Epics in Imprints-1.pdf - Vivekananda Kendra Prakashan

VIVEKANANDA KENDRA PATRIKA
A MALAYALAM FOLK SONG
A piece from Cherusseri’s Krishnagatha which depicts the life of Krishna noted for sweetness
of spoken Malayalam and the flow of the folk metre:
As she saw the place from a distance
She went close and shyly sneaked in
Even as the python stealthily goes
Close to the perch of the king of birds.
She stood there for a while
Watching the darling’s charming face,
As though she waited in impatience
Why the lord of death had not come.
She went forward and stood touching
That flower-soft body, softer than tender leaves.
As if to touch real fire.
Taking it for a jewel.
Then she picked up the darling child
Like taking a serpent for a rope.
(Folklore of Kerala, Kavalam Narayana Panikkar, National Book Trust, India, New Delhi
1991).
SILENT ELOQUENCE
Lakshman Brahmachari from Sri Ramakrishna Mission asked Ramana Maharshi: Enquiry
of ‘Who am I?’ or of the ‘I-thought being itself a thought, how can it be destroyed in the
process?
Sri Bhagavan replied with a story.
When Sita was asked who was her husband among the rishis (Rama himself being present
there as a rishi) in the forest, by the wives of the rishis, she denied each one as he was
pointed out to her, but simply hung down her head when Rama was pointed out. Her
silence was eloquent.
Similarly, the Vedas also are eloquent in ‘neti’ – ‘neti’ (not this – not this) and then remain
silent. Their silence is the Real State. This is the meaning of exposition by silence. When
the source of the ‘I’ thought is reached it vanishes and what remains is the Self.
(Spiritual stories as told by Ramana Mahrshi Ramanashram Tiruvannamalai 1986.)
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