Here are some exercises in pure and sustained literary immersion from this week’s reading! Here are glimpses from Arundhati Subramaniam’s collection of Bhakti poetry called Eating God which I have been reading and which stunningly reflects the breadth and depth of the devotional tradition in all its regional and linguistic diversity.
That Strange Disease Called Bhakti Don't you take on this thing called bhakti: like a saw it cuts when it goes and it cuts again when it comes. If you risk your hand with a cobra in a pitcher will it let you pass? (Basavanna: A. K. Ramanujan)
Like a sharp arrow Is the love of Rama. Only someone struck by it Knows the pain. You look for the wound, But the skin is not broken. You bring out the ointment, But there's nowhere to rub. When all the women Look the same, Who among them Will the lord choose? Fortunate is she, Says Kabir, In the parting of whose hair, And hers alone, Is put vermilion. (Kabir: A. K. Mehrotra)
She lingers out of doors. She rushes in And she rushes out, Her heart is restless. Breathing fast, She gazes at the kadamba wood. What has happened The elders chatter And the wicked gossip. Is she possessed By some enchanting god? Forever restless Careless of clothes, Startled, she jumps in her dreams... Her desire inflamed By passion and longing, She reaches for the moon. Chandidas says that she is caught In the snare of Kaliya, the dark. (Chandidas: Deben Bhattacharya)
The spotless being depicted holding a silver conch in his left hand will not show his form to me. He arrives through an underground spring to liquefy my house's foundations, to seep into the walls and overflow my heart: pure torture. Warbling kohl-bird drunk on honey from the twitching stamen of magnolia blossoms, intercede to the lord of Venkata on my behalf, murmur, get him to come. (Andal: Ravi Shankar)
Entreaty drunken clouds bring no message from my love frogs peacocks fever-birds chatter the cuckoo sings lightning flashes in the dark scared I want him the wind is cool and musical the clouds are pouring rain where are you Hari your absence is venom in my veins (Mirabai: Rahul Soni)
Were I given a hundred thousand tongues instead of one And the hundred thousand multiplied twenty-fold, A hundred thousand times would I say, and say again, The Lord of all the worlds in One. That is the path that leads These the steps that mount, Ascend thus to the Lord's mansion And with Him be joined in unison. The sound of the songs of Heaven thrills The like of us who crawl, but desire to fly. O Nanak, His grace alone it is that fulfills, The rest mere prattle, and a lie. (Guru Nanak: Khushwant Singh)
Restless mind, don't infect the heart with fear. That virus is not for you. The Infinite knows what you hunger for. Ask Him to carry you across. And one day Death shall arrive to evict this squatter from his fragile hut of bones Then as the spirit quivers, buckles, collapses, hurry, Goddess Abhirami- you that are the primordial note plucked by the strings of the veena at the dawn of time Hurry with the soft clink of braceleted wrists Hurry with your flock of handmaidens of the sky Hurry extend a bejeweled hand utter the words I need to hear Reassure me, say, 'Do not fear.' (Abhirami Bhattar: Arundhati Subramaniam)
This body that you're fussing over, this body that you're dolling up, this body that you're wearing to the party, this body will end as ash. (Lal Ded: Ranjit Hoskote)
Poets, beware, your life is in danger: the lord of gardens is a thief, a cheat, master of illusions; he came to me, a wizard with words, sneaked into my body, my breath, with bystanders looking on but seeing nothing, he consumed me life and limb, and filled me, made me over into himself. ... My lord who lives in the city of names came here today said he'd never leave entered me filled my heart I've caught him the big-bellied one not content yet with all that guzzling on the sevenfold clouds the seven seas the seven mountains and the world that holds them all I've caught him I contain him now (Nammalvar: A.K. Ramanujan)
Krupa Shah 