Dec 27, 2011

From fear to fearlessness

ভয় হতে তব অভয়মাঝে
Bhoy hote tawbo abhoymajhe
(Audio)

Away from fear
into your fearlessness
Deliver me to a new birth
From dearth to undying richness
From doubt to the abode of truth
From insensate inertia
Into a life anew

From my wish to your will
From my welfare to your service
That seeks the well-being of all
From the many entanglements
To the one bond that unifies
From joy and woe
To the cradle of peace
Deliver me from myself Lord
Into your very arms
Arousing me to life anew

- 1899 on the occasion of his birthday

Dec 11, 2011

All that I have O Lord

আমার যা আছে আমি সকল দিতে পারি নি
Amar ja aachhe ami shokol

All that I have, O Lord
I could not surrender it all
My guilt, fear, honour and disgrace
My joys, woes and contemplations

Many a screen between us
Myriad the layers and veils
Thus I weep and wander so
Thus I cannot make you mine
Thus remains my pain within

Joy there is none in what I have
It makes me cry, it makes me brood
If I can get you by giving it up
Why can’t I still let it all go?

I yearn to give up all I have
And make you Lord, my own

- circa 1886 (age 25)

Dec 4, 2011

The heart yearns while the eyes remain downcast

প্রাণ চায় চক্ষু না চায়
praan chaay chokkhu na chaay
(audio1 - Srikanta) (audio2 - Kanan Devi)

The heart yearns while the eyes remain downcast
What an impasse your bashfulness has brought you to!
The beauteous one comes knocking only to return
For whom then is this futile adornment?

Not a word emanates from you
Burns a blaze in silence within
A bitter smile plays on your lips
While your heart sobs in its frailty

The garland feels like a nettle
Your bed besieged by thorns
On the coast of sweet union
Stricken to the core by eternal estrangement