5
Though fate a thousand times makes you a pawn in its game—do not give up:
Cling like a child to the skirt of your Beloved’s name.
Though the wave rises before you awful as a mountain—do not give up:
It’s but a ripple on the pond of the Knowledge-Bliss fountain.
Though girls golden as goddesses come to you—do not give up:
Behind their smiles is the Ever-loving, the True.
Though earth be crushed under the hammers of the sun—do not give up:
When the wreck is swept away, before you will be the Beloved’s form.
Though your Beloved may look at you askance—do not give up:
One day will come the invitation to the dance.
Think of the men who went before, those who will come after—do not give up:
Earth, millions of times—our troubles a matter for huge laughter.
The end of every affair was in its beginning—do not give up:
The conclusion of your journey is in your singing.
After the last poem this strikes a warm and human tone with its repeated injunction as a refrain. It is full of freshness and variation as it presents its rousing encouragement. With energy it reminds us of our own littleness and God’s greatness.
The poem is more than an encouragement to think positively. It presents some deep truths of Baba’s revealing in each stanza:
- We are pawns in the game so all we can do is have a childlike dependency on Him.
- Our perspective of colossal threat is a trivial ripple on the true nature of our own being.
- Sensuous beauty is not just a snare but a revealing of qualities inherent in the Real.
- Time sweeps all away yet also reveals His beautiful face.
- Rejection is only part of the courtship of Love.
- A belly laugh when we think how it all looks from the big perspective.
- The end pervades the transitory, it pervades too our life as we become a singing of Him.