An anecdote as told by my father: My Tayaji (my father’s elder brother) late Shri. Atmaram ji was reading the following Telugu Vemana Shatakamu poem aloud when he was in his 3rd class.
గంగిగోవు పాలు గరిటెడైనను చాలు
కడివెడైననేమి ఖరము పాలు
భక్తి కలుగు కూడు పట్టెడైననుచాలు,
విశ్వదాభిరామ వినురవేమ.
అర్థము: మంచి ఆవు పాలు కొన్ని ఉన్నా చాలు. గాడిద పాలు ఎన్ని ఉన్నా ఆవు పాలకు సమానం కావు. రకరకాల ఆహార పదార్ధాలతో వండిన విందు భోజనం కంటే సాత్వికమైనది, దేవుని పై భక్తి కలిగించేది అయినది కొంచెం ఆహారం చాలు. అని వేమన భావం.
Meaning: There are many good things one can do with cow’s milk. Having small quantity of cow’s milk is better than having a potful of donkey’s milk. It is better to have small quantity of food which makes us humble & devoted to God than having lots of useless food.
Listening to my Tayaji, my great grandmother late. Smt. ANNAMMA asked – ‘Tell me the meaning of your poem’. When my Tayaji explained the meaning she got very angry. She said: “It is better that you do not study the wrong stuff. Which idiot wrote such a stupid poem? Does he have any common sense at all? Even if we desperately want, we cannot get a spoonful of donkey’s milk. Forget about the cost. You cannot get it easily. Besides nutritional value, donkey’s milk has great medicinal qualities.
The practical intelligence of my great-grandmother was extremely sharp. Further, she was dispelling the myths of a cow. Why should we give such great importance to a cow? Maybe she was a rebel in her own way!
Devotion to a god comes from within. It does not emanate from external factors such as food. It is human tendency to assign reasons to external factors. The great elephant king did not eat small quantities of satvik food. He ate everything. But when there was a necessity, the elephant king prayed to the lord to save it from the clutches of a crocodile (Gajendra Mokshm). God came. Thus, food has no relation to the God.
In This Poem of Yogi Vemana was much carried away with the traditional Hindu thoughts i.e., the importance to cow and God. Both of these were Brahmanic concepts which aim at the people to follow a specific traditional path. But Vemana was a rebel. His poems showcase the simple facts of regular life explained in colloquial language. This specific poem does not show the qualities of a rebel in the poet Vemana. Hence it can be concluded that this poem could be a much later addition, being passed off as Vemana’s poem
Thus, from the observations of my illiterate but highly educated great grandmother we can conclude as we did above. This anecdote was told by my father, with who I had the habit of discussing Vemana /Sumathi poems. These meaningful discussions energized my father; he always welcomed healthy & wholesome discussions such as these.
About the Author
Dr. K. Raja Gopal Reddy is a seasoned internationally qualified Insurance professional.
What you are reading here, may not answer all the questions we have, but has the absolute power of asking unsettling questions which increase the interest in the strange world, and show the contradictory wonders lying just below the surface of the commonest things of life. Look at this disturbing but beautiful thought of Friedrich Nietzsche “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him”.
Dr. Reddy can be reached at: raja66gopal@gmail.com
