Into mind we must go

(2658)  Tomare peyechi pranera pradiipe

By heart's lantern I've found Thee
In the mind's sweet honeybee
On cloudy night's cadamba tree.
As much as I've sought outward,
That much I've been discouraged.
I did not gain by decorated altar,
With golden lamps of ghee.

On Earth I've come time and again,
Your quest to make...
Not once did You grant embrace–
Hard to grasp, Lord, is Your game.
Today, the mind You entered stealthily.

I talk about Your wish,
Go on singing Your panegyric;
From the path I deviate never.
I stay absorbed in meditation, telling beads.

Sarkarverse article
Audio recording

Philosophically wrong, devotionally right

(2657)  Akash jethay chonya sagare

Where the sky is touching sea,
At an ocean of light-beams,
On that same horizon, that same frontier,
Lord, Yourself I seek.

I know there's not a blue-sky terminus,
And so with sea there is no touch.
But foolishly I go on thinking wrong
Time after time, even knowingly.

Mid the core of heart You are there,
On a formless litter in form's clothing.
Ringing out in the whole heart are strings
In a jangle that is Yours only,
Yourself always surrounding.

Sarkarverse article
Audio recording

On love's call

(2656)  Phuler vane bhomra elo

In a flower's garden the Bumblebee arrived;
Oh please say why, please say why.
In the arbor of mind that blossom was
Effusive with the scent sublime.

Snow and frost, a stormy gust of wind,
A blow had come of mist.
Along with my thought,
Bud of love had survived.

Came the Bumblebee unexpectedly,
Suddenly, unheralded and unspeaking.
Heart's nectar the Strange Lover,
Emptying, taking He retired.

Sarkarverse article
Audio recording

He always sees to our welfare

(2655)  Andhar hiyay tumi alo

To a gloomy heart, You are the light;
Hue of black You nullify, black You nullify.
An arid wasteland making green,
On it You pour nectar's fragrant spice.

The vine that has withered, the bud that has plunged,
Those whose beauty has got lost by burning light of sun,
The honey of their bosom, their heart's friend and lover,
He restored their language and expectation bright.

The fallen and the sinful, Your grace they go on begging;
Knowing or unknowingly, everybody races toward You only.
Like a bee comes by a flower's side, hoping for nectar,
Gazing at what is propitious, You are fine.

Sarkarverse article
Audio recording

Again and again

(2654)  Bare bare asiyachi tomare khunjiyachi

Repeatedly I am coming, searching for You;
Far away, Lord, You have gone on staying.
All the lowly actions, any hatred, fear, and shame
You have kept my eyes surrounding;
Was it so Yourself I did not see?

In splendor You are coming, on a cirrus You've departed;
To beauty You are yielding, at laughter You have fallen.
But I had been unmindful, in blind-attachment deeps.

Within mind having peeked furtively,
Myself You have told understandingly:
With the wares of love ever You accompany;
Momentarily I failed to see, I did not hear.

Sarkarverse article
Audio recording

Your mysterious grace

(2653)  Dheu esechilo ajanar

Of Unknown had come a wave;
What had been and what then happened,
Hard it is to fathom Your game.

Dust-grayed, I'd been in a wayside cranny,
Taking pains sandalpaste applying.
Seems like Someone told in both my ears:
"Remote became all your pain."

Mesmerized, I continued;
Could not ask oh Who are You.
What I'd been, what I turned into,
Ebon's gloom, it went away.

Sarkarverse article
Audio recording

Love is the key

(2652)  Sandhya samiire maner mukure

On an evening zephyr in the mirror of mind,
For the first time Yourself am I seeing.
Having come a moonbeam, it had said with a smile:
"Simply by having loved, I am receiving."

Beauty, virtue, and knowledge, about You
Nothing can they ever cling to.
By love's chain You go on staying tied;
This essential truth I am fathoming.

In respect to greatness, though I am bereft,
Nonetheless, life is full of Your sweet scent.
With that same fragrance by both day and night,
A jeweled lamp ablaze I am retaining.

Sarkarverse article
Audio recording