In Prose, but not Prosaic

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;tab-stops:30.0pt .5in">Srimate SrivanSatakopa

Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

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yes">                       In Prose, but not Prosaic

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      All of us

love poetry. Right from when we were toddlers, we were taught what were called

“Nursery Rhymes”. Whether it was “Ba Ba Black Sheep” or “nilA nilA Odi vA”,

these rhymes were our first introduction to the wonderful world of literature.

We then graduated to “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and other rhymes of its ilk,

marking at each stage a liking for lyrical expression.And when we were in high

school, we were introduced to the magnificent verses of Alfred Lord Tennyson,

with their wonderful rhymes and alliteration, those of William Wordsworth with

his enchanting descriptions of such common garden flowers like “The Daffodil”, of

S.T.Coleridge and his “Ancient Mariner” and so on. From there some of us

branched off to savour the delights of Shakespeare, while others chose the

still-living verses of Milton on Paradises Lost and Regained and of 

American poets like Robert Frost, Emily

Dickinson and so on. And those of us who were spared the rigorous regimen of

Convent schools (where nothing but English was permitted to be spoken or

studied) had an enticing encounter with selections from the short and sweet

verses of Thirukkural, nAladiyAr and so on, with introductions to such great

works as Kamba Ramayanam, Divya Prabandam, SilappadhikAram etc.

 

 We were thus

led through a bewildering but bewitching variety of poetic styles and content,

inculcating in us an undying love for lyrical expression, till some of us tried

our hand tentatively at first and then with increasing confidence at writing

poetry ourselves, first in secret with diffidence, constantly consulting the

dictionary, Thesarus and other aids to composition and later, after encouragement

from proud parents and after reading and imbibing master poets, without the aid

of  the crutches mentioned above.

 

 When we are in

the full bloom of youth, romantic verses capture our imagination and we keep

humming some lyric or the other. Some of us are inspired by the rousing songs

of nationalistic poets like Bharati, coming under the spell of his fiery and

stirring verses. And in middle age, when the cares of the world draw furrows on

our brow and our hitherto straight back bends with the burden of familial care,

we turn to more worthwhile reading, developing a lasting liking for the

emotional outpourings of Azhwars, portraying vividly the infinite bliss that

awaits us in the form of the glorious Godhead that is Sriman Narayana. These

savants portray the myriad relationships we can develop with the Supreme Lord

and the unending facets of His beauty and matchless and magnificent attributes.

A perusal of these pasurams fills us with eternal peace, exhilarating joy and

reduces our stony heart to a melting pot of enlivening emotions. And when one

is old and the moment has come to pass on to the other worlds, one has the

Dvayam and Charamaslokam, again in verse form, whispered in one’s ears by

kindly souls wishing one well on one’s journey to Paramapadam.  Thus

from cradle to grave, the influence of

poetry on our lives is constant and unceasing.

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;tab-stops:30.0pt .5in">What is the reason for

the enchantment poetry is able to generate in us, moving even the most banal

and pedestrian of individuals to an extremely emotive state? Why does our heart

respond with alacrity to the strains of a verse, rather than to pages of prose,

however well expressed? Why do lyrics unfailingly tug at the strings of our

heart without any apparent effort? If even secular verses leave lasting impressions

on our intellects, need we doubt the indelible imprints incomparable poems like

those of the Azhwars leave on our soul? Perhaps it is the lilting rhymes,

perhaps the economy of expression, perhaps the sublimity of thought or perhaps

the profundity that can be packed in pretty few words, all of which are the

hallmark of uplifting poetry, that induces us to lose ourselves heart and soul

to the mesmerising magic of poetry.

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..5in"> Readers may despair of my ever getting to the

point and may well consider all this to be the ramblings of a lost soul being

swept away in a meaningless torrent of words, trying desperately to grasp an

outhanging branch of rhyme and reason.

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;tab-stops:30.0pt .5in">Abandoning our secular

ramblings, if we were to consider religious expression, we find the scene

decisively dominated by poetry. The ultimate authority, the Shruti, speaks

mostly in majestic verse. The Srimad Ramayana is comprised of 24000 incredibly

sweet verses of Valmiki, in anushtup metre. The other epic, the Mahabharata too

is in verse and so are the 18 Puranas. The Smritis are mostly in verse. While

all Azhwars have chosen the medium of lyrics to pour out their love, affection

and devotion for the Lord, Acharyas too have exhibited a marked preference to

poetical expression, right from the Stotra Ratnam and Chatussloki of Sri

Yamunacharya to the versatile verses of Swami Desikan in his innumerable

stotras, down to the Yatiraja Vimsati or Thiruvaimozhi nootrandAdi of Sri

Mamunigal. Poetry thus appears to have been the preferred vehicle of conveying

Poorvacharyas’ profound thoughts. The verses of Sri Koorattazhwan and his

illustrious son Sri Bhattar have indeed been sources of inspiration to the

Acharyas who followed.

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;tab-stops:30.0pt .5in">Lest poetry be dismissed

as the winged vehicle for the flights of poets’ fancy and fantasy, given to

exaggeration and hyperbole rather than realism and reason, this form of

expression has been chosen by everyone who matters, to convey extremely

profound, complex and logical concepts. Sri Alavandar’s GItArttha Sangraham and

the innumerable stotras of Swami Desikan stand eloquent testimonies of how

philosphy could find expression through verses, with none of its pristine

purity or clarity sacrificed in the process. One single line of Sri Nammazhwar,

“udal misai uyir ena karandu engum parandulan” has greater philosophical

content and refutes a hundred advaitic works than a thousand pages of verbose

prose. Sri Bhattar, in his enlightening commentary “Bhagavat Guna Darpanam”,

specifically refutes the notion that the Vishnu Sahasranama Stotra is a mere

poetical embellishment and exaggeration of the Lord’s innumerable gunas.

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;tab-stops:30.0pt .5in">If we need a clinching

argument in favour of lyrics being the preferred mode of theological and

philosophical composition, we only need to look at the Bhagavat Gita, the Song

Celestial, a testimony to Emperuman Himself choosing to wax eloquent in verse.

Thus even the Supreme Lord appears to favour poetry to prose, for conveying the

profoundest of thoughts that  were ever

generated in any intellect.

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;tab-stops:30.0pt .5in">Amidst all this plethora

of poetry, authored by the humblest of devotees to the omnipotent Lord Himself,

there stands out one enlightened individual, an extremely distinguished one at

that, a redoubtable scholar of unmatched accomplishments, who has authored nine

major and monumental works covering the entire gamut of VisishtAdvaitic

philosophy (in fact forming the very foundation of this school of thought), who

has composed not a single, lone verse throughout his voluminous works. Though

he has dealt with all aspects of theology and philosophy, Sri Ramanuja has

managed to speak not a single word of verse, in total contrast to his

predecessors, contemporaries and successors, all of whom have waxed voluble in

verse. All his writings have been in prose, with not a single verse thrown in

for relief, while all his predecessors and idols and all those who regarded him

as their lord and master, swore by poetry. Amidst a sea of  lilting lyrics, his was the lone voice

speaking in sober prose.

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;tab-stops:30.0pt .5in">One might say that most

of the works of Sri Ramanuja were commentative, being expansions and

elucidations of the Brahma SutrAs and the Bhagavat Gita and of significant

passages in the Vedanta. Such works, by their very elaborate and polemical

nature, do not lend themselves easily to poetic expression and have, by

tradition, been in prose. It is therefore understandable for the Sri Bhashya

and the Gita Bhashya to have been in prosaic text. This line of reasoning would

apply to the Nitya Grantha too, which is a manual of worship.

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..5in"> However, what about the three glorious

Gadyas, which, being outpourings of deep devotion and containing vivid

descriptions of the bewitching Bhagavat svarUpam and the glorious guNAs of the

Lord, afford ample opportunity for the Bhashyakara to adopt poetical

expression? It is noteworthy that every other Acharya, preceding and succeeding

Sri Ramanuja, has compulsively resorted to poetry in such contexts, feeling

that medium to be appropriate for conveying the exultation in Bhagavat

anunbhavam. But not Ramanuja, who sticks to staid and sedate prose, whatever be

the context. Is it his insistence on painstaking precision on the literal,

rather than the abstract, as well as his desire to keep the narrative rational

rather than clouded by emotion, that keeps him off the portals of poetry?

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;tab-stops:30.0pt .5in">One would be tempted to

conclude that the Bhashyakara deliberately adopted a demure expression, in tune

with the heavy subjects of his choice, not lending himself to elaborate

embellishments or exaggerations that are a sine qua non of verses, being a

sedate person not given to display of extreme emotions. However, the Gadyas

give a lie to this notion, being extremely rich in expression, speaking vividly

of the Lord, His matchless magnificence and auspicious attributes, all in

rapturous language that belongs more to poetry than to prose. The flowing style

of prose adopted by Sri Ramanuja in the Gadyas, mellifluous and lilting, with

certain beautiful and key expressions repeated over and over again, is indeed a

treat to imbibe and impart, leaving one in no doubt that prose could be as

effective a vehicle for conveying Bhagavat anubhavam as any rhyme of rhapsody.

The majesty of expression that characterises Sri Ramanuja’s style, its depth

and sweep, the deployment of words that are just right and would brook no

substitution, the preference for the dramatic turn of phrase in preference to

the commonplace, the absolute absence of banality in any form—all these are a

rare treat to the connoisseur of literature, marking a singular departure from

the hackneyed phraseology and over-worked cliches of prosaic poetry.

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;tab-stops:30.0pt .5in">An important aspect of

Sri Ramanuja’s style is his unfettered idiom and refusal to be cowed down by

what is regarded as the bane of informed composition, viz., repetition of words

or phrases (“punarukti”). Words steeped in majesty and grandeur seem to roll

off effortlessly from his prolific pen, with absolutely no concern for

searching for a new phrase every time a word has to be repeated. He lets

himself go wherever a detailed description of the Lord is involved, be it the

Gita Bhashya or the Gadyas, with a single narrative spanning more than a page,

all without sacrificing clarity and comprehensibility. All his works are

standing and eloquent testimony to the fact that prose can portray as well as,

if not better than poetry, the kaleidascope of moods and feelings running the

entire range from exuberance, joy, fulfilment and bliss, to grattitude,

humility and servitude, to disappointment, intense longing, jealousy and

despair.

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;tab-stops:30.0pt .5in">The following small

sample from the Gadyam would exemplify the Saint’s powerful prose, at once

simple and majestic, enthralling and enlightening, delienating philosophy

without sacrificing felicity of expression and endowing all phrases with an

underpinning of decisive doctrine—

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;tab-stops:30.0pt .5in">“apAra karuNAmbudhE!

anAlOchita visEsha asEsha lOka sharanya! PraNatArthi hara!Asrita vatsalyaika

mahOdadhE! anavarata vidita nikhila bhoota jAta yAtAtmya! SatyakAma!

Satyasankalpa! Apatsakha! KAkuttstha!

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Purushotthama! Sri Ranganatha! Mama nAtha! namOstu tE”

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;tab-stops:30.0pt .5in">Can one word of this

brilliant passage be replaced by any other without affecting the splendour of

the structure? Can any poetry, however facile, equal this plaintive appeal to

the Lord with a detailed description of His kalyana gunas? Can a clearer

portrayal of the Lord’s functions and our relationship with Him be ever

attempted? Can the majesty and greandeur of expression be ever equalled or

paralelled by anyone, however endowed?

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..5in"> To conclude, though all of his compositions

are in prose, not a single sentence of Sri Ramanuja’s is prosaic. Every single

one of his words is significant, irreplaceable, without contradiction, sweet,

crystal clear, elaborate but only to the required degree, invigorating and

affording perennial bliss to the wise, says Swami Desikan in the following

sloka from Sri Yatiraja Saptati—

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;tab-stops:30.0pt .5in">“nirAbAdhA BodhAyana

phaniti nishyanda subhagA:

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..5in"> vishuddha upanyAsa vyatibhidura ShAriraka

nayA:

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..5in"> akunttai: kalpantEYatipati nibandhA:

nijamukhai:

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..5in"> anidrANa pragyA rasa dhamani vEdhAya

sudhiyAm”

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;tab-stops:30.0pt .5in">All said and done,

however, two aspects of Sri Ramanuja’s scholarship would remain an enigma

forever— first, his avoidance of poetry and preference for prose for expressing

even the most emotive of thoughts, and second, the absence of even a single

reference to the Divya Prabandas in his entire works, despite his holding the

Aruliccheyal in high reverence.

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0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;tab-stops:30.0pt .5in">Srimate Sri

LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra

Mahadesikaya nama:

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