| 1. |
To the utterly at-one with Siva
there is no dawn,
no new moon,
no noonday,
nor equinoxes,
nor sunsets,
nor full moons;
his front yard
is the true Benaras,
O Ramanatha 3
|
2. |
If they see
breasts and long hair coming
they call it a woman,
if beard and whiskers
they call it manl
but, look, the self that hovers
in between
is neither man
nor woman
O Ramanatha 3
|
| 3. |
You balanced the globe
on the waters
and kept it from melting away
you made the sky stand
without pillar or prop.
O Ramanatha,
which gods could have
done this ?
3
|
4. |
In the mother's womb
the child does not know
his mother's face
nor can she ever know
his face.
The man in the world's illusion
does not know the Lord
nor the Lord him,
Ramanatha.
3
|
| 5. |
If this is my body
would it not follow my will ?
If this is your body
would it not follow your will ?
Obviously, it is neither your body
nor mine;
it is the fickle body
Of the burning world you made,
Ramanatha.
3
|
6. |
Hunger the great serpent
has seized the vitals
and the venom is mounting
from foot to brow.
Only he is the true Snake-man
in all the world
who can feed this hunger food
and bring the poison down
Ramanatha.3
|
| 7. |
A fire
in every act and look and word.
Between man and wife
a fire.
In the plate of food
eaten after much waiting
a fire.
In the loss of gain
a fire.
And in the infatuation
of coupling
a fire.
You have given us
five fires
and poured dirt in our mouths
O Ramanatha. 3
|
8. |
A man filled grain
in a tattered sack
and walked all night
fearing the toll-gates
but the grain went through the tatters
and all he got was the gunny sack.
It is thus
with the devotion
of the faint-hearted
O Ramanatha.3
|
| 9. |
Can assemblies in session
give charities to men ?
Everyone who goes to war
goes to die.
Only one in a hundred
may be one in a thousand,
gets to spear the enemy.
O Ramanatha
how can every tamarind flower
be fruit ? 3
|
10. |
The five elements
have become one.
The sun and the moon,
O Rider of the Bull,
aren't they really
your body ?
I stand,
look on,
you're filled
with the worlds.
What can I hurt now
after this, Ramanatha ?
3
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