In stark contrast [to e. e. cummings’ love poetry - t.] is this short quatrain (in the Sanskrit) from Bhartrihari - a man who wrote fiery love poems in his youth and turned to the renunciation of worldly pleasures in his old age. The theme is not new - love can be terribly confusing - but the mode of expression is really charming and captures the frustration of the lover perfectly. A little gem, which grows on you as you read it a second time.

— Anustup

Biography

  born AD 570?, Ujjain, Malwa, India
  died 651?, Ujjain

Hindu philosopher and poet-grammarian, author of the Vakyapadiya (“Words in a Sentence”), regarded as one of the most significant works on the philosophy of language, earning for him a place for all time in the sabdadvaita (word monistic) school of Indian thought.

Of noble birth, Bhartrihari was attached for a time to the court of the Maitraka king of Valabhi (modern Vala, Gujarat), where most likely his taste for sensuous living and material possessions was formed. Following the example of Indian sages, he believed he must renounce the world for a higher life. Seven times he attempted monastic living, but his attraction to women caused him to fail each time. Though intellectually he presumably understood the transitory nature of worldly pleasures and felt a call to yoga and ascetic living, he was unable to control his desires. After a long self-struggle, Bhartrihari became a yogi and lived a life of dispassion in a cave in the vicinity of Ujjain until his death.

Bhartrihari entitled three of his works sataka (“century”): The Sringara (love) -sataka, Niti (ethical and polity) -sataka, and Vairagya (dispassion) -sataka. Although all three are attributed to him, only the first is regarded as his with certainty by most scholars. In another work sometimes attributed to Bhartrihari, the Bhatti kavya (“Poem of Bhatti”), he performs linguistic gymnastics to demonstrate the subtleties of Sanskrit.

– EB