After reading the following points I closed my eyes and began to reflect on my own personal experience of ‘ the sacred’ and wrote this song. When Saradha was correcting the Bhakti songs, she asked some questions about the strange kind of experience which I shared through my poems and she said that she never underwent a similar experience. In response to her I said that it is not necessary for everyone to have the same kind of experience. Above all, what I try to communicate through words is completely different and limited by the limitations of my mind and the language. Of course we need to verbalize our experience. But it cannot communicate the original nature of that experience, particularly when we try to communicate it through poems, which put so many restrictions on us. And each language has its own limitations. For example in Tamil the beginning and end of the words in each line almost match with the other words in a stanza which we call ‘yeduhai’ and ‘monai’. Sometimes it will naturally come and other times we need to work it out a bit out of using our personal skills. There we will use some words which won’t neatly fit, but there is no other option but to use it. Similarly in order to fill the gap some extra words will be used. Above all translating from one language to another is a Himalayan task. In fact no translation can communicate the real meaning and spirit of the poem and I am well aware when I try to give my own poor English translation.
If I have to write a rationalistic view about some of the inner experiences that I have with sacred things, it will end up with many pages. Still I cannot communicate properly. I cannot call it a mystic experience, as I still do not comprehend mysticism in its totality. It definitely comes because of my bhakti. This I know for sure. I try to communicate that experience in its various shades through my poems, particularly as I celebrate it within me in my fellowship with the Lord and also in celebrating with others. Yes, writing poems and trying to translate in English (poor me) and writing comments is the only part which I definitely am not enjoying. But in order to celebrate my bhakti with other bhaktas I do it. So not only the Tamil words, but even the translations with comments are in one way part of that celebration. Once I translate and write my comments, I feel that I failed in my communication. This is what I can do at my best. So this song [BT Son716. ] too expresses that limitation and also celebrates that experience with others. About such a mystical experience I have written another song [BT Song 719]. It is worth reading the ‘theology of Experience’ by Roberts [Theologies of Emotions, Michelle Voss Roberts, Tastes of the Divine: Hindu and Christian Theologies of Emotion, New York, Fordham University Press, 2014]:
As I began to read a book on Theology of Experience, I began to think about my own experience with emotions and theology. I know for sure that it is not sensation or mere emotion with some physical responses like tears coming, hair standing for a few seconds. But I cannot set aside them as mere physical response; however weak and temporary they might be. Though we all need to return back to our profanity after some sacred and awe inspiring moments in life, what the atman realizes and the inner being tries to express it is beyond human understanding and communication.
Now on the ‘experience of Sacred’:
If religion refers to the experience of the sacred it follows that it is related to the experience of a revelation which need not necessarily fall within the binding framework of dogma and organized religion. The experience of the sacred is one of its own kinds. It is lost when identified with this or that conceptualized deity. No one can be taught it nor can it be explained to anyone who has not known it. That what it reveals for the person struck by it, is the only valid revelation of reality. The experience of the sacred is related to the ideas of being, meaning truth. Its experience unfolds a dimension not apprehended by theoretical reflection alone. Its content is too (p.35) tender and fragile to be left at the mercy of circumscriptive conversation or parlour-speech….— Frans Baartmans, Apah, The Sacred Waters: An Analysis of a Primordial Symbol in Hindu Myths, Delhi, B. R. Publishing Corporation [Division of D.K. Publishers Distributors (P) Ltd.], 1990, pp. 35-36
…In his famous work, The Idea of the Holy, Rudolph Otto analyses the modalities of religious experience rather than the ideas of God and religion. He does not touch on the question of myth and mythical thought but concentrates on the non-rational side or religion. For Otto the sacred is the feeling of terror, the numinous, and the awe-inspiring.
“The feeling of I”, he writes, “may at times comes sweeping like a gentle tide, pervading the mind with a tranquil mod of deepest worship. It may pass over into a more set and lasting attitude of the soul, continuing, as it were, thrillingly vibrant and resonant, until at last it dies away and the soul resumes its “profane”, non-religious mood of everyday experience. It may burst in sudden eruption up from depths of the soul with spasms and convulsions, or lead to the strangest excitements, to intoxicated frenzy, to transport, and to ecstasy. It has its wild and demonic forms and can sink in an almost grisly horror and shuddering. It has its crude, barbaric antecedents, and early manifestations, and again it may be developed into something beautiful and pure and glorious. It may become the hushed, trembling, and speechless humility of the creature in the presence of – whom or what? In the presence of that which is a Mystery inexpressible and above all creatures.” {Rudolf Otto, Das Heilige, Breslau, 1917, English translation John W. Harvey, The Idea of the Holy, Penguin Books, London, 1959, pp. 12-13}
If religion refers to the experience of the sacred it follows that it is related to the experience of a revelation which need not necessarily fall within the binding framework of dogma and organized religion. The experience of the sacred is one of its own kind. It is lost when identified with this or that conceptualized deity. No one can be taught it nor can it be explained to anyone who has not known it. That what it reveals for the person struck by it, is the only valid revelation of reality. The experience of the sacred is related to the ideas of being, meaning truth. Its experience unfolds a dimension not apprehended by theoretical reflection alone. Its content is too (p.35) tender and fragile to be left at the mercy of circumscriptive conversation or parlour-speech….—Frans Baartmans, Apah, The Sacred Waters: An Analysis of a Primordial Symbol in Hindu Myths, Delhi, B. R. Publishing Corporation [Division of D.K. Publishers Distributors (P) Ltd.], 1990, pp. 35-36
Mathigiri, 24-8-2017
After reading the following points I closed my eyes and began to reflect on my own personal experience of ‘ the sacred’ and wrote this song. When Saradha was correcting the Bhakti songs, she asked some questions about the strange kind of experience which I shared through my poems and she said that she never underwent a similar experience. In response to her I said that it is not necessary for everyone to have the same kind of experience. Above all, what I try to communicate through words is completely different and limited by the limitations of my mind and the language. Of course we need to verbalize our experience. But it cannot communicate the original nature of that experience, particularly when we try to communicate it through poems, which put so many restrictions on us. And each language has its own limitations. For example in Tamil the beginning and end of the words in each line almost match with the other words in a stanza which we call ‘yeduhai’ and ‘monai’. Sometimes it will naturally come and other times we need to work it out a bit out of using our personal skills. There we will use some words which won’t neatly fit, but there is no other option but to use it. Similarly in order to fill the gap some extra words will be used. Above all translating from one language to another is a Himalayan task. In fact no translation can communicate the real meaning and spirit of the poem and I am well aware when I try to give my own poor English translation.
If I have to write a rationalistic view about some of the inner experiences that I have with sacred things, it will end up with many pages. Still I cannot communicate properly. I cannot call it a mystic experience, as I still do not comprehend mysticism in its totality. It definitely comes because of my bhakti. This I know for sure. I try to communicate that experience in its various shades through my poems, particularly as I celebrate it within me in my fellowship with the Lord and also in celebrating with others. Yes, writing poems and trying to translate in English (poor me) and writing comments is the only part which I definitely am not enjoying. But in order to celebrate my bhakti with other bhaktas I do it. So not only the Tamil words, but even the translations with comments are in one way part of that celebration. Once I translate and write my comments, I feel that I failed in my communication. This is what I can do at my best. So this song [BT Son716. ] too expresses that limitation and also celebrates that experience with others. About such a mystical experience I have written another song [BT Song 719]. It is worth reading the ‘theology of Experience’ by Roberts [Theologies of Emotions, Michelle Voss Roberts, Tastes of the Divine: Hindu and Christian Theologies of Emotion, New York, Fordham University Press, 2014]:
As I began to read a book on Theology of Experience, I began to think about my own experience with emotions and theology. I know for sure that it is not sensation or mere emotion with some physical responses like tears coming, hair standing for a few seconds. But I cannot set aside them as mere physical response; however weak and temporary they might be. Though we all need to return back to our profanity after some sacred and awe inspiring moments in life, what the atman realizes and the inner being tries to express it is beyond human understanding and communication.
Now on the ‘experience of Sacred’:
If religion refers to the experience of the sacred it follows that it is related to the experience of a revelation which need not necessarily fall within the binding framework of dogma and organized religion. The experience of the sacred is one of its own kinds. It is lost when identified with this or that conceptualized deity. No one can be taught it nor can it be explained to anyone who has not known it. That what it reveals for the person struck by it, is the only valid revelation of reality. The experience of the sacred is related to the ideas of being, meaning truth. Its experience unfolds a dimension not apprehended by theoretical reflection alone. Its content is too (p.35) tender and fragile to be left at the mercy of circumscriptive conversation or parlour-speech….— Frans Baartmans, Apah, The Sacred Waters: An Analysis of a Primordial Symbol in Hindu Myths, Delhi, B. R. Publishing Corporation [Division of D.K. Publishers Distributors (P) Ltd.], 1990, pp. 35-36
…In his famous work, The Idea of the Holy, Rudolph Otto analyses the modalities of religious experience rather than the ideas of God and religion. He does not touch on the question of myth and mythical thought but concentrates on the non-rational side or religion. For Otto the sacred is the feeling of terror, the numinous, and the awe-inspiring.
“The feeling of I”, he writes, “may at times comes sweeping like a gentle tide, pervading the mind with a tranquil mod of deepest worship. It may pass over into a more set and lasting attitude of the soul, continuing, as it were, thrillingly vibrant and resonant, until at last it dies away and the soul resumes its “profane”, non-religious mood of everyday experience. It may burst in sudden eruption up from depths of the soul with spasms and convulsions, or lead to the strangest excitements, to intoxicated frenzy, to transport, and to ecstasy. It has its wild and demonic forms and can sink in an almost grisly horror and shuddering. It has its crude, barbaric antecedents, and early manifestations, and again it may be developed into something beautiful and pure and glorious. It may become the hushed, trembling, and speechless humility of the creature in the presence of – whom or what? In the presence of that which is a Mystery inexpressible and above all creatures.” {Rudolf Otto, Das Heilige, Breslau, 1917, English translation John W. Harvey, The Idea of the Holy, Penguin Books, London, 1959, pp. 12-13}
If religion refers to the experience of the sacred it follows that it is related to the experience of a revelation which need not necessarily fall within the binding framework of dogma and organized religion. The experience of the sacred is one of its own kind. It is lost when identified with this or that conceptualized deity. No one can be taught it nor can it be explained to anyone who has not known it. That what it reveals for the person struck by it, is the only valid revelation of reality. The experience of the sacred is related to the ideas of being, meaning truth. Its experience unfolds a dimension not apprehended by theoretical reflection alone. Its content is too (p.35) tender and fragile to be left at the mercy of circumscriptive conversation or parlour-speech….—Frans Baartmans, Apah, The Sacred Waters: An Analysis of a Primordial Symbol in Hindu Myths, Delhi, B. R. Publishing Corporation [Division of D.K. Publishers Distributors (P) Ltd.], 1990, pp. 35-36
Mathigiri, 24-8-2017
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