From the title, if you gathered that I am going to scribble something about Kerala's own "Pele" I.M.Vijayan and some politics that has denied him something in relation to any world cup, that's not it. Or may be it is, from the perspective of Vijayan.
I am talking about O.V. Vijayan.
It is indeed strange, in a wonderful way, that the circumstances of reading a book itself can leave a lasting impression on you about the book. I wanted to catch my sleep a little early, so that I can get up very early to catch some soccer action in the FIFA world cup. Since I didn't get proper sleep, I thought I should read a book, perhaps the easiest way to catch sleep. Eventhough I had read Gurusagaram (translated to English as The Infinity of Grace) once before, I, purely by a random choice, took that book again to my bed.
It is more than 20 hours. I have already completed the book, watched the match between England and Italy, watched a movie, been to Sunday mass, played with my sons, had a stomach full of Biriyani, done some office work, done a lot of browsing and had my late evening tea. I haven't slept yet. And I feel like I need to scribble something about the thoughts that book generated in me.
It surely takes more than commonsense to grasp the deep-rooted transcendentalist (I prefer the term Pantheistic, because that word clearly illustrates itself when positioned alongside Monotheistic, Atheistic and Polytheistic notions; Transcendentalism is not a clear-cut category on its own) notions of our Rishis of yore. But, it takes immense literary genius to set that notion in the context of some of the mass political upheavals of the last few decades as well as tattered human lives and translate it into a roller-coaster of a reading experience, with its entirety of soul-crunching abstractness and emotional purge oozing out of every chapter, paragraph and sentence.
You are invited into a the search for a Guru (Grace), of a man who has already enjoyed what the materialistic world can offer. He has an important job, his colleagues and acquaintances respect him, he has forged some deep friendships, a foreign woman takes lead in sharing her bed with him and he has access to powerful places. Yet, the very same world has given him the bitterness of an unloving wife, the pain of being separated from a child who misses him a lot, the anger of youthful revolutionaries and the suffering of people from war as well as alienation from their own roots. He is in desperation to seek the answers to end the misery. He eventually finds it through deep reflection and understanding of his as well as a billion other people and life-forms, aided by a few personal tragedies.
Let me get into two thoughts that seemed relevant for me.
1. The current Hindu philosophy, taking a distinct political edge with the writings of Sarvarkar and his followers, shaped by RSS propaganda and the focus on Polytheism, has gone too astray from its Pantheistic notions. People still visit institutions named after Adi Shankara, but hardly anyone cares about the meaning of Adviata (the not-two-ness of Atman and Brahman) and its implications in the real life of a man - and that includes his political life too. How many of the current right wing intellectuals could appreciate when Kunjunni knows that he is Vyaasa and his daughter is Sukadeva? When Kunjunni realizes that the killing of Shambuka resonates in history with the revolutionary upraising of the classes? That Padma river of the Alla Bakhs from Dhaka is no different from Kunjunni's own Thoothappuzha in Kerala, which is no different from Ganges? Yet, "Aham Brahmasi, Thatwamasi" is truly captured only such realizations and the practice of the same in the ordinary and illusionary (maya) daily life, rising and falling in the eternal cycle of Karma. Strangely, this is something the leftist and atheistic intellectuals have always easily grasped, while the rightwing always confused Polytheism with Pantheism. Being a Marxian first and a Transcendentalist later, Vijayan shows deep intellectual acumen, coupled with irresistibly stylish and multifaceted literary skills to portray the depth of the ancient Indian thought against the rather shallow and caged thoughts prevalent in the contemporary mainstream thought. It is a must-read for someone who is looking for a fictional work that captures the essence of Hindu spirituality (In fact, I don't know if there are many around. There would be a lot of non-fictional works available, but what about pure Fiction? I do not know because of my limited reading, but I will be surprised if you find many).
2. Recently, the world mourned the death of Marquez. In many ways, O.V. Vjayan is a Malayalam version of Marquez. They are contemporaries, published their masterpieces almost the same time (Khasak from Vijayan and One Hundred Years from Marquez) and defined a turning-point in the respective literature. Vijayan's death was a local news, while Marquez's death became a global event. I have always wondered what could have been the case had Vijayan wrote in English (or had made a good translation available in English) and marketed himself well. The writer of Khasak, Gurusagaram and Dharmapuranam ( I haven't read Thalamurakal, so I can't put it in this list) indeed deserves to be in the top bracket of any world-wide list, not just in a Malayalam list. Yesterday, a curious thought struck me - forget about the world, was Vijayan denied his rightful place even locally? You hear a lot about lesser people in Malayalam literature more often (dead or alive)? Unlike many famed writers, Vijayan never treaded a politically convenient path. Even when he was a pro-Marxist, his fiction hardly exalted its virtue. When he turned a Transcendentalist, he kept his intellectual integrity intact in his writings, by strictly following what his Spiritual side told him. Thus, he never became popular with either the Leftists or the Anti-Leftists. Politically, he was of no use to anybody. Everybody respected him for the great writer that he is, but nobody was willing to sound trumpet for him. It is just a sad state of affairs that political utility defines even great literary careers in our society. I mean everywhere. The entire literary circle, from the most popular American to the little known Malayalam, is in the tight grip of a Leftist and Progressive worldview that brilliantly exposed alternate views hardly get any limelight, just because of the fact that they are alternate views. I think it was this fate that fell upon Vijayan - he wasn't trumpeting the cold moral relativism or themes with revolutionary or politically correct appeal. He was just being Spiritual. That he was very brilliant in expressing his spirituality through writing mattered a little bit less.
NB: I must say that, trying to watch the world cup through the eyes of Gurusagaram is a little bit weird. You don't find Rooney playing against Chiellini, rather you tend to think that it is Rooney against Rooney. Or it could be You against Rooney. So, I think that certain things are better appreciated at macro-cosm, rather than micro-cosm. Anyway, I am a hardcore Monotheist (I believe the Creator and the Creation to be two, not one). So, for me, it is still Rooney vs Chiellini.
I am talking about O.V. Vijayan.
It is indeed strange, in a wonderful way, that the circumstances of reading a book itself can leave a lasting impression on you about the book. I wanted to catch my sleep a little early, so that I can get up very early to catch some soccer action in the FIFA world cup. Since I didn't get proper sleep, I thought I should read a book, perhaps the easiest way to catch sleep. Eventhough I had read Gurusagaram (translated to English as The Infinity of Grace) once before, I, purely by a random choice, took that book again to my bed.
It is more than 20 hours. I have already completed the book, watched the match between England and Italy, watched a movie, been to Sunday mass, played with my sons, had a stomach full of Biriyani, done some office work, done a lot of browsing and had my late evening tea. I haven't slept yet. And I feel like I need to scribble something about the thoughts that book generated in me.
It surely takes more than commonsense to grasp the deep-rooted transcendentalist (I prefer the term Pantheistic, because that word clearly illustrates itself when positioned alongside Monotheistic, Atheistic and Polytheistic notions; Transcendentalism is not a clear-cut category on its own) notions of our Rishis of yore. But, it takes immense literary genius to set that notion in the context of some of the mass political upheavals of the last few decades as well as tattered human lives and translate it into a roller-coaster of a reading experience, with its entirety of soul-crunching abstractness and emotional purge oozing out of every chapter, paragraph and sentence.
You are invited into a the search for a Guru (Grace), of a man who has already enjoyed what the materialistic world can offer. He has an important job, his colleagues and acquaintances respect him, he has forged some deep friendships, a foreign woman takes lead in sharing her bed with him and he has access to powerful places. Yet, the very same world has given him the bitterness of an unloving wife, the pain of being separated from a child who misses him a lot, the anger of youthful revolutionaries and the suffering of people from war as well as alienation from their own roots. He is in desperation to seek the answers to end the misery. He eventually finds it through deep reflection and understanding of his as well as a billion other people and life-forms, aided by a few personal tragedies.
Let me get into two thoughts that seemed relevant for me.
1. The current Hindu philosophy, taking a distinct political edge with the writings of Sarvarkar and his followers, shaped by RSS propaganda and the focus on Polytheism, has gone too astray from its Pantheistic notions. People still visit institutions named after Adi Shankara, but hardly anyone cares about the meaning of Adviata (the not-two-ness of Atman and Brahman) and its implications in the real life of a man - and that includes his political life too. How many of the current right wing intellectuals could appreciate when Kunjunni knows that he is Vyaasa and his daughter is Sukadeva? When Kunjunni realizes that the killing of Shambuka resonates in history with the revolutionary upraising of the classes? That Padma river of the Alla Bakhs from Dhaka is no different from Kunjunni's own Thoothappuzha in Kerala, which is no different from Ganges? Yet, "Aham Brahmasi, Thatwamasi" is truly captured only such realizations and the practice of the same in the ordinary and illusionary (maya) daily life, rising and falling in the eternal cycle of Karma. Strangely, this is something the leftist and atheistic intellectuals have always easily grasped, while the rightwing always confused Polytheism with Pantheism. Being a Marxian first and a Transcendentalist later, Vijayan shows deep intellectual acumen, coupled with irresistibly stylish and multifaceted literary skills to portray the depth of the ancient Indian thought against the rather shallow and caged thoughts prevalent in the contemporary mainstream thought. It is a must-read for someone who is looking for a fictional work that captures the essence of Hindu spirituality (In fact, I don't know if there are many around. There would be a lot of non-fictional works available, but what about pure Fiction? I do not know because of my limited reading, but I will be surprised if you find many).
2. Recently, the world mourned the death of Marquez. In many ways, O.V. Vjayan is a Malayalam version of Marquez. They are contemporaries, published their masterpieces almost the same time (Khasak from Vijayan and One Hundred Years from Marquez) and defined a turning-point in the respective literature. Vijayan's death was a local news, while Marquez's death became a global event. I have always wondered what could have been the case had Vijayan wrote in English (or had made a good translation available in English) and marketed himself well. The writer of Khasak, Gurusagaram and Dharmapuranam ( I haven't read Thalamurakal, so I can't put it in this list) indeed deserves to be in the top bracket of any world-wide list, not just in a Malayalam list. Yesterday, a curious thought struck me - forget about the world, was Vijayan denied his rightful place even locally? You hear a lot about lesser people in Malayalam literature more often (dead or alive)? Unlike many famed writers, Vijayan never treaded a politically convenient path. Even when he was a pro-Marxist, his fiction hardly exalted its virtue. When he turned a Transcendentalist, he kept his intellectual integrity intact in his writings, by strictly following what his Spiritual side told him. Thus, he never became popular with either the Leftists or the Anti-Leftists. Politically, he was of no use to anybody. Everybody respected him for the great writer that he is, but nobody was willing to sound trumpet for him. It is just a sad state of affairs that political utility defines even great literary careers in our society. I mean everywhere. The entire literary circle, from the most popular American to the little known Malayalam, is in the tight grip of a Leftist and Progressive worldview that brilliantly exposed alternate views hardly get any limelight, just because of the fact that they are alternate views. I think it was this fate that fell upon Vijayan - he wasn't trumpeting the cold moral relativism or themes with revolutionary or politically correct appeal. He was just being Spiritual. That he was very brilliant in expressing his spirituality through writing mattered a little bit less.
NB: I must say that, trying to watch the world cup through the eyes of Gurusagaram is a little bit weird. You don't find Rooney playing against Chiellini, rather you tend to think that it is Rooney against Rooney. Or it could be You against Rooney. So, I think that certain things are better appreciated at macro-cosm, rather than micro-cosm. Anyway, I am a hardcore Monotheist (I believe the Creator and the Creation to be two, not one). So, for me, it is still Rooney vs Chiellini.
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