POETIC LETTER OF SAVITA  DEVI

( Part 4,Page no. 180 In Kaunasri Sahityam-1)

Hallo, poet? How do you do?

Are you safe? What are you writing now?

This is a letter from your Savita

Time and again  I  read  your poetry in magazines.

I used to praise you and your poetry

And pen letters of praise.

I can no longer appreciate your poesy

I can no more express my thanks.

They are filling up pages  many

Raining  the market with new goods from brain

Giving up poetry, they are penning poetry on poetry

Forgetting humanity  and  intoxicated by novelty.

They are arranging lines perfectly symmetrical

Detaining  ideas in words by force

Poem’s back is bending from  burden useless

Selfishness is swallowing salvation .

Preaching and lectures are not poetry

It’s not  rationalisms or theory

It’s akin to   innocent rustic lass

But  lecturing from stage  wearing spectacles.

Poet! You are turning into a prophet  divine

Boycotting  beauty in emotional messages

Searching for beauty in lines irregular

Hating beauty before you for no reason.

Without feeling or tenderness

Without moving and  melting into ideas

Why write poems on Rama

Aren’t you listening to kind harp of poetic bird?

Isn’t cry of the bird heard in your heart?

Isn’t that sound the beating of Adi kavi’s heart?

Focusing on the hunter

Forgotten the bird shaken by  tragedy?

A sharp arrow of  a cruel  hunter flew swiftly

Gave a great  epic to cosmos

Common man is born and dead  repeatedly

But the poet remains immortal eternally.

Don’t be afraid on seeing form of emaciated hunter

Don’t turn away from creativity of  Universal merit

No fleeing from eternal stream of Rasa.

Who’s that guilty hunter?

Isn’t he the former form of Adi Kavi?

The bard became angry over killing of a  bird

Stood before him his past  form.

 Expel  the hideous past form from you

Its cruel teeth would pain you a lot

Coveting  the titles of ‘gentleman’ or ‘good  man’

Do you desert poetry  compassionate?

Listen poet!  Woman is prop for poetry

She blooms out of natural prosperity

Oh! Poet,  listen! Earth is mother of poetry

Waiting for seeds  of wellbeing universal.

Giving due respect to poetry adds dignity to a poet

Poetry is  truth age-old and  novelty perpetual

New or old, poetry is poetry

Stop preaching ! Write noble poetry!

Finishing this letter- a few words more –

Dear poet, listen to  this warning-

Getting drowned in the sea like a drop of water-

Rising like the moon  out of the sea of milk-

Think and do good!

Grasp deeply thing told in brief!

Poetry is  conscious waters of the Ganges!

Himalayan  peak is experience of  its speed.

A dry man’s voice  without   tenderness is

A   beautiful bride of an old man

Write good poetry

And end speeches.

SONG OF LIFE

( Part 4,Page no. 209 In Kaunasri Sahityam-1)

Life is poison born out of the sea of milk

It’s  Hara’s throat hiding Halahalam

Warm tears of Rishi Kanva  giving  send off  to his daughter

Flooding waters thundering day and night.

Life is a smile on the face of Christ on the  cross

It’s lotus crest-fallen on the morning

A  test paper  given to man by  the Almighty

A  village inn where light burns day and night.

Life’s  an offering on the platter in hands of a sister devotee

An old poem on  a school- boy’s slate

Taking hand of future  revengeful

A half-  eclipse of the moon .

Life’s an  ache of a  mother swinging empty   cradle

A pitiful look of Ahalya accursed and deformed

Agony of Kunti throwing baby into water

A  sad and  tender tale of a  blade of grass on the shore.

Life  is a fortune of a bride entering her mother-in-law’s house

A mysterious desire of a dumb man’s travails to  utter

Ugadi chutney   sour, sweet and bitter

A puzzle  unsolved  for umpteen ages.

Every one’s life is a strange tale out of tune

A difficult path of ups and downs

It’s Sita ready to enter fire

A scar of a knife on the head of past and future.

Brother! Victory is yours! Don’t lose confidence

Trust in God  above, proceed  without fear

Your hope of fire will blaze- your practice  persists

Your tapas will bear fruit –truth will truly win.

VOICE FROM THE  SKY

( Part 4,Page no. 176 In Kaunasri Sahityam-1)

It’s night of phalguna

Bahula Ekadasi

On the face of  damsel of  sky

Shines the moon like bridal tilak.

The clock has just struck three

Something  has struck my heart

Entered the room slowly and switched on light

Looked at the letter on the table time and again.

Have to send a poem for Ugadi tomorrow

Felt like moving upstairs once

Began Climbing steps one by one

Watched   by small mango tree well- bent .

Sat and stared at the sky in loneliness

Searched  the star-studded skies above

The winged heart is soaring high and high

Mingling with shock in   strange surprise.

White stars

Dazzling bright

Pearls thrown helter-skelter

On beds of black silk Mukhamal.

It’s like sandalwood putting on leaves

Blooming of a garden

 The sky is radiating beauty

A Big  blue bird of melody.

Serene  silent music  heard from the sky

Pure beauty appears

In trance  dances calm morning

Vast sky has begun to speak.

“I have stood  before you after a long time

I have been waiting for  you for ages

Exploring contents in cosmic epic everlasting

Awaiting patiently with eyes of myriad stars.

Radiating light

For ages umpteen

Shining brightly

Since worlds unborn.

Seen  the churning of sea of milk by angels and demons

Seen the slaying of Mahishasura by  Maha Kali

Seen Cupid aiming his arrow at Shiva

Seen Vamana sending  Bali to the abyss.

Known Agastya drinking the sea in a gulp

Known Devendra cutting the wings of hills

Known Hiranyaksha folding up land like a mat

Known Anasuya feeding the Trimurtis.

Before Badarayana Rishi wrote the  Brahmasutras

Before the marriage of Adam and Eve bore biter fruits

Before the birth of Harappa and  Mohenjadaro

Before the rise of Himalayas out of the sea

I have been since beginning

Remained intact then and now.”

I am listening in wonder

While Blue Sky is speaking.

“Alexanders , Asokas ,  Abraham Lincolns

Socrateses,  Platos ,Sohrab and Rustums

Ceasars , Napoleons,   Chenghiz Khans

Kings,  Emperors ,Orators and Prophets

Heroes, intellectuals, Conquerors and National Netas

Countless people gone before my eyes

None could swim against the  tide of Time

Found their rest  in the tomb of Time.

Kings empires thrones studded with gems

Palaces crowns veils of silk and gold

Melted  in the fires of deadly   times

Morphed into earthen layers losing their shapes.

Time doesn’t wait for a second- nonnegotiable

It’s  a vast ocean without boundaries

Wheel of time turns under  winks of my eye

Planetary world moves in my house.

Seconds days months years

Ages and  aeons

Moving fast and orbiting and orbiting

Time invincible and insuperable.”

I am  sitting and listening in shock

Celestial voice has begun again

Time is a fine horse

Poet’s voice bridles it.

Tie up the time to poetry

Adorn the neck with  garland of time

Balance  world with progress

Blend  poetry with novelty in humanity.

Shine like the Sun in me

Guide like the polar star in me

Rain slowly like cloud in me

Touch coolly like the  Moon in me.

The sun and Moon won’t miss their routine in my realm

Women of stars won’t deviate in my domain

They gift paths of light to cosmos

Achieve balance through coexistence.

March ahead in my foot prints

Make your Journey in my light and shades

Fill the truth with beauty!

Harvest  harmony universal  in your words!!!

‘KARUNASRI’ JANDHYALA PAPAYYA SASTRY  (1912-1992)

Udayasri was the heart of Karuna Sri. Vijayasri was his head. Karunasri was his life--  This was life of my father in a few words! He  wrote till his last breath and lasted as long as   he could write.

He felt happy that his poetry became people’s poetry when he found a cobbler singing his poems with rhythm. He was so tender that he refused to get into a rickshaw drawn by a man before the appearance of cycle rickshaws. He corrected the poems of one Mahabub Bhasha, fed him and blessed him.

Karuna Sri  worked as a teacher in Ramakrishna high school and as  a Telugu lecturer for  twenty two years in A.C. College, Guntur. Students used to be enchanted by his lectures and students of Hindu college used to attend his lectures at A.C. College. He used to advise young lecturers to recite poems in a melodious manner. My mother Anasuyamma was very helpful to him and their intimacy had to be seen to be believed. He has two sons and one daughter.

My father wrote nearly seventy six works including small and lengthy works. He also brought out Kalyana Kalpavalli , an anthology of gems of telugu poets. Umarkhayam  is his another famous work. He also wrote Telugu Bala  for children.

Once he sent this work to a boy who could not get it in his place.

In spite of many works of his, he found a place in the hearts of readers as the poet of UDAYASRI, PUSHPA VILAPAM, and KUNTI KUMARI.

He felt happy when a  great  actor Gummadi named his daughters as Udayasri and Vijayasri.

In these days when a reprint is rare, Udayasri  was reprinted more than  fifty times.

When this fact was  related by the poet in a meeting in Varanasi, a Hindi poet who had  earlier talked about  ten reprints of his work got stunned.

Ghantasala’s voice and Karunasri’s lyrics complemented each other.

His Pushpavilapam was born  out of his anger towards a visitor   who began eating the petals of a rose from the flower vase on the table while the poet had been in his prayer room..

He was modest when Akkineni  Nageawar Rao’s praised  his Pushpa Vilapam as a means of peace in mental distress.

Karuansri was stoical, compassionate and brave and never craved for any awards.

To him ,  his readers were equal to Padmasri, Padmaa Bhushana or Kala Prapoorna.

Karunasri was born  out of his stream of his thoughts when he visited rare Buddhist sculpture, Maha Chaitya and pillars at Amaravati.

He wrote PAKI PILLA   ( a  scavenger Girl) when he was sixteen years old. “Every mother was a scavenger when one was a child.”

He donned the roles of Radha and as Chandra Gupta on the stage a few times. He  also  participated as the poet Mukku Timmana without make-up in a number of “Bhuvana Vijayam” events.

Many people took ‘Sri’ as pseudonym after Karuna Sri.

He  inaugurated   “Morning hour”, a book of poetry by  a fourteen- year old girl Srikalyani and blessed her.

He felt  the same elation to receive the degree of Rashtra Bhasha Visarada from the hands of Mahatma  Gandhi  and a when a trader offered to sell his own  work to him for fifteen paise.

My father who wrote naturally  like the blooming of lotus, the cool blowing of light winds, nodding of creepers, stretching of baby’s hands, birth of first love was a  precious stone among the world of poets.

-Translation  of article by J.J. BAPUJI from “ MY FATHER

( Ed Dr. Dwa.Na. Sastry)

AMRAPALI’S SELF-SURRENDER --   KARUNASRI

( Part  3,Page no. 134 In Kaunasri Sahityam-1)

( Budddha , along with his disciples visited the city of Vaisali. Royal dancer  Amrapali welcomed the teacher of the world in supreme joy. In that mood, love and devotion rose and flowed  like waves in her heart.)

Why  this morning spouted   so sweetly

Why my heart sighed so quietly

The deer are leaping in joy boundless

My heart  flooded with fuzzy waves.

In the supreme garden of Lumbini

The queen Mayadevi of Sakya realm

Gave birth to crop of  harmony

He would step in to dwelling of dancer of Vaisali.

The sea of mercy whose smile bloomed a thousand parijatas

Kin of the mercy seekers whose steps hidden heavens a crore

Arriving today the remover of dangers

Visiting today  the  founder  of the wheel of Dharma.

The infinite crop of mercy

Who would  cajole and care for

The swan fallen hit by tough and   nasty arrow

Would step into dwelling of dancer of Vaisali.

My lord my god of mercy obliged me

Listened to my prayer, accepted my invitation

Millionaires  many invited him to their palaces

Rejecting all, the  lord blessed me Amrapali alone.

Sacrificing  kingdom and realm of love

Leaving the darling son of shining cheeks

Moved away the  crop of universal compassion

To step into the abode of Vaisali dancer.

Blossoming sweetly sweetly mango grove

Sprinkling  nectar today the path of Jasmine

New  shoots  are rising arc-like on each branch

Singing  tunes the cuckoos loudly and blissfully.

Moving on Great path of search

Eating the milky food of rustic lass Sujata

The fruit of Bodhi tree  that yielded Buddhatva

Would step into home of dancer of Vaisali.

My heart is turning into Manasarovar

My thought is floating up  like a thousand-petalled flower

My affection is blowing all corners like tender fragrance

My joy is flowing  over banks like sweet honey.

Cleansing the world of pollution in tears

Giving wings of light to swans of peace

overcoming ignorance,  the harvest of Knowledge

Would arrive at  the abode of dancer of  Vaisali.

Tathagata would grace my house

The moon would visit this Lotus

My life is dancing like a wild  peacock with new joy

My youth would recognize afresh  its holy duty

The fountain of kindness  changed

Bandits   who draw rough blades and   chop the necks

And  who drink people’s blood

He would step into dwelling of dancer of Vaisali.

Sarat wore silver wings like a fine swan

Marut sprays fine pollen of nectar

Rivulet enchanted  comes running brimming over

Sky stands and stares without winking forever.

Releasing the dumb creatures from bondage

Showering nectarine words at places of yagas

Giver of all, crop of goodness

Would  grace the home of dancer of Vaisali.

Would arrive at my house today the giver of universal  peace

Would give light  to my eye the bringer of victorious  goodness

My dame of fortune would wear the anklets to dance today

Love would surrender to peace today.

That Lord’s glance  would relieve me of petty yearnings

His word is a bundle of harmony

All secure crop of peace and nonviolence

Would step into the dwelling of dancer of Vaisali

Today  court dancer would welcome the world teacher

Today   practice of many births would be meaningful

Would the sky  shower  rain  of flowers and  earth enraptured

Lord of mine would receive my  worship “Buddham Saranam Gacchami.”

Remover of worldly sorrows, bright light off consciousness

Adornments of goddess of peace, spouts of prosperity and equity

The  Sun rays  overcoming  darkness of ignorance

The blissful feet of Sakya prince   my refuge eternal.

Make the arrow  shot at your heart by

Mischevous creator as your pen to write an epic

Allow  the warm tears at  edges of eyes of

Your daughter of kindness

To soak  with    Rasa

To Yield piles of golden crop

Create new India, o poet!

Holding  the pain that wrenches  your heart

Hiding  the forest fire in your heart beneath a smile

Feeling  public weal as fruit of your scholarship

Deliver pots of Rasa and pieces of art

As the  faces of ages dazzle.

Universal love!

Owing  to which love this wheel of earth

revolves  without axis

Owing  to which love  stars all  would

remain intact in the  sky

Owing  to which love varuna  would

fold his legs  without falling on the earth

Owing  to which love Vayu would

go  around  worlds seven

That great love-eternal love

Miraculous inseparable latent love-

permeates entire universe

my love!

KARUNA KUMARI

( Dame of Mercy)

( Part 1,Page no. 5 In Kaunasri Sahityam-1)

She is a world beauty, amritamayi,

Mover in infinite universe, form of peace

The holiest woman, a matchless beauty

In the entire cosmos.

Amidst  the lake of her heart

Floats up this  world entire like a lotus

In her sigh melt like atoms

Meru mountains countless.

At edge of her eye lives forever

Gangabhavani  from the  heaven

In the shining of her smile

bloomed  gardens a hundred.

The rising sun would apply pasupu parani

With his hands golden

In the dame of mercy’s cosmic shire

Every step equal to heavens a crore.

Tenderness, nonviolence,  spitelessness  her sisters- in-law

She  is  a girl of eternal bliss

Before the delicate feet of this  Empress

Bows even Brahma.

Her passionate embrace an offering

Of  Lakshmi to life mine

Her feeling a soothing cold breeze

To my life turned  barren.

With pollen from her flowery feet

I  fill  up to the  brim

Of my  life  crushed

Under the wheel of cruel time.

The ultimate meaning of life mine

Dedicated at  her feet

Empty would be    my life

Without  merging  my heart with hers.

In tears of joy of Mother Inida

Under the  bright  light of full moon

On stage of bliss of  universal man

Took place our love marriage.

For the sake of my goddess of adoration

For her only this  tapas  of mine

Darling   daughter of the Lord Buddha

Tender girl , ‘Sri Karuna Kumari”