Observations placeholder
Surdas - Fatephur Sikri manuscript - NPS 368
Identifier
017264
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
POEMS OF SURDAS translated by Professor John Stratton Hawley
Until you wake up to what you really are
You'll be like the man who searches the whole jungle
for a jewel that hangs at his throat.
Oil, wick, and fire: until they mingle in a cruse
they scarcely produce any light,
So how can you expect to dissipate the darkness
simply by talking about lamps!
You're the sort of fool who sees your face
in a mirror, befouled by inky filth,
And proceeds to try to erase the blackness
by cleaning the reflection to a shine.
Surdas says, it's only now the mind can see-
now that so countless many days are lost and gone-
For who has ever recognized the brilliance of the sun
but by seeing it through eyes gone blind!