Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/560

 The spiri- tual signi- ficance of the padas. 524. BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. [ Chap. | ৪16৮6161006. But last comes a beggar riding on a bull. He puts on a tattered tiger’s skin and from his matted locks flows a stream. He is covered with dust and serpents hiss from his head. As he sees Krishna he dances for joy and Krishna becomes all impatience to meet him. He clasps the beggar in his arms and locks him in aclose embrace saying ‘O Lord, you are immaculate, un- approachably pure andatrue Yogi. I gave you the golden palace of Kailasa and appointed Kuvera, the god of wealth as your store-keeper; but you live in funeral grounds on scanty food, and have not been moved from the stern ascetic life. You are above all the gods, O Lord. O Lord, I wor- ship you.’ Saying this our Krisna falls at his feet. But the beggar washes his feet with the water that flows from his matted locks and says again and again ‘I am blessed, lam blessed.’ This refers to an interview of Krishna with Civa. The waters from his locks are the holy streams of the Ganges. These songs all possess a deep spiritual signifi- cance. Through the legends of gods and goddesses they touch the finer chords of our emotions, and teach that wealth, fame and worldly ties are as nothing when God calls us to Him. The devotion of the shepherds of the Vrinda groves to Krisna has no grain of earthliness in it. Beyond the pale of palaces, of the world’s splendour and luxury, the Vrinda groves are. situated, under a clear sky and the simple-minded shepherds, by dint of their sincere devotion alone acquire the spirit of resignation to him which theologists and monastic pedants, with all their learning, cannot realise.