Poets From India

"The second category of personal questions would be more relevant when I finally call it a day and find myself in a reminiscent or atavistic frame of mind. As it is, I am still on the move -- and intend to be so. It is not fair to ask me to anticipate the possible answers to such 'terminal' questions. I hope my reluctance to answer these questions will be understood in the right spirit."

"I do not attach too much importance to what astrologers say. In my case, they have never been right. Perhaps, my birth date is inaccurate. Nobody predicted I would be prime minister. Why prime minister? Nobody even predicted I would be chief minister."

"He started his career as a rationing officer in the Civil Supplies Department. Later, after he completed his law degree, he worked as a junior lawyer under stalwart Burgula Ramakrishna Rao, who later became the Chief Minister of the state [Andhra Pradesh]."

"I believe that the charges are baseless and I knew that I had nothing to worry about on that score. But after one full round in the courts, I was beginning to feel embarrassed."

"The Congress president's post is different from others. It used to be called rashtrapati in the old days. There is just one in the whole country. I felt it was important to maintain the image of that office regardless of whether or not I thought there was a case against me."

"Their strategy was simple. Moral domination. Nehru was a thinker. But Rajiv, Sonia, and Rahul are no intellectuals. They took a different route. They redefined morality. Secularism included. Anti-Congress was new immoral. Pro-Hindu became anti-Muslim. India was morally polarized. Morality is subjective. No one can say with guarantee what is pure morality. Masses were forced to choose between moral standards (Secularism, unity in diversity, inclusive etc.) and quality of life (development). People who wanted quality of life were made to feel guilty. Hindus who wanted to celebrate their religious freedom were made to feel guilty. Muslims who wanted to be part of mainstream India were made to feel guilty. They filled India’s psyche with fear, hate and guilt. They hated all indigenous, grassroots thinkers. They hated Sardar Patel, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Chandrashekhar, P.V. Narsimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and now Modi. They are the land grabbers of Sainik Farms and Adarsh Societies of India. They run NGOs. They run media. They coin useless and irrelevant jargon to confuse the masses. They have designations but no real jobs. They are irrelevant NRIs who want us to see a reality which doesn’t exist. They want a plebiscite in Kashmir. They defend stone-pelters. They want Maoists to participate in mainstream politics. They want Tejpal to be freed. Yaqub to be pardoned. But they want Modi to be hanged. They are the hijackers of national morality. Secularism included. They are the robbers of Indian treasury. They are the brokers of power. They are the pimps of secularism. They are the Intellectual Mafia."

"His victory from the Nandyal constituency (in Kadapa district) gave him an entry into the Guinness Book of World Records in 1991 for the maximum votes — 89.5%! — polled. In 1996, he had an opposition to contend with, and still managed to poll 366, 431 votes and defeat the TDP."

"Every time I say anything, people seize on it for all kinds of meanings so I am uncomfortable with talking. At least this way, I can think about the answers and phrase them carefully."

"He surely failed as prime minister to prevent the tragedy at Ayodhya. But his rivals in the Congress did their own party such disservice by spreading the canard that his (and their) government was responsible for that crime. This, more than anything else, lost them the Muslim vote in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar... any dispassionate reading of recent political history will tell you that this is a self-inflicted injury. The Congress has itself built a mythology whereby the Muslims have come to hold their party as responsible for Babri as the BJP … If you take Justice Liberhan’s indictment of so many in the BJP seriously, you cannot at the same time dismiss his exoneration of Rao, and the government, and the Congress Party under him. You surely cannot put the clock back on so much injustice done to him, like not even allowing his body to be taken inside the AICC building. But the least you can do now is to give him a memorial spot too along the Yamuna as one of our more significant (and secular) prime ministers who led us creditably through five difficult years, crafted our post-Cold War diplomacy, launched economic reform and, most significantly, discovered the political talent and promise of a quiet economist called Manmohan Singh."

"Guru Purnimma is also called Vyasa Purnimna. On this day Bhagavan Veda Vyasa was born to sage Parashara and a fisherwoman. On this day Bhagavan Vedavyasa is said to have commenced the great work Brahma Sutra. Hence this day is also dedicated to the study of Brahma Sutra. He represents the entire Guru Parampara and he is worshipped very well."

"Passionless is the consciousness of being Master on the part of one who has rid himself of thirst for either seen or revealed objects."

"The mind stuff (chitta) -- if it be rid of thirst for objects that are seen, such as women, or food or drink or power, if it be rid of thirst for the object revealed (in the vedas) such as the attainment of Heaven or the discarnate state or of resolution into primary matter -- if even when in contact with objects either supernormal or not it be, by virtue of elevation, aware of the inadequateness of objects - will have a consciousness of being Master..."

"Mira sang of her love for Krishna with such simplicity and directness that in her songs millions have found a voice and echo of their own God-yearning."

"There is nothing highly wrought bout Mira's style, and no erotic element in her poetry whatsoever. But with her they are instruments used to express a deep and personally felt emotion. She may use the marriage-bed as a symbol of mystical union with God in the manner of Saint -- poets, or as a symbol of the devotee's readiness to give the Lord all that is in his power. But in Mira's poetry there is no tendency to luxuriate in devotional feelings tinged with eroticism."

"Mira's Bhajans! How can they be not beautiful? I am very familiar with many bhajans of Mirabai. In my Sabarmati Ashram these bhajans are sung repeatedly and with love and devotion to Her. Such rare joy is experienced from her bhajans."

"The saint Mirabai is the most famous of the women saints of India and can be ranked among the foremost of the mystics of the world."

"Love is something absolutely unselfish, that which has no thought beyond the glorification and adoration of the object upon which our affections are bestowed. It is a quality which bows down and worships and asks nothing in return. Merely to love is the sole request that true love has to ask. It is said of a Hindu saint (Mirabai) that when she was married, she said to her husband, the king, that she was already married. To whom?" asked the king. To God," was the reply."

"That dark dweller in Btaj Is my only refuge. O, my companion, Worldly comfort is an illusion, As soon as you get it, it goes I have chosen the Indestructible for my refuge Whom the snake of death Will not devour. My Beloved dwells in my heart, I have actually seen that Abode of Joy. Mir’s Lord is Hari, the Indestructible My Lord, I have taken refuge with Thee Thy slave."

"O my companion, worldly comfort is illusion, As soon you get it, it goes. I have chosen the indestructible for my refuge, Him whom the snake of death will not devour. My beloved dwells in my heart all day, I have actually seen that abode of joy. Meera's lord is Hari, the indestructible. My lord, I have taken refuge with you, your maidservant."

"I have felt the swaying of the elephant's shoulders; and now you want me to climb on a jackass? Try to be serious."

"My lover's gone off to some foreign country, sopping wet at our doorway I watch the clouds rupture. Mira says, nothing can harm him. This passion has yet to be slaked."

"Her [Mira;s] childlike simplicity, deep devotion to God, intense spiritual yearning and soulful poetry make the God-intoxicated songs of Meera a national heritage of India, which have transcended regional, lingual, and time barriers and are sung all over India."

"The Great Dancer is my husband," Mira says, "rain washes off all the other colors.”"

"The fact of its universal acceptance by all classes... is surely worthy of note."

"For your sake, I gave up all pleasures, Now why are you making me long for you? You create the pang of separation inside the bosom So that you can come and quench it? O! Lord! Now I will not leave you Smilingly, call me soon! Meera is your servant in birth after birth Unite me with you in every limb."

"Mother, I have bargained and bought Govinda! Let some say:Cheap!Let some say:Costly! I have weighed in the balance. Let some say:He is in the house, some say!In the woods! Sporting in the company of Radha! When Meera’s Lord Giridhar Krishna comes, love."

"FS Growse, in 1883, in Meenakshi Jain, The Battle for Rama: Case of the Temple at Ayodhya (2017)(p.87"

"The Ramacharitamanas undoubtedly is the great poem worthy to rank among the great classical masterpieces of world literature."

"Ramacharitamanasa, the poet's magnum opus is an epic. Kavitavali (in spite of gaps here and there), Janaki Mangala, and Parvati Mangala, as also the other two smaller poems Barve Ramayana and Ramalala Nahchhoo are narrative."

"I want you to have this, all the beauty in my eyes, and the grace of my mouth, all the splendor of my strength, all the wonder of the musk parts of my body, for are we not talking about real love, real love?”"

"The book is in everyone's hands, from the court to the cottage, and is read, or heard, and appreciated alike by every class of the Hindu community, whether high or low, rich or poor, young or old."

"In the epic, [Ramacharritamanas] ‘Unity’ was Tulsidas’ primary goal, ‘humanity’ his foremost concern and his cardinal objective was ‘faith’ in the creator who had saved and sustained him through religious bestialities, who was himself trapped inside deep mud and screaming to be rescued. Tulsidas took him out of the gothic domes and planted him inside a human body equipped with passion, desire, genial emotion, an understanding heart and the will and power of doing good."

"Tulsidas is the highest tree in the garden of Hindu poetry, though his name does not appear in Aeen-i-Akbari or any book of Muslim historians or even narratives of European writers who worked on information taken from Persian historians. Yet, Tuslidas was the greatest man of India of his time. In fact he can be called greater than Akbar because the victory that the poet registered in the hearts of thousands of millions of people was greater and more lasting than all the imperious victories put together...the Ramacharritamanas is such an enormous epic that its English adaptation by Growse is of 362 pages. The declinations in this epic are so similar to Christianity that on numerous spots, if Rama is replaced by Christ, there can be no question."

"In the whole of Indian literature, Tulsidas is supreme....The devotion in his poetry is of the same order as of philosophy. And from the beginning to the end, not a word or an idea, can be spotted which is not perfectly neat and pious."

"Tulsidas wrote 12 books, but, by far, the most important is the Ramacharitamanas (the holy Lakes of the Acts of Ram), a Ramayana written in old Hindi (Avadhi) couplets. The book was written under the direction of Hanuman himself. It is read all over North India, and particularly during the time of the Ramlila. It is sung aloud in large groups for devotional purposes."

"Don't forget love; it will bring all the madness you need to unfurl yourself across the universe."

"Tulsidas alone, though the most famous of them all has no disciples that are called after his name."

"Tuslidas’s attitude toward life and literature was distinctly more objective. Quite naturally, therefore, he has used the objective forms–the epic and the narrative- besides of course, the lyric as vehicles of his devotional poetry."

"No poet in England has ever been in the masses what Tulsidas has been to the people of this land."

"Tulsi acquired the title ‘Gosaim’ (goswami or ‘lord’), which is normally applied to a sectarian leader, through his militant struggle against the forces of Kali Yug."

"Tulsidas’s long life span, during the cultural apogee of the Mughal Empire, encompassed a period of great religious ferment and creativity."

"Tulsidas was a poor recluse who lived an ascetic life and prompted by an inner light, adapted an old epic in folk-verse which broke all barriers and spread far and wide."

"Tulsidas’s poetry, like that of most other bhakti-saints, is assumed to reflect an underpinning of personal religious experience and to contain allusions to events in author’s life."

"It can be said without reservation that Tulsidas is the greatest to write in the Hindi language. Tulsidas was a Brahmin by birth and was believed to be a reincarnation of the author of the Sanskrit Ramayana, Valmiki."

"You are so much after this bundle of flesh and bone? If you had half of that devotion to Rama, your life would be worthy and it will make you immortal."

"“I regard the Ramayana of Tulsi Das,” says Gandhi, “as the greatest book in all devotional literature.”"

"Tulsidasa alone, though the most famous of them all, has no disciples that are called after his name. There are Vallabhachars and Radha Vallabhs and Maluk Dasis, Pran Nathis and so on in interminable succession, but there are no Tulsidasis. Virtually, however, the whole of Vaishnava Hinduism has fallen under his sway; for the principles that he expounded have permeated every sect and explicitly or implicitly now form the nucleus of the popular faith as it prevails throughout the whole of the Bengal Presidency from Hardwar to Calcutta."

"This fair city opens to all Rama’s heaven, The whole world knows well here is holiness given. Beyond number souls from the four wombs are born. But the souls who in Avadh die never return. Well knowing this city the home of delight, The giver of wealth, source of all that is bright, Its history pure I’ll begin to relate; Once heard it destroys passion, envy and hate."

"“Listen, Vibhishan, Angad, Sugriv! Pure and clean “Is my city; my land is the fairest e’er seen! “Tho’ for beauty men always of Paradise dream, “And tho’ scripture, as all know, declares it supreme, “Tho’ but few know the secret, yet this I declare- “That dear to me is Avadh beyond all compare! “Here’s my birthplace, this city delightful, secure; “On the north River Sarju flows, sacred and pure, “In which bathing, without any labours or pains, “His abiding-place with me forever man gains; “Very dear to my heart are all those who here dwell; “They attain thus my realm, there and here all is well.”"

"I honour Ayodhyā, all holy within; And the fair Sarju River, destroyer of sin. All honour again to that town’s sons and daughters, Whom Lord Rāma loved with love deep as deep waters. For their sake he Sita’s defamer forgave, That a realm free from, sorrow they always might have. I honour Kausalya, like eastern sky bright, Whose fair fame has spread, to the world giving light. From whence Rāma fair as the moon has arisen, By whom the world’s blest, evil’s blooms are all frozen.(After Dohā 15)"