Poem: Vemana

Vemana was a 14th Century poet in the Southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh in India.  He composed his poetry in the language of Telugu.  In earlier generations, children would be taught his poems in school and committed them to memory.

Some of the poems here include, the script in the original Telugu language, its transliteration and translation as well as an attempt at a contemporary commentary.

VEMANA PADYALU

(Poems of Vemana)
Translation - RVK; Commentary - SPK

One

Alpudepudu Palku Aadambaramu Gaanu

Sajjanundu Palku Challaganu

Kanchu Mrogu Natula Kanakambu Mroguna

Viswadabhirama Vinura Vema

Just as Bronze will ring powerfully 

And which cannot be imitated by Gold,  

A mean person will always speak boisterously. 

But a gentleman will always speaks softly and truthfully. 

So said Vemana, the truth sayer 

President Theodore Roosevelt at the turn of the 20^th century in the United States said famously, ‘speak softly, but carry a big stick.’  What he was saying was that his country was big and strong and growing more powerful by the day.  However flaunting it would only create enemies and to make friends diplomacy was more important.  Similarly, it occurs to us, that truth is strength and with that being the case, there is no need for anyone to flaunt it.  Conversely, the person who does not carry the strength of truth is bound to make waves to create the impression of strength.

Two

Anaga anaga raga matisya milluchundu

Tinaga tinaga vemu tiyyanundu

Saadhanamuna panulu samakuru dhara lona

Viswadhabhirama vinura vema

Anaga anaga= again and again

Tinaga=eating

Tiyyanundu=will be sweet

Sadhanamuna= By practice

Samakuru=successful

Dharalona=In this world

Just as by practicing again and again, 

The ability to sing the raga will improve 

And by eating again and again, 

Even the worst herb will be palatable, 

By practicing again and again 

One can succeed even in the most difficult tasks in this world. 

The popular author of mega best sellers published a title called 'Outliers.'  In it he makes the point the recent studies in psychology points to wildly successful people (the outliers) are folks who have put in lots of passion and practice.  He puts the magic number of practice hours at 10,000 hours to be a world class expert.  Thomas Edison also famously said, 'genius is 1% inspiration and 99% prespiration.'

My review of the book Outliers is here:  http://agingonthevine.blogspot.com/2010/07/arise-awake-stop-not-till-10000-is.html

Three

Anuvu Kaani Chota Adhikula Manaradu
Konchamaina nadiyu Koduva Kaadu
Konda Addamandu Konchamaina Youndada
Viswadhabhirama Vinura Vema

Adhikula=Praise themselves

Konchamaina= Small

Konda= Hill

Addamu= Mirror

Konchamaina= small

One should not boast themselves at all places. 

It is not necessary to show that one is great, if he is truly great. 

Just because a hill appears small in a mirror, it is not actually small. 

Swami Vivekananda once said, 'Truth can stand on it's own and needs no proof.  Does the sun need to prove it is bright?'. If a person is talented, the whole world will automatically know.  It is vainglorious to artificially project oneself.

Having said this, there needs to be acknowledged in contemporary society that there are some groups that will have to make a more assertive stance.  For example, traditionally corporate life had been male dominated.  In recent decades women have made great strides.  However some of the coaching and mentoring provided to female executives is to be more assertive, and yes, to do a little more self-promotion to combat natural institutionalized biases.

Having acknowledged this, the poets main point is well taken; that is, with exceptional situations like the one described above, truth will shine on it's own merits.

Four

Aatma suddhi leni aachara madiyla

Bhanda suddhi leni paakamela

Chttasuddhi leni sivapoojalela ra

Viswadhabhirama Vinura vema

Aatma = Soul 

Aachara = Rituals

Bhanda = Vessel 

Chttasudhi= Pure heart

Without a pure soul, what is the use of rituals ? 

Why try to cook clean food without a clean vessel ? 

Without pure heart why pray to lord Shiva ?

There are many fables associated with the Buddha that make a point.  There is one that is relevant to this verse of Vemana.  It is told that once Buddha was walking from one town to another town with a few of his followers. This was in the initial days. While they were travelling, they happened to pass a lake. They stopped there and Buddha told one of his disciples, “I am thirsty. Do get me some water from that lake there.”

The disciple walked up to the lake. When he reached it, he noticed that some people were washing clothes in the water and, right at that moment, a bullock cart started crossing through the lake. As a result, the water became very muddy, very turbid. The disciple thought, “How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink!” So he came back and told Buddha, “The water in there is very muddy. I don’t think it is fit to drink.”

After about half an hour, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink. The disciple obediently went back to the lake. This time he found that the lake had absolutely clear water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked fit to be had. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha.

Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said, “See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be ... and the mud settled down on its own – and you got clear water... Your mind is also like that. When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don’t have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless.”

It seems to us that the 'purity' that Vemana is suggesting is important, is perhaps not something to be gained by effort, but rather one to be gained by lack of it!

Five

Aapadaina vela arasi bandhula choodu

Bhayamu vela choodu bantu tanamu

Peada vela choodu pendlaamu gunamu

Viswadhabhirama vinuravema

Aapada= danger

Arasi=help

Bantu tanamu= courageous

Pendlamu= wife

Only those come to your rescue when you are in danger are your relatives. 

Only the one who is courageous when fear surrounds him is a hero. 

The only one who respects you even you become poor is a true wife !

Vemana in this verse is beginning to peel away the layers of our self, that gets to the core of who we are and who of those around us matter to us.  Indeed any of us would be blessed to have spouses that love us more in thin than in thick.  But perhaps, in this reflection, we can help Vemana's cause by peeling the layer of our self one more time.  There is no one line of song that is more haunting, poetic, incisive than the legendary Kannadasan's lyrics in the Tamil Song 'Veedu varai uravu....' When the stanza ends with 'Kadasi varai yaaro...', Kannadasa's has summed up all the philosophy questions ever raised in just 3 Tamil words..... translated 'to the very end, who to accompany us?'

This great question is asked by Nachiketas of Yama in Katha Upanishad - that question results in a dialogue that is profound and revealing. But no question that in the face of loss of life the first four losses pale. It occurs to us that this is one definitive event we can count on. So all the accumulated wealth, and name and memories and good health and enjoyments, all have to be left behind as we dissolve back into the salt of this earth.

I actually think acknowledgment of this loss is rather liberating. 'Thalai ki mela vezham pona piragu, jaan poona enna, mozham poona enna (when there is a flood over your head, what does it matter if the water is 6 inches or a foot above your head)?!'

Do what you really want to do, do what makes you happiest, since the final destination is absolutely, remarkably, unfailingly the same for all of us.

Six

Inumu virigenani yanumaaru mummaru

Kaachi atakavachu kramamu gaanu

Manasu virigenani mari chercha raadaya

Visadhabhirama Vinura Vema 

Inumu = Iron,Yanumaaru= three times

Atakavachu= welded

If an iron object is broken, 

it can be welded again three times. 

But if your feelings are hurt, 

They can never be repaired 

It is a truism that one learns in childhood that you can be hurt in an instant, but that it takes a while for the wound to heal.  This psychological hurt that Vemana brings up in this verse appears to be another matter altogether.  An insult flung is not something that is recalled.  One is wont to debate this point with regard to psychological counseling, and the nature of apology and forgiveness.  But Vemana is here perhaps referencing the length of time of a psychological wound to heal is so long that it is considered as well not healed.

There is a terrific film by Oscar winning director Satyajit Ray - Charulata, a story originally penned by Rabindranath Tagore. In this movie, the woman in a newly wed couple does something innocent that nevertheless causes suspicion and the very last frame of the movie is one of shattered glass implying that this unborn relationship is never to be repaired.  At a first glance, many years ago, we dismissed this as vestiges of a outdated culture that suffocated women's aspiration.  While the cultural context of that opinion might still be true, in light of this Vemana verse, perhaps the intimacy between the spouses in light of (perceived) suspicions is indelibly damaged regardless of cultural context!

Seven

Uppu Kappurambu Nokka polikanundu

Chood chooda ruchula zaadaveru

Purushulandu Punya Purushulu Verayaa

Viswadhabhirama Vinura Vema

Uppu=Salt, Kappuramu= camphor

Ruchulu= taste Puurushulu=Men

Punya Purushulu= Great men

Verayaa= Different

Salt and Camphor look alike

But they taste entirely different.

Similarly, though all men look alike

Great men are always different from the ordinary

Inquiring minds ask what exactly is the definition of 'great'?  If one cares for one's family and lives the life of a good citizen is that sufficient?  Or should one at the expense of one's family and well being 'do good' to be considered great?  And why be great anyway?  While seemingly loaded as a choice, we wonder in the long run which choice (when made countless times by countless citizens) is better for society.  Two terrific poems of the twentieth century both by world travelers of English origin make contrasting points about greatness - one by that promoter of Empire - Rudyard Kipling and the other its cynic WH Auden.

If

- Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you 

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; 

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, 

But make allowance for their doubting too; 

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, 

Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies, 

Or, being hated, don't give way to hating, 

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; 

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; 

If you can meet with triumph and disaster 

And treat those two imposters just the same; 

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken 

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, 

Or watch the things you gave your life to broken, 

And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings 

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, 

And lose, and start again at your beginnings 

And never breath a word about your loss; 

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew 

To serve your turn long after they are gone, 

And so hold on when there is nothing in you 

Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, 

Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch; 

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you; 

If all men count with you, but none too much; 

If you can fill the unforgiving minute 

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run - 

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, 

And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

The Unknown Citizen  

by W. H. Auden

He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be

One against whom there was no official complaint,

And all the reports on his conduct agree

That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a

   saint,

For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.

Except for the War till the day he retired

He worked in a factory and never got fired,

But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.

Yet he wasn't a scab or odd in his views,

For his Union reports that he paid his dues,

(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)

And our Social Psychology workers found

That he was popular with his mates and liked a drink.

The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every day

And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.

Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,

And his Health-card shows he was once in hospital but left it cured.

Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare

He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Instalment Plan

And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,

A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.

Our researchers into Public Opinion are content 

That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;

When there was peace, he was for peace:  when there was war, he went.

He was married and added five children to the population,

Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his

   generation.

And our teachers report that he never interfered with their

   education.

Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:

Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.

Eight

Aeluka Tolu tetchy eadaadi utikina

Nalupu Nalupe gaani Telupu Gaadu

Koyya Bomma thechi kottina Palukuna

Viswadhabhi raama Vinura Vema

Eluka= Rat, 

Tolu= skin

Utikina=Washed,

Nalupu=black

Telupu =white,

Koyya Bomma= wooden doll

Even if it is washed for a whole year,

A rat’s skin will only be black

It cannot be made white. 

Even if you beat a wooden doll,

It cannot speak.

The debate of nature vs nurture was alive and well in the 14th century!  Are we prisoners of our DNA or does the environment we grow in shape our outlook.  It very much is in our modern outlook that training, education and culture can shape our outlook.  But perhaps the point being raised here is 'when the chips are down' - what does one do?  We are reminded of the many many 'westerns' that have explored the topic of frontier life.  The fascination that this genre exerts upon generations of fans is that the stories set in the west, strip men and women of 'civilized pretensions' and set them in elemental struggles.  The nature vs nurture debate takes acute definition when one is fighting for survival.  It is said that one of the wagon trains that was headed west in the U.S. after the civil war was the Donner Party.  They got lost on their way and were dying of starvation and were forced to eat each other.  Could not ask for a more extreme example of when is one's true nature revealed.  It is clear Vemana insists that it is nature over nurture.  We perhaps agree, but hope otherwise!

Nine

Kunda kumbha manna konda parvatamanna

Uppu lavana manna nokati gaade

Bhaashaletti veru para tatwa mokkate

Viswadhabhi rama Vinura vema

Kunda, Kumbham = Vessel

Konda, Parvatamu = Hill

Uppu, Lavanamu = Salt

Whether you call a vessal as ‘Kumbham’ or ‘Kunda’

A hill as ‘Konda or ‘Parvatamu’

Or a pinch of salt as ‘Uppu’ or ‘Lavanamu’

They all mean the same.

No matter, what name you give for an object, 

You can not change it’s character

Alan Watts was a terrific interpreter of Eastern Philosophy and Mysticism.  One of the salient insights he keeps coming back to in conveying the central tenet of the Eastern viewpoint is that a map of reality is not reality.  A map guides us to our destination but is not the destination.  He takes about names, definitions and metrics as being elements of such a map.  The moment we say 'well', the human mind associates attributes to it such as diameter, a place to get water etc.  Letting go of these 'metrics' or at least putting them in their place appears to be the battle cry.  Vemana makes another point in this verse in addition to this insight.  And that is, with a multitude of perspectives, we give things labels and we give them different labels - but the underlying reality is the same.

This discussion would not be complete without reference to the famous line from Shakespeare:

Romeo:

[Aside] Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?

Juliet:

'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.

Ten

Gangi govu paalu garitedainanu chaalu

Kadavedaina nemi Kharamu Paalu

Bhkti Kalugu koodu Pattedaina Chaalu

Viswadabhi rama Vinura vema

Gangi Govu= Good Cow,

Garitedu = spoon full

Kadvedu = pot full,

Kharamu = donkey

Bhakti = Devotion, 

Koodu = food

Pattedu = handful

A spoon full of cow’s milk 

iIs much better than a

Pot full of donkey’s milk.

Is it better to give a handful of food with devotion

(than a large amount without care) 

Charitable giving is very much in discussion these days.  Very many well known luminaries on the world scene including Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and President Clinton talk about the higher purpose in life and making sure one's earned wealth, power and prestige are put to good use around the world focusing on everything from health care, sanitation to eduction.  But ultimately whether one donates a billion or one hundred, Vemana asks, what is the motive?  Is the motive selfless and caring for the recipient t or is the motive selfish and more about the giver's vanity.  In the long run, it seems to us that the benefits of the former outweigh and might outlast that of the latter.