Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Verses of Raghupati Upadhyaya

Verses from Padyāvalī by Raghupati Upādhyāya:

श्याममेव परं रूपं पुरी मधुपुरी वरा।
वयः कैशोरकं ध्येयमाद्य एव परो रसः॥८२॥

śyāmam eva paraṁ rūpaṁ purī madhupurī varā |
vayaḥ kaiśorakaṁ dhyeyam ādya eva paro rasaḥ ||82||

Black Shyama’s form of all is best;
Of his dhams, Braj outdoes the rest;
Contemplate Krishna in his youth;
his rasa of love’s the highest truth.

इह वत्सान् समचारयदिह नः स्वामी जगौ वंशीम्।
इति सास्रं गदतो मे यमुनातीरे दिनं यायात्॥८७॥

iha vatsān samacārayad iha naḥ svāmī jagau vaṁśīm|
iti sāsraṁ gadato me yamunātīre dinaṁ yāyāt ||87||

May my days pass on the Yamuna banks,
eyes wet with tears, stuttering words like these:
“Here did our master graze his calves,
and here played his flute upon the breeze.”

श्रुतयः पलालकल्पाः किमिह वयं साम्प्रतं चिनुमः।
आह्रियत पुरैव नयनैराभीरीभिः परं ब्रह्म॥९७॥

śrutayaḥ palāla-kalpāḥ
kim iha vayaṁ sāmprataṁ cinumaḥ |
āhriyata puraiva nayanair
ābhīrībhiḥ paraṁ brahma ||97||

The Shrutis are but a pile of husks,
what grains can we find rummaging through ’em?
Braja’s cowgirls have already with their eyes,
gathered up the Supreme Brahman.

कं प्रति कथयितुमीशे सम्प्रति को वा प्रतीतिमायातु
गोपतितनयाकुञ्जे गोपवधूटीविटं ब्रह्म॥९८॥

kaṁ prati kathayitum īśe
samprati ko vā pratītimāyātu
gopati-tanayā-kuñje
gopa-vadhūṭī-viṭaṁ brahma ||98||

To whom do I dare say these words
Who will believe me when I say 'em?
In the gardens of the gopi princess,
plays the playboy Supreme Brahman!

श्रुतिमपरे स्मृतिमितरे भारतमन्ये भजन्तु भवभीताः।
अहमिह नन्दं वन्दे यस्यालिन्दे परं ब्रह्म॥१२६॥।

śrutim apare smṛtim itare
bhāratam anye bhajantu bhava-bhītāḥ |
aham iha nandaṁ vande
yasyālinde paraṁ brahma ||126||.

Let others worship the Shrutis, Smritis,
or the epics – they fear the world, all of ’em!
But as for me, I bow down to Nanda,
in whose courtyard crawls the Supreme Brahman.

तप्तं तपोभिरन्यैः फलितं तद् गोपबालानाम्।
आसां यत् कुचकुम्भे नीलनिचोलयति ब्रह्म॥३००॥

taptaṁ tapobhir anyaiḥ phalitaṁ tad gopa-bālānām |
āsāṁ yat kuca-kumbhe nīla-nicolayati brahma ||300||

Whatever askesis others have performed,
‘tis the gopi girls who got all the benefits,
for 'tis around their ample breasts alone
that Brahman became the bright blue blouse that fits.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Jewels

We were jewels, you and I, not fools,
and we sought the highest love
in God and spirit, far above
the trivial amours of the mundane,
and yet together could not remain
upon that effervescent plane,

I don’t know if to wisely nod or weep,
but I always choose the latter,
and more tears flow when I pretend
that I don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.

You and I are jewels, we are pearls
we are gifts of the Almighty;
We could have been empowering,
one another's Shakti.

That is not a role-playing game!
That is the way the dance is danced,
the way that Love is loved
and divine romance romanced.

But then perhaps we have been fools,
for not embracing such a gift
that promised so much, and let ourselves
fall in the well of doubt and drift.

Wounds to lick, lessons to learn,
separation to feel, union to yearn,
We still have Goloka’s perfect love for dhyan,
Vrindavan’s parakiya for our gyan.

Love is lost, better lost than never felt,
That's the way plans and theories just melt
in this the life that we were dealt.