XV. THE FOOLISHNESS OF PILGRIMAGE

What have I to do with Kāśī? The Lotus-Feet of Kālī are places of pilgrimage enough for me. Deep in my heart's lily[81] meditating on them, I float in an ocean of bliss. In Kālī's name where is there place for sin? When the head is not, headache cannot remain.[82] As when fire consumes a heap of cotton, so all goes in Kālī's name.

The worshipper of Kālī laughs at the name of Gayā,[83] and at ancestral offerings there and the story of salvation by ancestors' merits. Certainly, Śiva has said[84] that if a man dies at Kāśī he wins salvation. But devotion is the root of everything, and salvation but her handmaid who follows her. What is the worth of salvation if it means absorption, the mixing of water with water? Sugar I love to eat, but I have no wish to become sugar.

Prasād says joyously: By the power of grace and mercy, if we but think on the Wild-locked Goddess, the Four Goods[85] become ours.

The teaching and spirit of this poem are Vaishṇava, rather than Śākta.

FOOTNOTES:

[81] The fourth 'lotus' or centre of occult power. See note to No. XI.

[82] The very root and source of all sin is destroyed.

[83] Śrāddha ceremonies for one's deceased relatives are held to bring far more religious merit if performed at Gayā than at any other place. Here Gautama the Buddha attained enlightenment, and here Kṛishṇa is said to have killed Gayāsura.

[84] In the Tantras, where he is the speaker.

[85] The Four Ends or Objects of Pursuit: Dharma (religious merit or duty), Artha (wealth), Kāma (physical desire), and Mōksha (liberation of the spirit from bondage).

XVI. THE HOLINESS OF KĀŚI EXPLAINED

What need for me to go to Kāśī? Upon the breast of Kāśī's maker[86] is Kālī with her flowing locks. Men [41]have proclaimed its name as Maṇikarṇi,[87] for there it was that Jagadambā's[88] ear-ring fell from her. Between the Asi and the Varuṇā[89] stands Benares the sacred. The stream of the Varuṇā is the stream of the Mother's mercy, and the Asi is the stream of blood from the sword.[90] If one dies at Kāśī, Śiva gives him the knowledge of truth.[91] Above that knowledge is enthroned Maheśa's[92] Queen.

Rāmprasād: What care I for going to Kāśī? See around my neck as garland I have bound the name of Kālī.

FOOTNOTES:

[86] Śiva. In Hindu Mythology Śiva upholds the place on his trident.

[87] 'A gem of the ear'—the name of a pool at Kāśī. Daksha, son of Brahmā the Creator, was father-in-law of Śiva, who had married his daughter Satī. Offended by his son-in-law's absent-minded neglect to show him reverence, he excluded Śiva from a sacrifice to which all the other gods were invited. Satī came, though in the invitations passed over with her husband; and, overcome with shame at her father's contempt of herself and her husband, died in her father's sacrificial fire, thus becoming the first satī; or 'faithful wife.' Śiva carried her body about, in mad dance threatening all things with destruction. Vishṇu cut Satī's body to pieces, whereupon Śiva's frenzy subsided. Satī's ear-rings fell in the Maṇikarṇi pool at Kāśī. Satī was reborn as Umā, and is therefore identified with Kālī and Durgā.

[88] 'Mother of the world' (Kālī).

[89] Two mythical rivers supposed to be on either side of Benares. Rāmprasād explains them allegorically.

[90] I.e. of sacrifice.

[91] Tat twam asi, Thou art that, the master-word of the Upanishads.

[92] The Great God (Śiva).

XVII. HE SOMETIMES LONGS TO REST AT KĀŚĪ;

When shall I be a dweller in Kāśī? When look back on sorrow from those groves of gladness? With Ganges water and with leaves of bel,[93] I will worship Śiva my lord. Whether on water or on land it matters [42]not, only let me die away there at Benares and salvation will be mine. She who feeds the world[94] is there as queen, that golden one in whom I will take refuge. Then will I dance, and, striking my cheek, shout ' Bam,[95] Bam, Bhōlā;.'

This poem may serve as a contrast to the preceding. It shows Rāmprasād as in some moods a conformist. But we are inclined to regard it as spurious.

FOOTNOTES:

[93] Aegle marmelos, sacred to Śiva and Śakti (Kālī). It is the rule to offer a tripatra, i. e. three bel leaves on a single stalk.

[94] Annapurṇā, a name of Durgā.

[95] Pronounce 'Bom,' as the a is the included vowel which every consonant carries. The cry of Śiva and of those ascetics who serve him. Bhōlā is short for Bhōlānātha,'Lord of Forgetfulness.'