Jeewana Kathare

In this desert of life // on this stage, why is this so?
grown greedy, grown greedy, in this life,
why is this so? //

In this desert of life

The refuge of everyone on the world’s surface // life veiled in a net of illusion,
your words, always, at every turn,
why is this so? //

In this desert of life

In debate and division, in anger and pride,
sunk in delusion // endlessly,
acting like players on this stage,
why is this so? //

In this desert of life

Building an unstable love in the heart,
life, because of it, is offered up untimely,
in this affliction, this span of life // why is this so?

This is a philosophical old classic, sung by the veteran Vivienne Boralessa, that looks hard at human life and asks, over and over, why. It calls life a jeewana kathara, a desert we wander, and a ragamadala, a stage on which we are all merely acting. Why, it keeps asking, are we so greedy, greedy, in this brief life?

Its diagnosis is drawn straight from Buddhist thought. Everyone on the face of the world is searching for refuge, it says, while life stays veiled in a net of maya, illusion. We spend ourselves in waada and bheda, endless debate and division, sunk in anger, pride, and delusion, playing our parts like actors who never step off the stage. The refrain “ayida me,” why is this, hangs over all of it like a sigh.

The closing verse names the cost. We build an unstable, impermanent love in the heart, and because of it life itself is offered up akaale, untimely, before its time. In this affliction, this short span of a lifetime, the singer asks one last time: why is this so? It is less a song than a meditation, an old and dignified lament on how much of a life is wasted on greed and illusion.