Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Yoga / Hindu : Shakta (Goddess-oriented) 18th Century	About Ramprasad (Ramprasad Sen) Timeline (1718? - 1775?)
<<Previous Poem | View All Poems by Ramprasad (Ramprasad Sen) | Next Poem >>
English version by Leonard Nathan and Clinton Seely Original Language Bengali	So I say: Mind, don't you sleep
Commentary by Ivan M. Granger Themes   Dawn   Death   Sound       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 >>	So I say: Mind, don't you sleep Or Time is going to get in and steal from you. You hold on to the sword of Kali's name. The shield of Tara's name. Can Death overwhelm you? Sound Kali's name on a horn and sound it loud. Chant “Durga, Durga,” Until you bring the dawn around. If She won't save you in this Dark Age --. But how many great sinners have been saved! Is Ramprasad then So unsalvageable a rogue?     -- from Grace and Mercy in Her Wild Hair: Ramprasad Sen - Selected Poems to the Mother Goddess, Translated by Leonard Nathan / Clinton Seely Amazon.com
<<Previous Poem | View More Poems by Ramprasad (Ramprasad Sen) | Next Poem >>

Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

There is a play of meanings here that you shouldn't miss: The Great Goddess is both the eternal Void, and also all of manifestation, the dizzying cycles of becoming and dissolution... and, thus, She is also time. The root word for time is Kal. Kali overcomes Kal.

Kali is the Goddess in her terrifying aspect, She Who ecstatically cuts through delusion; so She carries a sword. Tara is Her more protective aspect, so Her name is a shield.

Time and Death are paired here as the ultimate limitations of mortal life that must be transcended in order to experience the eternal nature of being. Telling the mind not to "sleep" and instead repeatedly call out a sacred name helps the mind to drop its erratic attention, focus, and eventually grow utterly still. When the mind learns to remain still, it becomes pure, and finally sees clearly.

Time is then seen to be an illusion made up of the mind's agitation and projections onto the canvasses of past and future. Time is a concept. It doesn't exist in any real way. Only the eternal present is. Death itself then becomes meaningless. Without the tensions of time to play against, the personal self seems empty, see-through, lost in a much vaster sense of being. And can that die?

This shining recognition is the moment of awakening -- "the dawn."

That may sound like something attainable only through unimaginable effort by only the most perfect masters, but that thought too is an excuse used by the mind to allow it to continue sleeping. Ramprasad laughs and cuts through that lethargy. Look at the strange lot of people who have stumbled their way to enlightenment. Are you (or am I) then "so unsalvageable a rogue?" There is a saying: A saint is a sinner who never gave up. Rogues too realize...

Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2008 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.