Die at Vrndávan, die at Práyag,
die where Ganga is born,
or where she flows,
or die where she meets her lover the sea.
Die at Makkah,
or at Yerushaláyim,
or in a cave on Holy Athos,
or where heaven meets earth,
a mountain no one can see.
It is only a meeting at the inevitable gate.
He will not carry you away like a thimble tied with string,
for she makes her request.
Faithfulness has its reward,
a power that breaks the claims of Death,
Yama cannot resist, for his prison has been imprisoned.
Lightning strikes, shining from east to west,
returning from west to east,
to earth itself in the soil of the heart,
making holy ground.
To die is different from what anyone expected,
and luckier,
and the place of death
lovelier than any choice can arrange.
— Romanós
Vrndávan (vrin-DAH-van), a holy place in India where Krishna grew up among the cowherds.
ReplyDeletePráyag (PRAH-yahg), another holy place in india, where the rivers Ganga (Ganges), Yamuna, and the mythical Sarasvati flow together, also known as the place where God offered the first sacrifice after creating the world.
Ganga (GAHNG-gah), the river Ganges personified as a beautiful woman, sacred at its source, sacred along its course, and sacred where it meets the sea.
Makkah (Arabic: Mecca), the holy city of Islam, where Muslims face from all directions during prayer.
Yerushaláyim (Hebrew: Jerusalem), the holy city of Judaism, and the place made holy by the death on the Cross of Jesus Christ.
Holy Athos (AH-thoss), the mountain and peninsula in Macedonia, northern Greece, which is the sacred garden of the Theotokos (Mother of God), inhabited only by male monastics for a thousand years, holy to Orthodox Christians.
‘He will not carry you away like a thimble tied with string, for she makes her request,’ an allusion to the story of Savitri and her husband Satyavan, whose soul was carried off by Yama, death personified, who rewarded her faithfulness with the granting of a boon, anything but the life of Satyavan. She first asks for eyesight and restoration of the kingdom for her blind father-in-law, then a hundred sons for her father, and then a hundred sons for herself and Satyavan. The last request creates a dilemma for Yama, as it would indirectly grant the life of Satyavan. Impressed by Savitri's dedication and purity, he offers one more time for her to choose any boon, but this time omitting ‘except for the life of Satyavan.’ Savitri instantly asks for Satyavan to return to life. Yama grants life to Satyavan and blesses Savitri's life with eternal happiness.
‘…a power that breaks the claims of Death, Yama cannot resist, for his prison has been imprisoned,’ alludes to what happened in the real world: Not Savitri, but Christ, by His faithfulness, took captivity captive, trampling death by death.
People of all religions feel that to die in a special, sacred place, is beneficial, but that place is not a geographical location. All holy places allude to the true holy ground, sanctified and transfigured by being struck by ‘the lightning flash of the Divine Nature,’ τη αστραπή της θεότητος, ti astrapí tis theótitos (Resurrectional Apolytikion Second Tone).
That place of death, of passing from this world into the age to come, cannot be arranged by ourselves, but by Him alone who has made Himself the Gate Beautiful of our entrance into eternal Life.