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.
- Mirabai
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
paayoji mainne ram ratan dhan paayo
Vastu amolik dee mera sataguru
kripaa kari apnaayo
janam janam ki punji payee
jag mein sukhavnayo
kharcha na khute chor na lute
din din katat savayo
sat ki naav khevatiya satguru
bhavsagar taravayo
meera ke prabhu giridhar nagar
harakh harakh jas gaayo
I Have Found I have found, yes,
I have found the wealth of the Divine gem.
My true guru gave me a priceless thing.
With his grace, I accepted it.
I found the resukt of my several births;
I have lost the whole rest of the world.
No one can spend it, no one can steal it.
Day by day it increases one and a quarter times.
On the boat of truth, the boatman was my true guru.
I came across the ocean of existence.
Mira’s Lord is the Mountain-Holder,
the suave lover, of whom I merrily, merrily sing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
O my parents, I have searched the world
And found nothing worthy of love.
Hence I am a stranger amidst my kinfolk
And an exile from their company,
Since I seek the companionship of holy men;
There alone do I feel happy,
In the world I only weep.
I planted the creeper of love
And silently watered it with my tears;
Now it has grown and overspread my dwelling.
You offered me a cup of poison
Which I drank with joy.
Mira is absorbed in contemplation of Krishna,
She is with God and all is well!
- Mirabai
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In All My Lives
In all my lives you have been with me;
whether day or night I remember.
When you fall out of my sight, I am restless
day and night, burning.
I climb hilltops; I watch for signs of your return;
my eyes are swollen with tears.
The ocean of life— that's not genuine the ties
of family, the obligations to the world—
they're not genuine.
It is your beauty that makes me drunk.
Mira's Lord is the Great Dark Snake. That love
comes up from the ground of the heart.
Mira the Bee
O my friends
What can you tell me of Love,
Whose pathways are filled with strangeness?
When you offer the Great One your love,
At the first step you body is crushed.
Next be ready to offer your head as his seat.
Be ready to orbit his lamp like a moth
giving in to the light,
To live in the deer as she runs toward
the hunter's call,
In the partridge that swallows hot coals
for love of the moon,
In the fish that, kept from the sea, happily dies.
Like a bee trapped for life in the closing
of the sweet flower.
Mira has offered herself to her Lord.
She says, the single Lotus will swallow you whole.
Polish into Gold
I give my heart without fear to the Beloved:
As the polish goes into the gold, I have gone into him.
Through many lives, I heard only the outer music.
Now the teacher has whispered into my ears,
And familiar ties have gone the way of weak thread.
Mira has met the Energy That Lifts Mountains—
That good luck now is her home.
The Necklace
O friend, I sit alone while the world sleeps.
In the palace that held love's pleasure
the abandoned one sits.
She who once threaded a necklace of pearls
is now stringing tears.
He has left me. The night passes while I count stars.
When will the Hour arrive?
This sorrow must end. Mira says:
Lifter of Mountains, return.
Mira the Lotus
My Lord, the love that binds us cannot be broken.
It is hard as the diamond that shatters
the hammer that strikes it.
As polish goes into the gold, my heart
has gone into you.
As a lotus lives in its water, I am rooted in you.
Like the bird that gazes all night at the passing moon,
I have blinded myself in giving my eyes to your beauty.
She who offers herself completely asks only this:
That her Lord love Mira as fully as he is loved.
— Mirabai (1498-1550)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am true to my Lord,
O my companions, there is nothing to be ashamed of now
Since I have been seen dancing openly.
In the day I have no hunger
At night I am restless and cannot sleep.
Leaving these troubles behind, I go to the other side;
A hidden knowledge has taken hold of me.
My relations surround me like bees.
But Mira is the servant of her beloved Giridhar,
And she cares nothing that people mock her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
O my mind,
Worship the lotus feet of the Indestructible One!
Whatever thou seest twixt earth and sky
Will perish.
Why undertake fasts and pilgrimages?
Why engage in philosophical discussions?
Why commit suicide in Banaras?
Take no pride in the body,
It will soon be mingling with the dust.
This life is like the sporting of sparrows,
It will end with the onset of night.
Why don the ochre robe
And leave home as a sannyasi?
Those who adopt the external garb of a Jogi,
But do not penetrate to the secret,
Are caught again in the net of rebirth.
Mira’s Lord is the courtly Giridhara.
Deign to sever, O Master.
All the knots in her heart.
- Mirabai
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sleep
Sleep has not visited me the whole night,
Will the dawn ever come?
O my companion,
Once I awoke with a start from a dream.
Now the remembrance from that vision
Never fades.
My life is ebbing as I choke and sigh,
When will the Lord of the Afflicted come
I have lost my senses and gone mad,
But the Lord knows my secret.
He who deals out life and death
nows the secret of Mira’s pain.
- Mirabai
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Keep your promise
Take my arm
and keep up your promise!
They call you the refugeless refuge,
they call you redeemer of outcasts.
Caught in a riptide
in the sea of becoming,
without your support I’m a shipwreck!
You reveal yourself age after age
and free the beggar
from her affliction.
Dark One, Mira is clutching your feet,
at stake is your honor!
- Mirabai
Strange is the Path of love
Do not mention the name of love,
O my simple-minded companion.
Strange is the path
When you offer your love.
Your body is crushed at the first step.
If you want to offer love
Be prepared to cut off your head
And sit on it.
Be like the moth,
Which circles the lamp and offers its body.
Be like the deer, which, on hearing the horn,
Offers its head to the hunter.
Be like the partridge,
Which swallows burning coals
In love of the moon.
Be like the fish
Which yields up its life
When separated from the sea.
Be like the bee,
Entrapped in the closing petals of the lotus.
Mira’s lord is the courtly Giridhara.
She says: Offer your mind
To those lotus feet.
- Mirabai
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