Chapter Eight: Literature of the Rasika Tradition in Hindi

When will the bee of my mind taste the abundant, tender, sweet nectar
of the Couple’s lotus feet, abandoning the forest’s poisonous snare?

Their knees and thighs shine with supremely captivating, artistic radiance.
When shall I behold them, graceful, clear, and pure, my mind adorned with complete peace?

Their charming, desire-awakening waists are filled with play, the nectar-abode of Rasaraja.
When, free of every worldly wish, shall I behold the ringing girdles with a heart full of exhilaration?

Their garments, together with the splendour of married love, put cloud and lightning to shame.
When will my mind and eyes be blessed by beholding that great beauty?

When shall I see the beautiful, matchless, low lake of the navel,
with the three abdominal folds forming quick, liquid waves, and count my eyes fulfilled?

Increasing the heart’s surge of devotional feeling and adorning the body with the animal-like helplessness of rasa,
I shall behold the beauty of the navel-lotus and sacrifice my entire self.

The radiant chest is an expansive treasury of loveliness, a mass of rasa.
When shall I drink it with my eyes, sweet and filled with immaculate ornaments?

Seeing the lovely bodice and the beauty of the breasts within it,
my excellent eyes, together with mind and body, will remain thrilled and steeped in colour.

Beautiful as lotus blossoms, bliss-giving, tender, graceful, and supreme—
when shall I become intoxicated by gazing upon their lotus hands, filled with the colour of love?

Tender fingers are adorned by sweet jewelled rings and artistic radiance.
When shall I behold them together with the fresh light of their nails and remain arrayed in peace?

Their sweet, mind-enchanting lips are the pure embodiment of passion and rasa.
When shall I behold them, filled with feeling—sovereigns of the eyes that steal the heart?

The lovely noses are treasures of fresh affection, adorned with pearls and excellent nose-rings.
Their graceful incline and swaying touch above the lips take possession of the heart.

Collyrium-lined eyes, beautiful in dark, white, and red,
skilfully distribute entire hosts of happiness—when will their loveliness captivate me?

O mind, become mindless and without pride; behold with your eyes these treasuries of happiness.
You will surely attain the samādhi of bliss, all envy stolen and destroyed.

Their ears are abodes of beauty, adorned with visible earrings.
When, beholding those earrings shimmer, sparkle, and swing, shall I lose consciousness?