no night. My day and dusk alike I robbed of dusk. Sleep has gone. Shall I sleep again? Through all ages I remain awake. I will restore sleep to whatever owner claims it; I have put sleep itself to sleep. Mingling borax and sulphur,[1] I have brought out the glowing tint of gold.[2] This is my hope, to cleanse the temple of my mind.
Prasād says: Worship and salvation both I despise. The Dark Queen's name I know for God Supreme, and faith and works alike I abandon.
XIII. HE WOULD BE ACCEPTED FOR SERVICE
Appoint me your treasurer, Mother, and trust me. I am not one who forgets the salt he has eaten.
Everyone loots your storehouse of gems,[3] I cannot endure it. You have left it in charge of the Demon's Bane, Śiva the Forgetful.[4] He is swift to give, easy in complaisance, yet you let him keep your treasury! Half of you he has received as a fief;[5] then why pay him salary as well, and such salary? I, your wageless servant, possess but the dust of your Feet. If you be like your
- ↑ As goldsmiths do.
- ↑ 'I have painted the lily and gilded refined gold.' He is waxing sarcastic over his attainments and wisdom, before he flings them aside for ever, and abandons 'works' for 'faith' (or, rather, ecstatic devotion, bhakti).
- ↑ Literally, 'the gem-storehouse of your Feet.'
- ↑ She stands on Śiva, who in that way possesses her Feet. This possession is also the 'salary' which Śiva receives.
Śiva is 'the Forgetful,' lost in meditation, drowsed with drugs. Śākta poets indulge in a great deal of what must be called pious badinage of Śiva. - ↑ In the combined image, half-Umā, half-Śiva, called Hara-Gaurī.
are six circles (chakras) of occult force in the body; each of these is called a lotus.
