Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World

About Ramprasad

Timeline (1718? - 1775?)

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English version by
Leonard Nathan and Clinton Seely

Original Language
Bengali

Tell me, brother, what happens after death?

Themes

Death

Sky

Water

Recommended Books

	Devoted to the Goddess : The Life and Work of Ramprasad, by Malcolm Mclean
	The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, by M. (Sri Mahendra Gupta) / Translated by Swami Nikhilananda
	Grace and Mercy in Her Wild Hair: Ramprasad Sen - Selected Poems to the Mother Goddess, Translated by Leonard Nathan / Clinton Seely
	Great Swan: Meetings with Ramakrishna, by Lex Hixon
	Kali: The Black Goddess of Dakshineswar, by Elizabeth U. Harding

More >>

Tell me, brother, what happens after death?
The whole world is arguing about it --
Some say you become a ghost,
Others that you go to heaven,
And some that you get close to God,
And the Vedas insist you're a bit of sky
Reflected in a jar fated to shatter.

When you look for sin and virtue in nothing,
You end up with nothing.
The elements live in the body together
But go their own ways at death.

Prasad says: you end, brother,
Where you began, a reflection
Rising in water, mixing with water,
Finally one with water.

-- from Grace and Mercy in Her Wild Hair: Ramprasad Sen - Selected Poems to the Mother Goddess, Translated by Leonard Nathan / Clinton Seely

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Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

About Ramprasad

Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World