Ethics
alone cannot guide a person. It is true that ethics have their place
in a person’s life- they give a strong sense of direction when a
decision is to be made. However, a life built on ethics without a
foundation of philosophy may very well collapse when faced by the
onslaught of the violent storms of emotional challenges or metaphysical
confusions. Philosophy on the other hand has no meaning if it cannot
address the needs of the individual to transact in the world outside. A
philosopher with no connections to the world is building his castles in
thin air which only he can marvel at in his fantasy.
The
challenge for any religion is to marry philosophy with ethics; to
provide meaning and direction to every act in the world outside while at
the same time use these very acts to help the individual evolve into a
better human being. When this is accomplished, life becomes a living,
breathing song.
Kannadasan
has attempted to tackle this delicate task of translating philosophy
into moral values and ethical actions in his song, ஏழு ஸ்வரங்களுக்குள் எத்தனை பாடல் Ezhuswarangalukkul Ethanai Paadal” This appears as the title song in the movie அபூர்வ ராகங்கள் Aboorva Ragangal directed by K.Balachander. Set to score by M.S.
Viswanathan and sung ever so melodiously by Vani Jairam, the song
continues to be popular almost 30 years since.
How many are the tunes with the seven notes How many are the questions in the caverns of (our) hearts How many are the agitations in the men (we) see In imagined pleasures is their attention
Waking up in the morning begets a question of the morrow On getting it in hand agitates still the spirit Remains ever the question why In pleasure and pain what remains is this quest
Your crying for me happens in nature (but) How can it be that you eat for me We all have duties assigned in this world ‘tis better well done by our hands for our own sakes
Your birth in the beginning was not in your hands Nor were the next happenings in your hands Having carved out a path what is the point of fear Travel in it and you will be cleansed of your sins
Live (your life) that tomorrow is always ours There is a person in charge of it, behold Him in the temple Have faith that (good) times would be born All sorrows would end like a (vanishing) cloud
All of our pursuits in life can be classified as either pain-avoidance or pleasure- seeking. In Vedanta this is referred to as Dukha Nivrithi and Sukha Prapthi. However
the result of these pursuits ends up yielding a hollow feeling . The
understanding of this is essential to living an intelligent life. This
is emphasized in the first two stanzas.
If life's pursuits end up being hollow, the
obvious thought then is to give up all responsibilities and actions.
However running away from life is not an option. In fact Lord Krishna
says in the Gita, अथ चेत्त्वमिमं धर्मं संग्रामं न करिष्यसि ततः स्वधर्मम् कीर्तिं च हित्वा पापमवाप्स्यसि “But, if you will not fight this righteous war, then, having abandoned your own duty and fame, you shall incur sin.” (Gita II: 33). नियतं कुरु कर्म त्वं कर्म ज्यायो ह्यकर्मण “You perform (your) bounden duty; for, action is superior to inaction....” (Gita III: 8).This is implied in the third stanza as man is exhorted to perform his assigned duties.
Kannadasan in the fourth stanza goes on to make a bold statement which is oft quoten. பாதை வகுத்த பின்பு பயந்தென்ன இலாபம் அதில் பயணம் நடத்தி விடு மறைந்திடும் பாவம் “Having carved out a path what is the point of fear? Travel in it and you will be cleansed of your sins.” The
leap in logic seems to be huge. It almost seems to imply that all one
has to do to get rid of sins is to continue following his/ her
occupation. Is it just verbal candy or does it have any scriptural
backing?
Who else but Kannan to come to the aid of Kannadasan and fill in the gaps? We go back to the Gita again. सुख दुःखे समे कृत्वा लाभालाभौ जयाजयौ ततो युद्धाय युज्यस्व नैवं पापमवाप्स्यसि Having made pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat, the
same, engage in battle for the sake of the battle; thus you shall not
incur any sin.(Gita II: 38)
Kannadasan concludes this piece summarizing that faith and devotion are necessary to carry on in this path. Let
us seek this Lord in the temple of our hearts. Let us have faith in
Him. Certainly He would end our confusions and make all our sorrows
vanish.
Ref: 1. Chinmayananda, Swami. The Holy Geeta. Bombay: Central Chinmaya Mission Trust, 1996.
To the man who aspires for greatness, life is a battle in which he is a warrior. As Carlos Castaneda says, “The
basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a
warrior takes everything as a challenge, while an ordinary man takes
everything as a blessing or as a curse.” The
battle is waged not in the trenches of a battlefield but in the depths
of one’s personality. The intellect sets a goal of the absolute, the
ideal, while the senses try to drag the individual down. Most of us
reconcile ourselves when we fail and justify it as being “practical.”
The heroes do not compromise. They struggle valiantly, are angry at
themselves when they fail, pray for inner strength and rise up and fight
again.
Mahakavi Subramania Bharathiar was one of the giants of modern Tamil poetry.
Most of his short life was spent fighting for India’s freedom. In
spite of living in abject poverty having taken refuge in the French
colony of Pondicherry, he was never one to be cowed down by
circumstances. His poems sizzle with courage, strength and a daringness
of vision. He was a warrior in the truest sense.
One of the most famous poems of Mahakavi Subramanya Bharathiar is நல்லதோர் வீணை செய்தே - Having Made a Veena So Good In this poem he expresses his frustration as his body refuses to follow his spirit and seems to drag him down. Nallathor Veenai Seithey
Having made a veena so good Would it behove to discard it in dust Tell me O Sivasakthi Having cast me with a brain that sizzles Won’t you give me the strength, to Live to benefit this great land Tell me O Sivasakthi Would you want me to live as a burden to this land?
Like a ball that is launched by a machine I asked for a body that follows the spirit I asked for a blemish-free mind I asked for life that sparkles ever new Even if my flesh be burnt, I needed a heart that sings Sivasakthi’s praise I asked for wisdom that does not sway Do you have an objection to bless me with these?
Bharathiar
was an idealist. He worshipped his country. He sought strength from
Shakthi to fight the external enemies of the land- the British. He also
sought Her help to fight his inner demons. Like any human being he
probably had moments when his spirit sagged. Not bearing to see himself
weak, he cries out to Mother Sivasakthi. “You
gave me the intellect which has visualized these lofty peaks for me.
My body however seems to not want to scale these heights. My flesh is
weak. Why would you want to create me with this weakness?”
In the first stanza Bharathiar seems to indicate the struggles as he attempts to interact with the world outside- மாநிலம் பயனுற வாழ்வதற்கே -Won’t you give me the strength to live to benefit this land? In the second stanza, however, the battlefield shifts into the inner personality. He
systematically asks for a body that listens to his mind, a mind that is
without doubts, a spirit that cannot be cowed down, a heart which is
filled with devotion and an intellect that is resolute. The words that
he uses are powerful and have to be read in the original to experience
the sensation of hair standing on end which Bharathiar always creates. One
of the fundamental questions in theology or in a devotee’s heart is
“Why did God allow sin to be created?” People have been wrestling with
this questionsince time immemorial and would continue to do so in the future.
In the Gita, Arjuna has a similar question, अथ केन प्रयुक्तोऽयं पापं चरति पूरुषः? But, by what impelled does man commit sin, though against his wishes, O Varshneya, constrained, as it were, by force? (Gita III:36). The Lord answers, काम एष क्रोध एष.... विद्येनं इह वैरिणम It is desire, it is anger,... know this as the foe here. (Gita III: 37) The war/ battle analogy is striking. तस्मात त्वं इन्द्रियाण्यादौ नियम्य भरतर्षभ पाप्मानं प्रजहि ह्येनं ज्ञान विज्ञान नाशनम् “Therefore,
O best of the Bharathas, controlling first the senses, kill this sinful
thing, the destroyer of knowledge and wisdom.” (Gita III: 41)
As Castaneda says, “Warriors
have an ulterior purpose for their acts which has nothing to do with
personal gain. The average man acts only if there is a chance for
profit. Warriors act not for profit, but for the spirit.”
Bharathiar,
the true warrior, wants to destroy this foe and he begs his dearest
Goddess Parasakthi for help. The intensity and urgency is evident in
his desperate plea in another poem,
மோகத்தை கொன்று விடு அல்லால் என்றன் மூச்சை நிறுத்தி விடு Kill my
delusion with pleasure or else stop my breath
Ref: Chinmayananda, Swami. The Holy Geeta. Bombay: Central Chinmaya Mission Trust, 1996.
Kannadasan has used the metaphor of road/ path in multiple songs. One of his most memorable attempts is in the song வாழ நினைத்தால் வாழலாம் Vazha Ninaithal Vazhalam from the movie பலே பாண்டியா Balae Pandiya. (Incidentally, the same movie has the song அத்திக்காய் Athikkaiwhich
is more popular and is a showcase of his mastery over the language.)
The male protagonist in the song has a rather pessimistic outlook on
life which his lover tries to overcome. The song starts rather
innocuously with the female stating that there is always a way to live
if only one would believe so. She also throws out the metaphor that the deep ocean would turn out to be a garden and exhorts him to"swim across if you want to live.”ஆழக்கடலும் சோலையாகும் ஆசையிருந்தால் நீந்தி வா As
is Kannadasan’s wont, the next stanza hits you without any forewarning.
He takes us on a magical ride in six simple lines. The translation
cannot do justice to the beauty of the original words
“If you know how to see, the path would be visible If you walk carefully, the journey continues If the journey continues, the door opens If the door opens, (you) get the vision If (you) get the vision, sorrows end If sorrows end (you) can live.”
The
great duo of Viswanathan- Ramamurthy hascomposed the score and P
Susheela/ TMS have brought it to life with their immortal voice.
This
song on its surface can be taken as a simple motivating tool
emphasizing the greater possibilities ahead if only we continue living
our lives. However, I strongly feel that Kannadasan here is not talking
about our ordinary day to day lives but using the song to point to the
spiritual journey of a human being.
The genius of Kannadasan is in the seemingly innocent first line,- பார்க்கத்தெரிந்தால் பார்வைதெரியும்- If you know how to see, the path would be visible.He
does not say that the path is easily evident nor does he say that you
have to go and blaze a new trail. He avers that the fundamental problem
is one of not knowing- not recognizing a path that is already laid out.
In Vedantic terms, this is referred to as अज्ञान तिमिरान्ध - blindness due to ignorance. This can only be solved by knowledge or ज्ञान which is therefore considered sacrosanct in Indian philosophy. नहि ज्ञानेन सदृशं पवित्रमिह विद्यते - Know that there is nothing as sacred as knowledge.
The
traveller is advised to walk along and continue his journey carefully.
This is a peculiar aspect that is not found emphasized by very many
other poets. Why carefully? Is there a similarity to the famous quote
in Katha Upanishad warning the traveller along the spiritual path, क्षुरस्य धारा निशिता दुरत्यया दुर्गं पथस्ततकवयो वदन्ति - for that path is sharp as a razor’s edge, impassable, and hard to go by, say the wise. Katha Upanishad 1.3.14
In the next line Kannadasan quitely slips in his next metaphor - பயணம் தொடர்ந்தால் கதவு திறக்கும்-If the journey continues the door opens.One of the reasons that most endeavors fail is the lack of persistence. (I had originally translated this to As the journey continues instead of If the journey continues -My sister Sumitra pointed this out to me). Doors are metaphors for opportunities, hopes, transition into a
different environment. My feeling here is that Kannadasan uses the door
to signify the arrival at the destination. He has however not
indicated the goal in the beginning. I am sure that he deliberately
avoided doing so not wanting to show his hand early. He
decides to go deeper now- கதவு திறந்தால் காட்சி கிடைக்கும்-When the door opens, you get the vision-
not success, not prosperity, not a sense of accomplishment, but vision. If anybody has any doubts as to what he is hinting at, he blasts it off with the next statement, காட்சி கிடைத்தால் கவலை தீரும் - Having obtained the vision, sorrows end.Only the vision of the Ultimate Truth can rid a person of his sorrows. Kannadasan concludes this majestic ride with a simple statement- கவலை தீர்ந்தால் வாழலாம்- If sorrows end (you) can live. Hence, we are left to infer that true living starts only after obtaining the divine vision.
In
the XI chapter of the Gita where Arjuna gets the cosmic vision of the
Lord, the three metaphors used by Kannadasan appear in stanza 54. - the
knowledge, the vision, and the entry (door). Lord Krishna assures Arjuna भक्त्या त्वनन्यया शक्य अहमेवंविधोर्जुन ज्ञातु द्रष्टुं च तत्वेन प्रवेष्टुं च परंतप - But, by single-minded devotion, can I, of this Form, be ‘known’, and ‘seen’, in reality, and also ‘entered’ into,O scorcher of (your) foes Gita (XI: 54). Swami Chinmayanadaji in his commentary on stanza 54 of the XI Chapter of the
Gita states that a “definite intellectual knowledge of the goal and the path
is the beginning of a seeker’s pilgrimage- TO KNOW. Next comes the
seeker’s attempt to masticate the ideas intellectually understood
through his own personal reflections upon the information which he has
already gathered- TO SEE. Having thus ‘known’ and ‘seen’ the goal,
thereafter, the seeker, through a process of detachment from the false
and attachment to the Real, comes to experience the Truth as no object
other than himself- TO ENTER."
Poets
are not necessarily visionaries; they are not philosophers or teachers
either. However, during their moments of divine inspiration, the Supreme
Truth reveals some of Its glorious sparks through their words. As
common men, we are left to marvel at these works with amazement.
Sometimes, we feel a tinge of envy that we may never be able to
experience that divine state, even for a fleeting nanosecond. May be, we
just have to work harder, or, as Kannadasan says “If you know to see, the path becomes visible.”
Ref: 1. Chinmayananda, Swami. "The Cosmic-Form Divine, Chapter XI, Stanza 54." The Holy Geeta. Bombay: Central Chinmaya Mission Trust, 1996. 750-51
