Anukampa Desakam (Ten verses on Mercy)

  1. Such Mercy that even to an ant

    Would brook not the least harm to befall,

    O Mercy-Maker do vouchsafe with contemplation

    Which from Thy pure Presence never strays.

  2. Grace yields blessedness; a heart Love-empty

    Disaster spells of every kind.

    Darkness as Love's eftacer and as suffering's core,

    Is seed to everything.

  3. Grace, Love, Mercy--all the three--

    Stand for one same reality--Life's Star.

    "He who loves is he who really lives." Do learn

    These syllables nine by heart, in place of lettered charm.

    Without the gift of Grace, a mere body

    Of bone and skin and tissue foul is man

    Like water lost in desert sand,

    Like a flower bereft of smell and fruit.

  4. Those phases six that life do overtake

    Invade not wisdom's pure domain;

    Likewise the Mercy quality, when human form has gone

    As good reputation's form endures.

  5. That Dispenser of Mercy, could He not be that reality

    Who, proclaiming words of supreme import,the chariot drives,

    Or compassion's ocean, ever impatient for all creation,

    Or who in terms clear non-dual wisdom expounds, the Guru?

  6. In human semblance here, He is a divinity,

    Or perhaps the law of right in sacred human form?

    Is He the pure begotten Sen of the Lord Most High?

    Or the kindly Prophet Nebi, pearl and gem in one?

  7. Is He that soul personified who with holy ashes once

    Fever drove away and many wonders worked?

    Or yet that other of psychic power who wandering in agony.

  8. Allayed His ventral distrees even with song?

    ElSe is He that Sage of crowning fame who uttered once again

    That holy script already known and writ in Hera's name?

    Or He devoted to the Value of the Lord Supreme

    Who here departed bodily ere life for him was stilled?

  9. Dealing bounty here on earth and taking human form

    Is He that Kama-Dhenu cow of all-providing good?

    Or perhaps that wonder-tree of heaven supreme,

    The Deva-Taru, which to each its gifts bestows?

  10. ENVOI

    High scriptures meaning, antique, rare

    Or meaning as by Gurus taught,

    And what mildly a sage conveys,

    And wisdom's branches of every stage,

    Together they belong,

    As one essence, In substance same.