. Love all and bring them fitting happiness, regarding them as your own self. Share the sorrow of those who suffer and never dishonor them even slightly. Whatever you have received belongs to the Lord: body, wealth, living beings and objects. Humbly offer it in His service and accomplish your true self-interest. Whatever conduct you desire from others toward yourself, continually practice that same conduct toward everyone with body and mind. Whatever treatment you regard as adverse when directed toward yourself, never treat anyone else in that way; retain goodwill. Serve father, mother and revered elders continually and eagerly. Maintaining faith in the heart, receive their unfailing blessings. Never speak false, bitter, futile or harmful words in carelessness. Joyfully give truthful, pure, meaningful, beneficial and sweet speech. Attachment and hatred forever dwell among the objects of all the senses. Know them as hostile plunderers and never come even slightly under their control. Keep exclusive possessive love at the Lord’s feet and remain equal toward sense objects. Do no improper action with body or mind by imagining happiness in sensual enjoyments.

[1424, continued]

Worshiping and attaining God is the human being’s great duty. Only one who remains engaged in this discipline at every moment is wise.

[1425]

(Doha; Raga Pilu - Kaharva)

Even a little wealth purely earned through truth and dharma brings happiness at all times and produces no harm. Wealth joined with injustice and devoid of dharma increases sin; becoming the cause of evil fruit, it is a curse. With body and mind renounce all violence toward every living being. Live for everyone’s happiness and welfare and become greatly fortunate. Do not allow even the slightest sinful thought to enter the mind. No secret transaction is hidden from the indwelling Lord. Remain forever stainless and pure before Him, even if everyone mistakenly considers you impure. Only one who is pure before the Lord is truly a pure soul. Merely being called pure can never bring welfare.

[1426]

(Raga Bhairava - Kaharva)

See your own Self in all, and see Bhagavan Himself pervading everyone. Serve all and do what is dear to them, abandoning pride. Bring happiness to everyone and honor all with a guileless mind. Always work for everyone’s welfare and love all without seeking honor. Do not restrict the self; expand it throughout the whole world. Understand another’s interest as your own and naturally benefit everyone.

Make the light of spirituality shine and immediately destroy the darkness of delusion. Become filled with renunciation and austerity, live purely and abandon enjoyment, that sweet poison.

[1427]

(Raga Ahira Bhairava - Tala Mula)

One who depends upon the Lord alone and possesses firm faith in Him is not tormented by anxiety and never remains dejected. Continually remembering the Lord, that person’s mind is filled with complete joy and, free of care, continually receives the grace of His favor. Sri Bhagavan appears within every creature, object and circumstance. Life thereby becomes joyful and successful, and the Lord Himself is attained without obstruction.

[1428]

(Raga Vihaga - Kaharva)

The finest works of life are these: keep the company of the good and repeat Hari’s name aloud; always perform only sacred actions and abandon every corrupt deed; forsake contemplation of sense objects and worship the Lord’s beautiful form; never hurt anyone’s heart, but become an abode of happiness for all; serve everyone selflessly with body, mind and wealth to the extent possible.

[1429]

(Raga Vagesri - Tintal)

O mind, keep holy company every day. Meeting saints destroys the three afflictions; place your heart at their feet. Go near the saints daily and drink the nectar of Hari’s name. Serve them always in every way and bring them joy by every means. Keep perpetual trust in the saints and cultivate profound faith. Behold Hari’s form in them and do whatever they teach.

[1429, continued]

They know every mystery of Hari; hear everything from them. Hearing it repeatedly, hold it within the mind and dye the mind in its color. Walk upon the path shown by these saintly friends. Swiftly reach Hari’s abode and joyfully behold Him.

[1430]

(Raga Todi - Tintal)

Those things by which tamas and its darkness increase and rajas moves toward darkness; by which enjoyment is contemplated throughout the day and night and craving grows powerful; by which hypocrisy, arrogance, possessiveness, intoxication, fear, anxiety and dejection expand; by which discernment is covered and sinful conduct and thought increase in body and mind; by which faith in dharma, the fruit of action and God departs from the mind; and by which violent and unlawful enjoyments leave not even a moment’s respite: such places, dress, food, literature and people are all bad company. Abandon them quickly and continually seek auspicious satsanga.

[1431]

(Raga Vihaga - Tintal)

Never keep the company of the wicked. Meeting them always brings sorrow; remain apart from them. Place not the slightest trust in their sweet speech. Abandon it forever like poison and give it no place in the mind. Their company produces corrupt understanding and erodes wisdom upon Hari’s path. Loving worship of Sri Hari falls away and the mind is drenched in sense objects. Every peace and happiness of mind is destroyed, leaving one to beat one’s head in grief. O mind, abandon such wicked treasuries of sorrow and love holy company.

[1432]

(Raga Kafi - Kaharva)

Never desire service of any kind from another person. Give your possessions to all and never become a taker. Continually serve everyone with body, mind and wealth. You will receive the beautiful fruit of the Lord’s grace.

[1433]

(Raga Jangala - Kaharva)

Whatever has come, whatever is coming and whatever will be received hereafter is the Lord’s auspicious arrangement, eternally pervaded by grace. Birth and death, limitless happiness and terrible sorrow, great honor and extreme humiliation are all unavoidable and auspicious arrangements previously fashioned by the auspicious Lord. The compassionate, terrifying, beautiful, favorable, repellent, splendid creation and immense destruction are all the sweet expansion of the one embodiment of rasa within His play. Do not become proud in happiness or dejected in sorrow. Remain deeply content, understanding everything as the grace of His favor.

[1434]

(Raga Paraja - Kaharva)

Bhagavan is the master of everything you have received. Disguised as the lowly, He asks you to give Him His own possession. Behold the Friend of the lowly in the lowly form of every living being, and humbly offer Him His own body, mind and wealth.

[1435]

(Raga Bhairavi - Kaharva)

Understand everyone to have a share in whatever you possess or receive. Continually give each person an appropriate portion from it. What you then eat from the remainder will be pure and nectar-like. Through it you will surely attain great happiness and peace here and hereafter.

[1436]

(Raga Bhairavi - Kaharva)

Every possession you have received, body, mind, wealth, strength and vast intelligence, belongs solely to the one Lord, whose authority extends over all. Never regard these as yours and never feel the slightest pride. Humbly keep offering them in the Lord’s service each day. Place possessive love only at the lotus feet of the eternally generous Lord. Serve Him alone forever, knowing this as the essence of life.

[1437]

(Raga Todi - Kaharva)

Make meaningful the body, mind, wealth, strength, learning, understanding and authority you have received by generously dedicating them to others’ welfare. Remain humble and modest, allowing not the slightest pride in renunciation. Understand that the Lord’s great possession has been blessed by entering His service.

[1438]

(Raga Bhimapalasi - Kaharva)

Give food to the hungry and water to the thirsty. Give clothing to the unclothed and true honor to the dishonored. Give fearlessness to those overwhelmed by fear and refuge to those without shelter. Give peace to those distraught with grief and service to the afflicted.

[1438, continued]

Give courage to the sorrowful and fallen, and medicine to the sick. Give the right path to one who has lost the way and hope to the despairing. Give knowledge to the ignorant and faith to the doubting. Give dharma to those without it and knowledge of God to the atheist. Whenever anyone needs something, give it then if you are able, but never make that person feel indebted. Do not consider yourself the giver and feel no pride. Humbly offer the Lord His own possession with honor.

[1439]

(Raga Vasanta - Kaharva)

Give fearlessness to the frightened and grain to the hungry. Give water to the thirsty and restore honor to the humiliated. Give learning to the uneducated and refuge to those struck by calamity. Give clothes to the unclothed and medicine to the sick. Teach dharma to those without it and give courage to those stricken by grief. Show the good path to the lost and give a home to the homeless. Give humbly and selflessly without creating any obligation. Regard everyone as God and give all their full right. One who selflessly and lovingly worships the Lord with these twelve flowers, abandoning pride, surely attains Bhagavan.

[1440]

(Raga Todi - Kaharva)

Where hatred and suspicion abound, give love and trust. Where fault exists, give forgiveness; fill darkness with light. Give sure hope to the despairing and fearlessness to those tormented by fear. Give the stainless gift of abundant joy to the person filled with dejection.

[1440, continued]

Give exhilarating courage to one whose mind has withered. Awaken in every heart the sacred desire for love of the beloved Lord. Hari is within all, all are within Hari, and all are forms of His play. Become everyone’s servant, bringing happiness, welfare and incomparable friendship to all.

[1441]

(Raga Kafi - Kaharva)

Give forgiveness to an enemy and a truthful heart to a friend. Give honor to the dishonored and perpetual fearlessness to the frightened. Give tolerance, happiness and service to a rival. Give the nourishing fruit of welfare to benefactor and offender alike. With a devotional mind, always give honor to your father. Respectfully give abundant resources to brothers and sisters. Through your noble actions, give your mother profound pride that she gave you birth. By practicing noble conduct yourself, give instruction to children. Give prosperity to the lowly, regarding it as their rightful due. Give dignity to yourself and service to every person. Give your mind to the Lord’s sacred feet. Give love to your neighbor and speech that is pure and honey-sweet. Joyfully give body and wealth in full, regarding every creature as pervaded by Hari.

[1442]

(Raga Paraja - Kaharva)

Forget whatever benefit you have ever done for another. Forget whatever harm another has ever done to you. Remember whatever benefit another has ever done for you. Remember whatever slight harm you have ever done to another.

[1443]

(Raga Bhimapalasi - Kaharva)

Those who inwardly honor helpless and lowly people struck by calamity, and joyfully give body, mind and wealth in their service; who instead regard themselves as beneficiaries and feel not the slightest pride: Bhagavan becomes deeply pleased with them through this worship.

[1444]

(Raga Pilu - Kaharva)

Never allow the mind to covet another’s possession. Never entertain the impure thought of taking another’s wealth. Always regard it as powerful poison and keep away, knowing it perpetually to bring death. Bhagavan, Lord of all, is your eternal friend, naturally omniscient, all-powerful and strong. Joyfully accept whatever arrangement He has made as right, regarding it as a treasury of supreme auspiciousness. Enjoyments born of contact are not merely without essence; they are wombs of sorrow, causes of bondage and abodes of hellish pain. The wise therefore remain perpetually detached from them and, like bees, attached to Hari’s lotus feet. Those exclusively dyed in the color of love for Bhagavan’s feet, whose hearts naturally withdraw from enjoyment, live blessed lives.

[1445]

(Raga Sivaranjani - Kaharva)

Always offer everyone auspicious encouragement and noble conduct. At once awaken and embody the deity sleeping within each person. Continually behold virtues and good feelings in others. Giving affection, praise them truthfully and without reserve.

[1445, continued]

Excellent virtues fill everyone but have not yet developed. Encourage and awaken them, continually increasing pure confidence. Immediately remove despair, lowliness and inferiority by giving courage. Awaken in the mind desire for a successful and excellent life of a higher order. Make the sacred effort that establishes perpetual and firm faith in the Lord, so that the divine radiance of humanity may swiftly shine in the human being.

[1446]

(In the style of Lavani - Kaharva)

Always do all the good you can, by every means you can, along every path you can, at every time you can, in every place you can, for every creature you can, for as long as you can.

[1447]

(Raga Vasanta - Kaharva)

Show compassion toward every living being and give affection to all. Speak truthfully, sweetly, beneficially and moderately; humbly repeat Hari’s name. Regard everything as the Lord’s property and continually use it for others’ welfare. Relieve sufferers’ pain by giving your comfort, keeping the mind united with the Lord. Practice varnashrama dharma with pure enthusiasm in the mind. Protect dharma and, giving peace, remove the burning in every heart. Eat sattvic and nonviolent food, abandoning all craving of the tongue. Receive Bhagavan’s prasada each day, so all grief and dejection disappear. Through joyful and faithful service, bring happiness and give honor.

[1447, continued]

Inwardly know revered elders, mother, father, guru and deity as God. Practice daily self-study, worship Hari every day and continually seek sattvic satsanga. Make forgiveness, renunciation and service to cows and the afflicted natural parts of yourself. Keep exclusive possessive love and attachment continually at the Lord’s feet. Becoming a greatly fortunate servant of Hari, you will reach the divine abode.

[1448]

(Raga Pilu - Kaharva)

Never anywhere mistakenly speak words that bring sorrow, harm or agitation, that are bitter, false, empty or contemptuous and naturally spread enmity, words that pierce the heart like a hard thorn the moment they are heard. Truthful, sweet and beneficial words adorn speech and spread happiness through the heart as soon as they are heard. Speak auspicious words filled with humility and true substance, through which welfare, happiness and love expand among all.

[1449]

(Raga Vasanta - Kaharva)

Protect others’ rights and relinquish your own. As far as possible, respectfully fulfill others’ hopes. Having done so, never make anyone feel indebted. Never seek anything in return and abandon pride from the mind. Expect nothing from creatures, objects or circumstances. Desire the happiness of the Self, eternally present within you. One who expects another to secure happiness and fulfillment remains deprived of the Self’s accomplished joy and is forever disappointed. Whatever you inwardly understand to be adverse to your own welfare...

[1449, continued]

...never practice toward anyone else; understand this as the root of dharma. Never look at anyone’s faults; abandon criticism and gossip. See virtues and good feelings, and serve with love. Regard all your comforts as borrowed from those who suffer. Distribute them among sufferers and discharge this unequal debt. You have a right only to enough wealth to fill the stomach. One who claims more is punishable, a thief of another’s right. One who eats the remainder of sacrifice becomes free of every sin. One who earns only for oneself eats sin and is joined with sin. What remains after everyone receives their rightful share is the true sacrificial remainder. The sins of one who lives upon it come to an end. Never desire harm for anyone; desire good and bring welfare. Find happiness only in everyone’s happiness and welfare only in everyone’s welfare. Love all, give happiness to all and truly honor everyone. Understand your own Self in all, or behold Bhagavan within everyone. Whatever the Lord has given and whatever circumstance He has bestowed, recognize welfare within it. It is His auspicious arrangement; know it as good and use it well. His grace is forever infinite; place complete trust in it. Through His spontaneous friendship alone, peace is received without effort. Every worldly creature and object is impermanent, momentary and filled with sorrow. See no self-interest in them; inwardly behold only the pure highest good. Abandon attachment and craving for enjoyment and become free of sin. Enter the Lord’s joyful refuge and peace will arise by itself. Continually repeat His sacred name with faith in the mind. Keep the Lord alone within the mind and remain perpetually near Him. Through His compassion the rare human life has become accessible.

[1449, continued]

Take full advantage of it by offering mind, speech and body. The Lord forever dwells equally within all. Through your noble actions, worship Sri Bhagavan unceasingly in everyone. Inwardly abandon every other refuge and surrender exclusively to Him. Birth will certainly succeed and life will become blessed.

[1450]

(Raga Kafi - Kaharva)

Conduct yourself truthfully and abandon every violence. Do not hoard enjoyments; distribute everyone’s share. Renounce possessiveness and the claim of ownership over wealth. Practice equality toward all, abandoning narrowness of mind. Forsake every deception and contrivance and act lovingly toward everyone. Honor all, abandoning the intoxication of superiority from now on. Gladly take upon yourself everyone’s suffering and deprivation. Joyfully give your comfort and free all from sorrow. Know with certainty that your welfare lies only in others’ welfare. Give fearlessness to everyone and swiftly remove fear. Clothes, jewels, wealth, home, land, every learning, enjoyment, desire, position, honor, skill and great cleverness: whatever is in your possession, do not regard it as yours. Know everything to belong to everyone and abandon the imagined claim of ownership. Always worship Bhagavan and abandon worship of enjoyment. Turn toward Hari now and turn your face away from enjoyments. See God in all and continually honor everyone. Serve everyone and work for every aspect of their welfare.

[1450, continued]

Become a true human being and give humanity to all. Destroy the dreadful and deeply sorrow-producing demonic nature.

[1451]

(Raga Kafi - Kaharva)

The comfort of the happy has been extracted from the happiness of those who suffer. It is nourished only by continually returning it. But if a person does not return it joyfully, that person becomes demonic and must disappear from the world. Renounce hoarding and remove possessiveness from enjoyment. Distribute all happiness among everyone and establish equality. Whatever exists in this world is entirely God. Enjoy only as much as your true right permits. Continually avoid another’s property and never allow the mind to covet. Give everyone their right, and then consume your own. This alone is sacrifice, worship of Bhagavan and dharma. This is humanity and this alone is pure, noble action.

[1452]

(In the style of Lavani - Kaharva)

Never laugh on seeing someone fall. Do not imagine that you can never fall. Run to the fallen person, respectfully offer support and lift them at once. If you do not raise them quickly, who will raise you when you fall? Never feel disgust on seeing a sick creature. Personally become the helper of that helpless being.

[1452, continued]

Never neglect a sick person. Do not think, “We shall never become sick.” Embrace that person respectfully with the love of your heart. With your own hands remove the excrement and urine. If you turn away from serving the sick, you too will remain helpless in illness. Do not feel disgust toward the lowly and afflicted. They have a right to receive happiness from those who are comfortable. Never torment the lowly and suffering through neglect; instead become their supreme friend. Devote yourself to their honor, love and welfare. Give body, mind and wealth and remove all their distress. If they do not receive your support, who will support you when difficult days arrive? The seed you sow determines what you receive. As one acts, so one receives the fruit. Cause no one pain and never do wrong. If you desire happiness, continually do good.

[1453]

(Raga Sivaranjani - Kaharva)

Never contemplate or discuss another’s faults in any way. Never harm anyone through body, mind or speech. Notice even a small virtue, honor it and help it grow. In every way encourage every noble tendency in yourself and others. Continually think only of what is auspicious and practice auspicious conduct. Think and do only that through which divine qualities expand.

[1453, continued]

Never hurt anyone’s heart and never rebuke anyone. Behold and honor God, who forever dwells within all.

[1454]

(Raga Bhairavi - Kaharva)

Do not search for where a devil may sit hidden within someone. If it appears, sacrifice it at once with the weapon of goodwill. Behold auspicious Bhagavan eternally dwelling in everyone. Worship Him with flowers of love, remaining attentive and keeping Him awake within them. Let not the slightest hatred toward any living being remain anywhere in you. Distribute pure love among all and show special compassion in suffering. Forgive everyone’s faults, renouncing possessiveness and ego. Remain equal in pleasure and pain and take your share of others’ sorrows.

[1455]

(Raga Vagesri - Kaharva)

See your own faults and never mistakenly look at another’s. Devote yourself to removing them and employ every remedy. Become humble and modest; abandon intoxication and pride and honor others. Take the virtues of the virtuous and fill your heart with them. Remain always vigilant so not the slightest fault stays within the heart. Continually worship Bhagavan and perform noble deeds pleasing to Him.

[1456]

(Raga Jangala - Kaharva)

Do not look at, contemplate or speak another’s faults. Search for virtues, behold them and always bring satisfaction to everyone. Purify every mind by giving virtue and noble conduct, yet feel not the slightest pride and do nothing opposed to dharma.

[1457]

(Raga Vagesri - Kaharva)

The finest covers another’s faults by giving personal virtues. The middling can naturally tolerate another’s faults. The inferior cannot tolerate them. The low exaggerates and broadcasts them. The lowest invents faults and attributes them to others. (1)

The finest continually benefits even an offender. The middling benefits only a benefactor. The inferior seeks personal benefit without serving others’ welfare. The low harms others for personal benefit. The utterly low harms others even while harming oneself. (2)

[1458]

(Raga Sivaranjani - Tintal)

That sacred person alone is fortunate who is detached from sense objects and whose life remains perpetually attached to the Lord’s lotus feet. Though utterly poor, neglected by all and subjected to humiliation, that person is surely dear to the Lord and Bhagavan is pleased with such a one. But one may possess abundant wealth and honor and easily obtain position and authority, yet remain attached to sense objects with countless corruptions filling the mind. If life is overrun by craving for enjoyment and demonic feeling, that unfortunate wrongdoer remains deprived of God’s grace and exhausted by sin.

[1459]

(Raga Jangala - Kaharva)

As the seed is, so its many fruits become. In the same way, fruit accords with the seed of action. If you desire perpetual, supreme and limitless happiness and peace here and hereafter, remain vigilant and continually perform auspicious actions and generous, virtuous conduct.

[1460]

(Raga Bhimapalasi - Kaharva)

Whatever conduct you desire from everyone toward yourself, practice that same conduct toward all with constant vigilance. Act humbly, sweetly, truthfully and for everyone’s happiness and welfare. In return you will receive such conduct many times over. Beholding the Lord in all, make every relationship a form of service. Let the conduct of every moment of life become service.

[1461]

(In the style of Lavani - Kaharva)

Pure earnings from one’s own labor continually purify the understanding. Depending on another’s labor entails exploitation and is certainly opposed to dharma. Never rely upon another’s labor and never appropriate another’s right. Regard as your own only the rightful money earned through your labor. Sinful effort opposed to dharma produces a terrible result: demonic births and hellish torments are received again and again as abodes of sorrow.

[1462]

(Raga Vasanta - Kaharva)

The means, acquisition, increase, protection, expenditure, enjoyment and loss of wealth all perpetually house immense exertion, terror, anxiety and confusion. Theft, violence, falsehood, hypocrisy, intoxication, desire, anger and pride; division, enmity, rivalry, debauchery, distrust, gambling and drinking: the misfortune called wealth is the root of these fifteen misfortunes. One who desires the highest good should therefore renounce wealth from afar without mistake. Brother, wife, father and friend may remain united through affection, yet over a single coin hearts split, supports are abandoned and they become enemies.

[1462, continued]

Agitated over a little money and filled with extreme anger, they suddenly abandon friendship and end life amid enmity. Having attained the human body, gateway to heaven and liberation, who would lovingly become trapped in wealth, this abode of misfortune?

[1463]

(Raga Khamaja - Tintal)

Do not become lazy through carelessness; perform work properly. Abandon all shame and imagined greatness about doing your own work. The Lord compassionately gave you hands, feet and every instrument alike. Why then do you not employ them? Why maintain false grandeur? Physical labor certainly benefits both mind and body. Become self-reliant and free, released from dependence upon others.

[1464]

(Raga Bhairavi - Kaharva)

In a person attached to wealth arise possessiveness and pride toward it. That fool exalts wealth while dishonoring right conduct. Desire seizes love’s place, and enjoyment takes the place of renunciation. Rights arrive and great duty is displaced. Grave inequality appears and sacred equality immediately withdraws. Cruelty takes compassion’s place and creates misery. Wealth obtained through a false path continually increases sin. It is not a blessing but a dreadful and impure curse within life.

[1465]

(In the style of Lavani - Kaharva)

After giving gods, sages, ancestors, humans and every creature their share, one who eats what remains becomes free of sin and attains God. But one who earns for oneself and eats without giving surely eats sin and suffers at the hands of Yama’s messengers.

[1466]

(Raga Desa)

May life, body, mind, speech, wealth, food, relationships, every object and all conduct be utterly stainless and sacred.

[1467]

(Raga Todi - Kaharva)

How long will you remain wretched and trapped in attachment and craving for sense objects? How long will you fill the mind with impure thoughts and feelings? The enjoyments for which you yearn, imagining them happy, will produce only terrible sorrow and increase ignorance. Abandon expectation, possessiveness, attachment, desire, intoxication and pride. Surrender exclusively and worship Sri Bhagavan continually.

[1468]

(Raga Mand - Kaharva)

Keep yourself forever absorbed in remembrance of Bhagavan. Listen not to the world’s faults and virtues, and do not pollute the mind. Someone may come near, ask something or say a few words; listen but say nothing, remaining indifferent toward all. Those who delight in speaking or hearing criticism and others’ faults receive the sufferings of hellish states.

[1468, continued]

Speak nothing of yourself and listen not to others’ affairs. Remain exclusively established in the Lord day and night. Stay vigilant toward the world filled with attachment, anger, pain and fault. Never hold enmity or self-seeking affection toward anyone. Remain distinct from all without becoming harsh. One who continually bears everything from everyone is dear to the Lord. Never discuss the world; remain always quiet. Dwelling in solitude, worship your Lord, and He Himself will serve you. Never tell anyone the stainless and hidden mystery of rasa-filled love for the Lord; endure every blow. Yet if even slight criticism of the Beloved occurs, one cannot bear it and naturally renounces everything, casting oneself away. Hari eagerly and forever accepts as His own the person whose heart contains such love in this world. The glory of this stainless love for the Lord cannot be spoken. Hari forever installs the great lover of Syama within His heart. One who continually finds happiness in sorrow comes by this path; otherwise why construct the deceitful arrangement of hell?

[1469]

(Raga Bhinnasadja - Tala Mula)

Pure food obtained through honestly earned wealth, free of violence and prepared purely by pure body and mind; simple, sattvic, moderate and health-giving, without increasing the burden of expense; food offered to the Lord makes pure thoughts arise within the heart.

[1470]

(Raga Imana)

Meat, alcohol, eggs, impure food, food obtained through sin or another’s leavings, food touched by sin, foul-smelling or increasing illness and misfortune: continually renounce them all and eat purely. First offer food to the Lord with honor filling the mind. When food is pure, the mind too becomes pure. Purity of mind will make life thoroughly pure. Within life’s purity, sacred noble actions will arise, and through them liberating human dharma will develop.

[1471]

(Raga Vihaga)

Humans, animals, birds, vines, trees, insects and moths: the Lord forever dwells in all, and all are His limbs. The human who eats meat is a root of violence, striking the Lord and forgetting personal welfare. Such a person receives limitless and dreadful hellish torment and cries out in misery within low births. Therefore never injure anyone. Continually think from the heart of everyone’s happiness and welfare.

[1472]

(Raga Sivaranjani - Kaharva)

Never mistakenly commit violence toward any creature through body or mind. Never speak futile, false, slanderous, deceitful or harsh words that pierce the heart. Never steal anyone’s wealth or property through body, mind or speech. Do not inflict sorrow or calamity upon another to fulfill degraded self-interest.

[1472, continued]

Renounce relations with another’s spouse and practice pure household dharma. Never perform wicked actions that destroy your own or another’s dharma. Completely abandon eating eggs and meat and drinking alcohol. Avoid tamasic and intoxicating substances and another’s leftovers with detachment. Do not dishonor mother, father, deity, guru or revered elders. Bring happiness to all continually, retaining faith and respect in the mind. Never inwardly desire bad company or corrupt addiction. Abandon anger and greed and show natural affection toward every creature. Renounce craving for enjoyment and cultivate firm love for the Lord’s feet. You will remain safe from hellish states and become a pure and fortunate devotee.

[1473]

(Raga Paraja - Kaharva)

The feeling in a person’s mind at life’s end will accord with the actions performed throughout life and the thoughts maintained within. Accordingly, a good or bad destination will inevitably be received. Therefore at every moment keep the generous heart in honey-sweet remembrance of Bhagavan.

[1474]

(Raga Paraja - Kaharva)

Incomparable service at the time of death removes the world from the mind. It never makes empty conversation about the world, enjoyments or home, through which attachment and desire awaken, possessiveness and false ego increase, and baseless fear, anxiety, grief and dejection overwhelm the mind. All enjoyments of the unreal, impermanent and sorrowful world are impure and filled with corruption. Reveal their faults and sorrows and repeatedly speak of the Lord. Sing His names, forms and virtues so the mind takes the form of Brahman. Human birth will succeed and the Lord, foundation of all, will be attained.

[1475]

(Raga Pradipa - Tintal)

One who worships ghosts and spirits and practices tamasic conduct; consumes eggs, meat and alcohol and engages in theft; keeps enmity, hatred and intoxication within the mind and practices violence and sexual misconduct, becomes a dreadful spirit and receives limitless, unbearable torment.

[1476]

(Raga Mand - Kaharva)

The one who, controlled by desire and greed, becomes angry and harms you continually harms oneself and is certainly foolish and ignorant. Always forgive that person, recognizing one worthy of compassion, who with personal hands inflicts such immense injury upon oneself.

[1477]

(In the style of a ghazal - Rupaka)

Wealth born of sin cannot remain forever, for dharma cannot tolerate it. Fire in a hut produces light, but it destroys everything. Darkness then spreads in every direction; having burned everything, the fool is left without support. Therefore do not accumulate sin. Fear vigilant God, who beholds all. Understanding Bhagavan’s auspicious intention, do not increase deprivation born of enjoyment. Honor the ideal of renunciation within the mind and now consider the consequence of enjoyment.

[1477, continued]

The wealthy person enriched by sin accumulates provisions for hellish suffering. Though honored in the world and worshiped by so-called scholars, never desire to become such a person. Recognize the future misery and be afraid. Simplicity and freedom from greed are not sins; greed is the father of the entire offspring of sin.

[1478]

(Raga Mand - Kaharva)

Anger is an immense devil; through anger knowledge is killed. Anger makes a person lose awareness and destroys every honor. In anger the eyes turn red and the face becomes terrifying. One shouts abuse and all conduct deteriorates. One tears the hair and anger produces utter distress. It brings death quickly and casts one into hellish states. Every limb burns, and truth no longer remains nearby. Understanding is shattered and every joy disappears. All modesty is lost and one runs blindly into a well. One fastens a noose around the neck and destroys oneself. The whole body trembles and every affection disappears. Noble conduct vanishes and one strikes oneself through striking others. Vices take their stand and every virtue is erased. Right conduct withdraws and good thought is cut away. One challenges revered elders and rebukes them, strikes them and forgets every love.

[1478, continued]

When anger comes, remain silent; the moment it comes, take up the rosary. Repeat Rama’s name within anger and make endurance of anger an austerity. Do not allow anger to act; at its arrival continually recite Hari’s name. Terrify anger thoroughly and destroy it through forgiveness.

[1479]

(In the style of a ghazal - Kaharva)

Friends do not see our faults, so we learn nothing from them. They tirelessly sing our virtues and do not mention even a slight defect. Brother, do not regard as friends those who praise you to your face. Faults are not corrected by praise; instead they repeatedly establish their home. Critics tell us our faults and bring us back to the path. Regard as true friends those who search out and describe them. Do not swell on hearing great praise; do not forget the mind’s baseness. Most praise is false, while criticism more often contains truth. Those who hear only their virtues continually burn and smolder. If you desire your welfare, patiently listen to unfavorable words.

[1480]

(Raga Khata - Tintal)

Those whose inward practice remains confined to name and form, whose minds retain attachment and desire for enjoyment, and who possess verbal knowledge yet conduct themselves by whim, regarding themselves beyond injunction and prohibition, are ignorant hypocrites.

[1481]

(Raga Bhairavi - Kaharva)

One who lacks humility, uprightness, austerity, renunciation and gentle, modest conduct; who lacks sweet and beneficial speech, truth, firm restraint and noble behavior; whose words are false, harsh and destructive of others’ welfare, whose mind is filled with arrogance and pride; who is devoted to violence and enmity and is a treasury of desire, anger, greed, fear and hypocrisy...

[1481, continued]

One who abandons discernment of what may and may not be eaten and consumes tamasic food and drink, though literate, is an ignorant human animal devoid of humanity. One within whom a great ocean of compassion, love, service and austerity surges, though illiterate, is a truly educated and learned human being. Abandon the impure, demonic and animal life that is futile and filled with harm. Practice divine qualities and become well-educated, pure and greatly fortunate.

[1482]

(Raga Bhimapalasi - Tintal)

May the body be filled with service and restraint, and speech always loving, beneficial and true. May compassion be equal toward every being’s welfare, and the mind continually contemplate Bhagavan. Though without wealth, honor or position and regarded as lowly in society, a life absorbed in love for the Lord’s feet is supremely blessed and the glory of its lineage. But if speech is harmful, false and bitter, the body enslaved to sensual enjoyment, and the mind filled with violence, desire, anger, intoxication, cruelty and love of indulgence; though possessing wealth, authority, honor and fame, if the base heart turns from the Lord’s feet, that person is a disgrace to the lineage, continually watering a vine of terrible suffering and hell.

[1483]

A human skeleton of only bone and skin, limbs weak and body unclothed, face sunken, belly swollen, afflicted by hunger and an abode of misery; a beautiful young woman abandoned, deeply humiliated and without a husband, rejected and excluded by society, tearful and utterly lowly; an orphaned child tormented by deprivation and terrible circumstances, helpless, longing for refuge, distressed and overwhelmed by fear; a boy or girl longing for education but without money or support, forced to remain deprived of learning and endure extreme hardship; lowly, voiceless creatures such as cows, goats, chickens and pigeons, tormented by fear of violence and grievously afflicted by violent humans...

[1483, continued]

All these creatures are forever deserving of compassion appropriate to their need. The person who inflicts suffering upon them is demonic and deserving of punishment. Compassion alone is the defining mark of human humanity. A compassionless human without humanity is a demon and unworthy. That person journeys toward hell and will undergo its torments, then enters demonic births and remains attached to sin.

[1484]

(Raga Paraja - Kaharva)

First comes “I,” then “my party,” and afterward “my country.” The interest of “I” is first, the party’s second, and the country’s last. As a “patriot” I always desire my country’s welfare, provided my party obtains wealth, office and honor from it. Even the party’s gain of wealth and office is acceptable to me only if “I” assuredly receive exceptional wealth, honor and complete authority. I am not such a fool of a patriot that I would sacrifice what is mine to consider the party’s or country’s welfare, rights, interest and honor. Yes, when speaking I shall always mention the country first, the party afterward, and never uselessly mention myself. But I will abandon even the country’s welfare if it obstructs my interest, and change parties for personal advantage without attachment. For in reality the one goal is always to make self-interest succeed. In this alone lies welfare; this alone is the glorious supreme human aim. This is the essence of politics and the magnificent nature of a leader: abandon the highest good and remain devoted to self-interest, for this alone is duty. Regard the accomplishment of self-interest alone and keep only this in view. This alone is human dharma and humanity’s exalted goal.

[1485]

(Raga Todi - Kaharva)

Country and dharma were forgotten, as were the welfare of every being and Sri Bhagavan. Base self-interest overshadowed life, together with ignorance filled with darkness. Humans became demons and demonic nature spread everywhere through life. Duty and renunciation were forgotten amid dense intoxication with rights and wealth. Through constant contemplation of sense objects every fault gradually arose. Understanding was destroyed, right reflection disappeared and people became treasuries of sinful poison.

[1486]

(Raga Hindola - Jhumara)

A life without dharma is an animal life filled with terrible tamas. Without dharma, a person becomes a demon and remains immersed in false intoxication. Driven by base self-interest, such a person stays continually and extremely cruel. Virtuous action, happiness and peace remain forever far from one without dharma.

[1487]

(Raga Kafi - Tala Mula)

When a human becomes devoted solely to desire and enjoyment, humanity is lost and the person becomes wholly demonic. New cravings for wealth and authority continually arise. One burns in greed and anger and never receives even a particle of peace. Absorbed in violence, enmity and opposition, the world becomes filled with sin. Then Siva becomes Rudra and performs the destructive dance of dissolution.

[1488]

(Raga Mand - Kaharva)

Posing as great souls and yogis, as pretended lovers and knowers, they plunder the wealth of character and dharma by constructing deceitful hypocrisy. Their hearts filled with distorted affection and their saintliness counterfeit, wolves in sheep’s clothing spread throughout the world.

[1489]

(Raga Bhimapalasi - Kaharva)

This momentary and impermanent world is filled with sorrow. Hope for lasting happiness within it repeatedly increases suffering. Under the delusion that happiness lies in enjoyment, a person undertakes many enterprises, yet never beholds enduring happiness and continually cries out. Sorrow arrives repeatedly and hope receives heavy blows, but the fool does not abandon false hope and creates ever-new disturbances. Continually devising means to increase the objects of possessiveness, attachment and hatred grow through delusion and cause downfall. My doctrine, my language, my wealth, my land and buildings; my party, my house, my positions, authority, honor and respect; I am capable, I am happy, I build the nation, I am a great leader; who in the world can equal me in all these things? Thus the person merely babbles and continually speaks in vain, remaining anxious and dejected until death’s final moment. Uselessly inflating ego and intoxication, one destroys oneself and perpetually experiences unrest, while peace and happiness never draw near. Time looks at nothing else but naturally proceeds on its course. The breaths of life are exhausted and the final hour arrives. Utterly helpless, covered by despair, color changed and distraught, every small and great position and object of “I” and “mine” begins to fall away. Life departs, and one is forced to leave home and world, having wasted the precious opportunity and carrying a heavy load of sin and harm. Why did I come? What did I do? Why did I waste life without essence? One regrets, weeps and groans, but nothing of substance comes into hand.

[1490]

(Raga Bhairavi - Kaharva)

Within the human body all four aims of life may naturally be accomplished, and by walking the good path a person attains liberation, the highest spiritual good. Yet the deluded fool wastes it in enjoyments that are wombs of sorrow, continually accumulating harm that brings animal births and hellish states.

[1491]

(Raga Todi - Kaharva)

Since wealth and authority became the purpose of our lives, sacred renunciation, pure foundation of spiritual strength, has disappeared. Disorder arrived and pervasive delusion spread everywhere. Every sense of duty vanished and base self-interest, intoxication and delusion prevailed. Love withdrew from the heart, and hatred and violence seized its place. Understanding became tamasic and knowledge of dharma and adharma, welfare and harm, disappeared. People take pride in destruction, arson and killing. They afflict the weak and arrogantly dishonor elders. Corruption, misconduct and extreme oppression have spread in every direction. Truth has been destroyed and commerce founded upon falsehood has begun. Politics has gladly embraced prostitution today, choosing wherever wealth is found and abandoning every principle and thought. How will this many-sided decline stop and renewal return? May compassionate Sri Bhagavan, purifier of the fallen, give everyone right understanding.

[1492]

(Raga Sivaranjani - Kaharva)

Those who forget the goal of human life and become slaves of enjoyment are naturally bound through delusion in the snares of possessiveness, attachment and anger. Controlled by desire, anger and greed, they continually commit forbidden wicked acts. Wealth and authority alone become their beloved dharma.

[1492, continued]

Forgetting knowledge of renunciation and duty, abandoning truth, nonviolence and love, these fools seek security through tamasic and demonic means. Exhausted by wicked acts filled with delusion, honor, intoxication, deceit and crookedness, the more they desire happiness and success, the more they fail and become weary. Making every creature miserable, they seek stores of happiness for themselves, but repeatedly receive anxiety, fear, dejection, agitation and sorrow. Losing rare humanity, they become animals, ghosts and fiends, fighting and performing a naked dance like animals and spirits. They call this awakening, advancement, progress, civilization and high development. Destroying human birth, after death they dwell in dreadful hellish states.

[1493]

(Raga Jangala - Kaharva)

Truth is now covered by tamas, and rajas has become tamas’s slave. Every action therefore occurs under the direction of tamas. Sattva always carries one upward, while rajas keeps the person in the middle. Keeping one engaged in corrupt tendencies, tamas forever casts one downward. Tamas calls virtue sin and perpetually calls sin virtue. The judgment of an understanding covered by darkness becomes immeasurably inverted. It calls decline advancement and downfall renewal. Senselessly it regards others’ welfare and happiness as personal harm and sorrow. It calls misconduct right conduct and right conduct corruption. It describes theft, fraud and robbery as necessary behavior. It makes people commit wicked acts by calling them foundations of progress, and, removing duty, produces false ego and possessiveness. It awakens dense and false pride in country, religion, doctrine, caste and language, restricts self-interest and spreads ignorance among all.

[1493, continued]

Embracing demonic nature, the human begins acting by whim. Every action naturally becomes wicked, false and deeply corrupt. Regarding personal happiness as welfare, one destroys others’ welfare and happiness. By the law “as one sows, so one reaps,” complete destruction follows. Science invents atomic weapons and other means that destroy living beings, and today every country immeasurably races to become “advanced” in them. The exclusive goal of learning, intelligence and knowledge becomes wealth and authority: “Let us remain prosperous and secure,” even by destroying everyone else. Thus Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists forget welfare and harm and perform degraded actions producing evil fruit and opposing their own good. Capitalism, communism, socialism, democracy, monarchy and many others spread doctrinal corruption through the world to support petty ego. Thus, immersed in sin, Chinese and Pakistani conspirators alike, deluded by attachment, blow the demonic mantra of hatred and conflict. Because of this same petty ego, delusion has spread within India too, and hatred and hostility increase in the names of language, doctrine and provincial boundaries. Murder, plunder, oppression of the defenseless, atrocities, burning vehicles and homes, gunfire and other demonic acts occur beyond description and measure. Violence, theft of others’ wealth, falsehood, sexual misconduct and every unwanted trade have become natural practices of polluted and corrupt life. Sikhs and Hindus are fundamentally one, sharing one great dharma and culture, yet controlled by petty ego they have begun behaving toward one another as enemies. Demands arise for a Punjabi province, Haryana state and Mahamalava, for Chambal and Bhojpuri regions and a new Urdu province; for Mizo, Naga, Harijan, Kadjam, Dravidian and Santhal territories, for several divisions of Uttar Pradesh and a fragmented Rajasthan.

[1493, continued]

Everyone knows these bring not the slightest benefit to country or community, yet under petty ego the learned proclaim an abundance of advantages. Bribery, theft, adulteration and the immense burden of state taxes are all painful and sinful acts and corrupt thoughts born of narrow self-interest. Whether hidden behind civilization’s curtain or openly performed, grave adharma that destroys dharma spreads everywhere in dharma’s name. Whether a vast nation or an insignificant individual, petty ego makes everyone commit degraded sins great and small. On the day awareness of the one Self arises throughout the world, petty ego will disappear and true knowledge of the self will arise. Sattva will be uncovered from tamas, and rajas will come under sattva’s rule. Every action will become naturally absorbed in everyone’s happiness and welfare. Sattvic understanding will then determine truth and reality without dispute. Every action will become auspicious worship of Bhagavan and the highest spiritual good. All will naturally give happiness to all and work for welfare. Protecting others’ rights, they will be rescued from suffering. Wherever such feeling awakens in nation or person, every suffering there will naturally disappear. Until this beautiful, pure and true principle awakens in the mind, humanity will continue dying even while awake and sorrow will not end. Alas, India of Self-delighting ascetics, sages, seers and philosopher-kings has plundered all its spiritual wealth and is becoming helpless today. O Bhagavan, now remove this delusion and negligence from India. Removing attachment and hatred, erase all its enmity and dejection. Open the eye of knowledge so people may directly behold You alone filling everyone and find You forever present before them.

[1493, continued]

May everyone discerningly experience others’ happiness and sorrow as one’s own. May life have one vow: to behold and accomplish everyone’s good. May serving all and securing everyone’s happiness and welfare become natural feeling. Giving personal comfort, may zeal continually increase to destroy others’ sorrow. May the age of truth return and this become once more a land of sages. Becoming peaceful and happy itself, may it give the world the same auspicious message. May nectar flow from everyone and hard stones melt. May all be happy, all be free of disease and all forever attain welfare.

[1494]

(Raga Bhimapalasi - Kaharva)

Today our slogan is that life should be of a “higher standard.” The meaning of a higher standard is that life’s current itself be elevated. May truth, nonviolence, renunciation and love prevail, and right conduct be dear to all. May service of the Lord through every living being be the fixed guiding star. May the sacred self expand into every moving and unmoving being in the universe. May everyone’s interest surely become one’s own unchanging interest. May all stand ready to remove everyone’s sorrow and give happiness. May everyone joyfully accept sacrifice for everyone’s happiness and welfare. Right conduct, goodwill, saintliness, truthful speech and pure dealings; equality amid pleasure, pain and other opposites, restraint, character and pure food; service, devotion to every being’s welfare, sattvic virtues, thoughts and conduct; a simple and gentle mind, love of saintly company, peace and steadfastness made manifest; speech humble, modest, sweet and beneficial, giving honor to all; nonstealing, nonaccumulation and no dishonor to anyone through mind or body; great continence forever protected in all eight ways: this is life of a higher standard, by which Bhagavan is pleased.

[1494, continued]

Fear, dejection, laziness, envy, hatred, jealousy and hostility toward living beings; attachment, desire, anger, greed, intoxication, hypocrisy, unrest, arrogance, deceit and delusion; perpetually unfulfilled craving for enjoyment and constant pursuit of position, wealth and pleasure; criticism, enmity, opposition, cruelty and violence, without the slightest tenderness of mind; continual dislike of benefiting others and enthusiasm for polluted tamasic actions; the fire of anxiety blazing in consciousness and terrible burning in the heart; ever-new desire for fragmentation, destruction, unrest and disturbance; no concern for others’ ruin when pursuing one’s own false happiness; atheism, strong love of adharma, tamasic display and false renunciation; natural delight in criticizing God, scripture, saints and brahmanas; unrestrained, lawless, willful and sinful misfortune: these are the vices of a low standard, through which demonic nature awakens.

All these things of a low standard, from which every fault sprouts and grows, are today called life of a higher standard, devoid of repose. Breaking every boundary and abandoning the lovely customs and principles of one’s lineage; borrowing from everyone to indulge and increase bodily comfort; acting by whim and gravely dishonoring elders and scriptural instruction; watching cinema daily and keeping the mind filled with pride; consuming alcohol, meat and eggs while displaying suits, boots and neckties; remaining ornamented, stiff and continually exhibiting false grandeur; eating and drinking anything, anywhere and anytime without discernment; urinating while standing and perpetually spreading impurity; bathing naked while seated in a tub and using soap made from animal fat; drinking tea in bed without bathing and abandoning proper conduct.

[1494, continued]

Becoming trapped in fashion, corrupt addictions and similar habits and embracing ostentation; increasing expenditure and resorting to theft, acting deceitfully while posing as civilized; regarding low-grade dancing and singing as the essence of culture; men and women mixing together and indulging without restraint; shouting at full voice, “We are free, not enslaved. At every moment we gloriously develop ourselves and the country. By raising life to a higher standard we have earned great renown. You should all be grateful and regard us as abodes of the country’s welfare.” Performing works of a low standard under the pleasant name of a higher one; continually committing repellent sins under the sacred name of virtuous action; tamasic understanding inverts everything, calling the real sorrow and the unreal an abode of happiness; through this same understanding a low standard is today named high. Thus we beg and take loan upon loan without honor. Pride in this “higher standard,” whose result is sorrow, overshadows us today. In the name of development we thus devise destruction. May compassionate Sri Bhagavan remove delusion and give us pure understanding today.

[1495]

(Raga Todi - Kaharva)

“One eternal, vast and perfect consciousness of the Self dwells within every being.” “The one supreme Lord abides throughout the moving and unmoving universe.” “The earth is like one family,” and the entire world was understood as one Self. This was the experience of India’s people and India’s beloved declaration. “May all be healthy, may all enjoy happiness, may everyone prosper and develop. May every breath of life pass for everyone’s auspicious welfare.” Petty ego, limited self and individual self-interest were renounced here, and God in the form of the universe was continually beheld and worshiped.

[1495, continued]

“All beings forever dwell in Hari, and God perpetually dwells within all beings.” Every person held this conviction and all declared it with one voice. The feeling of one Self was natural, and everyone arranged happiness for all. This sacred inclination belonged to the people and formed the king’s constitution. Alas, today we have forgotten our true nature and our own thought. Therefore this grave and dark misconduct has overshadowed us. It is no longer merely a matter of other creatures; today human is the enemy of human. The same demonic equipment is being prepared for total destruction. Taking the petty names of caste, province, language, territorial boundary and religion, people lose discernment, forget consequences and perform every dark deed. The learned forget true learning, leaders forget their country, and students forget education while assuming the costume of destruction. Discipline is gone, humility is gone and not a trace of courtesy remains. New parties, policies, armies, doctrines, unions and ideologies arise every day. Conflict, strife and violent mutual dispute continually increase. Duty and renunciation have been abandoned, while rights and wealth alone are seized. Intoxicated for authority and wealth, people commit terrible harm today. By easily inciting students and innocent people, they cause looting, violence, killing and immense destruction of property. They freely set fire to vehicles, buildings and mills, cause futile loss and commit extremely repellent and degraded crimes. The polluted fire of sorrow has blazed up; peace and happiness exist nowhere. Everyone’s life is distressed, and grave mutual suspicion overshadows all. Forgetting humanity’s natural dharma, people cause one another pain. Instead of flowers, all spread thorns upon everyone’s path. Food scarcity, poverty, starvation and painful burning increase in the country. Maddened by the alcohol of self-interest, we do not care in the slightest. Alas!

[1495, continued]

Afflicted by the disease of self-interest, nationalism now draws its final breath. The effort continues to divide already partitioned India into still more fragments. Humanity is undergoing grave decline while animality and demonic nature awaken. People joyfully set fire even to what humanity remains. The heart trembles on seeing this exceedingly painful consequence. Grievous illness and sorrow will spread at every hour through divine retribution. The lamps of life will be extinguished, and the darkness of death will expand everywhere, spreading terrible hellish torment. This is the failure of human life and misuse of humanity. People already experience hell and carry away vast further experiences of hell.

[1496]

(Raga Bhairavi - Kaharva)

We have become foreigners in our own country, sacrificing everything of our own. We blindly imitate others and abandon pride in Indian culture. Another’s language and dress, foreign food and every foreign custom; bed and furnishings, house and travel are all foreign, as are mind, understanding and thought. Children today call father “Papa” and mother “Mummy.” Everyone abandons traditional ways and adorns a foreign appearance. Respect for elders, parents and ancestors has left the heart. People regard becoming foreign as great advancement, progress and development.

[1497]

(Raga Sohani - Kaharva)

Today we have become complete foreigners in our own country. Through mental servitude, every jewel of our home has been lost. The clean kurta, white dhoti, mirzai and turban disappeared, while coat, trousers and necktie established themselves.

[1497, continued]

We began eating everyone’s leavings placed upon a table. This new animal manner of dining emerged under the name “buffet.” Abandoning the mother tongue, we began speaking English. Dyed in Western color, we began moving and behaving accordingly. Even children no longer say “Mataji” and “Pitaji.” Everywhere they say “Mummy,” “Daddy” and “Papa.” Blind imitation is powerful in every direction, and therefore decline too has no boundary or end.

[1498]

(Raga Bhairavi - Kaharva)

The sky is filled with words: progress, development and advancement; new awakening, new enthusiasm and ever-new great plans. Yet in these very names come retreat, decline and destruction. The “new awakening,” every “plan” and “new enthusiasm” are deception. Misconduct and extreme corruption have taken the place of right conduct. Renunciation and duty have hidden, while wealth and rights have arrived. Truth and nonstealing have departed, and falsehood and theft increase everywhere. Integrity is readily sold for money, while dharma is lost here and hereafter. Money has become everything: action, dharma, discipline and God. Abandoning the good path and justice, all worship it and surrender integrity. Compassion, service, patriotism and devotion to God have begun to be sold. All have become paths for serving base self-interest, while sensual attachment increases. Counterfeit medicine, adulterated milk and ghee and every falsified foodstuff are produced and sold without restraint, while everyone forgets self-interest and the highest good.

[1498, continued]

Purity of food and drink disappeared, while impure animal food increased. Ever-new and vast trades in meat, fish and eggs began. Large “scientific” slaughterhouses opened today. The paternal government, abandoning shame, commits terrible violence against living beings. An immense profusion of new and demonic taxes arose. The people are oppressed, and government becomes cruel like a bandit. Merchants multiplied, while officials often became thieves in body and mind. Thieves, theft and the worship of both rapidly increase everywhere. Cinema, a grave enemy of society, destroys national character, yet spreads like fire and naturally destroys discernment. Terrible inflation continually grows, opening its formidable mouth. Life has become filled with thorns of distress, and clouds of sorrow cover every direction. Terrible cow slaughter has increased, while the spirit of protecting cows has vanished. Dogs are lovingly raised, and enthusiasm for this fills great houses. Traditional chastity, fidelity, renunciation and sacrifice begin to disappear. Girls and young women become butterflies flying here and there without honor. Daughters and daughters-in-law of good families abandon familial modesty, limits and dignity and begin dancing, exposing their bodies and singing before crowds. Desire, anger and greed are the three gates to hell that destroy the self. Their influence spreads through all our actions today. Bhagavan alone is the supreme goal of human life. Forgetting Him, learned fools become devoted to sorrowful enjoyments. Sin appears as virtue, and misconduct now appears as proper conduct. Understanding covered by darkness judges inversely and thinks oppositely. Thus, while feeling proud, we keep falling into the abyss of decline. We do not know where we shall stop or when Bhagavan will give right understanding.

[1499]

(Raga Bhairavi - Kaharva)

Eternal and beginningless dharma and Bhagavan are the life and soul of humanity. This is the great principle realized by sages, seers, saints and devotees. The human being devoted to dharma and trusting Bhagavan remained firm in every age. Maddened today in the name of progress, humanity commits an immense mistake. Abandoning dharma and God, it seeks a mass of happiness from enjoyments, like hoping for coolness from fire. What delusion this is! Thus the world fills with hypocrisy, intoxication, pride and enmity. Desire, anger, greed, fear and violence spread without measure. Powerful craving for enjoyment has increased, along with natural attachment to sin. Renouncing humanity, the human today becomes animal and fiend. If devotion to dharma and God continues declining in this way, decline and destruction will surely occur under the sweet name of development.

[1500]

(Raga Bhimapalasi - Kaharva)

Filled with hypocrisy, honor and intoxication, the mind contains countless desires impossible to satisfy. Life joined with false thought overflows with corruption. Limitless anxiety continually torments one until the final breath. Life has one aim alone: immeasurable indulgence in desire. Bound by the hard nooses of hundreds of hopes, attached to enjoyment, devoted to desire and anger, one remains continually attached to unjust gain. “I obtained this today, and that wish of my mind will also be fulfilled. I shall acquire immense wealth, and every direction will worship me. I killed that obstructing enemy and shall kill others too. I am lord, enjoyer, happy, successful in life and a treasury of strength.”

[1500, continued]

“I am prosperous, an honored leader of the people; no one equals me. I shall perform service and charity.” Thus these ignorant people keep babbling. Their minds confused in many ways and deeply trapped in the net of delusion, these fools, intensely attached to desire and enjoyment, fall into impure hellish states.

[1501]

(Raga Jangala - Kaharva)

No one becomes great through wealth, riches, authority or honor. One who rejoices in another’s pain and grieves at another’s happiness is a treasury of sins. One who sacrifices personal comfort in order to secure another’s happiness is the priceless ornament of the world and the truly great human being. One who harms others to accomplish personal interest is a disgrace to the human world and a great enemy of humanity. The selfish person who dresses as a saint and cheats and deceives is a low hypocrite who steals the glory of the religious world. Again and again, shame upon the educated and violent human animal who, bearing degrees and learning, arrogantly robs others of happiness.

[1502]

(Raga Bhimapalasi - Kaharva)

Assuming the dress of renunciants, they become “great men,” supposedly established in Brahman, engaged in selfless action and embodiments of knowledge and realization. Maintaining a disguise, they always appear straightforward and simple saints, adorned with such humility that they seem utterly free of honor. Yet beyond ordinary sinners, they are treasuries of dreadful deceit, sitting upon high seats and continually displaying knowledge: “Nondual reality and knowledge alone crown everything; all other principles are inferior and doctrinally false.”

[1502, continued]

With immense pride in the mind, they proclaim their victory and say, “God and Bhagavan are merely produced by maya. The world and God exist only during ignorance. Nothing whatever is, has ever been or ever will become any reality. Nothing is ultimately true; all are false modifications. Within maya’s unreal kingdom, worldly dealings alone are unreal.” They possess not even elementary knowledge of pure love and criticize and dishonor the stainless love of the gopis. They beat the drum of right conduct while personally misconducting themselves and continually place a false stamp of virtue upon their own behavior. They say, “Right conduct alone brings advancement. Everyone must grasp this truth and walk stainlessly.” Secretly they have their feet worshiped while retaining sensual attachment. Outwardly they display great opposition, having abandoned fear of God. They call honor terrible poison while seeking honor themselves. They criticize praise yet personally honor praise directed toward them. The color of honor, women and gold pervades every vein. Caught within them, these pretenders continually flow in waves of sin. They do not hesitate to perform degraded acts that even other sensual sinners cannot perform. Posing as great renunciants, sannyasis and ascetics who abandoned worldly enjoyment, these hypocrites remain day and night engaged in sensual indulgence. They seize wealth with immense cleverness while pretending renunciation. Innocent people proclaim them great souls and God. These low people remain perpetually devoted to luxury and delighting in the senses, while outwardly adorned as detached, free of sensual pleasure and delighting in the Self.

[1502, continued]

Women and gold, praise and worship, honor and bodily comfort have become the goals of their lives, and they commit every sin. These slaves of enjoyment continually think and perform reprehensible acts, through which even saints detached from sense objects are defamed. How can humanity be uplifted by them? These embodied rogues are forms of sin and most dreadful abodes of hell.

[1503]

Only the one who has become His is healthy; all the rest, though appearing normal, are ill.