BLISS IN PAIN
காக்கை சிறகினிலே ...
காக்கை சிறகினிலே நந்தலாலா - நின்றன்
கரிய நிறம் தோன்றுதையே நந்தலாலா
பார்க்கும் மரங்களெல்லாம் நந்தலாலா - நின்றன்
பச்சை நிறம் தோன்றுதையே நந்தலாலா
கேட்கும் ஒலியில் எல்லாம் நந்தலாலா - நின்றன்
கீதம் இசைக்குதடா நந்தலாலா
தீக்குள் விரலை வைத்தால் நந்தலாலா - நின்னை
தீண்டும் இன்பம் தோன்றுதடா நந்தலாலா
This is a poem by Bhaaratiyaar, the revered Bhaarati, the great poet SubramanyaBhaarati.
He was a recent saint who lived as a BrahmnaJnaani; and revolutionized the society by his progressive thoughts about women, caste system, patriotism etc.
He lived in a Brahmin colony amidst the orthodox crowd and always faced opposition and criticism from one and all, including his own wife, who found it difficult to stay with a man who lived always in the clouds of poetry, and never bothered about the day to day struggles.
What could you do with a husband who gave off even the handful of rice in the larder to the sparrows, who spent all his money in collecting old books, who was always in the bad looks of the British, and where his own community boycotted and sent him out of his own home for mixing with the lower caste?
To all his problems, his one and only reply was 'Paraashakti will take care of all things'.
This Paraashakti is the power of Brahman and he personified her as a mother and felt absolutely carefree in her lap.
Staying as the Brahman state always, he had to only command his power, is it not?
Why should the Brahman state worry about meaningless affairs of the idiot world!
He was happy!
Nothing bothered him ever!
He saw the Reality state expressing itself in the worst situations also.
Everything is That alone; and where is any ugliness or suffering anywhere?
And he sang..
In the wings of the crow, Hey Nandalaal,
your black hue alone gets seen.
In all the trees that I see, Hey Nandalaal,
your green hue alone gets seen.
In all the sounds I hear, Hey Nandalaal,
your song only is heard.
When I keep my finger in the fire, Hey Nandalaal,
it is the joy of touching you.
Nandalaal is not the Nanda's son, the Krishna of Gokula.
This Nandalaal is the Aatman, the self-essence, the son of Brahman-state of bliss!
There is no one but the Self-essence seeing its own mind-data as the world.
Whom to address, but the Self!
Crow is a common bird of South India, always intent on collecting the pieces of food alone.
Its voice is also harsh and its conduct is also not so pleasing.
And it is very black in colour.
Hey Aatman, the blissful essence of the Reality!
You exist as these Brahmins also who know nothing about real Brahminism of staying in the Brahman state. They recite the Vedas in a harsh sound like yours, never bothering to know the profound truths of the scriptures, but are intent on the few coins they get from the gullible people. They hoard wealth like you collect all the rubbish and store it in your nest.
Your colour is dark, and their colour is also dark by the ignorance they are sunk in.
I see you the Aatman alone shining forth as these ignorant people also.
I see only the bliss in the ignorance of the world also, as a witness state of all.
In the wings of the crow, Hey Nandalaal,
your black hue alone gets seen.
Hey Aatman, the blissful essence of the Reality!
Your colour is not just the ignorance, but green also; like the nature spread out in front of me.
These green trees, rivers, hills, oceans, clouds, birds, animals, all these are also your own expression as the world. As I keep relishing it, I seem to dissolve off into the oneness of it all.
I also seem to turn into green colour like a tiny expression of nature.
Nature is the colour of the green, and my ParaaShakti is also green in hue.
I see my own essence of the Self shining as all the nature's beauty.
What is there to suffer or cry about!
It is bliss alone that surrounds me as myself!
In all the trees that I see, Hey Nandalaal,
your green hue alone gets seen.
Life is never peaceful, people say!
So many sounds of various varieties.
The vendors selling their products, the snake charmer playing his flute to earn his daily food, the braying donkeys, barking dogs, cawing crows, screaming children..
the Brahmins shouting and chiding me for my uncouth ways..
my wife silently accusing me with her eyes for the poverty pangs she goes through..
my children laughing and falling on my lap with affection..
the temple bells ringing..
Sounds- good and bad, harsh and soft, pleasing and unpleasant..
For me - every sound is the sound rising from the emptiness of my own Self - a charming music - like the flute music of that Nandalaal, a Veenaa music of Sarasvati, a laughter of ParaBrahman...
When differentiation is not seen, there is only one sound as all; the Omkaar that makes one dissolve into oneself...
In all the sounds I hear, Hey Nandalaal,
your song only is heard.
Life is not beautiful; or pleasing of course!
Friends become enemies, people act ungrateful, throw rude words at the poor, wife also stops loving you when you do not earn, beloved children also flow away far into their own life-stories, body keeps growing old and collects diseases at every corner of the life like treasures, love and affection are just words in the language and no one really has them..
It is pain every moment..
The sweating body, the hungry belly, the torn clothes, the chiding Brahmins, crying wife, dusty roads..
It is pain alone that is all over as life!
And you cannot stop living also.
It is as painful as keeping the finger into the fire.
It burns, scorches, and makes you want to scream loudly.
But I will not scream in pain!
I see you alone my blissful Aatman even in this fire of life also.
What else can exist as any second principle?
Everything is that alone.
The bliss of Brahman alone is real; not the burning fire.
Whenever any pain is hurled at me, it is my own self that rises as the pain also.
Pain is unreal! Bliss alone is real!
When I keep my finger in the fire, Hey Nandalaal,
it is the joy of touching you.
