SWVVKA X KHANDANA BHAVA BANDHANA

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Here is the classic English translation of the Khandana Bhava Bandhana by Christopher Isherwood and Swami Prabhavananda.

This version is uniquely powerful because it preserves the rhythmic intensity of Swami Vivekananda’s original Bengali, while perfectly articulating the Advaitic transition from the "psychosomatic apparatus" to "Impersonal Consciousness."

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Breaker of This World’s Chain

The Hymn of Liberation

Breaker of this world’s chain,

We adore Thee, whom men love.

Spotless, control Thy mind;

Our minds are troubled and dark.

Free from the law of birth,

Thou art Knowledge divine, not flesh.

Thee we adore.

Thou art the Light of lights,

Shining in the heart’s black cave.

Burn up our heavy dross,

Cast out the clouds of the soul.

Thou art the world’s great sea;

We are the waves on Thy breast.

Thee we adore.

Thou art the Truth of truths,

Limitless, beyond compare.

Pure and untouched by sense,

Beyond the gunas three.

Dwell in our hearts today,

Filling our lives with Thy peace.

Thee we adore.

Maker of all things new,

Lord of the world’s deep heart.

Teach us to love and serve,

Give us the strength to be free.

Breaker of this world’s chain,

We adore Thee, whom men love.

Thee we adore.

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BGT: Contextual Breakdown

• Bullet Point: The "Heart’s Black Cave" represents the Noumenon—the dark, unmanifest potential from which the light of consciousness (Phenomenon) emerges.

• Gist: The poem describes the Guru/Divine not as a person, but as the principle that "shatters" the illusion of the "pseudo-subject" (the "me") by revealing that we are the "waves on Thy breast" and not separate entities.

• Tagline: A surrender of the part to the Whole.

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A Note on the "Gunas Three"

In the third stanza, Isherwood translates Vivekananda’s reference to being Trigunatita (beyond the three gunas). To reach the "Absolute Absence" you mentioned, one must transcend:

1. Sattva: Balance/Light (the "golden chain").

2. Rajas: Activity/Passion (the "silver chain").

3. Tamas: Inertia/Darkness (the "iron chain").

Even the "good" qualities (Sattva) are considered part of the "chain" that must be broken to return to the Noumenon.

Would you like to explore the Nirvana Shatakam next? It is a six-verse chant by Adi Shankaracharya that uses "Neti, Neti" (Not this, not that) to systematically strip away the psychosomatic apparatus.