Why should I go to Kashi?
At Her feet you'll find it all --
Gaya, the Ganges, Kashi,
Meditating in my lotus heart
I float on blissful waters.
Her feet are red lotuses
Crammed with shrines
And her name spoken
Consumes evil like a fire
In a pile of dry cotton.
If there is no head to worry,
You can't have a headache.Everytime I hear about Gaya,
The offerings there, the good deeds
Recited, I laugh. I know Shiva
Has said that dying at Kashi saves.
But I know too that salvation
Always follows worship around
Like a slave, and what's this salvation
If it swallows the saved like water
In water? Sugar I love
But haven't the slightest desire to merge with sugar.Ramprasad says with amazement:
Grace and mercy in Her wild hair --
Think of that
And all good things are yours.-Ramprasad Sen
(18th C., Bengal, translated by Nathan & Seely)
TURTLE HILL © 2000