arī! kou birahini bāṭa batāve

English meaning

A gopī, pining in separation from beloved Shyāmasundara, says to her intimate friend, “Oh sakhi! Suggest me some way to cross this trench of separation, which has surrounded me from all sides. Oh sakhi! My experience has been exactly opposite of what I had heard about love. And this is a matter only to be endured, as it is inexpressible in words. On the one hand, the fire of Beloved’s separation burns me day and night, and on the other hand, I also experience the bliss of the sweet meeting with the Beloved. I don’t know what to do? Oh sakhi! Here, I intensely crave for sleep so that I can meet my Beloved at least in dreams, but there, the anxiety, as a co-wife, keeps me awake all night. Again, I want to leave my body, but these selfish eyes, yearning to see the Beloved, do not let me do so. Further, I wish to abandon the poisonous creeper of love, but no sooner do I decide to do so, the hope that the Beloved will surely come, stops me from doing so.” In the words of Jagadguru Shrī Kripālu Jī, “Seeing this contradictory condition of the sakhī like that of a snake and a mole i.e. agony both ways, even the greatest men of wisdom like Uddhava etc., forget their wisdom. Then, who can suggest the cure for it?”

Complete whole-pad meaning transcribed from the supplied English edition. The source provides no separate line-by-line or word-by-word meaning.

Prem Ras Madira (English), Part 2 · PDF pages 223, 224 · printed pages 558, 559.

Meanings: Smt. Padmā Devī. English translation and transliteration: Sushrī Braj Parikarī Devī. Source details.