Here's your Daily Poem from the Poetry Chaikhana --
 | Sunlight made visible By Akka Mahadevi
(12th Century) English version by A. K. Ramanujan Sunlight made visible
the whole length of sky,
movement of wind,
leaf, flower, all six colours
on tree, bush and creeper:
all this
is the day's worship.
The light of moon, star and fire,
lightnings and all things
that go by the name of light
are the night's worship.
Night and day
in your worship
I forget myself
O lord white as jasmine. 
/ Photo by caseydavid /
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| ============ Thought for the Day: If I turn a blind eye to the suffering of another
...I become a little more blind. ============ | Here's your Daily Music selection -- 
Johannes Linstead
Kiss the Earth
Listen - Purchase More Music Selections |
Hi Omss -
I've had a couple of questions recently about why I don't include more women poets... which made me realize that it has been too long since we've featured poetry by a woman. I do regularly try to include women's voices on the Poetry Chaikhana. But there is no denying that, when we go back more than a couple of centuries, it gets much more difficult to find the writings of women. That seems to be especially true in religious and sacred writings, sadly.
Women's wisdom and women's songs have been historically less likely to be written down. They are more often passed along quietly, orally, and anonymously. When we come across the enlightenment writings of women, we've found treasure indeed!
And, let's make no mistake, more than at any time in human history, we so need the wisdom of women in the world today.
all this
is the day's worship.
Here's a link to the women poets on the Poetry Chaikhana.
Night and day
in your worship
I forget myself
==
Mahadevi or Akka Mahadevi, sometimes called simply Akka, was born in Udutadi in the Karnataka region of India. At age 10, she was initiated as a devotee of Shiva, the pale-skinned god of destruction and rebirth, lord of yogis and ascetics. She worshiped Shiva in the form of Chennamallikarjuna, which means literally "Mallika's beautiful Arjuna."
It is said that Mahadevi was married by arrangement to Kausika, a local king. There were immediate tensions, however, as Kausika was a Jain, a group that tended to be wealthy and was, as a result, much resented by the rest of the population. Much of Akka's poetry explores the themes of rejecting mortal love in favor of the everlasting, "illicit" love of God, and this seems to be the path she chose as well.
She ran away from her life of luxury to live as a wandering poet-saint, traveling throughout the region and singing praises to her Lord Shiva. A true ascetic, Mahadevi is said to have refused to even wear clothing -- a common practice among male ascetics, but shocking for a woman.
In Kalyana, she met the famous Shaivite saints Basava and Allama Prabhu.
Akka spent the last of her days in the Srisailam area. Tradition says she left the world in her twenties, entering mahasamadhi (final divine union) with a flash of light.
Have a beautiful weekend!
Ivan
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Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2011 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.
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