(An instant translation of my appreciation note which appears in the beginning of ‘Ammamozhi’, the Malayalam translation of Shri Rajender Krishen’s  “Amma’s Gospel”)  

Mr. Rajender Krishen is an English poet known to me for several years.  I have read many of his English poems at boloji.com.

Mr. Krishen is the founder of boloji.com.    Boloji, as we all know, is a meeting ground for eminent personalities in the fields of arts and culture where lofty ideas are communicated and appreciated.

Besides poetry, we can see that stories, essays of high merit, scientific expositions etc. are published there on a daily basis including political discussions.

While most writers run after love, emotions and pedestrian descriptions of nature, I have seen in Mr. Krishen a poet of a different genre who writes poetry embracing lofty thoughts and spirituality.  Enquiry after truth gets utmost importance in his writings.

In spite of being a permanent resident of the US, his literary pilgrimage seeking after his own ancient roots is a matter of curious surprise.

Although I have read several poems of Amma’s Gospel in English language, the fact that they are going to appear in Malayalam, gladdened me much.  I, therefore, consider writing a note of appreciation for the Malayalam version as God’s blessing – a matter of divine destiny.

Mother is a holy concept in Indian thought.  Wherever one turns, there is Mother smiling.  For us Indians, she is the power of action in the three Lords of Creation, Sustenance and Destruction.  They have no independent standing apart from Her.  Isn’t it with the proclamation that they have no independent standing without Her that Shankara’s Soundarya Lahari begins?That Mother is the heroine of Mother’s Gospel.  Like Bhattathiripad sang ecstatically in Narayaneeyam about the deity of Guruvayoor: “Oh, the fortune of the people!”.

We have an Amritanandamayi Devi to impart to us good spiritual and moral advice.  There are nameless avadhutA-s in mysterious forms wandering amidst us unbound by space and time.  There were holy mothers like Sharada Devi whose unseen presence serves us as guiding light even today.

Mr. Rajender Krishen is such a fortunate being who has had the great fortune of having such a Motherly form right in his household as a guiding light.  What more does a poet need?

All the poems in this collection are rivers of a profoundly  melodious song flowing down from that Mother - carriers of mystery running down from Truth along mountain-sides shrouded in mysterious mist.  Aren’t the poems singing loud to us:  “Just look through the mist, you are face to face with Truth”?  Like that lofty prayer in Ishovaasya Upanishad:  “HiraNmayeNa pAtreNa…”. ?

The poet’s call for enquiry after truth, nay Mother’s call, echoes throughout this collection of poems.  As a devotee of the Divine Mother, it is matter of great Grace that I received Her Gospel for study.  It is divine destiny as I said before.

The poems begin with Aum, the praNava mantra.  Where else can an Indian begin?  Doesn’t the Mandukya Upanishad declare right in the first shloka:  “Aum ityedadakSarmidaM sarvaM”?  The beginning of Amma’s Gospel is therefore right and appropriate.  Aum is the curtain raiser on ancient Indian thought.  The Ganges flow of poetry begins there!

From “I”, the praNava, through “You”, the essence of Namaste, the cyclic universe of creation unravels before our eyes in this collection.  Each “Namaste” is therefore a petal on the Feet of the All-knowing Witness!

Next comes “Mother”.  Isn’t it the mother’s face that we all see first in life?  Mother who had undergone innumerable tribulations.  Mother, the great heroine who had survived the worst tragedy India  has ever seen.  Her self-confidence is framed for posterity in the words:  “He is always with me.  Don’t have any doubts.  He knows everything.”.  Do we have to look for God elsewhere?  We see self-confidence metamorphosing into Self-Knowledge in this book!

Then the secret beauty of the play of creation is revealed to us.

Amma’s advice which begins “Be truthful to yourself and love yourself.  Don’t be in a haste to react….” reminds one of Eckhart Tolle’s spiritual exhortations.  This advice appears several times through the collection as a keynote statement.  The irrefutable fact that Tolle,  who is very familiar to us through important works like “The Power Of Now” and “Stillness Speaks”, searched and found his Self in the thoughts of the East is a matter all of us can always remember with great pride.

The answer of Mother to the next question of “How one should pray?” again is the unconditional surrender of Tolle.

“Be silent, listen to what life has to say.  Contemplate on experience, don’t associate, just drown in it, be a simple witness”.  Yes, yet again Tolle, with  India’s philosophical Upanishadic wealth!

Mother continues:  “Dissolve in the deep lap of silence”.  How?  Like the unattached Kanaiha who plays the flute as  thought-Gopikas are engaged in dandiya-raasleela without cease.

The masterpiece of this collection indeed is “Word”.  It is the simplest interpretation of the names relating to the Goddess of Word,  “parA, pratyak, citIrUpa, paSyantI, paradevatA, madhyamA,  vaikharIrUpA” in the Thousand Names of Mother LalitA (LalitAsahasranAmAvali).

Mother’s Gospel is a poetic treasure-trove that thus demands unending appreciation.  Fortunately, for us to understand its depths, there is the effortless Malayalam translation of the scholarly preface to the English edition written by Mr. P.C.K. Prem.  It is recommended to read that introduction before venturing into the poems.

Besides, in the words of Mother that reach us through Mr. Krishen,  we discern unmistakable echoes of the spiritual poetry of Sufi poet Jalaluddin Rumi (“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.”) and also Lebanese poet Kahlil Jibran (in “The Prophet”).  It is very much evident in the poems “This Moment”, “Now”, “Gurudwara” and “Maya”.

A special mention is a must about the mesmerizing beauty of the sketches that appear throughout this collection.  Like the poems, they also seem to conceal the Truth shrouded in the mist of mystery.  These images include those of Shiva, Shivalinga, Nandi, and Shricakra.

The translaton from English to Malayalam is smooth and simple, yet profound.  Mrs. Sarala Ram Kamal has given us a laudable translation without losing even a minute bit of the original meaning.

That the collection has already appeared in English, Maltese,Tamil and Hindi even in this pandemic situation and that Telugu, Marathi, Bengali versions are on the anvil is the direct evidence of Mother’s blessing and Grace and the result of Mr. Krishen’s untiring efforts influenced by Her.  Wish all versions of the book including Malayalam and Mr. Krishen unparalleled success.

Please read this book, enjoy.  When the last page is reached and the book is closed, the reader would have Mother accompany him as pure, white brilliance!

May I place this respectfully on Mother’s Feet….

Madathil Rajendran Nair

April 17, 2021

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