Guest guest Posted December 6, 2003 Report Share Posted December 6, 2003 The recent discussion of witness and mind has also brought to mind two short pieces of Shri Atmananda's Malayalam verse. The verses are transliterated below, with free translations following. The first composition is about purusha and prakriti. It's mainly philosophical, but right at the end it brings in a touch of more traditional bhakti. Mother nature and the Lord ========================== purushan oru nimEsham vittu ninnITuk illa prakritiyE y ... ________ As living nature manifests, pure consciousness is always present, shining there. Not even for a single moment does that shining go elsewhere and stand apart. .... atu koND I raNDum onn ANu nUnam _ Therefore, these two are only one -- where each is known for what it is, with unmistaken certainty. itu karutukil nI nin nirguN-Atma-svarUpa-prakritiyil nivasippU ... ________________ Where this plain truth is understood, you are found living always there, in your own nature as the self -- completely free, unqualified by all the world's conditioning. .... nAthanil tanne ammE _______________________ You live there, Mother, in the Lord, in that which is the truth itself. The second piece of verse takes off from Shri Atmananda's worldly career as a police officer. Purusha, each person's living principle, is described as a police inspector who is free to rest in one of the cells of his own 'lock-up'. svayam tanne lAkkappil sukhamay vishramicciTum inspekTar ennapOl dEha-panjarE vArka saukhyamAy _____________ As in a cell in his own lock-up, an inspector of police may rest content and be refreshed; so also in this cage of body, one who is in charge of it may live refreshed, at one with that which is contenment in itself. This piece of verse is described twice in Shri Nitya Tripta's 'Notes on Spiritual discourses of Shri Atmananda'. The two notes are appended below. Ananda -------------------------- 25th July 1953 128. What is it that really binds me? It is not the outside that binds you, but it is something inside. It is only your ignorance of what you are and your identification with the wrong thing (body, senses and mind) that really binds you. svayam tanne lAkkappil sukhamay vishramicciTum inspekTar ennapOl dEha-panjarE vArka saukhyamAy The Inspector of police and the thief may be sleeping or resting in similar and adjacent cells in the police lockup. The Inspector does not feel bound but the thief does. Thus the liberated, though in apparent bondage, is free beyond doubt. 8th January 1954 2. The body The body is the cell in which both the Sage and the ignorant man seem to sleep. The one feels free and the other bound. svayam tanne lAkkappil sukhamay vishramicciTum inspekTar ennapOl dEha-panjarE vArka saukhyamAy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 7, 2003 Report Share Posted December 7, 2003 Namaste Anandaji. (1) Isn't that the sivasaktyOyuktO of Saundarya Lahari and sivasaktyaikyaswarUpiNi of LalitA SahasranAmAvali. (2) Indeed, the realized thief is verily the inspector! I think the word 'vArka' should read 'pArka'. PraNAms. Madathil Nair advaitin, Ananda Wood <awood@v...> wrote: (1) The first composition is about purusha and prakriti. It's mainly philosophical, but right at the end it brings in a touch of more traditional bhakti. Mother nature and the Lord ========================== purushan oru nimEsham vittu ninnITuk illa prakritiyE y ... As living nature manifests, pure consciousness is always present, shining there. Not even for a single moment does that shining go elsewhere and stand apart. .... atu koND I raNDum onn ANu nUnam Therefore, these two are only one -- where each is known for what it is, with unmistaken certainty. .... nAthanil tanne ammE You live there, Mother, in the Lord, in that which is the truth itself. (2) svayam tanne lAkkappil sukhamay vishramicciTum inspekTar ennapOl dEha-panjarE vArka saukhyamAy As in a cell in his own lock-up, an inspector of police may rest content and be refreshed; so also in this cage of body, one who is in charge of it may live refreshed, at one with that which is contenment in itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 7, 2003 Report Share Posted December 7, 2003 Madathilji, If I remember right, it is vAzhka (zh as in vazhapazham or tamizh). There is no phonetic equivalent in English for that alphabet.I have seen people use r or l or zh in its place. Pranaams, Raj. advaitin, "Madathil Rajendran Nair" <madathilnair> wrote: > I think the word 'vArka' should read 'pArka'. > > PraNAms. > > Madathil Nair > > > (2) svayam tanne lAkkappil sukhamay vishramicciTum > inspekTar ennapOl dEha-panjarE vArka saukhyamAy > > As in a cell in his own lock-up, > an inspector of police > may rest content and be refreshed; > > so also in this cage of body, > one who is in charge of it > may live refreshed, at one with that > which is contenment in itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 7, 2003 Report Share Posted December 7, 2003 Re: Shri Atmananda on 'Purusha-prakriti' Namaste Shri Madathil and Shri Rajkumar, Very nice to hear from you both again, after a bit of a break. Shri Madathil wrote (7 Dec): "(1) Isn't that the sivasaktyOyuktO of Saundarya Lahari and sivasaktyaikyaswarUpiNi of LalitA SahasranAmAvali. "(2) Indeed, the realized thief is verily the inspector! I think the word 'vArka' should read 'pArka'." About (1), yes indeed, Shri Atmananda's 'purusha-prakriti' is the equivalent of 'siva-sakti'. Sad to say, I haven't studied 'Saundarya Lahari' or 'LalitA SahasranAmAvali'. But I have seen translations of Shri Jnyaneshwar's 'Amritanubhava', whose first chapter 'Shiva-shakti samaveshan' is a very poetic description of the 'shivah saktyA yukto' in Saundarya Lahari. The main text of 'Amritanubhava' is in old Marathi prakrit, but there is a Sanskrit invocation whose third stanza is transliterated below, with a free translation after it: s' Ardha kena ca kasy' Artha shivayoh sama-rUpinOh jnyAtum na shakyate lagnam iti dvaitac chalAn muhuh Among that same-formed Shiva-pair, what truly is the meaning there -- just of which half and with which half, united at their meeting point? That can't be known where it's conceived from the deceit that keeps repeating all the time, at every seeming moment of duality. And while we are looking at comparisons, the conception here is not that different from Shakespeare's 'The Phoenix and the Turtle'. The Phoenix is a female bird signifying a glorious energy that keeps flaming up and burning out, hence equivalent to 'shakti'. And the Phoenix' energy is inspired by her love for the Turtle, who is a male bird with a changeless and inspiring constancy that makes it the equivalent of 'shiva'. Here is the relevant part of Shakespeare's poem: So they lov'd, as love in twain Had the essence but in one; Two distincts, division none: Number there in love was slain. Hearts remote, yet not asunder; Distance, and no space was seen 'Twixt the turtle and his queen: But in them it were a wonder. So between them love did shine, That the turtle saw his right Flaming in the phoenix' sight; Either was the other's mine. Property was thus appall'd, that the self was not the same; Single nature's double name Neither two nor one was call'd. About (2), as to whether 'vArka' should read 'pArka', my copy of 'Notes on Spiritual Discourses ...' tells me that Shri Rajkumar is right (7 Dec) about the problem being one of transliteration. The 'r' in 'vArka' is the double retroflex 'r' found in Tamil and Malayalam, often written 'zh'. Actually, this double retroflex 'r' does have a phonetic equivalent in some dialects of English, particularly in America, in Ireland and in 'West Country' England. This 'r' is pronounced with the tongue doubled back so far that it doesn't touch the upper palate. And if you listen carefully to the way that many Americans pronounce the words 'part' or 'purse', I think you may find that the 'r' there is similar to the Malayalam 'r' or 'zh' in 'vAraparam' or 'vAzhapazham'. I find the transliteration 'zh' misleading as a guide to pronunciation, so I don't use it. But that does cause confusion, as it has in this case. But I must thank both of you for checking my transliteration and translation, and I would be grateful if you would continue to do so. I haven't used Malayalam much since I studied a little of it over thirty years ago. So my Malayalam is pretty rusty and could certainly do with checking and correction, wherever someone is kind enough to do so. Ananda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 8, 2003 Report Share Posted December 8, 2003 Namaste Anandaji. Thanks for inviting the Bard of Avon to this exhilarating discussion. You quoted him: "So they lov'd, as love in twain Had the essence but in one; Two distincts, division none: Number there in love was slain." The last line is the punchline for an advaitin. May we see advaitic devotion in that love which kills the cause of numbers - daulity. The Bard also anulled space (Distance, and no space was seen!). And, when there is no two, where is one? (Neither two nor one was call'd!) Beautiful indeed! PraNAms. Madathil Nair Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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