Regarding Sanatana Dharma ..

What is Sanatana Dharma?

Some say or even some traditional people will say that it is the 'four caste system'. Is it unilaterally true? That is to say, have all the sages down the time been uniformly meaning by the term sanatana dharma, this 'four-caste system'? When you read the old books and do some homework in the history of Hinduism, you can come easily to the conclusion that it is not so.

'Four-caste system' has been denoted by the term 'varna dharma' consistently. And 'varna dharma' has been decried or sidelined by many sages down the time. Even some eight hundred years before, in Sri Vaishnavism, Sri Azhagiyamanavalapperumal Nayanar, in his magnum opus 'Acharya Hrudayam' has categorically stated his uncompromising stand on this point. According to him, 'varna dharma' is not relevant to the society of prapannas (people who have surrendered their all to Sriman Narayana). He is juxtaposing 'Prapanna Kulam;' as against 'varna dharmam', saying among prapannas all are equal irrespective of caste, status, gender, educated or not, renunciate or householder. To even think of questions like caste with regard to Prapannas is a grave sin, unforgivable.

Like him there were many sages in the past and also after him there have been many jnanis who have been upholding that in Bhakti, humanity is one. Many poets and thinkers in Hindu society have been upholding this message of equality, the recent example being Mahakavi Bharathi.

Of course, if we want to be progressive-minded Hindus, we must choose to uphold this tradition of equality and bhakti, rather than falling prey to the notion of 'four-caste ideology'. Hinduism is not univoiced. It has these alternate voices, the voice of equality always sounding steady and persistent, thanks to great jnanis, sages, poets and thinkers.

I am giving here two quotes, one from Sage Vyasa and another from Muni Panchasikha. Both the quotes are from the old and found in the anthology, namely, Smrutimuktaphalam. I give these to illustrate my point that the real meaning of sanatana dharma has been something different, different from what people, whether they are traditionalists or otherwise, think.

Vyasa -

'satyam damas tapassaucham santOshO hree: kshamA Arjavam |

jnAnam samO dayA dhyAnam Esha dharma: sanAtana: ||'

Traanslation:

'Truthfulness, self-control, penance, cleanliness, happiness, shyness, forbearing, earnest in straightforwardness, wisdom, mental poise, compassion, meditativeness - these are indeed called sanatana dharma.'

Muni Panchasikha -

'bhOgEshu asakti: satatam tathaiva Atma avalOkanam - srEya: param, manushyANAm'

Translation - ' Always not being attached to pleasures and always intent on seeing one's own Self by meditation - this is the way to greatness for human beings. 

 

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What is the meaning of the word 'sanatana' really? When can we use the word 'sanatana'? The answer is given by Brahmavaivarta Purana, when it is extolling Devi or Divine Mother.

Also it gives explanations for so many things. Like, can Maya be called the giver of liberation? Why the Divine Mother is called Narayani? Why again is she called Sanatani? Let us see the slokas and their meanings.

'Maa' stands for moksha. ' yaa' means the giver. So she is extolled as mAyA, since she bestows moksha from the transmigratory existence.

Sanskrit - 

 

mAscha mOkshArtha vachanO yAscha prApaNa vAchaka: /

tam prApayati yA sadya: sA mAyA parikIrtitA // 

 

She incarnates as the half of the form of Narayana and she is the same as Narayana, in all his light. She resides always in the sareera of Narayana; hence she is thought of as Narayani. 

 

Sanskrit - 

 

nArAyaNArdhAnga bhUtA tEna tulyA cha tEjasA /

sadA tasya sarIrasthA tEna nArAyaNI smrutA // 

 

The word to denote 'nirguna' and 'nitya' ( beyond qualities, existing for ever) is the word ' sanatana'. So since she is beyond qualities and always existing, she is extolled and praised as 'Sanatani'. 

 

Sanskrit - 

 

nirguNasya cha nityasya vachakascha sAnAtana: /

sadA nityA nirguNA yA kIrtitA sA sanAtanI // 

 

( Brahmavaivarta Purana, krishna-janma-kanda, ch 27, slokas 28, 29, 30) 

 

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What is the basis of Sanatana Dharma?

Vayu Purana says :

'Adroham, greedlessness, self-restraint, compassion to beings, penance, pursuing the path of God renouncing desires, truthfulness, sympathy and empathy, forbearance, fortitude - these are the basis of the Sanatana Dharma, which requires great effort.'

Sanskrit -

adrOhaschApi alObhascha damO bhUtadayA tapa: /

brahmacharyam tathA satyam anukrOsa: kshamA dhruti: /

sanAtanasya dharmasya mUlam Etat durAsadam//

(Vayu Purana 57. 116) 

 

A super thought showing the essential nature of Hinduism, namely ' even though it is one path yet it has multiple forms suited to the nature and choice of devotees' is contained in this prayer of Visvanara to Bhagavan Siva. This comes in Siva Purana, Satarudra Samhita, ch 13, slokas 42, 43

Visvanara said : Brahman is one and hence It is called unique. It is all. True, true, other than It there is nothing else here. There is One Rudra no second thing. Therefore I take refuge in you, Mahesa.

Sanskrit -

Ekam brahma Eva advitIyam samastam

satyam satyam nEha nAnAsti kinchit /

EkO rudra: na dvitIya: avatasthE

tasmAt Ekam tvAm prapadyE mahEsam //

You are the doer, and destroyer of all things. O Sambhu! Being really formless, and having unique form, you remain the same in different forms, just like Sanatana Dharma, even though one and unique, is the same in different forms. Therefore I am taking refuge only in Thee, in whatever way .

kartA harttA tvam hi sarvasya

sambhO nAnArUpEshu EkarUpa: api arUpa: /

yadvat pratyak dharma Eka: api anEka:

tasmAt nAnyam tvAm vinEsam prapadyE //

Remembering Swami Vivekananda's Chicago Speech

* 

What is the Sanatanam Guhyam? The eternal mystery?

chittam Eva hi samsaram tat prayatnEna sOdhayEt /

yas chitta: tanmayO bhavati guhyam Etat sanAtanam //

Once own mind is the world. With effort let one cleanse it. What a person thinks of, that very thing that person becomes. This is the eternal mystery, sanatanam guhyam.

( Maitri Upanishad, VI 34) 

 

* 

 

Let us pay heed to the ever new voice of the old Rishis! -

' That great Divinity gives us spiritual strength.

That very Divinity gives us strength physical and all other strengths.

It is verily that great Divinity that everything ( viswa) worships,

Also That the devas worship too.

Immortality and death are just contained within the shadow of That Divine.

Who else can be the great Divinity whom we can worship by offering our thought, word, deed ! '

Sanskrit:

' ya AtmadA baladA yasya viswa

upAsatE prasisham yasya dEvA: /

yasya chAyAmrutam yasya mrutyu:

kasmai dEvAya havishA vidhEma // '

( Rig Veda X, 121, 2)

Is that Divinity for all to worship or is it for only some? A mantra in Sama Veda answers :

' Come one and all ( viswa) !

Gather your spiritual power of resolution

And let us all go together to that great Divinity, who is the Unique One,

And has come to us people's guest.

Even though that great Divinity is very ancient

It desires always who come anew ( and so never hesitate)

To that great Divinity alone all the paths lead into.

And that Divinity is verily Uniquely One! '

Sanskrit:

' samEta viswA OjasA patim divO

ya Eka id bhar atithirjanAnAm /

sa pUrvyO nUtanam AjigIshan

tam vartanIr anu vAvruta Eka it'. //

( Sama Veda, Purvarchikam, ninth decad, 3; pp 25 in svAdhyAya mandal edition) 

 

Let us salute our great land along with these sages

'தென்குமரி வடபெருங்கல்

குணகுடகடலா எல்லை

குன்று, மலை, காடு, நாடு

ஒன்றுபட்டு வழிமொழியக்

கொடிது கடிந்து, கோல் திருத்திப்

படுவது உண்டு, பகல் ஆற்றி

இனிது உருண்ட சுடர்நேமி

முழுதாண்டோர் வழி காவல! .. '

Eng:

' You are protecting this land,

Coming in the line of such rulers

Who ruled this land fully

Extending from Kumari in the South

To the great mountains in the North

Encompassed by seas in the East and the West

All in unison approving in common pursuit

Chastising evil, maintaining straight the sceptre of justice,

Sustaining by the just portions of taxes,

Administering unswayed by likes and dislikes

With the cycle of shining good governance running smoothly,

That is how the rulers, your forefathers also administered this great land! ..'

( Purananooru, 17, sung by Kurunkozhiyur Kizhar , Sri U V S ed 2 with old commentary)

' This land which extends north of the ocean and which lies south of the Himavat or Himalaya mountains, this varsha is called Bharath by name and the people living there are called Bharatis by name.'

Sanskrit:

'uttaram yat samudrasya Himavat dakshiNam cha yat

varsha yat bhAratam nAma yatrEyam bhArathI prajA .'

( Vayu Purana, ch 45, slokas 75, 76)

Srirangam Mohanarangan 

 

***

 

Reading Critically helps you in religious faith !

Social customs come down the time and the customs are codified at some point of time. Power, influence, convenience, dominance and necessity may all play into the process. The social customs may become institutes and laws. May be all the customs may not be codified but the common features definitely are. As long as the social customs remain something social they will be subjected to analysis and debate and legal discussions. Whether such customs persist depend on whether the customs reflect the present human experience and social sagacity. Democracy, individual rights and education will safeguard this dynamic process. But bringing the topics of social customs and practices into the domain of devotion and faith in God is shifting them from an area of debate to blind submission, impervious to any realistic perceptions. 

Actually, if you think about it, faith in the Divine is something too personal to an individual. In moments of life when all human efforts fail, the heart internally pangs for the grace, for the guiding hand of the Beyond. It is not tutored by any expressed creed. But when the same simple faith goes into organized religious rigmarole the stress is slowly shifted towards social and domestic customs and preserving their status quo. So sometimes it becomes all too necessary to protect one's own simple faith in the Divine from getting lost in the standardized narrations of creeds imbued with the social concerns and agendas. Critical reading of the devotional texts go a long way to preserve the sanctity and purity of one's own faith. Criticism is not just an arrant denial of the faith position as such. It is reading the texts in such a way that the faith position is recovered from any attempts of sabotage. The social agendas make the faith positions serve as justifications and excuses for furthering the social customs and practices belonging to some opportune periods. 

Ramayana is a great religious text and it has been read again and again in all periods of time and places. Rama has been the inspiration shaping not only individuals but also vast cultures and nations. Against all evil stands the name of Ram in the minds of common people. Just uttering the name Ram makes one pure is the simple faith throbbing in the hearts of millions and millions of people. Ram is the great name of equality. The hunter can become the brother of Rama, the apes can become his bosom friends, bears his well-wishers. Rama goes in search of Sabhari to pay his respects to her. Sabhari is born in a caste considered low in the eyes of dharma sastras. But in the eyes of Rama Sabhari is 'brahmajnani'. He is not just a prince of palaces. He is a prince in the hearts of the common people. Every person, young or old, male or female, thinks of Rama as one's own. This is the picture we get in the Ayodhya, Aranya, Kishkinta and Sundara Kandams. 

Not only was Rama, but also his father Dasarata had been such a person. By mistake when Dasarata's arrow kills a young hermit, Dasarata goes in person and narrates his own fault and awaits whatever punishment may be awarded to him by the dying young man. The young hermit, as per his own statements, was born of a sudra mother and vaishya father. These unnecessary thoughts of parentage never pose a problem for Dasarata, for he is respecting the young hermit for his austerities. In all these instances both Dasarata and Rama don't look into the caste details and the caste does not play any part in their reverence towards the ascetics. How then, suddenly in the Uttara Kanda, the last book of Ramayana, Rama is portrayed totally in a different jarring light? Actually in the Sambhuka instance the portrayal of Rama is not that of a character that comes down the long narration from Ayodhya, but an artifice of simulation that works out the design of four castes and the supremacy of Brahmin caste, as intended by the interpolators. The portrayal is so much at variance with the character of Rama that we get through the Ayodhya Kandam to Sundara Kandam. 

But for some people, it is hard to digest that interpolations could have been there in ancient books of tradition and devotion, even if those happen to be epics, which are even at the outset described as having grown through ages in the number of verses. To set such doubts at rest we shall look into an example. In Ayodhya Kanda, Bharata goes in search of Rama to the forests and on meeting Rama, Rama makes a lot of enquiries regarding various matters and aspects. Jabhali, a great Rishi who has accompanied Bharata along with Vasishta, begins to talk atheism and materialism with the motive of making Rama change his resolve to stay in the forests in obedience to the father's command and return back to Ayodhya. Rama becomes angry with Jabhali and condemns his words. And while replying to Jabhali, Rama is making a reference to Buddha, condemning Buddha's teachings and Buddhism. Now a problem crops up. If Rama is critical about Buddha, then Rama should have been later in time to Buddha. If Rama is earlier than Buddha how can Rama express criticisms about Buddha?. If the criticisms come as part of the poet's own thoughts and observations, then we can say even though Rama was earlier than Buddha, the poet who sang about Rama belonged to the times later than Buddha and so the poet has expressed his own misgivings. But if the words come as part of Rama's talk, then the problem becomes acute. In this case, we cannot say that even the poet was later in time. For, Valmiki was a contemporary of Rama. So the only conclusion possible will be that some persons at later times wanted to register their strong criticisms against Buddhism and Buddha and hence they should have interpolated suitable verses into the conversations of Rama, so that when the criticisms come directly from Rama's mouth it will serve their intentions much more effectively. It seems diachronism was not an issue after all for those who interpolated. But in Baroda Oriental Institute, they collected some 2000 manuscripts from all the parts of India and on that basis they arrived at the critical edition of Ramayana. In that edition they have not included these verses from the  mouth of Rama, condemning Buddha. Their conclusion is that these verses are interpolations. 

So, we cannot rule out interpolations per se. Interpolations may be due to more than one cause. The contemporary adulatory situations or criticisms may provide one cause. Or over-enthusiastic efforts to make some social customs unchanging by taking them out of debatable avenues may provide yet another cause. Sometimes interpolations may be positive, in the sense, that actually the additions may serve more as embellishments of original ideas, but all the while true to the core concepts. Such additions do not pose much of a problem, because they serve devotional purposes and enhance the faithful involvement in the divine. They can be viewed with aesthetic empathy. But the negative interpolations, which serving only the social agendas, mostly at the cost of faith and devotion, should be identified by vigilant critical reading. 

The interpolation of Sambhuka episode collapse the whole character of Rama, which is developed so aesthetically by Valmiki from Ayodhya Kandam to Sundara Kandam. Not only that, it is brutally opposite to what we see of Rama in the Sabhari epidsode, what we see of Rama in the episodes of Guha, Vanaras, etc. And the Sambhuka episode serves only one purpose, extolling the system of four castes and the supremacy of brahmin caste, whereas Rama has been singularly unconcerned about caste issues while meeting ascetics like Sabhari. The portrayal of Rama in the Sambhuka episode is that of an artifice of extra-epical designs and concerns. It is not in line with the character so far pictured in the epic. But this episode should have been interpolated into the text very early in the revised formations of the text, for, it is referred to even by Kulasekara Alwar. So finding out what portion is an interpolation can take into account many points. Besides textual exegesis, faith and devotion can also provide a standard to detect what is an  interpolation. 

Smrutis or the statutes they contain are not my  concern. For, long ago, nearly a millennium ago, when Sri Alagiyamanavalapperumal Nayanar wrote against Varna Dharmis in his magnum opus, Acharya Hrudayam, upholding the equality of Prapanna Kulam, even from that time onward, the theory of castes has lost its raison d'etre, so to say. As long as such opinions of social customs and practices continue in the society, they are subjected to debate and legal rational analysis and public consensus. Democracy and good education can safeguard the people against any attempts of social hegemony. My main concern here is contaminating the field of faith and divine devotion by interpolating the ideas of social customs and practices into the devotional texts. That too, putting words into the mouths of divine incarnations is a veritable sacrilege of pure faith and devotion. 

The natural faith inherent in the human soul rises in agony and sends fervent prayers to the divine. The Divine by its nature and definition is something beyond all sorts of human imperfections and failures of character. The Divine incorporates all the greatest values ever conceived by humans. Naturally, any human being, however much that person is evil or bad, repents and surrenders himself to the divine. This simple faith functions as the natural correction available to humankind in its mad rush of social competitions. Contaminating that simple faith by interpolations is doing havoc down the generations. This should be vigilantly detected and checked by any person of sincere faith and devotion. 

If we peruse through our epics and puranas, we find wonderful compositions of faith and devotion. At the same time we find jarring notes of these interpolations of social agendas, that too put directly into the mouths of the great jnanis and divine incarnations. We saw the instance of Rama. In the divine incarnation of Sri Krishna also we find similar invasions of the simple faith by social agendas and words being put into the mouth of the divine incarnation. It is usual for people to quote Sri Krishna's words in the Gita in support of the four-varnas system. 'When Sri Krishna himself says that it is he who has created the four varnas, then who can object to it' - is the attitude that lurks behind such people who quote such slokas in support. But really, are you sure that Sri Krishna could have told such opinions? Because in his young age this very same Krishna is portrayed in Sri Bhagavatam, as asking Nanda, regarding some preparations of worship that Nanda and other Gopas were making. When told that such preparations were intended for doing yajna to Indra, Krishna objects to that. On that occasion Krishna is observing that the society functions in terms of the four varnas doing their functions, namely, Brahmins chanting Vedas, Kshatriyas protecting lands etc. When such is the case, how can the same Krishna when he becomes grown up can say to Arjuna that it was he who created the four varnas, whereas  in his young age he finds the four varnas already functioning in society? If not interpolating, then what is this? 

May be, some may venture to answer that Krishna was speaking in the Gita in the divine mood of Paramatma and hence he says, as the creator of the universe he has created the social divisions. But the commentators explain what is creation. The Almighty is not creating each and every aspect. It is only starting the primordial process of creation. Afterwards the objects by their nature and the souls by the effect of their karmas reach their respective name and form and division and divergence. So even in that case there is no necessity of Paramatma creating particularly anything, since the objects and souls attain as per their nature and karma their difference in name and stations and forms. But some may say here that I am after all comparing two different texts, Sri Bhagavatam and Mahabharatam. No problem. Let me do it with the same text, Mahabharatam. 

Let us take an example from the same Mahabharatam itself. That too, the important parva, Santi Parvam and that too, Moksha Dharmam. In Moksha Dharmam, Baradwaja is asking a question to Bhrugu Rishi regarding the admixture of castes, seemed to have happened already, as evidenced by the different colors that are seen in all varnas. How to specify any specific varna? For that, when Brugu answers, he says that Brahmam (the Absolute Soul) while creating created all as one. There were no different varnas. Differences later came about in the society because of the actions of beings. Now, what happens to the Gita slokas that come out of the mouth of Sri Krishna when compared with these? In the self-same Mahabharata, Krishna cannot be saying one thing and Bhrugu cannot be saying a different thing. And what Bhrugu says is the natural concept that the Divine has nothing to do with what the society has done unto itself. A clear instance of interpolation of the varna concept, words put into the mouth of Sri Krishna himself. Whether you want to think that Sri Krishna in the state of God-mood has said this or whether you may like to argue that Sri Krishna actually did it during his lifetime, creating this four-varna system, both ways, it does not match the records or the concurrent views expressed. We do not come to know that there was any period during the time of Sri Krishna when there arose a necessity for somebody to install any new system like four-varnas in the extant versions of Mahabharata.

Also Vayu Purana, one of the early puranas as per researches on chronology, has an interesting reference in this regard. In chapter 57 while narrating the starting of yajna practice as such, the following sloka says that varnasrama system was brought in at the start of Treta Yuga. 

kalAkyAyAm pravruttAyAm prAptE trEtA yugE tadA | 

varNAsraama vyavasthAnam krutavantascha vai puna: | 

'... the incursion of one named Kala having ensued, and the Tretayuga having arrived, they-again made the classification and arrangement of the castes and stages of life'. 

This comes as a part of the question by Samsapayana. Answering him, Suta says that Indra started this varna system at the beginning of Treta Yuga. So the varna-system was not created by God at the beginning of creation. 

All these things go to prove only one thing. That critical reading is never a hindrance to our innate simple faith and devotion but protects such faith and devotion, from getting lost in contradictions, due to unrelated acts of interpolations, which merely serve the agendas of the perpetrators. Divinity is beyond any human frailty. Divinity always considers the beings as equal. Divinity is the repository of all the greatest values possible to humankind. Anything which comes between such Divinity and the hearts of human souls and anything which distorts such faith due to whatever ulterior motive, should be vigilantly detected and checked by resorting to critical reading and thinking. Remembering the basic nature of faith and devotion, remembering the basic universal concept of what divinity is, can be a guiding light in the dark. Bhakti should never be allowed to become a scapegoat in such exercises of textual interpolations. If we understand the concept of the Divinity, simple and pure, it will provide us a valid tool to detect agendas and aggrandizing artifices and intrusions. 

Srirangam Mohanarangan 

***

Notes of referrences : 

1. Dasarata meeting the arrow-struck young ascetic -- 

Ayodhya Kandam - sarga 63 - Dasarata recapitulating the curse he incurred and narrating it to Kausalya 

2.Rama meeting Sabhari - Aranya Kanda - sarga 74 

3.Rama talking to Jabhali - slokas ref to Buddha not being included in Critical Edition of Ramayana, Baroda. Reason given - Ayodhya Kanda, pp 513 of English Translation. 

4.Sri Krishna in the Gita about the creation of four varnas - Adhyaya 4 sloka 13. 

5.Sri Ramanuja's commentary on Gita ch 4 sloka 13, 14 - 'svagata prAchInakarma saktyA Eva hi dEvadivastubhavam nIyatE iti artha:' 

6.Sri Krishna's conversation, while he was young, with Nandagopa in Srimad Bhagavatam, Skanda X, ch 24, sloka 20 describing the four varnas and their functions - 'varttEta brahmaNA viprO rAjanyO rakshayA bhuva: | vaisyastu vArtayA jIvEt sUdrastu dvijasEvayA ||' 

7.Bhrugu Rishi's answer to Bharadwaja - Mahabharatam, Santi Parvam, Moksha Dharmam, ch 189, sloka 10 - 

na visEsha: asti varNAnAm Sarvam brAhmam idam jagat | 

brhmaNA pUrva srushtam hi karmabhi: varNatAm gatam || 

( Bhrigu said —
There is in fact no distinction between the different castes. The whole world at first consisted of Brahmanas. Created equally by Brahman, men have, on account of their acts, been divided into various castes. - M N Dutt translation ) 

Srirangam Mohanarangan

Teerthams - Sanctifying waters

Holy places which sanctify us are generally called Teerthams. The Sanskrit word has the advantage of a double meaning in a single word. Teertham is water. Teertham is purifying. Sages who purify the human souls by their contact, by their teachings and even by the simple appearance of their devoted and sincere living of compassion, are called Teerthas. 

Jabala darsana upanishad, one of the hundred plus upanishads, describes Teertham in its own way. It wants to lay stress on the yogic aspect and draws our attention to the yogic perception that the great Teerthams like Kasi, Prayag, etc all exist in our own bodies. Only thing is we must know how to visit them in our own bodies through yoga. It is really a different perspective. We stand to benefit by when we begin to think in that line. Even when we visit the external Teerthams, if we combine this yogic attitude along, we will stand to gain much more by our own inner richness. 

srI parvatam sira: stAnE kEdAram tu lalAtakE | 

vArANasIm mahAprAjna bhruvOrgrAnasya madhyamE || 

(Approached in the yogic way) Sri Parvata or Sri Saila is in the head. Kedar is in the forehead. O! Mahaprajna! Varanasi is in the junction of the nose and the two eyebrows. 

krukshEtram kuchastAnE prayAgam hrutsarOruhE | 

chidambaram tu hrunmadhyE AdhArE kamalAlayam || 

In the chest is Krukshetram, Prayaga is in the heart lotus. Chidambaram is in the middle of the heart. Kamalalayam is in the muladharam. 

AtmatIrtham samutsrujya bahistIrthAni yO vrajEt | 

karastam sa mahAratnam tyaktvA kAcham vimArgatE || 

The person who goes about visiting external holy places, not paying attention to the holy places that exist in once own self is like the one who throws away the precious stone at hand and searches through mere glass-pieces. 

bhAvatIrtham param tIrtham pramANam sarva karmasu. 

tIrthAni tOyapUrNAni dEvAnkAshtAdinirmitAn. 

yOginO na prapUjyantE svAtmapratyayakAraNAt. 

For all authentic purposes Teerthams attained by yogic mental attitude are the best Teerthams. Yogis always resort to such Teerthams and seldom they take to places consisting of water, wood-work and constructions. 

bahistIrthAt param tIrtham antastIrtham mahAmunE | 

AtmatIrtham mahAtIrtham anyattIrtham nirarthakam || 

Greater than external holy places are the holy places internal. The great Teertham ever is the Atman. Without this other places are meaningless. 

Srirangam Mohanarangan 

***

The flute unites ..

O! Krishna! 

Your flute unites all the beings 

Into one divine worship of music; 

But the bamboos divide, 

The bamboo becomes the palanquin 

The bamboo becomes the stretcher pall-bearing 

The bamboo becomes the pillars of wanton pandals 

The bamboo by friction burns into ashes 

But your flute unites all the beings in eternal living; 

How you chose and when 

The tender bamboo shoot 

and made it a seven tongued fire of music 

calling the souls to you 

and cajoling their egos to submission!

Bamboos divide and burn in waste; 

But a tender bamboo shoot 

picked by a cowherd lad 

unites all into one eternal religion 

of meditative celebration! 

It has been all in this waste of woods 

that some bamboos divide and burn 

and perhaps a tender shoot 

becoming a flute in thine hands 

unite all the souls 

into one religion of love. 

Srirangam Mohanarangan 

***

Book in my heart..

O! Krishna! 

It is better I read 

Your book in my heart 

What you have written there 

Through my cries and joys 

Through my darkness and light 

In the blood of my experience. 

I somehow close that book 

And begin to believe all the books outside. 

At last what you have written in my heart 

Surfaces and stands true the tests of time. 

Scriptures outside pass through 

times, hands and moods. 

We have to do a lot of hermeneutics 

To arrive at what you said at first; 

There again we blurr and lead astray 

Our pen of decipher. 

we are too good in losing; 

we are too fragile in facing the truth; 

we believe in falsehoods 

and try to tutor the truth to follow suit; 

again, again we crash down 

to our barest minimum 

only to smuggle up afresh; 

Ignorance is our happy game; 

but it has become our sorry bane. 

Ignorance keeps us thrilled 

lurking in endless waste; 

But ignorance! that is one thing you cannot; 

somehow that gives me a kick to think of. 

You were waiting for me to give up all nonsense 

But I have come to you with all my stock of it. 

I do not know how to do my homework; 

you have to take me up in your hands. 

Srirangam Mohanarangan 

***

Your smile, a parallax?

O! Krishna! 

Sometimes I feel 

I should have pitched my goal 

Somewhere visibly 

Rather than up there beyond 

in some unspecified reach. 

Mathematics was growing in my love; 

Physics theory was catching me once; 

Visible goals give you pep 

When reached and after; 

But this beyond is always a non-starter 

In your backyard 

But all the time bewitches you to get in 

And gives you illusions of super-reaches; 

Sort of a drug? who knows? 

Even now if I get in 

I forget all these grievings 

And bless me for the choice and perseverance. 

But, one has to see somethings tangible you know! 

Sowing in the unseen, reaping in the beyond, 

Tasting the transcendent, 

But the being's stomach is resolutely stoic. 

Either the transcendent becomes tangible 

Or the concrete becomes the abstract, 

If neither is possible, 

Then is your smile just a parallax ? 

Srirangam Mohanarangan 

***

Mysticism of my ignorance ...

O! Krishna! 

Every day the life moves on. 

What all I did till yesterday 

Is now thrusting forward. 

Karma is having its momentum. 

But I am craving for your grace. 

For what? Is it to escape 

this accumulated force edging from inside out, 

back towards future? 

Is it to escape from what I did? 

I do not know, just like 

I did not know fully 

What I was doing when I was doing. 

I am now in ignorance when I pray 

As I was in ignorance when I was doing 

Many things; 

Ignorance is not that I was not aware 

But aware and unaware, 

Knowing a bit 

Knowing not other things; 

From ignorance to ignorance 

I creep through time, just as a reptile. 

But I do not tell you all these 

To justify or plead my case; 

This is what has been, 

What is happening 

And perhaps what may be continuing; 

I call you Krishna. 

Do I know who are you fully? 

No. Except for some stories and ideas 

Picked up while growing; 

You may perhaps laugh 

when I tell you all those things; 

But the comprehensive whole, 

conscious and caring and forgiving 

is how I think about you, 

when I call you Krishna. 

You may not be having 

any peacock feather 

any flute, any blue colour, 

Or you may be all colours 

or beyond any colour; 

But you are the all comprehensive whole 

conscious and caring and forgiving 

is all that I know. 

This knowledge I got 

through my ignorance, 

necessity of my imperfections, 

and the unknown fate hanging 

as death and beyond; 

My ignorance has taught me; 

My hopes have assured me; 

My fates have authorised 

This knowledge about you. 

Not through Vedanta I have come to know you 

But through my own ignorance 

and hope and fate. 

Myths may change 

beliefs may go 

But the mysticism of my ignorance, 

Hope and fate can never falsify me. 

This mysticism - is the offshoot of the same earth 

which has given birth to me,

an ignorant being of earth. 

Srirangam Mohanarangan 

***

A problem ..

O! Krishna! 

I have a problem with people 

Who say that silence is better than the word. 

If somebody says that 

I hear animals, plants and stones and stellar dust 

Having a hearty laugh at them. 

Silence is silence, that too 

If thinking is running through it all. 

Unthinking, mute and clipped-mind frozen - 

I don't see anything great in that. 

Just a regression sad, self-chosen. 

Consciousness made word is the first incarnation; 

Unincarnated transcendence, what is it to whom? 

Even transcendence presumes 

Something available and tangible to transcend. 

But you may say: word fails the thought. 

To succeed is the chase 

And failing is happy when the chase is not closed. 

And the great secret is : 

All transcendence, super-natural and cosmic beyond - 

All things are just habitations of meanings 

Structured in the word, of the word and by the word. 

So give me a word! 

Srirangam Mohanarangan 

***