How do you resolve Destiny with Action- Listen to Sant Suradas

[Guest guest]

Namaste all.

 

Here are a few songs of remorse by the Saint Suradas, for

getting the 'sadhak' started on ' true sadhana (Action)'.

 

"Life has filtered away in a thousand tiny bothers-

 

Matters of state, of salary, of sons.

Without my even noticing, my life has ambled off

And tangled in illusion, in a snare so foolproof

that I can never break it loose.

 

Songs of the Lord, gathering of the good-

I left myself hanging in air without either,

Like an overeager acrobat who craves just one more trick

as if his ample cleverness could hide his skimpy clothes;

Like a sad abandoned strumpet, says SUr,

who sways and swings her hips when her lover is gone."

 

(S 292.4)

 

"Master, my mind is absent and lost.

 

It's left Your lotus feet, that treasury of all,

and taken to the scavenging habits of a dog.

It wanders without aim, scratces after food

in barren houses and near burning pyres

With a desperate thirst it can never quench-

the thirst that stirs from inner depths.

 

And wherever it goes, it's ever-present fear

of hundred stones, sticks, and well-placed kicks.

Howmany animal insults has it suffered, poor dumb dog?

How many vicious slurs for a mouthful here and there?

 

Lord, All merciful, You guard the very world,

and every heart You master as Your own;

Surely, says SUr, only a foolish dog like me

would leave Your home to join the company of the lost."

 

(S 103)

 

"Time after time I've deceived myself.

 

Instinctively clawed after sensual carrion

and squandered the jewel of Hari within,

Like a deer in a desert chasing a mirage,

who aggravates his thirst with every assault.

 

Birth after birth I have acted and acted

and acting, entangled, imprisoned myself

Like the parrot who nurtures the silk-cotton bud,

stalking it constantly, obstinate, vigilant,

Till one fine day he pecks the ripe fruit

and it's empty: like cotton it flies in his face;

 

Like the monkey the minstrel-magician has leashed

so he'll dance for crumbs at each neighborhood market-

 

SUr DAs says, sing to the Lord, sing or else

you're feeding your tail to the viper of time."

 

The following expression of self-congratulation --

a desperate lament as well -- is typical (S 138):

 

" I, only I, am best at being worst, Lord.

It's me! The others are powerless to match me.

I set the pace, forging onward, alone.

All those other sinners are a flock of amateurs,

but I have practiced every day since birth,

And look: you've abandoned me, rescuing the rest!

 

How can I cause life's stabbing pain to cease?

You've favored the vulture, the hunter, tyrant, whore,

and cast me aside, the most worthless them of all.

 

Quick save me, says SUr, I am dying of shame:

who ever was finer at failure than I? "

 

--------------

 

Here is a song of true humility and self-analysis:

 

"In the realm of the fallen, Hari, I am the king.

 

Regent of a world filled with folk

who live to beat the drums of slander.

An animal thirst is the liquid of the this land;

desires are servants, the sense torturers,

And lust, ever ready to proffer good advice,

is the chief adviser in this dismal state.

 

Snarling anger serves as bodyguard;

and what could be a suitable steed

Than that unvanquished victor, the elephant of pride?

And the parasol of greed provides a regal shade.

As king I've fled from any native truth I ruled

and enthroned myself lord of a legion of liars

Who sing of my glories, how I've conquered through delusion,

how my evil is unequaled, how criminal ny name.

 

SUr says, I am garrisoned in self-congratulation-

an unyielding fortress: only death suggests a door.

 

(S 144)

 

Songs of wise self-counsel:

 

"My soul, abandon the blandishments of flesh.

 

Why yearn like a parrot for some silk-cotton fruit?

In the end, you know, it evades your grasp.

Waves of illusive passion- women and wealth:

they slip through the sieve of your hands.

 

Fool, dispense with pride and pretension

and take refuge in the Name of Ram

before you leave and you're lost to the flames.

 

As you've heard the words of the True Guru,

now you're witness to these words of mine:

If ever you would reckon the treasurehouse of gems

that is Ram, dear soul, the time's at hand.

 

Unless you reflect on Hari, the Lord of SUr,

you'll be like those yogis- like monkeys they are-

you'll wriggle on a leash, and dance.

 

(S 59)

 

-'Padas' of the Rasik Saint Sura das, from the book-

'Surdas, Poet, Singer, Saint' by John S. Hawley

 

Jaya Sri Radhey!

[Guest guest]

Namaste.

 

This poem seems more explicit than any of the others: it begins with

the words-

'aj ho andh.....', "Now I am blind,..."

and gives special attention to the eyes throughout.

Yet context makes it clear once again that

the defect is essentially SPIRITUAL.

 

The poet's complaints about old age may be regarded similarly as

reflexes of spiritual decrepitude, and in the end even death seems

to appear on the scene to fill a VACCUM that has been created

by the ABSENCE OF FAITH.

 

"Now I am blind; I have shunned Hari's Name.

 

My hair has turned white with illusions and delusions

that have wrung me through till nothing makes sense.

Skin shriveled, posture bent, teeth gone;

my eyes emit a stream of tears;

my friends, a stream of blame.

 

Those eyes once ranged as free as cat's,

but failed to measure the play of Time

Like a false-eyed scarecrow failing to scatter

the deer from the field of the mind.

 

SUr DAs says, to carry on without a song for God

is courting Death; his sledge stands poised

above your waiting head."

 

---------------

 

"Now I have danced too much, Gopal.

 

Dressed in anger and lust, and garlanded

with a necklace of passion at the throat;

 

girded with the ankle-bells of sham and delusion

(how sweet their slanderous sound),

I am bound at the waist with a sash of illusion,

and a beauty mark of greed crowns my brow.

 

Cravings roar inside my body

in a clash of competing rhythms

And my mind, a drum dusted with confusion,

beats to a dessonant pulse.

 

I've marshaled and flaunted every artful step

and filled my sinful net:

 

Sur's learned his ignorance well, Nandalal-

take it, take it all."

 

 

- An excerpt along with the 'Padas' of the Rasik Saint Sura das,

from the book 'Surdas, Poet, Singer, Saint' by John S. Hawley

 

Adi Jagadguru Sri Shankara Acarya Bhagavatpada's

"Bhaja Govindam" is also teaching the spiritual seekers:

 

dinayaaminyau saayaM praataH

shishiravasantau punaraayaataH .

kaalaH kriiDati gachchhatyaayuH

tadapi na muJNcatyaashaavaayuH .. 12..

 

Day and night...and the dawn and the dusk,

Winter and spring come and go round and round,

Time plays on and the life ebbs out,

But the gust of lust, know, leaves not one! (12)

 

aN^gaM galitaM palitaM muNDaM

dashanavihiinaM jataM tuNDam.h .

vR^iddho yaati gR^ihiitvaa daNDaM

tadapi na muJNcatyaashaapiNDam.h .. 15..

 

Body worn out, and hairs turned silver white,

Teeth gone, mouth gaping round like hollow cave!

The old man totters with a stick in hand,

Even he leaves not the bundle of his desires! (15)

 

agre vahniH pR^ishhThebhaanuH

raatrau chubukasamarpitajaanuH .

karatalabhikshastarutalavaasaH

tadapi na muJNcatyaashaapaashaH .. 16..

 

Fire in front and the sun at the back,

The chin clasped to his knees on a chilly night,

Gathering alms in hollow-of-palm, and living under a tree

Yet even he, know, leaves not the rope-of-desire that binds! (16)

 

bhajagovindaM bhajagovindaM

govindaM bhajamuuDhamate .

saMpraapte sannihite kaale

nahi nahi rakshati DukR^iJNkaraNe .. 1..

 

Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda. Oh fool !

Rules of Grammar will not save you at the time of your death.

 

Jaya Sri Radhey!

[Guest guest]

Theory of Karma:

 

Astrologers say that you are getting troubles due to the movement of the

planets. This means that you are getting the trouble not due to your previous

sins. Therefore you feel that you are unnecessarily getting troubles, even

though you have not done any sin. Astrologers say that a police arrests you

because you are going on a road and accidentally the police is also walking on

the same road. You are very anxious to get rid of these troubles because these

are unnecessary punishments for you. The astrologers exploit your anxiety by

suggesting some remedies. The word Graha (planet) means that system which gives

the exact result for your exact deed in exact time.

 

The planets are just the computers. They are inert and are not independent.

Only Swami can change the decisions. Therefore there is no use of worshipping

the planets. One has to receive the fruits of the deeds whether good or bad

(Naabhuktam Ksheeyate Karma). There is only one way to escape the fruits of the

deeds. The Lord comes down in human form and undergoes the punishments for your

sake and saves you. At the same time He will protect the prestige of God of

Justice and the theory of Karma. This is the main reason for His human

incarnation.

 

He will never cancel the fruits of deeds. He will sacrifice Himself and

protects you. When you cannot pay the fine, your father pays it. You must

become eligible for such grace of the Lord. The eligibility is achieved by you

when you do not aspire to get rid of the fruits of your deeds and prepare to

undergo the punishments of all your sins. You should never think that the Lord

should sacrifice for your sake.

 

at the lotus feet of shri datta swami

surya

 

 

 

pyari_h <no_reply> wrote:

Namaste.

 

This poem seems more explicit than any of the others: it begins with

the words-

'aj ho andh.....', "Now I am blind,..."

[Guest guest]

Namaste.

 

Another illuminating bhajan of Sant Suradasji:

 

 

"What did you do to deserve that day?

 

For what purpose but God's were you born?

Give it some thought, you miser minded one;

remember, if you can, and reflect.

 

Think of the pain,the harsh karmic past

that thrust you into the world that day

And smeared you with your mother's blood

as you came into the womb again.

 

It's a tortuous place, where no one can go,

dreadful, daunting, dark,

Full of fear, in every way vile.

What dirt you had for food!

Does the sense of this begin to descend?

 

Eveyrthing living had first to be born-

Your mind, your strength, the family line

that bore you, whose honor you prize.

It all goes back to that same disastrous

space that kept you, fed you, bred you,

And gifted you with your precious face,

your eyes and nose, your hands and feet.

 

Ingrate, listen, Who then do you think

has stayed by you both day and night,

BEFRIENDING you, though you long ago forgot-

that is, if ever, you KNEW?

 

Even today He stands at your side,

ready to bear your birth-born shame,

Always wanting for life to go well,

and LOVING you as His OWN.

 

In sum, says Sur, He'S Lord and Jewel,

Guardian Brother and Intimate Friend;

So listen, NO need to stay

with your cheating, lying, willful ways."

 

- from 'Surdas, Poet, Singer, Saint'

by John S. Hawley

 

"gatirbhartA prabhuH sAkSI

nivAsaH zaraNaM suhRt

prabhavaH pralayaH sthAnaM

nidhAnaM bija mavyayaM"

 

(Gita 9.18)

 

The blessed Lord said:

 

"I am the Goal,

the Supporter,

the Lord,

the Witness,

the Abode,

the Shelter,

the Friend,

the Origin,

the Dissolution,

the Foundation,

the Treasure-house and

the Seed Imperishable."

 

The Scriptures have also declared:

 

dvA suparNA sayujA sakhAyA samAnaM

vrikshaM parisha svajAte tayor anyaH

pippalaM svAdvattyan aznanna nyo

abhicAkazIti"

 

(Mundaka Upanishad 3.1.1)

 

Two birds that are ever associated and have similar forms,

cling to the same tree.

Of these, the one eats the fruit of divergent tastes,

and the other looks on without eating.

 

"samAne vRkSe puruSo nimagno 'nIzayA zocati muhyamAnaH,

juSTaM yadA pazyatyanyam Izam asya mahimAnam iti vItazokaH"

 

Mundaka Upanishad 3.1.2

 

On the same tree, the individual soul remains drowned (i.e. stuck);

as it were; and so it moans, being worried by its impotence.

When it visualizes thus the Other, the adored Lord, and His glory,

then it becomes liberated from its sorrow.

 

sarvasya cA 'haM hRdi sanniviSTo mattaH smRtir jnAnam apohanaM ca..

 

- B.Gita 15.15

 

And I am seated in the hearts of all;

from me are memory, wisdom,

as well as their loss;

 

 

aham AtmA guDAkeza sarva bhUtAzayasthitaH

aham Adiz ca madhyaM ca bhUtAnAm anta eva ca

 

(B.Gita. 10.20)

 

"I am the Self, O Gudakesa (Arjuna), seated in the hearts of ALL

beings. I am the beginning, the middle and also the end of ALL

beings." (B.G.10.20)

 

" IzvaraH sarva bhUtAnAM hRddeze 'rjuna tiSThati,

bhrAmayan sarva bhUtAni yantrArUDhAni mAyayA "

 

(B.Gita 18.61)

 

"The Lord dwells in the hearts of ALL beings, O Arjuna, and by His

Power of Maya causes all beings to revolve as though mounted on a

machine."

 

 

Jaya Sri Radhey!

 

 

, pyari_h <no_reply> wrote:

> Namaste all.

>

> Here are a few songs of remorse by the Saint Suradas, for

> getting the 'sadhak' started on ' true sadhana (Action)'.