वैराग्यशतकम्

vairagya shatakam

One Hundred Verses on Renunciation
by Sage Bhartrihari

1. All glory to Lord Shiva, the light of true knowledge residing in the temple of the Yogis' heart, who like the rising sun, dispels the endless night of ignorance clouding human minds, in whose wake follow all auspiciousness and prosperity, who effortlessly destroys Kāma like a moth is killed when it goes near a flame and who appears radiant with the crescent moon whose rays are pleasing like soft-buds about to bloom adorning his forehead

2. Many are the inaccessible and perilous places I have travelled and yet obtained no riches; sacrificing proper dignity of birth and social position, in vain have I served the rich; like the crows have I fed myself, devoid of self-respect, at the house of others in the expectation of gain; and yet, oh! Desire, thou prompter of evil deeds, thou art waxing lustier and art not still satisfied.

3. The earth have I dug into in quest of precious minerals, and metals from rocks have I smelted; the ocean have I crossed, and the favour of kings have I diligently sought; nights have I spent on burning grounds with my mind occupied with mantras and worship and not even a broken cowrie have I obtained; be satisfied, therefore, oh Desire!

4. In our servile attendance on the (wealthy) wicked, we have somehow put up their shabby manners and talk. Suppressing tears that welled up from our hearts, we have smiled out of vacant minds; obeisance we have made to dullards stultified by too much wealth; in what more fooleries wouldst thou have me dance, oh Desire, thou of ungratified yearning!

5. What have we not endeavoured to do, with our depraved conscience, for the sake of our prana, not realising how unreliable, fickle and temporary this prana is like a drop of water on the lotus petal. In the presence of the rich, with their minds stupefied by the pride of wealth, we have shamelessly comWhat have we not endeavoured to do, with our depraved conscience, for the sake of our

6. We have forgiven, but not out of forgiveness (but out of our incapacity to right our wrongs); we have renounced the comforts of home life, but not out of contentment after satisfaction (but as an exile from home in quest of riches); though we have suffered inclemencies of weather, cold and heat so difficult to bear, still it is not religious austerities that we have undergone; with subdued vital forces, night and day have we brooded on money and not on the feet of Ùiva; thus we have performed those very acts which the munis (saintly recluses) do perform, but of their good effects we have deprived ourselves.

7. Worldly pleasures have not been enjoyed by us, but we ourselves have been devoured; no religious austerities have been performed, but we ourselves have become scorched; time is not gone (being ever present and infinite), but we ourselves are gone (because of approaching death). Desire is not reduced in force, though we ourselves are reduced to senility.

8. The face has been attacked with wrinkles, the head has been painted white with grey hair, the limbs are all enfeebled; but desire alone is rejuvenating.

9. Though my compeers, dear to me as life, have all taken such a speedy flight to heaven (before being overtaken by old age); though the impulse for enjoyment is wearied out and the respect commanded from all persons lost; though my sight is obstructed by deep blindness (or cataract) and the body can raise itself but slowly on the staff; still, alas for its silliness, this body startles at the thought of dissolution by death!

10. Hope is like a flowing river of which the ceaseless desires constitutes the waters; it rages with the waves of keen longings, and the attachments for various objects are its animals of prey; scheming thoughts of greed are the aquatic birds that abound on it, and it destroys in its course the big trees of patience and fortitude; it is rendered impassable by the whirlpools of ignorance, and of profound depth of bed as it is, its banks of anxious deliberation are precipitous indeed. Such a river the yogæs of pure mind pass across to enjoy supreme felicity.

11. I do not find the virtuous distinction produced (by ceremonial observances) through life after life to be conducive to well-being, for the sum of such virtuous merits when weighed in mind inspires fear in me. Enjoyments earned by great accession of merit, multiply so greatly in the case of people attached to them, only to bring them misery and peril!

12. The objects of enjoyment, even after staying with us for a long time, are sure to leave us sometime; then what difference does their privation in this way make to men, that they do not of their own accord discard them? If the enjoyments leave us on their own initiative, i.e., if they tear themselves from us, they produce great affliction of the mind; but if men voluntarily renounce them, they conduce to the eternal bliss of self-possession.

13. Ah! It must be indeed a difficult feat which persons, with their minds purified by the discrimination arising from the knowledge of Brahman, accomplish, in that, free from desire, they wholly discard that wealth which has been actually bringing them enjoyment; whereas we fail to renounce enjoyments which are reaped by us as mere longings and which we never did realize in the past, nor do we realize now, nor can we count upon as lasting when obtained (in future).

14. Blessed are those who live in mountain caves meditating on Brahman, the Supreme Light, while birds devoid of fear perch on their laps and drink the tear-drops of bliss (that they shed in meditation); while our life is fast ebbing away in the excitement of revelry in palatial mansions or on the banks of refreshing pools or in pleasure-gardens, all created (and brooded over) merely by imagination.

15. For food, (I have) what begging brings and that too tasteless and once a day; for bed, the earth, and for attendant the body itself; for dress, (I have) a worn out blanket made up of a hundred patches! And still, alas! the desires do not leave me!

16. The poets give such metaphors as golden vessels to the breasts which are but two lumps of flesh; the mouth, seat of phlegm and mucus, are compared to the moon; the loins, outlet for wet urine, are likened to the forehead of an elephant; thus glorifying the human form that is always contemptible.

17. Among sensual persons, Śiva is unique, sharing half His body with His beloved; and again, among the dispassionate, there is none superior to Him, unattached to the company of women; while the rest of mankind, smitten and stupefied by the irresistible, serpent-like poisoned arrows of Cupid, and brought under the infatuation of Love, can neither enjoy their desires nor renounce them at will.

18. Without knowing its burning power the insect jumps into the glowing fire; the fish through ignorance eats the bait attached to the hook; whereas we, even though having full discernment, do not renounce the sensual desires, complicated as they are with manifold dangers. Alas, how inscrutable is the power of delusion!

19. When the mouth is parched with thirst, man takes some cold refreshing (or sweetened) drink; when suffering from hunger he swallows boiled rice made delicious with meat and the like; when set on fire by lust, he fast embraces his wife; so happiness is but remedying these diseases (of hunger, thirst and lust); and behold, how man (i.e., his sense) is upset in its quest!

20. Possessed of tall mansions, of sons esteemed by the learned, of untold wealth, of a beloved wife of beneficence, and of youthful age, and thinking this world to be permanent, men deluded by ignorance run into this prison-house of worldliness; whereas blessed indeed is he who, considering the impermanence of the same world, renounces it.

21. If one had an occasion to see one’s wife suffering without food and sore aggrieved at the constant sight of hungry crying children with piteous looks pulling at her worn-out clothes, what self-respecting man would for the mere sake of his own petty stomach utter ‘give me’ (i.e., become a supplicant for favour) in a voice faltering and sticking at the throat for fear of his prayer being refused?

22. The pit of our stomach so hard to fill is the root indeed of no small undoing: it is ingenious in severing the vital knots, as it were, of our fond self-respect; it is like the bright moonlight shining on the lotus (that species which blooms only in the sun) of highly estimable virtues; it is the hatchet that hews down the luxuriant creepers of our great modesty.

23. For the sake of filling the cavity of the stomach when hungry, a man of self-respect would wander from door to door with an earthen begging bowl (in hand) having its edge covered with white cloth, away in extensive woodlands or holy places, the outskirts of which are grey all over with the smoke of sacrificial fires tended by Bráhmanas versed in ritualistic niceties, and thus preserve the práîas, rather than live (like) a beggar from day to day among those who are socially equals.

24. Ah! is it that those Himalayan solitudes, cooled by the spray of minute bits of Gaïgá’s waves and abounding in beautiful rocky flats such as are the haunts of the Vidyádharas, are all engulfed in destruction, that men in disgrace hang on others for their maintenance?

25. Or is it that herbs and roots have all disappeared from caves, and streams have gone away from hillsides, or that branches of trees bearing luscious fruits and yielding barks are all destroyed, that the faces of wretches, perfectly devoid of good breeding, are found to have their eyebrows dancing like creepers in the wind of an arrogance which their scanty earning eked out with hardship engenders in them?

26. Therefore, now, accepting fruits and roots, ordained as sacred, for the most enjoyable means of maintenance, and (so also) the earth (laid on) with verdant leafy twigs for your bed, oh, rise, let us repair to the forest, where even the name is not heard of the ignoble rich whose minds are stultified by indiscretion and whose speech is constantly delirious with the maladies of wealth.

27. Though fruits from trees are easily obtainable at will in every forest, though there is cool refreshing drink in holy streams at various places and soft bed made of tender twigs and creepers, still (alas!) men aggrieved with lucre undergo sorrows at the doors of the rich.

28. The felicity of those, whom contentment unceasingly makes happy, is not interrupted, while cravings of those of greedy and confounded minds are never quenched. Such being the case, for whom did the Creator create the Meru, representing inconceivable wealth, but confining to itself the glorious potency of its gold? I would not covet it.

29. The felicity of those, whom contentment unceasingly makes happy, is not interrupted, while cravings of those of greedy and confounded minds are never quenched. Such being the case, for whom did the Creator create the Meru, representing inconceivable wealth, but confining to itself the glorious potency of its gold? I would not covet it.

30. The great yogæs describe food which begging brings as follows: it does not humiliate (vide verse no. 23); it is an independent pleasure (i.e., not dependent on the pleasure of earning money, fulfilling social duty, etc.); it is in all respects free from any anxious fear (i.e., about one’s expenditure, foodstores, etc.); it destroys wicked pride, egotism and impatience; it eradicates the manifold evils of worldly existence; it is easily available anywhere any day without efforts; it is the beloved of the holy men; it is a purification by itself; it is like the inexhaustible feeding-house of Siva, access to which none can prevent.

31. In enjoyment, there is the fear of disease; in social position, the fear of falling-out; in wealth, the fear of (hostile) kings; in honour, the fear of humiliation; in power, the fear of enemies; in beauty, the fear of old age; in scriptural erudition, the fear of opponents; in virtue, the fear of traducers; in body, the fear of death. All the things of this world pertaining to man are attended with fear; renunciation alone stands for fearlessness.

32. Birth is preyed upon (lit. attacked) by death; brilliant youth by old age; contentment by greed; happiness of self-control by the wiles of gay women; virtues by jealousy of men; forest tracts by beasts of prey; kings by the wicked (in counsel); and powers even are vitiated by their evanescence; what on earth is not seized upon by something else?

33. Health of men is destroyed (lit. rooted out) by hundreds of varied ailments of body and mind; wherever there is Lakshmæ (the goddess of prosperity), there perils find an open access; death sure annexes to itself, rendering impotent very soon, whatever is born again and again. Then what is created as stable by the absolute Creator?

34. Enjoyments are unstable like the breaking of high billows, life is liable to speedy dissolution; the buoyancy of youthful happiness centred in our objects of love lasts for few days. Understanding that the whole world is unsubstantial, ye wise teachers of men with minds intent on benefiting mankind (by living exemplary lives), put forth your energies (for attaining the highest beatitude).

35. Enjoyments of embodied beings are fleeting like the quick play of lightning within a mass of clouds; life is as insecure as a drop of water attached to the edge of a lotus-leaf and dispersed by the wind; the desires of youth are unsteady; realizing these quickly, let the wise firmly fix their minds in yoga, easily attainable by patience and equanimity.

36. Life is changing like a big wave, beauty of youth abides for a few days; earthly possessions are as transient as thought; the whole series of our enjoyments are like (occasional) flashes of lightning during the monsoons; the embrace round the neck given by our beloved ones lingers only for a while. To cross the ocean (of the fear) of the world, attach your mind to Brahman.

37. In the womb man lies within impure matter in discomfort with limbs cramped; in youth enjoyment is tainted with the intense suffering of mental distraction arising from separation from our beloved; even old age (is undesirable), being the object of contemptible laughter from women. (Then) oh men, say if there is a particle of happiness in the world.

38. Old age looms (ahead) frightening men like a tigress; (different) diseases afflict the (human) body like enemies; life is flowing away like water running out of a leaky vessel; still, how surprising is it, that man goes on doing wicked deeds!

39. Manifold and transitory in nature are the enjoyments and of such is this world made up. So what for would you wander about here, O men? Cease exerting yourselves (for them); and if you put faith in our word, on its Supreme Foundation (lit. abode) concentrate your mind, purified by quelling hope with its hundred meshes, and freed from its liability to create desire.

40. There is one Enjoyment and one alone, lasting, immutable, and supreme, of which the taste renders tasteless the greatest possessions, such as the sovereignty of the three worlds, and established in which a Brahmā, Indra, or the gods (i.e., their positions) appear like particles of grass. Do not, oh sādhu, set your heart on any ephemeral enjoyment other than that.

41. That lovely city, that grand monarch, and that circle of feudatory kings at his side, that cabinet of shrewd counsellors of his and those beauties with moon like faces, that group of wayward princes, those court-minstrels and their songs of praise—under whose power all this fleeted away and became objects of memory, to that Kāla (time or the principle of change) salutation!

42. Where in some home (or, a square in the case of a checkerboard) there once were many, there is now one, and where there was one or many successively, there is none at the end (of the game)—this is the process in which expert Kāla plays (his game) on the checkerboard of this world with living beings as the pieces to be moved, and casting the two dice of day and night.

43. Daily, with the rising and setting of the sun, life shortens, and time (i.e., its flight) is not felt on account of affairs heavily burdened with manifold activities. Neither is fear produced at beholding birth, death, old age, and sufferings. (Alas), the world has become mad by drinking the stupefying wine of delusion.

44. Seeing even the same night to be ever following the same day, in vain do creatures run on (their worldly course) perseveringly and busy with various activities set agoing secretly, i.e., by individual mental resolves. Alas, through infatuation we do not feel ashamed at being thus befooled by this saṁsāra with occupations in which the same particulars repeat themselves!

45. The feet of the Lord have not been meditated upon (by me) in due form for the sake of doing away with this saṁsāra or worldly bondage. Neither has dharma (merit through performance of religious duties) been earned, such as is strong to knock open the gates of heaven. We have simply proved to be hatchets, as it were, to cut down the garden of our mother’s youth, i.e., we have simply made our mother age through giving birth to us. That is the only result we find worthy of mention.

46. The proper scholarship for a cultured man, such as enables one to defeat hosts of disputants, has not been acquired. By the point of the sword strong to knock down the capacious temples of elephants, fame has not been carried to heaven. Useless has youth passed away like a lamp in a deserted house.

47. Knowledge free from defect has not been mastered; Riches neither have been earned. Services to parents have not been rendered with single-mindedness. Like crows, all the time has been passed in greediness for food, i.e., maintenance obtainable from others.

48. Those from whom we were born are now on intimate footing with Eternity (long dead); those with whom we were brought up have also become objects of memory. Now (that we have become old) we are approaching nearer to our fall day by day, our condition being comparable to that of trees on the sandy bank of a river.

49. The life of man (as ordained) is limited to one hundred years; half of it is spent in night, and out of the other half one half again is passed in childhood and old age; and the rest which has its illness, bereavements, and troubles is spent in serving others. What happiness can there be for mortals in a life (again) which is even more uncertain than the ripples (on the surface) of water?

50. Now a child for a while and then a youth of erotic ways, a destitute now for a while and then very wealthy, just like an actor, man makes at the end of his role — when diseased in all limbs by age and wrinkled all over the body — his exit behind the scene that veils the abode of Yama.

51. Thou art a king; we too are elevated through self-assurance about our wisdom acquired from our preceptor whom we served. Thou art celebrated through thy possessions; our fame is spread in all quarters by learned men. Thcwsource of honor and riches is the great difference between us. If thou art cold towards us, we too are perfectly indifferent towards thee.

52. Thou exercisest kingly power over riches, we do the same over words (i.e., ideas or scriptures) in all their senses. Thou art a hero (in battle), while we have never- failing skill in methods of subduing the pride of disputants. It is the rich who serve thee, while, intent on learning (higher truths), men serve us to have all imperfections of mind destroyed. If thou hast no regard for me, well, O king, I have absolutely none for thee.^[1]

53. Here we are satisfied with the bark of trees and thou with rich garments; (and yet) our contentment is alike, (so) the distinction makes no difference. Poor indeed is he whose desires are boundless. If the mind be contended, who is rich and who poor?

54. Fruits for food, tasteful water for drink, bare ground to lie upon, barks of trees for clothing, are sufficient (for us). I cannot bring myself to approve of the misbehaviour of evil men whose senses are led astray by drinking the wine of newly acquired wealth.

55. Let us eat the food we have begged; let the sky be our clothing; let us lie down on the surface of the earth; what have we to do with the rich?

56. Who are we to go to see a king — not dancers, court-jesters, or singers, nor experts in (learned) disputes with others in a court, nor youthful court mistresses!

57. In ancient times (the kingdom of) this world was created by some large-hearted monarchs; by some was it sustained (i.e., ruled) and by others was it conquered and given away like straw. Even now, some heroes enjoy the fourteen divisions of the world. For what then is this feverish pride of men having sovereignty over a few towns only?

58. Alas, what high dignity is there for kings in gaining that earth which has never for a moment been left unenjoyed by hundreds of rulers! The stupid owners of even a shred of the limb of a fraction of its fraction (i.e., of the most minute particle) feel delighted, whereas, on the contrary, they ought to grieve!

59. The earth is but a lump of clay circled by a ring of water! Even the whole of it is but a particle. Hosts of kings, having partitioned it after fighting hundreds of battles, enjoy it. What is so strange if these very poor insignificant persons give some part of it? But downright shame on those mean fellows who would beg bits of coin from even them !

60. Truly, that man is indeed born great whose white skull (after death) is placed by Śiva, the enemy of Madana (Cupid), high on the head as an ornament; Of what worth is this rising fever of exceeding pride in men, who are nowadays adored by some people with minds intent on the preservation of their lives!

61. Why, O heart, dost thou set thyself on winning good graces, so hard to secure, by daily propitiating other men’s minds in various ways? When, being serene inwardly and free from society, thou hast gems of thought rising up of themselves (i.e., when desires do not induce thinking), what objects mere wish (even) would not bring to thee?

62. Oh Mind! Why are you wandering here and there like an undecided vagabond seeking this and that without not knowing exactly what? Rest somewhere rather than exhaust yourself uselessly !

63. Oh Mana (mind and heart) ! Your well-being lies in being careful while passing through this enchanting world of sense objects which are like a dense forest of lust and sensual enjoyment wherein there is nothing but sorrows. So, pick your path though this forest with wisdom and sagacity so as to avoid getting entangled in its web of creepers of delusions or get pricked by its countless thorns. This wisdom will help you overcome so many untold troubles and problems.

64. Oh, my mind and heart! Discard all delusions and have devotion for Lord Śiva who is adorned by a crescent moon on his forehead. Think of living on the banks of the heavenly river Ganges (where you will find peace and joy of the spirit). Tell me, what attraction do you find in this world? Tell me, can you put any reliance that which is by nature ever-changing and fickle, like the waves and foam on the surface of the ocean, like the lightening in the cloud, like the women who are inherently unreliable and are like the tip of fire that spares no one, like a serpent that is no one’s friend, and like the river that looks so calm and soothing but which sweeps everything away when it is in spate?

65. O mind and heart)! Be wary of Ramā, the goddess of wealth and fortune, who is fickle and has no second thoughts about selling herself unscrupulously. She lives between the eyebrows of kings.^[2]

66. O mind, if you are attracted to the sweet and attractive songs that are being sung near you by expert singers from the south even as beautiful ladies move lustfully around you with hand-held fans to blow sweet breeze upon you, and the movement of their hands produce an enticing sound of tinkling that comes from the bracelets worn by them—in short, if you wish to enjoy sensual pleasures like a man who would like to get intoxicated with wine though he knows it is harmful for him, then you are welcome to do as you please.

67. Of what good is it if you have amassed huge wealth to satisfy your worldly needs and desires of your sense organs?
Of what good is it if you have conquered all enemies and have put your foot on their heads?
Of what good is it if you are glorified, honoured and bestowed with tittles by your well-wishers and sycophants whom you have served with your wealth, resources and other means?
And what good is it if you manage to prolong your life even though you know fully well that, being mortal, you cannot live forever?

68. One must understand that all affectionate relationships, such as for one’s friends and brothers, are some kind of fault associated with this world. [i.e., nothing is sustainable in this world. All relationships are transient and perishable. So, one must not have any kind of company if one wishes to remain free from all worldly miseries. Instead, go to the serene environment of the forest and spend your time alone, living joyfully and free from all sorts of taints, worries and grief. What more than true renunciation and detachment can one desire ?

69. What is the use of getting agitated over something that is unreal and transitory? So be wise! Contemplate Brahma, the Supreme One, the pure cosmic Consciousness which is self-illuminated, universal, infinite, eternal, ageless — the Absolute Truth and Reality.

70. Oh my mind! It’s so unfortunate that, unstable, fidgety and restless, you wander from the earth to the nether world at one moment and to the skies in the next moment. You keep wandering aimlessly from one direction to another like a rudderless ship or a kite detached from its string. You do not, even by mistake, contemplate and meditate upon the supreme One known as Brahma who is self-illuminated, faultless, a fount of eternal bliss, beatitude and felicity; the pure Consciousness that resides within you, in the subtle space of your own heart, in the form of your Atma, your soul and true Self.

71. Of what use is reading the great scriptures such as the Vedas, the Smritis, the Puranas and the different Shastras^[3] to gain residence in heaven.

Say, what is the difference between the residents of this heaven and the great souls who live in villages? Both places are dwelling huts where the soul stays during its long-haul journey of life; both are essentially temporary rest-houses for journeymen.

So therefore, paying heed to those who advise the study and reading of the scriptures or doing many so ceremonies is like listening to hawkers who surround their customers to strike a bargain to quick-sell their wares, without caring whether their wares will do ithem any good!

72. The dooms-day fire will destroy even Mt.Sumeru, the grandest amongst the mountains. The ocean, home to so many creatures, will also dry up. Even the earth, which seems so solid, heavy and dense, is rattled by an earthquake, and reduced to rubble. No wonder than that this gross body is as shaky as the front lobe of a baby elephant’s ear. It too will be destroyed when the time comes. So, say, what reliance can be put on it?

73. What a pitiful pain is old age! It is pathetic when the whole body is wrinkled and shrivelled, when the steps totter and the gait becomes unsteady, the mind goes out of control for it becomes senile, the teeth fall out, the eyesight falters and is shrouded with cataract, the hearing is lost as deafness takes over, the saliva drips from the mouth and the voice falters and the speech becomes incoherent. Neither do the kith and kin show any respect, and the children behave like an enemy times of distress. Indeed, one undergoes immense torments and is worn-out by the harrowing miseries of old age.

74. When young women see an old man with grey hairs on the head, which is symbolic of his inability to please them, they flee away at once as if they have come near a cursed well belonging to a Chāndāl,^[4] which is surrounded by bones (i.e. a well near a slaughter-house).

75. While the body is healthy, the mind unaffected by old age and the senses and limbs are functioning properly, the wise one strives for self-realization, the supreme good, the true Self. Of what use is digging a well when the house has already caught fire.

76. Shall we practice austerities or serve our spouse graced by virtues or spend our time drinking the nectar of wisdom in the Vedas, Puranas and Shastras ? How to accomplish all this when life is so short and fickle by nature ?

77. These rulers of the world have minds restless like a horse and are difficult to please, while we are ambitious with minds pitched on vast gain ; age steals away bodily strength and death cuts short this dear life. Ah ! friend, nothing is good for the wise in this world except the practice of austerities !

78. When honour has faded, wealth has become ruined, those who sue for favours have departed in disappointment, friends have dwindled away, retainers have left, and youth has gradually decayed, there remains only one thing proper for the wise — residence somewhere in a grove on the side of a valley of the Himalayas whose rocks are purified by the waters of the Ganga.

79. Delightful are the rays of the moon, delightful the grassy plots in the outskirts of the forest, delightful the pleasure of wise men's society, delightful the narratives in poetical literature, and delightful the face of the beloved swimming in the tear-drops of ( feigned ) anger. Everything is charming, but nothing is so when the mind is possessed by the evanescence of things.

80. Is not a palace pleasant to dwell in ? Is not music with its accompaniments agreeable to listen to? Is not the society of women, dear as life itself, very pleasing ? Yet, wise men have gone away to the forest, regarding these things as unstable as the shadow of a lamp's flame flickering through the puff of the wings of a deluded moth.

81. Oh dear! in our quest through the three worlds from the very beginning of their creation, none such has come within sight or hearing, that can be the tying post for the elephant of his mind when maddened by the mysterious, deep-rooted infatuation for the female elephant of sense-object,

82. This freedom to wander about, this food to which no meanness attaches, the company of holy men, the cultivation of Vedic wisdom, the fruit of which, unlike other vows, is spiritual peace, the mind also restrained in its movements towards external things — to such a consummation, I know not after lifelong reflection, what noble austerities may lead !

83. Desires have worn off in our heart. Alas! youth has also passed away from the body. The virtues have proved barren for want of appreciative admirers. The powerful, all-destroying, unrelenting Death is fast approaching ! VVhat is to be done ? Ah me ! I see there is no other refuge left except the feet of the Destroyer of Cupid.

84. There is no difference in substance between Śiva, the Lord of the universe and Vismi, the inmost Self of the universe. But still my devotion is to the One in whose crest there is the crescent moon.

85. Sitting in peaceful posture, during nights when all sounds arc stilled into silence, somewhere on the banks of the heavenly river which shine with the white glow of the bright-diffused moonlight, and fearful of the miseries of birth and death, crying aloud *Śiva, Śiva, Śiva," ah ! when shall we attain that ecstasy which is characterized by copious tears of joy held in internal control !

86. Giving away all possessions, with a heart filled with tender compassion, reraembering the course of Destiny which ends so ruefully in this world and, as the only refuge, for us. Meditating on the feet of Hara ( i. e. Śiva ), O ! we shall spend, in the holy forest, nights aglow with the beams of the full autumnal moon.

87. When shall I pass the days like a moment, residing on the banks of the celestial river in Varanasi, clad in kaupīna and with folded hands raised to the forehead, crying out — '*Oh Lord of Gauri, the Slayer of Tripura, the Giver of all good, the Three-eyed, have mercy !

88. Having bathed in the waters of the Gaṅgā and worshipped Thee, O Lord, with unblemished fruits and flowers and having concentrated my mind, by my stony bed within the mountain cave, on the object of my meditation — blissful in the Self alone, living on fruits, and devoted to the guru’s words — when shall I, O Thou Enemy of Cupid, through Thy grace become released from the grief which has arisen from my serving the man of prosperity?

90. Those who have only their hand to eat from, who are contented with begged food, pure by itself, who repose themselves anywhere (i.e., require no house or bed), who constantly regard the universe like almost a blade of grass, who even before giving up the body experience the uninterrupted Supreme Bliss — for such yogīs indeed the path to mokṣa which is easy of access by Śiva’s grace becomes attainable.

91. If there is a kaupīna (even) worn out and shredded a hundred times and a wrapper also of the same condition; if one is free from all disquieting thought, if food there is, obtained unconditionally from begging, and sleep on a cremation ground or in the forest; if one wanders alone without any let or hindrance, if the mind is always calm, and if one is steadfast in the festive joy of yoga, what is then worth the rulership of the three worlds?

92. Can this universe, which is but a mere reflection, engender greed in wise men? The ocean surely does not become agitated by the movement of a little fish.

93. O Mother Lakshmī (Goddess of wealth), serve (thou) someone else; do not long for me. Those who desire enjoyment are subject to thee, but what art thou to us who are free from desires? Now we wish to live upon food articles obtained from begging and placed, conformably to its being sanctified, in a receptacle of palāśa leaves pieced together on the spot.

94. The earth is his vast bed, the arms his ample pillow, the sky is his canopy, the genial breeze his fan, the autumnal moon is his lamp, and rejoicing in the company of abnegation as his wife, the sage lies down happily and peacefully, like a monarch of undiminished glory.

95. There lives the real ascetic who feeds himself on alms, unattached to the society of men, always free in his efforts and pursuing a path of indifference as regards what to give up or what to take; his worn out garment is made up of rags cast away in streets, and his seat is a blanket received by chance; he is devoid of pride and egoism and he is concerned only in enjoying the happiness arising from the control of mind.

96. When accosted by people who loquaciously express doubt and surmise, such as, ‘Is he a Chandāla , or twice born, a Śūdra or an ascetic, or perhaps some supreme yogī with his mind full of the discrimination of Reality,’ the yogīs themselves go their way, neither pleased nor displeased in mind.

97. If for serpents even air has been provided by the Creator as food obtainable without killing or toiling; if beasts are contented with feeding on grass-sprouts and lying on ground; then for men with intelligence strong enough to lead across the ocean of transmigration, some such livelihood has been created; and those who seek this have all their guṇas invariably brought to their final dissolution.^[5]

98. Will those happy days come to me when on the bank of the Gaṅgā, sitting in the lotus-posture on a piece of stone in the Himalayas, I shall fall into the yoga-nidrā resulting from a regular practice of the contemplation of Brahman, and when old antelopes having nothing to fear, will rub their limbs against my body!

99. With the hand serving as sacred cup, with begged food that comes through wandering and never runs short, with the ten quarters as their ample garment and the earth as a fixed, spacious bed — blessed are they who, having forsaken the manifold worldly associations which an attitude of want breeds, and self-contented with a heart fully matured through their acceptance of absolute seclusion, root out all karma.

100. O Earth, my mother! O Wind, my father! O Fire, my friend! O Water, my good relative! O sky, my brother! Here is my last salutation to you with clasped hands! Having cast away infatuation with its wonderful power, by means of ample pure knowledge resplendent with merits developed through my association with you all, I now merge in Supreme Brahman.