SONG OF ITARA

SONG OF ITARA

A short story drawn from Aitareya Upanishad

By Suraksha Giri                                                                                                             

October 22^nd , 2012

                                                 

                                        

             G’ma sat on an elevated platform. All around her fluffy white vapors danced and broke apart from their fantastic formations. This was the lower part of Heaven, shady with large leafy neem trees that grew straight up and dotted with squatter mango trees just beginning to flower for the summer harvesting. Far down below on such a clear day the Himalayan peaks were visible like frosting on a giant cake, why one could see Mount Kailash and the clear waters of Manasarovar. Maybe in a few days they could all go down and have a cool dip in its waters, sport and play with the sun rays beating down on their backs. Of course her days of frolic were over now that she was classified an “ancient” a mentor to a brood of noisy boisterous juniors who had to be schooled in protocol, etiquette, deportment, grooming and above all in discovering their own particular talent and learning how to apply it for the good of man. She had come in a few minutes early to prepare for the days lesson and go over her many notes. This University specialized in Earth Sciences and a field trip to the Lake was considered a practical class with commensurate credits.

             It was the earth month of Phalgun and fat dragonflies buzzed around in sheer delight of untold pleasures that awaited them in the coming weeks. All foliage would flower and the heady scent of wild flowers, fruit and sprouting earth mixed with the colours of flame, white, yellow and pink was intoxicating, exciting. The brahma kamal, jasmine, rose, nag kesar, jarul, thick marigolds, ashoka pushed their way through even as wild lilies and lotus snaked their way up in countless ponds and lakes. Fecundity abounded and young men and maidens would sport with abandon and sanction on Holi the festival of color that falls on the full moon day of Phalgun. It was an innocent celebration of nature for its bounty and generosity expressed without malice or ill doing without censure or restriction. G’ma felt her years when she realized that the new curriculum prescribed Environment Science as a subject without allowing the children to mingle with nature. Rightly you had scholars and researchers who had mastered the science but were clueless of its physicality just as economists lectured on supply and demand of food but ensured that hunger increased with every new complex equation.   

              Today was the last day before the spring break which is why she was planning an excursion to the Lake. She would have to apply for permission, get the travel documents and inform her wards to let the elders know of the trip. But all the

administrative paperwork was worth the day spent surrounded by the peaks, the light rarefied air and the quietness. G’ma observed how her wards grew silent when they

were at the Lake in spite of a noisy journey down with many songs and ditties. But once at the Lake there was no need to admonish even the most mischievous as they grew still and aware, communicating with their silence. 

                It was going to be a taxing morning trying to keep the class attentive and not draw too much attention from the Director who believed in discipline and scholarship dismissing any attempt to infuse humor or creativity into the teaching style. He was far younger than G’ma and spoken of as one with a promising future but G’ma thought it was unlikely he would graduate to the upper echelons on account of his ambition. Already he had banded together the youth and spent a great deal of his free time in schooling them to be aggressive and combative rather than benign and neutral. G’ma could not quite understand how the roles had been changed from one ofoverseeing the adherence to cosmic laws to one of arbitration to enforce the laws. Her generation had allowed the natural course of events to prevail, ‘as you sow so you reap’. But the Director had sensed a huge opportunity in marketing the talents of the students, securing them plum positions with lucrative perks and privileges like air-conditioned temples, five star meals and social networking with singing and dancing. Naturally such opulence was sure to attract attention and competition which was why the training in martial arts and alchemy to retain their supremacy.

                  The first few hours passed without any remarkable disruption except for some sniggering whispers from the right hand corner. G’ma knew how high spirited the class was with the bottled in excitement of a weeks holiday. Of course they would stay on campus or go out only on authorized excursions like the visit to the Lake but that was not going to dampen their spirits. No class, no chanting, no lessons in logic, debate, and thinking, mugging up almanacs and tomes that dated back thousands of years. The week would be easy with getting up an hour later, a self service breakfast and time to read, play, and meet friends and maybe a few picnics. By the end of the week the lazy routine would start becoming boring and the new term welcomed with great energy. 

             It was time to do some recitation and G’ma decided to start with the hymn to the Creator. This chanting would begin with its own special invocation and the class started intoning in the cadence and metre of the composition:

‘We request with all our enthusiasm the good deeds which is the medicine for sadness and sorrow in the world

We request for the good of men

We request that plants and herbs grow tall towards the skies

We request the good of all two legged and four legged creatures

We request for peace peace peace.’

     ‘The Purusa has a thousand heads, a thousand eyes and a thousand feet. He has enveloped this world from all sides and has transcended it by ten angulas.

      All this is verily the Purusa. All that which existed in the past or will come into being in the future is also the Purusa. Also He is the Lord of Immortality. That which grows profusely by food is also the Purusa……..

            Chandra has stopped the chanting and raising his hands said cheekily, ‘G’ma please tell us a story. We know this chant rather well. Please tell us the story of Purusa G’ma.’

              A chorus of voices sang out, ‘we want a story. G’ma please tell us a story.’

              G’ma was startled and looked to see if any one from the Administration was hovering around. She dreaded a visit from the Director who was capable of retiring her and sending her off to a purpose built home for the ailing elderly. These homes smelt of time and decay and G’ma had resolved that she was never going to one of those facilities. She had to act fast before the ruckus attracted the attention of any passerby and so she clapped her hands and called the class to order.

              ‘Chandra it is very unbecoming of you to interrupt the class and cause this confusion. Now if you will be good and complete the chanting, I will tell you all a story. Start the chanting from the beginning and slowly with proper pronunciation.’

                 The class sang out the hymn and as the last words of ‘peace peace peace,’ flowed into the space a silence settled over the class. G’ma was a popular story teller and no one tired of listening to her tales even if she repeated them.

                   ‘So children you want to hear the story of the Most Ancient Purusa and how He created this Universe. So listen and don’t fidget and talk among yourselves. This is how it began…..         

                Long ago there was a little boy called called Mahidasa who lived with his mother in a small hamlet. Mahidasa had a happy childhood playing with the many calfs and lambs that his mother tended as part of her dairy. Mother and son toiled hard ate simple food, enjoyed the seasons and lived happily. When the child turned five his mother thought she should celebrate his birthday and invited her kinsman to their house. After a delicious feast of thick rice pudding cooked in ghee and jaggery, spicy vegetables and yogurt made from boiled down yellow cows’ milk the family sat to exchange the news of the clan. An elderly uncle enquired in a quavering voice, ‘Pankajam is your Lord Vishal seeing to your welfare?’ There was silence and everyone then blabbered together. This intrigued Mahidasa and after the guests had blessed the boy and left, he asked his mother, ‘Ma who is your Lord Vishal?’ 

                 Pankajam would give no answer and so the boy persisted in asking,‘Ma who is your Lord Vishal?’ Finally Pankajam broke her silence and said, ‘My dearest golden boy, Lord Vishal is your father. He is a very important person and has a charming wife and many sons. I was his ‘other’ woman and therefore you and I are forced to live in this seclusion. Your father loves you and he takes very good care of us; see all this is from his generosity. But he cannot acknowledge us.’

                Hearing this Mahidasa resolved to go and meet his father and one day on the pretext of going to his friend’s house he set out to find his father. Now Vishal was an important dignitary in the town and Mahidasa soon arrived at his father’s imposing doorstep. A huge reception was being held with many richly attired people but Mahidasa was unmindful of the circumstances and threw himself at his father and tried to sit on his lap. Vishal was annoyed at the intrusion and embarrassment and had his attendants remove the boy out of the room. Broken hearted, Mahidasa returned home crying with grief at the rejection.

              Pankajam heard the story from her child told so melodiously in sob wracked gulps that she felt her heart would burst in pain at the misery her actions had caused

her child. She swooned on the ground and lay still; her heart had splintered with grief and anger. Mahidasa was orphaned.

               Mahidasa means servant of the earth. He took over the dairy and cultivation and learnt great lessons from Mother Creation through his work, observations and reflections. He grew tall, strong and confident and when he turned fifteen he

composed a beautiful hymn in everyday language on how the Creation happened. He dedicated it to his mother, the other woman and called it the ‘Song of Itara’.

                   G’ma paused in her story and shifted her body. When she sat cross legged for a long period of time her muscles cramped and she had difficulty in heaving herself up. She hid her infirmities discreetly as the Director could consider letting her go.                            

                   ‘Now listen carefully because this is the story of the ‘Song of Itara’ on how the Creation began and that includes you and me.’

                   Thousands of years ago before the Mahat, before the beginning of time, before anything moved, there was only The Ancient Purusa who sat in formless meditation. A creative urge rose in His breast and He thought, ‘let Me create Worlds and places of enjoyment where the fruits of labor are rewarded.’

                    Now you children will naturally ask that if there was nothing how could The Purusa create the Worlds. What would He use? You know the answer. Like the example of a spider that secretes the fluid out of its own body and uses it to spin the web, The Purusa was the source of the material cause which He called Maya and the Efficient cause which He called Chaitanya. With the combination of Maya and Chaitanya The Purusa created the four Worlds of Space, Sky through which the sun’s rays pass, Earth where fecundity and death co exist and Water. Having created the Worlds The Purusa had to make sure that someone was there to safeguard them.

                    The Purusa dipped into the huge vast expanse of Water and from that fistful in His palms He fashioned a form with head and hands and feet. He called this Virat that is the total gross form of this Universe.

                 The Ancient meditated on Virat with deliberation and while He was thus engaged there was loud ‘plok’ just like the bursting open of an egg shell when the baby bird has to emerge out. This was the mouth of Virat which had opened wide and out of this aperture speech emerged and from speech Fire sprang up. So Fire is the

presiding deity of speech and that is why we say, ‘your speech burnt me or what a fiery speech.’

               Now from the other orifices others spewed forth. From the nostrils the sense of smell issued and from this Air permeated, which is why air carries fragrance along with it. The eyes parted and the sense of sight emerged and from sight came the Sun; we can only see when light is reflected on the eyes or when the medium of light is available. The Ears ‘ploked’ and out came forth the sense of hearing and from the sound, Space pervaded. Children you know the basic law that for sound to be created space is required. By now speech, sight, smell, sound had issued and the rent the covering of Virat and from the skin emerged hair which gives us the tense of touch. From the hairs Vegetation sprouted up, plant and herbs and trees on the surface of the Earth. The sense organs and their compatriots of Space, Air, Fire, Light and Vegetation were now out but Virat kept bringing forth other wonders.

                 From the heart of Virat, Mind issued and from the mind came the beautiful yellow orb the Moon. Children you all know that it’s not mere superstition that the waning and waxing of the moon can affect the moods of the mind. And how many times have you been corrected to use your mind to decide and not be guided by the emotional tweaks from the heart. The birthing was continuing and from the navel of Virat the excretory organ the Anus emerged and from the anus which emits out the body waste, Death came forth , which is why in physiology you study how at the time of the last breath leaving the body, the fluids are ejected out. From the genitals of Virat, Semen came forth and from Semen, Water flowed.

                 Having come into being the Speech, Sight, Sound, Smell, Touch, Mind, Excretion and Procreation and their brethren Air, Light, Space, Vegetation, Moon, Death, Water, Fire fell into the Great Ocean. Let us call them the Pleasure Group. The Pleasure Group cavorted, swam, played and went dizzy with exhilaration in the Great Ocean. They laughed, introduced themselves to one another and forged ties of friendship. But the Great Ocean was changing and from the vast motionless surface that was warm and silken, huge tidal waves rose up engulfing them, choking them. They came up gasping for breath, trying not to drown in the turbulent whirlpools that started just as the tidal waves seemed to be reducing. But more was in store and now from the depths of the Great Ocean huge fearsome sea creatures came slithering forth with barnacles on their bodies and sharp tuskers that could impale any one of them in a thrice! Oh, Children the scene was horrific and frightful and the Pleasure Group was paralyzed with fear. That was not all. A fierce thirst rose in each leaving them parched

and dry while their stomachs ached from the lack of food. The Pleasure Group had no idea how they were going to extricate themselves from this torture. Mind had its wits about and suggested they should make a joint petition to The Ancient and ask for relief. Mind was voted as the leader, the strategist while Speech was nominated as the official spokesperson.

                    Bruised, limp, deflated and spent the Pleasure group approached Purusa with their supplication.

                        ‘O revered Ancient, Lord who has created us we salute you for your generosity in bringing us forth. We were indulging in some harmless sport when we were subjected to untold misery and turbulences. We were buffeted by Change and Time ensured that we were hungry and thirsty. We have no means to provide for ourselves as we have no abode, no food and no refreshment. Benevolent Purusa, will you not in your great compassion find us a dwelling where we could all take up residence and where each of us may eat the specific food that would be appropriate. Lord, the food for the Sight is completely different from the food for Sound and my needs are very different from theirs, so we pray you find us a shelter that we may rest our flagging spirits.’ So saying Speech flopped back and lay without uttering another word.

                            The Purusa had listened to the request of the Pleasure Group and he asked them to accompany Him and choose the most appropriate dwelling which would not only accommodate them all comfortably, yet at the same time allow each of them to partake of their own specialized nourishment. Led by Purusa they travelled over the Earth till they came to green verdant pasture land. It was a day like this with heady sweet smells in the air, dew drops sparkled like polished diamonds and threw up mini rainbows in the sun beams, and fresh blossoms hung from the tree branches. The Pleasure Group was delighted each in its own way but The Purusa led them further on to the field where a solitary Cow was grazing.

                          ‘Would you like to consider this Cow your home?’

                     The Pleasure Group critically examined the Cow. It looked pretty and sleek with its dappled coat and thick bushy tail that sprung from its rump and which it used as a fan to keep flicking off the flies and bees. The Eyes were large and gentle,

and they all remarked on the two prongs that jutted out of the head and curved up to

form a arched crown that The Purusa called horns. The Cow seemed attractive and excitedly they discussed the merits of having their own home and food when the leader, Mind interjected.

                       ‘This home is not befitting our status and intelligence. Do not be mistaken by size. What we require is a place where we can live intelligently and creatively. We cannot spend our whole life on this pasture land; what is there to experience and where is the excitement which is our food that keeps us energized and alert? My dear friends, as your Leader I must inform you that I am rejecting this habitation as unworthy of us. Let the Lord The Purusa provide us with more superior choices.’

                           The Purusa led them on and they came upon a huge semi arid grassland with dry winds. In the far distance there was a range of snow capped mountains but here it was desolate and harsh especially after that pretty pasture land that Cow lived in. Pleasure Group looked around hoping to see what The Purusa was offering as their homestead, when there was a huge thundering sound, the ground shook and the grasslands trembled. Pleasure Group cowered in fear and watched with awe as a herd of stallions galloped off in front of them their hoofs pulling up the earth with force, their tails and manes in perfect symmetry to their flying bodies.

                     ‘Horses,’ whispered Mind.

                     Even before The Purusa could speak, Mind said, ‘O Lord, Thank you but this too is too lowly for us. We can travel but little else. Please show us a home where we may be settled and enjoying the marvels of these Worlds you have created for us.’

                       Again The Purusa led them and the Pleasure Group was now on its last legs. They were exhausted and were in desperate need of sustenance which would bolster their ennui. They were passing through harsh mountain terrain which was majestic in its stark beauty. Soaring mountain peaks glinted in the sun and there was an incessant musical sound of running waters. They emerged from the pass to a vast plain that was divided by a gigantic flowing river. On the banks of the river stood an erect form, tall and elegant that the Pleasure Group gawked at with open mouths. They blabbered together in their excitement of knowing that their perfect home had been found even as The Purusa pointed out and said, ‘Man.’

                         

                         ‘O Purusa this is a masterpiece, well done, very well done indeed. Man alone can be our comfortable home. What grace, what elegance and the

perfection of proportions. It is a work of precision, a work of creative genius. Lord, we are indebted to You for giving us this home.’

                      The Purusa smiled indulgently as a loving father looks at his favorite children and said, ‘dear friends of the Pleasure Group now that you have approved your residence, would you not like to enter your special chambers and get settled in. You have had a hard time travelling and once you are well settled you will want to partake of some food and quench your thirst as you came to me crying, we are hungry. Don’t dawdle dear ones; enter your respective rooms now.’ 

                    There was renewed energy and with great pomp and fanfare the Pleasure Group disbanded and took up their individual stations.

                      Fire turned back into Speech and entered the Mouth from where it had emerged. Air which became scents and smells entered the Nostrils, Space which was sound and hearing passed into the Ears and Sun which was the light settled back into the Eyes. The plants and vegetation turned back into hairs and settled on the Skin. The moon retracted back into the mind and entered the Heart, while death which is expulsion entered the Navel. The last to settle in was the waters which had come from the semen and this too went into its place of origin the Reproductive Organs. They put up their name boards on their portion of the Man dwelling and this is what each read :

Speech Organ, Sight Organ , Hear Organ, Smell Organ, Touch Organ , Mind Organ, Breath Organ , Reproductive Organ. They decided they were no longer going to be referred collectively as the Pleasure Group but as the ‘Sense Organs’. 

                     Children now that the Sense Organs are housed has everyone been accounted? No. Hunger and Thirst were not appeased and required to be pacified for on seeing the comfortable homes of their compatriots they set up a huge caterwauling and din. They confronted The Purusa as no one would dare and forgetting their place and station they demanded, ‘You have forsaken us and left us without any satisfaction. You must find an abode for us as well.’     

                    The Purusa was all wisdom and knowledge. In a clever twist He suggested, ‘O you poor orphaned innocents. Of course you too must have a place but why limit yourselves to a special place. As you are the last, I will prove to you that

you are not the least important. So dear ones, you will be residing with each Sense

Organ and share in its food. Enjoy yourselves in all the homes, relish the variety,

sample the unexpected and be served a royal banquet at all times. What satisfaction any of the Sense Organs receive will be your satisfaction.’

                         Hunger and Thirst were ecstatic and inveigled themselves with each Sense Organ as The Purusa had sanctioned and thereafter they was no  satisfying either one with whatever was on offer. For instance if Sound was enjoying the sweet strains of the sitar, Hunger and Thirst did not want it to end, they always wanted more. But it was with the Mind that they created havoc as it was not mere quantity and quality since each Sense Organ was connected to the Mind as its Leader and Hunger and Thirst too resided there, the mercurial Mind sought variety, novelty and excitement. In this manner all the Sense Organs led by Mind developed voracious appetites and no experience was satisfaction but only an impetus for newer and greater experiences.
                Having housed Hunger and Thirst with the Sense Organs, The Purusa was able to turn his attention back to creating. His first concern was to create the organic food that would keep the Man dwelling nourished and healthy and be a pleasant environment for the Sense Organs. As the Man dwelling was made of gross organic matter, the Purusa needed to design organic food for consumption. Once again He meditated on the design and characteristics of the nourishment and once the concept was blue printed, He turned to the Five Great Elements Space, Air, Fire, Earth and Water and taking a portion of each spun it around in His fist. A form emerged out of it and The Purusa named it Food.
                  The Purusa looked to see the reaction of The Sense Organs who were gazing with avid interest at the form but made no attempt to reach out for it. Food realised in a flash that it was meant to be devoured and like a hare that flees when it sights the fox knowing that it is its bread box, so too Food retreated and set out to flee from the spot. Virat being the first born and senior took up the challenge that he should take the lead and set off in pursuit of the Food. Virat tried to capture the Food with the Sense Organ Speech but it was hopeless. Food slithered away and continued to race off. Virat could not grasp the Food with speech for if it had been so all of us would have been satisfied with mere talk of Food. Now Virat deployed Sense Organ

Smell but this too was a dismal failure for had it been successful we would be satisfied with merely smelling Food. He made a more aggressive pursuit with Sense Organ Ears, but alas this too was disappointing for we know that hearing about Food does not satisfy us. Virat was beginning to get desperate and he used the Sense Organ Skin but we know that too would have failed as we are not satisfied by the touch of Food. Virat now called on the leader of the Sense Organs Mind and engaged it to capture the running Food. Mind tried many tactics and subterfuge but he had to admit defeat and returned empty handed; just thinking about Food gives no satisfaction. The Reproductive Sense Organs too were beaten and now only the Sense Organ Breath remained which had not taken up the challenge. Virat unleashed the Breath behind the fleeing Food, and it was over. Breath took in one large gulp of air and Food was held in its grasp and taken in. The Food we eat is ingested by the circulation of air and after digestion; air expulsion throws out the garbage through the anus.
                   The Purusa was at rest. The Sense Organs were housed in Man dwelling, Mind kept conjuring up new avocations to satisfy Hunger and Thirst and Food was available in plenty to keep the housing strong and capable of weathering storms. But He hesitated to bid adieu.
                  'How can all these remain without Me? Dare I leave them alone only in the charge of that capricious leader Mind who will wear them out with a merry song and dance of excessive consumption? They will fall ill, diseased and depressed left only to the devices of the Mind. Besides I must be there to guide the Mind as well for without Chaitanya how can it function? I must remain but how should I now enter the Sense Organs. I had Hunger and Thirst accommodated already so what is the means of My own entry? The Sense Organs are there to perform their specific roles like the different formations in an Army of artillery, signals, cavalry, foot soldiers etc but they need their Commander in Chief, the ruler, the observer. Talking is Speech, hearing is Ears, thinking is Mind, smelling is Nose, touching is Skin, seeing is Eyes, eating is Breath, procreation is Genitals so I am not any of these. I The Purusa am the Lord of the Sense Organs, the Witness of actions done and not done, results and outcomes praises and petitions. Without My presence it is like a royal dwelling awaiting its master. I too must be here.' 
                      Now that The Purusa had decided to move in with the Sense Organs,

He had to fashion a way of entrance that would be most appropriate to His stature. Children when the Director enters a room does he come in from the rear door or from the front door? Of course from the main door and he comes in with pomp and fanfare to proclaim his importance. Now there are two ways to enter the Man dwelling. One is through the head and the other through the feet. The Purusa selected the path through the head as it was befitting; He cleft the skull at the crown and through this passage entered the Man dwelling and joined the conglomerate of Sense Organs, not like Hunger and Thirst sharing and partaking but as the Overlord, the Witness The Majesty who has no Hunger or Thirst yet available in every precious grain that is harvested, in every tiny drop that flows.
                   The Purusa earmarked three vantage points to witness the workings of the Sense Organs. During waking time The Purusa sits at the right eye which is the sense of vision, during dream The Purusa is seated inside the mind and in that dead to the world deep sleep state, The Purusa is lodged in the inner recess of the heart. We feel the Bliss of The Purusa in our deep sleep when all the Sense Organs are laid to rest and The Purusa watches over us with limitless peace and joy.
                      This Song of Itara reveals the Lord, the Creation and Man. When our hunger is insatiable and our thirst burns the throat even with countless sips we are being led by the Mind and for this Hunger and Thirst there is no appeasement. But in moments of silence, quietness and reflection when I know The Purusa, all hunger and thirst falls away and I am full and blissful without hankering. Let the Song of Itara be sung down the ages for Man to know the Truth. Thus sang Mahidasa, the working laborer on the pursuit of Perfection, Man's only endeavor.
                      G’ma was tired as she concluded the story. ‘And that my dears is the end of the story. In a few years you too will learn the ballad of the Song of Itara and tell the story of The Purusa and the Creation. For now, its vacation time and I wish you all a joyful break.’
                      G'ma waited for her charges to leave and then collecting her walking stick hobbled out her thoughts full of The Purusa a strange joy in her heart that constricted at her throat.