‘Like a Frog Caught in the Snake’s Mouth’

Fear

O Master, come to me,
I waste and will die.
If the Master wills,
I shall meet Him.
If He wills not,
I am lost utterly.
I took the path of falsehood,
And the Master forsook me,
Age has greyed my locks
I have lived many winters
The fires of hell still lie ahead,
And I am afraid.

The bough remains ever green
For the sap that moves within
Night and day, renews life.
If the Name of the Lord courses in your veins,
Life and hope will for ever be green.
Meditate calmly on the Name.
That which ripens slowly ripens best.

Nanak says: Come now, my Love
Even the Guru pleads for me.

(Guru Nanak: Khushwant Singh)

Tiruvaiyaru is the place
where the female ape, in fright,
leaps up on a branch to look for rainclouds,
taking for thunder the roll of drums
when women dance, going around the shrine
where the Lord dwells who delivers us from fear
when the five senses wander out of their cages,
and cease to function,
the phlegm rises, the reason fails,
and we are afraid.

(Sambandar: Indira Viswanathan Peterson)

In vain I pampered the body’s cage,
nurturing evil in my heart.
Like a spoon without a handle,
I can’t dip into the ambrosia I seek.
As I think desperate thoughts,
like a frog caught in the snake’s mouth,
protect and save me,
O king of Orriyur!

(Appar: Indira Viswanathan Peterson)

How the rain falls
In deadly darkness!
O gentle girl, the rain
Pours on your path
And roaming spirits straddle the wet night.
She is afraid
Of loving for the first time.
O Madhava,
Cover her with sweetness.

How will she cross the fearful river
In her path?
Enraptured with love,
Beloved Radha is careless of the rest.

Knowing so much,
O shameless one,
How can you be so cold towards her?
Whoever saw
Honey fly to the bee?

(Vidyapati: Deben Bhattacharya)

Restless mind, don’t infect the heart with fear.
That virus is not for you.
The Infinite knows what you hunger for.
Ask Him to carry you across.

(Lal Ded: Ranjit Hoskote)

And one day
Death shall arrive

to evict this squatter
from his fragile hut of bones

Then as the spirit
quivers, buckles,
collapses,

hurry, Goddess Abhirami —

you that are the primordial note
plucked by the strings of the veena
at the dawn of time

Hurry

with the soft clink
of braceleted wrists

Hurry

with your flock of handmaidens
of the sky

Hurry

extend a bejeweled hand
utter the words I need to hear

Reassure me, say, ‘Do not fear.’

(Abhirami Bhattar: Arundhathi Subramaniam)

I beat on your door
Out of fear.

I wasn’t yet born,
I was in the womb,
When a great sadness
Came over me.

It hasn’t left me since.
It’s with me now
When I’m old and infirm
And time shakes me by the hair.

Time strikes the drum.

I’ve nowhere to turn,
Says Kabir, let me in.

(Kabir: A. K. Mehrotra)