On September 11th

I like Bharathi
I like Vivekananda
Today I think of both
Today is linked with both
Today you can remember the poet
Today you can read again the great speech at Chicago
Human kindness
Universal harmony
What else is the ultimate goodness of the planet
The poet
The philosopher
This day is deep.
Srirangam Mohanarangan

Navarathri - what is it?

God is described as The Infinite Existence, Knowledge cum Bliss . Satchidananda. It is in the noumenal and transcendent state. The same God while creating and sustaining this universe is viewed as Divine Mother. Her three aspects of Infinite Existence, Knowledge cum Bliss are worshipped as Sakthi, Lakshmi and Saraswati on the nine nights of Navarathri. Nava - nine rathri - night. Golu is symbolic of the entire universe or creation. From childhood it is taught how to view the whole universe as suffused with Divinity. This Golu is one such ritual to inculcate this awareness. 

Usually it is like this. Typical of various creatures like bipeds, quadrupeds, birds, men, mythical persons, great leaders, wonderful objects like this a wide representation of art and thanks. There is no fixed rule. It is left to the creativity of children esp girls. In the western countries they discovered the kindergarten system only in the 19th ce. But in our country this kindergarten principle is followed from time immemorial. Bharathiar has sung a song signifying all these ideas. You see this is the ancient way of infusing philosophical awareness by child play, ritual, group chanting and so on. In places like Kolkata they chant Divine Mother's glory called Devi Mahatmyam. It is also called Chandi.
Srirangam Mohanarangan
***

George Eliot and Sri Ramakrishna

Texts and writing are really intriguing. Sometimes you tend to think of them as mysterious, not without sufficient reasons. Whenever January comes, the thought of Swami Vivekananda becomes loud (and don't ask me when it was mild) in recurrence. The combination of December coolness, the expectation of the New Year and afterwards the charm of the newly born are all playing ascending notes to the symphony of the great Hindu standing tall over time. And naturally you begin to think of Dakshineswar, the Ganges and the room of Thakur. What would have Naren seen in that village holy man and what would have made this college boy to take bold decisions and bolder steps! But you will not expect similar sentiments expressed in remote writings, which will concur with you to the letter. Yea I am saying about the writings of George Eliot. Who is she in this context! But why her words are so resonating in this mood? When she writes in her 'Scenes of clerical life' - 

"Blessed influence of one true loving human soul on another! Not calculable by algebra, not deducible by logic, but mysterious, effectual, mighty as the hidden process by which the tiny seed is quickened, and bursts forth into tall stem, and broad leaf, and glowing tasselled flower. Ideas are often poor ghosts; our sun-filled eyes cannot discern them; they pass athwart us in thin vapour, and cannot make themselves felt. But sometimes they are made flesh; they breathe upon us with warm breath, they touch us with soft responsive hands, they look at us with sad sincere eyes, and speak to us in appealing tones; they are clothed in a living human soul, with all its conflicts, its faith, and its love. Then their presence is a power, then they shake us like a passion, and we are drawn after them with gentle compulsion, as flame is drawn to flame."
(Scenes from clerical life, George Eliot) 

A drunken man sees twice; a man afraid sees his own fear and what is wrong in a devoted seeing his devotion everywhere?
Srirangam Mohanarangan 

***

Mosquito and Consciousness

When you are deep into some work, then the mosquitoes start to rub your skin. The rubbing alerts you and you sway a bat. Mosquitoes are creatures which never connect these two actions. On the range of the moment they begin to interact with their immediate situations. When they find a lazy leg they start playing. But it is inviting their own death sweep is a matter they never connect. May be they learn some alternatives like which way to take flight to escape getting caught, but all such things are based on immediate situations. Whereas some other beings which are more endowed react in different ways and evince different levels, which sometimes are simulative enough for us to read as conscious activities. 

Consciousness is in the essence connecting different points in our time, in our actions, in our surroundings. A big and intricate memory is involved, pattern recognition always being bettered continuously. Deduction, speculation and induction are various items in our toolkit. So we read and so the meaning occurs to us as human beings. In most instances of persons this remains a high possibility and never realised to any justifiable level. Connecting things, connecting means and ends, connecting the immediate and the distanced, connecting today and tomorrow, pattern recognizing with the past, all these constitute what it is being a conscious entity as human beings. Are the various levels we see in other beings just approximations to the level of consciousness which we evince in our living or whether our own level just a more complicated and nuanced and sophisticated version of the same kind basically with other beings is a question. Consciousness is entity in itself. It cannot be explained by nature as objectively read by us. This is one view. Consciousness is only an emergent phenomenon in the ongoing complexity of the structure of beings. What looks mechanical or instinct or mere impulse-response in early evolved beings begins to assume meaning as autonomous consciousness in the level of human beings. This is one view. Whatever may be the benefits of understanding in each view, 'to whom it is meaningful' or 'who reads ultimately the report sheets' is something hard to crack. Only very few scientists even like to face this hard problem and say that they are facing it. Mostly the problem is shirked off by saying 'don't ask questions which should not be asked'. After all tactics of ignorance come handy in trying to escape knowing what is real. 

But on the other hand however much we like to stress that we are unique beings of consciousness, if we patiently check how we interpret the very phenomenon of our being conscious or our fact of knowing, we face another issue. What is our understanding of our being conscious? When we try to explain this to our own selves, we find that we are arriving at the picture of our being conscious only recursively, sharing with all the features of foregone beings in evolution and we begin to doubt whether we can ever attain a unique and autonomous explanation for this question. But right from our Rishis upto Sri Ramana Maharishi, they say that there is a non-dependent core of autonomous consciousness. And Sri Ramana Maharishi will say with a pinch of humour, 'you cannot realise that. Because it is always there. Only you have to stop realising unnecessary things heaping over and above.' 

Whether the slipping mosquito ever understands these things or whether the chasing human being will ever become a total being of pure autonomous consciousness, the swaying bat has no such problems. As long as the charge is there, as long as it connects with the flying, so long it cracks its cruel jokes, of course much to the relief of the owner.
Srirangam Mohanarangan
***

Why do you write what you write

Why are you always writing on religious themes? You are only worldly. do you profess any practice on any faith? - some friend was asking me out of concern. Yea that is right. I do not profess anything except that I am devoted to Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, SriAurobindo, Mother and... Of course I am a simple Hindu and I am interested in various thought-systems and modern science is of such an interest to me. But it is true I do not have anybody's book of instructions for my life including that of Sri Ramakrishna. If he comes out and say that I am not in his list, I will not be having any claim to make one. Why I say this is what the friend was asking is true. Not being fixed to anywhere has its own butter side and also its raw side. But why I like writing about what I do write has no reason I think except I do like writing about something which I like. Sorry I do not mean to confuse you but it stands miserably at that. I can write about many other things, all remote and strange to general interest, like Indo-European linguistics, the commentaries of Syriac, Hebraic and Arabic authors on Aristotle, the subject of praxeology in connection with the treatises of Purva MImamsa, the philosophical developments of Eastern Europe, the poetical traditions of nearly very many lands and so on. In addition I feel I have something to say by way of my own philosophy. I have become poor by my rich interests, which will be boredom to others. Even my close friends have developed strategies of escape due to these interests of mine. Of course poetry does not need anybody to share with. But there also I was lucky in having my Professor of collegiate days as the close sharing party to talk to. Even that chance was snatched away of late. So why do I write what I do is a difficult question for me. What to do? Sometimes answers are difficult, sometimes questions. But in reading and understanding and doing your private study, you need not face anybody's questions, except the eternal questions which the universe is not tired of raising and facing such questions are moments of thick vividness. So the question why I am writing... yea.
Srirangam Mohanarangan
***

Questions and Answers

Stop asking questions
when the answers are crowding in
yea usually we do ask questions
and expect answers as per their tokens
but sometimes it becomes the answers' time
and better stop asking questions then
when the answers stop flowing
enough time to begin again
but the answers deposited
do they all match the questions?
you can't say, sometimes match
and sometimes at variance
but anyhow stop asking questions
when the answers are coming in
enough time later to fit one to one
if not, perhaps new questions may be born
out of answers already arrived.
Srirangam Mohanarangan 

***

Vedanta Kilippaattu

Really if you stop and think about the rich heritage of Vedanta in Tamil, it is very astounding. 'Kilippaattu' is a genre, popular in local gatherings during festivals. Many persons used to have some kilippaattu in memory. Kilippaattu' - parrot song. Nothing connected with parrots. But the refrain occurs again and again addressed to parrot like 'kiliyE' kiliyE. Now what is the connection between kilippaattu and Vedanta? In 1929 Sri S Ayyasamipillai brought out in his Ashtalakshmivilas Press a small book of poetry, Vedantak kilikkanni on Tiruchendur Sri SivasubbiramaniyakkadavuL. It was written by Sri B Subbaraya Achariyar. It was suggested by Sri Mariyappasamigal to the owner of Madurai Meenakshiyamman Koil Book Shop, Sri S Ayyasamipillai. A little book of just 12 pages is so much a mixing of Vedanta with Akapporul. 

'பேசியிருக்கிறார்கள் பித்தமுதல் நோய்களுக்கு
ஆசைக்கொரு மருந்தைக் கிளியே
அங்கெழுதி வைத்தாரில்லை 

சரியாய் எழுதிவந்தும் தங்கவடிவேலரென்னை
பிரியாதெழுத்தெழுதக் கிளியே
பிரமனேமாந்தானடி 

இரண்டு என்றான் அப்பால் இரண்டும் ஒன்றாம் என்றான்
ஒன்றென்றும் இல்லை என்றான் கிளியே
உணர்வு தெரியவில்லை 

தாரணியோர்கள் மெச்சத் தனியரசு செய்து வந்தேன்
சீரலைவாய் வந்ததனால் கிளியே
என் சீரலைவு ஆச்சுதடி...’ 

Like this it goes on. Vedanta in popular genres composed casually by singing enthusiasts. How many books are like this who knows!
Srirangam Mohanarangan 

***

Work book of a Kavya

Sri Vaikunta Ekadasi was also a writers' festival some decades back. I was lucky to see it in my life upto 60s and 70s. What I mean is in Srirangam, during the Nacchiyar Tirukkolam and Sri Vaikunta Ekadasi, many book releases, poetry forums used to be conducted. And another thing, which has become almost invisible, is various groups from villages used to sing Bhajans, Songs during this time. Now whether any such thing is there I do not know. Yea times are changing, people's preferences do change. Why I am saying this is for a reason. Some ten years back I was writing seriously a Kavyam in Tamil, which has run to more than 5000 lines as I count now. And somehow I scheduled it off, postponed touching it and now after many years suddenly an interest has cropped up to continue that to the finish. That too during Sri Vaikunta Ekadasi is so apt and seems to be blessed. While beginning I was rashly ambitious to put the end only after 25000th line. But I do not know now how far I will be able to do. Sometimes in the West, they give something like 'work in progress', that is some portions they leak out so that readers can get a foretaste of the work. Like that I wrote one introduction along with some lines from the epic. -- 

தமிழனாய்ப் பிறக்கக் கொடுத்து வைத்தேன். நல்ல தந்தை தாய், ஆசிரியர்கள், நண்பர்கள், வளர்ந்த சூழல், உள்ளே படுத்துக் கொண்டிருப்பவன், உரகச் சுற்றாய் அரவணைக்கும் தடமதில்கள், உள்ளத்தைக் கால்கட்டும் உவகைப் பெருக்காய் நான் வளர்ந்த தமிழின் மடி, ஊருண் கேணியாய்த் தொட்டு வைத்த சங்கப் பொய்கை, உலகு புரக்கும் மும்முலையாய்ச் செந்நாப்போது, உன்னித்தெழுந்த தடமுலையாய்த் திருவாய்மொழித்தலைவி, உவட்டாமல் இனிப்பதுவாய் மூவர்மொழி, உலகளந்த திருவடியாய்க் கம்பன் பரிசு, உலா வரும் கலைச் செப்பாய் இளங்கோவின் கைச்சிலம்பு, அங்கிங்கெனாதபடி எங்கும் பிரகாசமாய்ச் சிரபுரத்தான் தந்த சீர்வரிசை, சந்தக் கொழிப்பின் மந்தாகினியாய்ச் சருவி வரும் தமிழின் கிரி, இல்லை இல்லை பெருக்கம் அன்பில் அமிழ்த்தும், பேருலகு காணத் தவிக்கும் மனிதனைப் பேணி வளர்க்கும் தமிழின் மகன் காவியம் பாடுவதில் வியப்பில்லை. 

மேலை நாடுகளில் ஒரு பழக்கம் உண்டு. அட்டும் சுவையுணவின் ஒரு சிப்பத்தை இதழ் பருகக் கொடுத்துக் களிக்கும் பழக்கத்திற்குப் பெயர் work in progress. அதுபோல் இன்னும் கண் திறக்காத காவியத்தின் கலையெழிலை ஒப்பனைக்கு முன்னர் ஒரு சில பிரிகதிராய் உமக்குக் கொடுத்துக் களிக்க நினைத்தோம். உவட்டாமல் இனிப்பதுவோ உறுத்துவதாய் இருப்பதுவோ யாமறியோம் பெரும! உண்டுடுத்து உரையாடி ஒலியடங்க உயிர்ப்படங்கும் வாழ்வில், உன்மத்தம் என்று நீர் நினைத்தாலும், உன்னதமாய்ச் சில கணங்கள் தேக்கி வைத்தேன் தீந்தமிழில். 

திரைத்து வரும் கங்குல். தமிழ் ஏங்கிக் காத்திருக்கும். புலரி வாராமற் போகாது, பொற்கதிராய் என்மகவோர் வந்து தழுவும் நாளும் தொலையாது, ஆயினும் ஆழியென நீளும் தனிமை, அதில் ஓர் அகலெடுத்துச் சென்று அருந்தமிழின் கண் மலரும் நீர் வழித்த இனிமை என் பங்கு. காவியம் எதைப் பற்றி எனப் பலரும் கேட்டதுண்டு. காலத்தின் கரை வீற்ற நித்யங்களைப் பற்றித்தான் காவியம் கதுவியெழும். நித்தப் பொருள் அனைத்தும் ஆலயமாய்ச் சேரும் இடம் மனிதன். அவனைத்தான் காவியப் பெண் அன்றிலிருந்து காதலில் கட்டிவிட நினைக்கிறாள். கைக்கிளையாய் ஆகிவிடுமோ என்று பெருமூச்சு எறிகிறாள். உலகின் பல மூலைக்கும் சென்று இரவுக்குறியும் பகற்குறியும் வைக்கிறாள். வந்தாய் போலே வாராதாய் என்று ஏங்குகிறாள். வாராதாய் போல் வருவானே என்று எதிர்நோக்குகிறாள். பாங்கரும் விறலியரும் பரிந்து சென்ற பெரியோரும் இன்னும் திரும்பிய பாடில்லை. எத்துணையோ சிற்றில் இழைத்துச் சிணுங்குகிறாள். சிதைத்து அந்தச் செல்வன் சிந்தை மகிழ்விப்பான் என்று காலத்தின் அத்துவாக்கள் எங்கும் விழி வைத்து நோக்குகிறாள். உள்ளம் கவர் கள்வனை உருவெழுதிப் பூத்த உவகையில் உடல் நனைகிறாள். என்றும் நெட்டுயிர்ப்பே இவள் பங்காய் அந்தப் பெருந்தகையோன் திரிகின்றான் தனைமறந்து, பாடிவீடெங்கும், தன்னும் உருவும் பெயரும் நினைவயர்ந்து. 

இதை நீங்கள் நன்கு புரிந்துகொண்டால் காவியத்தையும் செவ்வனே புரிந்து கொள்ளலாம். உங்கள் ஆர்வம் கரை இகந்து முந்தும் ஆயினும் இது வெறுமனே முன்னூட்டுச் சுவைக்கதிர் தானே! முனியாது பொறுத்திடுக! முற்றுறும் நாள் முதிராத முத்தி எழிலை முகிழ்த்த நூலாக்கித் தந்திடுவேன்.
நடையைப் பொறுத்த வரையில் மரபின் வழீஇய யாப்பா? உரையா? புதுக்கவிதையா? விடுதலைப் பாசுரமா? குவி நுண்கண்ணியா? என்று எவ்வகை அளவுகோலும் கைக்கொள்ளாது கவிப்புள்ளைச் சுதந்திரமாகக் கூவ விட்டிருக்கிறேன். கூறு தமிழ்ப் பாவலரும், புதுக்கவிதைப் போக்குவரத்தாரும் நகை தள்ள எள்ளுவரேல் அதுவும் நன்றே.


These are the beginning lines of the epic, setting the mood and tone. I have begun to be at this work again. Hope it will go on. Sudden bouts of my own dejection and loss of interest are professional hurdles. Hope to sail along. Just for your eyes. Kindly don't share or make any post out of it. I am not being fussy. But this may be changing a lot along the way, so why fix it as such... 

வாழ்வின் விடிவெள்ளி பிலிற்றும் கதிர்தோய்க்
காலக்கரும்புனல் கருத்தோடிக் காணாவான் கருசுமந்து
பால்நிறப் பைந்தடப் பரத்தின் பள்ளிக்கட்டில்
மாலாகி மகத்தில் ஆயிரமாய்த் தலைவிரிய
மூலத்தூண் உதைத்து முட்டித்த முன்னூக்கம்
காலத்தூள் பரப்பிக் கண்விரித்த சையோகம்
ஒலியில் உருவாகி உருகடந்த மெய்யாகி
மெய்யாக்கும் பொய்யா புலத்தின் வித்தாகிச்
சூழும் கோலத்தின் சுயத்துட் செறிந்து
பாழில் விரிந்த பைங்கமலத் தண்தீயில்
ஏழாய்ப் படிந்து எழுந்த எழில்யோகு
ஊழாய் விடிந்த உன்மத்தக் கணமொன்று.
கல்லுருகிக் காற்றாய்க் கலந்து
காரிருளின் காட்சியற்ற கதிராய்க்
ககன வெளியற்ற உள்ளாய்ப்
பெயருரு பிறங்காப் படைப்பின் முற்கணக் குழம்பாய்
உயிரின் அண்மைக்குள் ஒருபெரும் தொலைவாய்
உற்றறி கருத்தின் அரும்பா முனைவாய்
அறியா பரப்பில் கூறுகள் குலையா
இயலும் தகையாய் இயற்றா தொகையாய்ப்
பயிலும் பரநதி புலமாய் விரிய
படைப்பின் உருக்கோவை பெயர்ப்பனுவல் குவையோடு
பக்குவமாய்ப் புணர்ந்திசைய பூரித்த பொன்வேளை
பொழுதசைய உழுபுலத்தின் கொழுவாய்
அகமாகிப் புறமாகா அண்டமுன் அவத்தையினில்
திறலும் விரிவும் இருப்பின் களிப்பும்
வேக வளையாய் விறலாய்க் கெழுமி
விரவிய தம்முள் வித்திட விளைந்த
விண்ணின் மண்ணாய்ப் பூத்தது வானம். 

வானின் வடிவச் செதில்பரல் குழைந்து
வேகத் தண்ணளி விண்பூப்புறைய விரைவின் நிகழாய்
ஒன்றைக்கடந்த பலவின் வீச்சாய்த்
திரைகொள் முரணாய் மாற்றவளியாய்த்
தடம்படு காற்று திறல்சூல் கவ்வத்
திறல்முற்றித் தீயாகித் தெய்வத் தண்ணளியாய்த்
தருநீர்மை நீராகித் தரைகொண்ட கருவில்
உருவாகி உணவாகி உயிராகி உடல்கொண்ட
உணர்வாகி ஒன்றாக பலவாகும் ஒருஜீவன்

ஒரு முட்டை அணுத்தட்டை
ஒன்றிற்குள் உருவாகும் ஓரிரட்டை
ஒன்றைப்போல் ஒன்றாகி வேறாகி பலவாகி
மாறாகிப் பெருகிவந்த வையம்
கூறாகிக் கோணணுவின் கோப்பாகிக்
கொண்ட வடிவின் கூடிவந்த குணமாகிக்
குணம்தொடுத்த தொடர்பாகித்
தொடர்பாலே பல்திறனாய்த் தோற்றமாய்த்
தொடநின்ற தேற்றமாய்த் திரண்ட
பொருளாய்த் தழைத்த மையம்
பலவான இயல்பாட்டில் பொருத்தமுறக் கூடியவை
பருண்மையாய்ப் பொதுளிய நிலையம்
ஆகாத சாத்தியங்கள் அண்டப் பொதுசத்தாகி
ஆடாத திறல்செறிவு அலையாகி
அலையாத பொதுவில் கோடாத பொருளுக்கு
அரும்பாகி உருவற்ற பொருள்முயக்கம்
கருக்கொண்டு வெளியாக்கி
வடிவோடு தொலைவும் வரும் போகும் நிகழ்வும்
வடிவற்ற நிகழ்கண நடுக்குறு விரைவும்
காணாத காட்சியின் கண்ணற்ற பார்வையில்
கோணாத கோலமாய்க் கொண்டுதிகழ் கருத்தாகிப்
புலப்பட வெளிப்படு படைப்பிடைப் புடைப்பொடு
புரிபட புறப்படு ப்ரபஞ்சமாய் ஆனதும்
நீராகி நிலனாகி நிதானமாய்
நின்றெரியும் கதிராகி நிலவுமாய்
நில்லாத பருவமாகி நீட்சியாய்க் குறுக்கமாய்
நிவந்துடன் ஆழ்ந்துபின் அகன்றலர் இயக்கமாய்
உவந்தபேர் தொடர்ச்சியாய் உருகெழு வாழ்க்கையாய்
உற்றதொரு வைய நாப்பண் ஓரூர்.

அலைமீது ஏறிவந்த ஆற்றல்
பாழின் வாய்புகுந்து பொருளாகித் தோற்றுக்
குலைந்தவலை கொண்டையினில் மின்ன
குலையாத உயிரோடுயர்ந்து
உணர்வாகி உற்றமனமென்ன
ஊரை வளைத்துவரும் ஆற்றில்
உயிர்திகழும் பயிர்ப்பான பசுமை
உணர்வாகித் துயில்கொள்ளும் கருமை
விழிபயிலும் அறியோகு புணர்வில்
செழிக்கின்ற திருவாகிச் செவ்வான்
பழிக்கின்ற தருக்கிளையில் பயிலும்
மொழிக்கிள்ளை மிழற்றுமொரு தீஞ்சொல்
தரங்கம் ரங்க ரங்கா அரங்க மரங்க ளுறங்கும்
உறங்காத சான்றாகி உருளும் காலம்
அறங்கா வலாகி அயரும் வேளை
எண்கோண மூவுருளை எந்திர மாயையொன்று
கண்காணாக் காம்பில் கறங்கும் நின்று
பொய்யாய் வடித்த புத்தமுதம் பொருளில் படிந்து
பையவெழுந்த பல்வடிவாம் பசப்பின் மெய்யில்
தைவந்த நாவின் தீர்க்கம் சுழித்துச்
சுட்டும் நுனியாய் எந்திரச் சுரும்பில் ஆர்க்கும்
இருட்டுக் குளம்பாய் ஒளியின் தடமொத்தும் தமப்பாழ்
சுருளாகி விரிநாக சுரமுழைக்குள் பதுங்கும்
ஒலியென்றும் ஒலியற்ற வெளியென்றும்
திரண்டஒரு கோளம் பொரித்துப்
புறவோடு பொன்சிவப்பாய் வான்தடவ
விரித்து வெளிப்போந்த வியன்புள் விரிசிறகு
முன்னசை ஓசையாய்க் குரலாய் முடுகிய
சிறகின் நீழல் சொல்லும் பொருளுமாய்ச்
சிவணிய சிலிர்ப்பில் சென்றந்த முழையை நோக்கும்.
நோக்கரிய நுண்ணுணர்வின் நுகத்தடி
நுவலா நன்மையின் நறவத் தீஞ்சுவை
நயக்கும் வாக்கில் கால்வைத்து வரைகடந்தெழுந்த பரத்தின்
போக்கரிய பதமாய்ப் புக்கரிய நிலையாய்ப்
பூரித்த புதுவிண் பூரணம் திளைப்ப
பூவா மலரின் மோவா நாற்றம்
பொன்றா விசையாய்ப் புலத்தில் புரிய
ஒன்றிய உணர்வின் குருத்தில் ஓயா
ஒற்றைக் கண்ணும் இமையா முனைப்பும்
இரட்டையைத் தன்னுள் இயற்றிட இயைந்த
ஏகம் ஆங்கண் இயன்றது தூணாய்.
Srirangam Mohanarangan 

***

Biography of a pot-sun

Biography of a pot-sun
A big earthen pot
was filled with water
in the open space
with the wind blowing
around and into the pot
and on the space
above the water filled
Sun came on top
to peep into the pot
slowly stepped into
by its ray-legs
and lo! fell into the water
immersed in water
the sun was in panic
of course pan ic
no no panic panic
oh why whats hap
The sun fell into the water
filled in the pot
dried by the wind
kept in a spot;
oh it is karma it is karma
the sun got caught
in the pot
into the water
why it was so careless
may be just a slip
nay nay all the old karma
to exhaust to exhaust
due to karma it fell
the sun into the pot
the sun in the pot
was raising hue and cry
scolded the Sun above
you are so cruel
no mercy on me poor soul
you are laughing high above
me in this pot
drowned in this pool
up and down
round about
going to pieces
by a whiff of wind
still you are amused
by me confused
The Sun above was just shining
shunning darkness and cold
shedding light
spanning space
drawing water to the sky
yet it knew not
any of these but to shine
The sun in the pot
in a miserable spot
was panting for liberation
praying for consideration
swaying here swaying there
letting wind out
getting wind in
sometimes still
with no wind to frill
putting a dnd card
the sun in the pot
was in meditation
kindly don't disturb.
Srirangam Mohanarangan 

***

Cinching confusion

Is it the time-spirit?
Or is it any deviate run
or any demiurge?
spiritual exterior need not
necessarily have spiritual mind
spiritual attire housing materialist mind
banal domestic ordinary appearance
may sometimes contain spiritual thirst
that that exterior
containing that that interior
makes it quite clear
but odd combinations confuse
but that is how it goes
once upon a time things were perhaps clear
but nowadays it is confusing
not that correspondence is compulsory
but still it is confusing
the preference and the professing
not matching
may be cinching in the long run
you may say it is interesting
may be that helps in cinching
but still confusing
going with the time
we go nowhere
going where
we cross over time
but it is confusing
or is it just fusing?
interior and exterior
should they ride together?
if not then why they lie each to other
cinching or not
but still confusing.
Srirangam Mohanarangan 

***

Nammalwar's Tiruvaimozhi - are these two songs in the I.1 and I.7 intertextual?

Nammalwar's Tiruvaimozhi starts with 'uyarvaRa'. Then the beginnings of next two lines are 'mayarvaRa', 'ayarvaRu'. The 'edugai' pattern is 'uyarvaRa - mayarvaRa - ayarvaRu'. There is another song in the 7th decad in the same First Ten which has these three beginning words in another sequence as 'mayarvaRa - uyarvinai - ayarvil'. This is just a verbal feature but the poem never overlooks any feature whether it be structural or hermeneutical. The song runs as follows: 

'mayarvaRa enmanatthE manninAn tannai
uyarvinaiyE tarum oNsudark kaRRaiyai
ayarvil amararkaL Adik kozhundai en
isaivinai ensolli yAnvidu vEnO' 

(He has come to stay in my mind
removing ignorance and
any chance of it affecting again
He gives me all greatness rising high
and He is a mass of light
becoming more and more bright
He is the root and core
sustaining a world of involved
and relentless devoted immortals
He stands as my own accepting and yielding
Him, how can I give up or leave
telling what pretext!) 

Outwardly the poem has the tone of searching for a pretext to leave or give up. It is not the intention. Any discerning reader should be sensitive enough not to interpret just the letter. The intention is thankfulness and wondering at the divine agency leaving no chance to the human soul to destroy its own chances. The soul is very adept in collapsing at the very moment when it should be all cooperative. Even in worldly affairs the human being behaves quite foolishly and in a self-destructive fit. In transcendental matters how to rely on this poor soul? That is why, Sri Vaishnavism says that only Tirumal can stand as both the path and also the goal. Nammalwar drives home this all absolute and unexpecting agency of the Divine in doing good to the human soul. The Divine forces itself against any possible excuses. He becomes even the mental acceptance of the human soul. So nothing is left to human predilection or human choice. It is this unique aspect of the Divine that Nammalwar communicates very effectively and dramatically. It is to make clear this drama that the Arumpadam commentorial note narrates a story, a social folklore may be. A bridegroom visits his father-in-law's house. The father-in-law is very poor and he has to draw water from the well which was very deep. So he needs an assistance and he finds the chance coming of his bridegroom timely and he wants to make use of the man fully. After assisting in one or two buckets, the bridegroom begins to understand that he is caught in a fix. To escape from the situation he uses some pretext. Suddenly he spits on the face of the host mouthful of water. So that the host will become angry and drive him away and he can be free of this ordeal. But the host is more smart. He says, 'oh how cool is your mouth! It is so chill!'. The bridegroom got vexed and in a fit of anger he converted even that compliment into an occasion of hurt and gave up his work at the well saying, 'if you want a man to spit hot water go and search somewhere' Leave me.' The story may look very domestic and colourless. But is not the human soul's predicament equally banal and colourless? It is the Divine that is all the meaning and worth of human life and that worth has to be brought into human realisation only in spite of the human soul and not in its collateral support. It is not that the human beings cannot take efforts but miserably they are geniuses in self-destructive way. It is this shocking realisation on the part of the human soul that makes it wonder at the superb handling of the Divine leaving nothing to human vagary.
Srirangam Mohanarangan 

***

On Sri Vaikunta Ekadasi

The whole festival of Sri Vaikunta Ekadasi is exclusively centering on the celebration of Pramanas, i.e., the reference texts for the faith and path of Sri Vaishnavism. The texts are comprehensive of Ubhaya Vedas. Vedas in Sanskrit and Tamil. The purport and essence of these twin Vedas is what is indicated by the term Ubhaya Vedanta. What is this term Ubhaya Vedanta, what does this mean? Ubhaya is a word meaning a twin, that is a twofold entity each necessitating, dependent and expectant of another. It is not just counting as two. Suppose you have two apples, you cannot use this term ubhaya in that case. It is just two with no interrelationship between the two counted. There should be an intrinsic and mutual dependent relating with each other. A good example is something which can move both in water and land. It is called ubhyachara. A knife has two edges. There again it is ubhaya. That is one thing in two aspects, in two ways. It is not one distinct thing from another. But the twoness should be conjoined by a single substratum. Sakshus or eyes act as ubhaya. That is one eye complimenting another. In Ubhaya Vedanta, there are two fold Vedanta indicated by Upanishads~Brahma Sutras and Tiruvaimozhi and other Divya Prabandams, elaborated by commentaries and treatises on the essence and purport of Divya Prabandams like Rahasya Grantas. 

So in a way the whole festival of Sri Vaikunta Ekadasi lasting for about three weeks, divided by schedule of Day Ten days and Night Ten days, Pagal Patthu and Iraappatthu, is really a celebration of this Ubhaya Vedanta. And especially it is celebrating Divya Prabanda and centering around Tiruvaimozhi of Nammalwar. It is Nammalwar's dreams come true. After Thirumangai Alwar, Nathamunigal was the prime master who took upon himself the responsibility of making Satakopan's dreams a reality. Sri Ramanuja fulfilled the great mission trail-blazed by Nathamunigal. And it is this many-generations long mission that is signified by the glorious term of Ubhaya Vedanta. It is the mission come true starting from Seven Rishis blossoming in Satajit Rishi brought to completion by Lakshmana Muni that was accounted before Sri Ranganatha for one full long year by Periya Jeer called as SriSri Manavala Mamunigal. 

And in this celebration, which was also called Mokshotsavam, the whole spiritual progress and attainment of a Mukta is being demonstratively brought home to the participants and viewers. Sri Stanikam Parthasarathy Iyengar in his book Srirangam Koil Tattvam explains Nacchiyar Tirukkolam as Mohini Alankaram, I do not think it is simply that. Otherwise Parasara Bhattar would not have commented like that comparing the benign looks of Perumal with Pirattiyar. It should be I think Sri Ranganatha is acting the role of Nayaki Bhava, which is an important stage signifying high maturity and a high level of Parama Bhakti in the journey of a Mukta towards Bhagavan. The name Nacchiyar Tirukkolam seems more suitable to the occasion.
Srirangam Mohanarangan 

***

Ranga appearing for an exam!

Is Ranga appearing for an exam? 

Some of you may get the hint and know what I am about to say. For others no problem. We will go into that. First of all, thanks Ranga! for this morning tea in a wonderful daybreak. Sleeping teaches me that you are there even when I go absent from myself. Daybreak and waking up teach me that this is your world and for a second I do seem to realise that I also am yours but the long habit overtakes me with a vengeance. Who else but you can be so compassionate and patient towards such a dirty and nonchalant child as myself! Thanks for everything you have been doing me right from the start, even before the start. But to tell you a secret, don't mistake me! what secret can be there with you, You are the secret of secrets. Yet, many times I used to come straight to your doors and perhaps you may be expecting me to cross Aryabhataal gate but in the milling crowd I just slip sideways to Mother's sannidhi. You might have wondered many times where this rascal has gone. But to go to Mother is my weakness you may call it so. She also reprimands me many times that I give you a slip. But what to do? You are irresistible. But Mother makes it extremely homely with you. And you know, I am a sulking little brat. So I hide myself behind her saree and peep over to steal a look at you. So don't be angry towards me. I am such a faltering little fool that I really shudder when I think of appearing in your august presence. But Mother is kindness-incarnate that she removes all my apprehensions and with extreme care makes me see that you are more loving than your immeasurable greatness. Then I see you in your real nature of extreme agony of love, TIRUMAL. Love for the lost beings of this world! And I weep. I curse myself for all the days I distanced myself from you, for all the days I forgot you and ventured even to say that there was nothing like God. At that moment I feel myself so dirty and become so shameful to appear before you. But Mother is Mother you know! I know one of your secrets. You really are beyond birth. So to feel what it will be to have a mother you were born more than once, just for the sake of it, just to have a mother and receive motherly love. So you may understand me when I say why I am unable to resist running to Mother. So no more complaints on that, ok? 

But Parasara Bhattar also commented on this Motherly love and Motherly look once to you, is it not? Yea, I do remember it was on a Mohini Tirukkolam day. Nacchiyar Tirukkolam, yea. You will be appearing in the garb and apparel of Mother. So beautiful! and so very like. But did you pass that exam in bestowing the exact look which my Mother alone can bestow? The exam result is not yet out. How can it be? For, you are not separate from Mother and both of you are one whole Supreme Existence Consciousness Bliss. 

Happy Nacchiyar Tirukkolam Day! see you then.
Srirangam Mohanarangan 

***

On Fernando Pessoa or Alberto Caeiro

No. They are not pseudonyms but heteronyms, as he wished to call them. More than seventy such pseudo... sorry.. heteronyms were used by Fernando Pessoa, a Portugese writer and poet, born in Lisbon in 1888. Three such heteronyms are famous, Alberto Caeiro, Alvaro de Campos, Ricardo Reis. Of these one group of poems by Alberto Caeiro was translated by David Scanlon and published by The Foolish Poet Press in 1918. It was a happy shock to me to see a poem like this:

"The amazing reality of things
Is my discovery every single day.
Every single thing is what it is,
And it is difficult to explain to anyone how much it delights me,
And how much this is enough for me.
Just exist to be complete..."

These are the opening lines of his poem, The Amazing Reality of Things. Another super shocker from Alberto Caeiro -

'Live, you say, in the present;
Live only in the present.
But I do not want the present, I want the reality;
I want the things that exist, not the time that measures them.'

Really the personality which wrote these lines should be extraordinary or is it the 'really ordinary'? He was deep into many subjects. Schooled early in Shakespeare, Milton, Pope, Shelley, Keats, Byron, Wordsworth and others, he was also interested in French symbolism and also influenced by modernists like W B Yeats, James Joyce, T S Eliot and others. In politics he used to style himself as liberal within conservatism and anti-reactionary. And he used to call his type of nationalism as 'mystic, cosmopolitan, liberal and anti-catholic. And he was openly against communism, socialism, fascism and Catholicism. He was ardent in astrology and wanted to write about the system of astrology under a heteronym. He has even analyzed many great men's natal charts. Last but not least, he even predicted the time of his own death. He alone could have penned these lines -

"I have no ambitions or desires.
To be a poet is not an ambition.
It is my way to stand alone"

Fernando Pessoa passed away in 1935 leaving behind a big trunk of manuscripts. Unusual and fresh to read are his lines, so do I feel.
Srirangam Mohanarangan

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Die-hard habits of thought

Certain habits of thought do not disappear quickly from a frame of mind used to western perspective for long. Monotheism, God's wrath over any lack of exclusive devotion of human beings and a linear concept of one-time living are perhaps traces which are die-hard. I was reading a poem by Aldous Huxley, which talks about the doors of the Temple. Very similar and most possibly inspired by Sri Ramakrishna's teachings AH writes beautifully 

"Many are the doors of the spirit that lead
Into the inmost shrine:
And I count the gates of the temple divine,
Since the god of the place is God indeed.
And these are the gates that God decreed
Should lead to his house"
But in the end, see this spurting out! -
"But he that worships the gates alone,
Forgetting the shrine beyond, shall see
The great valves open suddenly,
Revealing, not God's radiant throne,
But the fires of wrath and agony." 

The concept of the world distanced from Divinity and the concept of Divinity always sitting in furious judgement over human choices and distractions are habits of thought slow to disappear it seems.
But when we come to Sri Krishna in Srimad Bhagavad Gita, he says: 

"Whatever devotee seeks to worship whatsoever form with śraddhā, that same śraddhā of his do I make unflinching.
Endued with that śraddhā, he engages in the worship of that, and from it, gains his desires - these being verily dispensed by Me alone." (slokas 21, 22 Adhyaya VII, tr Sri C V Ramachandra Iyer, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Sri Sankara's Gita Bhashya, 1988) 

Hindu consciousness has been imbued with salient thoughts of Divine transcendence and immanence with regard to the world. The universal attitude of HInduism is born out of this consciousness.
Srirangam Mohanarangan
***

Borrowed viewing

It is interesting, how any thought or system or a book by any author comes to be viewed through another author or thinker, who happens to hold the attention and emulation of readers or hearers at a given period of time. That is, when we begin to subscribe quite emotionally to a thinker, then what that person opines, what that person considers becomes the lens through which as enthusiastic readers we tend to see 'purvapaksha' (prima facie or opponent) ideas or authors. You may later add on by your homework further direct studies about the 'other' authors. But some sense of 'us' will be dominating still in your grasp and stance regarding the 'other' author's thoughts and arguments. But of course you can by great efforts absolve yourself from any colours of your 'preferred author' and do justice to your own understanding. But for that you have to come to a neutral territory in your mind, which would have been exactly the thing condemned in the first instance by the preceding preferred author of your own choice. So to say, our own mind acts like a magic prism, in that it allows you to see only what you decide to see as you have been subtly programmed to decide by your very act of immersive participation in any author, without which you will not be able to do justice in understanding any author in the first instance. That is we are weak and imperfect, gullible to all kinds of influences, by the very nature of our psyche. I think it is better to 'see' this consciously rather than being carried by our own assumptions of our own standpoint and state of mind. One lazy fallout of this 'sane realistic' is gyrating relativism, which becomes heavily coded by bromides of external vested interests. These thoughts come to my mind when I read Stanislaw Eile's book Modernist Trends in Twentieth-Century Polish Fiction. In that the author talks about how the polish authors of fiction have not been accorded due attention in the literary world and how the Eastern and Central European literary writings are generally viewed with regard to their political positions. "Apart from a few academic books, such as Daniel Gerould’s on S.I. Witkiewicz (1981) or Russell E. Brown’s on Schulz (1991), little attention has been paid to the position of Polish fiction within the history of the twentieth-century novel, or to its contribution to the modern plurality of vision. Habitually regarded as belonging to a somewhat provincial culture, it has often been considered important only insofar as certain political points can be made." (pp 1, Modernist Trends in Twentieth-Century Polish Fiction, Stanislaw Eile, 1996).
Srirangam Mohanarangan
***

Seeing One

There is nothing absolute essence in man.
The human being is interpreted out across relations and relative positions.
Never. There is some unchanging essence deep.
Just a flux of passing, relative scenes can never be made a thought
If no essence is witnessing the passing.
Relative is just a mirage till you ground yourself in the essence.
so goes the talk two way
till now and on and on.
but it is an inseparable this-in-that-in-this;
not even ying-yang but something more integral;
janus-faced? but no. It is one complete whole
resisting all your dissections
If you talk of absolutism you are smuggling in relative flux
If you stress relative flux and net of relations
you presume something absolute to mean
and get what you mean
what you want to drive home.
You can call it a quantum whole.
see whichever you like
you only take your side
but it remains ever the complete whole
relative refers to absolute which refers to relative
which refers to absolute and ....
We are beings of partial view.
Can we ever become beholders of the whole?
Srirangam Mohanarangan
***

Morning voices

Morning voices. Queer.. and sometimes jarring but interesting.. these voices one can hear from nowhere if you care to come out before the dawnish darkness evaporates into morn. Perhaps one man from some high above flat across the street thinks that he is in a sound-proof studio and is yelling at his dependents. He starts in a low key and the crescendo suddenly picks up, perhaps he suddenly becomes vexed 'how many times he has to repeat over and over' or perhaps 'why this peculiar drudgery to him alone of all the world, with no escape'. He is not articulating all these but the sudden voltage in the shout gossips many tips to the ears. Perhaps we in turn may be doing the same opera to others' listening, sometime or other. But the self sufficiency of reason is so blinding or deafening rather, that all of us think that our each individual case is an exception. Generalised exceptions are what constitute the common crowd.

Or again, one hefty voice is heard in the dark of night that travels down the streets punctured by neons here and there. You think that definitely the voice-owner should be a hefty fella, out there striding in the boxing style. The voice is a very faulty brush for the canvass of impressions. You come to realise that in a rare sunlight, when suddenly a little mouse-like human being crosses you making the very same decibels and you have caught the voice-owner right there but he is a poor creature! How this voice is sticking to him you wonder! But such is the wonder domestic that you have to let go of your cherished mystery of the dark neon.

We are all living in impressions and if you are an advaiti, you will say that even reality is one big impression at last. The elephant is walking slowly, jingling its bells indulgingly. But the dog is terrified. It is reading emergency and the impression is too much on its barking.

On poetry

Thinking about Poetry, can poetry be justified? That is, is it ever possible to sell poetry across in the utilitarian world? When the world is becoming more and more utilitarian, when even the field of spirituality begins to justify itself by the tangible and intangible benefits that may accrue to the votary and subscriber, what place will be there for poetry? You can say, 'poetry is useful in this way, poetry is applied here towards this purpose, poetry is effective towards achieving this end' and so on. But if you think deeply and truly about poetry, I think poetry is 'useless' in a utilitarian or pragmatic context. Poetry is not a commodity and can never be made into one. No packaging is possible with regard to poetry. Poetry can never be made into a saleable product. That is anthropologically, sociologically, economics-wise, commercially poetry can be never viable. In the name of poetry much sale can happen, much attention trading can be carried on, but in the true spirit, poetry is of no use in the daily, domestic, market world of values and goods that cater to tangible or distant uses. A poet, worth the name, always realises this and never forgets. You cannot take poetry to the people but only the human beings must choose to come to poetry, in whomsoever the sensibility awakens, perhaps when an individual soul becomes tradeless.
Srirangam Mohanarangan
***

A cat-skirmish

This is the second occasion. A month back similar thing happened. Milk packets usually the man puts in the bag and immediately or sometime afterwards I take it. But a month back, I found one packet near-fully leaked down and made a puddle of milk at the entrance. Other packets were safe. It was some work in the morning, half sleepy, half awake, resembling perhaps my poor spiritual state of mind. After cleaning all out I took a decision never to let that happen again. The milk vendor and the people around were telling me it should have been the work of a cat that was strolling around in the early morn. Never mind a creature like cat sharing my milk, perhaps too presumptuous without my permission. Ok I can take it as a lesson in my ahankara-mamakara tyaga. But the messy work in the morning, oh.., perhaps there is some meaning to it also. Who knows? But why me as if chosen pointedly? 

First time it was so unnerving. Now I have become graduated and I take it with a wink. But my surprise, both on the first occasion and also now is the deft way in which, if it is the cat, pricks a hole in the packet without disturbing any other set up. The bag is not torn. Not the packet handled in a nasty tear. Just a neat small invisible hole put from the underside does the trick and the milk drips soaking the bag's underside and falls dropping. The cat is irresponsible enough to leave the rest of milk pooled down and goes away perhaps. I feel amused with the cat and am thinking just what it tries to teach me? Is it my own irresponsibility in not being mindful and earnest enough towards Atma-Jnanam? Just like another animal I am mindful of only my eating, sleeping and whiling away the time, without any real progress towards self-realisation? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But my reactions are to this effect. Yea the morning tea was delayed and slow just like my understanding and adhyatmic progress. What to do? Willy-nilly one has to live one's own life, in the way one happens to find it or miss finding it. But tea is good for all that.
Srirangam Mohanarangan
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