INDIVISIBLE HERITAGE OF INDIAN LITERATURE

 

Tribute to Prof. V. K. Gokak

 

Sri P. V. NARASIMHA RAO

Hon’ble Prime Minister of India

 

            I am privileged to be in your midst to honour Professor Vinayak Krishna Gokak. The Jnanpith Award that has been conferred upon him, the words of admiration that have been showered, are of course a recognition of his outstanding contribution to Indian literature but they also betoken more. They are an offering of our gratitude to an eminent thinker, a distinguished poet and writer, one who has not only enriched the literature, but also greatly enriched our lives. We are proud of him as Indian because he is one of us. We are proud of him because he belongs to the human family. We are filled with wonderment and pride at the depth of his thought and the sensitivity of his expression because they prove the point that being the outpouring of the individual, does not belong to him alone; it belongs to all humankind.

 

            Professor Gokak’s writings reflect an imagination which knows no confines and are yet deeply contemplative of the existing reality and the truth which lies beyond. His works speak in an idiom which is surging and vibrant and yet also full of lyricism and gentleness. They reflect a mind which can encompass the vast sweep of history, the Odyssey of human progress and also go deeply into the finest of fine nuances of emotions. They reflect a mind which can be engrossed in day-­to-day human existence and yet be as deeply engrossed in the search for the eternal truth. In over six decades, beginning from his lyrical composition “Kalopasaka”, published in 1934, Professor Gokak has covered almost all fields of literary expression-poetry, novel, play and contemplative prose. He has, through these long years, reached out to subjects, thoughts and forms which make for great literature. On a personal plane, I recall that I became aware of his scholarly presence in 1939 when I joined the Fergusson College, Pune.

 

            Literature has a special place in our lives. It is our faithful companion in the quest for a more meaningful, more purposeful life. It brings to us the experience which everyone may not have had, and yet which is extremely important for one’s inner development and growth, for evolving into a more complete individual and a better one. It is a nursery for the full flowering of the human spirit and personality. It nurtures all that is humane. It keeps alive the will to strive for the better, for the higher. The role of literature has always been of great importance but is of particular relevance today, at a time when scientific development has opened new vistas of progress, and technological and economic changes have also deeply affected social mores and relationships.

 

            The protective cover of the family and the cohesive ties of the society are becoming increasingly nebulous, without anything comparably reassuring and warm taking their place. The indi­vidual is more lonely today than ever before, and more vulne­rable. And more confused. He is in a state of anomie, lacking a sense of purpose. He is in danger of wandering into a situation where he becomes oblivious of the larger purposes of life. He is engaged only in the fulfilment of his material wants. This, by itself is normal, but it tends to become the sole obsession through a daunting process of competition and conflict. What worsens the struggle is the compulsive trend to judge one’s lot not on its own merit, but always in relation to the other fellow’s. The impact of this perpetual rat race could perhaps be mitigated by literature which inculcates detach­ment through identification with persons and situations created by the writer.

 

            The literature of Professor Gokak has at its core the vision of samanvaya, harmony. Whether it is in the coming together of the literary traditions of the East and the West; whether it is antiquity or the modern predicament; whether it is situations and emotions which are as seemingly antithetical as they are varied – different streams and strands interact in the writings of Professor Gokak and the vision of life that emerges is more complete, closer to the truth. The high point of this spirit of samanvaya is reached in his magnum opus “Bharata Sindhu Rashmi.”

 

            This samanvaya, however, has not come easily or quickly. I am sure he will testify to this. Behind it there has been a long lifetime of agonising reflection. This is evident from the following passage from the “Rashmi.”

 

            “Generations have churned the ocean of Time and received wondrous gifts. O, our misfortune! For us, the churning has provoked poison. Flames have enveloped the world and no­where is visible the blue-throated poison-drinking god, the Neelakantha. Pigmy nations are crossing swords with giants and nowhere is a saviour visible. Pretenders to wisdom, attracted to the thraldom of the senses, collect a palmful of seafoam and drink salt water, deeming it nectar. There are star-lovers who, ignoring the Polar Star, are thrilled by meteors and comets. Immersed in the study of the minutiae of yogic lore there are seekers who forget that their search is for Truth. They are lost in a maze unable to recognise the supreme simplicity of Truth. The plodders doing their mechanical tasks have poisoned our meat and drink and our daily living. Our leaders uphold the flag of one religion, race, class, caste, or the other. They are perfect poison-mongers. (That is the description of some of us.) The philosophy of the seven sun­beams co-ordinates and reconciles contraries. It is an antidote to Dithi’s conspiracy of division and conflict. Hence this epic, the lustrous essence of the lives of great seers, illumi­ners of mind and harbingers of harmony. The layman and the scholar will both thrill to it.”

 

Phenomenal Imagination

 

            This is the agonising conflict which has brought out this epic. I have had very little time – literally a part of one hair wakeful night – to read a bit of the very inadequate English paraphrase of “Bharata Sindhu Rashmi.” It would be unfair for me to make any comment based on this very brief reading. But the theme reminded me of Jai Sankar Prasad’s “Kamayani”. After a long time, I lost myself in the Vedic world. I felt that “Rashmi” deals with the wider and more complex matrix of interac­tion and integration. It brings out the fascinating story of building of a nation, through blood, love, life-style. The building blocks are from the Rig Veda. They are not too many, but the poet’s phenomenal imagination makes every word of the epic appear to emanate from Vedic lore. The sweep is indeed breathtaking.

 

            Like all other epics, “Rashmi” contains numerous facets – ­you know, it doesn’t have all the unities that are prescribed in literature, nor Ramayana has it, nor Mahabharata has it, we cannot expect a work like Rashmi to contain it – and they are not necessarily inter-connected, yet, making up a whole that is greater than the sum total of its parts. Each facet, however, has its own charm – and truth. I was struck, for instance, by the following passage:

 

            “He ventured again on another topic. Religions are in conflict with each other. Why not cultivate a universal reli­gion and eliminate all conflicts?” Viswamitra said:

 

            “Unity lies, not in religions, but in the spiritual out-look. You would like to be my master and teach me the universal religion ... My own inner insight is my master in spirit. The only Guru I have is God Himself.”

 

            How contemporary all these sound although it was Vishwa­mitra who spoke those words!

 

            And yet, the poet–rather the seer in the poet–has not lost hope. He says:

 

            Declared has the Supreme:

            Man shall come round serenely in the end.

            His own misdeeds will humble him with stumbling.

            In his own error are involved the steps.

            That help him to evolve towards the Throne.

            And sit, one day, anointed near the High.

            Man was born God-like, innocent and pure.

            And he knew beauty day by day through Sense.

            But friends allured him with the Golden Deer.

            Enslaved his kind with the spell of Name and Form

            And foothold gave in their dominion.

            To save man from this plight, I, the Supreme,

            Breathed Sacrifice into his daily life.

            And built the fire-altar. But ignorance.

            Mantra turned to magic. Word to words.

            In a world marbled with ingratitude.

            O, I came down in clay. I showered love.

            The Avatar is here! some cried.

 

            This, even as an English rendering – what it could be in the original you can imagine – is really something great, some­thing which touches every heart.

 

POETIC SCORN

 

            He also pours a bit of poetic scorn on the dramatis personae of contemporary life, their follies and their foibles:

 

            It was great fun. I watched it for a while.

            In an infinite Zero the Nihilist lost his way.

            Philosophers called me a hermaphrodite,

            Feminists – woman and others a neuter noun.

            Each capped me his own way till all were trapped.

            The Materialist’s prowl both day and night

            For golden particles glistening in sand:

            With aching sense, the Epicurean’s search

            Only for crumbs in Life’s most gorgeous banquet:

            The Mall of Reason and the Socialist

            Pleased with a little when life gifts the whole:

            All these revealed the intermediate darkness

            With which the ego eclipses, day or night

            The plangent journeys of the planetary soul,

            Many worship the Manifold, not the One.

            They strike for unity, forgetting the Supreme.

            Integral living remains a broken image.

            When they move through the world, or tribes

            through Jungles:

            It does not tingle, mingle in their blood.

 

AGE-OLD THEME

 

            However, having said all this, I must add that like all other epics, “Rashmi” also deals with the age-old theme of good and evil. Commentators have noted, rightly, that it depicts the ultimate triumph of good over evil. How “ultimate” is the triumph. If it is in the long run, how long is the run? Or is it mere wishful thinking? If in the short run Evil is seen as triumphant, at least those who are impatient surely are justified in adopting Evil. Aren’t they? How does one meet this logic of the impatient? And if this is a world of velocity, where instantaneity is the name of the game, who would prefer to wait until the ultimate long run triumph of the Good? These are the questions for poets, philosophers and social engineers to answer.

 

            Meanwhile, everyone admires and adores the epic and the epic-maker Gokak.

 

            (Condensed version of the speech of Sri P. V. NARASIMHA RAO on the presentation of the Gnanpith Award to Prof. V. K. GOKAK, on November, 1, 1991, at Bombay)

 

 

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