Psalms of the Brethren CCXLII: Sunita

Humble the clan wherein I took my birth,
And poor was I and scanty was my lot;
Mean task was mine, a scavenger of flowers.

One for whom no man cared, despised, abused,
My mind I humbled and I bent the head
In deference to a goodly tale of folk.

And then I saw the All-Enlightened come,
Begirt and followed by his bhikkhu-train,
Great Champion ent’ring Magadha’s chief town.

I laid aside my baskets and my yoke,
And came where I might due obeisance make,
And of his lovingkindness just for me,
The Chief of men halted upon his way.

Low at his feet I bent, then standing by,
I begged the Master’s leave to join the Rule
And follow him, of every creature Chief.

Then he whose tender mercy watcheth all
The world, the Master pitiful and kind,
Gave me my answer: Come, bhikkhu! he said.
Thereby to me was ordination given.

Lo! I alone in forest depths abode,
With zeal unfaltering wrought the Master’s word,
Even the counsels of the Conqueror.

While passed the first watch of the night there rose
Long memories of the bygone line of lives.
While passed the middle watch, the heav’nly eye,
Purview celestial, was clarified.
While passed the last watch of the night, I burst
Asunder all the gloom of ignorance.

Then as the night wore down at dawn
And rose the sun, came Indra and Brahma,
Yielding me homage with their clasped hands:

Hail unto thee, thou nobly horn of men!
Hail unto thee, thou highest among men!
Perished for thee are all th’ intoxicants;
And thou art worthy, noble sir, of gifts.

The Master, seeing me by troop of gods
Begirt and followed, thereupon a smile
Revealing, by this utterance made response:

‘By discipline of holy life, restraint
And mastery of self: hereby a man
Is holy; this is holiness supreme I’