A Eulogy to the Time of COVID

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We present here two poems by the seventeenth century Marathi master, Ramdas Swami. He is unique in that he was not part of the “Varkari Sampradaya” that most other well-known Marathi poet-saints, including Jnaneshwar, belong to. He was a real no-nonsense kind of master, advising the great Marathi king Shivaji in matters of kingly administration. These two poems show the other, more vulnerable side of the poet-saint.

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Aham Vimarsha , I-Consciousness, is a central term and concept in Kashmir Shaivism. First formulated by the celebrated Utpaladeva, who established the Pratyabhijna (Self- recognition) school of thought in Kashmir Shaivism, it sets apart the essentials of the living vs. the non-living. It is simultaneously the door, the path and the goal of the system.

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Janabai was a contemporary of Jnaneshwar. She was a maidservant at the home of the famous Namdev, whose love and relationship with Vitthal is legendary. It is said, so powerful was her bond with Krishna, that he used to come grind wheat with her. Her poetry brings out her remarkable intimate relationship with Krishna, the relationship, through which she attained to the supreme knowledge beyond all form.

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Utpaladeva, the grand-guru of the celebrated Abhinavagupta, wrote the Pratyabhijna Karikas (Verses on Self Recognition), setting down the principles of the Pratyabhijna philosophy, the doctrine of Self-Recognition in Kashmir Shaivism. The Karikas are a voluminous work of over 700 verses, with four major commentaries of much greater volume. Utpaladeva also wrote a very short work, Ajada Pramatr SIddhi. It could be argued (and debated) that this short work presents the essentials of the system, at least from the point of view of practice. English translations of this work do not appear to be readily available. We provide here a first draft of an English rendition of this short work. Comments are welcome.

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