Always—The Word

While waking, working, meditating, eating,
Chanting, writing, reading, writhing in pain
Or happily walking or talking with chums,
Unheard, the inner voice, it hums,
Sairam, Sairam, Sairam.

When worries and trials bark at me
I drown their clamor in a trice
Chanting Sairam, Sairam, Sairam.

When trivial pleasures tempt me
Or petty cravings haunt me,
I free myself from tangle
Saying Sairam, Sairam, Sairam.

When I fast, I live on Thee;
When I break my fast, I taste Thee;
For, Thou art the Food sustaining me,
Thy Name, my tonic, Sairam, Sairam.

Every night when Thou appear
In dream, I cry in joy;
Every morn, when my eyes do fall
On Thy Picture full of charm,
“I shout in great delight—
Sairam, Sairam, Sairam.

In the depth of slumber
When I am all alone
With nothing to distract,
And none to draw my thoughts,
I whisper mute, with every breath—
Sairam, Sairam, Sairam!

—Dr. Somasunderam
Jaffna (Ceylon [Sri Lanka])
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, July 1968