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Shimmering Chimes: Unveiling of Myopic Maya |
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by Bhaskaranand Jha Bhaskar |
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Shimmering Chimes by Maaya Dev
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Maaya Dev's debut anthology Shimmering Chimes is a wonderful collection of seventy poems that chime in with varied poetic moods of the poet. With two insightful forewords by the eminent literary personalities -- Ravi Subramanian and Dr. Santosh bakaya-- who have truly unveiled the poetic talent inherent in her, the book contains seventy poems, reflective musings over myriads of issues ranging from the devotion to God, nature, love, patriotism, spirituality, mysticism metaphysics and the innermost quest to explore the intricacies of life. Al the poems, soothing and symbolic, deserve to be enjoyed and , of course, highlighted with proper, finer and perceptive analysis. The poet herself reveals in the beginning that ‘Shimmering Chimes is a true reflection, an expression of experiencing various shades of life and emotions’, with ‘the sparkle of mood and feeling in the mystic fire of muse and struggle to bring forth a new emotive impulse or revelation.’ Devotion, mysticism and spirituality, nature and metaphysics are the recurring themes of her poems.
In the vast ocean of life, Krishna is to her a sheet anchor and this is the reason why she sings His glory. She knows ‘Life is cacophony’ and wishes it to be a symphony of love, bliss and peace. She prays to Him to ‘Be my guide, help me glow’ as His ‘melodious flute/ emits endless delight’ through ‘Transcendental Devotion’. She is another Meera yearning for eternal communion with Krishna as for Him only , her ‘sacred craving weeps and swells / in the deepest core’ of her devotion. The poem “Sat Chit Ananda- Bliss" contains the essence of her devotion, the profound love for Krishna-
Nature
Her poetry presents a majestic aspect of nature mystically radiant with celestial gleam. She depicts, in some of her poems, a beautiful glimpse of nature’s beauty with its heavenly splendor. The following lines are fantastic examples of stream of her consciousness-
Like Wordsworth, she perceives a divine spirit pervading the objects of nature. She holds mystical view of pantheism. Nature is to her a mystical force that enlightens and ennobles her mind and soul.Inner transformation in her poetic self can be felt in her poems dealing with nature. Seeking inner and eternal tranquility, joy and comfort she often turns to nature that entails inner divinity. Spiritual aspect of nature always fascinates her with ‘timeless tale of eternity.’ She regards the natural world as ‘a masterpiece of God’s creation ' which enables us to undergo metamorphosis of heart and vision-
She successfully records her emotional response to the natural world.‘Rendezvous with Nature’, ‘Oh! Majestic Ocean’, ‘Humdrum of that Green Valley’, ‘Desert Rose’ etc deserve our attention for the embodiment of her poetic vision, elements of divinity and immense beauty of thoughts reflected through objects of nature.
Love provides a safety valve to the suppressed desires and pent-up feelings and emotions. She compares love to a canopy that gives out some comfort and refreshing moments to beat the heat of the painful world. She holds that love has a relieving power. She describes the healing power of love in these lines-
As a poet of love, she is very smart enough to give it sometimes some spiritual hues. She expresses her intense desire as ‘fossiled love”-
There is a melancholic strain and sadness of heart quite apparent in her poems. In times of sorrow and loneliness it is the feeling of love that brings smile on her face, solace to her grief-stricken heart. She lays bare her heart-
Feminism: Feminine Power
Her sense of beauty finds an appealing manifestation in her poetry. She lays emphasis on the protection of woman’s dignity and beauty. She compares woman to a beautiful lily flower and with ‘an angel with golden wings’. She very minutely describes the evolution of her beauty, outer and inner-
Woman is a metaphor and personification of love, romance and beauty and every poet’s dream. However, the poet is saddened to see the roving, preying and predatory, greedy eyes of sex vultures with sharp beaks, who are out ‘to brutally tear the flesh brimming with modesty.’ She brings to our notice her sad plight-
There is no end to her turmoil and suffering, exploitation unless the male dominated society comes to realize the primordial glory of woman. She questions-
She also underlines the dual aspect of woman.If she is delicate, humane, compassionate and loving one time, when need be , she can turn into destructive force and sacrificing her divine power she can also cause doomsday of the world.
Like Keats, she also believes in deriving pleasure in hearing the sweet melody of unsung verses fused with strings of symphony because “Unwritten words are breathing life!” She declares-
Her ideas about poetry are a celebration of sadness, solitude and nostalgia. She has catalytically turned them into ‘universal bliss’. Her passion for being a poet finds an amazing mention in the symbolical poem "Twinkle Twinkle My Little Poems"-
Her ‘World of Words’ is also a symbolic poem that has an allusion to the primordial sound –Brahma naad- of Creation that has ushered in the pictorial form of lore and learning, knowledge and realization. She reminds us of the dictum that ‘Word was with God and Word was God’. She repeatedly chants His hymns-
She is exactly right when she says that a poet or a writer lives ‘alone listening to the chimes of ‘his/ her own ode and ‘swirling like Rumi in euphoric ecstasy’ despite saddening rejections. However, with due course of time, he/she has a resurrection as a poet or a writer.As a matter of fact, emotional exuberance finally leads to creation of a poetic destiny-
Writing is a process of inner evolution and progression, and manifestation of the conversation with self and this creative expression puts forth immense joy and aesthetic maturity and self-satisfaction. With the philosophy of Swantah Sukhaay, she expresses the sole objective of her writings -
Metaphysics, Mysticism & Spirituality
The poet is baffled at ‘the mysteries / and complexities of life’ tormented with pain, storm, hopelessness. However, despite all oddities of human predicament, she doesn’t lose hope and sanguinity of her strong self as she has unflinching faith in living each moment of life ‘unaffected’-
Mysterious strains are quite palpable in most of her poems. A modern woman of high sentiments and sensitivity, with lots of love in her bosom, she always tries to demystify the mysteries of the world. She is concerned more with exploration of subjective world in the cosmic velvet of divinity. She rightly remarks:
Steeped in spirituality her poetry embodies her sense of inner illumination and enlightenment. Her Sense of awakening is reflected in these lines:
In terms of depth of cardinal thoughts , her poetry is a kind of poetic extension of Shankaracharya’s Adwait Philosophy (Dualism). Like him she also underlines the fact that the outer manifestation of the world is a projection of illusion- maaya with its multi-layered garbs after unwrapping which appears the divine soul. She reveals the uncertainty theory of life as well-
Realism, Escapism & Symbolism
Fed up with stern reality of life, she sometimes wishes to turn away from the world of pain and pangs to the world of dreams for joy.
Philosophy of Life
Nevertheless, she believes in celebration of sorrow to experience soaring joy in life. She paints melancholy with joyous hues:
She holds that life is beautiful and has to be lived with happiness in spite of all the temporal opposites as “A beautiful contradiction conceals all” (Scattered Verses). She compares life and love to a beautiful rose and this analogue is beautifully depicted here-
Dignity of mankind, human ability to rise again from debris of destruction like phoenix, singing of glory of man and the optimistic vision are other features of her poetry. Let us see for example-
Life is a bubble, a cosmic game played by God. The following lines remind us of Shakespeare’s remarkable lines- “Life is a tale/ told by an idiot/ full of sound and fury/ signifying nothing”:
Patriotism
Everything said and done with the poems analyzed thematically, it is pertinent to mention here with a corrective approach that the anthology was required to undergo some serious proof-reading because even a small black spot mars the beauty. Some of her poems have stains of grammatical errors, though slight. They are- ‘heart promise its essence’ (page 31), ‘Wherever the shadow /of unfair rejection ensue’ (35),’Onlookers goes’ (85), ‘When endeavor boom’ (87), ‘ before the ocean waves gulps me’ (89), ‘before fire ashen me’, before the pyre flame my sins’(89), ‘But often fails to bring’ (90), ‘The silence produce sweet melodious notes’, that pulsates’….(93), ‘ The ebb and flow of your gentle breeze/ comfort my fatigue and returns my novelty’ (93). Hope in next edition, these errors must be rectified.
Happy reading! |
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08-Nov-2015 | |||||||
More by : Bhaskaranand Jha Bhaskar | |||||||
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Comments on this Article
bhaskaranandjhabhaskar 11/17/2015 01:15 AM
Maaya Dev 11/17/2015 01:01 AM |
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