Friday, January 28, 2022

Vegetarian Delight (Poem)

Vegetarian Delight


What does the cyber pundit 
Munching on hamburger in an air-conditioned booth
Know?
About the taste of a stuffed hot green pepper
Made by Mallanna under the banyan tree
What does Kushwant Singh 
Who goes to sleep at sunset fully inebriated 
Know? 
About the thrill of gongura chutney
Hand made by the aunt in Guntur
For you and me
The salivating attraction in any
Vaishnava temple...
Freshly made steaming Pongal,
In Pittsburgh temple – it’s
The Eucharist of the Lord with three vertical lines  
Is that all? What about the maidens of Dhanur-masa?
A visual feast, with eyebrows like bow-arches
For that great poet (1) –
“The disrobed moong bean
Is having a romantic union with rice” 

Oh, the delicacies of long grain rice,
Coconut milk sweet pudding – their descriptions
Are known to only Srinadha (2)
The sweet taste of leftover rice
With mango pickle – the staple diet of
Sulurpet railway coolies –
Only Krishna, the companion of cowherds knows.

So what? Whether in biting cold North America
Or feet-burning sole-scorching south Indian remote village
What if, decent poets like Atri
Are vegetarian? So what? If they are
Gardeners?
What’s wrong? If great scientists like
Sir Chandrasekhar Venkata (Raman) relish 
Curd? Or, if they indulge in cooking 
Tur-dal?
(Translated from author’s original Telugu poem) Copyright 2022 by the author

1. Refers to the great poet, Kalidasa.
2. Telugu poet of 15th century

Friday, January 21, 2022

Shrunken Banana (Poem)

Shrunken Banana


I knew him barely
On the University Hill
He too started in physics
Our common friend – another physicist
In Radiology
Talked about him
Now, it’s too late
We do not know
The real cause
Was it all due to the 
Radiation, particle or photon
But he knew about the field
In depth -
Its regulations, the risks
He must have cured
Or at least given, supervised
The most appropriate dose
What they say: in micro-Curies
To numerous patients
But slogging for twelve years
With the underlying illness
Can you believe?
What it was like?
For him or for anybody
He provided for his wife 
And children
Often helped the local
Immigrant community
Strange, his wife would only 
Say, say with teary eyes: “He
Did so much work around the
House, gardening. Now the plants
Like abandoned children feel it too”
We know anything, rather the value
Of any entity
When we lose it
The shrunken, dehydrated banana
Plant stands pitiably in shame murmuring
“More than anybody in the family
I knew him and his gentle touch” 
Copyright 2022 by the author

Sunday, January 16, 2022

On Food and Spiritual Matters

388. Q: “When Brahman is present everywhere and exists with everyone, what is the objection to eating food from others?”

A: I think you are a Brahmin boy that is why you are asking such a question. Suppose you lit a matchstick and cover (smother) it with a pile of sticks. What happens?
Q: The small fire (of matchstick) will be extinguished quickly.
A: What happens if you throw moist banana plant trunks into a raging hot bonfire?
Q: The banana stems and leaves will turn into ash in a moment.
A: Similarly, when your adhyatmika (related to atma, soul) power is feeble (little) if you accept food from all sundry people without discrimination (hygiene, purity) then your spiritual energy may get suppressed (or extinguished). That is the danger involved in such acts. But if your (spiritual) energy is very powerful, then it does not matter which food you eat. There is no harm (i.e., when you are strong and evolved further in the right adhyatmika path).

389. Once I used to follow the tradition of Islam, after getting initiation from a Moslem guru. I followed their habits of food and chanting. In those days I could not go to the Kali temple. Neither could I chant any sacred Hindu god’s (devata’s) name.

390. Do not eat food offered during the times of wake (funeral). Such meals destroy bhakti and faith. Also do not eat at the home of a priest who earns his livelihood by attending to the last rites and funerals. 

391. “Can we not eat whatever is available?”
A: It depends on our adhyatmika-state (~ evolved spiritual state). In the jnana path, there is no harm; when the jnani eats, (s)he offers the food to the (kundalini) fire as oblation. But the situation of a bhakta is different. The devotee must eat only pious (fresh) food that can be (has been) offered to the Lord (Eswara) without any limitation. Non-vegetarian food is not appropriate for the devotee. Yet, if some one lives on porcine meat (ex: Kannappa of Sri Kalahasthi, Andhra Pradesh*) while devoutly attached to God – then that individual must be counted as a blessed (fortunate) one! Another man even after consuming only properly prepared sacred food, if his mind is caught up with woman and gold (money) matters – then consider that individual to be the most unfortunate one. 

392. Whoever does not long for the “Brahman”, for him even the sattvik food would only be as harmful as beef. Whoever yearns for the “Brahman”, for him even the beef becomes as proper as “ambrosia”.

393. During the day eat till you’re satiated. But consume less during nighttime.

394. For the “bhakta”, only food that does not generate heat or excitement is appropriate. Love for the body means simply “protecting the body”.

395. Q: How to overcome the love for the body?
A: Human body is built with perishable elements of nature. These are: flesh, tissue, bones, and blood. Thus it is just a heap of “distasteful things”, and nothing else. By constantly discriminating thus (on the gross body), over indulgence of the body is lessened.

396. Once the bird flies away, the significance of the cage is lost. Nobody cares about the case (enclosure) anymore. Similarly, nobody wants the body once “the bird of life” has flown away! Nobody wants the corpse.

397. When this body is insignificant, worthless, and impermanent why do the saints and bhaktas protect such a body? If a box has nothing then no one will care about the empty shell. If a box contains valuable jewels, gold, and other precious things then everybody will safeguard the “safe”.

(Excerpts translated from the Telugu work: “Sri Ramakrishna Bodhamrutamu” by Sri Chirantanaanda Swami. * Added by the translator/author)
Copyright 2022 by the author

Saturday, January 15, 2022

Some Ikebana (Poem)

Some Ikebana


With no thought

The visitor snapped a young

Rhododendron lively branch

And a gladiolus stalk

All for a measly flower arrangement!


Little did she realize

The original meaning of Ikebana or Kado


Isn’t it? Strange

It’s always easy to be 

An average poet, floral arranger

Like the wordsmith, you

Can randomly collect a few

Twigs, tear off some helpless

Short lived lively blooms

From someone’s garden

And

Show off as a great arrangement

But

To be a real artist

Or even a nature lover

You got to be a Wordsworth

An Arudra, or Usha-Sri

Then if you reach the real

Pinnacle – then you wouldn’t

Even pinch a flower pedicel or petal 

Not for Ikebana, not even for

A temple offering

Why spoil the beauty?

Why destroy life?

When we cannot truly 

Create we must

Abide by the dictum

“Do no harm”

True beauty needs no embellishment

Rarely a man’s hand 

Can match the nature’s nurturing

Gentle touch of creation

Rarely the sensitive tending

Master gardeners pluck

The lovely flowers –

By their throats

Copyright 2022 by the author


Saturday, January 8, 2022

English Translation of "ihame gani" Kirtana


Whether it is in the material world

Or

Whether it is in the supreme world

If I’ve plenty of bhakti on you, Hari

That’s enough

 

How does it matter?

Where I am born or

Where I exist?

If I can serve you at any place

That is ok

Be it in the Heaven or in the nether world

If I get your name

(If your name occurs to my mind)

That is enough

 

It is ok if I am a Lord or a lowly servant

If I can think of you in moments of

Molten heart

What if people praise

Or throw abuses (harsh words) at me

If I am your faithful servant –

That’s enough!

 

In this world (on this earth)

It is ok if I learn things

(If I become a scholar)

Still ok if I don’t acquire skills

If my mind captures your feet –

That’s enough (enow)

Splendorous (compassionate) Sri Venkatesa

Protect and guide me like this

Steadfastly hold me


ఇహమే గాని (కాని) యిక పరమే గాని

బహుళమై హరి నీపై భక్తే చాలు ||


ఎందు జనించిన నేమి ఎచ్చోటనున్న నేమి

కందువ నీ దాస్యము కలిగితే (కలుగుతే)  చాలు

అందు స్వర్గమేకాని అల నరకమే కాని

అందపు నీనామ నాకబ్బుతే చాలు ||


దొరయైన జాలు గడు దు(తు)చ్ఛపు బంటైన చాలు

కరగి నిన్ను దలంచ గలిగితే చాలు

పరులు మెచ్చిన మేలు పమ్మి దూషించిన మేలు

హరి నీ సేవా పరుడౌటే చాలు ||


యిల చదువులు రానీ యిటు రాక మాననీ

తలపు నీ పాదముల తగులితే చాలు

యెలమి శ్రీవేంకటేశ యేలితివి నన్ను నిట్టే 

చలపట్టి నాకు నీ శరణమే చాలు ||

Audio Links: ihame gani song

Dr. Balamuralikrishna's Rendition


(I first heard this song in a CD with Dr. Balamuralikrishna's vibrant voice. I think I bought it in New Jersey. Really it consists of seven gems of the choicest Annamayya compositions. It seems Sri Mohana Krishna accompanied the master as vocalist. Any errors, if any - they'll be corrected later through updates. Copyright 2022 by the author)