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Four fascinating books in translation, one new, three old, available in any virtual book store

In the Dark of the heart

Songs of Meera

Tr. Shama Futehally

Harper Collins

This translation of Meera poems, which came out in 1994, with a foreword by M.S. Subbulakshmi, and an absorbing introduction by Shama Futehally is a delight, to look at as well as read. The lightness of the English makes you draw breath: the words and the the syntax that binds them seem aimed to near-mystically transport the reader there where Meera must have been when she spoke her poetry — in mid-flight, between earth and sky, suspended by a silken thread of love.

It is rare for (Meera) translations to sound this way in English because in the migration from her language - immediate and Shyam-animated - to the language of those who seek to `bring' her to larger audiences, varied baggage appears to climb on, making the words heavy and annotated.

For anybody who collects Meera poetry, this one - even if you have the John Stratton Hawley versions - simply ought not to be missed.

Songs for Siva

Vacanas of Akka Mahadevi

Tr.Vinaya Chaitanya

AltaMira Press

For all those fascinated by Mahadevi Akka, here's a new translation with 203 vacanas, a moving introduction by H.S. Shiva Prakash, notes and a detailed introduction by the translator, Vinaya Chaitanya.

Once you get a feel of the translations, you'll see what Shiva Prakash means when he points out that Vinaya Chaitanya's version overcomes the problems of earlier translations, "in their enthusiasm to communicate the spirit of the writings... impaired their corporeality" and Ramanujans's " spiritless body who resembles an accomplished athlete rather than Akka's hero", because he is "admirably receptive to the experiential dimensions of Akka's vacanas."

Undoubtedly, Chaitanya's own experience as a spiritual seeker (he belongs to the Narayana Gurukula founded by Nataraja Guru, disciple of Narayana Guru) adds depth to his understanding of Akka's vision, and enables him to foreground the most important aspect of Akka's vacanas — the experience of the sacred.

Not just for collectors but also for anybody interested in the vacanas, and Akka herself, this is a veritable treasure.

Tripura Rahasya

The Secret of the

Supreme Goddess

Tr. Swami Ramananda Sarswathi

World Wisdom

This fascinating book, a dialogue of instruction given by Dattareya to his disciple, Parasurama, considered by Ramana Maharishi to be one of the greatest books on Advaita, "demonstrates the easy, non-dual marriage of Vedanta and Tantra" What makes the book so immensely readable is that its wisdom imparting is done through a series of terrific stories, intriguing, amusing and moving, in which the women are strong, interesting and wise with an expansive wisdom that comes to the rescue of their spouses who find it less easy to resist the pull of maya that holds back their own journeys towards wisdom.

Beautifully produced, and translated, Tripura Rahasya is not just a book of spiritual wisdom, for as Ananda Coomaraswamy points out " In the Tripura Rahasya, the picture is drawn of an ideal city-state, that is characteristically Indian Utopia, and at the same time very much like Plato's republic"

The Life of the Buddha

H. Saddhatissa

Unwin Paperbacks

A little book of 83 pages, this is one of the most wonderful books I have ever read, telling of the Buddha's journey with a remarkable blending of clarity, lyricism and depth that seems almost to mimic the actual journey. Saddhatissa is a master storyteller, without doubt for he makes the story so immediately human, without any traces of the here-is-a-lesson-for-those - who-are-less-than, that one simply reads and enjoys and is satisfied.

There is great plotting, suspense, the narrative flow is amazing and the story of course is gripping. At the end of it, you can tell a child what the Buddha said, without fumbling and that's one of the best things about this book. Buy it, for yourself, and if you have children, you couldn't give them a better gift in this age where page 3 wisdom's easy packages are a lure difficult to resist.

Kala Krishnan Ramesh

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