The sacrosanct nature of text (III)

Taken from Naishabdar Buke Mi Chetan Satta by Champalal Sinha

Translated and annotated by Ramlal Sinha

Late Surachandra Sinha, father of poet Champalal Sinha, did give his own explanations to around nine to 10 poems of his son. The explanations of some of the poems have been retrieved so far. “The never-dying banyan leaf” (Akshay tritiyar bhatpatahan) is one of the poems that had been explained by late Sinha. Poet Champalal Sinha and his father were complementary even when the son was just a child insofar as intellectual skill and quality are concerned. It was through his son, with a gifted power of conception, that late Sinha studied the religious scriptures meant for sadhaks that he had inherited from his preceptor, Guru (late) Vidyapati Sinha of Bangladesh. In the process, the poet acquired knowledge that was generally not expected of a teenager. Theirs was a cottage redolent of spiritualism with their round-the-clock conscious breathing (the ajapa japa). The poet has won accolades from various quarters for the depth of his poems and his way of presenting them, words chosen to convey the message he wants to give to his readers and his unique art of keeping the central idea concealed in a web of words by leaving only one or two keys for readers to grasp. The spiritual poems of Champalal Sinha and their depth make it very difficult for one to pigeonhole him under one bracket, along with his contemporary poets, though his poetry has many themes common with theirs. His diction and technique make the task of the translator truly Herculean in the real sense of the term. When a poem or any other literary work is translated into another language, the translator has to see that the import of the original is not lost. He/she should challenge the cliché that a book or a literary work loses something in translation, no matter how successful he/she is.

The never-dying banyan leaf

(Akshay tritiyar bhatpatahan)

Inking the name on

The never-dying banyan leaf

I let it stay afloat in the sky

On the third bright Baisakh night

The choppy leaf keeps floating

In the sky,

Amid the anxious gazing

Water cascades down a rivulet

In no time and falls on my head

And overflows all over

In three courses;

I notice the integrated Veda

Adrift along the middle course.

Oh, the choppy banyan leaf

Of akshay tritiya!

Keep vibrating in the sky

Unending

Let your wave of elixir of life

Erase all blots from our minds!!

Hints given by late Sinha:

This poem is about the secrets of sacrosanct sexology (rotitattva) that Vaishnavs are well acquainted with. Writing the name on a banyan leaf and placing the leaf in the sky stand in total contrast to the secrets of Khirod sagore batapottrate shayan (lying down on the banyan leaf in the Sea of Elixir). This reminds us of the secrets of the verse of Chandidas:

Matir janam/na chhilo jakhan/takhan korechhi chash/divas rajani/na chhilo jakhan/takhan ganechhi mas

(Something cultivated even before one’s birth on land i.e. while in mother’s womb, and the countdown to one being born is over even before one experiences the difference between day and night i.e. while in mother’s womb.)

The phrases ‘keeps floating in the sky’ lead one to yet another verse of Chandidas:

Sumeru upore/bhramara pashila/ekatha bujhibe ke/Chandidas kohe/rasik hoile/bujhite paribe se

This verse throws light on the sacrosanct details of rotitattva (sexology) from the point of view of Vaishnavism. The description given by the poet is a symbolic representation of the sacrosanct details of sexology as being practised by Vaishnavs.

(1) The sky (shunyahan):

Heaven.

 (2) Banyan leaf: The base or basis of all sadhan-bhajan

 (3) Rivulet: The stream of Shakti representing Gayatri (Gayatrirup shrutodhara). 

 (4) Integrated Veda: The energy or power or potency gained through sadhan-bhajan

There are two different pathways—one upstream and the other downstream—starting from the very point where the breath of life originates during the practice if ajapa-japa. While one breath of air goes downstream round jivatma (individual sole), the other goes upstream round the never-dying and golden Paramatma (the Supreme Being) in the form of ‘Om’.

Explanation by the translator:

According to Hindu philosophy, the existence of Parambrahma (the Supreme Being) is a universal truth; He is self-evolved and complete in its true sense. For the Creation He makes a promise, (a Brahma sankalpa)—Ekaihang bahuslryam projajeyo meaning ‘I’m one and will become many’.  However, no creation is possible without the union of purusha (cosmic male) and prakriti (Shakti or Mother Nature). This led Parameswar to create purusha from His right side and prakriti with exquisite beauty and extreme power from His left side. Prolonged meditation by both purusha and prakriti  caused the release of water from their respective bodies forming the khirod sagar where they lay down for years and came to be known as Narayan and Narayani (Nar meaning water and Ayan meaning sleeping). Thus, khirod sagore batapottrate shayan is the very beginning of the Creation.

However, the secrets that late Sinha wants to lay bare in the verse of Chandidas—Sumeru upore/bhramara pashila/ekatha bujhibe ke/Chandidas kohe/rasik hoile/bujhite paribe se —are in total contrast to the secrets of khirod sagore batapotrate shayan.

“Radha and Krsna display Their pastimes through Krsna’s internal energy. The pleasure potency of Krsna’s internal energy is a most difficult subject matter, and unless one understands what Krsna is, one cannot understand it. Krsna does not take any pleasure in this material world, but He has pleasure potency. Because we are part and parcel of Krsna, the pleasure potency is within us also, but we are trying to exhibit that pleasure potency in matter. Krsna, however, does not make such a vain attempt. The object of Krsna’s pleasure potency is Radharani; Krsna exhibits His potency or energy as Radharani, and then engages in loving affairs with Her. In other words, Krsna does not take pleasure in this external energy but exhibits His internal energy, His pleasure potency, as Radharani. Thus Krsna manifests Himself as Radharani in order to exhibit His internal pleasure potency. Of the many extensions, expansions and incarnations of the Lord, this pleasure potency is the foremost and chief.

“It is not that Radharani is separate from Krsna. Radharani is also Krsna, for there is no difference between the energy and the energetic. Without energy, there is no meaning to the energetic, and without the energetic, there is no energy. Similarly, without Radha there is no meaning to Krsna, and without Krsna there is no meaning to Radha. Because of this, the Vaisnava philosophy first of all pays obeisances to and worships the internal pleasure potency of the Supreme Lord. Thus the Lord and His potency are always referred to as Radha-Krsna. Similarly, those who worship the name of Narayana first of all utter the name of Laksmi, as Laksmi-Narayana. Similarly, those who worship Lord Rama first of all utter the name of Sita. In any case—Sita-Rama, Radha-Krsna, Laksmi-Narayana—the potency always comes first.”

(Caitanya-caritamrta)

By the phrases Sumeru upore/bhramara pashila/ekatha bujhibe ke, late Sinha indicates Shaktipuja performed by Vaishnavs. As stated in Chatanya Charitamrita and other scriptures, Shakti (Maa Kali or Maa Durga) is the source of all pleasure potency or energy, and that Shiva becomes potent or energetic (shaktisali) by attaining the pleasure potency or energy from Shankti by worshiping Her. By the word sumeru Chandidas means to say junipith (clitoris) where Shiva sits and performs Shaktipuja to gain pleasure potency or energy (shakti) from Shakti to become potent or energetic. Like Lord Shiva, Narayan undertakes Shaktipuja to gain potency from Lakshmi to become potent, and Srikrisha from Sriradharani. Shaktipuja is an integral part of bhajan-sadhan for every Vaishnav who becomes potent by attaining pleasure potency from his sangini (consort). 

Keeping words like ‘clitoris’ and ‘heaven’ under the cloak of banyan leaf of akshay tritiya (third day of Shuklapakshya in Baishakh when gifts can never decrease ones assets, here pleasure potency), and the sky the poet refers to in symbolic details the rotitattva that is practised by Vaishnavs.

With his deft command over diction, the poet faded the sacrosanct details of Vaishnavite sexology into the woodwork of the poem so as to avoid any infringement of sacrosanct truths or realities. The phrases akshay tritiya give enough an indication to the Vaishnavite copulation without ejaculation (viryapatan) as viryapatan, according to them, is nothing but downfall (patan means fall) in each sense of the word. It’s through sadhan-bhajan Vaishnavs can redirect the flow of their sperms in three separate streams within their bodies (as the poet says tinhan dhara or three courses)— eda, pingala and sushumna—that meet at the ajnachakra or tribenisangam (the Ganga, the Yumana and the Saraswati at present) where a Vaishnav takes his holy dip (punyasnan), thereby shaking off all blots in life.

By the phrases ‘integrated Veda’ or the energy or power the poet indicates that potency that a Vaishnav gains through regular Shaktipuja. Unlike the common man, a Vaishnav never ejaculates sperms so as to remain potent as that helps him scale new heights in sadhan-bhajan and to be close to God.

It’s worth mentioning that from the very point where the life breath is generated during the ajapa japa the life breath goes round two courses – while the upstream course goes  round Paramatma, the down stream course goes round jivatma (individual soul). Paramatma is akshay, unending and golden in the form of ‘Om’ in the upstream.

In the last stanza, the poet, like every other Vaishnav, prays to the banyan leaf of akshay tritiya to remain choppy in Heaven forever so that its wave of elixir of life cleanses humans of all blemishes during punyasnan in tribenisangam—the juncture of ida, pingala and sushamna. 

To be concluded

Courtesy: Seven Sisters Post