Firt Installment

Heed me well, O my Mother, heed me well, Negligible perhaps be this service of mine, But heed well this puny Son! Nurtured at your breast, Blessed by your milk we were! Vast a debt we owe to you. My body as sacrifice in the blazing fire I offer, T'is but a first installment of this debt! Over and over in every lifetime, give this body I will, Into the holy pyre of your liberation. With Shri Krishna as the valiant charioteer, With Shri Ram as the Commander, Your army of thirty crores Will not halt if I be no more! Onward march they will to vanquish the Fiend- And atop the Himalayas, with their own hands, The Saffron flag of Freedom, hoist they will! [Translated by Anurupa Cinar]