Classic Poem

Within the body lies the essence which the Vedas and the Puranas are seeking.
Within this body exists the entire Universe, so the sagacious Saints say.
Recluses, ascetics and monks are searching for Him in variegated garbs.
Rishis, munis and avdhoots lay stress on scriptures and holy books.
The learned of the world, puffed up with pride in their scholarly traditions, remain deluded by their erudition.
They delude the world through the practice of pilgrimage, fasting and charity;
They glorify bathing in holy waters and their gollowers bear the evil consequences.
They get lost in rituals and external observances and never can reach the destination.

Such is the state of people in this world
Who keep revolving in the cycle of eighty-four.
Only the Saints have attained the Ultimate, O Tulsi,
They obtain liberation who realize this truth.
The pedantic are engrossed in the practice of traditions,
And evermore, in their ego, are they enslaved by delusion

[Translation by S. L. Sondhi]