Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Verses to the Brother

Verses to the Brother:
'Open the door'
by
Muktabai.

Muktabai was the younger sister to the three brothers - Nivrutti, Jnaneswara and Sopandev. The children became orphans after their parents committed suicide not being able to bear the stigma and the excommunication brought upon them. Their father, Vitthala, had married and then taken to renunciation, without disclosing to the guru the fact of his married status. The guru ordered him back to the life of a householder, when he learnt the truth. So the sanyasin became a grihastha and fathered four children. The priests and the Brahmins refused to include Vitthala and his family into the community. This brought misery and poverty upon the family that led to the parents' suicide. The four children wandered to places of learning and pilgrimage hoping that the priestly order would take pity on them and take them back in the fold. In their wanderings, it is believed, the eldest one, Nivrutti, met the great Gahininath of the Natha sect and received initiation from him into the mystical practices of the order. In due course he passed it on to his two brothers and the little sister. Before their miseries came to an end rather miraculously, the children continued to move from place to place, suffer the neglect and ridicule and survive on the mercies shown by the marginalized sections. In one such moment of great resentment, the second of the brothers, Jnaneswara locks himself up in the hut and refuses to open it. He is burning with rage at the world. Mukta the little sister knocks, beseeching her brother to open the door. And then follow verses of exceptional and extraordinary poetry from the little Mukta who virtually plays mother to her elder brother.

1.
When the mind attained purity
you still take offence at others!
Burning with rage at the world
would you not become water?
When their words pierce our heart
let us take it as counsel.
Weave the worldly fabric with the Essence
and
Open the Door, dear Brother!

2.
Floating as you do in the ocean of joy
does it matter if the world looks down upon us?
The way we regard our self
is the way divinity will shape us.
This play-acting goes on, never stopping
for even a moment.
The many forms and shapes here all
arise from the one essence of Life.
Are we not here to care for all of it?
Realise It with alert awareness
and cherish It.
Some rose to the heights to vanish
and others swept away by pride.
Drop all these notions and get peace
and
Open the door, dear Brother!

3.
Wearing the robes of the monk
Do they conquer worldly desires?
Sages they are not;
Instead they make a mockery -
falling to the bodily passion.
Let us search our self by ourselves
And wisdom will become our companion.
Hold down all hope and pretence
And
Open the door, dear Brother!


4
Sagacious is he, in whom
Reside compassion and forgiveness.
Truly detached is he, whom
Greed and ego touch not.
His speech – a flow of knowledge pure
Spreading happiness now and ever.
Push aside all illusions of ego
And
Open the door, dear Brother!

5
You attained to wisdom; but did
others waste away?
Such thoughts are ripples
that gather worldly storms in the mind.
Rid your mind of illusions and
see the world pure and simple.
Let this truth accompany
the beginning and end of every thought;
then those who seek find bliss eternal.
Come, sweep away anger and anxiety
And
Open the door, dear Brother!

6
Nothing stirs the Essence of life
and all the living are elderly to us.
They don't hurt; it's only our hand upon us.
If you bite your own tongue,
do you knock off the teeth?
When great is the hurt,
greater will be the wisdom.
Bite the bullet if
you wish to ascend the throne eternal.
Rise above pettiness of the mind
and
Open the door, dear Brother!

7
Let us be the ocean of joy
and calm the world by reflections
Let us care softly without pause
for everyone is our kith and kin.
Let us touch hearts by heart
and leave no room for hate.
Hold this - the only way - firm in your mind
and
Open the door, dear Brother!

8
Where will anger find a quarter,
when we are the world and one?
Supreme is the realisation
that people are our gods.
Act if we cannot by it,
then words are no more than dust.
In the heat of the moment, tempers lost
and lost is the poise we had asked for.
So hold the world in your eyes
and
Open the door, dear Brother!

9
Clip the chatter in the mind
dissolve in the bliss of the soul.
Must you continue the debate,
when there is no 'other' left to fight with?
Pointless to think of tomorrow:
the bird that flies will come to rest.
Minds prance about, when
alas people need people.
Life moves by itself. It is
futile to ask: who moved it?
So walk again on the way of the Pure
and
Open the door, dear Brother!

10
The world chases you with its affections
as you escape to the hills, calling it
renunciation. Was it not long back that
you gave up the pursuit of the ultimate?
Build a hut on the mountain top and
go from door to door asking for sweets.
All your penance, all your prayers
count for nothing when
the mind teems with desires.
Melt into the pure water of the Ganga
and
Open the door, dear Brother!

11
When the mind finds a place pure
bliss isn't far from there;
Means are all at your hand,
you can't shop for them.
So take the hint and become
blissful and pure.
That's what our Teacher and Master
did, holding us close.
Now who can teach it?
We just have to take it all.
I am your sister in fondness
holding your being in my heart.
Swim across and deliver the world
and
Open the door, dear Brother!