Poetic RenderingThe husband bows to Shiva,the wife delights in meat and liquor.He offers holy water and prasāda,she hungers for taste and intoxication.How can such divided livingbe called pure devotion?It is…

Poetic RenderingWhat worth are songs that rise with no soul within?What worth the chants that echo hollow from the tongue?Of what use is scripture, read and recited,when the heart gives…

Poetic RenderingA Sharana must hold fast to vows:never desire another’s wealth,never touch another’s wife,never bow to another’s god,never forsake Linga and Jangama,never doubt the sanctity of Prasada.Without this steadfastness, O…

Poetic RenderingA wife may wear silk,adorn herself with gold and ornamentsyet without her husband’s love,she is joyless, her life hollow.So too, one may smear vibhuti,string rudraksha beads,and display the signs…

Poetic RenderingWhether born to a servant or a courtesan,if they have received Shiva’s initiationand begun to walk the inner path,know them not by their birth,but honour them as bhaktas on…

Poetic RenderingWhat use is wealthto one who hoards like a pig staring at the moon?What use is a mirrorin the hands of the blind?What use is a rubyto a monkey…

Poetic RenderingThey plunge into water simply because they see the water;they circle the sacred tree only because others circle it.But when the riverbed cracks dry,and the holy tree itself witherswhen…

Poetic RenderingWhat use, O man,in reading a hundred scriptures,if a single grain of greed still roots in your heart?What use in hearing a thousand discourses,if one spark of anger can…

Poetic RenderingDo not cast your gazeupon what belongs to anotheryou have no need for that.Do not let greed cling to youlike a dog on the haunch of a wandering mountain…

Poetic RenderingWhy shoulder another’s burden?Is your own not weighty enough?Why peer into another’s pathwhile your own soul waitsat the threshold of awakening?Turn away from the world’s noise.Let the needless questions…