Moha Mudgaram

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Namaste,

 

Moha Mudgaram is a poem written by Adi Shankara, the work was more or

less translated by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood.

 

 

 

Moha Mudgaram ( The Shattering of Illusion)

 

Who is thy wife? Who is thy son?

The ways of this world are strange indeed.

Whose art thou? Whence art thou come?

Vast is thy ignorance, my beloved.

Therefore ponder these things and worship the Lord.

 

Behold the folly of Man,

In childhood busy with his toys

In oyuth bewithced by love,

In Age bowed down with cares -

And always unmindful of the Lord!

The hours fly, the seasons roll, life ebbs,

But the breeze of hope blows continually in his heart.

 

Birth brings death, death brings rebirth

This evil needs no proof

Where then, O Man,is thy happiness?

This life trembles in the balance

Like water on a lotus leaf-

And yetr the sage can show us, in an instant,

How to bridge this sea of change.

 

When the body is wrinkled, when the hair turns grey,

When the gums are toothless, and the old man's staff

Shakes like a reed beneath his weight,

The cup of his desire is still full.

 

Thy son may bring thee suffering,

Thy walth is no assurance of heaven,

Therefore be not vain of thy wealth,

Or of thy family, or of thy youth

All are fleeting, all must change.

Know this and be free.

Enter the joy of the Lord.

 

Seek neither peace nor strife

With kith or kin, with friend or foe.

O beloved, if thou wouldst attain freedom,

Be equal unto all.

 

 

This poem was taken from Adi Shankara's work on Viveka-chudamani

 

Children of Kali