Chapter Eight: Literature of the Rasika Tradition in Hindi

Rama is my world, Rama my abundant fortune;
Rama is my song, and love for Rama is “Rasarama.”
Rama is my steadfastness, Rama my supreme hero;
Rama removes every pain—dark-hued Rama, bearing bow and arrow.

Rama is my giver, Rama the speaker of truth;
Rama, devoted to Queen Sita, is the treasury of happiness and abode of noble conduct.
Rama is my protector, Rama my lovely mother;
Rama is my good brother, and Rama’s Name is my entire wealth.

Rama is my body, and Rama my bodiless spirit;
Rama is the home of virtue, dark as the cloud that pours down affection.
Rama is my colour and delight, Rama the destroyer of worldly becoming;
Rama’s limbs are auspicious, and his blessed company is my dwelling place.
Rama is my master, Rama the one renowned as Brahman;
Rama dwells in my heart and is Rasarama’s true friend.
Rama is my father, Rama my lovely mother;
Rama is my good brother, and Rama’s Name is my entire wealth.

Show mercy, causelessly compassionate Rasarama;
Overcome with affection, let me remember Rama’s Name, weeping and weeping.
With the stainless eyes of the mind, again and again,
Let me behold the light of the two lotus feet blazing throughout the world.

Regarding sense pleasure like vomit, forgetting both happiness and sorrow,
Let me attain the contentment of supreme devotion and meditate upon that bliss of peace.
O Sita-Rama, I am a false servant; you alone are true.
Make me your own and wash away sin and affliction, again and again.

Knowing you as the friend of the lowly, Rama, I accept you as my own companion;
Therefore, in whatever way you can, please accept me as yours.
Once acknowledged by you, my mind will find honour and joy, O friend;
Erase the fear of worldly existence, beloved, and grant me genuine love.

Let speech be absorbed in love of the Name, and let the eyes become fish in the ocean of your form;
Let them grow full upon love—make this helpless one happy.
Do not grow displeased upon seeing my faults; be graciously pleased, O merciful Rama.
Dwell in the abode of my heart and make Rasrang your own kinsman.