Post by madanmohandas on Apr 2, 2023 5:56:44 GMT -6
The Seed of the Bhakti Creeper. From Chaitanya Charitamrta, Madhya, 19. 151-164. Sri Chaitanya to Sri Rupa. I had done this a while ago in blank verse in a paraphrase, but here it is; each Bangla Payar couplet transmued into quatrains of pairs heroic couplets. Its nice to have a regular form and I find Prayar fits well with a quatrain of iambic pentameter rhyiming or unrhymed, whereas the Tripadi slips into a six line stanza. One good thing about it I find is that each foot in the original fits glove-like into the English Iambic line.
Traversing this world over and again,
Some fortunate jiva-soul may attain,
From preceptor and Krishna's grace divine,
The potent seed of love-joys' creeping vine. 151
Then turning gardener he doth proceed,
With pious care to sow that precious seed;
The disciplines of hearing and to sing,
Are represented by the watering. 152
And as the creeper grows with fair increase,
The universal covering doth pierce,
Beyond the stream of Viraja it grows,
And into the supreme atmosphere goes. 153
As ever upward flourishing it strives.
At 'Goloka Vrindavan' it arrives;
To 'Krishna's feet', the wishing-tree sublime,
The creeper takes hold and begins to climb. 154
Reposing there spreads its tendrils and shoots,
Whence are produced many flowers and fruits;
The gardener will carefully assay
To pour water of hearing every day. 155
To offend a Vaishnava, or to hate,
Were like an elephant infuriate,
That devastates and tramples and uproots,
Whence the vine dries up, withered at the shoots. 156
Therefore, the gardener, being afraid,
Will rear an enclosure and high stockade,
And thus construct a fencing and redoubt,
To keep the elephant offences out. 157
But if from the creepers' vigorous juice,
Unwanted and wild offshoots should produce;
These represent extraneous desire,
For pleasure and salvation to aspire. 158
Forbidden conduct, crooked deception,
Malice to beings, gain, and distinction,
These vices and the many more that show,
Are seen as the unwanted shoots that grow. 159
Without due care when watering the roots,
One may but feed the unwanted offshoots,
Which is to the main trunk a detriment,
And stunted, is deprived of nutriment. 160
Therefore, from the beginning and as soon,
As unwanted growths appear he should prune;
Then unrestricted the main trunk can grow,
And ultimately to Vrindavan go. 161
The vine of love is then with love-fruit graced,
Now ripe, they fall, the gardener can taste;
The vine, and thus the gardener, achieve
His feet, the wishing tree to which they cleave. 162
And there in service of the wishing-tree,
The gardener revels eternally;
And tastes the fruit of love to vast excess,
And relishes eternal happiness. 163
Indeed this very excellent pure fruit,
Is the highest gain of all mans' pursuit,
Before which all other high attainment,
Are worthless straw and insignificant. 164
Traversing this world over and again,
Some fortunate jiva-soul may attain,
From preceptor and Krishna's grace divine,
The potent seed of love-joys' creeping vine. 151
Then turning gardener he doth proceed,
With pious care to sow that precious seed;
The disciplines of hearing and to sing,
Are represented by the watering. 152
And as the creeper grows with fair increase,
The universal covering doth pierce,
Beyond the stream of Viraja it grows,
And into the supreme atmosphere goes. 153
As ever upward flourishing it strives.
At 'Goloka Vrindavan' it arrives;
To 'Krishna's feet', the wishing-tree sublime,
The creeper takes hold and begins to climb. 154
Reposing there spreads its tendrils and shoots,
Whence are produced many flowers and fruits;
The gardener will carefully assay
To pour water of hearing every day. 155
To offend a Vaishnava, or to hate,
Were like an elephant infuriate,
That devastates and tramples and uproots,
Whence the vine dries up, withered at the shoots. 156
Therefore, the gardener, being afraid,
Will rear an enclosure and high stockade,
And thus construct a fencing and redoubt,
To keep the elephant offences out. 157
But if from the creepers' vigorous juice,
Unwanted and wild offshoots should produce;
These represent extraneous desire,
For pleasure and salvation to aspire. 158
Forbidden conduct, crooked deception,
Malice to beings, gain, and distinction,
These vices and the many more that show,
Are seen as the unwanted shoots that grow. 159
Without due care when watering the roots,
One may but feed the unwanted offshoots,
Which is to the main trunk a detriment,
And stunted, is deprived of nutriment. 160
Therefore, from the beginning and as soon,
As unwanted growths appear he should prune;
Then unrestricted the main trunk can grow,
And ultimately to Vrindavan go. 161
The vine of love is then with love-fruit graced,
Now ripe, they fall, the gardener can taste;
The vine, and thus the gardener, achieve
His feet, the wishing tree to which they cleave. 162
And there in service of the wishing-tree,
The gardener revels eternally;
And tastes the fruit of love to vast excess,
And relishes eternal happiness. 163
Indeed this very excellent pure fruit,
Is the highest gain of all mans' pursuit,
Before which all other high attainment,
Are worthless straw and insignificant. 164