Thursday, July 16, 2009
Being Spiritual!
"Spirituality" is the most misused word in the world-in my view. I've got so sick of it. In orkut, the most fashionable statement seems to be "spiritual but not religious". I am comfortable without using this word. There's a reason why I remembered this word now. What I am going to write below is related to this.
I've been reading "Rasarishi Kuvempu's" literary masterpiece, his first novel- "Kaanooru Heggadithi". I got the motivation to read this after reading K.P. Poornachandra Tejaswi's "Annana Nenapu" - a book about his Anna (father), Kuvempu. Annana Nenapu is not only about Kuvempu, it has much more in it. It is very humorous, makes one float with laughter. Some of the incidents described there generate reverence towards the author's father, by giving a better idea about the personality of "Anna".
One should never miss the preface of great books. The preface for "Kanooru Heggadithi" was written on December 16, 1936 by Kuvempu himself. It starts as "Kaadambari Karathala Rangabhoomi", meaning "A novel is a drama-stage on one's palm". In the preface he explains how a novel should be enjoyed. "Enjoying the novel is also a creative work, just like writing it. Empathy is very important for feeling the novel. Read it slowly, visualize everything. Whatever I have presented here is a tiny drop from the ocean-like life of Malnad. Don't come to hasty conclusions. It is impossible to understand everything in one read, just like how impossible it is to understand people of a new place as soon as one enters the place. Therefore, take your own time. If you get even a little bit of joy, I would feel very good."
Initially it goes a bit slow. I think the visualization becomes easy for a person like me who's born and brought up in a village. Still, I felt like stopping after a few pages. The reason was I think, in some places, it goes too much into low level lives of coolies. That becomes a bit boring: their alcoholism, wife-beating, superstitions etc. But it must have been the reality at that time in that place, which was supposed to be a village near Teerthahalli. I could continue only because I wanted to. And, to my pleasant surprise, the patience started paying after about 200 pages. The novel has 640 pages. Even though the title suggests that the novel is centered around a lady, namely "Subbamma Heggadithi of Kaanooru", it can appear different to different people depending on their taste. Till 500 pages, Subbamma is not given much importance at all. She is the third wife of a "rich" gowda of that village.
What touched me the most was the way "prakruthimaathe" is painted there. One can "see" the golden sunrise, the mountains, the green trees, the birds, the scary animals - especially the tiger, the silver like water and many more. One can get vicarious experience through the character Hoovayya-a very different person from the rest of them. His love life and the lack thereof and the way he takes it, the way detaches himself from the rest of the world in spite of being actively involved in the daily work! Real karmayogi described in the Geetha. The way he sees God in nature! The way he performs Dhyana! Our old wise sages say, "To someone who wants to concentrate, it does not matter whether he is inside a cave or in the middle of a market".
Hoovayya is the real embodiment of perfection. It is not that he never does mistakes. He often makes mistakes, due to the lack of experience and unfortunately he does most of them in understanding his childhood sweetheart Seethe. Both of them pay for it heavily. It is a tragedy as far as that part is concerned. Still, the best thing about it is the message it conveys, by showing how Seethe takes her love failure and how Hoovayya takes it. How it portrays Hoovayya's "Nispruhate" or "Nirliptate"-there is no better word for it. Hoovayya, being a learned and well read person finds peace in himself and nature, in helping his fellow humans, in trying to remove the superstitions from the minds of the villagers, in being good to even his uncle who always wished his downfall. Often one tends to mistake Hoovayya for a hypocrite, but then the reader's better judgment wins. Hoovayya is soft, just like his name-which means flower. There's also a weak person called Ramayya-Hovayya's cousin.
We usually find people like Ramayya, who can be called good as long as everything goes according to their wish. It is tough to find people whose integrity remains intact despite undergoing hardships. Often the appearances can be deceptive; a person can talk politely, he may even help you, but internally he would not be a satisfied soul. Such a fellow always tends to be an escapist. For sometime, just like how Ramayya found peace in Hoovayya's company, he might find peace in great peoples' company. In the next available opportunity (or he himself creates one), he starts hating that very same person whom he used to adore. That happens mainly because he slowly starts comparing himself with this person and realizes the shallowness of the self. He can not digest the facts and the harsh truths about himself. He even doubts that this great soul looks down upon him. The doubt will turn into paranoia and it might lead to a kind of personality disorder. Such people have little capacity to introspect. They think they know everything, when they actually know nothing. Anyways, let me stop talking about such characters, it is not interesting to even think about them.
Coming back to the divine novel: What makes it divine and hence special is its closeness to the nature and the way it presents the common man's life in the early 20th century. It seems like a non-fiction. Kuvempu's knowledge of Indian scriptures and western literature is patent in this work. He is very successful in making me feel the "navarasa" while reading it. Had I read it about ten years ago, I am not sure whether I would have liked it. One needs a bit more maturity to read such books.
About 3 years ago, I had posted an article on S.L.Bhairappa's novels. After that, I read some more of his books. I think only 3-4 books are remaining out of about 20. I respect Bhairappa for his contribution to Kannada literature. Still, I can't help but humbly opine that Kuvempu is much above. I must read "Malegalalli Madumagalu" and "Shri Ramayana Darshanam".
It becomes incomplete without the mention two of my favorite poems by Kuvempu.
One is "Baarisu Kannada Dindimava". The lines I like are,
"Sattantiharanu badideccharisu,
Kacchaaduvaranu koodisi olisu,
Hotteya kicchige kanner surisu,
Ottige baaluva teradali harasu"
meaning, "Awaken (the spirit within) those who are like the dead, Pacify those who quarrel, shed some tears for jealousy and bless them to live in harmony", and finally the last stanza ends with "Sarvodayavaagali sarvarali" meaning..no I can't translate it well.
Another one is "O nanna chetana, Aagu nee aniketana". The ones which mean special to me are,
"Ananta taan anantavaagi,
Aagutihane nityayogi,
Ananta nee anatavaagu
Aagu, Aagu, Aagu, Aagu"
which roughly means, "May you attain infinite amount of wisdom, knowledge and thus become a yogi". Poetry should be understood in its original language.
I want to just say one thing at the end: Spirituality has to be felt and should not be talked about.
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
