Invocation to Mother Compassion

MRS. C. VEDAVATHI

Wherever you are, I can recognise you,
Since you happen to be
The sign of some stirring
In the innermost recesses of my heart!

At some considerable distance of time,
When I was still in the womb of my mother,
You were the angel that showered ambrosia on me
By coming to my aid, carefully fondly holding me.

How many coats of sandal paste applied,
Can be a match to your refreshing coolness?

On this land of mine,
Since the moment I came into this world!
As a new-born infant,
Many a time I saw you, and was overwhelmed,
You the Ganges of mercy
With a heart, brimful with love.

When I, for the first time, had the touch of you,
I was just an infant in the baby-linens,
Being unable to lie on my sides;
Since then, with the tender touches of your gracious looks,
You have installed me here, ceremoniously anointing me.

That is why 1 said, I can recognise you,
I even said:
Even if you are a little ripple
That would do for my recollection of you!

But you are not to be seen in these times,
You have disappeared
As if everything has evaporated due to burning fires.
Where is your sweet, serene, beautiful face?
Has it been scorched
By the poisonous tongues of flames villainy?

You are the synonym for the humanness,
But you have gradually gone out of sight.
I, who is well acquainted with you,
Am in the search of you on the surface of this earth,
Looking for you, who is not to be seen at all!

But in this my quest,
The blood-red eye of the empty earth
Is hideously frightening me!

The traces of the past acquaintances,
Your throbbing moist smearings,
Are there before me dancing and gesticulating.
Poor blade of grass,
Drenched throughout the night
In the drizzle of the due drops,
Emaciated, being exposed to the morning fog,
Alas, when the tender blade of grass was struck,
You came with your warm infinite mercy
With soft touches of your warm lustrous hands,
You gracefully wiped out its tears.

I know your grief knows no bounds,
At the sight of distress or affliction,
You rain like a cloud,
All the afflicted, all the victims of pain and suffering
Are your kith and kin,
All the souls in distress are your near and dear ones.

How many times did I see you, watch you?
You are seen in the Mother Earth’s crevices,
When it struggles to pour life into the seed
That was sown in its depths,
So that it may sprout and fructify.

I know you will be present in your sweet demeanour
In that handful morsel of food
That is brought out by a kind housewife
Responding to a starving soul’s call.

I have already seen you
In the kind looks of a Buddha, a Christ and a Mahatma
Raised on the ruins of the harsh life of the diseased,
the mortals and the “beings in existence.”

And now,
You have become an indistinct streak
Which is difficult to view.
You are untraceable in the depths of these hollows
Where Truth, righteousness, ethics and justice are buried.
I do not know where you have tottered and fainted.
In that earthquake of violence and counter-violence
That erupted amidst rivalry, malice and jealousy.
What befell you in these wastelands
Where hatred, religious bigotry, deceit roam as goblins?

Not even a trace of your figure is seen
In the crushed, bruised, charred remnants,
As honour, life, body and character
Are violated by the intoxicated cruel hands!

Constant battles of life on the one hand,
Vanity, pomp and false pretences on the other,
Want, despair and wretchedness on one side,
Unfettered play of naked swords on the other;
Parched, cracked, thirsty lands there,
Arsons caused by the politics of hypocrisy here;
What a strange scenario!

For this crisis-ridden humanity
O, Mother Compassion,
Your presence is an immediate necessity,
Your compassionate looks
Are enough to soften the hard-hearted,
Your tears are enough
To put out the conflagration of bigotry.
O, sentiment of compassion,
You are the peace personified,
You are the embodiment of forbearance,
Non-injury to beings, and non-violence are your weapons,
Amity and good-heartedness prevail where you happen to be,
You smoothen the hearts.
My salutations to you called Goddess Karuna.
Pray, do not move away from humans in disgust,
Please do not disappear altogether from the surface of Earth.

(Translated from the original Telugu by D. RAMALINGAM)