I reverence the saints of equable temperament, who regard neither friend nor foe; like a gracious flower which sheds its fragrance alike on both infolding hands. Ye saints, whose upright intention, whose catholic charity, and whose ready sympathy I acknowledge, hear my child-like prayer, be gracious to me and inspire me with devotion to the feet of Râma.
Again, I would propitiate those saintly wretches who without a cause swerve right or left; with whom a neighbour’s loss is gain; who rejoice in desolation and weep over prosperity; who are as an eclipse to the full-moon glory of Hari and Hara; who become as a giant with a thousand arms to work another’s woe; who have a thousand eyes to detect a neighbour’s faults, but, like flies on filth, settle on his good points only to spoil them; quick as fire, implacable as the god of hell; rich in crime and sin as Kuver is in gold; like an eclipse for the clouding of friendship, and as dead asleep as Kumbhakarna to everything good; if they can do any injury, as ready to sacrifice themselves as hailstones, that melt after destroying a crop; spiteful as the great serpent with a thousand tongues; and like Prithurâj, with a thousand ears, to tell and hear of others’ faults; like the thousand-eyed Indra, too, ever delighting in much singing, drink and in a voice of thunder.
Again, I would propitiate those saintly wretches who without a cause swerve right or left; with whom a neighbour’s loss is gain; who rejoice in desolation and weep over prosperity; who are as an eclipse to the full-moon glory of Hari and Hara; who become as a giant with a thousand arms to work another’s woe; who have a thousand eyes to detect a neighbour’s faults, but, like flies on filth, settle on his good points only to spoil them; quick as fire, implacable as the god of hell; rich in crime and sin as Kuver is in gold; like an eclipse for the clouding of friendship, and as dead asleep as Kumbhakarna to everything good; if they can do any injury, as ready to sacrifice themselves as hailstones, that melt after destroying a crop; spiteful as the great serpent with a thousand tongues; and like Prithurâj, with a thousand ears, to tell and hear of others’ faults; like the thousand-eyed Indra, too, ever delighting in much singing, drink and in a voice of thunder.
I know when they hear of philosophers, who regard friend and foe both as friends, they are enraged; but I clasp my hands and entreat them piteously.
I have performed the rôle of supplication, nor will they forget their part. However carefully you may bring up a crow, it will still be a crow and a thief. I propitiate at once the feet of saints and sinners, who each give pain, but with a difference: for the first kill by absence, while the second torture by their presence: as opposite as a lotus and a leech, though both alike are produced in water. Good and bad thus resemble nectar and intoxicating drink, which were both begotten by the one great ocean: each by its own acts attains to pre-eminence; the one in honour, the other in dishonour: compare with the good, ambrosia, or the moon, or the Ganges; and with the bad, poison, or fire, or the river Karmnâsâ. Virtue and vice are known to all; but whatever is to a man’s taste that seemeth him good.
I have performed the rôle of supplication, nor will they forget their part. However carefully you may bring up a crow, it will still be a crow and a thief. I propitiate at once the feet of saints and sinners, who each give pain, but with a difference: for the first kill by absence, while the second torture by their presence: as opposite as a lotus and a leech, though both alike are produced in water. Good and bad thus resemble nectar and intoxicating drink, which were both begotten by the one great ocean: each by its own acts attains to pre-eminence; the one in honour, the other in dishonour: compare with the good, ambrosia, or the moon, or the Ganges; and with the bad, poison, or fire, or the river Karmnâsâ. Virtue and vice are known to all; but whatever is to a man’s taste that seemeth him good.