I was an inanimate and ugly piece of a moron,
Called and universally known as black Carbon.
One day someone to satisfy his desire for sure,
Just put me thru an ordeal by fire and torture.
Justifying these as necessary process for evolution,
Turned me to a sparkling diamond, in a revolution.
Pity, all these were merely to satisfy his curiosity,
And in furtherance to his own quest for technology,
To make life for his tribe more and more enjoyable,
Sans any care as to who becomes expandable.
Not all carbon pieces can turn into sparkling diamonds,
All diamonds however are but made up of only carbons.
Both are inanimate and belong to the same pedigree
But yet one is ugly and the other in apparent glee.
Change from comfortable obscurity to instant recognition,
Alas had relevance only in the domain of man’s cognition.
When either as moronic Carbon or as sparkling Diamond,
I was inanimate & beyond experience kind of blissful stage.
Where was this tearing need for Providence to make me animate,
To savor all polarized sentiment of torture, love, care and hate.
Separating me from Him in that moment of His unnecessary whim,
Apparently in endless amusement, in His own enormous scheme,
Being aware that re-union with Him is an improbable assignment,
Yet sans His Grace He indulges me only for His entertainment.
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Note: The word for an inanimate object is a “jadam” in Tamil. It also means a “moron”. There is also this saying in Tamil
“Oodhada sangai oodhi keduthhanaam” Which roughly translates to “ creating chaos by blowing an unused trumpet”
Thanks to His momentary Whim God Created the Universe and it’s we who are in endless turmoil. The poem tries to capture this mood of mine.
May God excuse me for this liberty…..
Ekalvya alias Vichu
Vichu,
ReplyDeleteOn a roll again.Hardhitting protest without any holding back,straight from an aching heart.Some might exclaim with somewhat hesitant approval "you said it".A majority,the custodians of faith,would however distance themselves from such outspokenness since candid talk,they would maintain,has its place and cannot trespass into sacred territory.Then there would be some who might sympathise with your"predicament"but would earnestly be asking themselves if we are not missing something.They would have serious difficulty in questioning the wisdom of the original source the perfection of whose creation they hold as being unquestionably beyond doubt.I find myself among this lot.From this position and not as God's apologist(He does not need anyone)or from a smug position of knowing it all,I wish to share some reflections that your thoughts triggered.
First of all,curiosity arises in one's mind about something that one does not know about.The One that we are talking about is pure knowledge, completely at rest with Itself.It is neither curious nor does it have any quest for "technology"(!).Yes it seems to have been propelled by a causal desire to entertain itself by manifesting its own "potential multiplicity".There was no second "inanimate object"apart from itself which It set about evolving through fire and torture.It was the transcedent One becoming at once the enlightened as well as the deluded so the latter could "cry out in anguish" and be "rescued" by the former for both to be reunited in undivided bliss which is not quite a vacuum beyond experience.It is only beyond an experiencer and an experienced and the process of experience.With the best that words could capture the seer postulates of that state as"It Is".One cannot,it is said,attain to that state or reach it.By Grace one finds himself there.
You are an unequivocal votary of His Freewill,His Grace and saranaagathy. Saranaagathy is not bowing down to someone's caprice and injustice as your poetical outpourings paint God's dispensation and with which you are deeply disillusioned.Saranaagathy is trusting acceptance of His will and inexhaustible patience for His Grace to descend.Let us then surrender in prayer once and for all,rather than keep hitting out,in a freewheeling prayer where we ask unreservedly for prosperity,for an end to our temporal struggles so that we may pray to Him in peace for nobler ends!
God bless us all
Gulpa
In Karnatak Music paddhati, when a raw talent is asked to perform in front of an audience, the first row is generally occupied by the family members. They perform a host of duties;amongst them are (a) they serve as an encouraging bunch and a few "aahaas" go a long way in boosting the morale of the artist and (b) (especially) if the artist is an instrumentalist, these guys help in keeping the rhythm cycle in check by performing the "thaalam" etc.
ReplyDeleteMy CWG is very much akin; it helps me immensely to dish out whatever fancies me without too much care, encouraged by a appreciative first row member, and which also gives me "sukhoon" besides compensating for the absence of any kind of participative response from the remaining audience. Your sympathetic and encouraging comments therefore are of enormous satisfaction value.
On these observations; your perspectives help give a more complete and indeed a better- understandable viewpoint. And this differs from what I had originally in mind. The curiosity, desire and reference to technology etc in the first part of the poem was/is attributed to "The Men" -again His creation. Apparently this species has little care for any body else's discomfiture and goes about changing all Carbons to Diamond etc.
In the second part I am going further and saying that this "man" is His creation and is created with all the accompanying characteristics, just so that He can "experience"- His own munificence!! What is it but probably "whim", and which is the cause of all our turmoil?
Of course the carbon -Diamond metaphor covers the "evolution" to Mukthi stage is an additional bonus.
You are right; I must not only accept that His creation can nothing but be "perfect" but think about what I have/am, missed/missing out, to come to such conclusions which are nothing but outpourings in angst.
Thanks for the first row appreciation/encouragement to continue my earnest jignyaasaa...
Love Vichu