(photo courtesy Desaraju Lakshmi)
- Thai! Thai! Thai! Thai! Thai! Dummy See the
Tamasha play of this puppet doll.
O Jiva, listen to the long long tale
Of its past, its future, behind and front!
- It rolled at first in mushy mire
Of mother’s womb, its prison dark.
It came with a whimper, but all around
They smiled in joy and feasts galore.
- ‘O Tragedy! I am born again’,
It knew and wept, both loud and long.
But all the while, they caressed it
And laughed to raise a laugh!
- In its own dirt it wallowed gay,
Without a sense of shame;
It rose and fell, at every step,
Acting daily a childish play.
- It runs and skips with gangs of chums
And learns a hundred tricks and trades;
It grows so tall and thick and broad
From year to year, very fast and fair.
- It moves in pairs, and bills and coos
In rosy rainbow style;
It sings in tunes unheard before,
And quaffs the cup, unique and strange.
- ‘This Brahma who makes these dolls in pairs
And dolls and dolls in millions,
But this our puppet does not know
When It plays with dollies:
Thim! Thim! Thim!
- This Maya Doll like the Holy Bull
Has the Tamas rope in nostril hole;
Lust and anger are the scorpion whips
which whack the back of the slave.
- It gloats with glee, when others stop
Before it, shuddering low;
it doles them pain; but cannot bear
A microscopic share!
- It swears and shouts and waves its arms
And frets and fumes with blood-red eyes;
It is indeed a wondrous sight -
Possessed by devil ire!
- It scans and spells, it scribbles and swots,
It does not know the reason why,
It runs in panic trying to glean
Fodder for belly, willy or nilly.
- Ah, did you see this queer little dummy,
With so many books in its tummy,
Turning and twisting in jealousy green
When a learned doll encounters it?
- And, you should hear its secret cluck
When a shameful sensual urge,
A wicked lurking greed
Is satisfied in sin!
- It proudly pats; what?, its own back!
For beauty, brawn, vitality,
While all the time and step by step
It moves towards senility.
- It totters and blinks through
wrinkles and folds;
And when the children cry,
‘Old Ape’, ‘Old Ape’
It gapes and grins a toothless grin -
Its bones do clatter so!
- Unto the last, it is lost in fear,
Wear and tear and many a tear some fray!
Of what avail, O Dummy Doll,
Your gasp and groan,
Yours needs must meet the doom.
- Aha! The Bird! It shakes its wings!
It flies out, brrr, from out the cage of skin.
Empty, it tightens; vacant, it straightens;
O, drag it out of sight; it bloats and stinks.
- The elements join their parents five;
The doll’s desires are dust and ash;
Why weep, you fools, when one of you
Falls on the crowded stage?
- Uncles, cousins, aunts and friends
March in gloom until door of room!
The Maya Doll, alas, forgot its kin,
The Divine Name, Redeemer True!
- O Jiva, do not lean upon this slender reed;
Just a sneeze! This frail skin boat
Endowed with thrice three leaks
Will plunge you, middle stream!
- This puppet weeps, it sleeps and wakes,
When the string is pulled by unseen Hand;
The Lord it is, who stands behind,
But the Dummy swears, It is I, I, I.
- Dharma, Karma are the hardy strings
He tightens or He loosens.
Unaware, the puppet swaggers
Criss-cross, on the planks.
- It takes the world as stable, -
This silly strutting Dummy!
A twinkle! He winds up the show!
Exit the pomp and pride!
- O Jiva, you waded
Through ant and snake and bird;
Seek and find without delay,
The road to lasting Bliss!
- Bless your luck! You now can see
Sai Krishna, He has come!
Be kin with him and you will know
Your what and why and how.
- A million words so clever and nice,
Can they appease your hunger’s maw?
Light the lamp of the soul instead,
And, freed from bondage, run out and play.
- This song that tells of Dummy Doll
Makes Jiva sad and wise! I know;
But, Jiva! See the Leela grand of Sathya Sai Nath
And . . . . . . . . . . Know Thyself!
(San Vah, pp. 39-44)