Vairagya Shatakam :- Bhrithari's verses on renunciation.

Hello readers.

In today's blog I will present to you all one of my favourite works of poetry - Vairagya Shatakam composed by Sage Bhrithari.

According to a legend, Bhrithari was a king, who once gave a magic fruit (which could make an individual eternally youthful) to his wife, who gave it to another man, who in turn gave it to another woman, and finally it reached the king again. Reflecting on these events, he realised the futility of love and worldly pleasures, renounced his kingdom, retired to the forest, and wrote poetry.

This is connected with a famous verse that appears in the collections:

"The maid my true heart loves would not my true love be;

She seeks another man;

 another maid loves he;

And me another maid her own true love would see:

Oh, fie on her and him and Love and HER and me!"

Thus giving up all his kingdom, desires for sensual pleasures and so on, Bhrithari renounces the world to become a monk.

Vairagya Shatakam or literally 100 verses on renunciation is a work of poetry which he then composes in his monkhood.

In this blog, we will look at the english translations of some selected verses of Vairagya Shatakam, translated from sanskrit by Swami Vivekananda himself. Let's dig into his poetry, which really stole my heart.

"I have travelled in many countries, hard to travel in,

And got no result;

Giving up pride of birth and position,

I have served all.

Like a crow stealing into a kitchen,

With fear I have eaten the bread of others in their homes,

Yet thou, Desire, who leadest to evil deeds,

Leavest me not!"

"I have crossed oceans to find wealth.

I have blasted mountains to get jewels.

I have spent whole nights in graveyards

repeating Mantras

And have obtained — not the broken cowrie

of blessedness

Ah, Desire, give me up now."

"I have borne the wicked words of the wicked;

To please fools, when my heart is weeping,

my lips ever laughed.

Stopping my judgment, I have with folded hands

Stood before unworthy persons.

Even now, my Desire, why do you make me dance

like a fool?"

In the following three verses, we get a deep insight which Bhirthari had on the struggles of a spiritual seeker - a fighter whose enemy are his very desires. Even now, my Desire, why do you make me dance like a fool?

"For this life, which is like a drop of water 

on a lotus leaf,

We have not enjoyed, but enjoyments have enjoyed us.

We did not penance, but penances burnt us up.

Time did not fly, yet we are gone.

We become decrepit with age, but not so Desire.

Infirmity assails us, the skin wrinkles,

The hair whitens, the body becomes crooked,

Old age comes on.

Desire alone grows younger every day."

"Not knowing the power of flame, the insect falls into it.

The fish swallows the bait, not knowing the hook inside.

That, well aware of the vanity and dangers of the world,

We cannot give it up —

Such is the power of Delusion."

Look at the strong words Bhrithari uses to describe the hypnotism of desires, the power of delusion!

Now notice the transistion of the words, where Bhrithari sings the glories of renunciation!

"Arise! Let us go into the forest

Where pure roots and fruits will be our food,

Pure water our only drink,

Pure leaves our bed,

And where the little-minded, the thoughtless,

And those whose hearts are cramped with wealth

Do not exist."

The upcoming 3 verses are the nucleus of this Shatakam for me. 

"In wealth is the fear of poverty,

in knowledge the fear of ignorance,

 in beauty the fear of age,

in fame the fear of backbiters,

in success the fear of jealousy,

even in body is the fear of death.

Everything in this earth is fraught with fear. He alone is fearless who has given up everything."

"Now you appear as child

And now as a youth, whose whole occupation is love.

This moment poor, another wealthy,

Now a babe, and again a decrepit old man.

O actor man, at last you vanish from the stage

When death beckons you behind the scenes!"

"Oh, when will that day come,

When in a forest, saying "Shiva", "Shiva",

My days shall pass?

A serpent and a garland the same,

The strong foe and the friend the same,

The flower-bed and the stone-bed the same,

A beautiful woman and a blade of grass the same!"

Remember that Bhrithari once was caught in the power of opposite gender attraction? Read this verse of his referring to his past self and the difference that has now come -

"There was a time when I could see nothing but Women

in this world:

And now that my eyes are opened,

I can see nothing but Brahman.

Beautiful are the rays of the moon,

Beautiful are the lawns in the forest,

Beautiful is the meeting of the good,

Beautiful is poetry, and

Beautiful is the face of the beloved.

But to me none of these are beautiful,

Knowing that they are evanescent."

Here we end our journey to the top 10 selected verses from the 100 verses of Sage Bhrithari on renunciation.

Nothing but dumbstrucked by his words. Remarkable description of world, its sorrows and the path of renunciation!

Om Tat Sat,

Daksh Parekh.