Heart – Throbs of an Anubhavi

Title: Mudduramana Manasu
Author: K. C. Shivappa
Publisher: M. P. Birla Foundation, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bangalore
Pages: 308
Price: Rs. 40 (ordinary edition), Rs. 50 (deluxe edition).

“Emotion recollected in tranquility is poetry," said William Wordsworth.

"Objective interaction with nature by a curious mind in the cause -effect plane is science," observed a scientist.

One may add to these definitions yet another aphorism, "A lively combination of poetry and science is the quintessence of a righteous life." Bhagavad-Gita, Parables of the Buddha, Bible etc., are such beacon lights guiding mankind through the vicissitudes of a turbulent life. In Kannada, for example, Sarvajnana Vachanagalu and Mankuthimmana Kagga belong to this genre. Simplicity of style and profundity of appeal are their hallmarks.

The stanzas and aphorisms in these "books of all times" highlight what a common man feels in his daily struggle between ambition and achievement. "Heights attract us, but not the steps thereunto," "The number of fruits in a tree can be counted but not the number of trees in a fruit," "Traveller! There is no path, paths are made by walking," "Full many a gem of purest ray serene the dark unfathomed caves of the ocean bear," are but a few examples.

Veteran Kannada poet K. C. Shivappa’s book Mudduramana Manasu (the mind of Muddurama) is a welcome addition to the type of books mentioned above.

Here are a few English renderings of these quatrains (in Kannada) drawn at random from out of this absorbingly interesting book.

Of what use is a mendicant’s peripatetic lucubration?
Do not a mill and the earth render nonstop peregrination?
Unless the mind blossoms all this rigmarole is just trash:
Enlightenment must be the aim of any journey says Muddurama (quatrain 325)
While focusing attention on a star in the yonder sky forget not the little flicker on the earth
Fill thy lamp of life with the oil of compassion

Its flame is the inner enlightenment thee experience
Life is but the light shed by it says Muddurama (quatrain 609)
At the very feel of an obstacle the mind retires to inaction
To follow the path of least resistance is its wont
Take an obstacle head on and proceed with a rock-steady resolve
And lo! See then life turns out to be very pleasant says Muddurama (quatrain 973)

The style is deceptively simple and menacingly direct a la Shivasharana Vachanas. Read any stanza at random, absorb and imbibe the meaning and metaphor thereon, reflect on them in the light of your experience and see there opens out a new vista hitherto hidden from your view. That is because the role of Shivappa (or Muddurama) here is to serve as a medium of expression for universal values. Every time I go through this process I become a more chastened person.

The author is a Kannada literary figure for the past three-odd decades known through his lyrical poems, rational thinking, social activities, attitude of total surrender to the cause on hand and above all warmth of heart towards the people in general. He is a student of literature and science, an administrator of repute and a human being with a high moral standing.

His philosophical temperament and scientific temper with compassion at the base have endeared him to all those who have come into contact with him.

Naturally, all these qualities of head and heart find their reflections in Mudduramana Manasu.

I am aware of the poignant fact that life has not been kind to him. However, even in his personal conversation he asserts that life has been generous to him. Indeed, he is a real karmayogi. That is why he could face all the troubles and tribulations that came on the way with a “rock-steady resolve” and come out successful. He is a Nilakanta and a Mohini at the same time (see quatrains 592, 600 and 601): drink the poison of failure and hold it in your neck while distributing the nectar of success to the very people with whom you work.

There are 1101 quatrains in this book. They have been categorized into 18 different heads like, "Has the enigma of life any answer?" "Why are you afraid of death?" "Life is full of hope," "Work gets value because of its quality," "Silence is a beautiful language," etc. All the lines in this exquisite work sparkle with a rare vitality. That is because they are the heart - throbs of a spiritualist (Anubhavi).