Venice masks

Sunday 15 March 2020

The Life to come - Rāmprasād Sen

Think awhile, Brothers, of what will be after death.
This is the question that all debate

Some say that thou wilt become a ghost,
some a restless shade;
some that we go to bliss,
some that we attain to where God dwells,
some that the soul is withdrawn into the Deity.

Thou art the revelation of the Vedas;
thou art the sky reflected in the earthen pot
death is but the shattering of the pot.
When all things are over,
in the void our sins and virtue are weighed.
Five are they who dwell in this one house,
and each, when time comes, will go to his own place.

Rāmprasād Sen (Sadhak Rāmprasād Sen) (1718 - 1775) India
Translated by Edward J. Thompson and Arthur Marshman Spencer
Source: Bengali Religious Lyrics, Śākta, selected and translated by Edward J. Thompson and Arthur Marshman Spencer, Association Press, 1923

Note: in lines 3-8 various destinations are mentioned, as follows:
  • ghost: Bhūla a ghost, usnally a malevolent spirit
  • shade: Prela a ghost whose obsequies base not been performed, or the ghost of a deformed person
  • bliss: Swarga Indra’s paradise
  • where God dwells: Sālōkya dwelling In the same region with ' (God) 
  • into the Deity: Sāyujya union with (God) 

The Five are the five elements, of which the human bidy is also supposed to be made of: earth, fire, water, air and ether.

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