Bathragiri – When will I be?
(Selections & free translation)
Bathragiri was the king of Ujjain in India. He became the disciple of Pattinathaar and left his throne to become a mendicant.
o When will I, be like a child (innocent): a deaf and dumb (answering no one and hearing no one); live like a ghost; immersed in God like a mad man.
o When will I, wander like a ghost; be like a dead body; think women as mothers; and conclude my penance.
o When will I, understand that father, mother, brothers & sisters, children and all relatives are impermanent.
o When will I, consider other lives as my lives and not kill them and suffer.
o When will I, forget the practice of, getting entertained; enjoying luxury; telling lies as truth; appreciating the lies.
o When will I, think of God, instead of living with an upset mind, like a fish caught in the net.
o When will I, wander like a monk, instead of wearing the dirty masks of the worldly people.
o When will I, throw away all the sacred scriptures and be immersed in God consciousness.
o When will I, know the truth in the statement, “People who are here today will not be there tomorrow”.
o When will I, stop searching the food for my stomach and be suffered by the people who give food.
o When will I, be without attachment to the relatives, like the water on Lilly.
o When will I, be thinking of you (God consciousness) like a lady who is in pain of separation from her lover.
o When will I, realise the problems I encountered with this trouble making body.
o When will I, willingly stop the pain created by the instrument called knowledge in the mind.
o When will I, get the blessings of the divine power (Sakthi), instead of believing I am doing everything.
o When will I, cut down the forest called mind (with the sword of discrimination).
o When will I, see the day when my ego dies, before the death of my body which is full of flesh.
o When will I, l become humble, before the egoistic people belittle me with their insulting words.
o When will I, realise the God inside me, in search of whom I have run around the world and finally has understood that he is inside me.
o When will I, understand and love the fact that all the three worlds are nothing but the infinite space and this body is emptiness.
o When will I, become soft with understanding, like a fully cooked food under the master who is silent like a dead body.
o When will I, be dissolved back into you (God consciousness) like various ornaments melted back into gold.
o When will I, forget myself, the place I stay, the work I do and realise the eternal truth.