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AUGUST, 1893.]
NOTES ON TUL'SI DAS.
199
Dóhá,- One trust, one strength, one hope, one faith. As the chdtak-bird longeth for a raincloud in the season of Swáti, so longeth he for the Lord (15). He hath no anger nor fault, and is a ship wherein to cross the ocean of existence. He hath abandoned desire, and hath betaken himself to humility and content (16). He betaketh himself to humility; He endureth all things; with heart and mouth, he ever calleth on the name of the Lord. So dwelleth the Holy man, and so dooth he (17). Those who dwell by him, he maketh like unto himself'; while the wicked man giveth his soul twofold" sorrow. Saith Tul'sî, the Holy man is like Mount Malnya, but without its fault" (18). Gentle are the words of the Holy man, falling like nectar on the ear. When the hard heart heareth them, it becometh wax (19). They beget the happiness of comprehending The Supreme;" they lift and carry away the errors of this world, and in the heart they are (sharp arrows) piercing sio (20). Cooling are they like unto the beams of the moon. Ten million fevers do they cure in the soul of him on whose ears they fall (21). Chaupai, -- They destroy every thorn of sin and sorrow. Like the sun do they clear away the darkness of error. O Tul'si, so excellent is the pious man that the Scriptures declare that the ocean of his virtue is fathomless (22). Dihú, - Not by deed, not by thought, not by word doth he ever give pain to any one. Yea, he is such because the Lord dwelleth in him on this earth13 (23). When thou seest the face of a Holy man, thy sin abandoneth thee. When thou touchest him thy deeds" depart. When thou hearest his words the error of thine heart is swept away, and bringest thee to Him from whom thon camest (24). Very gentle is he, and pare even in his desires. In his soul is there no defilement. On his, Master alone is his heart ever stayed (25). Him, from whose heart hath departed every worldly longing, doth Tul'si praise with thought, and word, and deed (26). To him gold is the same as a piece of glass : women are but as wood or stone. Such an Holy man, is a portion of the supreme Deity upon earth (27).
Chaupái, - Gold looketh he upon as clay, woman as bat wood or stone. Of these things the flavour hath he forgotten. That man hath the Lord manifest in his flesh (28).
Daha, - Free of worldly possessions, his members in subjection, ever devoted to the Lord alone, such an Holy man is rare in this world (29). He hath no egoism, nor maketh any difference between I' and 'thon,' (but knoweth that all are but parts of the Lord). No evil thought is ever his. Sorrow doth not make him sorrowful, nor doth happinese make him happy (30). Equal counteth he gold and glass. Equal counteth he friend and foe. Such an one is counted in this world an Holy man (31). Few, few wilt thou meet in this world, Holy men who have freed themselves from all illusion: for in this iron age men's natures are ever lustful and crooked, like the peacock and the crows (32). He who hath wiped out I' and *thon,' and the darkness of error, and in whom hath risen the sun of know thyself': know him as Holy, for by this mark, saith Tul'si, is he known (33).
III.-The Greatness of the Holy. Sôratha.-Who, O Tulsi, can tell with a single mouth, the greatness of the Holy man? For the thousand tongued serpent of eternity, and Siva himself with his fivefold mouth cannot describe his spotless discernment (34). Doha, - Were the whole earth the tablet, the ocean the ink, all the trees turned into pens, and Ganesa himself the learned recorder, that greatness could
• Comm. asd man ka chan'nd, bharosd buddhi k4, biswda chitt ka, bal ahamkar ka. • Or, if we read dwłkha, for dökha, he hath neither love nor hatred. 10 Sorrow for the wicked man's unhappy state, and sorrow caused by the persecution of the wicked,
11 Mt. Malaya is famous for its sandal trees which give their soent to all who approach it, good and bad alike.. Ita fault is its origin. It was originally a pile of ordure.
13 Comm. anubhava-sukha brahma-sukha. 13 Lit., he is Rama's form upon the earth. The corresponding idea in English is that given above.
# Thy karma. The consequences of thy good and bad actions. Every motion binding the soul to earth and separating it from the Lord.
15 The peacock, fair without and mean within. The crow, black without and within.
