Consciousness, Literature and the Arts
Archive
Volume 14 Number 1, April 2013
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Reworking Metaphors in Poetry: A Case Study of Maharshi Ramana’s Poetry
by
B.P.S.M.Vishwavidyalya. Khanpur Kalan, Sonipat (Haryana) India
Introduction
Metaphor continues to command serious attention. A proliferation of books, conferences and discussion on the subject conspicuously exhibit it: philosophers, literary critics, linguists and scientists like Max Black in Models and Metaphors (1962), I. A. Richards in Philosophy of Rhetoric (1936), George Lakoff, and Mark Johnson in Metaphors We Live By (1980) have discussed a large number of issues connected with metaphor, such as.metaphor as a figure of speech, and as an embellishment;its relationship with other tropes; the universality of metaphor; its nature of being culture-specific and its making sense in particular contexts—these are the various aspects of metaphor discussed by scholars. Another major issue connected with metaphor is the kind of metaphor used in literature, particularly in poetry. Since metaphors used in poetry appear beautiful and aesthetically pleasing, the traditional concept of metaphor explained the use of poetic metaphor for rhetorical and artistic purposes, which made them look different and special. However, George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, in the cognitive view of metaphor, challenged this aspect of traditional theory and described metaphor as a valuable cognitive tool of everyday communication as well as poetic language (1980, 5).
Metaphor—an overview
The traditional school of thought describes metaphor as an intuitive perception of similarity in dissimilars. Aristotle talks of style that raises poetry from commonplace to unusual and lofty by using ornamental words. For Aristotle, poetry is a craft to be achieved by using linguistic devices such as metaphor, simile and alliteration. According to House, the greatest achievement by far, for the poet, is to be a master of metaphor (House1970, 121). The views of Aristotle continued to prevail for a long time until they were challenged by many scholars. I.A. Richards talked about poetry as the business of a poet where he gives order, coherence and freedom to a body of experience. Words act as its skeleton and structure by which the impulses that make up the experience are adjusted to one another and act together (1974, 22). The impulses and experiences are organized and adjusted within the framework of words by poets with the help of metaphor. The poets take recourse to restructure the already existing elements of conceptual metaphors in a new and innovative manner. The poetic genius turns the day-to-day ordinary metaphors into special ones.
Cleanth Brooks also defines modern poetic technique by calling it the rediscovery of metaphor and the full commitment to metaphor. He calls a poem an organic whole, where poetic images are not merely assembled but related to each other just as blossoms are related to other parts of a growing plant. The beauty of a poem is like a flowering plant which needs all its parts—stalk, stem, leaves and roots (1974, 60). Brooks again refers to poetry as an organic whole when he talks about the poetic theme as “defined and refined” by the participating metaphors. Lakoff and Johnson discussed ordinary conceptual metaphors as prevailing in our day-to-day language. The same metaphors were there in poetry, too, but reworked and modified in many ways: “Metaphorical concepts can be extended beyond the range of ordinary literal ways of thinking and talking into the range of what is called figurative, poetic, colorful or fanciful thought and language…If ideas are objects, we can dress them up in fancy clothes, juggle them, line them up nice and neat etc.” (1980, 13). The commonly accepted features of traditional theory of metaphor have been challenged in the theory of conceptual metaphor. Metaphors are not mere embellishments used for artistic and rhetorical purposes. Metaphors do not involve deliberate and conscious efforts of great writers, rather they are part of everyday conversation of ordinary people.
Cognitive Theory of Metaphor
“In the cognitive linguistic view, metaphor is defined as understanding one conceptual domain in terms of another conceptual domain,” says Zoltán Kövecses (2010, 4). Cognition is a group of mental processes that includes aspects such as awareness, perception, reasoning and judgment. They are inner mental states from which understanding results. Hence the cognitive function of the metaphor lies in seeing and understanding about the world. Conceptual metaphors seen in everyday lives not only structure our language but also shape the way we think and act. Lakoff and Johnson’s Metaphors We Live By (1980) propagated the theory of conceptual metaphor where metaphors are an inevitable process of human thought and action (1980, 3). Thus metaphorical language is interwoven into daily life. The language of poetry also drew forth from the same metaphorical concepts of our ordinary day-to-day life.
Poetic metaphors appear different, prominent and striking by their poetic fancy as poets rework ordinary metaphors by extending, elaborating, combining and questioning to convert them into special ones. To borrow the words from Arthur Osborne, “the poet cries the truth of man and the thunderous silence of God” and opens up a world of wonder undefined (2000, 3). Mark Schorer calls this difference between content or experience and the achieved content as technique—a means of discovering, exploring and developing his subject and conveying his meaning (1974, 71). Here the technique is metaphor made up of experiences of our daily lives. The poets work on these metaphors to express these experiences in a better way. Hence, abstract ideas take the help of concrete experiences of the tangible world we live in. Metaphor is a way to reveal “who we are and what kind of world we live in” (Kövecses2010, xiii). Grounded into human experience of each kind—cultural, perceptual, social and physical, we express the way we experience the world. The cognitive view of metaphor takes into view this faculty of human mind to translate the abstract via concrete. The various dimensions of human experiences in the outside world are manifested in the form of objective reality and expressed in the form of subjective imagination of the writer. Metaphor captures the world of a poet in totality. Since the boundaries of language are not fixed, it goes to the credit of a writer or a poet to make use of the boundless capability of metaphor to enter the world of reality and the world beyond reality—a world of senses, reasoning, perception and imagination. It is the beauty, creativity and richness of literary metaphors that makes them noteworthy by their special appeal and uniqueness.
Metaphors in Everyday Life and Literature
Metaphors in literature and everyday life are structured by the metaphorical concepts. Metaphor provides nourishment to the actual communication and turns it into intended utterances. Susan Sontag in Aesthetics of Silence calls language a privileged metaphor for expressing the mediated character of art making and artwork (1976,460). Language has a dual function. It helps to express concrete details of reality and moves beyond that reality into the project of transcendence. Thus language is a process by which it creates art and at the same time it is the final product of art which structures itself into metaphorical concepts. Maharshi’s poetry does that—it moves beyond the ordinary range of perception with the help of metaphors. However, metaphors in our ordinary communication pass unnoticed as they are manifested in day-to-day life and become a part of routine conversation. For instance “Is he on the road to recovery?” would go unnoticed, whereas “The Road not Taken” as a title to Robert Frost’s poem would suggest rich, evocative details of choices in life. It is in metaphors that we think and hardly pay any attention to them. The question is: why do poetic metaphors have such an aesthetic appeal? Although no distinct boundaries separate poetic and the ordinary day-to-day metaphors, the writers seem to have a special skill and ability which turns ordinary metaphors into fanciful and beautiful ones. If all language is essentially metaphorical, there must be some effort on the part of the writers to either highlight or hide some elements of metaphors so as to make them perceptible and conspicuous.
The relationship between metaphors of everyday language and the metaphors used in literature, particularly poetry, needs to be probed. Raymond W. Gibbs in The Poetics of Mind concedes that figurative language has been fiercely at odds with literal language and clarity but also admits that the language of great poets has definitely been more creative and poetic (1994, 3). Gibbs says that much of conceptualization of experience and cognition is metaphorical (1994, 7). Metaphors constitute much of our experience and also constrain the way we think and act in ordinary lives. Of course, literary writers and ordinary users of language make use of same metaphors. Literary metaphors take shape from the experiences of ordinary everyday life as they are not born out of context. Writers do not create new metaphors but use already existing metaphors in new ways. Metaphors do not stand in isolation; they are basically devices for understanding and communicating situations and experiences. Much of our understanding emerges directly from our interaction and physical involvement with the environment, whereas the rest of it emerges indirectly from feelings, intuitions and emotions. Thus metaphors take us on a journey of known to unknown, explicit to implicit and obvious to suggestive reality. Language becomes integral to our capability to express these experiences. Hence our concepts are, as Lakoff and Johnson suggest, partially structured by metaphors and partially extended in some ways. The statement seems to be made very cautiously as metaphors are not merely a matter of language but also of conceptual structure which involves “all natural dimensions of our sense experiences: color, shape, texture, sound, etc.” (1980, 235)
Since we are human and the language we use does not emerge in isolation but in our social, psychological, mental and physiological interaction with outside world, metaphorical utterances semantically become pluralistic. The multiplicity of meanings consists in layers of meaning in language used by poets, whether metaphor or constituted by use of other tropes like symbols, images, similes and personification, etc. Senses, feelings and emotions create a world of their own and the literal language finds itself too restrictive to express them. Metaphor is an effective tool to reach the inner world of ideas. Zoltán Kövecses goes to the extent of saying that metaphor is not only in language and thought but also in our culture, body and brain(2010, 311). Brain has its role in modifying and transforming ideas. Metaphors are continually at work to grasp and translate all those ideas which are beyond the reach of reality by ordinary language, whereas poetic metaphors are made special by reworking conventional ordinary everyday metaphors.
Since the cognitive view of metaphor tries to grasp one conceptual domain with the help of other conceptual domain, the human tendency is to understand the abstract concepts via concrete concepts. Thus, the conceptual mappings consist of two important elements of metaphor which Lakoff advocates for transference of meaning—the source domain and target domain. The source domains are generally less abstract and simple as compared to target domains. It is the writer who transforms and restructures the already existing elements of metaphor to make them unusual, creative and novel. Maharshi’s poetry indicates that he draws his poems from everyday metaphorical concepts. The next section of the paper discusses the main tenets of the cognitive theory of conceptual metaphor and relates them to the poems of Maharshi Ramana. The paper seeks to find this relation between ordinary day-to-day metaphors and the poetic metaphors in view of the categories listed by Zoltán Kövecses (2010, 53) by which metaphors become striking. These categories are: extending, elaborating, questioning, combining or by personification and image metaphors.
Maharshi’s poetry
Maharshi Ramana, born in a South Indian family in Tiruchuzi in 1879, was not a born poet. His spiritual concerns kept him preoccupied all the time. After having a normal childhood, his life changed when he was only twelve after his father’s death. He went to stay with his uncle where he had an experience which changed his life forever. He had a sudden feeling of death despite feeling perfectly healthy. This made him realize the full force of his personality. He came to know that consciousness of the Self is the only existing reality. He was a Sthithaprajna—settled in divine consciousness, yet intensely human in his dealings. These two concepts formulate the basis of metaphors he used in his poetry. On one side, the metaphors relate to the ordinary everyday life, on the other side, they relate to a higher consciousness of life which is Swarupa—the infinite, absolute consciousness beyond time and space. Swarupa or abidance of the primal, pristine and original state of the Self, cannot be gained anew. It already exists and needs to be uncovered only. Consequently all his explanations and writings were directed to convince his followers that this Swarupa was their true state. However, this truth is obscured by self-limiting concepts of the mind. Letting go of these concepts would result in the truth being revealed. He prescribed an innovative method of self-enquiry, which he called atma-vichara. The technique is regarded as the most distinctive motif in his teachings. All of his poems were written either as answers to the queries by his devotees or written on their request. His poetry was not a deliberate and conscious effort but a documentation of the revelation of his inner Self. Thus metaphors in Maharshi’s poetry are representations of both what he saw and what he realized. He captures: the outer world—a world of senses, objects and ego and the inner world of Self which is Atamswarupa—abidance in the Self. His poetry is a document of the journey of the body to the realized Self. Metaphors capture this reality in totality in Maharshi’s poetry. Lokyate iti lokah that which is seen is the world, says Maharshi. The eye sees the world with ego. Beyond ego is the consciousness—the Self. (Sarnagathi July 2012, 4). The thematic content of Maharshi’s poetry gives his poems a uniqueness which is reflected in the way he has modified and reworked his metaphors.
Maharshi says that everyone desires happiness. There is nothing wrong with this desire as it is man’s nature. The only wrong thing is to desire it in the world outside whereas it is very much inside the man. There is a strong semantic link between the world as it is objectively external and subjectively within. Maharshi’s numerous poems articulate the realization of Self. The “Five Hymns to Arunachala”, “The Essence of Instruction”, “Reality in Forty Verses”, “Five Verses on the Self” and some miscellaneous poems like “The Song of Poppadum”, “Self Knowledge”, and “The Self in the Heart” exhibit this journey from outside world to the world within. The poems selected for present study are “The Marital Garland of Letters” and “Eleven Verses to Sri Arunachala”. Selected from the “Five Hymns to Arunachala” in The Collected Works (2007), they were written to celebrate the indissoluble union of human soul and God. “The Marital Garland of Letters” is a very long poem consisting of 108 stanzas and approximately 296 lines. “Eleven Verses to Sri Arunachala” is also a poem of 11 stanzas and 72 lines. Thus the selection of only two poems for the present paper is justified. The lengthy poems not only provide ample opportunity to go through the metaphors which are in abundance, but also command attention for their profound and emotional thematic content. The poems depict the emotional attitude of devotion and aspiration without changing into doctrinal.
“The Marital Garland of Letters” and “Eleven Verses to Sri Arunachala”
“The Marital Garland of Letters” is a poem of 108 stanzas. One of the earliest poems written in absolute bliss of union of human soul and God, it is a profound and moving poem ever written by Maharshi. “The Marital Garland of Letters” makes use of the metaphor of Hindu marriage where the bridegroom and the bride exchange garlands with each other. The ceremony in marriage symbolizes the physical and spiritual union of two persons. However in the poem, the sought union is about the aspiration of soul seeking the God. The relationship is considered sacred in Hindus where the two individuals pursue dharma (duty), artha (possessions ), kama (physical desires ) and moksha (ultimate piritual salvation).
It is important to state here that Hindus consider 108 as a sacred number. The number signifies 108 beads of a rosary and 108 philosophical Hindu texts of Upanishads; but Maharshi has other reasons for using this sacred number., Maharishi seems to have made a garland of 108 stanzas to be recited in Arunachala ‘s praise. It is a spread of 108 stanzas interspersed and dotted with similes, images and symbols. The title is also metaphorical as it is a marital garland of words to solicit union with God. The conceptual metaphor of marriage is taken from everyday Indian life and is reworked by Maharshi to reach the transcendent world of spirituality. The other poem “Eleven Verses to Sri Arunachala” also makes use of various metaphors and similes from daily life. The ideas have been reworked by Maharishi. Of course the efforts to convert metaphors of everyday life into poetry may not have been intentional and premeditated since he wrote it more as spiritual instructions. The poets do it—whether deliberately or unintentionally is a matter of further discussion. The paper now elaborates the use of various devices to render the metaphors aesthetically appealing. Both the poems make use of the following poetic devices by reworking the conventional everyday metaphors already existing in human consciousness so as to make them look novel and special:
· Elaborating
· Extending
· Questioning
· Combining
· Personifying
· Image metaphors
· Extending
Extending can be defined as bringing a new conceptual element in the source domain of conceptual metaphor with the help of new linguistic means to make conventional metaphor novel. The similarity between two items selected by the poet is further extended in a novel way and makes them unusual. In “The Marital Garland of Letters” there is a conventional metaphor “The strumpet mind” which when extended makes it unusual and extraordinary.
The strumpet mind will cease to walk the streets if
only she find Thee. Disclose thy beauty then and hold her
bound, Oh Arunachala! (83)
Movement and directions are common source domains drawn from basic human experience (Kövecses 2010, 22). The mind is metaphorically referred to as “strumpet”—a female prostitute. ‘Strumpet’ is the source and metaphorically stands for ‘mind’ which wanders in many directions with different thoughts arising. The similarity drawn between a prostitute wandering in streets and mind distracting in ego, attachments and senses is apparent. What is unusual in the source domain is that even a prostitute can find someone who can hold her permanently so that her search may stop. Usually a prostitute will go on with her acts. The normal meaning associated with the word is given an unexpected twist. The novelty lies in the element of surprise culled from the normal meaning of a prostitute. In Vivekachudamani, a translation of Sankaracharya’s work, Maharshi himself explains that the self is like a man ‘swayed and dominated by lewd woman, of whom he is enamored” (2010, 245). The self also slips and enters into the other things. Mind becomes quiet only after it finds its source as Arunachala—the God, and stays there. The compound word “strumpet mind” consists of only two words-both nouns but the first noun works as an adjective to another noun. What is fascinating is that a metaphor can conceptualize in just two words; the contiguous words have their role in preparing the context however. A “ripe fruit” is the other metaphor drawn from food we all eat daily. Ripe fruit is enjoyed by everyone — this is the convention accepted by everyone. Nobody would like to eat a fruit which is raw or overripe. Maharshi uses both of them unconventionally.
Fruit shriveled and spoilt is worthless; take and enjoy it ripe,
Oh, Arunachala! (89)
Fruit shriveled is the mind involved in sense enjoyments of the world. Hence, it is spoilt. Ripe fruit is the realized Self free from ego, attachments and worldly involvements. Man is overpowered by mental states and submerges in the fathomless ocean of saṃsara, therefore the fruit is spoilt and not accepted by God. God does not accept man as an entity now sinking and now rising in the world. It is only when he dives deep in his heart that he realizes this Self-eternal and pure bliss. This state metaphorically speaking is that of a ripe fruit and will be accepted by God. The element of ripeness already exists in man but he needs to strive in this direction make it acceptable by God.
Maharshi makes use of another metaphor of “raft” to extend it further to convey his meaning. He starts seeking Self which is another form of God. As he is about to reach his destination, his raft capsizes in the sea. There is an unexpected twist in the conventional metaphor of raft used for journey of soul. Man lives in this world of senses and often loses himself in the sea of worldly distractions. The raft used for this spiritual journey is God’s grace.
On seeking Thy Real Self with courage, my raft
capsized and the waters came over me. Have mercy on me,
Oh Arunachala! (88)
It is with his grace and mercy that he can save himself from being submerged in the sea of world.
In “Eleven Verses to Sri Arunachala” Maharshi uses another metaphor of physical force. God draws man near with cords of his grace. However, there is an element of surprise in store for him when God decides to kill him out rightly.
Drawing me with the cords of Thy grace, although I
had not even dimly thought of Thee. Thou didst decide to kill
me outright. (99)
Thus, force, a common source domain cited by Zolton Kövecses (2010, 22) is in metaphorical conceptualization of Maharshi. God exerts force to draw Maharshi near him when he does not even expect it. The new conceptual element is that after drawing near, God decides to kill him when he is expecting salvation. Killing is a new conceptual element introduced in the metaphor represented by force.
Elaborating
Another device used by poets is elaboration. The poet does not introduce a new element in the source domain of metaphor but elaborates already existing element in source in an unusual way. There is a very interesting metaphor of “dog” who follows his master even after he has no idea of his scent. It is said that a dog can smell his master and find him. This is the usual and assumed characteristic of a dog.
Am I then worse than a dog? Stead fastly will I seek Thee and regain Thee, Oh! Arunachala! (86)
The faithfulness of dog and his characteristic to search his master by his smell are the existing elements in the source domain but the same are elaborated when Maharshi follows God even when he has no idea of how to follow him.
Another example of elaborating the already existing conceptual element in a new way is from “Eleven Verses to Sri Arunachala”.
I have discovered a new thing! This hill, the lodestone
of lives, arrests the movements of anyone who so much as
thinks of it, draws him face to face with it, and fixes him
motionless like itself, to feed upon his soul thus ripened. (100)
There is an unexpected twist and change in the the given element of conceptual metaphor of “lodestone”. Force of any type whether physical or mechanical brings changes and affects the objects and persons in many ways. Here the change is in the form of a distressing situation. Instead of showering his grace, God decides to feed upon his soul. Ripe soul is again another metaphor from food, associated with mankind since the beginning of humanity. Thus the already existing element of a lodestone attracting another metal and keeping him near is elaborated in a different way.
Combining
The most powerful mechanism in conceptual metaphor is combining several everyday metaphors. It helps in going beyond the everyday conceptual system using the same materials of everyday thought. In “The Marital Garland of Letters” combines two metaphors:
Dazzling Sun that swallowest up all the universe in
Thy rays, open the lotus of my Heart, I pray,
Oh Arunachala! ! (85)
The two conventionally accepted metaphors in the ordinary life are: light is life and events are actions. The poet combines both. It is the sunlight which gives life to mankind and plants. Lotuses in the ponds open with the Sun rising in the morning. “Lotus” is a metaphor for heart of the devotee which opens with the “sunlight” of grace of God. These two metaphors make the idea of spiritual ripeness clear. Lotus in Hindu mythology stands for both beauty and non-attachment as it remains pious and pure even when it lives in mud and water. This is how man should live in the world—discharging duties without attachment. Maharshi combines the two metaphors to demonstrate the way to live in the world. It is only by the grace of God Arunachala (metaphorically Sun) which bestows light to open the lotus of heart.
In “Eleven Verses to Sri Arunachala”, ‘lotus’ is again a prominent metaphor. Maharshi combines two different metaphor “lotus” and “stream”,
Oh, love, in the shape of Arunachala, can the lotus blossom without the sight of the sun? Thou art the sun of suns; Thou causest grace to well up in abundance and pour forth as a stream! (98)
In the first part of the stanza, there are oft repeated common metaphors of lotus and Sun. A person living in the pool of worldly activities can remain detached from the same if he reaches the ideal pristine state of Self just as a lotus can preserve its beauty even while living in mud. The next metaphor is that of a stream flowing with water. The metaphor symbolizes kindness and of water. Kindness and grace of God accumulate in abundance to pour out like a stream.
In another instance from “Eleven Verses to Sri Arunachala”, Maharshi combines four conventional metaphors.
I am ever at Thy feet, like a frog
(which clings) to the stem of the lotus;
make me instead a honeybee which (from the blossom of the Heart)
sucks the sweet honey of Pure Consciousness; then I shall have
deliverance. (99)
The first line contains a simile of a frog which clings to the the stem of lotus, a metaphor. The honeybee, the honey of consciousness, blossom of the heart are the other conceptual metaphors. Man ignorantly clings like a frog to the stem of lotus to save himself as he is only conscious about his body and the worldly pursuits related to the body. The next line, however, explains the knowledge of consciousness as he wishes to be a honeybee which sucks from the blossoms of heart. Frog represents ignorant man; stem of lotus represents worldly possessions; honeybee symbolizes the conscious man; blossom is the heart striving for God and honey is pure consciousness. Thus, there are four metaphors and one simile from conventional metaphors combined together.
Questioning
In the poetic device of questioning the poets call into question the appropriateness of a conventional metaphor . In stanza third of the “The Marital Garland of Letters”, the poet says:
Entering my home and luring me to Thine
why didst thou keep me prisoner in thy heart’s cavern,
Oh! Arunachala! (83)
God has tempted Maharshi to his home which mentally prepares him to attain a state of permanent bliss—the ripe state of soul to be one with the God. However the appropriateness of normal code of behavior is questioned as Maharshi inquires his status of still being kept prisoner in the activities of the world.
In the next few lines, the question is put forth more directly:
After abducting me, if Thou dost not embrace me,
where is thy chivalry, Oh Arunachala! (83)
The metaphor is evocative of physical unity. In ancient times, women were abducted by men. Metaphorically the image used is that of a woman held by her abductor, but she is not embraced which does not behove a man. The traditional code of conduct expected that of a chivalrous man is questioned. Maharshi again asks:
Who was it that threw mud to me for food and
robbed me of my livelihood, Oh Arunachala?(92)
The deeper meaning of the expression is that it was God Arunachala who picked him for a spiritual union. The question is—why he is now not ready to accept him? Thus the duality in treatment met is questioned.
In “Eleven Verses to Sri Arunachala, the poet asks:
How then has one so weak as I offended Thee
that Thou dost leave the task unfinished?
Why dost Thou torture me thus,
keeping me suspended between life and death?(99).
The metaphor represents the struggle of the devotee to realize Self. The regret is that he is still hanging between life and death. The question in the last line shows his mental agony.
Image metaphors
All poetry abounds in images which can be arranged by the poet as he wishes. Maharshi’s poetry is no exception. There are a number of examples of image metaphors in both the poems. In “The Marital Garland of Letters” Maharshi says:
Lord! Thou didst capture me by stealth and all these
days hast held me at Thy feet! Lord! Thou hast made me (to
stand) with hanging head, (dumb) like an image when asked
what is Thy nature. Lord! Deign to ease me in my weariness,
struggling like a deer that is trapped. Lord Arunachala! What
can be Thy will? (99)
Many images mark the above stanza. To capture someone stealthily, to stand with hanging head and to struggle like a deer—all the images show the suffering of a man who is struggling for union with God. Sadness of man here highlights the spiritual suffering of man because God does not bestow his grace on him. He is standing there ignorant and ashamed. Two altogether different images are there—the first image is that of a person ashamed because of his shortcomings and the second image is that of a deer struggling to free himself. The poets make use of images to provide a structured understanding of various patterns of experiences. They also use them as a source domain for understanding other experiences.
Another image used by the poet is of a man standing with his head down. We generally associate happiness as ‘up’ and sadness as ‘down”’. Maharshi makes use of the same image when he is standing before God with head down. The experience shows his inability to achieve bliss which would make him stand before God with head high.
‘In’ and ‘out’ are also widely used spatial images by Maharshi. Although Maharishi’s poetry is deeply spiritual still the physical imagery of ‘in’ and ‘out’ has a very important place in Self-enquiry. Maharshi says:
As instruments for knowing the objects the sense organs
are outside, and so they are called outer senses; and the mind
is called the inner sense because it is inside. But the distinction
between inner and outer is only with reference to the body; in
truth, there is neither inner nor outer. (9)
One has to recognize the images of directions which lead man to Being-Consciousnesss-Bliss inside the body. In “The Marital Garland of Letters”, Maharshi makes use of this image again.
Didst Thou not call me in? I have come in. Now
measure out for me, (my maintenance is now Thy burden).
Hard is Thy lot, Oh Arunachala!(93)
Here the image is more concrete. The conceptual metaphor relates to call someone home and then not taking care of him. Although the image used by the poet brings to mind the Gods calling human soul and then shoving him away. The orientational image of coming in refers to the soul coming to God. However such spiritual imagery abounds throughout the poem. Maharshi intersperses it with other image metaphors like the Sun, raft capsizing in the water, shriveled fruit, a dog searching for its master, a lotus waiting for Sun and a mirror showing reflection to a nose less man. Of course similes of lodestone, a flower bee, ether, a tender creeper needing support and a ship caught in storm fill in the gap and serve the purpose of linkages. Maharshi makes use of conventional metaphors to convert them into unconventional and novel.
Personification
There still remains a device used by literary writers to use the
knowledge about themselves to comprehend other aspects of world. To quote Lakoff
and Johnson, personification “allows us to comprehend a wide variety of
experiences with non-human entities in terms of human motivations,
characteristics, and activities.”(1980, 33). Arunachala is a hill in South India
which is referred to as God and a living entity throughout his poetry. It is
interesting to bring to notice that the hill Arunachala, which the writer of
this paper had the good fortune to visit, became a permanent abode for Maharshi
and played a very important role in transforming his life. That explains the
reason of Maharshi referring to Arunachala as God throughout his poetry. In “The
Marital Garland of Letters”, Maharshi personifies five senses as thieves.
Even when the thieves of the five senses break in
upon me, art Thou not still in my Heart, Oh Arunachala?(84).
Maharshi refers to senses as thieves which rob him of his blissful state of union with God. These are the senses which draw man to worldly distractions. It is the realization of the presence of God Arunachala which may help him to achieve the liberation from the worldly Self. In the already quoted stanza under heading extending, where the poet calls mind strumpet, Maharshi has made use of another device of personification. In yet another instance of personification, Maharshi requests God Arunachala to
“Save me from the cruel snares of fascinating women
and honour me with union with Thyself” (84). ’
The worldly pursuits and distractions are personified as fascinating women. It is easier to explain abstract domains like senses, materialistic pursuits and distractions by personifying them.
Conclusion
Hence Maharshi Ramana’s poetry is a proof that the creative genius of a poet can transform the everyday ordinary conceptual metaphors into artistic wonders. Reality in the form of everyday metaphors is already there. The aspects of religion are already metaphorical whether we talk about eternity, soul, life, death, bliss and liberation. The poet takes them all to the source domains of journey, path, orientation and directions. The creative genius does wonders by transforming them in one or the other ways cited above. To conclude we can say that the religious texts—in this case Maharshi Ramana’s poetry, make use of abundant conceptual metaphors from everyday life. The experiences of life are the concrete source domains by which poets reach abstract target domains. It may be a movement, direction, food or plant—they all serve as the basic experiences by which poets “rework” wonders. Nothing comes from vacuum. Contexts of all types, concrete experiences of routine life and the pictures we see all around formulate the basis of conceptual metaphors. Poets rework on them and they appear original. Of course the subjective emotions and feelings may play their role in making the poetry exceptional, but life is still a journey—may be spiritual, movement is still there although in the direction of God and freedom is there from the darkness of a cavern into the sunlight of God’s grace. Hence the main tenets of cognitive theory of metaphor prove that the experiences of life do not go waste but provide the righteous ways to live.
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