The cowl of Madhu Raghavendra’s Seeking the Infinite displays the creator’s symbolic devotion to Shiva. Offering the blue-toned water-colored cowl, maybe a co-relative of the Neelkanth flower, the poet (learn: artist) seeks the blessing of the Infinite for a meditative section of purity, devotion and to let go of materialistic want. Since the ebook is devoted to “bhakti” and “artwork”, the reader instantly begins to surprise how the “every day course of our lives” can supply “atma-nivedana”, “reminding the permanence of infinity and the transitoriness of our bodily self” and set up “sakhyatva” or “friendship with the divine”.
The poet asks the readers: what can an artist supply aside from his artwork? But when deep in devotion, the artist feels insignificant in entrance of the infinite and asks if he can greet this entity even on days when he has “nothing to supply”.
Search for the Infinite
Wondering if in any respect he can supply jackfruit from timber, it dawns on him that the fruit is but to ripen and “nonetheless holds on to the trunk”, separating him from the infinite, leaving him but lonely once more. Moving on in search, he compares his feeling to “painted frescoes”, the elephant who “waits patiently gathering bananas from a passerby”, fowl that chews “the wire cage”, the futile process of gathering “mushrooms after the thunderstorm”; solely to understand that so long as he attaches himself to the illusions of the encircling, he shall be burdened with the “weight of the dancing beads”.
The poet realises that the devotee is all the time ready. Just because the leaf holds to its department until the top, he too holds onto the divine like a performer awaiting an viewers. Alas, each the devotee and artist need to bind themselves with the thread of hope that behaves like a “creeper that appears like hugging” solely to understand they “don’t need to reply each query”.
Raghavendra continues his seek for the infinite by deriving inspiration from artists who give up themselves to be pushed by the “pores and skin of time”. Resonating the power of the basic forces, the artist continues to await the Infinite, believing that “what’s due will come to you”.
Amidst the paradoxical existence, each day every thing appears “little raw”, “getting chilly ready”, however the pulley of hope permits the rope to slide off “the bucket down the effectively”, solely to reaffirm the idea that the Infinite will seem sometime as a result of for the devotee, “looking for is about giving”. The poet compares his compassion to Yudhistir’s canine. The analogy depicts the thirst of the devotee who wonders if he can ever get a look of the Infinite.
He reinforces the worth of meditation and the way one should interact in yogic practices to unite with the universe. The poet attracts consideration to understanding the eagerness of artists who use their devices as a medium of prayer. He feels the presence and initiates conversations which might be “pointless, structureless, reasonless, calenderless” until he feels at dwelling – the house the place he’s actually himself.
Becoming one
This feeling empowers him to grasp the cosmic vitality of the Divine. The poet tries to barter the power of the snake that coils round Shiva’s neck. It is symbolic of time, house, safety, destruction and creation. Yet, the poet feels a nearness to this being. To attain this, he realises that he must lose his concern “of motion”, “of withering”, “of loss of life”. The poet urges readers to “uncover and submit” themselves to go away behind the world of phantasm and to understand the last word reality.
The poet additionally touches upon the teachings of Buddhism. He reminds the readers that submission is the last word “moksha”. He eulogises upon a “hungry beggar” awaiting the lotus of data to bloom. The seeker additionally tries to unmask the “ageless aches of affection”. Travelling by means of the traditional previous, he displays on the “distress of our beauty self” in up to date instances.
Using allusion, intertextual references, metaphors, similes, and symbolism woven by means of acts of devotion, this assortment of poems is an expression of the poet’s “dhyana” as he tries to yearn for the last word reality and actuality. To him, the Divine is an omnipresence that gives the artist along with his life drive. Raghavendra undertakes a journey that assessments the persistence of the seeker earlier than he can really feel one with the Divine creator.
Gitanjali Roy is an Assistant Professor within the Department of English, Faculty of Liberal Arts, ICFAI University, Tripura. She has co-edited Orality, Folk and History within the twenty first Century with Sayantan Thakur.
Seeking the Infinite, Madhu Raghavendra, Red River Press.
