#bhakti poetry

[teanicolae]

on the banks of Gaṅgā

you held me all night, my Lord unseen to the eye, your grace, a lover's touch, wrapped my skin unheard to the ears, your name, my japa, vibrated through my braincells

Monsoon One, do you long for me as fully as i long for you? do you call on me as ardently as i call on you? you do, don't you, my Lord? i am not alone in this quest

for every step i take towards you, you take two towards me for every tear i spill in yearning for you, you ignite vīrya in my skin tissue for every test of yours that i fail, you yank me freer of delusion

i see it now, Hari. you have been pulling me by my hair and hands to you. it was all you. it was always all you.

if i run to you as fast as my legs can take me, will you meet me halfway?

you will, won't you, my Lord?

🦚 Happy Kṛṣṇa Janmāṣṭamī! 🙏 poem from my upcoming collection "the Monsoon One and the pilgrim". 💛

photo: Rishikesh, October 2022.

[stuffedeggplants]

A vachana by Akka Mahadevi, a 12th century Kannadiga ascetic and bhakti poet who devoted herself completely to Lord Shiva.

Translated by A.K. Ramanujan in Speaking of Siva.

[nishachara]

Bahinibai–Bhakti poet

[keshavsmelody]

Poem#4: The Dancers

In the realm of cosmic grace so wide, Two stand, side by side, Bhagavan Shiva, fierce and grand, Sri Krishna, with a flute in hand.

Shiva dances the Tandava's might, With cosmic grace, he takes flight, His dance, a whirlwind, fierce and grand, destroying galaxies with every hand.

Yet in his heart, a love so pure, for Krishna, the one he does adore, As the supreme Lord, so kind and sweet, In their bond, the worlds find complete. Shiva's dance, is a powerful sight, In Tandava, he brings day and night, With a fiery passion, he swirls and twirls, In cosmic rhythms, the universe hurls.

Krishna, with his playful flute, Charms hearts with a melodious root, With Gopis, he dances under the moon, A harmonious, joyous, eternal tune.

In Shiva's eyes, there's admiration deep, For Krishna's love, a devotion to keep, Mutual respect, their hearts do share, A divine friendship, is forever rare.

Krishna, too, looks up with love, To Shiva, the Lord in the skies above, In every note of his enchanting song, Shiva's praise, he does prolong.

In Tandava's fire, and Rasa's grace, They find in each other, a cherished place, Mutual devotion, a bond so true, Between Shiva and Krishna, a love anew.

Tandava's might and Rasa's song, In their love, we all belong, Shiva and Krishna, hand in hand, In their love, we forever stand.

[yogiyodhaka]

ODE TO MURALIDHAR (KRSNA)

O Divine Flute-Player:

How You attract souls towards You

With Your alluring melodies

Is beyond comprehension.

You melt all in the crucible of Divine Beauty

And Love Profound!

Sweet Muralidhar,

Let all your bhaktas taste

The sweetness of Your Sacred nectar,

Savored through the remembrance of Your Holy Name!

Love Divine, Sweet Love!

Come, play the Tune of Bliss

In the flute of our Spine!

Our Souls shall then sing,

Your ambrosial melodies.

Let the Wind of Your Divine Breath

Ascend and Descend through us!

Then shall the song of Divine Praise resound

Through us, Your intoxicated lovers!

[onthewayofhealing]

ओ पालनहारे निर्गुण और न्यारें, तुमरे बिन हमरा कौनो नाहीं।

[santmat]

Baba Ji [Baba Somanath] Discovers the Sant Mat Lineage Including the Poet-Saints

"Through the Satsangs of Hazur [Hazur Baba Sawan Singh], Baba Ji was now exposed to an expanded range of bhakti poets of the Sant Mat tradition. The lyrical poetry of several of them was already known to him -- Kabir, Mira Bai and Namdev -- but many were new, such as Guru Nanak and his Successors, Dadu Dayal, Swami Ji Maharaj of Agra, Paltu Sahib, Sehjo Bai, Ravidas and others. Having the poetic temperament himself, he was enchanted with the manner in which they presented the Teachings of the Saints in the form of their banis [hymns]." (new book: The Life of Baba Somanath, Saint and Sage of South India)

My Comments: Right up to the living present, the Masters of traditional Sant Mat have always recommended everyone read the bhakti mystic poetry of the Sants, and even sing their bhajans (hymns). It makes for nice devotional readings for one's daily satsang at home to read a poem or two from one of the Masters, and also helps with meditation practice. On the positive influence of satsang upon our meditations, Shahi Swami once said: "It requires air in the form of satsang to ignite the fire of meditation."

Baba Somanath also has composed many beautiful mystic poems and hymns:

"Ferrying me across the physical, astral and causal realms, Lead me into the region of Parbrahm. In the spiritual pool of Mansarovar, in the region of the Void, Let me bathe in those purifying waters, so that I may become immaculate and whole.

"Giving me the support of the Dhun, the True Shabd, Transport my soul into the Great Void. Drawing me upwards on the stream of Sohang Shabd; reveal the vision of the True Realm, Sat Lok, Where divine strains of the veena fill the air."

[premakalidasi]

"Finally, my Work is done," She laughs a lioness; I scream in vain, For I am already astride Her muscular back broad, golden; She, Undulating, bounding, leaping Surging forth a solar flare Her mane flame, aflame Scorching my face, My skin peeling, My hair burning, And yet She roars, Powerful flesh beneath me leaping, running, Roaring until my ears burst From the thunderclap of her laughter Lightning-striking (within) my Skull shattering Into solar blind-shine-blind-shine Emptiness, Radiate, Sun-Bright, Gold-Sand-Heat-Light, We-I-We one eruption of fireflame, She-- --- --- --- 0 .

--Prema Kalidasi

[sourabha]

Bhakti

this devotion to the force of life that forms us all its continuity, its fractal flow as mysterious as running one’s finger along a mobius strip it bubbles up within and pours out you spills in spite of you and you tell yourself again and again like it were a sacred hymn you are terrified of your own strength to bare it all, to bear it all

[imai-zumi]

on the nature of divinity

[tipsandtricksforlife28]

श्री हनुमान जन्मोत्सव 2024, Hanuman, HanumanJayanti Special, #Bhajan #v...

[teanicolae]

my second Master's Degree is officially COMPLETE!! these past two years at Warwick University were a rich immersion in the art of poetry & in the practice of literary translation. milestones achieved have been:

completing my dissertation, entitled "Rendering Sacred Texts: Ethics and the Question of Untranslatability", in which i explored the practice of translating sacred texts and the intricate issues it presents in the field of translation studies, mainly posed by the dilemma that is the hypothesis of an intrinsically sacred quality to languages such as Sanskrit or Latin. i argued that in the case of non-dual traditions, the subsequent question, of whether translation would defile the text, is incongruent with the philosophy & cosmology the text is rooted in. i used the Lalitāsahasranāma, a central hymn of Śrīvidyā, as a case-study.

conducting my poetic research centred on bhakti or devotional poetry, a genre of Indian poetry which worships the Divine as the Beloved. i worked on two bhakti collections: "odes to the Monsoon One" and "the Monsoon One and the pilgrim", which explore a woman’s mystical journey. written as a response to the lingering legacy of female exclusion from spirituality that is present literature, the poetry rebels against misogynistic religious texts thematically, through female-centred imagery deifying the demonised body, through the subversion of elements of oppression such as motifs of marriage. the Divine is worshipped in my poems as a lover. i argued that for as long as remnants of a religious culture exclusive of women persist in South Asian literature and practice, for so long will bhakti poetry be needed for devotional rebuttal.

more on this soon! i am hoping for these to be published in 2024 or 2025. 

i extend my gratitude to my extraordinary professors: my supervisors Dr. Jodie Kim & Rosalind Harvey; Professor David Morley, as well as Dr. Chantal Wright, who generously & expertly encouraged and guided me, as well as expressed genuine interest in my work - interest which i especially appreciated when my work took unconventional routes!

as this chapter ends, a new one at Edinburgh begins! onward!

[mariammariamman]

I’m sick of living, Mother, sick. Life and money have run out But I go on crying ‘Tara, Tara,’ Hoping. You are the mother of all And our nurse. You carry the Three Worlds In Your belly.

So am I some orphan fallen out Of the sky? And if You think I’m bad, Remember, You’re the cord connecting Every good and evil And I’m a tool tied to illusion.

Your name can blot out fear Of Death – so Shiva said, But, Terrible One, You forget all that, Absorbed in Shiva, Death, and Time.

Prasad says: Your games, Mother, Are mysteries. You make and break. You’ve broken me in this life.

Ramprasad

[keshavsmelody]

They have always been right; you're a con man, a schemer. Nothing but a deceiver. You explained the science of work and taught us how to attain you when we depart. You taught us the absolute truth, but you remained silent when asked, "How do we keep our focus on our work when you've stolen our hearts?". It's just as good as performing heart surgery while surrounded by vicious baboons. If you don't believe me, then before the exams, give a child some balloons. Our thoughts race like a tireless pup chasing its tail, or a restless fly buzzing through a room, seeking escape. Consumed by your honey, who can perform their work properly, my lord? But the only reason for us to work is to not let others criticize the bond between us. Show us mercy! Because we know that we will not be ignored.

[rrcraft-and-lore]

So, this thread is for @Spirited_Gal , who is a wonderful person & author. She reached out curious about Asian storytelling structures and techniques, then links to South Asian ones. This became a convo about native/common/historical structures/styles/techniques from South Asia. 

So, let's get into some loosely (just to make y'all aware, without turning this into an academic essay because it easily can - but I do not have time for that, and am not being paid for that writing, and it could be a lot when fully fully fleshed out). 

Katha | Kathya: this is an Indian style of storytelling rooted in religious stories (mythology) - the performances are ritual events in Hindiusm. Sikhism holds a different take on it but somewhat related in that there is a focus on religious discourse, taking things apart, - 

questioning meaning/interpretations, & then using this to teach scriptures for a moral/religious education - directing beliefs & practices. But the purpose regardless when reduced to the simplest is the same: the moral/religious education & impartation of societal good values to people through the stories.

Usually the stories and this style are performed with a class of people who are both priests and narrators (narrators/storytellers have a massively important role in South Asian culture that they cannot be understated and undervalued, especially- 

considering so much of the religious history | myths, epics/stories were orally performed and passed down. Aural (listening/hearing) pleasure are just as important as music and song and dance accompany these performances, and couplets, hymns are common as well. 

Anyways, Katha is its own style focused on the religious epics like Ramayama. These stories as mentioned feature a storyteller proficient in classic music, oration, accompanied by dance/song at times, and involve story digression points - if that sounds familiar :throws copy of The First Binding at your face (lovingly).

This particular style is called: Kathakalakshepa.

Another style of Katha is: Purana-Pravachan - built on/around expounding the Puranas, a vast collection of folklore, stories, poems, legends, and more. They are heavily layered with- 

deep symbolism, diverse, incorporation tales of all sorts including sciences and topics like cosmology and cosmogony (not the same). This style focuses on the spiritual interpretation of these stories while reciting them. 

Folk Narratives (and I have another thread on specific ones such as Panchatantra and Jataka tales which I have talked about and have been argued by some experts to contribute | inspired to 30-50 percent of western nursery tales, ballads, "fairy" tales, as well as some (some not all, not many) middle eastern ones. Some. These are usually narrated with drumming and bow-string instruments. You might see more of these in future Tremaine novels. Perhaps even book two <.<

One of the most common type of story within the folk narrative is particularly - the heroic ballad.

Another specific style here is the Burra Katha - an oral storytelling technique that comes from the Jangam Katha (an order of religious monks associated with Shiva). It incorporates many of things I've mentioned before: prayer, drama, dance, songs, poems, humor (lewd and tame), and usually focuses on mythological stories, or interpretations to focus on modern social issues. Interesting fact, Burra refers to tambura - a stringed instrument with a hollow shell. In Telegu, the word Burra means brain. The shell of the instrument so resembles a human skull (metal! or...gothic. w.e.), it's made of baked clay, pumpkins, or soft metals like brass/copper. In this style, the narrator doesn't just narrate, they play the instrument and dances to the music. South Asia has very little just tell a story traditions. 

They're all performances. You will move, you will dance, you will evoke, sing, riddles, lessons, so on. :Gestures to Ari:

Okay - that's it that I want to talk about Katha (yep one tradition/style with varied structures). Just one...see how diverse it gets.

NOW, CLASS: 

Kirtan | Keertan: It's narrating, reciting, telling or describing a story or an idea. Wait isn't that the same? No. Because it's a genre of religious performance arts but you're not necessarily breaking down a religious epic/myth a certain way. Instead, you are focused on the 

performance of them, many times in a group, with multiple singers, each of whom recite/focus on the name of a specific deity, or a legend, and then you perform that part, very heavy on emoting, evoking that aspect to the audience, the romance, the heroism, and then use multiple singers to discuss that. This particular style is built to engage the audience.

You bring the audience in on the chanting, on the songs, or reply to the singers. You're not lecturing and teaching a moral/spiritual education here. You're performing them and involving the crowd 

That IS different. This is a collective performance. Just because you might cover similar topics as Katha, for example, doesn't mean it's the same thing.

That's like saying anything involving a four chord progression is the same (I know someone musicy will bring up a joke about how...yeah they're all the same. I KNOW WHERE YOU'RE GOING WITH THAT BUT YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN. CHILLLLL). 

Anyways, what specifically makes Kirtan different is the fact that it's not required to be educational, and it's focused on shared performances. Katha can be performed by ONE person. 

Kirtan again is commonly a call-and-response style performance.

I've already talked about Puranas and Jatka Tales and Panchatantra before (you can look those up in my other thread). Also styles of storytelling because of what they entail in their collections, diversity of topics, and varied styles between them in the presentation. They're not just "works" but it's how they're collected/presented and what they cover. That matters. 

Hitopadesha: Beneficial Advice. This is an Indian text, written in, as you can imagine, Sanskrit. It's compromised of fables with human and animal characters and focuses on, you guessed it, imparting advice - maxims, so on. Things involving political affairs, life advice, and is delivered in simple and elegant language. It is said in fact to actually predate the Panchatantra (which I've shared is already one of the oldest things out of there. This is said at times to be the Panchatantra before Panchatantra ) 

The argued point of this particularly story and its structure of being four books, really, is to both encourage the proficiency of people reading it in Sanskrit expression (writing, poetry, more), and imparting wisdom/good behavior. Note, this is not focused on religious/ mythological connections. These are some of the oldest folklore/folktale/fable style stories. You can convey lessons/wisdom/life advice without a religious epic. Though, note, religious figures DO appear and can in this style. Some examples from within: 

Book one: (Translated title) How to gain a friend (some of y'all might need this with how you behave online). It begins with a statement on how the wise and sincere friends might often appear poor or destitute, however, they are the ones who more often/earnestly help one achieve true success in life. It focuses on finding friends of good quality, doing this through many particular animal stories such as: The traveler and the tiger. Or, the deer, the jackal, and the crow. The old man & his young wife. The huntsman, deer, the boar, & the serpent & jackal. 

Frame Narrative: I think I've talked about this one so much it'll be mildly depressing if I have to really break this one down. But, ahem. Sandwich narrative, kind of self explanatory. Story (or stories) within a story. You have a main narrative and or narrator (hi Ari) set the stage for more emphasized and secondary narratives within (going as deeply layered as you want). The legendary South Asian epic, Mahabharta is the earliest example of Frame Narratives we have, along with Ramayama, Panchatantra, The Seven Wise Masters, and Vikram Vetala (or Vikram the Vampire oh yes, Indian Vampire - technically flesh eating demon, long story. HA. GEDDIT?). Anyways some other examples from other cultures are: 1,001 Nights, The Decameron, and Canterbury Tales. Parts of the Odyssey employ this too, the beginning, where Odysseus tells of his time in the court of King Alcinous.

Mary Shelley's, Frankenstein, has multiple framed narratives in it. Neil Gaiman's used it in parts of Sandman. But we're getting away from the South Asian history/roots.

Next: 

Qissa | Kisse | Kissa (NOTE: This is not solely an Indian origin, but a fusion that comes out of Islamic/Persian heritage that developed a different localized form to Punjabi and Bangladeshi people once introduced and changed for them through migration). The word Qissa is Arabic for epic legend or folk tale. It's regularly common in Indo-Aryan languages like Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, so on. 

You can also translate it as: interesting story (which is a whole own genre - something that has led me to butting some heads with people in the biz when I explain YOU DO NOT NEED TO HAVE A STANDARD PLOT STRUCTURE FROM THE WEST. SCREAMS. :Jabs at one piece, an epic adventure fiction with a numinous goal still in the distance after 20 years, but strung together with tightly woven character driven and location arcs - it quite literally follows the history of great, grand, ADVENTURE fiction, promising more than anything, a great adventure story in pursuit of a goal. The end).

Anyways, I digress.

Punjabi Qisse/Kisse focuses on stories of love, passion, betrayal, and sometimes a common man's revolt against a larger system. Stories of friendship, loyalty, love. These are usually sung and performed. Poetry forms of this are VERY common (through all the mentioned cultures above, not just Punjabi). The Bengali style is similar (as obvy both evolved out of the Arabic tradition), just focusing more on Bengali culture and stories. They are all UTTERLY beautiful. 

If you've read Tales of Tremaine (and wait for book two) you will catch these themes and notes as well.

It's almost like that series is trying to smash and share every freaking kind of storytelling technique and tradition I can from along the silk road because...there isn't one of those (golden road) in the book. Oh, wait. :blinks:

Kavya: This is a particular style of utterly beautiful poetry performed by court poets. It's a blend of prose and poetry focusing specifically on the flowery/hyperbolic uses of figures of speech, metaphors, and similes. 

Sometimes you'll have pieces flowing through normalized prose and poetry in and out. That is NOT required in that specific way. It's just something that happens/can be done. 

There is a very specific intentional use of that in the chapter, Brahm, in The First Binding, in where there is a creation/cosmogony story, performed in normalized prose, rhyming couplets and quatrains, with a mini section in verse. 

That section is not actually Kavya, just inspired, as it is not a court epic, more drawing from the other requirement of a "short" lyrical work with those aspects I mentioned above. 

There is Bhakti poetry: a specific poetic tradition from the 6th century focusing on celebrating the love and devotion for Hindu gods - showing one's mystical devotion to a god. It's devotional and religious, also focusing on condemning evils, promoting egalitarian values, transcending ideas of caste, gender, and restrictions. It hinges upon message of love.

Dastan: Is an Urdu storytelling tradition focused on epic tales of adventure, romance, chivalry (note, not only pakistani/urdu, other islamic cultures use this style). It is performed both orally and in written format.

This whole thread is JUST A PRIMER.

If you are interested, please take the time to go do a proper deep dive.

[sweetteaandpie]

i do not love

in spite of my rage

i love because of it

in a time of death

where the world

is awashed in blood

corruption flows

through the lands

like muddied rivers

fear grows

on endless dusty

barren plains

grief carries through the air

like pollen on a bee's legs

love

cannot be

tame

it cannot abide by the rules

it must not be polite or proper

no

it takes a love like

the most unapologetic storm

to keep hope alive

to recall our humanity

the devastation

we bear witness to

day in and day out

that drenches our body

in the stench of despair

can only be met

with a love so unkempt

chaotic

that it wears us down

until our hearts are

too exhausted to remain closed

until we are forced

to surrender our hatred

and reject indifference

love can no longer

exist in a state of complacency

it must be loud

glass-shattering

the kind of love

you can hear in

your chest

love shall shriek

so piercingly

it causes mountains

to collapse

and the stars to tremble

because

the only thing

we have

is each other

and we need the reminder

that our rage

is medicine