Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:
In Prose, but not Prosaic
All of us love poetry. Right from when we were toddlers, we were taught what
were called "Nursery Rhymes". Whether it was "Ba Ba Black Sheep" or "nilA nilA
Odi vA", these rhymes were our first introduction to the wonderful world of
literature. We then graduated to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and other rhymes
of its ilk, marking at each stage a liking for lyrical expression.And when we
were in high school, we were introduced to the magnificent verses of Alfred
Lord Tennyson, with their wonderful rhymes and alliteration, those of William
Wordsworth with his enchanting descriptions of such common garden flowers like
"The Daffodil", of S.T.Coleridge and his "Ancient Mariner" and so on. From
there some of us branched off to savour the delights of Shakespeare, while
others chose the still-living verses of Milton on Paradises Lost and Regained
and of American poets like Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson and so on. And those
of us who were spared the rigorous regimen of Convent schools (where nothing
but English was permitted to be spoken or studied) had an enticing encounter
with selections from the short and sweet verses of Thirukkural, nAladiyAr and
so on, with introductions to such great works as Kamba Ramayanam, Divya
Prabandam, SilappadhikAram etc.
We were thus led through a bewildering but bewitching variety of poetic styles
and content, inculcating in us an undying love for lyrical expression, till
some of us tried our hand tentatively at first and then with increasing
confidence at writing poetry ourselves, first in secret with diffidence,
constantly consulting the dictionary, Thesarus and other aids to composition
and later, after encouragement from proud parents and after reading and
imbibing master poets, without the aid of the crutches mentioned above.
When we are in the full bloom of youth, romantic verses capture our imagination
and we keep humming some lyric or the other. Some of us are inspired by the
rousing songs of nationalistic poets like Bharati, coming under the spell of
his fiery and stirring verses. And in middle age, when the cares of the world
draw furrows on our brow and our hitherto straight back bends with the burden
of familial care, we turn to more worthwhile reading, developing a lasting
liking for the emotional outpourings of Azhwars, portraying vividly the
infinite bliss that awaits us in the form of the glorious Godhead that is
Sriman Narayana. These savants portray the myriad relationships we can develop
with the Supreme Lord and the unending facets of His beauty and matchless and
magnificent attributes. A perusal of these pasurams fills us with eternal
peace, exhilarating joy and reduces our stony heart to a melting pot of
enlivening emotions. And when one is old and the moment has come to pass on to
the other worlds, one has the Dvayam and Charamaslokam, again in verse form,
whispered in one's ears by kindly souls wishing one well on one's journey to
Paramapadam. Thus from cradle to grave, the influence of poetry on our lives is
constant and unceasing.
What is the reason for the enchantment poetry is able to generate in us, moving
even the most banal and pedestrian of individuals to an extremely emotive
state? Why does our heart respond with alacrity to the strains of a verse,
rather than to pages of prose, however well expressed? Why do lyrics
unfailingly tug at the strings of our heart without any apparent effort? If
even secular verses leave lasting impressions on our intellects, need we doubt
the indelible imprints incomparable poems like those of the Azhwars leave on
our soul? Perhaps it is the lilting rhymes, perhaps the economy of expression,
perhaps the sublimity of thought or perhaps the profundity that can be packed
in pretty few words, all of which are the hallmark of uplifting poetry, that
induces us to lose ourselves heart and soul to the mesmerising magic of poetry.
Readers may despair of my ever getting to the point and may well consider all
this to be the ramblings of a lost soul being swept away in a meaningless
torrent of words, trying desperately to grasp an outhanging branch of rhyme and
reason.
Abandoning our secular ramblings, if we were to consider religious expression,
we find the scene decisively dominated by poetry. The ultimate authority, the
Shruti, speaks mostly in majestic verse. The Srimad Ramayana is comprised of
24000 incredibly sweet verses of Valmiki, in anushtup metre. The other epic,
the Mahabharata too is in verse and so are the 18 Puranas. The Smritis are
mostly in verse. While all Azhwars have chosen the medium of lyrics to pour out
their love, affection and devotion for the Lord, Acharyas too have exhibited a
marked preference to poetical expression, right from the Stotra Ratnam and
Chatussloki of Sri Yamunacharya to the versatile verses of Swami Desikan in his
innumerable stotras, down to the Yatiraja Vimsati or Thiruvaimozhi nootrandAdi
of Sri Mamunigal. Poetry thus appears to have been the preferred vehicle of
conveying Poorvacharyas' profound thoughts. The verses of Sri Koorattazhwan and
his illustrious son Sri Bhattar have indeed been sources of inspiration to the
Acharyas who followed.
Lest poetry be dismissed as the winged vehicle for the flights of poets' fancy
and fantasy, given to exaggeration and hyperbole rather than realism and
reason, this form of expression has been chosen by everyone who matters, to
convey extremely profound, complex and logical concepts. Sri Alavandar's
GItArttha Sangraham and the innumerable stotras of Swami Desikan stand eloquent
testimonies of how philosphy could find expression through verses, with none of
its pristine purity or clarity sacrificed in the process. One single line of
Sri Nammazhwar, "udal misai uyir ena karandu engum parandulan" has greater
philosophical content and refutes a hundred advaitic works than a thousand
pages of verbose prose. Sri Bhattar, in his enlightening commentary "Bhagavat
Guna Darpanam", specifically refutes the notion that the Vishnu Sahasranama
Stotra is a mere poetical embellishment and exaggeration of the Lord's
innumerable gunas.
If we need a clinching argument in favour of lyrics being the preferred mode of
theological and philosophical composition, we only need to look at the Bhagavat
Gita, the Song Celestial, a testimony to Emperuman Himself choosing to wax
eloquent in verse. Thus even the Supreme Lord appears to favour poetry to
prose, for conveying the profoundest of thoughts that were ever generated in
any intellect.
Amidst all this plethora of poetry, authored by the humblest of devotees to the
omnipotent Lord Himself, there stands out one enlightened individual, an
extremely distinguished one at that, a redoubtable scholar of unmatched
accomplishments, who has authored nine major and monumental works covering the
entire gamut of VisishtAdvaitic philosophy (in fact forming the very foundation
of this school of thought), who has composed not a single, lone verse
throughout his voluminous works. Though he has dealt with all aspects of
theology and philosophy, Sri Ramanuja has managed to speak not a single word of
verse, in total contrast to his predecessors, contemporaries and successors,
all of whom have waxed voluble in verse. All his writings have been in prose,
with not a single verse thrown in for relief, while all his predecessors and
idols and all those who regarded him as their lord and master, swore by poetry.
Amidst a sea of lilting lyrics, his was the lone voice speaking in sober prose.
One might say that most of the works of Sri Ramanuja were commentative, being
expansions and elucidations of the Brahma SutrAs and the Bhagavat Gita and of
significant passages in the Vedanta. Such works, by their very elaborate and
polemical nature, do not lend themselves easily to poetic expression and have,
by tradition, been in prose. It is therefore understandable for the Sri Bhashya
and the Gita Bhashya to have been in prosaic text. This line of reasoning would
apply to the Nitya Grantha too, which is a manual of worship.
However, what about the three glorious Gadyas, which, being outpourings of deep
devotion and containing vivid descriptions of the bewitching Bhagavat svarUpam
and the glorious guNAs of the Lord, afford ample opportunity for the
Bhashyakara to adopt poetical expression? It is noteworthy that every other
Acharya, preceding and succeeding Sri Ramanuja, has compulsively resorted to
poetry in such contexts, feeling that medium to be appropriate for conveying
the exultation in Bhagavat anunbhavam. But not Ramanuja, who sticks to staid
and sedate prose, whatever be the context. Is it his insistence on painstaking
precision on the literal, rather than the abstract, as well as his desire to
keep the narrative rational rather than clouded by emotion, that keeps him off
the portals of poetry?
One would be tempted to conclude that the Bhashyakara deliberately adopted a
demure expression, in tune with the heavy subjects of his choice, not lending
himself to elaborate embellishments or exaggerations that are a sine qua non of
verses, being a sedate person not given to display of extreme emotions.
However, the Gadyas give a lie to this notion, being extremely rich in
expression, speaking vividly of the Lord, His matchless magnificence and
auspicious attributes, all in rapturous language that belongs more to poetry
than to prose. The flowing style of prose adopted by Sri Ramanuja in the
Gadyas, mellifluous and lilting, with certain beautiful and key expressions
repeated over and over again, is indeed a treat to imbibe and impart, leaving
one in no doubt that prose could be as effective a vehicle for conveying
Bhagavat anubhavam as any rhyme of rhapsody. The majesty of expression that
characterises Sri Ramanuja's style, its depth and sweep, the deployment of
words that are just right and would brook no substitution, the preference for
the dramatic turn of phrase in preference to the commonplace, the absolute
absence of banality in any form-all these are a rare treat to the connoisseur
of literature, marking a singular departure from the hackneyed phraseology and
over-worked cliches of prosaic poetry.
An important aspect of Sri Ramanuja's style is his unfettered idiom and refusal
to be cowed down by what is regarded as the bane of informed composition, viz.,
repetition of words or phrases ("punarukti"). Words steeped in majesty and
grandeur seem to roll off effortlessly from his prolific pen, with absolutely
no concern for searching for a new phrase every time a word has to be repeated.
He lets himself go wherever a detailed description of the Lord is involved, be
it the Gita Bhashya or the Gadyas, with a single narrative spanning more than a
page, all without sacrificing clarity and comprehensibility. All his works are
standing and eloquent testimony to the fact that prose can portray as well as,
if not better than poetry, the kaleidascope of moods and feelings running the
entire range from exuberance, joy, fulfilment and bliss, to grattitude,
humility and servitude, to disappointment, intense longing, jealousy and
despair.
The following small sample from the Gadyam would exemplify the Saint's powerful
prose, at once simple and majestic, enthralling and enlightening, delienating
philosophy without sacrificing felicity of expression and endowing all phrases
with an underpinning of decisive doctrine-
"apAra karuNAmbudhE! anAlOchita visEsha asEsha lOka sharanya! PraNatArthi
hara!Asrita vatsalyaika mahOdadhE! anavarata vidita nikhila bhoota jAta
yAtAtmya! SatyakAma! Satyasankalpa! Apatsakha! KAkuttstha!
SrIman! Narayana! Purushotthama! Sri Ranganatha! Mama nAtha! namOstu tE"
Can one word of this brilliant passage be replaced by any other without
affecting the splendour of the structure? Can any poetry, however facile, equal
this plaintive appeal to the Lord with a detailed description of His kalyana
gunas? Can a clearer portrayal of the Lord's functions and our relationship
with Him be ever attempted? Can the majesty and greandeur of expression be ever
equalled or paralelled by anyone, however endowed?
To conclude, though all of his compositions are in prose, not a single sentence
of Sri Ramanuja's is prosaic. Every single one of his words is significant,
irreplaceable, without contradiction, sweet, crystal clear, elaborate but only
to the required degree, invigorating and affording perennial bliss to the wise,
says Swami Desikan in the following sloka from Sri Yatiraja Saptati-
"nirAbAdhA BodhAyana phaniti nishyanda subhagA:
vishuddha upanyAsa vyatibhidura ShAriraka nayA:
akunttai: kalpantEYatipati nibandhA: nijamukhai:
anidrANa pragyA rasa dhamani vEdhAya sudhiyAm"
All said and done, however, two aspects of Sri Ramanuja's scholarship would
remain an enigma forever- first, his avoidance of poetry and preference for
prose for expressing even the most emotive of thoughts, and second, the absence
of even a single reference to the Divya Prabandas in his entire works, despite
his holding the Aruliccheyal in high reverence.
Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana
Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:
Dasan, sadagopan
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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