‘You Don’t Have That Skill’

Irony, Irreverence

Imagine that I wasn’t here. What would you do with your
kindness?

You get a good name because of me.

I’m number one among idiots. A huge mountain of ego.
Rich in weakness, in giving in to my senses.
You’re lucky you found me. Try not to lose me.

Imagine that I wasn’t here.

I’m the Emperor of Confusion, of life and death.
Listed in the book of bad karma.
I wallow in births, womb after womb.
Even if you try, could you find another like me?

Imagine that I wasn’t here.

Think it over. By saving someone so low,
you win praise all over the world.
You get merit from me, and I get life
out of you. We’re right for each other,
god on the hill.

Imagine that I wasn’t here.

(Annamacharya: V Narayana Rao and David Shulman)

Just try getting past me, Ma.
What kind of mother would snatch a banana from her son’s
hand, Ma?
I’ll hide away in such a hideaway, search high and low you
won’t find me, Ma!
Just as a cow goes after her calves, you’ll come chasing after
me, Ma.
Prasad says, the only way you can get away with such
eyewash is to find a dummy, Ma.
If you can’t get past me, Ma, then Shiv will be your Daddy!

(Ramprasad Sen: Sampurna Chattarji)

In everlasting bondage to you, I became your slave,
spurning all other masters.
With smouldering fire inside me,
pale of face, possessed by you,
when I tell you of my pain,
you say nothing.
May you live long, my Lord!

(Sundarar: Indira Viswanathan Peterson)

I have praised you, saying all I can say,
but I can’t get anything out of you.
Onakantanrali’s Lord, tell me,
how will you rule us
when you won’t give up this wretched life
of wandering all day
with a toothless skull for a begging bowl?

(Sundarar: Indira Viswanathan Peterson)

I, only I, am best at being worst, Lord.
It’s me! The others are powerless to match me.
I set the pace, forging onward, alone.
All those others are a flock of amateurs,
But I have practiced every day since birth,
And look: you’ve abandoned me, rescuing the rest!
How can I cause life’s stabbing pain to cease?
You’ve favoured the vulture, the hunter, tyrant, whore,
And cast me aside, the most worthless of them all.
Quick, save me, says Sur, I’m dying of shame:
Who was ever finer at failure than I?

(Surdas: John Stratton Hawley and Mark Juergensmeyer)

We get a lot out of you.
You don’t have that skill.
God, your servants are better than you.

We grab you with a show of devotion.
We stick you in our mind.
For a little basil on your feet,
we’ve got freedom wholesale.
Your servants are very clever.

You don’t have that skill.

Giving back what you’ve created,
we suck up all your goodness.
We’ve figured it out.
We bow once and twice, and put the burden
on you.

You don’t have that skill.

We bring water from the pond, sprinkle a little on you,
and get whatever we ask.
God on the hill, with tricks like these,
we always come out on top

You don’t have that skill.

(Annamacharya: V. Narayana Rao and David Shulman)