One day I met
an interesting woman...
Although she was not connected to yoga, or any other practice, our
conversation fell on the Bhagavad Gita, and to my surprise she had read it all. But
what amazed me more was the comment she made about this ancient, Bhakti Yoga text : "It is a book about
Love!".
At the time I had already been practicing
Bhakti Yoga for several years and I had never thought of the Bhagavad Gita from
that perspective, as a book on love. I was intrigued and I wished to share her vision.
Now, several
years later, my search into the insights of Bhagavad Gita have
continued in so many ways. By presenting this poem I am expressing my
gratitude at having arrived to this perception of the Love-message in this
book. This poem was inspired by verse 3.16 of the Bhagavad Gita, which states:
"A cycle
is made to turn.
One who does not keep it turning,
a sense enjoyer of
errant life,
lives in vain, Partha."
To emphasize the
link between the Sanskrit text and this poetry it starts with the same Sanskrit word of the verse -evam-
followed by its English translation : in
this way.
The Way of Bhakti
by Madhava Lata Devi Dasi
Evam ...in this way
the night again falls after the day,
the milky stars fall beyond the horizon
on their revolving way,
and ghee falls into the fire
thus the Source-of-All
with the souls re-unite
thus the Universe speaks
motion is a wheel
as you receive
offer back
do not keep
as the tree only gives
for some water that it receives
it does not hold nor taste
how the fruit is sweet.
Do not take, neither keep
always give back
and put love in your hands
'cause it was given like that
without holding back,
whatever we have is a gift,
do not grab anything
or envy, lust and greed
will hold your heart
in a dark grip;
from the air we receive our life
from the earth the plants
to stay alive
and the emotions from a beautiful sky
from the stars a cuddle to sleep
even darkness gives us dreams
and we rejoice of the flowers,
the sun rays, the cool breezes
but do not forget, it is not ours
it is received,
gratefully reciprocate,
love means to always give,
in this way
with Bhakti
turn the universal wheel.
turn the universal wheel.
Madhava Lata Dasi: “Though I am originally from Italy, today I live in India in the very South, in the State of Kerala where I own a small hotel named the Paradesh Inn facing the Arabian Ocean. For 6 months it is open and our customers are mostly Yogi/Yogini who retreat in this area every year for weeks of full immersion. (For video of hotel click here) I follow Bhakti Yoga and writing poems is part of my meditation on Krishna, since I draw inspiration for my poems from the many books I read about Him. I usually publish my poems on my blog here."
~If you are interested in seeing your poetry appear in this blog, or submitting a poem by a woman that has inspired you, please click here for submission guidelines. I greatly look forward to hearing from you!
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