Baul Sangit Song 11

(1) keno bheker prayās? hoy akāla-bheke sarva-nāś ho’le citta-śuddhi, tattva-buddhi, bheka āpani ese’ hoy prakāś (2) bheka dhori’ ceṣṭā kore, bheker jvālāya śeṣe mare, neḍāneḍī chaḍāchaḍi, ākhaḍā beńdhe’ vās; akāla-kuṣmāṇḍa, jata bhaṇḍa, korche jīver sarva-nāś (3) śuka, nārada, catuḥsana, bheker adhikārī ha’na, tāń’der samān pārle ho’te bheke korbe āś bolo temana buddhi, citta-śuddhi ka’jana dharāya korche vās? (4) ātmānātma-suviveke, prema-latāya citta-bheke, bhajana-sādhana-vāriseke koroha ullās; cāńda-bāul bole, emana ho’le, ho’te pārbe kṛṣṇa-dās

(1) Why do you have so much desire for changing clothes? By prematurely changing clothes from those of a householder to those of a renunciant, all is destroyed. Only when one's consciousness is first purified, then the intelligence perceives transcendental truth, and finally the change of clothes will automatically come and be manifest in its time. (2) But when one makes an artificial endeavor to put on the clothes of an ascetic, then ultimately one perishes in the fever of that improper dress. Thus one becomes known as a member of the sect called Neda-Nedi, going about the town begging alms, and living at the meeting place called akhara. Such a worthless person, just like a pumpkin grown uselessly at an unsuitable time of year, finally destroys everything that would be good for their own soul. (3) The great sages Sukadeva Goswami, Narada Muni, and the four Kumaras are truly qualified to wear the dress of renunciants. One may desire to wear a dress similar to theirs as soon as one becomes as renounced as they are. Tell me who can develop the intelligence and purified heart of these great sages merely by wearing a particular garment? (4) In full knowledge of what is the soul and what is not of the soul, wearing the dress of a renunciant within your heart, just make your creeper of prema bloom by sprinkling it with the rainfall of bhajan-sadhana. Chand Baul says, when this occurs, then you will actually become Lord Krishna's servant.