5

"Do lead, Abode of Sattwa, guide along,

O Vishnu, lead; O Power that protect, guide;

With Brahma by Thy side, do show the way

To Shiva's home where hope eternal shines,

To KAILAS where all founts of valour spring;

Do lead, Abode of Sattwa, guide along,

With hope of winning Shiva's help we feel strong."

Thus sang the harassed Devas, stricken with grief:

Their kingdom lay low at the conqueror's heels,

And harsh oppression raged with cruel zeal,

And good ones bold bit prison bars in vain

While fair ones gave themselves to shameful appetites;

And Truth and honour had to hide in fear,

Or fall a prey to monster's heartless ire.

A power that had often sunk in the dust

And dragged down, as it feel, its leaders fierce,

Like BALI, KAL KHANJA, MAHA ROUDRA,

KALAKEYA and NIVATA KAVACHA,

Had risen from its ashes, live with envy

And passion and desire vindictive to rule

And hold the Devas under crushing heels.

6

O Devas, learn to lift the KAVADI:

The pride of place and power lingers still,

The pride of being good peeps from your depths of woe,

The pride ye are the favoured of the good

Makes your pace haughty, rolls the taunt on your tongues,

Your virtues have been tainted by your pride;

O Devas, learn to lift the KAVADI

And fill with reverence and humility.

It is a pleasant thing to think of God's love,

It is sweet to rely on His forgiveness;

It is a sattwic thought, a milestone of progress

To think of God as love; yet it is a thought

That suits the sinner best, for he can sin

And speed in his course of salacity

And flourish his cant God's love will forgive.

It is fine to think that there is no help

And pass for one "advanced and without fear,"

It is finer to think there is a help

And boldly tread the path of righteousness:

The lack of fear incites the low to crime,

And hell and heaven are no faith of shame

But truths of states of consciousness that warn and guide.

7

God's love seen in the setting of the law

Of karma, the sole pivot on which revolves

This universal life, and the grace that pours

From His unstinting love, and shows the way,

And strengthens us, to overcome the Force

Of KARMA, is the truth of God's great love;

For Karma must rule, else the worlds will break.

O Devas, it is a most dangerous thing

To speak ill of the great, to insult the wise;

DAKSHA the unwise, arrogant, conceited,

Abused the Lord to whom he owed his place;

The loyalty of DEVAS was on test,

But silent they sat and they acquiesced,

Forgetting loyalty is law's backbone!

The curse that poured from Nandi's truthful lips

Forewarned of the dire punishment that would fall

From Brahma's wisdom, and from Vishnu's Love

All help will come, and trials you must face

For you must fill with humility and bow

To Him Whose highest place you fail to defend

When vulgar DAKSHA violently blasphemed.

8

"O Vishnu, may Thy Chakra cut our sin,

And make us fit to see the Lord Supreme;

The bier of our fallen greatness we bear

Wet with the blood we have shed in our trials,

And wet with the tears that relieved despair:

O Vishnu, may Thy Chakra cut our sin,

The trident's help may we be sure to win"

"O Devas, the Supreme Lord does not want

The remnants of your Power or Empire;

Your broken pride in suffering's fire burnt

To ashes, mixed with tears of repentance,

Must glisten on your foreheads and you should tread

On live coals where your shattered ego burns

And give as KAVADI a heart chaste and pure."

"Lord Vishnu, do lead, may Thy Chakra shed

The light we sorely need, and guide us along

To Him that wields the trident where combine

The triads of all powers we can know -

Of strength divine, of sacrifice and penance,

Of paths, of gunas three, of faith and charity:

Lord, give us strength to take the KAVADI."

9

To Devas that prayed thus Lord Brahma spoke:

"O Devas, hear: of Siva's strength shall be born

The ONE the like of whom has NEVER yet been,

And He shall rule the world for all time to come;

When ancient races perish and empires break,

And continents sink to the depths of the sea,

He will be there to guard the principle of life.

Those that deny God's power and deny

The karmic law, and career recklessly

Through crime, sin and debauchery, will see

Between earth and sky the hell they denied

Hang as a mass of venom, black, malignant,

And all-consuming fire, that will decant

Into the wicked through all the sense-inlets.

This will not be Shiva deigns to wed

Sri Parvati now sunk in Tapas deep,

In prayer Shiva may accept her as bride:

What need we do to hasten that great day

When Shiva and GAURI on bridal jhoola

Will float to the tune of the music of OM

And fill the good with bliss, the bad with fear?"

...to continue