CHAPTER ONE
IT IS DAWNING.
Yes. It is dawning! It is the Nascent ofcourse. It is brand new; not the repeat. It is brand new. Also inimitable. There had been billions and billions of dawns in the past infinite. Or what is finite? Nothing. Numberless my dreams. Also the stars. What about the sun rays? The universe is set like that. Am a fool to imagine the finite. Always visualize the far. It is a thrill. You feel comfortable to paint the unbound. Because you get digested yourself your bounds. Then what is the solution!
Hers it is! The Art! Really at this moment the birth of the Art takes place. For it is a solace grand.
But, the Bharatheeya Rishi asserts that there is only one Art! And that is Poetry. Bharatha Muni,the Natyachaarya of Bhaaratham, in his versatile work "Naaatya Saastra" describes 64 arts. In micro analysis one can very well realize the Truth- that is- there is the oneness! That Oneness is Poetry! All others are its brackets.
Thus the ancient Indian Saying:
"In Space
Through Structure
In Form through Sculpture
In body, through Dance
In Word, through Poetry
In Sound, through Music
In Thought, through Yoga
When Man discovers the Order and Rhythm,
He touches the Divine within himself."
How subtle as well as clear, the Thought of Bhaaratham is! So specific the Rishi is! See how this Moment, the Maya- the Illusion is formed!
Only the Space, is there as the Omnipresent! The Chaitanya is filling it! The Sabda- the Sound- the Om is the Root! It is the Music- the Nada Brahma! In Thought, the Yoga- the Ultimate Realization-
he achieves the Order and Rhythm.
Here the Rishi assures that at this spell he touches the Divine within himself.
I have explained this Subtle Feel in many a poem of mine. One is "The Poetry" (The Waves of the Ganga- poem 55). I wonder : " How can I picture the shapeless shape-ness; the vision unwoven;
the shapeless; the tasteless, the odorless!"
Another one is " The Whisper"( The Waves of the Ganga" poem-57). Here I wrote: The note so tiny,
imaginary/ The feeble vibration unfelt / The perceivable pulse.
(2)
It is Dawning! The Sun has not made His appearance. Even before, the East is preparing to receive His Majesty. How cool and pleasant the atmosphere. The birds are chirping! They are reading to their routine morning flight. We don't know to where they fly so hastily. People believe that they are going in search of food. What do they sing? Poets exaggerate this. I think they are in search of the horizon. May be. But I cannot explain why they get up at 3 am daily. To sing? To enjoy the cool breeze? To chirp? Or to discuss the cruelty of the humans?
Yes It is Dawning!
Not only the birds, but others are also waking up! The Sun has appeared in His Chariot. They say that it is seven-horsed. Not all of them. Some say five-horsed it is. Whatever be the real. one thing is certain. He is very regular. His horses are very smart and regular. The chariot is made of Gold! Always ornamented with precious jewels! He is showering the virtue on all- the great Power!
Over and over the System He is tuning and toning the Orchestra.
It is Dawning!
Thus the Nascent Poetry!
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CHAPTER TWO
THE LOTUS
THOUSAND-PETALED
It is the Thousand-petaled Lotus. It is the fascinating Dream. It is blossoming. It is dawning!
The Knowledge.
Bharatham is the Ancient Land of eternal Knowledge. The sacred red lotus representing jnanam- the
Knowledge. Every thing is emerging from Knowledge alone. The Rishi always stressed this. If cognition is absent there is no world. For example, if one is sleeping, he has no knowledge of the material world. That is why the Rishi is assuring only the Knowledge is the Truth.
The concept of the Thousand-petaled Lotus is subtle. Thousand means "Sahasram"- Anamtham- the Unbound!
Now we can conceive it very easily.
It is dawning! The Lotus is blossoming! The Jyoti- the Light- is emerging. Darkness disappearing!
This is Nascent Poetry.
From silence to sound to syllable to word to Poetry. Poetry is Thought; and thought is Music.
Music ultimately dissolves into Silence!. This is the cycle. The life.
Thus Nascent Poetry is that being evolved newly from Silence! Thought is the chemical Agent. The
whole process is the providential perpetual reaction. The Chemistry of Life.
Sure, This is This Moment. Do you feel the fragrance? Do you enjoy the Celestial Joy?
Yes It is dawning!
The Secret of the Concept of Padmam- the Lotus:
The root of the lotus flower is in mud. This explains the beauty of the Concept. It is the symbol of Beauty and Knowledge. We feel that it is emerging from Nothingness. True it is! Nascent Poetry is
evolving from that Bliss.
In Mythology of Bharatham a volley of magic realistic thoughts could be detected. The Lotus is one of the most expressive symbolic representation of subtle Thought.
In other words, Nascent Poetry is there from the time of Ramayana, the Adikavya. It is evolved;not
involved.
"Mom, prospect thine,
The Intuit intimate mine;
The sterling sparkling fine,
Virtuous noble colorless fine."
(Avyayam-the Absolute- "Nascent Poetry- poem-1)
These lines represent typically this concept. It was there in Bhaaratheeyakavitha from the time of the
Epics. I stress- Magic Realism is Bhaaratheeyam(Ancient Indian); not Western. Ofcourse, Biblical,
Greek and so on stories are also Magic Realistic.
Note
Further elaboration in this view is quite possible. Different arguments could easily be possible.
It is open to discussion and welcome.
(I am happy to conceive this comment of Gray Ford on www.poetry.com )
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CHAPTER THREE
MY POETRY
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In a broader sense I feel that Poetry as a whole could be categorized as "NASCENT POETRY". For
it (Poetry) happens in This Moment and it is Nascent! After some time, that is after repeated reading, interpretation and discussion, it looses its Nascent Quality. But its intuiting, innovating ability remains perpetually. Still, I believe one thing firmly. If the thought is subtle, whenever It reacts with
the minuteness of mind and intelligence it is capable of reattaining that great conjuring property. The feel of Bliss for example. The yet unexplained orgasmic thrill (though transient) is also is like that. The quest remains. That is eternal. Also sacred when it is spun with love and dedication. The later two mentioned are capable of maintaining nascent fragrance independently. So it is naturally lasting.
At times lifelong like parent-children, friend- friend and so on.
Thus the Nascent to be is an igniting quality. This is true to all Arts. But Poetry is the only Art!(This had been discussed before.)
Let us come to the point- My Poetry.
It is that my poetry as a whole is musing. "It is spontaneous outpourings of the Self" opened my friend Prof. M.V. Muraleedharan(Former postgraduate English professor & Head, Vivekananda college, Chennai- He has read my poems in full). That is a true assessment. We were classmates in Christ College, Irinjalakuda,Kerala,India. It is surely a sincere comment. He was teaching US poetry for more than Thirty years. So I took this early comment (in 2011) very preciously.
Next comment was from my beloved teacher Prof. Mampuzha Kumaran. He is famous critic in Malayalam (a Classical Indian Language). He advised me to study more of Sri Aurobindo and Rilke.
Sri Aurobindo I had read including Savitry and Aurobindo Sonnets. But of Rilke only few. Later I read in detail. Tagore also I studied. Still, the Vedas and Upanishads are my favorite. O, W.B.Yeats!
Not mentioning more. One thing am sure. Good poetry is definitely Nascent. Now this much.
My Malayalam Poetry
There is no meaning in discussing this subject on an international platform like this. Still I feel it is not irrelevant. I had been reading and writing Malayalam Poetry since 60 years. Serious writing started in 1964 when I was a Medical Student at Calicut Medical College. Before that I was active in school-college Magazines.
I am having good knowledge in 4 languages including my Mother- tongue. The other 3 are English, Sanskrit and Hindi.
English literary attempts started later only. But reading was going on.
Agnigeetham(Vol.1&2)
These books or both as a whole is my most celebrated work in Malayalam. The book is very popular
and is an attempt to open a unique trend. Recreation of these poems are my English Poems. Anyway not translation. Both are Nascent Poetry. Much discussion has taken place in Malayalam. The reasons are manifold. Local, individual, social,political, cultural and so many nonspecific factors. Self promotion and patronage is the rule it seems. However, now "Agnigeetham" has become acceptable to many
writers and writers of Keralam.
The Waves of the Ganga
This is my maiden attempt in English Poetry. At first I was really unaware of this possibility of writing literature in this Word Language. As a student of Science and Medical Science I was using this Language since years. Also I was reading English Literary works from my High School days. But never thought of writing poems in that Medium. I was writing this and that in Malayalam for School Manuscript Magazine. Also for a local magazine (Navaprabha) T.S.R. Anandan in 1957. But it was just a child's play. Started writing poetry in leading Malayalam Periodicals from 1966 on wards
while I was a medical student. But never thought of writing in English!
An abrupt beginning!
In 2010, I was writing some articles on "Maharishi Narayana Guru and Modern Science" at the request of a Malayalam periodical(Gurudevan ). For that I read Guru's works (Poetry) over and over
again.Usually I used to get up at 3 a.m to read or write. Also to enjoy the eternal tranquility of the Braahmamuhootham. The chirping birds in the words create a celestial atmosphere. They converse well.
The breeze murmuring something. Is it prompting the birds the rhyme and rhythm? Also the lines of the sacred music? At the moon enjoying the Orchestra. All these you miss if you get up late.
On that particular day, I reminisce I got up at the usual time and chanted Guru"s Daivadasakam. Then I had a lightning in my mind. Let me just attempt to translate the solemn Prayer to English. Many a time I had failed to achieve the goal. Quite astonishingly the game was over with in 40 minutes. No proofing was needed. I posted the Great Scientific Philosophical Musings of the Maharshi on www.poetry.com with notes. Wonderful was the feedback. I gave a quote from Stephen Hawking also. The great scientist was born only in 1942. Guru chanted this hymn in 1914!
It was thus I recognized that I could write Poetry in the World Language! After that I created "The Waves of the Ganga". Posted it on www.poetry.com regularly. The response from the international community was encouraging. This gave me courage to write the other books(5 more) and an anthology of all poems of mine up to 12/2014 (500+),"THE WHY.". All these poems were first listed, posted and archived by www.poetry.com. This made me the TOPMOST POET (ALL TIME) POETRY.COM. The forewords were written by two great Indian writers- Novelist and Thinker C.RADHAKRISHNAN & Poet Prof. K.G.SANKARA PILLAI.
Thus The Waves of the Ganga was born. (Also the other books).
All of them were published by Create Space Amazon. Also are marketed by them world wide. Many writers wrote this is unique, distinct, beautiful,intuiting, and so on. Some wondered what a style and way of expression and so on.I am really grateful to all of them especially to Anjam Azeez Abbas (Pakistan),
Jawahar Metha(Bhaaratham), Alan Gupyman(U.K.), Tom Kennedy(U.S.) and so on.
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CHAPTER FOUR
"THE WAVES OE THE GANGA"-
THE TITLE.
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"The Ganga, especially, is the river of India, beloved of her
people, round which are intertwined her memories, her hopes
and fears, her songs of triumph, her victories and her
defeats. She has been a symbol of India's age-long culture
and civilization, ever changing, ever flowing, and yet ever
the same Ganga".
- Jawahar Lal Nehru
Ganga is the river of India. Hence these poems become "The Waves of the Ganga". She is considered
to be the Mother of each and every Bhaaratheeyan.
MAHABHARATA(Mahabharata) the Epic of mankind
The Sanskrit(
Samskritham- the purified, the cultured) word
Mahaabhaaratham means Bhaaratham the Great. Also about the Great country, about the great culture and Knowledge. Maharshi Baadaraayana (Vyaasa as he is respectfully addressed) the composer of the Ithihaasam (Epic)
coined the most apt Title so to say. "Everything is there in this. Nothing is there outside other than this". The Author himself has mentioned about his "Nascent Poetry". His epic is really Magic realistic in nature. Mystic and Symbolic too. Thus as the Rishi claims, nothing could be seen outside except repeating or,to be more humble, remodeling or retelling this.
This is not an exaggeration. I am just expressing the universal view of the great scholars.
In Mahaabhaaratham the Author himself is a major character. He is telling the story of his own progeny. This is noteworthy. In Raamayanam, the other epic of Bhaaratham, also the Author Valmiki is a major character. I am not verbalizing the details. Not a comparison too. I just thought of Iliad and Odyssey, the other Great Epics of the world literature. There the Author himself is not a character. I mean that Mahaabhaaratham is in one sense, an Autobiographical work too. Not only that the Author is not telling or elaborating much about his own life. Only his birth is known. The other details remain or rather kept as an eternal secret.(May be the story a philosophical Myth.) .
The Hero, Bheeshma is the son of Ganga (River Ganga) and King Santhanu. Ganga is daughter of Himavan(Himalayan Mountain). A real mythical and magic realistic thought! I am not confusing you! All these stories have been beautifully synchronized and logically synthesized by inimitable
poetic skill!
Naturally, my humble work on the Authentic Ancient Thought of Bharatham (Bhagavad Geetha is the centrally embedded in Mahaabhaaratham) quantified in the light of Modern Scientific Knowledge, written in post-post modern style, is being titled " The Waves of the Ganga"._
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CHAPTER - FIVE
THE WAVES OF THE GANGA
THE THOUGHT 22-9-2015
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Often from childhood I had been asking self one question. Not one but a bunch of Interrogations.
The Why? When? What? Which? How? Where? and so on counting till the Definite-Indefinite. My father was a brilliant seeker. He was my Science Teacher too. He taught me Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. Also English, Sanskrit and fundamentals of Cosmology. That was how I got an idea of the Space, the Omnipresent. Rather the Omnipresence!
Naturally, my miniature imagination got a tilling flying and intuiting hue. It was that Celestial Seed later became my Poetry, the Eternal Tree. I have been mentioning this heartthrob many an occasion.
I feel still it is not abundant or overflowing enough. I am sure it would never be. It would flow to the Estuary the Full-Nil. Till the Deluge; not to end; but to incarnate! Thus the never ending Cycle.
The Genetics of my Poetry:
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Sure, I believe that my taste was not a mutation. It would have been inherited from my learned grandmother who was my play-mate in my childhood. Ammamma( father's mother) was a Sanskrit scholar. She was from Madambath family( Mangattukara, Thrissur), a very affluent family where Maharishi Sreenarayana Gurudevan had been making frequent visits during his travelings in connection with the historic social, cultural and educational reformative endeavors he was conducting and leading at that time.(Late 19th & early 20th century). It was Guru who advised my grand grandfather to give good education to his daughter Lakshmi(my Ammamma's good name- later I gave the same name to my granddaughter-). My grandmother was very brilliant and intelligent.(She taught me the epics, works of Mahakavi Kalidasa, Vedas, Upanishads,the great heavenly language and works of Gurudevan. Also Balaramayanam of Mahakavi Kumaran Asan. This atmosphere would
have certainly made a genetic and embryological influence on me to develop a love and taste for poetry.
THE WAVES OF THE GANGA- The Evolved
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The waves of the Ganga is spun in 4 chapters of 30 poems each. As I had mentioned many an occasion, all these poems were evolved; not involved.
This process of evolving I was enjoying a lot. The ecstatic Mood has been expressed in the opening
poem it self. A real poet would always be remaining moody. That means that the Mood is creating the poem. At this Moment I would ornament the poem thus. But if am writing the same next moment, it would never the same. This is due to involvement. The next moment, the evolved becomes involved!
This involving is naturally interfering the evolving process and simultaneously its subtlety is lost. That is why I stated about the evolving process as of much sweetness.
The Quote from Sri Aurobindo
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There is a quote from Sri Aurobindo in this book echoing the Mood of my Poetry. The Maharshi declares in these throbbing lines that the material universe is nothing but a pale illusion by a greater voice and a mightier vision. My attempt is to picture that enchanting ecstasy that I experience.
I admit my miserable failure. Still I go on attempting and that is my Poetry. The Ganga is also making the same venture! That is why these poems are the Waves of the Ganga.
The Quote from W.B.Yeats
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Ofcourse, there is another quote from the Great Poet W.B,Yeats. The world knows the intimacy between Yeats and Mahakavi Tagore. And also his admiration towards Indian Poetry. No wonder,
these four lines happens to be the waves of the Ganga!
A detailed look into "The Waves of the Ganga" is being attempted in the following chapters.
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CHAPTER SIX
THE WAVES OF THE GANGA
THE SIGNIFICANCE 23-9-2015
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We all know the British modified many of the nomenclature of our rivers, mountains and places (and many others) irrationally as per their will and pleasure. Thus the sacred river GANGA was renamed by them "the Ganges". I am not further exemplifying this point. Our leaders were wise enough to identify this trick used by them(though late often) to axe our ancient eternal culture, language and thought. I am not elaborating too. This is a well accepted point by all. Destroying a Nation and making its people slaves and transforming them psychologically and spiritually impotent could easily be done by uprooting its culture and language!
Let us come to the point. The "Ganges" could never be the GANGA- Gangamatha.(MOTHER GANGA). The reasons are manifold. I am not expanding the fact- but one word. "Ganga" is mother of Bheeshma, the main character of the epic "MAHABHARATA". Also she is the daughter of Himavan(Himalaya). The stories go on. I am not retelling.
Here, my only aim is to explain the significance of "THE WAVES OF THE GANGA". Definitely I mean that the same. My intention is not to regurgitate history or to open a controversy at all.
THE SIGNIFICANCE:
So me as an INDIAN POET firmly wonder how these poems could not have been "THE WAVES OF THE GANGA"! I could not even imagine this bunch of independent as well as inter-related poems titling otherwise! I was very particular this "KAVYAM" should have a title reflecting absolutely "MAHABHARATA" AND MODERN INDIA. My other work in this connection titled "THE HUES OF THE HIMALAYA" also does serve this purpose.
THE FOREWORD BY GREAT INDIAN WRITER C.RADHAKRISHNAN
Secondly the waves represent the flow. This has been very beautifully and meaningfully described by Great Indian writer C.RADHAKRISHNAN in his foreword "THE FLOW OF THE ETERNAL". His skillful pen has very enthusiastically depicted the salient pinning features of these poems in a nutshell. I owe much to my senior literary brother for this most sincere and intimate favor shown to me in this regard.
ILLUMINATIONS BY GREAT INDIAN POET K.G.SANKARAPILLAI
Great Indian poet K.G.SANKARAPILLAI has illuminated this work by his sparkling words of appreciation. When he mentions about borders of rain, his mission and ambition is complete. Thank you poet for the jubilant gesture!
THE COVER BY RAMAN P. NAMPOOTHIRI
This Great artist has designed the cover in most throbbing and stunning manner. See the SACRED GANGA flowing! See Varanasi!. Thumps up Raman.
2.
Naturally, the canvas of a work like this is very vast. The literary, scientific, cultural. political, psychological, spiritual, social, artistic, ethical and historical aspects and so on are to be explored.
It took about 40 years of reading and study for me to get courage to make this humble attempt. At last the day came; I got the start.
THE GREEN SIGNAL
I remember well the Moment. My mind was calm;but jubilant and ecstatic. I opened my laptop and started typing. Left the thought alone to flow. ("The flow of the eternal"). No plan,design,aim nothing! My mind was preparing for a journey, I recognized.I was trembling with joy! Poetry was flowing like "GANGA". It was originating from some unknown source. Let me call it Gangotri. My own internal Gangotri.It is in me. Not anywhere else I could realize. Really could muses fully.
THE BLOSSOMING BUD
I had the feel of a blossoming bud. I compare this to this Moment.The bud is blossoming, completing its mission and falling. It is Time. It is moving. Truly, we know only the earth is revolving. Also it is orbiting the sun. Nothing else is moving. Every thing is constant. Then, this feel is illusion. Birth and death are illusion. Thus the Time is an illusion. So there is nothing is there namely Moment! Only the feel exists! Also the Full and Nil. The Full-Nil continuum.
Am I contradicting? Yes, everything is contradictory! The Plus and the minus and all. The directions also. But, ultimately, any point is interlaced with any other point in the Universe.- Multiverse rather!
THE SEVENTH SENSE
Still the Feel is there as Un-Feel. The Naught! The naughty Nought!. Is it a knot? Who does know?
It is not! It is the Still Point! It is the Nothingness! The feel of being Nothing! It is Null! The Equilibrium!
Thus the Significance.
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THE CHAPTER SEVEN:
THE SINGULAR
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