Prajney & Karuney
Though a bit nervous, I still didn’t miss spotting the Buddhist Seminary across the road. As I walked towards the examination center, getting down from the auto, I decided to visit the Seminary after the exam.
It was May 2009 & I was in Bangalore to write my M.Phil entrance exam, for which the venue was the Kendriya Vidyalaya, in Sadashiva Nagara.
As soon as the exam got over, I walked across the road and entered the Seminary. There was nobody inside. I sat there for a while, feeling my breath, and felt relaxed after feeling anxious for nearly two days.
When about to leave, I felt the urge to see the idol from near and went close to the sculpture of Buddha. I had one of the most basic phones those days with a very poor camera. Since it never promised good images, I had never clicked a single photo with it. But that day when I stood there, I found myself slowly pulling out the phone from my pocket and click the image of the idol (Image 1) of Buddha. That was my first step in mobile photography!
“Not bad”, I told myself looking at the image I had captured and began walking towards the door, to exit from the Seminary. And, there I came face to face with a monk who greeted me with great warmth! He asked me for my name and where I came from. On learning that I had come to write my entrance exam, he took me to their office, made me sit, and asked me what course I had applied for. He was happy to know that my plan was to quit my job and go for higher studies. “There is no end to learning,” he said and took out from their cupboard a small idol of the Buddha (image 2) and handed it over to me, saying, “Carry this along with you when you go for higher studies.” I smiled and accepted it.
Not knowing what to say, I sat there silently. After few seconds, the monk broke the silence saying, “prajney (wisdom in consciousness) and karuNey (compassion, kindness) are very essential for humans,” and suggested that whatever I do in life, the aim of my actions must be to lessen the pain of people around me.
I bowed down to the monk and left…
I still carry the idol and also carry his words in my heart, perpetually trying to practice and failing at it, but never giving up.
(Vesak, 2021)
The Untranslatable Poetry
In the year 2017 when the publishers of my first book sent me the complimentary copies of my book, I showed it to my mother with great pride. My mother smiled reading its title ‘rooparoopagaLanu daaTi‘ and asked me what was the book about. I told her it’s a compilation if 74 poems from across the globe, from different languages, translated into Kannada by me. She said nothing after that went back to cooking, and I got back to my room.
In some time Amma knocked at my door and when I opened she held a bowl of gaajar ka halwa… She scooped out a spoonful of halwa, put it in my mouth saying, “I dont understand poetry, but I am very happy for you.” There was mist in her eyes.
As I got back to work station, with halwa in my mouth and tears in my eyes, I realized that the best poetry is mother’s love. That, I realized, I will never be able to translate.
***
That evening when I natrated this to my friend Randheer Kaur, she recollected a poem by Surjit Patar, originally written in Punjabi, and roughly translated it for me into English…
The poem by Surjit Patar in the translation of Gurshminder Jagpal reads:
My mother could not comprehend my poem
though it was written in my mother tongue
She only understood
son’s soul suffers some sorrow
But with me alive
wherefrom did his sorrow arrive
With utmost keenness
my unlettered mother gazed at my poem
Look!
The womb-born
conceal from mother
and confide sorrow in papers
My mother picked the paper
and held it close to bosom
Perhaps, thus
would get closer
born from me.
(Originally written as an Instagram post on 2021 mothers’ day)
Crazy Mind's Eye 