Non-learning (310-319)

310: The Unlearned are they Who hold not to Truth

Even the unlearned, if blessed with the vision of Truth Supreme,

Them the Lord approves with His benign Eye of Grace;

But if the learned seeming fail to hold the truth,

Unlearned are they indeed, blind to True Love’s divine rays.

311: Unlearned Realize not God’s Pervasiveness

The truly learned live pursuing the one and only path,

But others say, “Many the paths of knowledge are,”

The God Supreme is in all places present;

They the unlearned are, of God’s pervasiveness unaware.

312: God Abides not in the Hearts of Unlearned

Things transitory you fix in heart as abiding joys,

This mnortal body frail you deem as enduring stuff;

Though the Lord God all life pervades,

Absent is He and His Light from the hearts of the unlearned.

313: Unlearned Descend to Hell

Of all power bereft, I fell into Karma’s griefs,

Learning not Hara’s ways, into dark abysmal depths I fell;

I learnt not to stamp the Great Benefactor in my heart,

I learnt only to dance down the primrose path to hell.

314: Unlearned Sport in Carnal Pleasures

Knowing full well that life is a fleeting, vaporous mist,

The truly learned seek the path of Dharma and penance strict,

But the not-learned, in truth, this world’s sordid knaves,

Sport in carnal joys, with Karmic misery mixt.

315: Lord is the Fruit of Heavenly Love

The Lord gave us the Heaven-born gift of the Fruit of Love

His Light mingled with the eyes where it remained;

But inside the earth men sought it in folly vain;

And brooding and writing, they grew thin and pined.

316: Unlearned Do Not See Him

Without knowing the 36 tattvas and their scope

It is not possible to have a vision of the supreme,

Only by knowing the tattvas wisdom can dawn,

Only those are educated who go to the limits of the tattvas and have a vision of
reality.

317: Avoid The Unlearned

The fools, of learning devoid, unfit for us even to see

The fools, of learning devoid, their words unfit to hear

The fools, of learning devoid, in fools find their friends,

The fools, of learned devoid, to wisdom come no near.

318: The Truly Learned Have Vision Of Sivajnana

Though learned, fools are they if with Sivajnana they’re not acquainted,

If kith and kin they give not up nor strike at root of ignorance

As their eyes turn not to quarters

They alone truly reckon who, wise in love, win the truth.

319: True Learning Brings Light Divine

The being first, even to the immortals the light divine,

The light that devotees seek, the great god supreme

Some proudly claim that learning well, they know him truly well

Yet they catch not of his light the faintest gleam.

Middle Path (320-323)

320: Middle Path Is Wisdom

Unless you in middle path stand, wisdom you have not,

To those who in middle path stand, hell opens not its gate,

Those that in middle path stand, heavenly beings are they;

In the noble fellowship of the just, I too walked in their way.

321: Gods And Saints Stand In Middle Path

The blue-dark cloud-hued being Vishnu in middle path stood,

The Brahma who chants the Vedas four in the middle path stood,

The wise saintly souls also in middle path stood,

He, our lord supreme – He, in middle path stood.

322: Walk With The Just

Some saintly became, because they in middle path stood,

Some to heavenly beings turned, because they in justice stood,

Some to Siva-state attained, because they in justice stood,

And so in the good company of the just, I, too, unfaltering stood.

323: The Just Adore His Feet

What he creates, none but he destroys;

On their devout heads, the just bore aloft his holy feet;

Who chant the pure name with ardour

And cling thereof, in the society of the just, they meet.

Abstaining From Drink (324-336)

324: Drunkards Lose Sense Of Right And Wrong

The cow fed on broth of rice wanders not from tank to tank

The cow denied its drink of broth grows weak and lank

Who swill the toddy neat, from righteousness go astray

Truest drink is Sivananda, the bliss supreme, far and away.

325: Sivananda Wine Brings Eternal Self-Forgetfulness

In sweet rapture lost, soul-hynotic for the Siva-samadhi state,

The ever-sweet nectar of Sivananda – in the bliss overflow;

On such nectar fed, you lose not the self-bliss pure;

For ever thus you sit and lie the holy feet below.

326: The Wicked Drink In Vama Tantra

Lust and drink, fit for the wicked are they;

In ritual unholy they drink and lose the senses

But the wise drink the nectar streaming from his feet,

Which destroys egoism and bigotry.

327: Drinking In Vama Tantra Worship Leads To Perdition

They drink and perish, who to the vama sect belong.

The lustful ones in sensual delights are wholly lost;

But the pure souls find the light of sacrifices in their inner flame;

They, who his true name chant, approach him fast.

328: Truth Eludes Drunkards

They see not the inner truth, know not the pasu-pasa,

They dwell not in the bounteous lord’s divine grace;

In the clear light of wisdom, Sivayoga they seek not,

They, who soak in liquors, truth never can appraise.

329: Followers Of False Religion Neither Seek Nor See Him

The fools who swear by the faith that our senses numbs,

Who yield to the heady joys of drink – they neither seek nor see

Mamaya’s home, for the maya’s fetters are they bound;

But recovered from maya’s hold, they merge in the lord and are free.

330: Wine Stupefies Senses And Destroys Truth

The fumes of wine stupor bring and destroy the truth,

And make us seek the false, delusive joys of lust;

Such advance not to wisdom true, of sweet reason compact,

Will such e’er attain the eternal bliss truest?

331: Joys Of Sivananda Nectar

In meditation lost, rid of the cycle of night and day,

Dead to outward things, they drink not the bliss-nectar

The bliss of the lord’s feet that neither night nor day knoweth,

I, caught in maya causing night and day, struggle to reach.

332: True Sakti Worship Seeks Divine Nectar

Sakti seeking, some religious sects ritual drinks consume,

But Sakti dies when the o’er- powered senses swoon;

True Sakti, indeed, in Sivajnanan finds its birth,

To merge in truth-wisdom-bliss – and to other things immune.

333: Sakthi And Siva Are One

If Sakthan his grace imparts, Sakti’s grace we have,

If Sakti her grace imparts, Sakthan’s grace we gain,

Sakti and Siva, if both in heart we hold,

Then in us, truly, the siddhis eight do shine.

334: Divine Nectar Leads to Siddhis

All Tattvas and egoity past, Truth of self realised,

In truest joy immersed, of false penances void,

Rid of worldly lure, drunk full of Heavenly Bliss,

This indeed is Siddhi true and Sivananda unalloyed.

335: Yogis Seek Ambrosia of the Cranial Moon

The yogis who, breath in control held, yearn for

The nectared delights of Contemplation’s Moon,

The eight Siddhis they seek; but witless fools are they

Who to toddy yield and in its heady joys let their senses swoon.

336: Drink Divine Nectar in Samadhi

Open and drink deep the nectar that gushes from the spring;

Unfold the petals of the Holy Master’s Lotus Feet;

Lead the Yoga-breath through the spiring channel up

And thus in Samadhi ascending,

Reach the Divine Good in holy meet.

In Praise Of The Charitable (251-259)

251: The Charitable Realize the Self

Who the self realise, seek and adore the Feet of the Lord;

Who the self realise, most freely give in charity;

Who the self realise, Lord of Tattvas become;

Who the self realise, Kin to the Lord in dear amity.

252: Charity is Within Reach of All

Easy to all to offer in worship a green leaf to the Lord,

Easy to all to give a mouthful to the cow,

Easy to all to give a handful, sitting down to eat,

Easy to all, good, kind words on others to bestow.

253: Evils of Hoarding

The food that feeds the needy–that alone true charity is;

True men they who that simple truth do find;

But they who hoard, like water in pool past access,

To eat and gorge–to Charity’s ways are they blind.

254: Give Charity When You Have

Dirt driven away, with Wisdom you fill not your mind;

In days of plenty, empty is your charity’s exchequer;

What avails it, though wide awake, if hell-fire spreads around,

What avails it, then, if impoverished of heart you are?

255: Give Charity Here and Now

Of yourself knowing little, caring naught for your good,

Unmindful e’en of poverty of tender youth taking no care,

Before Death’s stern, relentless summons arrives,

Let noble charities your redeeming goodness declare.

256: By Your Charities Lord Knows You

To him who renounces, no kith or kin has he;

To him condemned to beg, no true delights has he;

To him who charityless is, the Lord denies His Presence;

By the measure of thy charity done, the Lord is known to thee.

257: Charity Leads to Life Eternal

Some in charity overflow; by such noble deeds done,

Noble gods they become in human beings’ high esteem;

And the many who hold this fleshly body their dear God,

To them comes Death, saying; “I, your God supreme.”

258: Charity and Devotion Twin Escorts to Heaven

Our life’s boat across the foaming sea of Karma flies;

Twin the pathways to dispel the labour and the strain;

Glory giving tapas and charity the heavenly escorts,

To us and our dear kin from life’s battle vain.

259: Charity is Your Life’s Prop

Earthly desires to worldly objects attached,

No end know; but in charity’s noble way,

E’en the little things you give, sure props provide;

All the rest meekly take as the Lord’s gift for the day.

Way Of The Uncharitable (260-269)

260: The Hoarders are Sinners

The ripened nux vomica falls profitless on ground;

Such the barren wealth of those who charities deny;

With usurious greed they bury deep their treasures,

The hardened sinners, true fruit unknowing, thus live and die.

261: Life is Fleeting; Give While You Live

The aeons pass, the unreturning ages go;

The allotted span of life daily dwindles away;

This irksome body, as if squeezed by some power unknown,

Perishes: seeing this yet, they learn not charity’s way.

262: Give and Escape Hell

Charity denying, they know not the Lord’s Feet to praise,

Nor enter they the precincts of the City of Siva’s Grace;

Their ears inclined to those who falsehoods preach,

They stand to sin enslaved, condemned to hell’s hot embrace.

263: All Ailments Assail, If in Charity You Fail

Consumption and anaemia, asthma and colic pain

Such the lot of those who nothing in charity give;

Snake and thunder, sore throat and fleshly ills,

Approach not them that others’ needs relieve.

264: End is Nigh; Do not Deny

The Lord adored by all the world, yet they praise not,

To the needy poor, even the smallest bit ye deny,

Nor’ll ye tend the garden e’en with one potful of water;

Will ye for ever stand in Hell? Ye whose end is nigh.

265: Loneliness Comes of Denial

Unescorted, alone, the charity-less their last journey make,

And miss their track; journeying thus, in birth-cycle caught

They know not how the binding Karmas to dispel,

And so slip and fall to be irretrievably lost.

266: Compassion Leads to God

They, whose hearts melt in charity, see the Feet of the Lord,

The steadfast of faith attain Swarga’s might,

But those sinful ones of charity befeft, helpless, forsaken,

Engulfed in passions low, pass into eternal night.

267: Denial Leads to Misery

Bliss and pain–these two woven into the web of life,

Result from deeds of our own devising;

The bliss of giving they knew, and yet the fools gave not,

The shrivelled of heart, to charity unwise, its glory unknowing

268: Denial Leads to Sinful State

The Lord of blemishless glory, from death and birth immune,

Permits none to enjoy bliss, unearned by worthy deed;

Giving and gifting–of these always think;

Deny and cause pain;

You stand condemned to the Pasu state indeed.

269: Giving is Aiming True

Seek not wealth that many reckon as life indeed,

Nor waste your days on fools, of wisdom dark,

But turn your feet to the eternal Home and praise the Lord,

Then true bowman you prove, hitting straight the mark.

To Be Love-possessed (270-279)

270: Love and Siva are One

The ignorant prate that Love and Siva are two,

But none do know that Love alone is Siva

When men but know that Love and Siva are the same,

Love as Siva, they e’er remained.

271: Lay Love’s Garland at Lord’s Feet

He of the leopard’s skin, gleaming brighter than gold,

His tender crescent flashing rich with argent ray,

The Great Dancer, with burning ashes smeared thick;

At His Feet, my garland, plaited with Love’s incense, I lay.

272: Melt in Love and Possess Him

You may turn your bone to fuel, your flesh to meat,

And let them roast and sizzle to the gold-red blaze;

But unless your heart melts in the sweet ecstasy of Love,

My Lord, my Treasure-trove, you ne’er can possess.

273: Love Hara and See Him

They, of intense love, Hara surely see,

They, of the compassionate heart, see the Holy Feet to praise;

The world-burdened see only life’s revolving wheel,

And, in Horror’s mazes lost, enter Hell’s trackless ways.

274: Love Him, He Loves You

My God, the melter of my heart of love, let all adore;

My God, the Lord of primal Love, First of Beings ever,

My God, who again and again melts my heart, Nandi Lord,

May He render me His Love in foremost measure!

275: He is Enthroned in Love

Praise Him but once, the Pure and Holy One;

For e’er your heavenly escort He’ll be,

He, the Lord Siva, deckt in honeyed konrai blooms

He sat enthroned in my love, steadfast and free.

276: His Love is Unending

Many know not Him who first wrought this world,

And wrapt in infinite Love, born of His lordly Grace;

In this world, evil-ridden, He filled our life

With His love unending, He, the Lord of limitless space.

277: His Love is Blessings All

The Light Refulgent emits beams of purest gold;

Plant that deep and firm in heart; raising worship thus,

If you, in yearning song, seek Isan’s Grace,

Then, sure, no end be to His blessings copious.

278: Seek in Love the Heavenly Father

Birth He caused, and Death, too, in its wake;

This mystery we daily see; and yet mankind

Cling in deep desire to life, but call not on Him,

Nor seek Him, saying, “Our Father, great and kind.”

279: He is Our Refuge

Inside Love is He; in outer Nature is He; as body also is He;

The past and future is He; the Lord of Rishis is He;

The Precious One who inside Love resides,

Only those, who in Love reside, find in Him the Refuge free.