These days on my morning walk as I observe, like I always have, Nature unfold spectacles for its own edification, I think of this brilliant poetic construct in Gujarati by the great poet-philosopher Narsinh Mehta (1414-1481). Download Brahm
Chitt chaitanya vilas tadrup chhe
Bhram latkan karey bhram pasey
ચિત્ત ચૈતન્ય વિલાસ તદ્દરૂપ છે
બ્રહ્મ લટકાં કરે બ્રહ્મ પાસે
My being is a play of consciousness
Brahman frolics with brahman for its own joy
One looks around the non-human realm of Nature, particularly that which does not seem so insistently sentient such the sun, sunlight, water, trees and so on, and one is arrested by how constantly spectacular everything is. The spectacular is the norm in the universe and what is stunning that it is so for its own amusement or edification or, perhaps, for no reason at all.
My communion with Nature is a lifelong affair. As I get in on years and approach the end of my life it is even more so. I feel as I if am tangibly aware of how breathtaking everything is in the non-human realm. I say non-human because humans bring the baggage of deliberateness that introduces a dimension I do not particularly like. Not standing in the way of life, and therefore Nature, has been my old habit. However, humans have the need to do precisely that.
That Narsinh Mehta could distil that overarching feeling in just two lines speaks to the man’s preternatural brilliance. The word latkan, pronounced lat (with a hard t) and kan where the n is silent but still adds a deeper nasal sound to signify a plural, is hard to describe in English. It approximates frolicking or teasing but in fact is a whole range of often coquettish gestures.
To recognize the universe as an entity in a state of permanent frolic and spectacle is an astonishing intellectual leap.
Unfortunately, most people do not engage with Nature’s unremitting spectacles enough or sometimes at all. I concede that I may be overdoing it but better that than constantly pouring venom and vitriol on your fellow humans.
Incidentally, while watching the sunlight scratch off the clouds in its way this morning, I thought of this superb 1973 song from the movie 'Abhiman' written by Majrooh Sultanpuri, sung by Lata Mangeshkar and composed by Sachin Dev Burman. Although in the movie the song is addressed to the protagonist, Amitabh Bachchan, by his screen and real life wife, in my case I was addressing Nature. Download Ab to 6