Book Reviews

A Poetry of Enlightenment: Amma's Gospel

Book: Amma's Gospel by Rajender Krishan
Paperback: ISBN-13: 978-1-947403116
Amazon ebook ASIN: BO8LSYFLN4
Sales: Amazon USA / Amazon India

I speak out a Truth! I am a prose writer and a layman in poetry genre. Yet, I would like to attempt to express my opinions and concepts that arose in my mind while reading the poetry.

The word Gospel means TRUTH. What is TRUTH? How it could be recognized and assessed? The Living and Lived human experiences answer it. The acceptance of realities of Living by a large number of peoples with their experiences forms the TRUTH. On the basis and foundations of TRUTH, Traditions arise, develop and perpetuate as part of Living and Social Living. They guide and direct the Living and the Social Living towards Living with Peace, Harmony and Happiness.

This poetry flows in that direction and with that object.

AMMA is not a single character. She plays many roles of many characters. Mainly she plays the role of Enlightenment of TRUTHS of LIFE and Living with her live and lived experiences.(Page- 45)

~*~

I shall attempt now to highlight the opinions and concepts that arise in the voyage of the Enlightenment.

1. Nature: (pages- 33, 37, 64, 112, 114)

The phenomenon of physical world with the Earth and all its creations and products is known as Nature. The Nature is an endless Creator with its propelling forces such as the gravitational and also with and in the effect of the propelling forces of the other planets such as Cosmic Energy and such other forces. Its origin is NOT yet known and proved. It is known as Universe.

Primordial means existing from the beginning of the Universe. The character of the poet here makes the quest of beginnings of somethings of the life and living. What is 'OM'? He used the world' Manifest'. It is known that 'OM' is sound. It is Manifest and recognizable.

The Nature or Universe was known that it originated with Air which flows and creates Sound and so are its Creations of Life. It is an endless phenomenon. It is known as 'Breath and Sound' the living forces of Life. The human being is born with Breath and Sound', lives with them and their cessation is death. When the just born child opens its lips, the sound of 'O' or 'Aa' are sensed. When it closes its lips, sound of ' Mh' is sensed. In the flow of Times and Times, it was named as ' OM' by the Ancient Man. It is Birth of Life. The just born child Breaths and Cries. The Cry is a sound of things of hunger or pain or fear which is taken as DESIRE of Life and Living . The Rigveda throws light on Nature or Universe with its forces of Air, Sound, Breath, Life, Living and Desires and such things. We may take it Primordial awareness of Nature and Life and Living. The voyage of poetry, thus begins with Enlightenment.

~*~

How did the Poet do it? He created two characters, namely, the Poet and the Mother. They did the whole of the work with the tools of their own experiences. The Experiences manifest. They are visible.

The poet could see and observe what the SUN could NOT. He brings to light what he saw and observed and enlightens as the SUN does. That is the role and function performed by the Character of the poet in this poetry Voyage.

The second Character is the 'AMMA' the Mother. What is Mother? The Nature creates, the Mother creates. There are only two Creators in the Universe. They both nurture their children with food and love to raise and develop their children, physically with food and mentally with Love for their enlightenment of Living. These are the roots and basis and foundations on which man is created and made and made to perform his duties and responsibilities. The duties and responsibilities may vary from man to man, but the spirit of their propelling forces are one and the same. We may simply call them the DESIRES and EGO.

This poetry is thus a voyage of Enlightenment through two characters, namely, the Poet and the Mother. The Man basically is made up of two propelling forces, namely Desires and EGO and this poetry is thus an Enlightenment of the Truths of Living. The Life and LIVING begin with birth and with DESIRE for Life and Living. It is followed by EGO in the process of growth and development.

The Amma is a knowledge hub of live and visible human experiences and their spokesperson with their realities and truths. She is a realistic and true human being.

~*~

2. Religion and God:

God is the CREATOR. HE is Omnipresent, Omniscient, Omnipotent.

God is embodiment of great virtues. By praying God, man acquires some of his virtues and thereby lives a happy life.

God is prayed for two reasons; one is devotion and the other is fear. Most of the people pray God for one of these two reasons.

People in general pray God for four Purusharthas, Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha and for fulfillment of all their Desires.

Nature created man. Man created Religions and God. It is nothing but a belief. Rather it is a blind belief.

There are many such varied opinions and concepts on God. I understand that Religions and God are created by the man for some good of the man and society. They were created as social code of conduct for harmonious and peaceful social living. They are outdated now. Rather they grew as forces creating hatreds and intolerance leading even to bloodshed. True and useful Knowledge of Nature and true and useful Knowledge of Science and Technology are the solutions for harmonious and peaceful social living. These are my personal opinions.

What are the opinions and concepts of our poet character and Amma and their Enlightenment?

Amma Ji : The One that is always with me have Have no doubt, That One Knows. ( P - 37 ) Why she did not say God? I understand that she refers to the powers of the Nature and Universe with which and in which she lives and which are around and over the head of all human beings.

Leela: ( p- 43 ). It refers to the Visibles only such as breathing, living organism, Air, cosmos of Life and the like Visibles. The God is made of all virtues. He does Not destroy! The powers of Nature and Universe create and destroy! They are the Leela. The Amma lives in the world of what she sees and experiences with her keen observations.

Cyclical: ( p- 53 ). The Nature and Universe are the largest Cycle and Cyclical. The Nature, that is Earth revolves round the Sun. The humans and other living species are a subset of Nature which are also Cyclical and follow the Nature's path of Creation, Sustenance and Destruction. We may call them Birth, Living and Death. That is the relationship between the Nature and Man. The knowledge of ' TRICALA' and the ' TRIGUNA' acquired by Man are the guiding forces in the Cycle of Birth, Living and Death or Creation, Sustenance and Destruction. Man lives in the Present with the knowledge of the past and plans for the future life. Man lives with the good and bad of the Sattva, Rajas and Tamas inherent in Nature.

The Amma calls all this play ' Leela'. The opinions of the Amma are clear, realistic and truthful based on her Experiences.

~*~

3. Desire and Ego and Renunciation:

We do not come across the Liberation of Desires and EGO in the Vedic ages. We find them in Epic ages only. What is Not Desire and EGO in human Life and Living? Living itself is a Desire! Living without desires and EGO is Not possible. They end with the Death only. Killing the Desires means Killing oneself. Liberation of Desires and EGO leads to slow end of Human Species. It applies to all living species.

Restraint of harmful Desires and EGO is possible and unavoidably essential for happy, harmonious and peaceful social living.

The poem Renunciation ( p - 148 ) expresses similar opinion. Similar opinions are expressed in some other poems also.

4. History :

The Amma plays the role of Enlightenment on History also. She lived in the Times of British rule and Suppression, the Independence Movement and in Indian rule and Democracy and had the live experiences of those three Times. She brings to light the whole history of partition of India and Pakistan and their continuation of the British way of rule and governance after Independence in one way or other that is mainly ' Divide and Rule' in a simple one sentence. 'Became a refugee, a migrant in her own country'. That is Amma Ji! ( P - 37 ). That is true history.

~*~

5. Social code of Conduct: The Amma is a social code of conduct for happy, harmonious and peaceful living. She is the whole poetry. She played a worthy and very useful role with her rich experiences. A few of them are mentioned here.

a. Be and do with patience and resilience whatever is required to be done. ( P - 37 )

b. Greet with a smiling face and folded hands. ( P - 39 )

c. Love yourself. Follow the right path. Be happy. Be successful. ( P - 41 )

d. There are no better riches than acceptance of life as it is. ( P - 49 )

e. Cherish the virtue of the work well- done. ( P - 69 )

f. Know and follow the Patanjali sutras of self- control. ( P - 71 )

g. The respect for the precepts of dignity is far more important than winning an argument. ( P - 77 )

h. Lend your children a helping hand that is full of love and motivation. ( P - 83 )

i. There is not another better reason to experience life than what is Now before us. ( P - 93 )

j. Keep going, the end is close.( P - 108 )

If the social code of conduct pronounced by the Amma is followed, One is sure to have happy life and living sharing the harmonious and peaceful social living with others.

6. Style of Writing: It is a free and spontaneous natural flow of expression and communication with simple words and sentences. It is a poetry written in prose style, a prosaic style. It is not burdened with aesthetic ornamentations. A layman can easily understand the mind and message of the poetry.

7. The poet, Rajender Krishan is a born poet. He is not a made poet. He deserves richly to be congratulated for his poetry of Enlightenment. His poetry is a great honor for the women of the world.

This poetry deserves to be researched in the Universities of repute and also useful for Management science courses.

More on Amma's Gospel 
  

12-Dec-2020

More by :  Papa Rao Jayanthi


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Views: 3518      Comments: 2



Comment Great understanding, my dear friend! God bless us all!!!
vvb

vvb ramarao
19-Dec-2020 00:32 AM

Comment Not only a good review, but also 'Amma's Gospel' gives enough room for thought to everybody to express and interpret in own unique way. Worth going through as much as the book itself.

Sanjay Chowdhary
12-Dec-2020 09:07 AM




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