REVIEWS

Relevance of Gandhian Economics: By Sriman Narayan. Navjivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad. Price: Rs. 7.

To understand the mind of the Mahatma about India’s future economic security and his practical and well-considered plan for bringing about such a social order as would answer all the egalitarian needs upon which Socialism is to be based, there can be no better source of knowledge than this volume from the pen of Sriman Narayan. In ten chapters, dealing seriatim with the Fundamentals of Gandhian Economics’ Answers to Criticisms’, ‘Essence of Gandhian thought’, ‘The Political repercussions due to the economic plan’, ‘The need for decentralized economy’, ‘Socialism’, ‘Relevance of Gandhi’s theories to present day conditions’, ‘Saryodaya’, ‘Marxism versus Gandhism’ and ‘The Shape of things to come’ we get a full view of all that the Gandhian philosophy mean not only to India but to the whole world. The insistence on human values in Gandhian estimation of the economic regeneration of our country is a pivotal motive for all the consequential improvements suggested by him for our social emancipation. In answering some of the hard critics who could only characterise Gandhian thoughts as medieval, unscientific and reactionary, a whole chapter is devoted here to prove how well most of the difficulties facing our economic development could be solved, provided Gandhi’s strong plea for decentralization of industries and the revival of ‘villagism’ is accepted. Production by the masses instead of mass-production is a cardinal principle of Gandhian remedy for some of the evils of unemployment.

Again in Gandhian method of application of socialistic principles, he did not make a fetish of wholesale abolition of heavy industries. On the other hand, he expressed the view that some of the major industries like steel should be owned by the State and not by individuals. He was for nationalization of key industries and economic activities, in spite of his insistence on large scale decentralization in other spheres.

In pointing out the wide divergence between Marxism and Gandhism, the author has recourse to both Indian as well as number of foreign authorities to prove the Gandhian socialist plan is in every way different from Marxism.

On the whole the volume bears us in clear language the entire thought of Gandhian economic regeneration for our country with the added attraction of the author’s lucid perception of the relevance of Gandhiji’s ideas of immense permanent value to the present and future world.

The Navjivan Publishing House have to be congratulated on their maintaining their stamp of clear printing and singularly good presentation without anywhere allowing the printers’ devil to peep out.

–K. CHANDRASEKHARAN

India and World Culture: By Vinayak Krishna Gokak. Vikas Publications, 5 Dayarganj, Ansari Road, New Delhi-6. Price: Rs. 22.

Culture is difficult to define, and so the learned author of this volume has essayed upon the many aspects which endow a person with what can be only experienced and not defined. Anyhow, he has not in vain explored the possibilities of a definition. For he, in a somewhat comprehensive way, expressed the content of true culture when he said: “Culture implies an integrated personality and neither time nor eternity can be left out of it. The cultured man reconciles the universal with the particular and the claims of time with the claims of eternity.”

In ten chapters have been gathered some of the lectures delivered the author on important occasions and at academic gatherings, with the additions later made to the same topics. The influence of Sri Aurobindo can be perceived by the reader in many of the findings that the author gives in his careful address to the subjects such as ‘Culture and Society,’ ‘Science and Culture,’ ‘Culture, Politics and Religion,’ ‘Indian Culture and Secularism.’ Indeed, some of his observations can readily meet with unquestioning response in her hearts. For instance, while dealing with Modern Indian Culture, he is quite sure of our destiny in case we become slaves to alien habits and outlook, losing our Indianness. He says: “If we have not grasped the fundamentals of our own culture, we are likely to be swept off our feet by fashions that come from elsewhere, fashions rooted in value-systems that we have not fully grasped. It is better to cling to our roots and readjust or multiply them, if more and other roots are needed, instead of being rootless and attempting to join our stems to roots that thrive on other soils.”

This is a book to read and ponder over for our immense benefit.

–K. CHANDRASEKHARAN

Philosophical Perspectives–A Selection of Essays: By D. M. Datta. Bharati Bhavan, Patna-1. Rs. 20.

It was a happy decision that prompted Prof. D. M. Datta to present a selection of his writings in book form. The remarkable clarity of his thinking and language helps even laymen to probe deep into the philosophical vistas uncovered by Prof. Datta. The papers collected here cover a large variety of subjects. Prof. Datta rightly emphasises the importance or language in philosophical objectivity, uttering a warning to the slipshod work of many of our academic philosophers.

‘Philosophy of the Body’ is an article that places body consciousness in its proper perspective. Body is the base on which man builds his higher life.

Articles like ‘The Windowless Monads’, ‘Symbolism in Religion and ‘Inward and Outward Advaita Vedanta’ give interesting guidelines on certain familiar philosophical concepts. ‘From International Personal to International Morality’ searches for pathways to international peace. The two major obstacles that prevent us from realising international peace are: (a) ignorance about our history and culture as well as ignorance about the history and culture of other people. (b) apathy, antipathy and superciliousness towards the peoples and cultures of other countries. Prof. Datta pleads from sincerity in our approaches to international peace. “If we approach humanity with a little reverence and humility, we cannot fail to feel delight and pride in the diverse ways and forms in which the members of our race have expressed themselves and reached to different conditions through which they had to pass in order to survive.”

The last two sections on ‘Society and Culture’ and ‘India’s Debt to Other Lands’ show Prof. Datta at his best. The humanist philosopher in search of reconciliation, synthesis, idealism and Truth is present everywhere. He pleads for moral power to make the world a better place to live in. “The dearth of moral leaders is a great obstacle to real international understanding.” But this bleak situation need not petrify us. We must aim at a higher consciousness that could help humanity in shedding its selfishness, egoism and lust for power.

Prof. Datta concludes with a note on some of the rays of hope that have struck modern India in the persons of Raja Rammohan Roy, Rabindranath Tagore, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Dayananda, Mahatma Gandhi and Sri Aurobindo. He refers to Sri Aurobindo’s “increasing influence” and the remarkable work being done in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. “A dynamic poise, evolved there, is one tangible fruit of the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo–a synthesis of the West and East.” Sri Aurobindo drew the best from the philosophies of the East and West and pronounced “an illuminating and persuasive message for the re-orientation of every sphere or Indian and human life”.

–DR PREMA NANDAKUMAR

Discriminations, further concepts of criticism: By Rene Wellek, Vikas Publications, Delhi. Price: Rs. 45.

Mr. Rene Wellek presents in this volume under review a collection of his papers on comparative literature. The title of the work is highly appropriate, for it seeks actually to clarify the concepts and terms, and defines positions sharply and criticises vague and irrational ideas severely. The range of the survey is astounding, for it seeks to cover American, English, French, German, Italian and Russian texts. The discussion leads us to a clear definition of the scope and history of the concept of comparative literature. We have a lively analysis and discussions on the most widely accepted literary theories and principles of aesthetics. The role of the poet as critic is highlighted. The volume is a very useful account and contribution to the field of literary criticism.

–DR P. NAGARAJA RAO

You Can’t Steal First Base: By Charles Gransville Hamilton. Philosophical Library, New York. Price: $ 5.95.

Mr. Hamilton’s book is a collection of excellent sermons, deep, delightful and impressive, about the theme of Christian life. It is set down in a refreshingly contemporary idiom, in down to earth terms. The sermons are stimulating in their themes and gripping in their presentation. It is no wonder, that the author is awarded the merit of being named as The Minister of the year. There are 40 short sermons, each commenting on, one or other, aspect of human folly and sin. The way-out is also indicated. In a short review, it is difficult to summarise the sermons. The book is an excellent introduction to Christian ethics and human problems.

–DR P. NAGARAJA RAO

Atma Bodha of Sri Sankaracharya with English translations and commentary: By Sri A. Parthasarathy. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay. Price: Rs. 10.

Atma Bodha, a Prakarana of sixty-eight verses in mellifluous Sanskrit, composed by Sri Sankaracharya is a useful introduction to the study of the Advaita. Fundamental conceptions of the Advaita philosophy are presented here in an easily assimilable way by means of similies and metaphors taken from natural life. In addition to the original verses in the Devanagari script, we have here the verses in the Roman script also. Word to word meaning in English is given. In addition to a translalion, there is an exhaustive commentary also in English, so much so even an ordinary reader cannot miss not only the purport of each verse but also the significance of each important word. The introduction is very useful in that it beautifully explains the nature of the five sheaths, three bodies, the three states, the Atman and the Brahman. An analytical gist of the text concludes the introduction. A summary of each verse is given at the end of the text. In short, this book is a choice repast to a beginner in Vedanta studies.

–B. KUTUMBA RAO

The Discovery of Master Yoga: By Sarvasri. Master Yoga Centre, 88 Sir Thyagaraya Road, T’ Nagar, Madras-17. Price: Rs. 5.

The first six chapters of the book give succinct accounts of Patanjali Yoga, Srividya, Sri Krishna Yoga, Maayaayoga and Hatha Yoga. The Jnana yoga of Sri Sankara and Nishkaama Karma Yoga of the Gita are named here Maayaayoga and Sri Krishna Yoga respectively. In the next four chapters, the aims and achievements of Sri Ramakrishna Mission, Sri Ramana, Sri Aurobindo’s integral Yoga and J. Krishnamurty are explained. The last seven chapters, the contents of which form the essence of the book, are devoted to an exposition of the Master Yoga of C. V. V., popularly known as Kumbhakona Yoga. In the author’s own words “Elders say this is in no way different from Srividya...The difference is, here the work starts with the Anahata centre. Master Yoga is the greatest of all Yogas. It is the resultant product of a number of great systems and principles, the resultant penance of a number of Maharshis from times immemorial. This Yoga certainly lengthens longevity after giving all worldly needs and pleasures. No sooner we join the cult we will be benefited by the grace of the Master.

The author does not find any logic in the form of Kaali standing on the prostrate form of Siva.

–B. KUTUMBA RAO

Vedanta in New Light: By S. Borooah, Choladhara Jorhat, Assam. Price: Rs. 10.

This is a critical and independent commentary in English on the Brahma Sutras. In the author’s own words this commentary “proceeds on a realistic view of the world phenomena as opposed to the doctrine of Maaya or illusion imported into it by the Sanyasi schools. At the same time it departs from the dualistic and near dualistic interpretation of it by the Vaishnava schools.

The learned author has something to say afresh on many matters. The distinction of Aryas and Anaryas was based not on the stock or race but on the character. Brahma Sutras were written by Vedavyasa in about three thousand and one hundred B.C. There is no basis for Sri Sankara’s Mayavada in the Brahma Sutras. Sanyasa is anti-social and Vedavyasa “deprecates its being held up as an example for all others to follow because of its anti-social character.” The commentators on the Brahma Sutras did not divulge the esoteric truths enshrined in the Upanishads, but devoted themselves in their commentaries to mere dialectics. They transmitted the esoteric truths known to them from disciple to disciple in strict secrecy. “According to Vedanta’s teaching the spoken word or speech of the creator is the starting point of all creation, and this is the main contribution of Vedanta in the realm of metaphysics.”

Sri Sankara’s Vivartavada is not acceptable to this author. “Vedanta thus never denies the existence of the world as unreal or illusory. What it denies however is its existence apart from or independently of Brahman.” With Some such concepts as these, he comments on the Sutras. The original Sutras given in Devanagari script are also transliterated into Roman script. Translation and elucidation of the Sutras follow. The author’s exposition with regard to the status of the world, as Dr S. Radhakrishnan points out, is the most interesting aspect of this commentary which also advocates monism or Advaita in main. We congratulate the author for bringing out a thought-stimulating commentary and commend the work to all research scholars in indian Philosophy.

–B. KUTUMBA RAO

Indian Literature: Edited by Arabinda Poddar. Published by the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Simla. Price: Rs. 50.

Proceedings of a seminar conducted by the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, a centre of higher learning and research, are offered in this volume which consists of 530 pages. The papers contributed by renowned scholars like V. K. Gokak, K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar, S. K. Ghose and others present a panoramic view of Indian Literature bringing out its unity as well as diversity. Reputed scholars have explored the influence of Western thought, romanticism, secularism, social and political ideologies of the nineteenth century. S. K. Ghose has contributed an illuminating paper on Sanskrit Poetics and Western Literature. A. R Das Gupta’s paper on “East-West colloquy and the problem of translation”, K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar’s views on “Indian Literature as an academic discipline”, V. K. Gokak’s ideas on “A Post-graduate Course in Indian Literature in our Universities” deserve careful consideration. The volume will be of immense value to research scholars because it offers many insights and perspectives which stimulate further enquiry and perceptive study.

–DR C. N. SASTRI

Bunch of Wild Flowers and other Articles: By Amir Hasan. Ethnographic and Folk Culture Society, Lucknow. Price: Rs. 20.

The volume under review offers a collection of twenty articles dealing with the tribal folk of Uttar Pradesh. Though he is not a professional Anthropologist, Mr. Amir Hasan has brought to bear upon his study extensive knowledge and intense love for the tribal people of Uttar Pradesh. Theses articles are informative and interesting and can stimulate interest in the general reader’s mind as well as that of the specialist. We gather glimpses of the simple joys and sorrows of the primitive tribes like Rajis, Bhoxas, Kols, Shariyas about whom little is known to the civilised world. The last chapter offers an English rendering of some of the folk-songs that sweeten their simple lives. The title of the volume is poetic and suggestive. The volume carries a fine and spirited foreword written by Dr B. Gopala Reddi who served as Governor of Uttar Pradesh. All the articles reflect the author’s keen interest in the welfare of the tribals whose lives flow along “the cool sequestered vale”, far from “the madding crowd’s ignoble strife.” There is a fervent plea for the amelioration of the humble lot of these tribes ringing through all the articles.

–DR C. N. SASTRI

Creative Sceptics: By Margaret Lily. Scientific Book Agency, 22 Rajahwoodmunt Street, Calcutta-1. Price: Rs. 7-50.

The book is an elaboration of the way nescience adopts, in seeking the highest truth or the Ultimate. The existentialists call this eternie in mutability, the Being behind Nothingness; Henry Adams, the Phase; Spenser, the dynamic, all-embracing Love, and the Vedantins, the Brahman both immanent and transcendent.

Creative Scepticism is the method, indicated for ‘exantlation’ of the Truth and it comprises four phrases: Nescience. Dualism Paradox and Knowing by Doing.

The author traces the alleged pattern of approach in the literatures of East and West. The pre-17th century thinkers like Pyrrho, Abelan and Empiricus emphasise the function Tsosothemia, Epoche, in envisaging harmony between anti-theses and contradictions of the universe.

The intellectual humility of the sceptic movement, can be figured out in Montaigne’s question motto ‘Que Scaisje’.

But the mootable point is, could this circular process of probing for ‘the unity in Multiplicity’, deliver the goods, where ‘Reason and Logic’ are the accessories in its paraphernalia. Reason is other-worldly and understanding this-worldly, according to Coleridge. Both can be deemed to be this-worldly and they behave like cripples in the supra-rational-regions. Bacon’s ‘Atlantis’ and Henry James’s ‘The Divine-natural Humanity’ look like utopias and give no glimpses of the transcendence. What is perpetual can only be intuited or felt. At best it is an experience personal and intimate and inaccessible to common speech.

So it can be advanced that mere creative scepticism cannot be a ‘jack-pot pointer’ or does not achieve the goal. But it can provide the infra-structure–the intellectual and moral basis for the take-off stage.

The book is a well-built defence against dogmatic disbelief and serves as a prod to doubting irreligious Thomases.

–K. S. R.

Jesus, the Pagan: By Pearl Ross. Philosophical Library, New York. Price: $ 6.00.

The book is an advocate of Hellenism: Scientific knowledge, free inquiry and anti-authoritarianism. Nationalism is equated with Judaism completely. Its dogmatic attitudes, exclusiveness, and racial arrogance are condemned. These are cumulatively divisive and anachronistic factors and cut to pieces the concept of “Global Village.”

According to Ross’s rendition of Jesus, he symbolises unity, botherhood and oneness of life. His Christianity is a harmony of flesh and spirit. It is, as well, a testament for progressive forces.

For oneness, to become a fact, the segregate ‘Being’ should yield place to ‘Being’ aggregate. This transformation is true resurrection. Where sex and materialism end, mind takes over, man discovers himself. And divine mantle falls on him.

Impalement of Jesus is revival of narrow Judaism and butchery of ideas like fraternity and equality. Earth is once again de-salted. Satanism steps into the shoes of idealism. Genesis and crucifixion is the Destiny of Truth. And the play goes on for eternity.

–K. S. RAO

The Mislenny: Edited by P. Lal. A Bimonthly of Creative Writing. Published by the Writers Workshop, Calcutta. No. 43, February, 1974. Price: Rs. 5.

This issue has all the attractive features: poems, essays of critical evaluation and reviews.

Poetry today is often prosaic, and is conditioned by the three A’s (ambiguity, abstractness and artificiality), which is reckoned as poetic technique. And the poems in this issue imbibe this technique in varying degrees. It opens with two simple poems of S. K. Kumar, “Married Too Long” and “Fisherman.” Further there are two love poems by Paul Jacob, “The Ostrich” a translation of Sukanta Chaudhuri’s Bengali poem by Sudhindranath Datta, five poems of V. S. Thirumalai, Jayanta Mahapatra’s “Universe” in nine poems, and a few minor ones. Jayanta Mahapatra’s “Universe” is typical of recent prose verse: it presents the dark mystery of the universe in a darkened way.

Subhas Chandra Saha tries to give some logical insight into the structure and meaning of Tilottama Rajan’s revised “Eden.” It is a symbol of contrasting paradoxes: the ‘fall’ of Adam is man’s fall from ignorance into knowledge and inversely his leap from ignorance towards knowledge (or illumination). Meena Belliappa discusses the merits and defects of Ruth Praver Jhabvala’s fiction. Married to an Indian and settled in India, Jhabvala tutored herself in Indian sensibility, which she tries to imbed in her fiction. Yet she has the natural lapses of a foreigner who tries to novelize Indian life. Hence, along with Rudyard Kipling and John Masters, E. M. Forster and others, she belongs to the group of Anglo-Indian Fictionists.

Lakshmi Holmstrom and V. Balasubrahmanyam review separately P. Lal’s Modern Indian Poetry in English (Writers Workshop). They discuss the merit of the book which projects a cross-section of modern Indian poetry in English. In spite of the disadvantages in our country today, “Indian Writing in English exists and does not need defence despite Buddhadeva Bose and Spender’s attack.” And Probal Dasgupta aptly pleads for “Objective Assessment of Indo-Anglian Literature.” Certainly we have some of the best writers who contributed much to the treasures of English literature. The issue is interesting and useful.

–DR K. V. S. MURTI

Impact of Theosophy and Science: By A. Kannan. The Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar, Madras-20. Price: Cloth Rs. 21, Board Rs. 19.

Dealing with Modem Thought in the light of Theosophy, this book offers a survey of Theosophical thinking particularly during the last twenty years with relevant scientific knowledge and modern thought presented to serve as a background.

Anything remains occult as long as its working is not clearly understood. Once its rationale is perceived and its results systematized, it becomes science. The author shows how many things envisaged in ‘The Secret Doctrine’ of Madam Blavatsky have come to pass and have been accepted by science as quite rational Concept of Fourth Dimension, clairvoyance, etc., are now no longer the pursuit of the occultist alone. The emergence of the philosophy of science which has implication in metaphysics is itself a good augury. But “somewhere along the march of science must be found the means of integrating man and Nature because they are in reality one whole, an undivided unity and cannot afford to stand in isolated positions just to satisfy the method of science and ways of modern thinking.”

The author points out that Yoga is the only safe way to attempt the expansion of one’s consciousness while methods through hypnosis, psychedelic drugs and the like only scratch the surface.

The concluding article of F. L. Kunz explains that “modern exact science begins with valid intuitions (not facile fancies), of testable principles so profound that they are often direct formal proof.” Viewed in this way, it is contended that theosophical metaphysics is ultimate science.

Cogently written and well authenticated, the book is a valuable contribution to Theosophical Thought.

–S. SANKAKANARAYANAN

Talks with Sri Aurobindo, Volume III: By Nirodbaran. Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, Pondicherry. Price: Rs. 10.

The publishers offer this third volume of Talks with Sri Aurobindo and believe quite understandably that “in the context of the present day crisis in the country and in the world, Sri Aurobindo’s insight into things is of capital importance.” The Talks refer to the period from October 1939 to May 1940. In these pages we have a picture of him which puts us in conversational rapport with him interspersed with his scintillating humour and his far-feeing observations on the shape of things in the national and international fields. We have also here his views on the theory and practice of his Integral Yoga in its several aspects. These will serve to clarify and resolve the doubts and difficulties that readers of his Life Divine and other works may experience. The very informal nature of the Talks which extend from such inconsequential things like milk and brinjals, current political affairs like Jinnah’s intransigence of Sir Samuel Hoare’s anti-Indian stance, to more momentous matters like qualifications for and progress in Yoga invests them with a human touch revealing an aspect of the sage not familiar to those outside the circle of those intimate with him. The sublime and the commonplace are mingled together and that, probably, serves to enliven what would otherwise be ultra serious pieces of conversation. One can profitably go through the pages of the book to learn about Sri Aurobindo’s views on many subjects of topical interest relating to men and movements of those times.

–PROF. P. SANKARANARAYANAN

Tribute to Papa and other Poems: By Mamta Kalia. Price: Rs. 10.

Cyclone in Pakistan: By Suniti Namjoshi. Price: Rs. 10.

More Poems: By Suniti Namjoshi. Price: Rs. 10.

Poems: By Keshav Malik. Price: Rs. 15.

Death’s Epicure: By Suresh Kohli. Price: Rs. 12.

The Fire Canto: By Deb Kumar Das. Price: Rs. 12.

Verses: By V. Bala Subramanyam. Price: Rs. 15.

Modern Indo-Anglian Love Poetry: By Subhas Chandra Saha, Price: Rs. 12.

All are Writers Workshop publication. Available at Lake Gardens Calcutta -45.

Mamta Kalia’s title poem “Tribute to Papa” is a veiled angry poem schizoid in content, a cry for pornotopia and a disowning of parentage. It curiously has an ironic cautious note at the end:

“You suspect I am having a love-affair these days.

But you’re too shy to have it confirmed.

What if my tummy starts showing gradually and I refuse to have it curetted?

But I will be careful, papa

Or I know you will at once think of suicide.”

One feels nodding with Dom Moraes, “How soon our children make us die!” Mamta Kalia has a tone which sounds simplistic but the effect is really potential. She presents her point of view in “View Point” from the rear end, for she says in a desperate sneer,

“I was born upside down

and I am very proud of it”

which is almost a liturgic concern with form and feeling. It is also a desperate throwing up of arms, however. ‘Made for each other’ is a sardonic smile at the commercial, advertisemental and the whole cris-cross cultural milieu. The fact of human incompatibility is brought out in a grit against the backdrop of an urban impersonality and facelessness in her “Tit for Tat.” “New Dial”, is a poem which is jittery and nervous wherein she coins “horrors-in-law’ just as Nissim Ezekiel writing ‘X-in-law’ elsewhere, Mamta Kalia’s ‘Dubious Lovers’ should in all curiosity be compared to Robert Grave’s poem, ‘The Thieves.’ Both the poets shatter the romantic view of love and throw dirt on love.

Suniti Namjoshi’s More Poems obviously is not more striking than her first anthology Cyclone in Pakistan. There is an amazing sense of wonder in her first promising book, in the vein of Emily Dickinson. Here are the comparisons then:

“Whatever the lot allotted in life

it is important to die

well-dressed” (Suniti).

“After great pain, a formal feeling comes” (Emily)

“But one day she died

and there was only a great dead fish

on the shore which was not quite real any more” (Suniti)

“I heard a fly buzz, when I died...” etc. (Emily)

And, again Suniti Namjoshi’s poem “For the occasion” takes me unawares to Auden who defined the truest poetry as the most feigning one and advised poets to

“Be subtle, various, ornamental, clever

and do not listen to those critics ever”

and we have the poetess saying loudly:

“Listen fellows, big poets, small poets,

what you ought to be doing

is practising hard

for the death of the world.”

Auden’s art of clarification is quite in contradistinction to Suniti’s proclamation that “art was ever subjective.” Her poem ‘Benefits’ is mythopoetic in conception but the tone of it is that of a mocking bird, mocking Sarojini Naidu:

“If you call me I will come

swifter ‘O’ my love

Than a trembling forest deer”, etc., since Suniti also begins by entreating,

“If you smile, I shall bring you

red-checked apples pre-packed in Eden”

and her last line makes the whole difference:

“... Together we will make

many bastards.”

Some of her poems may be called ‘Mini’ poems or ‘poemies.’ A few of them are just word-clusters. But quite often, a word can become the thing with her.

Keshav Malik’s “Poems” does not show any striking modernity or a sense of immediacy. He recapitulates “the rosary of minutes over and over” and already feels the burden of middle age. His ‘The central chord’ is a poem in the ear with its monosyllables:

“And lets sink her sleep-tipped arrow. Deep within the heart’s unguarded ground! all heavy foot-falls, on the heart’s unguarded ground.” In his pre-occupation with time, Keshav Malik superimposes one time scheme upon another and creates a deliberate dissonance. He has a cosmic reverence. Mind and reality are two spatial co-ordinates to him. (‘Neighbours’) Ocean is a recurring image in many of his poems. Each poem, he slices into another and the iterative image ‘ocean’ moves on in waves into the next poem. The poem ‘Liquid Note’ is perhaps his best.

Suresh Kohli’a Death’s Epicure is almost a poetical autobiography. In his poems the words cancel each other out. He presents the grandeur and humility of loneliness by the symbolic death of a bird.

Repeatedly, the bird dies innumerable deaths.

“My caged soul, a dead bird

sings sorely a song of death” (To a Dead Bird)

is th0e epitome of his poetry. His simple but energetic poem ‘That night’ has these lines:

“The noon is a pale widow

and the stars that surround it

Anxious orphans.”

Out of a thematic and structural necessity, words are stumbling blocks and deservedly show the gap between language and experience as in the poem “A Tribute to Machines.” He attempts to remove the surface logic from reality and constructs a mythical symbol in, “The lost paradise is Never Regained.”

“An unfamiliar Breast” is a very controversial poem and I like it most for its rich layers of emotional suggestiveness. The poem seems to me a dance of dream, a dance of shadows and a dance of the macabre shadows of dreams. It is a shadow smiling back to a shadow in the night. There is a carnal fascination with the “Unfamiliar breast,” the poet states to have seen. Incidentally it invites comparison with Arthur Symons’ poem on a music hall in London.

Whereas Nissim Ezekiel and Pradip Sen are Art critics, Deb Kumar Das is a painter himself besides being a poet. Which aspect of his creativity gets the better is an enigmatic question. In his The Fire Canto he adapts the voice of Shelley in Queen Mab. The first part of the canto automatically takes us back to ‘In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God’ (John 1.1). But then his startling Thesis is that

“In the beginning was no word: for no Beginning could have spoken.

Nor was there light, nor sound.”

Deb Kumar is, perhaps, inspired by Sartre’s “What is, is what is not”. Das himself admits somewhere else that his poetry “is a dialect of the mind rather than of the tongue.” The third section of the canto “core” is an encore. Knowledge, to him is a burden as it was to Paracelsus. The poet is a prototype of Prometheus who says,

“I Prometheus, finding Fire

Found more than Fire: I, a Fire’s being”

and every common man thus becomes the Fire bearer. His concluding lines of the canto

“From all the beginning’s Being ...

Is a Burning”

are all about the painful progression of being and becoming.

‘On Descarte’s God’ is a poem which can be described to be a poem of the ‘scream’ of consciousness.

There are some echoes of Sri Aurobindo in the “Song from (of) the End of Time “, in such phrases and entire lines as ‘minstrels of the void,’ “a circling of circled horizon.” Deb Kumar Das is interesting to read where he is not himself disinterested. At time he chooses to outgrow himself with a particular apathy for the reader.

V. Bala Subrahmanyam does not however fall in line with the younger poets. Writing verses, not poetry is an escape for him from his officialdom. There is no high seriousness in his verses which is to be expected from such an accomplished and widely read man. He is a top official and in spite of it writes sardonically of a top official’s arduous afternoons.

“The Taj Mahal by Sunlight” is a poem which presents an off-beat aesthetic appreciation as that of either Huxley or Nirad Chaudary regarding the architectonic structure and factors of Indian weather and spatial dimensions.

Finally, to criticise a critics is not that simple; particularly when Subhas Chandra Saha presents so many perspectives with real insight. His monograph “Modern Indo-Anglian Love Poetry” gives real bed time reading. There is so much of ease in his critical exposition. It is not a curtain lecture; nor an undeserving eulogy to any particular poet. It is the theme that interests him and not any one poet. He has neither choices nor preferences. In his assessments, evaluations and elucidations he can get as far back as Dante and come nearer to us even to his own poems. His English is limpid and it runs. He has rightly traced the growth of Ezekiel and Kamala Das as poets but Kamala Das, I feel, deserves a full length monograph for herself. He also does some plain speaking on Dom Moraes. Saha has no inhibitions and he is honest. He is also qualified to contemplate on the theme of love since he is in his early twenties. He wears his scholarship lightly and that redeems the work from being a research scholar’s boring lovelessness. He shows identity and empathy with his poets under analysis.

I can commend six writers unqualifyingly to lovers of modern Indo-Anglian poetry–Mamta Kalla’s compelling poetry; Suniti Namjoshi’s dispelling poemies; Keshav Malik’s mixture of memory and desire; Suresh Kohli’s traumatic experience of death and its shocking revelation; Deb Kumar Das’ fiery concern with life; and Subhas Chandra Saha’s criticism, an activity of a delightful personal involvement. Together they constitute and coin a modern idiom and promote Indo-Anglian Poetry to further distances and depths.

–V. MOHAN PRASAD

Lectures on Indian Philosophy: By K. Bhaskara Rao. Kameshwari Granthamala, Kameshwari Colony, Gandhinagar, Tirupati. Price: Rs. 2. 50.

Prof. Rao gives a brief and concise outline of the main schools of Indian Philosophy. He first gives an account of the systems of Charvaka, Jaina and Bauddha and then proceeds to deal with the Six Orthodox Systems. He takes up some other–what he calls ‘minor’–philosophical schools at the end and notices the Saiva and Shakta seats among others. While on the Vishishtadvaita, he explains the five kinds of manifestations of the Lord: “Para, Vyuha, Vibhava, Anataryamin and Arcavatara. The word Para refers to Narayana who stays in Vishnuloka. The second one is Vyuha. This is again of four kinds as Vasudeva, Sankarshana, Pradyumna, Aniruddha. Vasudeva has six qualities, jnana, bala, aisvarya, virya, sakti and tejas. In Sankarashana, there are only two as jnana and bala. In Pradyumna there are aisvarya and virya. In Aniruddha, there are sakti and tejas. The third one is Vibhava. Here we have to remember the incarnations of the Lord as Matsya, Kurma, Varaha and others. The fourth one is Anataryamin. God stays in our heart in this shape. The last one is Arcavatara. This refers to the idols of Vishnu in the Hindu temples.”

Also noted are the three kinds of souls in this philosophy. The baddha, bound (to the world in ignorance); mukta, freed (by the worship of the Lord and arrived in Vishnuloka); nitya, eternal (like Garuda and others who are not connected with this world of ignorance).

The author does justice to the subject within the range he has set for himself.

–M. P. PANDIT

Voyage into Oneself: By Vimala Thakar. New Order Book Co, Ahmedabad. 6. Price: Rs. 7-50.

These are eight talks delivered by the author to select audiences in California on matters of moment to those who are not content to take life as it is. She points out the fragmentation of life and mind that has taken place in modern society and examines the different possibilities open to the mind of man to remedy the situation. She speaks of meditation, concentration, discrimination as so many aids to one’s spiritual evolution. The approach is broad and in keeping with the new horizons that are opening to the soul of humanity under the pressure of new ideas and experiences.

Illustrating her theme of the integrality of life, she narrates an interesting story. “Two Americans went to Japan and I know these friends. They found that the Zen masters were working in the monastery cutting wood, cooking the meals, washing the dishes, doing everything. So after a few days they were puzzled. So one day one of them asked the Master, ‘Sir, we have come to learn from you, but we do not see any difference in what you are doing and the way we are living.’ The Master said: “There is a difference. When I eat, I eat and you do not. When I sleep I sleep and you do not. When I eat I am totally present. When you eat you are worried. You brood. You think about hundred and one things. You put the morsel of food into your mouth automatically Mechanically you chew it. But you are not related to it. You are not there. You are not present with the food.”

–M. P. PANDIT

Introduction to Advaita Vedanta Philosophy: Swami Tejomayananda. The Divine Life Society, P. O. Shivanandanagar (U. P.). Rs. 6.

This book is a free rendering into English of “Laghuvasudevamananam” which itself is a brief exposition of the larger work “Vasuadevamanana” in Sanskrit, not available in print at present. A Prakarana Grantha, a standard compendium on Advaita Philosophy, it can well serve as a reliable introduction to the subject.

The work adopts the method of deduction. Paramatman is the first postulate and all principles are deduced therefrom. There are twelve chapters discussing the nature of the Atman, the characteristics of the three bodies, the three states and the five sheaths, etc. The Atman is shown as different from them. Ultimately, the essential nature of the Atman, viz., Sat-Chit-Ananda, is proved as constituting not different or distinct qualities but one single indivisible homogeneous essence.

The translator has rendered real service not only by translating this valuable work into English, the way he has done in easy and readable style, but also by including explanatory pictures, diagrams and charts to facilitate quick and easy understanding. He has thoughtfully added at the beginning an English translation of “Tatva Bodha” of Adi Sankaracharya enabling the student to follow the text with accuracy and understanding. A glossary and an appendix under the heading “Vedanta Bodha” containing some useful questions and answers by Sri Sivanandaji Maharaj enhance the value of the book.

The text has grown out of the lectures which the learned author gave to devoted students and has the merit of keeping the practical difficulties of the students in mind. The author says in his preface: “It is my firm conviction that this publication will serve as a handbook on Vedanta to sincere seekers of knowledge and induce them to enter into the subject deeply and ultimately realise the Great Goal.”

The claim is eminently justified and well founded.

–T. V. VISWANATHA AIYAR

Ramdas Speaks - Volume V: By Swami Ramdas. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay-7. Price: Rs. 4.

The volume comprises the talks and conversations or Swami Ramdas during his tour of South-East Asia, including Japan and ceylon, in 1954. A wide range of topics of spiritual interest is covered in simple language and every seeker, no matter the line of quest, will be benefited by a reading of these pages. Speaking of his own Sadhana Swamiji states:

Buddha taught him to annihilate all desires and reach that state of perfect quiescence called Nirvana, which is equivalent to what the Hindu scriptures call Jnana. So far as the annihilation of desires is concerned. Buddha stands supreme. Krishna taught Ramdas that the whole universe is His form, and based upon this very knowledge of the all-pervading Self, one attains Moksha. Jesus taught him that we should love all beings equally and our hearts should flow out in love to all beings. The infinite love that is at the very basis of our life should be realised. It is love that dissolves all diversities into unity. If you love everybody, alike, the distinction which you see between man and man, community and community, country and country, disappears. Your love will cover everybody alike. Now Ramdas is speaking to you also about Mohammed for whom he had the highest veneration, as he had for all the saints of the world. He taught us self-surrender. He said we should make Allah’s will our will.” (P. 99)

–M. P. PANDIT

Elements of Indian Culture: By A. K. Majumdar. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay - 7. Price: Rs. 2.

In these Ramadhyani Memorial Lectures (1970), the learned author analyses the main features of Indian culture. He first gives a reappraisal of the ancient Indian society in its ideals and in practice. He takes up the position of women and the caste system and shows that the social position of women and the Shudras was generally better than believed. He surveys the Sanskrit and Prakrit literature and underlines the profundity of Sanskrit poetry whatever its theme. The portions on Indian Art are specially interesting. He notes: “In India the emphasis was on the realisation of the ideal, while in Europe it was on idealisation of the real.” Religion and Philosophy receive detailed treatment. He draws attention to the Bliss aspect or the Reality (in Indian Thought) and points to the attempt of the seers to link the finite with the Infinite through this Ananda.

A neat introduction to the subject.

–M. P. PANDIT

Krishnavatara III: By K. M. Munshi. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay-7. Price: Rs. 5.

This volume, a sequel to the Magic Flute and the wrath of an Emperor, deals mainly with the exploits of the five Pandavas. The work is written in a gripping familiar style. The characters are drawn with a free ride of imagination and the incidents are portrayed vividly. This volume covers the portion since Yudhishthira is sent from his Yuvaraja post along with his brothers and mother to the lac palace till Draupadi’s Swayamwara. The characters of Mahabharata by their very nature captivate the readers easily. The author has also done his best to render them very charming. Sri Krishna who is the real hero of the piece manages things deftly and charms the characters and the readers as well. Minor characters have also been portrayed faithfully. At certain places however the author has assumed undue familiarity with some characters even at the cost of loss of dignity. The volume entertaining and we have no doubt that it will prove of good value especially to the younger generation. We hope that it would lead them to a direct contact with the original work itself which is teeming with the riches of existence, important values of life and absorbing characters.

–S. MEERA

Analytical Survey of Isavasyopanishad: By V. V. Mudbolkar. Published by Karnataka University, Dharwar. Pp. 243. Price: Rs. 7.

The Isha Upanishad has come in for diverse interpretation–some of which are directly contradictory. The present dissertation purports to prove that the central theme of the text is Bhakti. The author explains the Upanishad from the point of view of the Virashaiva philosophy. Some of his objections to the traditional interpretations (advaitic) are worth considering. Particularly his approach to the 17th verse, denying that it is “a dying man’s prayer” as taken by many Western scholars, is unexceptionable. But we are afraid that the language (‘poetic’) of the author is a big hurdle in the way of the reader.

–M. P. PANDIT

TELUGU

Jnaanaamrita Saagaramu: By Kowta Mohana Rama Sastry. Swarajya Printing Works, 10, Padma Rao Nagar, Himmatnagar Post, Srcunderabad-25. Price: Rs. 10.

Brahmavidyanusandhana Darpanamu: By Kowta Mohana Rama Sastry. Atma Vidyasramam, Padma Rao Nagar, Secunderabad-25. Price: Rs. 18.

Sri Kowta Mohana Rama Sastry, a business magnate and a patron of Oriental learning, presents in these two books the results of his rumination over the teachings of Advaita philosophy as found in the famous “Yoga Vasishtha” and other minor works. The Upanishadic truth “Brahma Satyam Jagat Midhyaa” is brought home to the readers, with the aid of scriptural quotations, reason, analogy and experience. Polemics are scrupulously avoided. Important technical words are explained. Subjects like the Nature of the World and ‘Maya’, the meaning of the word “I” (Allam), the nature of the Mind, Human effort and Destiny, Realisation, the Upanishadic truth, and ‘Jivanmukti’ are discussed and explained. Throughout the works the approach is more practical than theoretical. Methods of meditation are suggested. Thoughts for rumination are provided. Some misgivings about Advaita are dispelled. Though the subject matter of the two books is the same, the first book is concise and contains less quotations. The second Volume is more comprehensive and analytical.

The author has really done a commendable job in presenting the teachings of the Advaita philosophy which alone enables a seeker to realize “Jivanmukti”, in a very lucid and non-technical way.

–KUTUMBA RAO

Vemana-Paaschaatyulu: Translated by Marupuru Kodandarama Reddi. Vardhamana Samajam, Nellore. Price: Rs. 5.

Sri Kodandarama Reddi has offered a competent translation of Sri V. R. Narla’s original in English. Sri Narla compiled the critical estimates of Vemana made by foreign scholars like C. P. Brown, Campbell. Macdonald, Barnett and others in his book “Vemana through Western eyes.”

Though decried by pedants. though still denied a place among great poets by the traditionalists, Vema holds a unique place among the poets of the land. His poetic utterance is crisp and incisive. His approach to life is bold and unconventional. His style has savour of the soil but does not at all smack of dull leaves. His rapier-like wit cuts and tears to shreds all shams and delusions that masquerade as religion. The story of his life swinging from extreme sensuality to the other extreme of asceticism has always added to the appeal of his words that go home to hearts straight without much ado. The initial thrill of discovering a neglected genius throbs in the words of C. P. Brown. Today Vemana has taken his place among the immortal poets of Andhra. Sri Kodandarama Reddi his done full justice to Sri Narla’s original by rendering it into easy, readable and clear Telugu.

–DR C. N. SASTRI

Sahitys Vivechana: Dr Suprasannacharya. Sahitibandhu Brindam, Waranga1. Price: Rs. 4.

Dr Suprasanna has made a name for himself as one of the promising, free-verse, introspective group of poets hailing from Warangal.

In this slender volume of 167 pages the author offers his critical essays written during 1948-1971, dealing with the contemporary literary trends. He has critically examined the traditional romantic and progressive schools of thought with the earnest desire to discern the hidden unity behind the perplexing diversity. It belngs to the impressionistic method of literary criticism.

Dr Suprasannacharya seeks to emphasise certain abiding values to which even the ultra modernist has to subscribe. Without those Dorna life becomes an empty shell and literature a frenzied howl. Dwelling upon the dual aspects of form and content the author points out that in a work of art they get fused in the beat of poetic inspiration. His contention is that despite the diversity in modern Telugu poetry there is a unifying desire for liberation. One may stress upon freedom from hunger and exploitation while another may emphasise the need for emancipation from sorrow, ignorance and death. The cry for liberation rings through all, according to the author.

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