The Garden of my Heart

I’ve laid out a garden in my heart
Removing all nettles, rocks and bushes
Such as anger, desire and pride upstart
To grow the rarest flowers fresh from blemishes.

I water the plants with my pellucid tears;
I tend the sacred plants with utmost care.
They produce blossoms that last for years
As they are of the heavenly beauty rare.

They are plucked for the special worship of Baba;
They are of various kinds and colors loved of Baba;
They are the white sweet-smelling ‘ahimsa’,
The pale soft-perfumed ‘Indriya–nigraha’.

‘Sarva bhutha daya’ is another variety;
‘Kshama’ is the red and glorious variety.
‘Shanti’ is the flower, yellow in color;
‘Tapah’ is the flower, violet in color.

‘Dhyana’ is the flower, orange in hue;
‘Satyam’ is the flower, green in hue;
All these eight varieties never fade
As they are of immortality made!

~Vaidyanathan
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, Dec. 1959