1. The body, senses, mind or breath,
Ego or intellect am I not;
But far from wife, child, land or gold,
I am Eternal, infinite One, Shivoham, Shivoham.
2 In Self that’s knowledge, truth and bliss,
This unreal All doth falsely shine
Like dreams in sleep, a mere illusion!
I am the pure and infinite One Shivoham, Shivoham.
3. Than me naught else edsts at all
This outer show, suggestions made
Gleams, like the image in the glass,
In me the pure Eternal One Shivoham, Shivoham.
4. I was not born, nor grow, nor die;
Dumb Nature through the body works,
It is the ego sows and reaps Not I,
the Self, unchanging One Shivohom, Shivoham.
5. The rope unscanned, a serpent seemed;
Thus Nescience makes the Self a soul;
By direct touch a rope ’tis sure; And fact of facts,
I’m Truth, the One Shivoham, Shivoham,
* * * * * * *
There is so much good in the most of us.
And so much bad in the best of us,
That it will not do for the best of us,
To talk about the rest of us,
* * * * * * *
Get me a gown of silver bright
Paler in hue, thinner than moonlight
That I shall wear as wedding gown.
Then a piece of lightning fetch me down
To thread garlands of the scattered flowers
Pluck all the stars from oft* my bowers.
Set in pearls and dress my hair
To-day I must be bright and fair.
* * * * * * *
When blushing bride by Love does stand
Say ” Yes” with eyes, and give her hand
Adieu Father, Mother! Adieu sisters, brothers!
The hair do stand at end!
The throat is choked, O friend !
Welcome you are to world so bright,
Welcome to us in God’s fair sight!
But remember well
This is the last we tell,
The hair do stand at end
The throat is choked, O friend,
Now it matters not what you may say,
And it matters not what you may play,
No, it matters not, ’tis nothing to me,
All you’s, he’s, she’s, melt in this sea !
That is the Throne on High
Then I is truly I.
* * * * * * *
No houses, no home,
In rays we roam
United together.
Birds of same feather,
No care, no pain,
No loss, no gain.
No fraud, no fear,
No debt, ’tis clear,
No bondage, tie,
No fire, no fry,
No book to read.
To sow no seed.
No plough to till,
No barn to fill,
No tax to pay,
No toll to lay,
No sheep to rear,
No laws to fear,
O free we wander,
Here, there and yonder!
No aim no game,
No name, no fame,
Love-lorn lunatics,
Wandering fanatics,
With wonder struck,
By infinite luck.
* * * * * * *
I looked above and in all space saw but one;
I looked below and and in all billows saw but one;
I looked into the heart, it was a sea of worlds,
A space of dreams all full and in the dreams but One.
Earth, air and fire and water in Rama’s fear dissolve, Ere they ascend to Thee, they trembling blend in One,
The heavens shall dust become and dust be heaven again,
Yet shall the One remain and one my life with thine.
Oh! Wondrous peace and happiness.
fills me through and through,
Oh Joy! What living Freedom doth
thrill me through and through.
My children are the fluttering clouds
and tiny drops of dew.
The sunbeams bright with warmth and light
Play with the rustling leaves,
Yellow and red with the gleaming gold
As they fall from the barren trees.
The Sun-blown air fresh and rare
Lifts up my thought so high
That upward I soar like a bird in the air
To the dome of the bright blue sky.
There do I linger awhile
And laugh and smile,
And flutter and play in glee
Till the sun goes to rest
And I hasten to my nest
Of Self where I dwell so free.
Filled with peace and love and joy
My darling Love so close to me
While Nature folds me in warm embrace
And in Her do Him I see.
On your forehead take the moon
On your breast let flowers bloom.
In your bosom let burn the Suns,
And stretch your hands from end to end
Fill throat of space .with song from Home
Om! Om! Om Tat Sat Om!!!
* * * * * * *
Have thou no home. What home can hold thee, friend?
The sky thy roof; the grass thy bed; and food
What chance may bring, well cooked or ill, judge not.
No food or drink can taint that noble Self
Which knows itself.
The rolling river free Thou ever be, Sannyasin bold!
Say Om! Tat Sat, Om!!
They know no truth who dream such vacant dreams,
As father, mother, children, wife and friend.
The sexless Self! whose father He? Whose child?
Whose friend, whose foe is He who is but One?
The Self is all in all, none else exists:
And thou art That, Sannyasin bold!
Say Om! Tat Sat, Om!
Where seekest thou? That freedom, friend, this world
Nor that, can give. In hooks and temples,
Vain thy search; Thine only is the hand that holds.
The rope that drags thee on : then cease lament;
Let go thee hold, Sannyasin bold!
Say Om! Tat sat, Om!
Say peace to all. From me no danger be
To aught that lives. In those that dwell on high,
In those that lowly creep, I am the Self of all.
All life both here and there do I renounce,
All heavens, earths and hells, all hopes and fears.
Thus cut thy bonds, Sannyasin bold!
Say, Om, Tat sat, Om!
Heed thou no more how body lives or goes,
Its task is done. Let Karma float it down;
Let one put garlands on, another kick
This frame; say naught. No praise or blame can be
Where praiser, praised and blamer, blamed are one.
Thus be thou calm, Sannyasin bold!
Say Om, Tat sat, Om!
Truth never comes where lust of fame and greed
Of gain reside. No man who thinks of woman
As his wife can ever perfect be;
Nor he who owns however little, nor he
Whom anger chains, can ever pass through Maya’s gates,
So, give these up, Sannyasin bold! Say Om, tat sat, Om!
Both name and form is At man, ever free,
Know thou art That, Sannyasin bold!
Say Om, tat sat, Om!
There is but One—The Free—The Witness Light-Without a name, without a form or stain.
In Him is Maya, dreaming all the dreams.
The Knower, He appears as nature, soul;
Know thou art That, Sannyasin bold!
Say, Om, tat sat, Om!
Few only know the truth, the rest will hate
And laugh at the great one; but pay no heed.
Go thou, the free, from place to place and help
Them out of darkness, Maya’s veil, without
The fear of pain or search for pleasure, go
Beyond them both, Sanriyasin bold!
Say Om, tat Sat, Om!
Thus day by day, till Karma’s powers spent
Release the soul forever.
No more is birth, Nor I or thou, nor God or man.
The I Became the all, the all is I and bliss.
Know thou art that Sannyasin bold!
Say Om, tat sat, Om!
* * * * * * *
She (Moon) pressed me close
I kissed her rose
Waxing and waning
Sweating and fanning
Singing and dancing
Loving and entrancing
Thus, gliding by
Moon and I
Through woods and vales
On hills and dales
We pass our days
In charming plays
In lovely talks
In cheerful walks
Playing on lute
Singing in flute
With hands playing
In springs spraying
With enchanted stream
As exquisite theme
With ebb and tide
Of oceans wide
Chorus keeping
While dancing leaping
The hands we took
Of God and shook
With music true
Of vagabonds two.
All worldly charms,
We hold in arms
Here there we go
Equally throw
On high and low
On friend and foe
Our Charms and boons
Our love and swoons
In cups of grapes
In tropic dates
We pour our wines
Nectar divine
Our healing cures
So sure, so pure
In herbs we pour
Sweeten and sour
These hidden cures
Beckon allure
Go dig and take
No risk, no stake
No more disease
Shall mankind seize
The Moon as Uma
And I as Shiva
Still strolling go
Round cots below
Blessing the man
As purity can
With balmy sight
Of Uma’s bright
And Shiva’s gifts
Of riches, lifts,
And wings to fly
From low to high.
Vagabonds we
Come see. come see.
Four eyes met. There were changes in two souls
And now I cannot remember whether he is a man and I a woman,
Or he a woman and I a man. All I know is,
There were two: Love came, and there is one,
* * * * * * *
Be I the string
The note be thou!
Be thou the body, I the life!
Let none hereafter say of us
That one was I, another thou.
* * * * * * *
O Lord, look not upon my evil qualities!
Thy name, O Lord, is Same-Sightedness,
By Thy touch, if Thou wilt,
Thou canst make me pure.
One drop of water is in the sacred Jumna,
Another is foul in the ditch by the roadside,
But when they fall into the Ganges
Both alike become holy.
One piece of iron is the image in the temple,
Another is the knife in the hand of the butcher,
But when they touch the philosopher’s stone,
Both alike turn to gold.
* * * * * * *
When existence was not, nor non-existence,
When the world was not, nor the sky beyond,
What covered the mist? By whom was it contained?
What was in those thick depths of darkness?
When death was not, nor immortality,
When night was not separate front day,
Then That vibrated motionless, one with
Its own glory,
And beside That nothing else existed.
When darkness was hidden in darkness, Undistinguished, like one mass of water,
Then did That which was covered with darkness Manifest its glory by Tapa.
Now first arose Desire, the primal seed of mind,
(The sages have seen all this in their hearts,
Separating existence from non-existence)
* * * * * * *
Its rays spread above, around and below,
The glory became creative,
The Self, sustained as cause below,
Projected, as Effect, above,
Who then understood?
Who then declared
How came into being this Projected?
Lo, in its wake followed even the Gods
Who can say. therefore, whence It came?
Whence this projected, and whether sustained or not,
He alone, O Beloved, who is its Ruler
in the highest heaven knoweth,
Nay, it may be that even He knoweth it not!
(Rig Veda, X Hymn of Creation)
* * * * * * *
“As journeys this Earth, her eye on a Sun,
through the heavenly spaces,
And radiant in azure, or Sunless, swallowed in
tempests,
Falters not, alters not, journeying equal,
sunlit or storm-girt;
So thou, Son of Earth, who hast Force. Goal
and Time, go still onwards.”
My breast is filled with roses,
My cup is crowned with wine;
And by my side reposes
The Love I hail as mine.
The monarch whereso’er he be,
Is but a slave compared to me