Chapter Eight: Literature of the Rasika Tradition in Hindi

When will my tongue repeatedly give itself this graceful instruction:
“Repeat and rejoice in your own Name, with its virtues and abode, wholly absorbed”?

When, filled with enthusiasm, shall I hear the Name and virtues of Sri Karunanidhi
at every moment, abandoning all the burning anguish of the heart?

When will the ears hear the beautifully formed call of the enchanting, joy-giving Name,
and mind and body alike become helpless before its greatness?

When will every outer and inner faculty become absorbed in the Name,
so that I remain beyond mind, my subtle desires decisively worn away?

When will my mind, made secure among those who love the Name—the dense cloud of attachment to Sita’s very life—
find its recreation there?

When will the sweet love of the Name cling to me forever,
as the greedy and lustful fix their hearts firmly upon woman and wealth?

When will attachment to the Name seize my inner being together with irresistible longing,
so that, separated from it for an instant, I abandon the body like a fish parted from water?

When will my tongue repeat the Name until all awareness is lost,
like a woman who sacrifices herself while gazing upon her moon-faced lord of life?

O mind, continue day and night to long for repetition in the joyful abode of the Name.
Let the body thrill, and decisively abandon every hope even of Vaikuntha.

Of what use is liberation where Sita-Rama’s Name is not repeated?
I shall condemn even the loveliest day if it passes without love for the Name.

Beholding the supreme current of love flowing from their glittering lotus feet,
when shall I remain their maidservant, delightfully absorbed in devoted remembrance?

I shall dye myself, stainless, in the ever-fresh and incomparable colour
of the lovely youthful Couple’s lotus feet resting in the beloved lap.

The red, mind-stealing radiance of their nails equals a hundred full moons.
When, desiring their tender polished beauty, shall I forget worldly existence?

When shall ages pass like a single moment
while I gaze upon the stainless beauty of their graceful toes and sweet ornaments?

Their stainless lotus-soft, graceful, excellent feet shine among their ornaments.
Merely hearing of them will steal the jewel of my mind and drench it in divine rasa.