Varsha Vijay (Sweden) translates my poem into Tamil
Who sees the smoke
of the thumb-sized flame
the body burns
the ashes of silence
float on the holy breast
tears pollute
--R.K.Singh
கண்கள் அறியுமோ
இந்த ஊன் எரிக்கும்
கட்டைவிரல் நீள்
தீப்பிழம்பின் ஆவி
மனதின் கருவறையில்
அமைதியின் சாம்பலாய்
மருகி கண்ணீரின்
தூபத்தில் உருவாகும்
யோகி
--Varsha Vijay
Comments:
Wonderful. Enjoyed both the original and the translation.
So nice, Good Wishes To You
Thank you 
I can understand the first part talks about life, but the second part couldn’t grasp
Niranjan Shah
Lovely start of the day discussing poetry. Thank you, Niranjan.
To
me it brings the visuals of the soul of an artist in silent suffering.
The mudhra of Shivlinga with the thumb up placed at the centre of the
chest in Natya Shastra, represents the traditional Indian lamp, the
dheep, the soul whose passion for art is lit by the sensitive sensory
perception (body burns) of the artist. When self-actualization is
hindered by a certain course of events, tears rolling down put off the
bright light and the flame of such beautiful silence is damped and
turned into heavy remnant ashes that float uncleared.....all in silence.
On
a general view, the poem may suggest that we hardly recognise the needs
of the soul that the mundane life burns out yielding to temporal
desires and the consequences of which lead to complaints, polluting
spiritual pursuits. The beautiful silence goes unaccomplished only to
turn as remnants of a flaky lifestyle.
From many angles, the poem easily kindles deep reflections using too few lines.
Varu VJ
Thank you the deep explanation as always. That was a knowledge bomb! My regards to the author
Varu VJ
: I saw your translation sent to me by Prof R.K. Ram Krishna Singh
.
I didn't have the benefit of your explanations above. I know both
English and Tamil to a fair extent. I am also aware that good
translators don't attempt word-to-word rendition, especially when the
cultural or civilisational backgrounds are involved. I talked to RKS, my
brother, and said that it is not direct w-t-w translation, but has
peeled several metaphoric layers, and has attempted to touch the
antaraatmaa of the original poet. I also told him that you should have
been soaked in some Tamil Bhakti poems as your Tamil words indicate. The
thumb sized flame has the Upanishadic metaphor. I asked him what he
meant; Upanishadic origin! Varu VJ
:
I am deeply impressed by your insight and a great positive outlook:
sattva. Otherwise one could have twisted into a deep sorrow too! I
explained and elaborated the words and meaning. He was happy that his
poem is able to invoke new imagery, which is always his intent. Then I
took on to myself to translate your poem as if it were original, totally
removing all other things from my mind. I read it out to RKS. He
suggested that I post it in your timeline. See my attempt, trying to
be very close to Tamil words.
Would eyes
cognize the vapour of
the thumb size
long flame of fire
burning this flesh
In the mind's womb
languishing as ashes of silence
in tear's smoke
of incense
is shaping the Yogi
This came to
me as I read your Tamil rendition again and again. I thought it useful
to share as you have peeled one of the kernal's of RKS's poem which is
cryptic like Upanishads or Tirumoolam. I hope I am able to convey in
English waht you"saw" in the original English version of RKS. God
bless!!!!
Not
at all times, the delayed response to a letter is due to the late
receipt, dear sir. When the most unanticipated but much sought-after
coveted privilege of being evaluated by the noble, who, from the simple
myself to several dignitaries look up to, came as a surprise blessing, I
was held spellbound by the sweetly humbling lump that rose from the
depths of my heart; upon reaching my pharynx mutated into tears to
margin the eyelids for few delayed droplets down the cheeks. They
swallowed words and left me deliriously happy with your very generous
appreciation. Thanking you with high regards. Shri.Y.S.Rajan is here and
when, I pinch myself to see if it is even real, his encouraging gesture
with the retranslation of my translation poem, giving it the energy of a
status originale, augurs bliss for my year
Reading
and writing in Tamizh after 2 decades warmly has helped me realize that
the taste of the mother tongue is unparalleled ecstasy. I haven't had
the least realization about how indifferent have I been in not
contributing any little towards preserving one of the most ancient
classical literature-rich languages despite being a native speaker. I
lacked confidence in posting this work of mine and if not out of
Prof.R.K.Singh's bold approach in risking his poetry to encourage me, I
would have never attempted posting it publically. He's been the epitome
of a guru for years now for many like us. I owe my gratitude to him
forever.
Would eyes cognize
the vapour of the thumb-sized
flame of fire, burning the flesh
In the mind's womb
languishing as ashes of silence
tears smoke incense
shaping the yogi
Amazing
sir! My perception was the wick being the fuel, votive of keeping the
flame alive (body used to only preserve the light) - Karma yoga. Your
perception has taught me that the converse is the truth - it is the soul
that decides to begin with - Gyana yoga. Celebrating the wonderful
insight from you sir.
Sorry for my poor IT skill. With great difficulty I separated the lines!!! So I am doing again with / sign.
Varu VJ
:
pl make it as you have done for lines as others can capture it:
Would eyes cognize vapour of/
the thumb size long / flame of fire/ burning this flesh/
/...............................................................In the
mind's womb/ languishing as ashes of silence/ in tear's smoke of
incense/ is shaping the Yogi. Prof.RK
Singh's poetic prowess coupled with his trademark brevity and
succinctness hooks the reader's intellect and catapults thoughts into
multiple trajectories.
It
is beautifully complemented by your vernacular take, which adds a
spectacularly spiritual dimension to it by shaking the kaleidoscope of
imagination into awe-inspiring abstraction.
Like
a precise strike of a finely-tuned gong, your words resonate from the
roots of a deep bass, proliferating into a rousing reverberation that
perturbs the tranquility of mundaneness, ravishing the reader into a
state of cognitive wonder, straddling linguistic limits with elan.
This
keen appreciation from you, a stunningly bilingual poet, makes me feel
deeply humbled and multiplies my confidence to continue to write in
Tamizh. Thanking you K.
Straddling
linguistic limits with elan - thank you tons for this pointer! True
that his works are challenging and tricky to convey while translating,
exactly what they imply. I don't know how he makes it happen as such.
posted by Ram Krishna Singh at 7:38 AM
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