Adorned in five-Coloured Garments

Sakhi ree mein to Girdhar ke rang rati

I am infused in the Lord’s hue, oh friend. Pray, get my garment dyed in five colours,¹ so I may go and play in the arbour. Within the alcove² I will meet my Master; shedding all falsity, I’ll sing in joy.³

The sun will perish, so too the moon; earth and sky will exist no more, air and water will also go; the Eternal alone will there be.

Of Surat and Nirat make the lamp,⁴ and let thy longing be the wick; in this lamp pour the oil from Love’s mart, day and night will it keep burning bright.

They write letters whose spouses are afar; my Beloved resides in my heart, I need go nowhere to search for Him.

I live not with my parents, nor with my in-laws. Ever do I live in the Word my Master blessed me with.

Not mine, nor thine is this house,⁵ oh friend; Mira lives absorbed in the Lord’s hue.

Mira Bai

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Footnotes: 1) The reference here is to the five Melodies of the Word or Sound Current. 2) The narrow path beyond the eye centre. 3) Continuing the imagery, Mira says that she will divest herself of the dress of false beliefs, which are a hindrance in going within and meeting the Master in His Radiant Form. 4) Surat and Nirat: The faculty of the soul to hear and see. 5) The human body, being perishable, should not be treated as ours; or may also be referring to the world, which is not lasting abode.