Short Reading: ”Dance in Ecstasy” by Swami Vishnudevanand Saraswati

Two Poems by His Holiness Guruji Swami Vishnudevanand Saraswati of Prayagraj~Allahabad (1904-1997), read by Rev. Dr. Swami Bhajanananda Saraswati. Guruji wrote these poems in 1978 sitting on a bench in Central Park in response to a devotee's question: "What is vairagya?"

 

ADMONITION I

Oh Son of Immortality!

You are the Divine Dweller

You have come here as a stranger and a traveler

 

It is a domain of diversity and endless dilemma

Life is perpetually puzzling in its phenomena and panorama

 

Here there is always attractive and repulsive illusion

You may play or struggle but be detached from delusion

 

The life of sensuality is confused, deviated, and fallacious slavery

The habit of mundane greediness is temptation and bad beggary

 

Be free from this changing farce and absurdity of duality

Don't be blindly absorbed in this transitory sensuality

 

This mysterious dramatic stage is not your final goal

Play dispassionately and finish your ordained role

 

Go to the background of plurality, quality, and quantity

Know that Unity, Self-identity, and Inconceivable Divinity

 

There is neither darkness or light or nothingness

But Plenum, Superconsciousness, and Full Awareness

 

It is not a mental conception, imagination or hallucination

But Supersensuous Perception and Self-Realization

 

It is the culmination of culture and the consummation of wisdom

It is the life of emancipation and the Divine Freedom

 

ADMONITION II

Oh Dearest Soul,

Rise from animality; cross the realm of humanity

Taste the Immortality and realize the Eternal Divinity

 

Refrain from ignorant sensuality; know your Self-Identity

Dance in ecstasy in the the innermost field of felicity

 

Go beyond the changing pleasure and pain, timidity, and knavery

Control the stubborn mind and be free from empirical slavery

 

Through the inner senses enjoy the innermost Light and Sound

Transcend this profane world; recognize the Provident Profound

 

Internal Existence is the embodiment of Peach, Bliss, and Wisdom

External perception is hallucination, delusion, and bad boredom

 

The external force is the field of mysterious phantasmagoria

It is a tantalizing puzzle spreading like infectious bacteria

 

How wonderful is the Perennial Peace of Celestial Scenery

Is the fruit of Yogic Meditation and Spiritual Discovery

 

Be heedful and free from the live of corruption and pollution

Realize the Self and attain Everlasting Joy of Blissful Liberation

 

Go beyond good and evil, mind and speech, and the sensual bound

Dive deep into the River of Rapture; reach the Divine Ground

 

If you be desireless, in the nothingness you may find

The Ubiquitous, All-knowing, the Superconscious mind

 

The Self knows no anger, hate, nor enmity

Self remains unchanged from infancy to maturity

 

He is beyond space and time; He has no form or hue

He is you whom you seek; He seeks all of you

 

He is the Creator, Destroyer, and Inner Ruler

He is the All-sustainer and Cosmic Controller