Chapter Eight: Literature of the Rasika Tradition in Hindi

This brief work gives a magnificent and delightful expression to Yugalananyasharan’s exclusive devotion, exerting an immediate and natural effect upon the reader.

Sri Sita’s excellent Name is the abode of supremely sweet rasa.
Its flash sometimes appears like a flower and becomes a lovely light.

O tongue, the Name is an ever-new accomplished lady, a treasury of virtues.
Why not worship it, casting away hesitation and adorning the mind with supreme joy?

Adopt the excellent disposition of companion and maidservant, and listen to it continually with love.
O pure-minded one, open your own heart and dwell forever within Sita’s Name.

As a newly married woman devoted to her husband fashions love in every way—
walking, speaking, and sleeping—when will my love of the Name become the same?

Just as one who lives by beauty adorns the body at every moment,
when will my mind adorn itself gracefully with the beauty of the Name?

Let the Name flow in a single stream like oil, with every single breath.
I shall turn firmly from the false path and dwell in the colour of my own true abode.

Like the flame of a lamp in windless air, like water without a wave,
when will my mind become so steady in repetition of the Name that worldly weariness disappears?

Just as awareness of the body is forgotten at the culmination of sensory absorption,
when will such love arise while remembering the Name and virtues of Sri Sita?

Blind eyes, deaf ears, and a mute tongue would all be better;
a hundred times better than failing to rejoice in singing the Name and its virtues.

In the bright night upon the sandy bank of the sacred Sarayu,
when, crying “Sita!”, shall I remain helpless beneath the shining shade of the trees?

Beneath creeper-covered kadamba trees, eyes wide and body thrilled,
I shall repeat, “Victory to Jānaki! Victory to her excellent glory!” abandoning every worldly tie.

A person may repeat Sri Raghunandana’s Name ten million times,
yet the Beloved is more delighted on hearing “Sita” even once.

The Name Janakivallabha is supremely sweet, the home of the rasika heart.
May it dwell forever there, removing darkness and soothing the mind.

For those who become drenched in Rasaraja’s rasa after abandoning innumerable alien flavours,
the Name Janakivallabha alone is their support.