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Poetry
and Creative thinking
I
am delighted to participate in the function to
confer the 39th Jnanpith Award for the year 2003. I
greet the President and trustees of Bharatiya
Jnanpith, eminent thinkers, writers and
distinguished guests. The Bharatiya Jnanpith during
its last four decades of existence has honoured many
thinkers of Indian literature who have contributed
to the promotion of excellence in literature in as
many as twelve different Indian languages. Every
year, Bharatiya Jnanpith is selecting the Indian
literature of excellence. I extend my
congratulations to Shri Vinda Karandikar, the
recipient of this year’s prestigious award. He is an
essayist, critic and translator and has made notable
contribution to Marathi poetry and literature. His
life is an example of extraordinary achievement
realized through ceaseless search for aesthetic
perfection.
Early influences
I was studying the early
life of Vindaji while he was in college and I found
that the rhymes and rhythms had already begun to
enmesh his soul and outpourings of his sufferings in
verse form brought him some relief. Even at that
early age, he had decided to fight the demons such
as strong sectarian prejudices, superstitions, a
world view passed on to him by tradition. His effort
towards the process of liberation was to synthesize
the west and the east, the past and the present,
materialistic and the spiritual worlds. To achieve
this, he has passed through several twists and turns
in his journey after his formal education. I
understand that he was inspired by personalities
like Sawarkar, Mahatma Gandhi, Bertrand Russel,
Freud, Einstein. His poems generally reflect high
level of practical thoughts. I wish to quote one of
the verses that impressed me very much:
In my
mind lingers not,
Anxiety or sorrow or remorse,
It is enough to know this –
If he gives me tears
He gives me hands too
To wipe them away with.
Poetry and society
Developing from his early
urge to express his thoughts in the form of poetry,
Vindaji popularized what is known as new poetry in
Maharashtra. By his simplicity in language, incisive
practical ideas of use in everyday life, and deep
insight into the Indian philosophy, he wrote poems
which can be understood and used by common man.
Through this, he made modern poetry in Marathi
popular and started the movement of public reading
of poems.
His poetry is marked by experimentation, free verse
and many other patterns which have his stamp of
individuality. His has been a poetry which not only
explores rhythmic patterns but also brings out and
captures the moods of society and the beauty of
nature and spiritualism. He is of course known for
his poetry for children.
Vindaji is indeed a multifaceted poet dealing with
philosophy, theology and religion and the human
nature and astronomy. I was impressed by one of his
poems, " Here begins the quest of universe". Vindaji
talks about nebula, Cignes X1, the galaxy, stars,
and our planet. The poet in his dream sees Galilieo,
Copernicus, Newton and Einstein running a race in an
oblong circle, then he refers to black holes. He
also gives tributes to Narlikar in a beautiful way.
Friends I would like you
to read in his own words of Vindaji, he says:
"The
Universe is steady;
the
old decays, the new rises.
The
remainder zero.
According to Einstein the universe always expanding.
Some
maintain expansion and contraction go on
alternating.
Again
the primeval atom, again the big bang, again the
Universe".
This poem really
indicates the author's attempt to reflect on science
through poetry. With equal ease, the author talks
about nature.
Let me recall a few lines
of his famous poems titled "Panthusth pakshi" or
"Migratory Birds". The poem begins like this:
The tremulous dawn:
in biting winter
looks intently
in the silver mirror
of a still lake.
This poem beautifully
brings to life the humanness of nature and
tranquility of the Manasarovar lake. What makes
Vindaji unique is this versatility.
Contribution to Child
Welfare
Vindaji is hailed as an
outstanding children's writer in Marathi. I
understand his younger son had a severe fear
complex. To distract him and to take his mind off
the disturbing thoughts, Vindaji composed a new poem
every day to help and to remove his fears. This has
resulted in the child overcoming the fear complex.
These poems have also helped the society at large by
giving a solace for children who have been going
through the pain of growing up.
Central Message of
Vindaji's life
What then is the message
from Vindaji's life? He has been described as a poet
of pure consciousness, with a mind that had gone
beyond itself, beyond opposites not bound by the
shackles of caste, creed and religion. One can
characterize such a mind as an enlightened mind; a
mind that is a well-spring of creativity. From this
creativity beautiful poetry is born. This is a
different beauty with which goes love, and with them
is passion. Little wonder that all his life he had
deep empathy for the poor.
Vindaji's attributes are
there for each and every one of us, as fellow human
beings, living in our great nation that still
cherishes spiritual values. There can be
intelligence only when there is self-knowledge, the
deep understanding of the total process of oneself.
We must realize, as the poet did, that intelligence,
that is integration of reason and love, is much
greater than intellect, that is cultivated merely by
book knowledge, important as that is for day-to-day
living.
What is essential for
man, whether young or old, is to live fully,
integrally through cultivation of intelligence which
brings integration. It is very important that we
approach our human problems with an integrated point
of view both for ourselves and for society.
Creative thinking
To understand how the
creative mind of Vindaji works, I would like to
recall the answer given by him to a question by one
of his interviewers: The question asked to him was,
"It seems you always think of people when you write
your poetry". Vindaji answers, "This is half truth.
In reality when I write a poem, I do not 'think' at
all; 'thinking' is prior to creation. And for the
same reason there is no room for feeling as I
create, at least in the normal sense...” What a
living legend for the younger generation to get
inspired by and to emulate.
Conclusion
I am very happy that
Bharatiya Jnanpith promotes Indian literature by
recognizing seminal and singular contributions. It
is indeed a symbol of nurturing the literary
tradition of the nation. I consider it a great
privilege to confer the Bharatiya Jnanpith 2003
Award on Shri Vinda Karandikar today. May he
continue to capture the transformation that our
present society is witnessing? This will be an
invaluable contribution to the cause of developed
India.
May God bless you.
New Delhi,
Jul 31, 2006 |
