! Dasgupta Asks... Poem by Michael Shepherd

What have you gained
if you have not gained yourself,
yourself the immortal,
yourself the infinite ?

What have you gained
if you have never tasted in your life
the deep longing to be free,
the deep longing to be liberated?

The spirit of the saints of all the ages
whispers in my ears -

what have you gained
if you have never tasted
the joys of self-surrender?

If your heart has not longed
to make of you a flute
in the hands of Krishna,
master musician of the universe?

And if you have not been able
to sweeten all your miseries
with a touch of God?



(versified from a lecture in Evanston, US, in 1926)