Upalabdhi – 2- Song One

Text 1

ore mana bhālo nāhi lāge e soṁsāra
janama-maraṇa-jarā je soṁsāre āche bharā
tāhe kiba āche bolo’ sāra

O my heart, this material world is not good. It is filled with birth, old-age, and death. What is the good in it? Tell me.

Text 2

dhana-jana-paribāra keho nāhe kabhu kā’ra
kāle mitra akāle apara
jāhā rākhibāre cāi tāhā nāhe thāke bhāi
anitya samasta binaśwara

No one can keep his wealth, kinsmen, and followers. When times are good, there are friends. When times are bad, the friends become strangers. O my brother, I would like to keep them always friends, but they will not stay. Everything is temporary. It will all perish.

Text 3

āyu ati alpa dina krame tāhā hoya khīṇa
śamanera nikaṭa darśana
roga-śoka anibāra citta kore’ chārakhāra
bāndhaba-bijoga durghaṭana

This life is only a few days. Soon it is gone. Then one sees death approach. The sufferings of disease do not stop. The mind becomes burned to ashes. Friends and kinsmen flee. Everything is a calamity.

Text 4

bhālo ko’re dekho bhāi amiśra ānanda nāi
je āche se duḥkhera kāraṇa
se sukhera tore tabe keno māyā-dāsa habe
haraibe paramārtha-dhana

O my brother, look. There is no material pleasure that is not mixed with pain. Every material pleasure will become the cause of pain also. Why, then, have you become Māyā’s slave? You have robbed yourself of the greatest treasure.

Text 5

itihāsa-ālocane bhebe dekho’ nija mane
koto āsurika durāśoya
indriya-tarpaṇa sāra kori’ koto durācāra
śeṣe labhe maraṇa niścoya

Look, think in your heart about the Purāṇa history-books. How many demons committed how many terrible sins to please their senses? In the end they all met with death.

Text 6

maraṇa-samaya tā’ra upāya hoiyā hāra
anutāpa-anale jwālilo
kukkurādi paśu-prāya jībana kāṭāya hāya
paramārtha kabhu nā cintilo

At the moment of death he is defeated. Then he burns in a fire of remorse. He laments, Alas! I passed my life like a dog or a beast. I never thought about the greatest treasure.”

Text 7

emona biṣaye mana keno thāko acetana
chāro chāro biṣayera āśā
śrī-guru-caraṇāśroya koro’ sabe bhāba joya
e dāsera sei to’ bhārasā

O my heart, why are you stunned by sense pleasures. Renounce, renounce the desire for material pleasures. Take shelter of my spiritual master’s feet and you will conquer this world of birth and death. This servant is certain of that.