Poets and Poems
Musings on Life and Letters
13. One World And Work
All great people- philosophers or poets, economists or statesmen, why even conquerors- have risen above the limitations of their origin and dreamt of one world. Their methods varied. Indian Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore gave voice to this universal aspiration of enlightened minds in these immortal words:
"Where the world has not been broken up into
fragments by narrow domestic walls"
An Indian quoting it now may not sound authentic or carry conviction, seeing how India itself has been balkanised by narrow linguistic walls, after Independence. Whatever may be the real and imagined demerits of introduction of the English language that Indian politicians drum up, ( ironically, Gandhi also belonged to this tribe) English has been the language of educated India for 200 years.
Providence has endowed India with a rich variety of native tongues,with which to sing her many splendoured glories.There are hundreds of dialects, but they are fast shrinking. In modern days, Hindi itself has gobbled up many of the North Indian dialects. This is a danger faced by the whole world, where many old languages are going out of use, under the impact of modernisation.
The major Indian languages are unimaginably rich in literature. There is a common core of philosophy in them all- weather Telugu or Tamil, Kannada or Malayalam, Gujarati or Marathi, Odiya or Bengali, or any of the dialects like Kari Baoli, Braj Basha, Awadhi, Rajasthani,etc, which are now grouped under Hindi, the basic religious /philosophical theme is the same : human life has four-fold aim, and the purpose of life is Liberation from mundane existence, whatever may be the method. Modern bookish scholars are fond of saying that India shows 'Unity in diversity'. This is utter nonsense considering how the basic conception of life is the same. What we have in India is the diverse expression of the Unity. This is the historical greatness of India. It never confused unity with uniformity, or enforced it brutally. As Alain Danielou pointed out, India stood for a "natural ordering of diversity". This accounts for the maddening variety in everything in India. Even in religion, you can treverse all the way from the grossest superstition to the highest Vedanta, still in practice! No trace of human thought is allowed to be lost on this blessed land! This is because there is something peculiar about Hinduism. As Alain Danielou wrote:
"Hinduism is not a dogmatic religion.It is not even a religion in the Judeo-Christian sense of the word. What binds Hindus together is a common search..... to pierce the enigma of the visible and invisible world".
The word for the common search is the 'Dharma' which is the same in all Indian languages. Classical Tamil calls it "Aram".
This is especially confusing to the modern mind, which is fast-fed on a uniform lifestyle in the name of modernisation.
The basic source of all our religious/philosophic ideas is the Veda- curiously, both when people accept its authority, or they don't , as in the case of Buddhism and Jainism! This is couched in Sanskrit, but it is of an entirely different class or order from the classical. This language again is not fixed or dogmatic, but intuitive and elastic, suggestive and imaginative. In the post-Vedic period, the original ideas have been adapted and preserved in innumerable derivative works in classical Sanskrit.
Tamil is the most ancient language of India, after Sanskrit. Unfortunately, lot of controversy was created about the relationship between the two by British colonial and Christian missionary interests. Political forces, ever the running dog of little minds and bloated egos, seized on this and sowed seeds of discord and hatred. The colonial forces and following them so called Indologists cooked up a theory of Aryan invasion, called the Tamils Dravidians- all part of their infamous 'divide and rule' strategy. Max Muller propounded the Aryan concept on linguistic basis, but soon it aquired racial colour, with Hitler embracing it with ferocious zeal, with the result the whole world knows. Max Muller himself clarified later that he used the word in a purely linguistic sense, but this fell on deaf ears and blind eyes, and closed minds. Later on, Tamil chauvinists seized on this, with unfortunate political and social consequences. In the process, every one has overlooked that the word "Dravid" is itself Sanskrit and a people who are supposed to be so entirely different from Sanskrit, as the North Pole is from the South, have no word of their own for their race! And it is also overlooked that there is absolutely no reference to a Dravidian race or of an Aryan invasion in ancient Tamil literature, which is at least 2000 years old. ( It is necessary to remember these facts when dealing with ancient Tamil literature.)
Coming to the idea or vision of "One World", the Vedic literature talks of " Vasudaiva kutumbakam" - the universe as one family. It also addresses people of the world as the children of Immortal Bliss- " Shrunvantu Vishve Amrutasya Putra:" - " Hear all ye of the world, children of Immortal Bliss". Hindus do not have the concept of original sin.
Let us see how this idea is expressed by Tamil poets of 2000 years ago, in their so called "Sangam " period. This poem occurs in a collection of 400 songs by different poets, called Purananooru. It is difficult to transliterate the Tamil, so I crave indulgence to provide a mere translation.
Kaniyan Poongkunranaar
Yaadum Oore, Yavarum Kelir
Every place is my place, every one is my kinsman!
Our pains and gains- these are not caused by anyone else!
Our illness and their relief- these also likewise ( are not caused by any one else)
Death is not a novel occurrence.
We are not elated when life is happy.
Nor do we curse it as bad, in anger and frustration,
when misfortune befalls us.
Life goes on in the world, obeying an inscrutable Order.
Like a boat being carried by the waters of a wild river in full,fresh floods, amid all those stones jutting out.
This is what we have understood from the insightful teaching of the Wise Sages.
Therefore we are not dazzled by the so called great people.
Nor do we decry and denigrate and despise the small ones.
Several things are to be noted here. The basic reason for the idea of unity is the teaching of the Sages, who have had "intuitive insight". ( Tiravor kaatchi- it is called in Tamil; kaatchi actually meaning :"sight" viz what is seen with the eye of intuition. In Sanskrit it is called "Darshana".Implied here is also the idea of karma, which dispenses our individual destinies. The Order here mentioned - the Tamil word used is "Murai"- is what in Vedic terminology is called "Rta", which governs everything in the microcosm and macrocosm. Once one is reconciled to the ancient fact of death, - " paths of glory lead but to the grave", and not indulge in "denial of death" ( cf. Carl Becker's book of that name), one overcomes all fear, and takes life as it comes.
It is simply marvellous how great minds think so very alike! Let us see Browning!
Robert Browning: Pippa Passes
No mere mortal has a right
To carry that exalted air,
Best people are not yet angels quite.
No doubt, some way or other,
hymns say right
All service ranks the same with God,
With God, whose puppets,best and worst,
Are we: there is no last and first.
Then, how should one lead one's life?
This is addressed by another classical Tamil poet.
Nakkiranaar.
Then kadal valaagam
Whether one is an Emperor reigning over all the lands surrounded by the wide oceans,
Or an unlettered hunter, chasing a wild animal in the dark forest in the thick of night, searching his next meal-
How much can he eat? How much dress?
One fourth of a litre ( of rice)? ( only as much as his stomach can hold at a time)
Two pieces of cloth- one to cover the upper part, one below the waist:
These are what the whole of humanity needs, too!
Then what is the purpose of earning ( and keeping the excess)?
It is only to give to others!
If anyone thinks he will alone consume all his wealth, he is missing out many (finer) things in life!
It will immediately strike one that this sentiment sounds familiar! Yes, it is what we encountered in the first mantra of the Isha Upnishad: Tena tyaktena bhunjitha ie enjoy by renunciation!
These poems taken together provide a basic wisdom to guide our life. Death marks the end of physical existence for all. The realisation of this Reality will only give us the proper perspective on life. In the light of this ultimate truth, all our human notions of grandeur have no value. So this life should be spent in service.
It is not that only eastern people or Indians had such ideas. Let us see this idea from an English poet.
James Shirley: 1596-1666
Death the Leveller
The glories of our blood and state
Are shadows, not substantial things;
There is no armour against Fate;
Death lays his icy hands on kings:
Sceptre and Crown
Must tumble down,
And in the dust be equal made
With the poor crooked scythe and spade.
Some men with swords may reap the field,
And plant fresh laurels where they kill;
But their strong nerves at last must yield;
They tame but one another still:
Early or late,
They stoop to fate,
And must give up their murmuring breath
When they, pale captives, stoop to death.
The garlands wither on your brow
Then boast no more your mighty deeds!
Upon death's purple altar now
See where victor-victim bleeds.
Your heads must come
To the cold tomb:
Only the actions of the just
Smell sweet and blossom in the dust.
Well, is not all this too pessimistic? Will not such contemplation make us morbid? No. It is such contemplation will lead on to the correct action: like considering the heavy traffic makes us negotiate it better. All we have to remember is that we have to reach somewhere, this world is not the end or the goal.
The Gate at the End of Things: Unknown author.
Some people say the world's all a stage
Where each plays a part in life;
While others proclaim that life is quite real,
Its joys, its battles, its strife.
Some say it's a joke, we should laugh it along,
Should smile at the knocks and stings;
Whatever is true just takes this from me,
There's a gate at the end of things.
Don't try to kid yourself with the thought,
You can do as you please all the while;
Don't think yo can kick the poor fellow who's down,
While you can climb to the top of the pile.
Don't go back on your pal, just because
he won't know,
Oh, in his eyes you may be a king;
Some day he will see you just as you are,
At the gate at the end of things.
Live like a man, it don't cost any more,
To act on the square and be right.
It's reward enough to know you're a man,
To hear people say, " He's White".
You can look everybody straight in the eye,
And your voice has sincerity's ring;
Then you are ready to go and pass through
with the bunch,
At the gate at the end of things.
The purpose of contemplating the transitory nature or impermanence of things is not to make us inactive ( as unfortunately the followers of Buddha and Sankara's Advaita Vedanta misinterpreted) but to work better in the world, at the same time not falling into the trap of considering it as the be-all. There is a gate at the end, but only those who live well will have a smooth passage through it!
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A Psalm of Life
Tell me not in mournful numbers
"Life is but an empty dream!"
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real, life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
"Dust thou art, to dust returnest",
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each tomorrow
Finds us farther than to-day.
In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb,driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!
Trust no future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,- act in the living present!
Heart within, and God o'erhead!
Let us then be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving,still pursuing,
Learn to labour and to wait.
So is this a call "to strive to seek to find and not to yield"?
"To scorn delights and live laborious days"?
Surely, each one of us must decide on his own! Godspeed!
"Hinduism is not a dogmatic religion.It is not even a religion in the Judeo-Christian sense of the word. What binds Hindus together is a common search..... to pierce the enigma of the visible and invisible world".
The word for the common search is the 'Dharma' which is the same in all Indian languages. Classical Tamil calls it "Aram".
This is especially confusing to the modern mind, which is fast-fed on a uniform lifestyle in the name of modernisation.
The basic source of all our religious/philosophic ideas is the Veda- curiously, both when people accept its authority, or they don't , as in the case of Buddhism and Jainism! This is couched in Sanskrit, but it is of an entirely different class or order from the classical. This language again is not fixed or dogmatic, but intuitive and elastic, suggestive and imaginative. In the post-Vedic period, the original ideas have been adapted and preserved in innumerable derivative works in classical Sanskrit.
Tamil is the most ancient language of India, after Sanskrit. Unfortunately, lot of controversy was created about the relationship between the two by British colonial and Christian missionary interests. Political forces, ever the running dog of little minds and bloated egos, seized on this and sowed seeds of discord and hatred. The colonial forces and following them so called Indologists cooked up a theory of Aryan invasion, called the Tamils Dravidians- all part of their infamous 'divide and rule' strategy. Max Muller propounded the Aryan concept on linguistic basis, but soon it aquired racial colour, with Hitler embracing it with ferocious zeal, with the result the whole world knows. Max Muller himself clarified later that he used the word in a purely linguistic sense, but this fell on deaf ears and blind eyes, and closed minds. Later on, Tamil chauvinists seized on this, with unfortunate political and social consequences. In the process, every one has overlooked that the word "Dravid" is itself Sanskrit and a people who are supposed to be so entirely different from Sanskrit, as the North Pole is from the South, have no word of their own for their race! And it is also overlooked that there is absolutely no reference to a Dravidian race or of an Aryan invasion in ancient Tamil literature, which is at least 2000 years old. ( It is necessary to remember these facts when dealing with ancient Tamil literature.)
Coming to the idea or vision of "One World", the Vedic literature talks of " Vasudaiva kutumbakam" - the universe as one family. It also addresses people of the world as the children of Immortal Bliss- " Shrunvantu Vishve Amrutasya Putra:" - " Hear all ye of the world, children of Immortal Bliss". Hindus do not have the concept of original sin.
Let us see how this idea is expressed by Tamil poets of 2000 years ago, in their so called "Sangam " period. This poem occurs in a collection of 400 songs by different poets, called Purananooru. It is difficult to transliterate the Tamil, so I crave indulgence to provide a mere translation.
Kaniyan Poongkunranaar
Yaadum Oore, Yavarum Kelir
Every place is my place, every one is my kinsman!
Our pains and gains- these are not caused by anyone else!
Our illness and their relief- these also likewise ( are not caused by any one else)
Death is not a novel occurrence.
We are not elated when life is happy.
Nor do we curse it as bad, in anger and frustration,
when misfortune befalls us.
Life goes on in the world, obeying an inscrutable Order.
Like a boat being carried by the waters of a wild river in full,fresh floods, amid all those stones jutting out.
This is what we have understood from the insightful teaching of the Wise Sages.
Therefore we are not dazzled by the so called great people.
Nor do we decry and denigrate and despise the small ones.
Several things are to be noted here. The basic reason for the idea of unity is the teaching of the Sages, who have had "intuitive insight". ( Tiravor kaatchi- it is called in Tamil; kaatchi actually meaning :"sight" viz what is seen with the eye of intuition. In Sanskrit it is called "Darshana".Implied here is also the idea of karma, which dispenses our individual destinies. The Order here mentioned - the Tamil word used is "Murai"- is what in Vedic terminology is called "Rta", which governs everything in the microcosm and macrocosm. Once one is reconciled to the ancient fact of death, - " paths of glory lead but to the grave", and not indulge in "denial of death" ( cf. Carl Becker's book of that name), one overcomes all fear, and takes life as it comes.
It is simply marvellous how great minds think so very alike! Let us see Browning!
Robert Browning: Pippa Passes
No mere mortal has a right
To carry that exalted air,
Best people are not yet angels quite.
No doubt, some way or other,
hymns say right
All service ranks the same with God,
With God, whose puppets,best and worst,
Are we: there is no last and first.
Then, how should one lead one's life?
This is addressed by another classical Tamil poet.
Nakkiranaar.
Then kadal valaagam
Whether one is an Emperor reigning over all the lands surrounded by the wide oceans,
Or an unlettered hunter, chasing a wild animal in the dark forest in the thick of night, searching his next meal-
How much can he eat? How much dress?
One fourth of a litre ( of rice)? ( only as much as his stomach can hold at a time)
Two pieces of cloth- one to cover the upper part, one below the waist:
These are what the whole of humanity needs, too!
Then what is the purpose of earning ( and keeping the excess)?
It is only to give to others!
If anyone thinks he will alone consume all his wealth, he is missing out many (finer) things in life!
It will immediately strike one that this sentiment sounds familiar! Yes, it is what we encountered in the first mantra of the Isha Upnishad: Tena tyaktena bhunjitha ie enjoy by renunciation!
These poems taken together provide a basic wisdom to guide our life. Death marks the end of physical existence for all. The realisation of this Reality will only give us the proper perspective on life. In the light of this ultimate truth, all our human notions of grandeur have no value. So this life should be spent in service.
It is not that only eastern people or Indians had such ideas. Let us see this idea from an English poet.
James Shirley: 1596-1666
Death the Leveller
The glories of our blood and state
Are shadows, not substantial things;
There is no armour against Fate;
Death lays his icy hands on kings:
Sceptre and Crown
Must tumble down,
And in the dust be equal made
With the poor crooked scythe and spade.
Some men with swords may reap the field,
And plant fresh laurels where they kill;
But their strong nerves at last must yield;
They tame but one another still:
Early or late,
They stoop to fate,
And must give up their murmuring breath
When they, pale captives, stoop to death.
The garlands wither on your brow
Then boast no more your mighty deeds!
Upon death's purple altar now
See where victor-victim bleeds.
Your heads must come
To the cold tomb:
Only the actions of the just
Smell sweet and blossom in the dust.
Well, is not all this too pessimistic? Will not such contemplation make us morbid? No. It is such contemplation will lead on to the correct action: like considering the heavy traffic makes us negotiate it better. All we have to remember is that we have to reach somewhere, this world is not the end or the goal.
The Gate at the End of Things: Unknown author.
Some people say the world's all a stage
Where each plays a part in life;
While others proclaim that life is quite real,
Its joys, its battles, its strife.
Some say it's a joke, we should laugh it along,
Should smile at the knocks and stings;
Whatever is true just takes this from me,
There's a gate at the end of things.
Don't try to kid yourself with the thought,
You can do as you please all the while;
Don't think yo can kick the poor fellow who's down,
While you can climb to the top of the pile.
Don't go back on your pal, just because
he won't know,
Oh, in his eyes you may be a king;
Some day he will see you just as you are,
At the gate at the end of things.
Live like a man, it don't cost any more,
To act on the square and be right.
It's reward enough to know you're a man,
To hear people say, " He's White".
You can look everybody straight in the eye,
And your voice has sincerity's ring;
Then you are ready to go and pass through
with the bunch,
At the gate at the end of things.
The purpose of contemplating the transitory nature or impermanence of things is not to make us inactive ( as unfortunately the followers of Buddha and Sankara's Advaita Vedanta misinterpreted) but to work better in the world, at the same time not falling into the trap of considering it as the be-all. There is a gate at the end, but only those who live well will have a smooth passage through it!
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A Psalm of Life
Tell me not in mournful numbers
"Life is but an empty dream!"
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real, life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
"Dust thou art, to dust returnest",
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each tomorrow
Finds us farther than to-day.
In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb,driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!
Trust no future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,- act in the living present!
Heart within, and God o'erhead!
Let us then be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving,still pursuing,
Learn to labour and to wait.
So is this a call "to strive to seek to find and not to yield"?
"To scorn delights and live laborious days"?
Surely, each one of us must decide on his own! Godspeed!
No comments:
Post a Comment