One
of the most common metaphors for life is a “path” or a “road.” This
cuts across cultures and generations and has been immortalized by Robert Frost in “The Road Not Taken” and John Bunyan in “Pilgrim’s Progress.”
The same metaphor can be noted in the works of Khalil Gibran, Rumi and Kannadasan to name a few.
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 Athikkai which 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 has composed 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
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 Athikkai which 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 has composed 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
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