Mandir or The Journey of the Soul

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In placing this little book of verses before the public t feel the need of saying a few explanatory words. The verses in the book are free renderings into English of certain poems from a book in the Bengali language called the Mandir or The Temple written by the late Swami Kiran Chand Darbesh of Shri Vijay Krishna Math, Banaras. The book in its entirety deals with the spiritual progress of Man in seven distinct stages and comprises many more poems than those translated. In my compilation, I have published translations of only sixty-three of them which nevertheless give some idea of the matter dealt with in the original book.

The great importance of these poems lies in the fact that they are not mere poetical imaginings; they record the actual realizations of one who had attained perfection and indicate the nature of the experiences which every seeker after union with God may expect to pass through in the course of his strivings towards spiritual emancipation.

One other matter. It is accepted as truth that no amount of human effort towards emancipation avails unless Divine Grace descends, and the human agency by which this Grace is communicated to one is the Satguru or the Divine One who appears in human form. In the poems He is first seen as the Porter who opens with His golden key the Gate leading to the Temple and starts the pilgrim on the Path. Then, on the dark and difficult Path, in moments of great peril and distress, He manifests as the Comrade with His hand stretched out in help. Lastly, at the end of the long road He appears as the Goal towards which the pilgrim had been Striving He was not only the Porter, not merely the Comrade but his Love throughout the ages. God and the Divine Name which is imparted to the neophyte as the embodiment of His Grace, and He who imparts the Name-these three are, in essence, one.