Pilgrim's India
Page 28
One speculates on that second marriage. The husband had lost not only a wife but also a daughter. The girl, like her mother, went her own way and became a sannyasi. The second wife must have been sympathetic to her husband’s unusual troubles: second wives always are. But what did she think when her husband, after a while, began to study yoga?
Lily learned Sanskrit, or as much of it as a middle-aged Dutch housewife could. She changed her name to that of the swami Yogeshwarananda. She teaches a very mild form of yoga, more because her pupils want something to do, rather than just think. But the nub of her teaching is meditation, since meditation, untrained and undisciplined, was the beginning of her new life. Just as she made no fuss about a household of eleven people, her view of meditation is undramatic.
‘You can meditate anytime, anywhere,’ she tells her pupils, as do all the genuine teachers of the Upanishads. But she adds something peculiarly her own. ‘And when you do,’ she says, ‘home is just where you are.’
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This extract is from The New Mystics.
52.
This is the big fight, King Ram
Kabir
Translated by Linda Hess and Shukdev Singh
This is the big fight, King Ram.
Let anyone settle it who can.
Is Brahma bigger or where he came from?
Is the Veda bigger or where it was born from?
Is the mind bigger or what it believes in?
Is Ram bigger or the knower of Ram?
Kabir turns round, it is hard to see—
Is the holy place bigger, or the devotee?
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This poem is from The Bijak of Kabir.
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Adil Jussawalla for the many books and references he sent my way and for his rare gift of unobtrusive assistance; to Jerry Pinto for his ability to sniff books out of their lairs and for his generous investment of time in reading this anthology in its many avatars; to Rudi Heredia, Rahul Srivastava, Ranjit Hoskote and Priya D’Souza for conversations that provoked and directed the course of this book in various ways; to Gaurav Rai and Kamini Mahadevan of Penguin for their fine-tuned gazes on the text; to Ravi Singh whose idea it was—and for trusting me with it; and to Sadhguru who has helped steer my unruly pilgrimage in a way I never believed possible.
Copyright Acknowledgements
Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following for permission to reprint copyright material:
Soonoo Kolatkar for ‘The Priest’ and ‘An Old Woman’, from Jejuri, Arun Kolatkar, Clearing House, Mumbai, 1976
David Shulman and Velcheru Narayana Rao for ‘Is there some way I can reach you?’ and ‘Seeking is one thing’, from God on the Hill: Temple Poems from Tirupati by Annamayya, Oxford University Press, 2005
Deborah Baker for the excerpt from ‘The Mandala in the Clouds’, from A Blue Hand: The Beats in India, Penguin Viking, 2008
Osho International Foundation for selected excerpts from ‘The Alchemy of Places of Pilgrimage’, from Hidden Mysteries by Osho, The Rebel Publishing House, Pune, 1997
Javid Chowdhury for ‘The spring feast of colour’, from In the Dark of the Heart: Songs of Meera, tr. Shama Futehally, HarperCollins, 1994
Nilgiri Press/Blue Mountain Center of Meditation for excerpts from Dialogue with Death: A Journey through Consciousness by Eknath Easwaran, Jaico Publishing House, Mumbai, fifth impression, 2005
Madhu Tandan for ‘Piggy-back Rides Do Not Get You Very Far’, from Faith and Fire: A Way Within, HarperCollins Publishers, Delhi, 1997
Motilal Banarsidass Publishers for ‘Pandit, do some research’ and ‘This is the big fight, King Ram’, from The Bijak of Kabir, tr. Linda Hess and Shukdev Singh, Delhi, 1983
Yoginder Sikand for ‘Sri Guru Dattatreya Baba Budhan Dargah’, from Sacred Spaces: Exploring Traditions of Shared Faith in India, Penguin India, New Delhi, 2003
Viju Chitre for ‘The art of seeking takes different forms’ and ‘Pandharpur: IV’, from Says Tuka: Selected Poetry of Tukaram, 1991
Penguin, UK, for the excerpt from Antimemoirs by Andre Malraux, Penguin Books Ltd, 1967
University of California Press for the excerpt from Death Before Dying: The Sufi Poems of Sultan Bahu, translated by Jamal J. Elias, University of California Press Berkeley, 1998.
H. S. Shiva Prakash for ‘Like treasure hiding in the earth,’ by Akkamahadevi, in I Keep Vigil of Rudra, Penguin Book India, New Delhi, 2010.
Kartar Singh Duggal for ‘Ten’ by Bulleh Shah in Sain Bulleh Shah, The Mystic Muse, Abhinav Publications, Delhi, 1996.
Sources
‘Pandit, do some research’, The Bijak of Kabir, tr. Linda Hess and Shukdev Singh, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1983
‘The River’, Jerry Pinto, 2005
‘The Priest’, Jejuri, Arun Kolatkar, Clearing House, Mumbai, 1976
Katha Upanishad in Dialogue with Death: A Journey through Consciousness, Eknath Easwaran, Jaico Publishing House, Mumbai, fifth impression, 2005
‘The Meaning of Pilgrimage’, Benares Seen from Within, Richard Lannoy, first published in Great Britain in 1999 by Callisto Books, Bath and Indica Books, Varanasi
‘Fear No Fall’, The Collected Poems of A.K. Ramanujan, Oxford University Press, New Delhi
Akbarnama: Chapter LXXI, The Akbarnama, Abu-L-Fazl, tr. H. Beveridge, Asiatic Society, Calcutta, 1897–1939
‘Ajmer and Me’, Anjum Hasan, 2005
‘The pot is a god’ by Basavanna, Speaking of Siva, tr. A.K. Ramanujan, Penguin Books, 1973
‘Well of fate’, Mark Twain, Travellers’ India, chosen and edited by H.K. Kaul, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1979
‘The Alchemy of Places of Pilgrimage’, Hidden Mysteries, Osho, The Rebel Publishing House, Pune
‘Is there some way I can reach you?’, God on the Hill: Temple Poems from Tirupati by Annamayya, translated by Velcheru Narayana Rao and David Shulman, Oxford University Press, 2005
‘A Climatic Condition Called Tukaram’, Ranjit Hoskote, 2010
‘The art of seeking takes different forms’, Says Tuka: Selected Poetry of Tukaram, tr. Dilip Chitre, 1991
‘Gridhra-kuta Hill, and Legends. Fa-Hien Passes a Night on It. His Reflections’, Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms, Fa-Hien, tr. James Legge, Project Gutenberg EBook
‘Prayaga’, Buddhist Records of the Western World, Hsiuan Tsang, tr. Samuel Beal, Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd. reprint ed, 2004
‘Travels in India as an Unknown Sannyasin’, Swami Vivekananda on Himself, Swami Vivekananda, Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata 2006, first ed. 1963
‘Living in swamps and wandering in jungles’, Sultan Bahu Death Before Dying: The Sufi Poems of Sultan Bahu, University of California Press Berkeley, 1998.
‘The Journey Home’, The Journey Home: Autobiography of an American Swami, Radhanath Swami, Mandala, San Rafael, California, 2008
‘The Sleepless Saint’, Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramahansa Yogananda, Free Press, 1946
‘Seeking is one thing’, God on the Hill: Temple Poems from Tirupati by Annamayya, translated by Velcheru Narayana Rao and David Shulman, Oxford University Press, 2005
‘Sadhus: Going Beyond the Dreadlocks’, Patrick Levy, Prakash Books Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi, 2010
‘The Hill of the Holy Beacon’, A Search in Secret India, Paul Brunton, BI Publications, New Delhi, 1970 (first published 1934)
‘Charan Chalo Marg Gobind’, Avtar Singh, 2005
‘Ten’, Bulleh Shah, ‘Ten’ by Bulleh Shah in Sain Bulleh Shah, The Mystic Muse, Abhinav Publications, Delhi, 1996.
‘The Impassioned Flame’, Bachi Karkaria, 2005
‘Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God’, Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God: Retracing the Ramayana through India, Jonah Blank, Touchstone Books, 1994
‘The Stone Bull of Thiruppunkoor’ (A Shaiva Myth Retold), Sources: Periyapurana and Gopalakrishna Bharati’s Nandanar Charitram
‘The Only Revolution�
��, The Second Krishnamurti Reader, J. Krishnamurti, ed. by Mary Lutyens, Penguin India 2002
‘Sri Guru Dattatreya Baba Budhan Dargah’, Sacred Spaces: Exploring Traditions of Shared Faith in India, Yoginder Sikand, Penguin India, New Delhi, 2003
‘Where the creature is’, Akho, tr. Gieve Patel
‘Antimemoirs’, Antimemoirs, Andre Malraux, Penguin Books Ltd, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England, 1967, Translation published by Hamish Hamilton Ltd, 1968
‘Eating Betel Nut in the House of God’ (A Khasi Myth Retold), Source: Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih
‘Mahabalipuram (The Seven Pagodas)’, Indian Travel Diary of a Philosopher, Count Hermann Keyserling, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai, second ed., 1999
‘In the Buddha’s Shoes: A Search for Exact Spots and Complete Truths’, Zac O’Yeah
‘The spring feast of colour’, In the Dark of the Heart: Songs of Meera, tr. Shama Futehally, HarperCollins, 1994
‘The Saint’, Jeet Thayil, 2005
‘Jaipur March 25, 1962—on Morphia’, Indian Journals (March 1962—May 1963): Notebooks, Diary, Blank Pages, Writings, Allen Ginsberg, Dave Haselwood Books & City Light Books, California, 1970
‘The Mandala in the Clouds’, A Blue Hand: The Beats in India, Deborah Baker, Penguin Viking, 2008
‘The Godmen’s Flock’, Godmen of India, Peter Brent, Penguin Books, Great Britain, 1972
‘Goodbye World’, Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found, Suketu Mehta, Penguin Viking, India, 2004
‘Pandharpur: IV, Says Tuka: Selected Poetry of Tukaram, tr. Dilip Chitre, 1991
‘Sankaracharya of Kanchi’, The Lotus and the Robot, Arthur Koestler, Hutchinson of London, London, 1960
‘Hidden Journey’, Hidden Journey, Andrew Harvey, Rider, Random House Ltd, London, 1991
‘Piggy-back Rides Do Not Get You Very Far’, Faith and Fire: A Way Within, Madhu Tandan, HarperCollins Publishers, Delhi, 1997
‘Like treasure hiding in the earth,’ by Akkamahadevi, in I Keep Vigil of Rudra, translated by H. S. Shiva Prakash, Penguin Book India, New Delhi, 2010
‘Crossroads and Stray Shrines’, Rahul Srivastava, 2005
‘Illusions of Nearness’, Amit Chaudhuri, Jamini: an intenational arts quarterly, Bengal Foundation, Ice Media Ltd., Bangladesh, 2003
‘An Old Woman’, Jejuri, Arun Kolatkar, Clearing House, Mumbai, 1976
‘The Dervish of Dwarkamayi’, Arundhathi Subramaniam, 2004
‘The New Mystics’, The New Mystics, Aubrey Menen. Thames and Hudson, London, 1974
‘This is the big fight, King Ram’, The Bijak of Kabir, tr. Linda Hess and Shukdev Singh, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1983
Notes on Contributors
Kabir (a weaver by profession) was a north indian mystic poet of the fifteenth century whose poems—with their emphasis on a direct relationship with the divine and impatience with orthodoxy—have been sung and recited by millions down the centuries.
Linda Hess is a scholar, writer and lover of Kabir. She is senior lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies at Stanford University and co-director of Stanford’s Center for South Asia.
Shukdev Singh is an author and translator. He retired as a professor of Banaras Hindu University.
Jerry Pinto lives and works in a city unsuitable for song or sense or belief. He would like to travel more than he does but then, as he says, ‘Who wouldn’t? Practically the only thing stopping me from going is that I don’t want to go as much as I want to do other things.’ He is at work on his first novel.
Arun Kolatkar wrote in English and Marathi. His first book of English poems, Jejuri, won him the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in 1977; his Marathi collection, Bhijki Vahi, later won him the Sahitya Akademi Award. His other English poetry collections include Sarpa Satra (2003) and Kala Ghoda Poems (2004). He worked in advertising and was an award-winning graphics designer.
Richard Lannoy is an author, photographer and scholar of Indian art and culture. His books include The Speaking Tree: A Study of Indian Culture and Society, Anandamayi Ma: Her Life and Wisdom and The Eye of Love: In the Temple Sculpture of India, among others.
A.K. Ramanujan was a poet, translator, folklorist, philologist and professor of Dravidian studies at the University of Chicago. His books include The Striders (1966), Relations (1971), Selected Poems (1976), Second Sight (1986) and Collected Poems (1995). He received the Padma shri in 1976.
Anjum Hasan is the author of the novels Neti, Neti (2009) and Lunatic in my Head (2007), and the poetry collection Street on the Hill. She has published reviews, short fiction, poetry, travel writing and literary essays in publications in India and abroad. Anjum is currently books editor at The Caravan.
Basavanna or Basaveshwara was a mystic, teacher, poet and social reformer of the twelfth century, known to be a proponent of equality across the barriers of gender, caste, class and religion. He lived in northern Karnataka.
Mark Twain was an American author and humourist, described by William Faulkner as ‘the father of American literature’. His well-known works include Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. He visited India in 1895.
Osho was a twentieth-century Indian mystic and spiritual teacher, known for his syncretic teachings. He had a wide international following that has grown markedly since his death.
Annamayya or Annamacharya was a saint poet of the fifteenth century whose devotional poetry is regarded as one of the finest achievements of classical Telugu literature. He lived at the hilltop shrine of Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, and is said to have composed a song a day for the god of the temple
Velcheru Narayana Rao is Krishna Devaraya professor of languages and cultures of Asia, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. He is the author of A Poem at the Right Moment (with David Shulman) and Textures of Time: Writing History in South India 1600–1800 (with David Shulman and Sanjay Subrahmanyam).
David Shulman is Renee Lang professor of humanistic studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. He specializes in the languages, literatures and religions of southern india, particularly in the medieval period. He has published widely in these fields, including long-standing scholarly collaborations with Velcheru Narayana Rao, Sanjay Subrahmanyam and Don Handelman. He has translated extensively from Tamil, Telugu and Sanskrit, and is now preparing a volume of translations from Sangam poetry into Hebrew.
Ranjit Hoskote is a poet, cultural theorist and curator. He is the author of twenty books, including Vanishing Acts: New & Selected Poems 1985-2005, Die Ankunft der Vögel and I, Lalla: The Poems of Lal D d. He has been writer-in-residence at the International Writing Program, University of Iowa; Villa Waldberta, Munich; Theater der Welt, Essen/ Mülheim; and Polnisches Institut, Berlin.
Tukaram was a Bhakti poet and mystic of the seventeenth century, and is regarded as one of the finest poets in the Marathi language. He disappeared at the age of forty-one, leaving behind nearly 5000 poems.
Dilip Chitre was a poet, translator, critic, editor, painter and documentary film-maker. He wrote in both English and Marathi. He authored several poetry collections, his last in English being As Is, Where Is: Selected Poems (2008).
Fa-Hien was a Chinese pilgrim and monk known for his extensive travels throughout India. He visited india in the year 399 CE with a view to tracing the origins of Buddhism. His account of his Indian sojourn offers a valuable insight into the history of the land and the early Buddhist context.
Hsiuan Tsang was a Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveller and translator. He is famous for his sixteen-year pilgrimage to India and for his translations of the essential Mahayana scriptures.
Swami Vivekananda was a spiritual leader, scholar, orator and the chief disciple of the nineteenth-century mystic, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa. He founded the Ramakrishna Mission in 1897.
Sultan Bahu was the founder of the Sarwari Qadiri Sufi order and a well-loved Sufi poet saint of the Punjab region. He wrote more than forty books on Sufism and Islamic mysticism, but is best known for
his poetry.
Jamal J. Elias taught at Amherst College, Yale and Brown Universities before coming to the University of Pennsylvania, where he is the Chair of the Department of Religious Studies and the Class of 1965 Professor. A specialist in Islam and Muslim society, he has written widely on the Qur’an, Sufism, poetry and modern society.
Radhanath Swami has his spiritual headquarters at Radha Gopinath Ashram in Chowpatty, Mumbai. He left his home in America in 1970 and travelled to Europe and India in search of adventure and spiritual knowledge before eventually choosing the path of bhakti and A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada as his guru.
Paramahansa Yogananda was a yogi, guru and author of the international best-seller, Autobiography of a Yogi. He introduced several Westerners to meditation and kriya yoga. He founded the Self-Realization Fellowship, headquartered in Los Angeles and with meditation centres and temples across the world.
Patrick Levy is a French writer who lives six months a year in Uttar Pradesh, India, which he calls his ‘second mother’. He describes himself an atheist but one who is deeply interested in religions and spirituality.
Paul Brunton was a British mystic and traveller who left a journalistic career to live among yogis, mystics and holy men, and study Eastern and Western esoteric teachings. His books played a vital role in spreading an understanding of Eastern mysticism in the West.
Avtar Singh’s last job was as editor, Time Out Delhi. His novel, The Beauty of These Present Things, is available from Penguin India. The American woman who accompanied him to Hemkunt Sahib is now his wife. They live in Delhi with their son and singing dog.
Bulleh Shah was a Sufi mystic poet and scholar of the Punjab region. A disciple of the Qadiri Sufi Inayat Shah, his poetry was strongly critical of the religious orthodoxy of his day.
Kartar Singh Duggal, born in 1917, is a well-known Punjabi writer, who has penned several short stories, poems, novels and plays in Urdu, Hindi and English, as also an autobiography. Several of his works have been translated into several Indian and foreign languages.