A few years ago when I enjoyed the gist of the poem 'Arivu' by Sree Narayana Guru, and in the backdrop of the five elements of nature ('pancha-bhootha') as the building-blocks that compose and decompose life; I penned the English verses below with the intention of later translating to Malayalam (see link).
The alternating stanzas paint the eternal self as statements of what 'I am not’ and what ‘I am’. Usage of the 'I' represents the immortal component of a human life (not this author), summing up that we are not our bodies, but essentially configurations of imperishable consciousness or knowledge.
- Why 'I' cannot die -
I came not from the earth,
water, space, fire, nor wind
that took shape in knowledge
of the mitochondrial kind.
Built on blocks of information,
aspirations, wins or pains
from follies of sometimes
this human nature unkind.
Cry not for that earthen pot,
nor the water, the fire,
that space or the wind,
all that I just left behind.
I am here, that you’ll find,
as knowledge disseminated,
what others assimilated
and inspirations of some kind.
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On occasions, such as the recent passing of my mother (pictured above) and earlier still my father and some friends, this thought calmly prevailed as the spiritual answer or truth behind their memorable lives.
