Mirabhai Hymns on Dwarakanath - Part III

A great Yogi

A GREAT YOGI

In my travels I spent time with a great yogi.

Once he said to me.

“Become so still you hear the blood flowing

  through your veins.”

One night as I sat in quiet,

I seemed on the verge of entering a world inside so vast

I know it is the source of 

all of

us.

-----

I write of That Journey

I WRITE OF THAT JOURNEY     

I remember how my mother would hold me.

I would look up at her sometimes and see her weep.

I understand now what was happening.

Love so strong a force

it broke the

cage,

and she disappeared from everything

for a blessed

moment.

All actions have evolved

From the taste of flight;

the hope of freedom

moves our cells

and limbs.

Unable to live on the earth, Mira ventured out alone in the sky –

I write of that journey

of becoming as

free as

God.

Don’t forget love;

it will bring all the madness you need

to unfurl yourself across

the universe.

 -----------------------

Mira Knows Why

MIRA KNOWS WHY

The earth looked at Him and began to dance.

Mira knows why, for her soul too

is in love.

If you cannot picture God

in a way that always

strengthens

you,

You need to read

more of my

poems

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A Limb just moved

A LIMB JUST MOVED

You taught Your songs to the birds first,

why was that?

And You practised Your love in the hearts of animals

before You created man,

I know the planets talk at night

and tell secrets

about

You.

A limb just moved before me,

the beauty of this world

is causing me to

weep

------

I have Found a Guru

I have found a guru in Raidas, he has
given me the pill of knowledge.
I lost the honor of the royal family, I
went astray with the sadhus.
I constantly rise up, go to God’s
temple, and dance, snapping my
fingers.
I don’t follow the norms as an oldest
daughter-in-law, I have thrown
away the veil.
I have taken refuge with the great
guru, and snapped my fingers at
the consequences.

-------------------------

Come To my Pavillion

Come to my pavilion, O my King.
I have spread a bedmade of
delicately selected buds and blossoms,
And have arrayed myself in bridal garb
From head to toe.

I have been Thy slave during many births,
Thou art the be-all of my existence.
Mira's Lord is Hari, the Indestructible.
Come, grant me Thy sight at once.

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Your Look of Light

On a sudden,
the sight.
Your look of light
stills all,

stills
all, The curd-pot
falls to the ground.

Parents and
brothers
all call a halt.

Prise out, they say,
this thing from your heart.
You've lost your path.

Says Meera:
Who but you
can see in the dark
of a heart?

-----------------

The Dark One

Thick overhead
clouds of the monsoon,
a delight to this feverish heart.
Season of rain,
season of uncontrolled whispers---the Dark One's returning!
O swollen heart,
O sky brimming with moisture---
tongued lightning first
and then thunder,
convulsive spatters of rain
and then wind, chasing the summertime heat.

Mira says: Dark One,
I've waited---
it's time to take my songs
into the street.      

-----------------------

I Do Not care about Social Norms

I will fasten the bells of his love to my feet
And dance in front of Girdhar.
Dancing and dancing I will please his eyes;
My love is an ancient one.
My love is the only truth.

I do not care about social norms
Nor do I keep my family's honour.
I cannot forget, even for a moment,
The beauty of my lover.
I am dyed in Hari's colour.

----------------------------------------

Go To That Impenetrable Realm

Go to that impenetrable realm
That death himself trembles to look upon.
There plays the fountain of love
With swans sporting on its waters.

There the company of holy men is available,
And one may talk of spiritual knowledge.
There one can mediate on Shyam
And purify one’s mind.

There one may bind on
The anklets of good-conduct,
And dance the dance of inner contentment.

There one may adopt a headpiece of gold
And the sixteen kinds of adornment,
Let there be love for Shyam
And indifference to all else.

-----------------------------------------

Only He Knows the Bitterness of Love

Only he knows the bitterness of love

Who has deeply felt its pangs.

When you are in trouble

No one comes near you:

When fortune smiles.

All come to share the joy.

Love shows no external wound.

But the pain pervades every pore

Devotee Mira offers her body

As a sacrifice to Giridhara for ever.

----------------------------------------------------

Life in the World is Short

Life in the world is short,

Why shoulder an unnecessary load

Of worldly relationships?

Thy parents gave thee birth in the world,

But the Lord ordained thy fate.

Life passes in getting and spending,

No merit is earned by virtuous deeds.

I will sing the praises of Hari

In the company of the holy men,

Nothing else concerns me.

Mira's Lord is the courtly Giridhara,

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