Image from Wikimedia Commons
On Wednesday, we'll have a quiz on the packet (a pretty hard quiz), and I'll check to make sure everyone has turned in at least one good blog entry.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Bhaktifest (January 1/28 assignment)
The bhakti packet you'll get in class includes poems about Krishna-Radha from Bengal, biographies and poems of the Shaivite saints Basavanna and Mahadeviyakka, and the biography and poems by the Sikh founder Guru Nanak. Enjoy. As you read the packet, you'll no doubt feel compelled to express yourself at some point. Please do, in the Comments to this post, go off for at least 100 words on something interesting. You may start posting immediately, and I'd like to start looking at some of your posts this week in class before and after our ishtadevata presentations. As usual, you may not repeat an earlier post (though if you've already written something and someone beats you to the punch by minutes, you don't need to change your essay).
Image from Wikimedia Commons
On Wednesday, we'll have a quiz on the packet (a pretty hard quiz), and I'll check to make sure everyone has turned in at least one good blog entry.
Image from Wikimedia Commons
On Wednesday, we'll have a quiz on the packet (a pretty hard quiz), and I'll check to make sure everyone has turned in at least one good blog entry.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
28 comments:
Pg.77
“The crookedness of the river
Is straight enough for the sea.
And the crookedness of our Lord’s men
Is straight enough for our Lord!”
I liked this poem because it really portrays the openness and acceptance of that comes in Hinduism. Basavanna uses the metaphor of a river flowing into an ocean to compare to men as a part of god. The ocean still accepts the river even though it is crooked. Similarly, god accepts all men that worship him even if they are “crooked” or make mistakes. This poem is reassuring; Basavanna describes a loving, understanding god who acknowledges people’s imperfections and still loves them. This poem gives the feeling that everyone is good enough for the lord. Though they might be looked down upon by others, they will be accepted by god just the same.
“The Lord’s mouth is his moving men,
Feed them. The Lord will give you all.
You’ll go to hell,
if knowing they are the Lord,
you treat them as men.”
I think these lines are interesting because they provide an effective image that represents the idea of the atman, the idea that God is in everyone. They seem to emphasize that in order to respect God we must respect each other and that we need to nurture people as if we were nurturing God. These lines seem to say that nurturing others is a way to worship God and that if we worship Him in this way, He will bless us.
“That name
So immaculately clear
Only the mind that ponders it
Can truly be aware”
I think that these lines are interesting because they seem to say that in order to understand God and feel closer to Him, we need to spend a lot of time just contemplating Him. I think that these lines and the poem that they come from also say that in order to understand the world in general we need to spend time contemplating it, thinking about the big picture and how we fit into it.
“But I had hope of seeing you, none of it mattered”
In the lines before this the girl was talking about how she had troubles getting to Krishna. She had snakes on her ankles, it was dark, hard to see, thorns scratched her feet, and so on. Then the line above is stated and it was direct, easy, and clear of its meaning. Seeing Krishna and being with him overtakes anything. Just the thought of Krishna is so powerful that one will almost do anything to be with him. He has an overwhelming effect on people.
“When the sound of your flute reaches my ears
It compels me to leave my home, my friends,
It draws me into the dark toward you.”
These lines are stated shortly after the above line. Krishna is known for playing his flute and it being a lure to the women. I like how in this poem it has the girl saying the flute is in a way irresistible. It draws her toward him. I like how we see Krishna as a lover in this poem and the effect it has on the girl.
P.81 (350)*
This poem represents the ups and downs of life. "a grindstone at the foot" symbolizes the hardships and struggles one has to carry throughout his/her life. Many times the hardships in our lives makes it hard to believe their will be a day when we will be able to see the light." A deadwood log at the neck" symbolizes God. He is always there to pick us up during our lowest times. He will not ever let us "sink" into the hardships of life. These two metaphors symbolize evil and God. Evil tries to bring you down and sink you and God keeps us "afloat" in life.
My legs are pillars
the body the shrine
the head a cupola of gold.
Basavanna 88 820
He, on behalf of all the poor people, talks about how to worship god even though they lack money. If I imagine a picture in India, I can clearly see how Gods are so involved in Indian's lives. Indians, even though they are not rich enough to offer materials, try their best to give anything to the Gods. Their faith is so solid that they can even offer their bodies for the Gods. I was really impressed the limitless devotion that they represent in this poem.
Pg 134 (283)
I thought this one was interesting because she points out that Gods love never dies. Gods never change, never grow old, never die, and they dont need land. Gods have no bonds or fears to hold them back. They are the same throughtout life. "So my lord, white as jasmine, is my husband." Humans grow old and die and love is forgotten. The love for a God lives forever and is true and pure. She wants something that will last forever which is why she choses to bind herself with a God rather than a human man.
Of all the interesting and insightful comments Mr. Gawrys has made through the first part of this semester, the very one he made today in class has spoken to me the most. During Nina’s presentation of Krishna as Lover she mentioned a few reasons as to why Krishna is normally pictured with his flute. Mr. Gawrys then added, and I quote, “a flute is like a heart, if you empty it of your own ego, god can play through it.” Immediately I thought of Basavanna poem 500:
“Make of my body the beam of the lute
of my head the sounding goaurd
of my nerves the strings
of my fingers the plucking rods.
Clutch me close
and play your thirty-two songs
O lord of the meeting rivers!”
In these stanzas, Basavanna makes a commitment to god Siva with the offering of his whole body. Although the poem includes many references to musical instruments, these references are merely a metaphor for Basavanna’s promise to spread the word of god through his speech and actions. This poem hits close to home for me because I have grown up singing in the church from small choirs to solos. Not a day goes by that I do not thank God for my own voice, and that’s why I use it whenever I can to spread his word whether in a service or a smoky bar. Like Basavanna and his bodily instruments, I too have devoted my voice in song to the god I worship. However, the wise words of Mr. Gawrys’ remind me that until I can fully separate my voice and my self, God will not be able to play completely full me.
pg.80
The root is the mouth
of the tree: pour water there
at the bottom
and, look, it sprouts green
at the top.
The Lord’s mouth is his moving men,
feed them. The Lord will give you all.
You’ll go to hell,
if, knowing they are the Lord,
you treat them as men.
For me it seems like the last sentence in the poem means that who ever you meat, treat them always good because you never know who it is. The person can maybe be a Hindu god, or just as simple your coming best friend. I decided to take the sentence as a lesson. Never treat anyone differently even though they look strains or act weird. It seems to me that in the beginning of the poem says that always try to help other people because in the end it will help yourself to. I doesn’t mean you always do it because you hope someone else will give it back to you. Just do always the best and someone up there will decided the rest.
p.89 # 847
This poem by Basavanna does not seem to have any specific event that caused him to feel so emotional towards something. I think this is why I particularly liked it. Instead of writing about a specific event that brought him strong feelings, he wrote about how he felt when confronted with his feelings. He describes his skin as melting “like a waxwork image”. Is there a better way to describe yourself when you are so overwhelmed with emotions that you just don’t know what to do? I think not, and I like how this is a feeling of joy instead of sorrow. A feeling of joy that can bring an emotional confrontation that powerful is truly a rare thing. I also think the last line of this poem is appropriate, “How can I talk to anyone of that”. It’s almost like he’s asking if it’s even possible to describe the emotions he is feeling.
page 21, "When the sound of your flute reaches my ears it compels me to leave my home, my friends, it draws me into the dark toward you."
I found this part of the poem of particular interest because when you talk about following god, most people think of it as a happy thing, and enlightening thing. However, in this poem it states that "it draws me into the dark toward you". I feel that the poet is trying to explain that leaving everything and following god can be a difficult and even scary thing to do. One has to leave all family, friends, and worldly possessions behind. The poem is filled with the agony and pain of following god and having to choose a certain direction, yet she still chooses to follow and make sacrifices for Krishna. It shows true devotion and love when someone is willing to endure hard times and still pursue the god. It says "my feet were muddy and burning where thorns had scratched them. But I had the hope of seeing you, none of it mattered . . ." She was clearly in pain, but the pain and the terror of darkness didn't matter because she was devoted and loved him whole-heartedly.
“But I had the hope of seeing you, none of it mattered
and now my terror seems far away..”
These lines almost anyone can relate to. It is so simple to ask a class to find something that they relate to, because the words say everything and the same things but in different ways, for different people. EVERYONE has worked hard for something, struggled to achieve something, and if they’ve succeeded, their individual path seems less of a hardship than it did at the time. Of course, though, everyone in our culture struggles for more trivial things in comparison to this hardcore path to god and instead they strive for an A on a paper or the perfect body, but a previous poem explained,
As the … kohl to my eyes,
necklace to my throat—
These are all material things, things that we must detach ourselves from. these are all things that contribute to how hard the path is for a normal human.
…wing to bird,
water to fish..
once one separates themselves from the material they have completed a major part of the journey to god, and the relationship, though a long time coming, is more of a life or death situation, but in a satisfying, relieving way.
"If you ponder it, the whole of the universe is known; if you ponder it, you will never face harm; if you ponder it, you will never walk the way of death. That name-- so immaculately clear-- only the mind that ponders it can truly be aware."
This excerpt from Nanak's poetry really illustrates one theme that I see in his work--that unity with God is not out of reach of anyone who opens their mind. He harps on the point that the nature of God and worship cannot really be taught to another directly, it can only be instilled by one's own willingness to see God in all things and treat the world as such. Nanak does not endorse the idea that one's relationship with God is give and take, or based on religious ceremony, but rather that one's perception of the world is also one's perception of God, and will repay you with immortality only if you contemplate and eventually understand your role in the universe.
Basavanna p. 81 #468
This poem somewhat threw me for a loop. From the other poems Basavanna seems so reverent and devoted to Shiva, and in this poem he seems to turn around and make a drastic shift from his typical reverence.
Basavanna says: "He's really the whore who takes every last bit of her night's wage, and will take no words for payment, he, my lord of the meeting rivers."
I was just shocked that Basavanna would use something so degraded as a whore for comparison to his Lord. It's possible that whores weren't regarded as poorly back then. The only thing I can imagine Basavanna trying to get at is the whole concept of God being in everyone, even the lowly whores, but it seems like he could have been a little more reverent than to choose whores to represent his Lord.
"You can make them talk
if the serpent
has stung
them.
You can make them talk
if they're struck by n evil planet.
But you can't make them talk
if they're struck dumb
by riches,
Yet when perverty the magician
enters, they'll speak
at once,
O lord of the meeting rivers."
This poem struck me in its entirety as a statement of the necessities of religion. That those who need religion grow to accept God, or speak to God, in a much more personal level than those who are "struck dumb by riches". People are much more willing to give themselves to God when they have nothing left to give. Those Hindus who have very little can only depend on their faith to get them through. Hindus who are materially wealthy would appear to have little need of spiritual wealth. This poem alludes to this idea of necessity of religion with interestingly subtle and yet direct diction.
468
I drink the water we wash your feet with,
I eat the food of worship,
and say it’s yours, everything,
goods, life, honour:
he’s really the whore who takes every last bit
of her night’s wages,
and will take no words
for payment,
he, my lord of meeting rivers!
I Chose this poem by Basavanna because I found it interesting that they compare god to a whore. He says “he’s really the whore who takes every last bit of her night’s wages.” I know that he is just comparing god in the similarities of the whores action of taking all of her money and not to her duty of action, but there are a million other references he could have made. Why a whore? I guess a whore is common to the people and everyone can understand this reference, but it is just so different from Christian society because Jesus would never be referenced to a whore except by helping them.
"But I had hope of seeing you, none if it mattered and now my terror seems far away..."
I really like this poem becuase it shows how people look to Krishna to guide them mto wisdom and life. Even though this person felt loneliness and terror , because she has Krishna and follow Krishna she has nothing to fear.The thorns snatching the feet just symbolizes all the bad luck and karma that will happen to you but as long as one keeps believeing in Krishna those burning feet will no longer matter to them.
Omkar
True name
Person who creates
Beyond fear and opposition
A form beyond time
Unborn, self-born
The guru’s grace.
Repeat this.
The ancient truth, ageless truth
Is also, now, truth
And Nanak says,
It will always be truth
Nanak begins the poem by defining what Omkar is. Translated it means “OM”, but to Nanak, it means so much more, beginning with “true name” because it is the true name of God. God is the “person that creates” and “a form beyond time” and everything else that Nanak defines God as. After his description of Omkar, Nanak moves on to “Repeat this” which is an interesting command. Is Nanak talking about the descriptions, or what is to follow? Or maybe both? Nanak is saying that to recognize “Om” and give yourself to it completely, by repetition, the “ancient truth” becomes a real truth, because you have achieved a state of being where you can finally recognize truth and have the ability to live with it. The truth is difficult to handle, something so beyond humanity, that to recognize truth, it means one is getting closer to enlightenment. Once you have recognized truth, “it will always be truth” because you can’t just see it and easily forget because there is nothing like truth.
"Sunlight made visible
the whole length of a sky,
movement of wind,
leaf, flower, all six colours
on tree, bush and creeper:
all this
is the day's worship.
The light of moon, star and fire,
lightnings and all things
that go by the name of light
are the night's worship.
Night and day
in your worship
I forget myself
O lord white as jasmine."
I really liked the rhetoric in this poem to Mahadeviyakka. The poet refers to "worship" as nature, and uses abundant imagery to convey the beauty of this nature and of God. I found it interesting that the poet focused on light in nature as worship: during the day, worship essentially consists of sunlight, and during the night, worship consists of "all things that go by the name of light." I interpreted this as a metaphor for God and the beauty of his influence and knowledge on all beings. In the last few lines, the poet states, "Night and day in your worship I forget myself ..." This reminded me of something we talked about in class yesterday - that, if humans let go of their ego, or let go of themselves, God can make more of that person's existence and they can worship to a greater extent.
Feet will dance,
eyes will see,
tongue will sing,
and not find content.
What else, what else
shall I do?
I worship with my hands,
the heart is not content.
What else shall I do?
Listen, my lord,
it isn't enough.
I think this passage is crucial to understand the reason Hindus perform the rituals. You can perform as many rituals as you'd like, but if your heart is not in the right place, none of it matters. The point of the rituals is to remember the gods--not just chant a meaningless phrase over and over again. We can all pretend to be pious and devout on the outside, but if our hearts do not truly believe in the rituals being performed, what's the point? Basically, it's not enough to perform Hindu rituals and pretend to follow your gods--you must believe it is true in your heart. The full belief in your faith is what brings content to the soul. That confession of the divine truth is what truly brings the gods joy.
P.78 Poem 161 by Basvanna:
I really liked this poem for two reasons. First, I love all the imagery used in this poem and I think that, if you delve a little bit deeper into the meaning, it means more than just the obvious idea that you should worship Lord of the meeting rivers before you’re not able to anymore. Basvanna portrays the idea of growing old and watching your body digress in appearance and physical capability very well; however, I believe that he is also portraying the idea of not knowing the ultimate truths and the old age characteristics symbolize the material evils in the world that will keep anyone from reaching enlightenment. Thus, when Basvanna says that you should worship before you become old and not able to, he really means that one should worship before they become caught up in the illusion of the world and become so entangled in it that they will never be able to worship.
p. 131- Mahadeviyakka,
"When all the world is the eye of the lord, onlooking everywhere, what can you cover and conceal?"
These lines from Mahadeviyakka really cleared up her whole perception of life for me. In the biography, we are told that Mahadeviyakka rejects physical things such as clothing and lovers at the end of her life. She chooses to be completely naked alone with her husband, the lord, "white as jasmine". She devotes herself completely to the lord and since she knows he can see all, she feels no need to cover herself, and since she values no one's opinion but the lord's, she feels no shame from her loss of modesty. This reminds me of the story of Adam and Eve because it is as if she is Eve before the apple was bitten. She holds no shame because her life is spent in devotion to the lord and nothing else. The lord sees her for what she is and physicality clearly holds no weight in his eyes, so why should she feel modest about it? This mind set is reflected in all of her poems but this one really makes this way of tinking evident.
"Now shame returns / as I remember. My heart trembles, / recalling his treachery." - pg 27
This closing line is really striking in comparison to the extreme sexual imagery used earlier in the poem. Up until this point, the poem seems like a celebration of the lovers' union, the sanctity of being naked and unashamed before God, and the pleasure derived from complying with his desires. The initial concepts are familiar and foreign all at once; being so strongly attracted to and affected by God seems possible, yet is probably unattainable to most. This closing line is a much more relatable thought. Feeling violated and frightened by the powers of God is something that anyone who has directly experienced or witnessed tragedy can understand. What confuses me, though, is why Rhana is ashamed in Krishna's absence of the pleasure he caused/took.
Pg. 80
“The Lord’s mouth is his moving men, feed them. The Lord will give you all. You’ll go to hell, if knowing they are the Lord, you treat them as men.”
This was sort of the first mention of a hell from what I have seen of some Hindu texts. I found it interesting that while in Christianity and other religions, the Lord is seen as always being higher to inferior men, but this line seems to imply the idea that all men are composed with aspects of the lord and the Lord is composed of aspects of men. These lines clearly present what one has to do in order to get “all” from the Lord, and what results in Hell. These lines seem to require one to recognize the part of the Lord in everyone and by not recognizing this and treating someone “as man,” you are in turn denouncing part of the Lord.
"Make of my body the beam of a lute/of my head the sounding gourd/of my nerves the strings/
of my fingers the plucking rods" -pg 83
These lines by Basavanna really touched me because they give such a great sense of how one can feel when close to the Lord. Basavanna is obviously labeling himself as a potential instrument of God, and the thought of the Lord using one's body as an instrument seems so peaceful and powerful. Instruments are items used to spread beauty and art throughout the world--not harm. So letting the Lord utilize one's human body as an instrument makes me feel like the Lord would only use him or her for good. The lines carry such a peaceful image with them that they could make anyone want their nerves to be strings for the Lord's music.
"Out of your eighty-four hundred thousand faces put on just one and come test me, ask me." - Basavanna poem number 430.
This poem really stuck with me ever since the first time I read it. My personal interpretation is that Basavanna is acknowledging the limitless amount of faces or forms that God takes within the world. He realizes the vastness of this number and simply asks for just one; one that he can attempt to relate to and form a bond with and answer to in his short lifetime. This really sums up the idea of Hinduism as a whole that we have been getting at in class. Essentially I am learning that most Hindus feel that God is limitless and impossible to put in a single form, but they are able to achieve understanding and relate when they are able to focus on just one of God's "faces" or aspects.
Mahadeviyakka 102
I found this poem interesting because it seems as though Mahadeviyakka thinks she is better than her mother because she chooses not to partake in her mother's trivial "mother-and-daughter stuff." I think that in a lot of her poems she is very hostile to her parents for trying to force her to do the everyday things that "normal" people partake in, mainly marriage. She feels superior to those who do it. I don't think that she is behaving like someone who professes to be that in love with God should act. While I'm sure she was incredibly devoted to Shiva, she should have been nicer to her parents.
Mahadeviyakka Pg. 184
"People,
male and female,
blush when a cloth covering their shame comes loose"
This was my favorite poem, i understood the poem to say that in the material world, people have things they hide behind physically or mentally, whether it is a family or simply a piece of clothing. Once before god, there are no barriers or clothing to hide behind, you are what you are, and all knowing god will see you as your true self.
“You can make them talk
if the serpent
has stung
them.
You can make them talk
If they’re struck
by an evil planet.
But you can’t make them talk
if they’re struck dumb
by riches.
Yet when Poverty the magician
Enters, they’ll speak
At once,
O lord of the meeting rivers.”
I found these lines(132-143) very interesting. These lines describe how some of the wealthy who were born in to wealth are extremely selfish, inconsiderate, and sinful. The reason being is because these people have never experience the hardships of poverty. The lines then go on in saying that once the wealthy experience poverty, they understand how other/most people do not have the same opportunities and privileges that they have. I feel the purpose of these lines is to help people become aware that not everyone is as privileged as they are. Prior to these, they use an example of a lamb. They describe how a lamb eats a leaf but does not understand that it is killing the leaf.
Post a Comment