Five Passions

Five Passions

1. I have sought Thy Refuge, O King, That out of the five Peasants in my Tenancy Not one can raise his head (against me), And abundance flows through the village. (Sri Rag M. 5) 2. I am the Warrior of God, Meeting with the Guru, the plume of my headgear flutters. The audience has assembled and, lo, the Creator Himself Watches me (wrestle) The Bugles shriek, the Drums are beat: The Wrestlers have entered into the Tourney, and circle about, See, how the five furies I trounce and humble, For the Guru's Hand is at my back. (Sri Rag M. 5) 3. Wrath and lust destroy the body. As flux melts the gold. (Ramkali, Dakhni Onkar, M. 1) 4. The deer, the fish, the bumble-bee, the moth, and the elephant Are destroyed each by a single desire. (2) He, who lives with five passions, what hope can he have (of redumption) [Asa, Ravidas] 5. Within this body are hid the five thieves-lust, wrath, greed, attachment and ego. They steal away the nectar (within us), but, in our egocentricity, we know it not, and lo, no one hears our plaint ! (Sorath, M. 3) 6. In the body's furnace is cast the iron of the mind: it is heated by the five fires. And the coals are of the sins, stacked with the tongs of care. And lo, the the mind is burnt ! ________________________ 1. Lust, wrath, greed, infatuation and ego. 2. The deer is enticed away by music; the fish by taste, the bum