{"id":7256,"date":"2021-10-08T08:23:24","date_gmt":"2021-10-08T15:23:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=7256"},"modified":"2021-10-08T08:28:37","modified_gmt":"2021-10-08T15:28:37","slug":"ramprasad-so-i-say-mind-dont-you-sleep-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2021\/10\/08\/ramprasad-so-i-say-mind-dont-you-sleep-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Ramprasad – So I say: Mind, don’t you sleep"},"content":{"rendered":"

So I say: Mind, don\u2019t you sleep
\nby Ramprasad (Ramprasad Sen)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

English version by Leonard Nathan and Clinton Seely<\/font><\/p>\n

So I say: Mind, don\u2019t you sleep
\nOr Time is going to get in and steal from you.<\/p>\n

You hold on to the sword of Kali\u2019s name.
\nThe shield of Tara\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

Can Death overwhelm you?
\nSound Kali\u2019s name on a horn and sound it loud.<\/p>\n

Chant \u201cDurga, Durga,\u201d
\nUntil you bring the dawn around.<\/p>\n

If She won\u2019t save you in this Dark Age \u2013.
\nBut how many great sinners have been saved!<\/p>\n

Is Ramprasad then
\nSo unsalvageable a rogue?<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> \u2014 from This Dance of Bliss: Ecstatic Poetry from Around the World<\/a>, Edited by Ivan M. Granger<\/font><\/p>\n


\/ Image by Sankhadeep Barman<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

For Hindus, the festival of Navratri, the Nine Nights of the Goddess, has begun. So I thought we\u2019d feature a poem in honor of the Goddess, by one of the great Kali poets, Rampasad.<\/p>\n

Ramprasad\u2019s songs to the Mother Goddess were like dynamite to my early seeking. I was introduced to his poetry while reading about the 19th century Hindu saint, Ramakrishna, who, in ecstatic states, would recite the poetry of Ramprasad. Ramprasad\u2019s poetry can be intense, not to everyone\u2019s taste, but they speak to me\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

So I say: Mind, don\u2019t you sleep
\nOr Time is going to get in and steal from you.<\/i><\/p>\n

I like the urging of that opening phrase: \u201cMind, don\u2019t your sleep!\u201d I like the way Ramprasad neatly defines the relationship with the mind. Most people, in the West especially, think they are<\/i> the mind. But here the poet speaks to the mind as a separate entity. He creates a parental sort of relationship, both protective and insistent. I can\u2019t quite articulate why, but I find that deeply touching on some level\u2026 and, for the mystic, a supremely effective approach. When the mind wants to scatter, if we think we are the mind, then what can we do? But when we recognize the mind as a flow of consciousness under our care, then we can influence it against its worst habits to remain alert and still \u2014 \u201cMind, don\u2019t you sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a play of meanings here that you shouldn\u2019t miss: The Great Goddess manifests through the cycles of becoming and dissolution\u2026 and, thus, She is associated with time. Time is Kali\u2019s illusory game of apparent change. The root word for time is \u201cKal.\u201d Kali overcomes Kal.<\/p>\n

You hold on to the sword of Kali\u2019s name.
\nThe shield of Tara\u2019s name.<\/i><\/p>\n

Ramprasad is making a subtle distinction between the Mother Goddess as Kali and as Tara. 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.<\/p>\n

Time (\u201cOr Time is going to get in\u2026\u201d) and Death (\u201cCan Death overwhelm you?\u201d) are paired in this poem as the ultimate limitations of mortal life which must be transcended in order to experience the eternal nature of being. But we\u2019re not talking fantasy here, where you can snap your fingers and stop time or answer a riddle to cheat death. Ramprasad is giving us a formulation for keeping the mind awake and chanting the Divine Name. What does this have to do with time and death? This practice, done deeply, eventually brings the mind to a focused stillness.<\/p>\n

As this deepens, a few things become clear. One\u2019s relationship with time shifts. In mundane awareness, we tend to take time for granted as the inevitable unfolding of serial events. But time reveals itself as something slightly different to the quiet awareness. Events still occur, but you stop inserting the ego-self into the midst of them. Instead of tumbling helplessly with the flow of time, it is as if we have found our footing and stand still as witness to the flow all around us. Movement occurs, but the personal sense of time stops.<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s the thing about death: In deep states of spiritual awareness, the mystic is flooded with an immense and unimpeded sense of Life. By comparison, all experiences up to that point seem like they belong to the realm of sleep. There is the sense that the common experience of life is somehow encrusted with a layer of \u2014 let\u2019s call it \u201cdeath\u201d \u2014 that has dampened the full awareness of life. In this awareness, death has left us. Only life remains. This doesn\u2019t mean that the physical body won\u2019t eventually grow old and cease to function. But life\u2019s experiences lose the flavor of death.<\/p>\n

This shining recognition is the moment of awakening \u2014 \u201cthe dawn.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Is Ramprasad then
\nSo unsalvageable a rogue?<\/i><\/p>\n

Look at the strange lot of people who have stumbled their way to enlightenment. Is any one of us \u201cso unsalvageable a rogue?\u201d There is a saying: A saint is a sinner who never gave up. Rogues too realize.<\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Ramprasad (Ramprasad Sen)<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
This Dance of Bliss: Ecstatic Poetry from Around the World<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nSinging to the Goddess: Poems to Kali and Uma from Bengal<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nKali: The Black Goddess of Dakshineswar<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nMother of the Universe: Visions of the Goddess and Tantric Hymns of Enlightenment<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nGreat Swan: Meetings with Ramakrishna<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
More Books >><\/a><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n
\n<\/td>\n\nRamprasad (Ramprasad Sen)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

India (1718? \u2013 1775?) Timeline<\/a>
\nYoga \/ Hindu<\/a> : Shakta (Goddess-oriented)<\/a>
\n<\/a><\/a><\/em>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

Ramprasad was born in a small village along the Ganges, just outside of Calcutta (Kolkata) in Bengal, India. His father was an Ayurvedic doctor.<\/p>\n

As a boy, Ramprasad showed himself to be an excellent student and displayed a natural talent for poetry and language.<\/p>\n

Although he impressed everyone with his intellectual abilities, he showed no interest in taking up the family profession of Ayurveda or any profession, for that matter. His increasing otherworldliness and interest in spiritual practices worried his parents, who were afraid he would renounce the world. To head off that possibility, his parents married their meditative son to a beautiful young girl.<\/p>\n

Soon after the marriage, Ramprasad\u2019s father died, leaving the family in poverty. As the oldest son within a traditional family, the responsibility fell on Ramprasad to provide for the entire family. Despite his bright mind, Ramprasad struggled to find employment.<\/p>\n

He eventually found a job as an accountant\u2019s clerk in nearby Calcutta. But he couldn\u2019t prevent his devotional poetry from pouring out. Lacking good paper, he wrote his poems in the margins of his account ledgers. Some of his coworkers noticed this and complained to the manager that Ramprasad was writing poetry rather than keeping the accounts. The manager demanded to see Ramprasad\u2019s ledgers. Upon reading Ramprasad\u2019s songs to the mother goddess Kali, the manager was so moved that he told Ramprasad to go home and devote all his time to his writing \u2014 and he would still draw the same monthly pay.<\/p>\n

Ramprasad turned deeply to his spiritual practices and poetry, often singing his songs by the banks of the Ganges or immersed, neck-deep in the sacred waters.<\/p>\n

One day a local prince heard Ramprasad singing songs to Kali. He appointed Ramprasad as court poet, granting him enough land to support his family. This new situation gave Ramprasad the permission he needed to delve more deeply into his spiritual practices. He was often found fasting and sitting in a nearby meditation garden.<\/p>\n

He began to have visions of Mother Kali. His songs and quiet charisma started to draw devotees.<\/p>\n

Ramprasad and his wife had four children. Finances continued to be a challenge for Ramprasad and his family. His intense focus on spiritual practices meant he neglected the day-to-day maintenance of his land, and his family just managed to get by.<\/p>\n

Ramprasad\u2019s poetry to the Mother Goddess Kali is playful, petulant, blissful, rageful \u2014 and sometimes shocking. His poetry shows the whole tempestuous relationship between a child and his Mother, between the soul and God. He doesn\u2019t just show one face to the Divine Mother, he doesn\u2019t just pretend to be \u2018the good little boy.\u2019 He communicates everything to Her nakedly, his frustration as well as his bliss. And, in doing so, he achieves a profound intimacy with the Divine.<\/p>\n

More poetry by Ramprasad (Ramprasad Sen)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So I say: Mind, don\u2019t you sleep by Ramprasad (Ramprasad Sen) English version by Leonard Nathan and Clinton Seely So I say: Mind, don\u2019t you sleep Or Time is going to get in and steal from you. You hold on to the sword of Kali\u2019s name. The shield of Tara\u2019s name. Can Death overwhelm you? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1907,2067,1001,14,174,1235,1792,782,438,1320],"class_list":["post-7256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-divine-feminine","tag-divine-mother","tag-goddess-poetry","tag-hindu-poetry","tag-kali","tag-mother-goddess","tag-navratri","tag-ramprasad","tag-time","tag-timelessness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7256"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7258,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7256\/revisions\/7258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}