tātala saikate
By Śrī Vidyāpati
তাতল সৈকতে বারি-বিন্দু-সম
সুত-মিত-রমণি-সমাজে ।
তোহে বিসরি মন তাহে সমর্পলু
অব মঝু হব কোন কাজে ॥১॥
tātala saikate vāri bindu-sama
suta-mita-ramaṇī-samāje |
tohe visari mana tāhe samarpalu
taba majhu haba kona kāje ||1 ||
Forgeting you, I have offered my mind to the association of children, friends, and women, who are like a drop of water on the searing beach. What use will they be to me now?
vāri bindu-sama: “Like a drop of water on the searing beach.” As a drop of water dries up within an instant on hot sand, so children, friends, and women are fleeting—they are here and then they are gone. This is the intent of the metaphor. Vāri bindu-sama may also be read as referrent to the mind, in which case the meaning of the verse is: “Forgetting you, I have offered my mind to the association of children, friends, and women like a drop of water onto the searing beach. How now will I be delivered?” This is to say, “As a drop of water cast onto hot sand immediately goes dry and meets with destruction, so my mind upon being cast into the association of children, friends, and women has gone dry and I have become undone. I have given myself to them and served them with great attachment, neglecting to serve you entirely. How now will I be delivered?”
মাধব ! হাম পরিণাম নিরাশা ।
তুহুঁ জগ-তারণ দীন দয়াময়
অতয়ে তোহারি বিশোয়াসা ॥২॥
mādhava! hāma pariṇāma-nirāśā |
tuhu̐ jaga-tāraṇa dīna-dayāmaya
ataye tohāri viśoyāsā ||2||
O Mādhava! Finally I have become hopeless. You are the liberator of the universe and gracious to the distressed. Thus, my assurance is in you alone.
pariṇāma: “Finally.” This is to say, “In my final days as death approaches.”
nirāśā: “Hopeless.” This is to say, “I feel devoid of any hope for liberation from ignorance and future good fortune.”
tohāri viśoyāsā: “My assurance is in you alone.” This is to say, “You are my only shelter. I cannot rely upon myself whatsoever; I can rely only upon you. I have faith in you and your grace, and I feel the assurance that you will deliver me.”
আধ জনম হাম নিন্দে গোঙায়লুঁ
জরা শিশু কত দিন গেলা ।
নিধুবনে রমণী- রসরঙ্গে মাতলুঁ
তোহে ভজব কোন বেলা ॥৩॥
ādha janama hāma ninde goṅāyalu̐
jarā śiśu kata dina gelā |
nidhuvane ramaṇī- rasa-raṅge mātalu̐
tohe bhajaba kona belā ||3||
I have spent half my life in sleep, and I have passed so many days in childhood and old age. [In the meantime,] I have been intoxicated by love affairs and the play of passion for women. When will I serve you?
ādha … mātala: “I have spent ….” This is to say, “So much of my time has been lost in the course of worldly affairs, and the precious time I did have to serve you I used only to pursue my own selfish enjoyment. I have utterly failed to serve you.”
tohe bhajaba kona belā: “When will I serve you?” This is to lament, “I have no time left to serve you now that I feel the necessity of doing so.”
কত চতুরানন মরি মরি যাওত
ন তুয়া আদি অবসানা ।
তোহে জনমি পুন তোহে সমাওত
সাগর-লহরী সমানা ॥৪॥
kata caturānana mari mari yāota
na tuyā ādi avasānā |
tohe janami puna tohe samāota
sāgara-laharī samānā ||4||
So many Brahmās are dying and passing away, but you have no beginning or end. Taking birth from you, they are again absorbed in you like the waves of the ocean.
kata caturānana … avasānā: “So many Brahmās are dying ….” This is to say, “Everything in this material world and even its creator, the most ancient being within it, are transitory and fast passing in and out of existence within eternal time. Only you are eternal and true.”
sāgara-laharī samānā: “Like the waves of the ocean.” This is to say, “As the waves of the ocean come out from the ocean and then return back into the ocean, so the innumerable creators of the innumerable material universes, along with everything throughout their creations, take birth from you and then re-enter you in never-ending cyclic flow.”
ভণয়ে বিদ্যাপতি শেষ শমন-ভয়
তুয়া বিনু গতি নাহি আরা ।
আদি অনাদিক নাথ কহায়সি
ভব-তারণ-ভার তোহারা ॥৫॥
bhaṇaye vidyāpati śeṣa śamana-bhaya
tuyā vinu gati nāhi ārā |
ādi anādika nātha kahāyasi
bhava-tāraṇa-bhāra tohārā ||5||
Vidyāpati says, “At last, I am stricken with fear of Death. I have no shelter other than you. You are said to be the Lord of that which has beginning and that which has no beginning. The responsibility for my deliverence from this world is [now] yours.”
śamana bhaya: “I am stricken with fear of Death.” This is to say, “I fear death itself, and I fear whether I can maintain my attachment to you as I undergoe the death of the body and the destiny I am administered thereafter by Yamarāja.”
bhava-tāraṇa-bhāra tohārā: “The responsibility for my deliverance from this world is [now] yours.” This is to humbly imply, “O Mādhava, please now deliver me. Even though I feel I have spent my entire life in vain, because of my repentance for my previous actions and my sincere faith in you, O Lord, I still have the hope that you will deliver me.”
Meter
Tripadī
Source
Pada-kalpa-taru: 4.34.32 (3016)