गाळुनिया भाळींचे मोती Shedding pearls of sweat of their brow

 गाळुनिया भाळींचे मोती

Shedding pearls of sweat of their brow

हरीकृपेचे मळे उगविती
हरीकृपेचे मळे उगविती

 हरीकृपेचे मळे उगविती

They raise acres of orchards
of God´s most merciful Grace

जलदांपरि येउनिया जाती
Yet they appear and disappear like clouds

 जग ज्यांची न करी गणती

The world never even noticing their deeds

तेथे कर माझे जुळती
तेथे कर माझे जुळती
तेथे कर माझे जुळती

तेथे कर माझे जुळती.
I bow down before such noble visions

This ‘leela’ is from May 2004. It is early afternoon hot May sun. It is the season for quick appearance and disappearance of premonsoon dark clouds. This is Raiwadi beach. Mumbiram and Vrinda have walked from their residence in Raut Galli in Akshi. Here again the straw hat is the accessory that has been used as the prop needed for the costume drama that Mumbiram was spontaneously inspired to. The extraordinary noble poem that so amazingly fits the whole
episode was not explicitly on the minds of either Mumbiram or Vrinda. Mumbiram had encountered the poem over 40 years earlier when he was a young student in Pune.

Mumbiram’s artistic journey and his spiritual evolution have gone hand in hand. It is all about listening to the inner voices, the clues, that are coming as if from paramatma. Mumbiram’s dhoti is flying gracefully in the wind. Mumbiram wears the dhoti in the Bengali vaishnava mode, not the Maharashtra style. His kopri has a deep V-neck. It is custom-made for him by his tailor. He is having a second dhoti neatly folded along the length with balast knots on either end. These balast knots are Mumbiram´s hands-on invention. This second dhoti rests on his shoulders. It is used as an accessory that gives rhythm and timing to his walk much like a metronome. It comes handy when Mumbiram swings it around when he dances.

The whole ensemble is simple and functional. It is all plain white and pure cotton. The straw hat fits remarkably well in the otherwise all Indian outfit. That is because it is very functional. In Mumbiram’s hand it gets used in a most versatile manner. The noble poem fits not only the act that Mumbiram is inspired to but even the clouds and the sand and the wind. One can only say that lucky were they who saw this peacock dancing in the jungle.

The noble poem quoted here is by Balkrishna Bhagvant Borkar a timeless rasik Marathi poet from Goa. Here is the entire poem with our translation:
गाळुनिया भाळींचे मोती
हरीकृपेचे मळे उगविती
जलदांपरि येउनिया जाती
जग ज्यांची न करी गणती
तेथे कर माझे जुळती.
Shedding pearls of sweat of their brow
They raise acres of orchards
of God´s most merciful Grace
Yet they appear and disappear like clouds
The world never even noticing their deeds
I bow down before such noble visions
यज्ञीं ज्यांनी देउनि निजशिर
घडिले मानवतेचे मंदिर
परि जयांच्या दहनभूमिवर
नाहि चिरा नाही पणती
तेथे कर माझे जुळती.
Some offer selflessly
Even their very lives
In raising the Citadel of Humanity
Yet no lamp not even a stone
Commemorates their supreme sacrifice
I bow down before such noble visions
जिथे विपत्ती जाळी, उजळी
निसर्ग-लीला निळी काजळी
कथुनि कायसे काळिज निखळी
एकाची सगळी वसती
तेथे कर माझे जुळती.
Where natural calamity burns down but also lights up
Where the ashes and the soot
Tell a heart wrenching tale of heroism
And each one of God´s creation appears so unique
I bow down before such noble visions
मध्यरात्रि नभघुमटाखाली
शांति शिरी तम चवर्या ढाळी
त्यक्त, बहिष्कृत मी ज्या काळी
एकांती डोळे भरती
तेथे कर माझे जुळती.
In the middle of the night
Under the vast dome of the sky
When darkness is saluting the peace
When I am entirely abandoned and exiled
Tears swell up in solitude and
I bow low before those noble visions
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