Ganga

See what an atmosphere of holiness is here the pure air of the Ganga,

What an assemblage of Sadhus,

Will you find anywhere a place like this,

The fool, dwelling on the bank of the Ganga, digs a well for water,

Such are we! Living in the midst of God - we must go and make images.

If she planted a seed,

She would have to dig it back up,

And look at it every day to see if it was growing yet,

My bones are destined to make corals in the Ganga,

The waters of the Ganga are roaring among his matted locks.

Whether you bathe in the Ganga for a thousand years or live on vegetable food for a like period,

Unless it helps towards the manifestation of the Self,

Know that it is all of no use,

There is Bengal, and Bihar, Barakor river is in the middle of them,

So strange, so profound,

No other river (not even Ganga) has cast so vast a spell on me.

I reached Ghazipur three days ago,

Here I am putting up in the house of Babu Satish Chandra Mukherji,

A friend of my early age,

The place is very pleasant,

Close by flows the Ganga,

But bathing there is troublesome,

For there is no regular path, and it is hard work wading through sands.

I am still a big kid,

I make mistakes all time,

The difficulty in weaning the mind from worldly thoughts,

From external objects, and fixing it on God is the same as in making the Ganga,

Flow towards Gangotri instead of its natural flow towards Ganga-Sagar,

It is like rowing against the current of the Yamuna.

Fool indeed is he, who, living on the banks of the Ganga,

Digs a little well for water,

Fool indeed is the man who, coming to a mine of diamonds,

Begins to search for glass beads.

Here is the alphabet of the pulsing apocalypse that is fatherhood,

A book in love with what words, like parents, create: beauty, terror, awe.

A house isn't a real house without a woman in it,

Hinduism is like the Ganga,

Pure and unsullied at its source,

But taking in its course the impurities in the way,

Even like the Ganga it is beneficent in its total effect,

It takes a provincial form in every province,

But the inner substance is retained everywhere.

The Ganga to me is the symbol of India's memorable past,

See how the Ganga flows by and what a nice building,

I like this place,

This is the ideal kind of place for a Math.

You assimilate into her,

Like the Ganga assimilates into Yamuna and creates a third self,

You won't ever hurt her in such situation,

If this is not love, then what is?

To all those who won't listen to my music because I don't smoke ganga,

I say the hell with those people

The truth is our country, our people, our liberties, and our way of life are under attack by radical Islamic terrorists,

Who kill and destroy in the name of religion.