This is a classic song from the classic movie Mayabazaar, created first in Telugu and then dubbed perfectly into so many other languages.
Like many beautiful love songs, it can apply to a human or to the divine!
The “priyadarsini” that Sasirekha, Balarama’s daughter, is looking into is much like a modern video phone except that it only shows what’s dear to you. No spam, no “boss calling”.
And her dear ‘bava’ (cross-cousin) Abhimanyu, the son of Arjuna अर्जुन, has no priyadarsini, and knows he is being called, most certainly by his beloved Sasirekha, but he can’t be too sure.
So when Sasirekha opens the priyadars’ini and sees Abhimanyu,
Abhimanyu:
” Is it you who have thought of me? Is it you who have called me?
Is it you who stand in my mind and distract me?
Sasirekha:
” It is you who have thought of me! It is you who have called me!
It is you who stand in my mind and distract me!”
Abhimanyu:
“Like waking in a dream and like dreaming in that wakefulness,
In that confusion where I don’t know if it is a dream, wakefulness or Vaishanava Maya (Vishnu‘s Illusion)..
.. is it you have thought of me…?”
Sasirekha:
“Having lit my eyes with moonlight, and having made jasmine flowers bloom in my mind,
Having melted my eyes and manas (mind), having made me forget myself and distracted (charmed) me,
… it is you who have thought of me..!”
I used to offer honey and milk to Vishnu till I realised that it was He who had arranged the honey and milk for me. I know that I did something for society and they gave me some money which I gave back to society to “buy” the milk and honey. But actually all I have done is exchanged labour with other humans. We did not make the bees or the honey or the cows or the milk!
And then suddenly, when I thought of Vishnu as giving me the milk and honey, I thought, may be it was He who was calling me all along!
He was who was in my mind distracting me, He who was like wakefulness in a dream and a dream in that wakefulness, so that I don’t know if that call is wakefulness or a dream or His illusion, He who has a lit up my mind and made flowers bloom there, who has melted my heart and made me forget myself and charmed me.
It is He who is thinking of me, His dear one, and me who is delighted and confused. This thought made me very, very happy!
Authorship and Copyright Notice : All Rights Reserved : Satya Sarada Kandula
