The Minimalist Life – Bhartrihari Vairagya Satakam!
22 May 2018
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Source: Bhartrihari Vairagya Satakam 55
अशीमहि वयं भिक्षामाशावासो वसीमहि।
शयीमहि महीपृष्ठे कुर्वीमहि किमीश्वरैः॥
Transliteration:
aśīmahi vayaṃ bhikṣāmāśāvāso vasīmahi।
śayīmahi mahīpṛṣṭhe kurvīmahi kimīśvaraiḥ॥
Hindi Translation:
आओ हम भिक्षान्न को खाएं, आकाश को अपना वस्त्र बनाएं।
धरती की सतह पर शयन करें, दौलत का क्या करेंगे॥
English Translation:
Let us eat the food we have begged; let the sky be our clothing;
let us lie down on the surface of the earth; what have we to do with the rich?
Bhartrihari was a celebrated Sanskrit poet who is well known for his work on the three śatakas or ‘hundreds’, consisting of three thematic compilations on shringara, vairagya and niti of hundred verses each.
This Sanskrit Shloka is from Vairagya Shatakam, which talks about the renunciation and living a very basic life. Vairāgya translates as dispassion, detachment, or renunciation, in particular renunciation from the pains and pleasures in the material world also known as Maya. The point is to broaden our thinking and not have ourselves limited to small selfish materialistic things.
