The truth in your eyes finds communion with the love in my heart;
A thousand words may miss their mark, yet a glance dutifully plays its part.
A child crawls out of his cradle at your very sight,
The man loses his well-practiced battle without a fight.
Like a wife you become the strength of my spine,
Like a mother you refuse to give in to my cry and whine.
Love finds its true embodiment in your being,
And fails in my expression - whether I dance, write or simply sing!
How brilliant is your sense of equanimity - in moments of sadness as well as joy,
You urge me to grow, even as you compliment my progress and goad me to enjoy!
These words flow out of me in gratitude to your love that comes unasked,
As my tribute to you, my prayer and my self unmasked!
When devotion reaches its peak, the devotee becomes One with the focus of his devotion!
This is the first thought that arose in my mind as I finished listening to a rendition of a song penned down and sung by the renowned composer-singer saint of Maharastra - Tukaram. Filled with such devotion and depth are the words by this saint that I had goosebumps when the meaning of the words hit me! Known for his soul-stirring compositions, called as abhangs, sung in the praise of Shri Vithall and Devi Rakhumai, Sant Tukaram transcends the mundane and speaks from the realm of the super-natural. The abhang is as follows:
पन्धरिचे भूत मोठे
आल्या गेल्या झडपी वाटे।
बहु खेचारीच रान
बह हे वेडे होय मन।
जाऊ नका कोणी, तिथे जाऊ नका कोणी
जे गेले, नाही आले परतोनी।
तुका पंधारीसी गेला
पुन्हा जन्मा नाही आला।
I am no scholar of the Marathi vernacular but I understand enough to have been touched by this magician's music! For the ones who seek that moment which inspired me to write this dedication to Tukaram, the abhang loosely translated in English would be thus:
The forces at Pandhari (The town of Pandharpur) are immense
Anyone travelling through there beware!
The forests there are dangerous
Watch out, the mind will be caught in a frenzy!
Dare not venture there, refrain from setting foot in that land
Whosoever went that way, returned not again!
Your Tukaram went that way
Never again did he see the cycle of birth and death again!
I have never heard anyone pay tributes to a land in such terms. The way Tukaram addresses Pandhari - the implied town of Pandharpur in Maharashtra is pregnant with a meaning so opposite to the one intended that it seems a complete oxymoron! One might be forgiven for having mistaken his callings as a warning. Yes, a warning it indeed is, but that which only seeks attention and not the fear that comes along with it! The sanctity and the atmosphere of Pandharpur, where the ancient temple of Shri Vitthal is, have filled Tukaram with such reverence and awe that he suggest that he has lost all sense of ego through his unflinching devotion!
For the one filled with ego, the need for a sense of separation from the rest of creation is but obvious. A man filled with ego seeks uniqueness whereas Tukaram rose to such heights of humility that he admits he lost all sense of his ego. This miracle, he attributes, to the grace of the Divine which dwells in the holy land of Pandharpur. Hence, we warns anyone who seeks uniqueness to beware of Pandhari! His warning is filled with an inherent soul of appeal to all to see the futility of the oscillating mind. Pandharpur would do to you what you yourself haven't been able to do for yourself - rid yourself of your mind!
He credits the land with a power so alluring that whosoever ventures into its heart seemingly loses his way back into the bickering of the world. He reminds us that it is depository of the Supreme Ego from wherein all minds arise and finally merge into! Setting forth himself as a final example in his argument, this embodiment of devotion confesses that he himself dared to do all that he warns others against. But, what a miracle he witnesses then! The Tukaram who set out to find the Divine found his goal in losing himself! That realization, that sense of union, that Yoga with Providence set him free from the cycle of birth and death, liberating him for once and all!
Somewhere Tukaram comes to my mind as I am reminded of Jesus as he says, 'The poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven'. Yes, indeed, Jesus spoke of the ego when he spoke thus!This miracle is only waiting to happen in your own life the moment you lose yourself. The calls of Tukaram shall ever reach your heart from now on.
Here is that rendition that began it all for me sung by Pt. Sanjeev Jahagirdar - a disciple of Bharat Ratna Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, simply dissolve!
And you will find a very refreshing take on the same composition sung in the Carnatic style by Ranjani-Gayatri in this video.
Waiting at the bus stop for a bus to take me home after a long day, I witness such beauty in the seemingly ordinary phenomenon of the sunset! Even as I witness myself as an observer in this beautiful play of Nature, I ponder about how much we take life for granted. What is ever so transient seems irrevocably stuck in our limited vision and we begin to live restricted lives. Yet, all that it requires is a moment of sincere observation to see how much life is evolving. Life is a flux; as if the only thing that will remain constant is this perpetual life cycle itself!
Let us accept this ever-changing nature of life and take life as it comes. Each moment is heavily pregnant with opportunities to feel grateful for all that we have received in life. A simple acknowledgement of this grace in life fills us with a sense of abundance so renewing that life becomes a joy ride! Let go of all your guilt and regrets from the past as well as the anxieties about the future to see how fulfilled you are, as you are!
What follows is a poem that came to me as I was looking at the setting sun at the bus-stop.
In your golden radiance you inspire me to write,
Your brilliance revolving to create the play of day and night.
How you light up the evening sky this bright!
Life too needs such an inspiration,
To move from the darkness of despair and desperation,
Onto to the embracing warmth of inner satisfaction.
After all, this is just a perpetual cycle,
Even in your dimming, may your spirit remain unsinkable,
Like the force of a tide, unstoppable!
Rise again, moving through this dark night,
Knowing that you have the will and the might.
Life is just a play, be like a feather and float light!
An early morning sight in a place aptly named as the ' Heavenly Mountains'!
Even as the night shyly embraces the light,
I eagerly await the time
When the sun appears golden to my sight,
When the birds begin to sing and rhyme.
The dew drops sparkle,
There is still a nip in the air,
The bees begin to buzz and mumble,
And love birds celebrate in a pair!
Surrounded by unspoilt natural beauty
I feel so fresh, so alive and so content.
The joys of life now seem like infinity,
Full of enthusiasm, blessed with fulfillment.
In such bliss my heart reaches out to you,
An abundance that it wants to share.
Like a prayer receive this love anew
Like a blessing seldom so rare.
In your acceptance, you shall find me
As a part of your existence, I shall discover myself
In the depths of your being, I will be
Your love for me having found itself!
