Pyare Darsan Deejo Aaj
प्यारे दरसन दिजो आज
मीराबाई के पद
Sri Meerabai was a great saint and devotee of Lord Krishna and arguably a mystic who hailed from North India. Meerabai’s love for Lord Krishna knew no worldly bounds and flowed out effortlessly and spontaneously like the celestial Ganges right from her heart. Meerabai composed many songs in Hindi which are but an external manifestation of the deep love for the Lord that she had nurtured. These songs besides being pregnant with devotion speak volumes of her unstinted devotion and dedication to the Lord, besides being profound in wisdom.
Meerabai’s compositions are in a dialect of Hindi which were in vogue some 500 years ago, besides being heavily influenced by Rajasthani or Rajput dialects, which is evident in her compositions.
Here is one of her more popular compositions entitled ‘pyare darsan deejo aaj’, literally meaning ‘O Dear! please give me your Darshan today’. For the benefit of people who do not know Hindi, a free English translation is also provided to follow the verses. I am grateful to Dr. N. S. Dakshinamurti, retd. professor of Sanskrit and Hindi, University of Mysore for guiding my in translating these verses, especially with certain archaic words. Along with the song and it’s free English translation, a beautiful and authentic rendering by Late Smt. M. S. Subbulakshmi in Basant Bahar Raga is also given.
