रेखेचें गुंडाळें केलें । मात्रुकाक्षरीं शब्द जाले । शब्द मेळऊन चाले । श्लोक गद्य प्रबंद ॥ १ ॥

Lines drawn on paper became letters of the alphabet, letters joined to form words, and words came together to make verses, prose, and compositions.

वेदशास्त्रें पुराणें । नाना काव्यें निरूपणें । ग्रंथभेद अनुवादणें । किती म्हणोनि ॥ २ ॥

The Vedas, the scriptures, the Puranas, countless poems and expositions — how many kinds of texts and their retellings can one even enumerate?

नाना ऋषी नाना मतें । पाहों जातां असंख्यातें । भाषा लिपी जेथ तेथें । काये उणें ॥ ३ ॥

Countless sages hold countless views, beyond number if one tries to survey them; wherever there is language and script, nothing at all is lacking.

वर्ग ऋचा श्रुति स्मृति । अधे स्वर्ग स्तबक जाती । प्रसंग मानें समास पोथी । बहुधा नामें ॥ ४ ॥

Sections, verses, revealed scriptures, remembered texts, chapters, cantos, groupings, categories, occasion-based samas, and sacred texts — these works go by many such names.

नाना पदें नाना श्लोक । नाना बीर नाना कडक । नाना साख्या दोहडे अनेक । नामाभिधानें ॥ ५ ॥

Countless songs, countless verses, countless ballads and stanzas, countless couplets of every kind — such is the endless variety of literary forms.

डफगाणें माचिगाणें । दंडिगाणें कथागाणें । नाना मानें नाना जसनें । नाना खेळ ॥ ६ ॥

Songs sung to the drum, songs of the stage, ballad-songs, story-songs, songs of every fashion and every kind of performance — these too are forms of the same expanding speech.

ध्वनि घोष नाद रेखा । चहुं वाचामध्यें देखा । वाचारूपेंहि ऐका । नाना भेद ॥ ७ ॥

Sound, resonance, tone, and written line — looking across the four levels of speech, one finds countless distinctions within speech itself.

उन्मेष परा ध्वनि पश्यंति । नाद मध्यमा शब्द चौथी । वैखरीपासून उमटती । नाना शब्दरत्नें ॥ ८ ॥

The impulse first stirs in the para speech, takes on sound in pashyanti, form in madhyama, and finally emerges as spoken word in vaikhari, the fourth; from this vaikhari speech pour forth countless jewel-like words.

अकार उकार मकार । अर्धमात्राचें अंतर । औटमात्रा तदनंतर । बावन मात्रुका ॥ ९ ॥

From the root sounds of A, U, and M, through the interval of the half-measure and onward through three-and-a-half measures, the fifty-two letters of the alphabet come into being.

नाना भेद रागज्ञान । नृत्यभेद तानमान । अर्थभेद तत्वज्ञान । विवंचना ॥ १० ॥

Knowledge of countless musical modes, distinctions of dance, rhythm and melody, and the philosophy behind differences of meaning — speech can be examined through all these many aspects.

तत्वांमध्यें मुख्य तत्व । तें जाणावें शुद्धसत्व । अर्धमात्रा महत्तत्व । मूळमाया ॥ ११ ॥

Among all these principles, the chief one to recognize is pure sattva; and the great principle in the form of the half-measure is none other than the primal maya.

नाना तत्वें लाहानथोरे । मिळोन अष्टहि शरीरें । अष्टधा प्रकृतीचें वारें । निघोन जातें ॥ १२ ॥

Countless great and small principles combine to form the eight bodies; and in the end this very breath — the movement of the eightfold nature — departs from them.

वारें नस्तां जें गगन । तैसें परब्रह्म सघन । अष्ट देहाचें निर्शन । करून पाहावें ॥ १३ ॥

Just as when the wind is stilled only empty space remains, so too when all this subsides, only the dense, unbroken Absolute remains; one should thus dissolve and see through all eight bodies.

ब्रह्मांडपिंडौभार । पिंडब्रह्मांडसंव्हार । दोहिवेगळें सारासार । विमळब्रह्म ॥ १४ ॥

The expansion of both the cosmos and the individual body, and again their dissolution — beyond both of these, through discernment between the real and unreal, remains the pure, stainless Absolute.

पदार्थ जड आत्मा चंचळ । विमळब्रह्म तें निश्चळ । विवरोन विरे तत्काळ । तद्रूप होये ॥ १५ ॥

Objects are inert, the mind-self is restless, and the pure Absolute is unmoving; upon careful reflection on this, one instantly dissolves and becomes one with that Reality.

पदार्थ मनें काया वाचा । मी हा अवघाचि देवाचा । जड आत्मनिवेदनाचा । विचार ऐसा ॥ १६ ॥

Every object, the mind, the body, and speech — all of this is God's alone, one should hold this awareness; such is the manner of surrendering the inert, material self to God.

चंचळकर्ता तो जगदीश । प्राणीमात्र तो त्याचा अंश । त्याचा तोचि आपणास । ठाव नाहीं ॥ १७ ॥

The true doer behind all this restless activity is God alone, and every living being is but a portion of Him; yet we ourselves remain unaware of His true nature.

चंचळ आत्मनिवेदन । याचें सांगितलें लक्षण । कर्ता देव तो आपण । कोठेंचि नाहीं ॥ १८॥

The surrender of this restless self is made thus: God alone is the true doer of all, and there is nowhere any real "I" who does anything.

चंचळ चळे स्वप्नाकार । निश्चळ देव तो निराकार । आत्मनिवेदनाचा प्रकार । जाणिजे ऐसा ॥ १९ ॥

The restless world is like a dream, a mere appearance, while the unmoving God is formless; such is to be understood as this manner of self-surrender.

ठावचि नाईं चंचळाचा । तेथें आधीं आपण कैंचा । निश्चळ आत्मनिवेदनाचा । विवेक ऐसा ॥ २० ॥

When the restless world itself has no independent existence at all, how then could "I" exist prior to it? Such is the discernment behind surrender to the unmoving Reality.

तिहिं प्रकारें आपण । नाहीं नाहीं दुजेपण । आपण नस्तां मीपण । नाहींच कोठें ॥ २१ ॥

Examined through all three aspects — the inert, the restless, and the unmoving — no separate "I" remains at all; and if there is no "I," then no sense of "mine" can exist anywhere either.

पाहातां पाहातां अनुमानलें । कळतां कळतां कळों आलें । पाहातां अवघेंचि निवांत जालें । बोलणें आतां ॥ २२ ॥

Thus, through steady contemplation, all inference itself dissolved; through steady understanding, true knowing dawned; through steady seeing, everything became utterly still — now there is nothing more left to say.