कखन हरब दुःख मोर हे भोलानाथ।
दुखहि जनम भेल दुखहि गमाओल
सुख सपनहु नहि भेल हे भोला।
एहि भव सागर थाह कतहु नहि
भैरव धरु करुआर हे भोलानाथ।
भन विद्यापति मोर भोलानाथ गति
देहु अभय बर मोहि हे भोलानाथ।
Kakhan harab dukh mor he Bholanath.
Dukhahi janam bhel dukhahi gamaol,
sukh sapanahu nahi bhel he Bhola.
Ehi bhav sagar thah katahu nahi,
Bhairav dharu karuar he Bholanath.
Bhan Vidyapati mor Bholanath gati,
dehu abhay bar mohi he Bholanath.
Meaning
When will you take away my sorrow, O Bholanath?
I was born in sorrow and have spent my life in sorrow; I have not known happiness even in a dream, O Bhola.
This ocean of worldly life has no bottom anywhere: Bhairava, take the oar, O Bholanath.
Says Vidyapati: Bholanath is my only refuge. Give me the boon of fearlessness, O Bholanath.
About this bhajan
Vidyapati’s songs to Shiva are called nachari, and this is the best loved. Mithila keeps a katha about him: Mahadev, pleased with his devotion, came to serve him in the form of a servant called Ugna, and the poet discovered it only by chance. The nachari is simple and direct, a tired man asking Bholanath, the easily pleased one, to take the oar. It is sung through Shravan and on Mahashivratri at Ugna Mahadev temple in Bhawanipur, Madhubani.
Vidyapati Padavali, nachari; text as on Kavita Kosh