LXXXVIII. TRUE ADORATION

Śakti-Worship is not Merely Words

If it had been merely words, would not Bhārata,[254] a worshipper through all the ages, would not Bhārata through śakti -worship have lost its power? Just tinsel ornaments and crash-of drums, not in these is śakti -worship to be found.

Offer the bel -leaves of a single heart, offer the Ganges water and lotus of devotion, and so perform your acts of adoration.

You may give your sun-dried rice, you may give your sweetmeats, but do not think that with these you can gratify the Mother.

Light the lamp of knowledge, offer the incense of an earnest soul; then only will that one who is divine fulfil all your desires.

Wild buffaloes and goats, these are the Mother's children; she does not want them as a sacrifice.

If you would offer sacrifice, then slay your selfishness, and lay your love of ease upon the altar.

Kāṅgāl in anguish says: Where men make caste distinct from caste there can be no śakti -worship. Let all the castes be one and call to her as Mother, else will the Mother never grant us mercy.

Kāṅgāl means poor, and is possibly an adopted name for the baul who wrote the song. Some of the most beautiful Bengali lyrics are the work of these bauls, many of them as anonymous as our English and Scots ballad-makers. A good collection of baul-songs is greatly needed.

FOOTNOTES:

[254] I.e. India.

 

[88]

ĀGĀMANĪ AND VIJAYĀ SONGS

THE DRAMA OF THE MOTHER'S RETURN HOME

RĀMPRASĀD SEN

LXXXIX. AN INCIDENT OF UMĀ'S CHILDHOOD

'Giribara,'[255] I can no longer try to quiet Umā. In angry pride she sobs and sobs and will not have the breast. She does not want the clotted milk; butter or cream she will not eat.

The night has almost gone, and in the sky the moon has risen. Umā cries: 'Bring it for me.'

No longer (I say) can I try to quiet Umā.

Her eyes are swollen with her sobbing, all tear-stained is her face. Can I, her Mother, bear to see her so?

'Come, Mother, come!' she says, and takes my hand; yet whither she would go I do not know.

Said I to her: 'You cannot grasp the moon'; and at the words she flung her ornament at me.

Giribara left his bed and sat him down, and tenderly took Gaurī[256] in his arms. Happy at heart and laughing as he spoke, 'See, little mother, here's a moon for you,' he said, and handed her a mirror. Great was her joy, as in the mirror she beheld her face, than countless moons more beautiful.

[89]

Rāmprasād says: Blessed indeed is he within whose house Earth's Mother dwells.

Umā's mother speaks.

FOOTNOTES:

[255] Giribara, Sansk. girivara, chief of mountains, another name for the father of Umā.

[256] Bright-complexioned (Umā).