Some Vachanas of Akka Mahadevi

(Rendered from Kannada by P. Sama Rao)

1

Do not discuss and bother about the Vedas, Sastras and the Agamas;
The more you pound the grain the more are the chaff and dust you Get.
Why pound them at all?
Can open space ever spot out the head of the wandering mind?

2

Thou art the forest entire;
Thou art its trees;
Thou art the beast and the bird that roam therein.
Thou art in everything,...and yet, and yet,
To me Thy face is not near,...but far.

3

O ye parrots, do ye not know? Do ye not know?
O ye cuckoos that sing with uplifted throats, have ye not seen?
Have ye not seen?
O ye wandering bees, do ye not know? Do ye not know?
O ye swans that sift the waters, have ye not seen? Have ye not seen?
O ye peafowls sporting with your fans outspread, do ye not know?
Do ye not know?
Speak, ...where my Lord Mallikarjuna lies concealed.

4

Thy devotees are not thy equals, O Lord!
Why test and scan them at all?
If Thou over-hecklest the wise, to tell them they do not yet know,
Thou wouldst make them thy enemies at the end.
Impoverishing the poor would but lead them to death.
How wouldst Thou then bestow Thy grace on me, O Lord?
I do not know...I cannot know.

5

Illusion is the shadow that pursues the body;
Illusion is the mind that haunts all life;
Illusion is the memory that sways the mind;
Illusion is the awareness of the memory;
This illusion it is that goads common humanity with its remorseless whip;
Lord who can conquer the illusion Thou hast thus raised?