Today's Beautiful Gem: `Yasodhara' by (Hindi poet) Maithili Saran Gupta
translated by Lila Ray.

" O heart, the time of your testing is come!
I entreat you not
to let my resolution fail.
As long as He was not here
It was easy to deny myself.
Where there is no hope there is no temptation.
Hear; drums are beating His welcome!
O heart, the time of your testing is come!

"Great is the Treasure now two feet away,
The Treasure on whom life depends. But how
Can I find the way to Him?
I am, and darkness is.
O heart, the time of your testing is come!

"What can two steps more to be to one
Who has travelled so very far?
Can it be so hard for Him as it is for me?
He turned His back on me.
O heart, the time of your testing is come!

"Those who are with Him know their good fortune.
The sight of Him and His touch gives them the salvation.
For my salvation He must come to me. As His servant
I shall stay here."

Note: Yasodhara is the wife of Prince Siddhartha. He left her
and their son Rahul one night for finding the true meaning of
Life and after a few years of penance obtained enlightenment
under the bodhi tree and became Gautama Buddha. If the
translation is so enchanting, how good the Hindi original of the
poet must be! May be, someone will post it on the net soon.

Om Saantih! Peace! - J. K. Mohana Rao

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