Amrita Dhara

A poetical rendering of Amma's immortal utterances by Swami Turiyamritananda offered at the lotus feet of Amma on the occasion of Her 43rd birthday. The poem was translated into English by professor V. Muraleedhara Menon.

Come quick, my sweet children! You are the very essence of Om. Become adorable, cast off your sorrows, Be one with Om, the Pranava Eternal. Human life, so rare and precious, Is not for creature comforts. Not to be wasted in pursuing Maya's allurements. Wealth and pomp, name and fame are mere trifles, Compared to the richest gain of our immortal Soul.

The tongue ever used to eating rose apples,
Turns blue in course of time.
Likewise, mind ever indulging
In pleasures sensuous,
Loses its natural sensitivity
And becomes a slave of passion.

Let the Vedic Mantras, the Soul's sonorous songs,
Flood the Land, bathing and baptising all.
They will make mortal men godly
In power and holiness,
Lifting and liberating them
From earth-bound existence.

Strange indeed is the trick Maya plays on us:
We refuse to see the truth so obvious to all.
When the veil of delusion is lifted from our eyes,
We see all as one, sparks from the same fire.

God is not a remote entity, hidden in the clouds,
He is in and around us, moving in various forms.
Beguiling are his ways,
Sometimes disguised as man,
Wretched and beggarly, craving our little help.

Many are crushed under the wheel
Of life's direst calamities,
They are waifs and strays upon
The storm-tossed waves;
Unsheltered, they are drifting about in
The sea of endless miseries.
No sin can be worse than callous indifference
To their hapless lot.

(To be continued in February 1999)