The Suns of Poetry

For some, poetry aims highly at several things. As an art form it uses language in new and creative ways to express ideas and emotions; it creates its own vocabulary for expression of some of our deepest thoughts and feelings. The poet is, in the words of Indian teacher and mystic, Sri Aurobindo, the result of the harmonizing of
"five perennial powers: truth, beauty, joy, life and spirit." The one he terms, the "poet-seer" is someone who "sees differently, who thinks in another way... the poet shows us truth within its power of beauty, in its symbol or image, reveals it to us..."

Poets seek to illumine, to amplify or lift up in words, images and symbols in the way the visual artist does with his drawings or designs. For Aurobindo the term life carries further meaning than its base, scientific sense. In its use, Aurobindo means to signify "the life of feelings and passions. The inner life, which is infinite." Poets as seers and sages are gifted with the ability to perceive and elucidate upon those facets of living which many feel but can derive no words for meaning. The poet is much loved for the giving of words to otherwise unexpressed longings of ones' heart. Poetry then is the heart of the heart. Sri Aurobindo makes this clear when he writes about matters of truth, beauty and joy:

 Because Thou Art

Because Thou art All-beauty and All-bliss,

My soul blind and enamored yearns for Thee; 

It bears Thy mystic touch in all that is 

And thrills with the burden of that ecstasy. 

Behind all eyes I meet Thy secret gaze 

And in each voice I hear Thy magic tune: 

Thy sweetness haunts my heart through Nature's ways;

 Nowhere it beats now from Thy snare immune. 

It loves Thy body in all living things; 

Thy joy is there in every leaf and stone: 

The moments bring Thee on their fiery wings; 

Sight's endless artistry is Thou alone
Time voyages with Thee upon its prow
And all the future's passionate hope is Thou.

--Sri Aurobindo

The complete Works of Sri Aurobindo 


 

Sadhana, the realization of life

"There is a bond of unity between our two eyes which makes them act in unison."  Sadhana; the Realization of Life by Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore, a Bengali poet, mystic and writer known for his elegant, lyrical writing style; he also is known for his Nobel Prize win for literature in 1913. Written in his philosophical prose style, Tagore's  book, Sadhana, the Realization of Life, addresses many aspects of the Self and the world. He writes for example, that opposites do not bring confusion; in reality they bring harmony. Rhythm can never be born of disharmony, or of  "the haphazard struggle of combat."

This principle is the chief mystery of all unities. Unity in Tagore's mind could be viewed as: the one which appears as the many. And while seeming to be opposite, it is the truth, a paradox of sorts. He writes of a great poem, as a compilation of most pleasing sounds, yet if one stops to hear the import of those sounds, something more emerges; 'the inner connects to the outer [meaning].'

In the following poem below Tagore writes a bit of this and other ideas further discussed in prose style in his book, Sadhana. The poem is 'a thing of beauty which transcends grammar, laws' and becomes unto itself.

I

By Rabindranath Tagore

I wonder if I know him
In whose speech is my voice,
In whose movement is my being,
Whose skill is in my lines,
Whose melody is in my songs
In joy and sorrow.
I thought he was chained within me,
Contained by tears and laughter,
Work and play.
I thought he was my very self
Coming to an end with my death.
Why then in a flood of joy do I feel him
In the sight and touch of my beloved?
This 'I' beyond self I found
On the shores of the shining sea.
Therefore I know
This 'I' is not imprisoned within my bounds.
Losing myself, I find him
Beyond the borders of time and space.
Through the Ages
I come to know his Shining Self
In the 'If ' of the seeker,
In the voice of the poet.
From the dark clouds pour the rains.
I sit and think:
Bearing so many forms, so many names,
I come down, crossing the threshold
Of countless births and deaths.
The Supreme undivided, complete in himself,
Embracing past and present,
Dwells in Man.
Within Him I shall find myself -
The 'I' that reaches everywhere.

Christianity and India

"Christians living in Kerala astutely relate the Christ to the Vedic tradition."

Christianity in India is about as old as Christianity itself. In the south, in the Tamil province, especially, the cult of the Christian is especially well developed. In parts of India it easily adopted the Brahminic mode of expression. Syrian Christians living in Kerala engage in casting their horoscopes for example, and astutely relate the life of the Christ to Vedic traditions. In some regard, Christian-ways in these regions are ubiquitous; in turn it gives culture to India.

 The deeply imbedded notion of the Avatar inspires many. Through divining the personality of the Christ, Indians see the Christ as something of a Supreme Being, incarnated, come to earth to save mankind. The idea of wrong, of sin is overlooked. In this type of salvation drama, Christ, the Avatar is most appealing. Sabrania Bharati, a Tamil poet of national prominence and a Shakti devotee wrote:

My Lord expired on the Cross

and ascended in three days.
Beloved Mary Magdalene

 saw this happen.
Friends! Here's the esoteric sense.
The gods will enter us
and guard us from all ills 

if we transcend pride.
 

Mary Magdalene is Love,
Jesus the Soul.
The outer evil destroyed,
the good life sprouts.
She praised the radiance 

in that golden face.
That was the love of Magdalene,

ah, what joy!
If Sense is bound to the Cross of Truth,
and crucified with nail austerity,
Jesus of the strengthened soul 

will rise as the boundless sky

Magdalene is Eternal Feminine,
Jesus Christ is deathless dharma,
Draw we close to the symbol:
look, an inner meaning glows.

The poet does not mean to give a philosophical view here. Instead he is deeply moved to record his experience in poetry, the song of words. Praising the image of the Christ upon the Cross, he attempts to reconcile this image with the sure knowledge of deep suffering, of passion. Why should there be so much suffering? Is the persecutor Pilate to be the ever source of this suffering? What remains now of godliness, of mercy, of holiness? The heart in ascension rises and opens to the eternal, to hope.

How, muses the poet, shall we coax, the Lord of Hosts to enter our consciousness, making us the carriers of the imperishable Dharma? With Mary Magdalene as love incarnate, love then is the entrailing of the gods to combine the human with Jivatman and Supreme, the Paramatman.
Where love is expressed, smallness falls away; there lives instead the Divine, for God is Love, we learn. The Supreme responds to the sincere strivings of the Human being.

Another Indian of great repute, Sri Aurobindo also felt the indescribable pull towards the imagery of  Christ upon the Cross. Affected by the story of The Divine Comedy,  Dante who remarks with simple clarity, 'in His will is our peace,' reflects the view of Aurobindo equally himself.
Aurobindo freely engaged the life and gospels of the Christ in his own writings. For Aurobindo, the Christ represented the ideal, the strivings of the One to completeness, to wholeness. The Avatar, he believed, was significant for man's spiritual progress, for his ultimate ascension. In his epic poem, Savitri, he writes about the Christ as Avatar in a step towards human unity.

Love Transcending, Walt Whitman

"How beautiful is candor..." Walt Whitman 1855, preface Leaves of Grass

Published in 1855, just prior to the American Civil War, Leaves of Grass was Whitman's work written in a sensuous manner for the more ordinary in society, the common, everyday man of America. While many writers of the period wrote for the elite about the elite and their day to day lives, Whitman determined that for his work, he would not follow in like fashion.
He stated in the preface of the 1855 volume that his desire was to 'united the physical flesh with the spiritual,' to be a poet of the physical, a poet of the soul. He was striven to accept all of life as revealed to him on simple, equal terms. While many of his contemporaries were offended by such overt references, Whitman excluded nothing, accepting all in nature.

Like author D. H. Lawrence who wrote in the 20th century, Whitman was intent on exploring the mind/spirit/body connections of everyday life. His frankness was shocking to many, and the book was declared obscene immediately upon publication in 1855. This however only added to its cachet. And yet clearly his stated intention is not the intent of those in the 20th and 21st centuries who wish to use him and his words for their and their own devices.

"A woman waits for me, she contains all, nothing is lacking, Yet all were lacking if sex were lacking, or if the moisture of the right man were lacking. Sex contains all, bodies, souls, Meanings, proofs, purities, delicacies, results, promulgations, Songs, commands, health, pride, the maternal mystery, the seminal milk, All hopes, benefactions, bestowals, all the passions, loves, beauties, delights of the earth, All the governments, judges, gods, follow'd persons of the earth, These are contain'd in sex as parts of itself and justifications of itself. Without shame the man I like knows and avows the deliciousness of his sex, Without shame the woman I like knows and avows hers. Now I will dismiss myself from impassive women, I will go stay with her who waits for me, and with those women that are warm-blooded sufficient for me, I see that they understand me and do not deny me, I see that they are worthy of me, I will be the robust husband of those women. 

They are not one jot less than I am, They are tann'd in the face by shining suns and blowing winds, Their flesh has the old divine suppleness and strength, They know how to swim, row, ride, wrestle, shoot, run, strike, retreat, advance, resist, defend themselves, They are ultimate in their own right--they are calm, clear, well-possess'd of themselves. I draw you close to me, you women, I cannot let you go, I would do you good, I am for you, and you are for me, not only for our own sake, but for others' sakes, Envelop'd in you sleep greater heroes and bards, They refuse to awake at the touch of any man but me. It is I, you women, I make my way, I am stern, acrid, large, undissuadable, but I love you, I do not hurt you any more than is necessary for you, I pour the stuff to start sons and daughters fit for these States, I press with slow rude muscle, I brace myself effectually, I listen to no entreaties, I dare not withdraw till I deposit what has so long accumulated within me. Through you I drain the pent-up rivers of myself, In you I wrap a thousand onward years, On you I graft the grafts of the best-beloved of me and America, The drops I distil upon you shall grow fierce and athletic girls, new artists, musicians, and singers, The babes I beget upon you are to beget babes in their turn, I shall demand perfect men and women out of my love- spendings, I shall expect them to interpenetrate with others, as I and you interpenetrate now, I shall count on the fruits of the gushing showers of them, as I count on the fruits of the gushing showers I give now, I shall look for loving crops from the birth, life, death, immortality, I plant so lovingly now."

--A Woman Waits for Me 1856 by Walt Whitman, American Poet

The Transcendentalism of his age is spelled out here, clean within the lines, the poet makes the statement that all is in the world, all joined, simple frankness. And he writes of America as if it were a woman, curiously of sons and daughters fit for these (united) states.What's more, Whitman attributed his 'fire' to the American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, leader of the transcendentalist movement,whom he said brought him to himself, to his fire. In December 1856 Henry David Thoreau paid Whitman a visit. He wrote later that, "he (Whitman) does not celebrate love at all.It is as if the beasts spoke... But even on his side, he has spoken more truth than any American or modern at present." 
 Whitman, through sexual energy, identifies with the generative aspect of nature itself. And he holds a belief in both the seen and the unseen.
As for Emerson, he declared that 'every man should commune with the divinity of the animating soul within himself.'
These thoughts have animated spiritual thinkers for the modern age and beyond.

Rumi Basics

“Soul receives from soul that knowledge, therefore not by book nor from tongue. If knowledge of mysteries come after emptiness of mind, that is illumination of heart.” --Jalal al-Din Rumi

Some basics about the 13th century Persian (modern day Iran) mystic and poet Rumi, as he is most often called. First, in the book previously mentioned here, The Sufi doctrine of Rumi: Illustrated Edition by William Chittick it states that the text of this volume was first published in Tehran, Iran in 1974, the result of a doctoral dissertation; based on original research by its author, Chittick, who notes that his work on Rumi "is the best, primary English language source for entry into the rich symbolic world of Sufiism."

Chittick also notes that in his view, there have been a number of adept translations of Rumi's work into English, especially compiled as anthologies which have provided the English reader with a great variety of his work. While this has been a service, Chittick concludes that as for Suffism, many if not most, miss the mark. They fail to probe into the meaning of Rumi's words as an entry into the mystical world he illiminates. "They generally fail... to provide sufficient context to grasp what Rumi is actually saying." Chittick hopes his book will close the gap.

Already in the 14th century commentators were providing information as to Rumi and his meanings for those who wished to learn; unlike many Sufi poets Rumi does 'explain the meaning of his imagery and symbolism.'

Jalal al-Din Rumi is widely known in the Islamic world as Mawlana, our Master. He was born in Khurasan (a region of modern day Iran) September 1207; his father was a noted scholar and a Sufi practitioner. In 1219 the family fled, ahead of the advance of the Mongolian invasion; they resettled in Turkey.

In Turkey his father also held great esteem as a highly learned religious scholar. The family prospered there. For the young Rumi, who the West has come to know, at age 37 he met a wandering Sufi mystic, Shams al-Din of Tabriz, who likely became the greatest influence on his life. Learning at the hand of this Master, Rumi for the remainder of his life was transformed from an ascetic to a mystic poet. He was to train the great order of Sufis, the Mevlevi. He died in December 1273.

Recalling his father, Rumi, after his death, son Sultan Walad wrote:

Never for a moment did he cease from listening to music and dancing;
never did he rest, by day or night
he had been a mufti; he became a poet.
He had been an ascetic: he became intoxicated by Love.
'T'was not the wine of the grape; the illumined soul drinks only the wine of Light.

Whirling Dervishes

"All loves are a bridge to Divine love. Yet, those who have not had a taste of it do not know!"  -- by Jalaleddin Rumi, Sufi mystic and poet

Islamic Sufism and Dervishes go together. There have been Semazen or Dervishes for the past 700 years; as an element of Sufiism, a mystical practice within Islam, the Sufi way of living is focused on love, tolerance, worship of God, community development, and personal development through self-discipline and responsibility. A Sufi's way of life is to love, to serve people, to abandon the ego as a false self, and all illusion, so that one might reach mature wholeness or holiness, and attain Allah, the True One. The Sufi doctrine of Rumi: Illustrated Edition by William Chittick delves into Sufi spirituality deeply.

The practice of the Whirling Dervishes is one branch of Sufi practice within Islam. Sufis value universal love and service to all of Creation. The Order of the Whirling Dervishes has been in existence since at least the 13th century; when the great Rumi, inspired by Turkish tradition, fell under influence by the Sufi movement, it was a chance meeting with a Dervish that converted Rumi's thoughts to those of a mystic and an ascetic.

The thought that the earth is round, the seasons rotate, the stars travel the sky, the human body circulates blood, the great wheel of the earth turns, thus there is no created being which does not revolve in some fashion. While this may all be quite natural and without effort, humankind possesses an intelligence which permits these observations, distinguishing him from other creatures.

By twirling, rather than move into an estatic state as some might suppose, the Dervishes seek to revolve in harmony, with all things in nature. So in fact, he is engaging in a harmonizing action by whirling, witnessing the existence and magnificence of the Creator. So says the Qur'an: "Whatever is in the skies, or on earth invokes God." (64:1)

While the whirling is perhaps the most dramatic aspect of their practice, the Sufi seeks unity with three principal parts of human nature: the mind, the heart and the body. Sufis seek connection with the mind through intellectual activity such as gaining in knowledge or thought-meditation; they seek connection through the heart with activities such as poetry, musical expression of feelings; the body is sought in Sufi expression by whirling, by physical engagement with life activities.

Uniquely the Sufi is inspired in all these ways through the Sema, or whirling ceremony. The Dervishes engage in this practice as representation of the human spiritual journey. They grow by turning towards the truth of all things, transcending the ego, then growing through love; this spiritual journey is completed with a sense of holiness, an ability to love and serve all equally.

Sufism mostly concentrates on the interior world of human life, addressing the meaning and effect of specific practices on man's spirit and heart which while abstract, is not contradictory to any Islamic teaching based on the Qur'an or Sunna.

Sadhana, the Realization of Beauty

"A thing is only completely our own when it is a thing of joy." Sadhana by R. Tagore

Investigating further into the work of Rabindranath Tagore, he writes in his book, Sadhana several essays on different topics, combined together to create the whole of harmony as he sees it. The realization of beauty, of beauty-harmony, as he describes, is in terms of the realization of what is real.
"The greater part of this world is to us as if it were nothing... but we cannot allow it to remain so... Things in which we do not take joy are either a burden upon our minds to be got rid of at any cost, or they are useful and therefore in temporary and partial relation to us, becoming burdensome when their utility is lost. Or they are are like wandering vagabonds, loitering for a moment on the outskirts of our recognition and then passing on."
But, writes Tagore, "the entire world is given to us," and our final meaning and powers are taken from a patrimony, if you will."
 What is the function of beauty in the process of realization of the self into this world? It is this question which the author takes on here. Tagore muses that if beauty is present to separate light and shadow, or ugliness and other, then "we would have to admit that this sense of beauty creates a dissension in our universe, and sets up a wall of hindrance."

While disagreeing with this understanding of beauty, Tagore writes that the comprehending of beauty is  unexplored territory, as he sees it. Philosophers have come up with discourse as to its nature, and science writes of issues affecting beauty, but its reality remains wide open for exploration.
Truth, he writes, is everywhere. And "beauty is omnipresent." Beauty often comes to us as a smack, awakening consciousness suddenly and definitely. It then acquires its urgency, "by the object of the contrast." It first rends us with its discords. "But as our acquaintance ripens, the apparent discords are resolved into modulations of rhythm."

At first "we detach beauty from its surroundings, we hold it apart from the rest," but in the end we recognize its harmony with the rest. Appealing finally to our hearts, beauty enters into conscious relationship with us; it becomes us and becomes our joy. Our hearts skip a beat as we apprehend that which is in the world, beautiful, joyful, our very own. Beauty, says Tagore, does not exist without Truth. All beauty is some form of Truth.

"Last night I stood alone in the silence which pervaded the darkness, I stood alone and heard the voice of the singer of eternal melodies. When I went to sleep, I closed my eyes with this last thought in my mind, that even when I remain unconscious, in slumber, the dance of life will still go on in the hushed arena of my sleeping body, keeping step with the stars. The heart will throb, the blood will leap in the veins and the millions of living atoms in my body will vibrate in tune with the note of the harp-string that thrills at the touch of the master."

-- Rabindranath Tagore

Rosh Ha-Shanah, New Year

In recognition of the recent conclusion of the Jewish New Year 5771 observances, Rosh Ha-Shanah, and the High Holy days occurring annually about September each year, the Simple Mind revisits a most beautiful piece of literature contained within the Jewish Cannon, Sh'ir Ha-sh'irim also known as the Song of Songs or the Song of Solomon. Each new year is commenced by days of reflection, alms giving and repentance. The observance of Rosh Ha-Shanah, itself is also a reflective time for believers. As a covenental faith, Judiaism proclaims a just and merciful G-d, a passionate, loving G-d as reflected in the 'Song.'

"The author of the Song, using the same literary figure, paints a beautiful picture of the ideal Israel, the chosen people of the Old and New Testaments, whom the Lord led by degrees to an exalted spiritual union with himself in the bond of perfect love. When the Song is thus interpreted, there is no reason for surprise at the tone of the poem which employs in its descriptions the courtship and marriage customs of the author's time. Moreover, the poem is not an allegory in which each remark, in the dialogue of the lovers, has a higher meaning. It is a parable in which the true meaning of mutual love comes from the poem as a whole."

"Although the poem is attributed to Solomon in the traditional title, the language and style of the work, among other considerations, point to a time after the end of the Babylonian Exile, 538 B.C as that in which an unknown poet composed this masterpiece. The structure of the Song is difficult to analyze; it is regarded as a lyric dialogue, with dramatic movement and interest. The Lord speaks of Israel as a new spiritual people, purified by the Babylonian captivity and betrothed anew to her divine Lover "in justice and uprightness, in love and mercy."
Quoted text source: various authors, USCCB.

Song of Songs, Sh'ir Ha-Sh'irim, Chapter 2

    I am a flower of Sharon,
    a lily of the valley.
     As a lily among thorns,
    so is my beloved among women.

     As an apple tree among the trees of the woods,
    so is my lover among men.
    I delight to rest in his shadow,
    and his fruit is sweet to my mouth.

      He brings me into the banquet hall
    and his emblem over me is love.

    Strengthen me with raisin cakes,
    refresh me with apples,
    for I am faint with love.

    His left hand is under my head
    and his right arm embraces me.

    I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem,
    by the gazelles and hinds of the field,
    Do not arouse, do not stir up love
    before its own time.
     Hark! my lover-here he comes
    springing across the mountains,
    leaping across the hills.

    My lover is like a gazelle
    or a young stag.
    Here he stands behind our wall,
    gazing through the windows,
    peering through the lattices.

    My lover speaks; he says to me,
    "Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one,
    and come!
    "For see, the winter is past,
    the rains are over and gone.

    The flowers appear on the earth,
    the time of pruning the vines has come,
    and the song of the dove is heard in our land.

    The fig tree puts forth its figs,
    and the vines, in bloom, give forth fragrance.
    Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one,
    and come!
    "O my dove in the clefts of the rock,
    in the secret recesses of the cliff,
    Let me see you,
    let me hear your voice,
    For your voice is sweet,
    and you are lovely."

Translation: New American Bible