|
Abhang:
Literally, 1. Absolute; eternal, immutable, ceaseless, unbroken; impeccable,
etc.
2. immortal, primordial; another name for Brahman; inviolable, etc.
3. a Marathi metre; also, any metrical composition in this metre. The abhang is
the favourite metre of all Varkari poets since the thirteenth century and unlike
classical Sanskrit-based metres it is native to Marathi speech and its
colloquial forms. It is extremely flexible. It consists of four lines and each
line contains three to eight syllables. It has a fluid symmetry maintained by
internal or end-rhymes and is often designed to be sung. It originates most
probably in oral folk-poetry. Poets such as Jnanadev, Namdev and Tukaram have
given it a classic status in Marathi poetry. Most of Tukaram's compositions are
in this metre and even when they are not, in exceptional cases, the term abhang
is popularly used for practically all of Tukaram's metrical compositions.
originates most probably in oral folk-poetry. Poets such as Jnanadev, Namdev,
and Tukaram.
Avataras, (the ten)
"the Fish, the Tortoise, the Boar, the Man-Lion, the Dwarf Man, Parashu Rama,
Rama, Krishna, the Buddha, and Kalki are the Ten Avataras" according to a verse
in the Geeta. These, in the same order, are the incarnations (avataras) of
Vishnu.
Ananta : literally,
1. endless, infinite, boundless, etc.
2. name of Vishnu.
3. name of Shesha, the serpent upon whom Vishnu sleeps.
4. the sky; space, etc.
5. used for time, eternity, etc.
6. used for Brahman, or absolute and infinite being; infinity in any sense.
Tukaram uses Ananta as both a name and an attribute of Vitthal who, to the
Varkaris, is synonymous with Vishnu and Narayana, both of whom are known by many
other names. Since each of these names has a unique significance, Tukaram often
uses a specific name in a specific context, literally, metaphorically, or
suggestively.
Bahinabai Sioorkar :
(1629-1700) is remarkable among the Marathi poet-saints not just because she is
a woman; so were Muktabai and Janabai long before her; Bahinabai is unique
because she was an orthodox, married Brahmin and yet was attracted to Bhakti and
particularly to the poetry of Tukaram about whom she heard in distant Kolhapur
from a keertan-performer called Jayaramaswami; she was obsessed by the idea of
meeting Tukaram in person and dreamt that Tukaram blessed her and became her
guru; this resulted in her husband beating her up in jealous fury; he was
horrified that his wife, a Brahmin, should want to make a Shudra who had no
scriptural knowledge her guru; however, the husband changed his mind when
persuaded by another Brahmin and accompanied Bahinabai to Dehu; there they saw
Tukaram and attended his keertans; Bahinabai's vivid account of Dehu and Tukaram
are like a poetic journal that vividly recreates scenes in evocative detail;
this is the only contemporary eyewitness account of Tukaram available to us;
Bahinabai's autobiography and verses are translated into English prose by Justin
E.Abbott and have been recently republished with a perceptive foreword by Anne
Feldhaus.
Bhagawadgeeta:
often also referred to in the abbreviated form "the Geeta"; "The Song of the
Lord" depicting the celebrated dialogue between -Arjuna and Krishna during the
Mahabharata war and a section of the Bheeshmapa1Va, a chapter of the Hindu epic,
Mahabharata; regarded by many Hindus as the essence of all scriptures and the
revelation by Lord Vishnu of his own nature and cosmic role that explains karma,
man's duty in this world and the laws that govern his behaviour, the design of
human destiny, and the divine, cyclic design by which Vishnu Himself!! assumes
different avatar as or incarnations in the human world to remove the specific
form of evil that afflicts each Age or Epoch; this is also seen as a dialogue
between the individual human ego and the Divine Self or the Whole Being of which
the human individual is only a part; Jnanadev
produced the first poetic transcreation of the
Bhagawadgeeta in Marathi in the thirteenth century; these acts of translation
into the language of the masses must have been viewed by the Brahmin orthodoxy
as acts of heresy.
Bhakta:
literally means a worshipper, a devotee, a votary, an adorer, etc.;
it is useful to remember that the original Sanskrit word also means:
1. (a share) allotted, distributed, assigned; as such a Bhakta is given "his
lot" or "his share of the Divine";
2. divided; applied to a Bhakta, this may assume a spiritual significance;
3. served, worshipped;
4. engaged in, attentive to;
5. attached or devoted to; loyal, faithful.
Bhakti:
devotion, loyalty, faithfulness; engagement, commitment; dedication;
reverence, service, homage; the condition of the whole being of a Bhakta whose
mind and body are totally absorbed in the object of his worship and remain
continually directed or oriented towards it; the object of such worship can be
an anthropomorphic deity, a symbol, a name, an image, a concept, an abstraction,
or the non-discursive or inconceivable "Whole Being" itself.
Bhakti-Marga:
derives from the above; literally, "the way of devotion" or "devotion
as the path by which God is realized (by individuals or by a community of
devotees)". In reading Tukaram, Bhakti should be usually read as the Bhakti of
Vishnu by any of his one thousand names that are also his epithets but
specifically in the form of Vitthal, or Vithoba; see Varkari, Vitthal,
Pandharpur, "the Brick",etc.
Bhakti Rasa:
would literally mean "the juice of Bhakti" or "(the uninterrupted flow of) the
feeling of devotion"; "rasa" in classical Sanskrit poetics is active feeling,
emotion, something akin to "juice" in a physiological sense, thus a somatic
action or effect; but the poetics itself is diversely linked and interpreted in
terms of religious esotericism, yoga, and mysticism; the cryptic precept, "Raso
vai sah" means, "He is the very rasa" which, loosened by paraphrase would mean
"God or the Whole Being is Himself that spontaneous flowing juice"; one is
making this slight digression because the pioneer Marathi poet-saint Jnanadev
was an initiate in the Kashmir Shaiva tradition, the same school of thought to
which the great mystic philosopher and poetician, Abhinavagupta belonged;
Jnanadev was a yogi of the Natha Sect; how he came to worship the deity Vithoba,
seen as a form of Vishnu, and became a founder of the Varkari Bhakti movement is
a perennial mystery; but the "rasa" or "feeling" part of Bhakti, the sensuous
and palpable form of worshipping God as a devotee, focused on a specific image
and a "name", begins with Jnanadev and his contemporaries; poetry and music,
singing songs and chanting, were believed to produce a distinct "rasa" or "flow
of feeling", of oneness with God; this is the "rasa" or "state of being in a
continuous flow" that makes Varkaris sing, dance, chant the name of God, and
create that "total theatre" where everybody is a part of the grand performance
of worship; the pilgrimage to Pandharpur and the festival of Vithoba there have
to be witnessed to get an idea of how" Bhakti-rasa" a distinct universe of
feeling, envelops the "Bhaktas" with a sense of communion; Tukaram's poetry is
described as a poetry of" Bhakti-rasa" which includes a wide range of emotions
and different personae depicting the devotee's many-faceted relationship with
God; it is useful to bear this in mind because the Varakari Bhakta may be
viewing Tukaram's poetry as the poetry of Bhakti-rasa, which is not quite the
same feeling that we experience ourselves in our normal life and assume that
others experience; nor do we associate such a feeling with poetry and its
impact.
Brahma:
the "Creator"; one of the gods in the Hindu pantheon; he is depicted
in the Puranas as having sprung from a lotus rising out of the navel of Vishnu.
Brahman:
original Sanskrit form of the word which is Brahma in Marathi; neuter gender;
often translated as "the Supreme Being" etc., and variously interpreted by
Vedantic philosophers and commentators; it is at once the primordial as well as
the ultimate condition of being, a concept of "being-in-itself' which is beyond
determination, definition or description. As such, it is a paradoxical concept
of the inconceivable, which is the source of all phenomena and all possible
concepts thereof. It is used in the sense of "autonomous self' or "the principle
of spontaneous creation, existence, and dissolution". In mystical thought,
"Brahman" can be experienced as "bliss" or "beatitude" or "a sense of boundless
being". It is "ecstasy" in terms of its outward signs and "ecstasy" in terms of
"self- contained sense of bliss". During the last decade of his life, Tukaram
unexpectedly met Babaji, a liberated yogi, who initiated him into an experience
of such "beatitude". Tukaram's evolution
from being a Bhakta to becoming a mystic is clearly seen in his poems. There was
never a contradiction between his worship of Vithoba and his yearning to
experience beatitude or "oneness with All Being". There are people, in fact, who
believe that Tukaram's body simply disintegrated and returned to the state of
absolute, unconditioned being, leaving no trace of its material form and
identity. I have no comment to offer on this except that if true, it would be
real poetic justice.
Brahmin:
the highest among the castes; considered pure and chaste; the
"twice-born" priestly caste that has a privileged access to the scriptures and
the sole right to recite, teach, and interpret them; they conduct religious
ceremonies, perform rites, and adjudicate matters and disputes concerning dharma
of all Hindus; in Tukaram's time, Brahmins in Maharashtra considered all the
other castes as either "non-caste" or "outside the sacred circle" or as Shudras:
causing pollution in varying degrees; Tukaram describes himself as a Shudra and
a Yatiheen, which means Jatiheen, or low-born, and pointedly mentions that the
Brahmins would not even concede him the right to read and write, let alone
discuss spiritual matters; he also attacks depravity among Brahmins and holds
them responsible for corruption of religion as well as ethics in personal and
social life; Tukaram propounds that anyone who is pure in spirit is a true
Brahmin and accidents of birth have nothing to do with it; in Tukaram's view any
individual who is God-oriented or tuned to "the Whole Being" is a Brahmin or the
Brahman-oriented person, because "caste" is a quality of mind determined by
purity of awareness rather than by any physical or material property or
criterion |
