An excerpt from "Pandita Parameswara Sastry Veelunama" - A Telugu novel by Gopichand

Tripuraneni_Gopichand's novel Pandita Parameswara Sastry Veelunama won the Sahitya Academy award in 1963. It was the first telugu novel to do so. The below passage is my amateur attempt at translating the monologue in the climax of that novel.


The days of treating the spiritual world and the physical world as two distinct philosophies are gone. They are two ways, starting from different angles to reach the same truth. The fact that the destination of both of them is the same is becoming clearer as mankind builds on its knowledge.

The truth finder who researches only the physical world has been able to escape gravitation, enter space and come back to a predetermined spot on earth. We have seen the exploits of the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. That means man is about to land on other planets very soon. It should be noted that he had done exercises to lighten his body.

The spiritually endowed had already envisaged such a possibility. Not just imagining, the ancient books proclaim that they have achieved this ability and traveled across the firmament. They did not depend on any machine for this other than their own body. They flew and landed wherever they wanted to. It is well known that Narada could travel across the three worlds. This might be lampooned as a myth. But why? Science agrees that one can fly in the air by becoming lighter. Yoga teaches this technique. We see people have made their bodies light float on water and sit 2 feet above the ground. In recent times scientists in the west have explored and agree that spiritual powers could exist. Therefore we can believe that man can gain the powers that have been ascribed to our spiritualists.

Whether we consider scientific research or the philosophical argument one has to agree that the human being in evolution is a spiritual being. Animals came from trees. Some traits of the animal to come are visible in the tree. Humans sprang from animals. Some traits of human beings are visible in animals. From man, Supraman is bound to come. Those traits are visible in the present man. We call those spiritual characteristics.

Man moves on with incomplete awareness. Supraman trots with infinite awareness. He sees everything including all the diversities as One. His excitement, thinking, inspiration, determination are all made of the same. His deeds are based on this Oneness. All the Suprahumans will not be of the same mold. There will be infinite variety in this Oneness. This awareness both in body and form, expressing everything and holding everything will be One.

The Supraman beholds the Individual spirit and the Universal spirit and transcends both of them. He is the complete human being. He decides the universal relations and the relation between man and the world. He lives in this universe but at the same time the universe lives in him. He is aware of the infinite. Therefore the worlds external to him are also internal to him. He perceives the divine in everything. All forms and struggles are visible in him. He can think the thoughts of others. His energy is infinite. It has originated in happiness and will return to happiness. It does not decay.

In this happiness there is no charged emotion or trance. There is only a magical purity and peace. The time is ripe in evolution for such a man to be born. All humans will not become Suprahumans at the same time. In fact some may not even attain that state. All the apes have not become humans!

Scientific research is pointing in the same direction. They are only just trying to speculate how a future mind would be. Our forbears experience these states by through Yoga and described them to us. The Upanishad's say - The secret of this creation is bliss. The cause of birth is bliss. The reason for living is happiness. The aim of life is happiness.

Memories

I woke up early morning just like I did all my life. The room was small and the furniture sparse just as I wanted. I started to pack my things in a small suitcase.  Two pairs of trousers, a few shirts, the military jacket, couple of old and dusty books - that’s what I had and that’s what I needed.

I paced around in the room stopping at the bed hesitatingly. It was a queen sized bed and was neatly done. I felt the soft mattress with the back of palm. I looked at the clock, took my suitcase and walked to the door. With a hand on the door knob I turned back and stared at the bed. Leaving the suitcase by the door I gingerly traced back to the bed and rolled the mattress to a side.  The bedstead was covered with stacks of plastic bags, hundreds of them in different colours and sizes. People collect stamps, stones, match- boxes as a hobby. I kept plastic bags.

I picked one very old looking bag, the letters on it fading and illegible. It was the first time a circus came to our village. My father carried me on his shoulders. It was as if the whole village and others nearby were going there. The circus top was visible from a distance sitting in the middle of the paddy fields. My dad put me down as we reached it and I ran to it. That’s when I saw it – a bright plastic cover in a girl’s hand. The vendor was selling sweets in this cover. I took the cover to my nose and took a deep breath. It still smelt of those lovely sweets, it still smelt of my dad’s sweat as he hoisted me over his head in the hot sun.

The bag in bright red and yellow patterns was very dear to me. I saw her at her window stealing a furtive glance as I cycled down the street. Every day of that summer holidays I cycled on her street waiting to see her face through that tiny window. I would ring the bell loudly as I passed her house. I skipped school one day and went to the nearest town and bought a nice and cheap perfume from the shop there. The lady at the counter was surprised but gave me an understanding smile. “Is she beautiful?” she asked, teasingly and I went red with embarrassment. She put the perfume in a bright red and yellow patterned bag and whispered in my ears “steal a kiss from her”. I clutched the bag with my freckled hands and felt the young heart thumping from the wetness of her lips.

Next to it was a big bag printed with tiny bears in a never ending sequence. You could not make out the beginning or end of the bears. The huge bear in the bag leapt at my little daughter who jumped with joy. It was her fifth birthday and she loved bears.

My heart beamed with pride as I caressed the bold black letters of the name of my company on a stately looking bag. All my colleagues and their families were gathered for the nuclear company’s annual employee day. I worked as the maintenance engineer responsible for keeping the fuel rods cool. I heard everyone clapping as I took the best employee certificate from the cover.

My hands trembled as I picked the cold cover carrying reports of my wife’s incurable illness. It condemned me to solitude in this long twilight of my life.

I know no other place. I lived all my life here. I was born here. I ran behind my mum here. I went to school here. It was here that my dad punished me. I made friends, played pranks and got into trouble here. I loved my wife here, I lost my wife here. I doted on my daughters here, I lost my son here.  I love the paddy fields here. I cherish the cherry blossom here. I am scared of the earthquakes here. I am afraid of the floods here. I am proud of the clean energy producing, nuclear company here.  I like my loneliness here.

Waves after waves crashed on the shores of reality. Was it water or are they memories? The tsunami knocked the power out. The rods were exposed. No, it was my frailties that were exposed. My tenuous link to life through the walking stick of memories was exposed. The mandatory exclusion zone was going to sever this link with its Sieverts.

I tied the plastic bags end to end - Circus with the first love. First love with my wife’s clothes delivery. Wife’s with my daughter’s bear and that to my friend’s book - A long and sturdy memory chain. The memories wrapped themselves around me, around my neck. I hung by these memories while life evacuated.

Based on The samurai and survivors of Fukushima