Chapter Eight: Literature of the Rasika Tradition in Hindi

—sharp chisels pierce again and again; they blow upon the fire,
then sell the servant cheaply into the hands of the one who owns her.
Binding wealth, vows, observances, and all else in a crushing snare,
the mad wave of attachment is the grandmother of deception.
Until it strikes, well-being remains; once it does, all safety departs.
Kripanivas has sold himself to those arrow-like eyes and feet.

Wretched attachment feels pleasant when it first strikes, then becomes painful.
Meeting through the eyes, it enters the fortress and takes possession of the entire house.
Shame, decorum, discipline, vows, and patience were powerful guards;
it seizes their weapons, drives them off, and establishes its own sovereignty.
Bringing the kingly mind under its power, it proclaims dominion throughout the land,
then sports fearlessly in every direction, while the lover has no recourse.
Under pretext of giving a sweet, it administers dhattūra and shows great friendship.
Kripanivas says no wise person escapes agitation under love’s power.

Attachment’s net is death made manifest—tell me, once tangled, who can free it?
Whoever receives this attachment loses everything and wanders without a mind.
It makes intelligence and consciousness mad, leaving the lover distraught.
Youth joins with youth like a cool, delightful breeze.
The disease grows—what can I say, companion? The body wanders toward death.
Thundercloud-like roaring awakens longing; the peacock of the heart becomes greedy.
It kicks and strikes with stones, yet the dear one does not recognize her cruelty.
Why wager the tongue after the first stake, then plunder everything below?
It makes fakirs of noble sons and sends them begging house to house.
Kripanivas says: it has fallen around my neck—pain giving rise to happiness.

Attachment’s poverty has erased pride and made me helpless, mindless, and poor.
Exhausted at the Beloved’s door, I can no longer walk; desire for pleasure or pain is forgotten.
Desire, anger, intoxication, and delusion are forgotten; work, shame, and family cast away.
Separate from mother, father, child, relative, and friend, I have abandoned house and home.
I perform no action, forget every secret, and cast off the world’s yoga and enjoyment.
Apart from the Beloved nothing pleases me; our knot of attachment is tied.
The mind’s running has contracted and stopped in friendship with One alone.
Loving person after person was merely preparation through birth after birth—