Away

‘Trivikrama,’[i] it is said, is to be remembered in pravāsa.

The one whose strides measure the three worlds—Trivikrama

When one must be in pravāsa—away.

For without remembrance

Until the very moment, indeed, of remembering Him who measured the worlds in three strides

All the world is away from home.

And in remembering the all-pervasive One

No space remains without.

Separation, and Compassion

Rama, we hear, bore the pain of separation from the Mother for His devotees’ sake.[ii]

Even though the separation is unreal

As He bears it,

The devotees know He is theirs, even in that moment of ultimate despair on the seashore.[iii]

The masters, we see, take on human form and the attendant miseries of embodied existence for humanity’s sake.

Even though the pain is unreal, in the absence of bodily identification,

Those being carried across know that They are theirs.

Of the Illogic of Grace

For one who has merely seen purity

It’s nearly impossible to remain impure

Just as it is impossible to purify immediately—

For to purify is terrifying as much as it draws one in.

One knows not how to invite You into one’s heart

When such pure, clean, effulgent hearts await You?

Why would You have anything to do with filthy hearts,

When the crystal lotuses await the dust of Your feet to clarify them further?

But there is an illogic, it seems, to Grace.

For You would lift even the filthiest, most wretched being

And hold them to Your immaculate self.

Surrender

If what little this broken vessel can feel of the Grace ceaselessly showered[iv]

Ennobles it so.

If the shadow of the reflection of the tiniest shaft of Your Light

Illumines the hearts of brutes so.

How must the fullness of Grace be?

To contemplate this is to be full,

And yet filled with anticipation

And yet still with hopelessness—

For how could any effort, any endeavour measure up to the immeasurable?

And then one hears the words You spoke—”for the devotee, My strength, and for the wise, their own”[v]

And so, I resolutely come empty-handed to You.

Footnotes:

[i] A popular hymn lists several names of Vishnu and the best moments to remember him by that name.

[ii] Reference to the notion prevalent in some devotional traditions that the incarnation is purely for the sake of extending grace to devotees, rather than for purposes of cosmic order.

[iii] Reference to Valmiki 6.5,9, where Rama says to Lakshmana that had it not been for the latter, he would have slept in the ocean.

[iv] Allusion to Gitanjali 1, ‘This frail vessel thou emptiest again and again, and fillest it ever with fresh life…Thy infinite gifts come to me only on these very small hands of mine.’

[v] Ramacaritamanas, 3.42,5

Editor’s Note:

Tarinee is an initiate, and a student and teacher of Sanskrit and philosophy, who has long been grappling with the ideas of surrender and separation. She is also a member of the Veda Youth group and serves on the editorial committee of the AHYMSIN website and newsletter.