Our Way towards Oceania: Yet Another Journey towards Aniketana...

ಓ ನನ್ನ ಚೇತನ

ಆಗು ನೀ ಅನಿಕೇತನ!

Be unhoused 

O my Soul!

After months of preparation, planning and patient perseverance with the process of immigration, Sherly and I have finally reached our yet another temporary destination, the Fiji Islands! Indeed a distant geographical location from the place of our 'origin'. Yet, surprisingly, we don't feel unbound to our origin. Perhaps, we were never so exclusively bound to our place of physical birth. That is why, I think, 'moving out' had never haunted us as a nightmare until today. In fact, to 'settle down' somewhere permanently is still an unimaginable thought. We have always been prepared and ready to move out. There is something divine aesthetic in such a readiness to move out. Is it what the great poet Rashtrakavi Kuvempu meant when he sang that divine saga of Aniketana, the Unhoused Consciousness?  

Kuvempu wrote his poem Aniketana (the Unhoused Consciousness) in 1974 and presented his thoughts on the idea of 'universal humanism' during the convocation ceremony of Bangalore University, which has been published in the book, Vichaarakranthige Aahwaana (An Invitation to the Revolution of Thoughts) in 1976. This poem was of so much importance to the poet that he even noted, "you can destroy all my works even Sri Ramayana Darsanam (that fetched him "jnanapith award"), but just make sure you retain the message of universal man [sic]"[1] The message of ‘universal humanism’ can be summarized in the following words of poet himself: “Every child, at birth, is a universal man [sic]. But, as it grows, we turn it into “a petty man”. It should be the function of the education to turn it again into the original “universal man [sic]”.”[2] It is Kuvempu’s contention that the child which by birth was the universal human is fettered by us with such constraints as country, language, religion, caste, race and color. To free it from all these limitations and to transform it into “the enlightened soul”, the universal human, our education, culture and civilization should strive hard. All children of the world should become “unhoused” beings, if the world should continue to live.[3] It is this vision of universal humanism that makes Aniketana (The Unhoused Consciousness) so compelling philosophy and practice of life, especially when our identities are so narrowly constrained and fiercely controlled.

"Be unhoused, O my Soul!" is a call to return to our original being, that is universal humanity. As Kuvempu asserts every child is a universal human at its birth, it is our original identity to be universal. But we are made 'petty humans' driven by the geographical, cultural, religious, linguistic and many such dividing forces. When our being is transformed into an unhoused consciousness, we will be able to find our Self in the One that we tend to construct as our Other. Being in the Fiji Islands, I am reminded again and again how universal our beings are. The distant geographical entity does not hinder me from getting connected to this new place of arrival with that of the place of my origin which is far beyond my immediate reach. The unhoused consciousness deep within me invites me to find my origin within the Pacific, a cluster of islands. I have spent a good amount of my lifetime in a context where our lives were closely connected to the Sea, her waves and tides, the breeze from the beach, the monsoon, and many such factors surrounded by water. I recognize my encounters with the Divine through the waters in the Sea, the fishes in the waters, the shades and fruits of the coconut trees in the field, the breeze from the beaches of the Arabian Sea, and the distinctively multi-religious and multi-ethnic people of the coastal region. Sea, thus, epitomizes my relationship with the divine. Pacific is a place which certainly compels me to nourish these divine memories. I think, living close to the sea is highly rewarding as it demands us to imagine and invoke our own Self and the Divine through the everyday experiences of the people whose lives are defined and designed by the waters, yet are unhoused for a borderless living. What an aesthetic feeling it is! 

With that sense of divine aesthesis, seated right in front of the Pacific Ocean, I am just re-chanting those poignant lines of Kuvempu and exclaiming, what a clarion call it was for the humanity to return to the humanity! My heart is overwhelmed with gratitue towards my beloved poet for constantly reminding me to dare to be an unhoused consciousness. If only the humans take this call seriously the universe will be transformed into an abode of love and beauty where every individual will celebrate his/her differences transcending all boundaries and barriers. 

Be unhoused, O my soul!
Only the Infinite be your goal.
Leave these myriad forms behind,
Leave the million names that bind,

A flash piercing your heart and mind,
Be unhoused,O my soul!
Only the Infinite be your goal.

Winnow the chaff of a hundred creeds
Beyond these systems hollow as reeds,
Turn unhorizoned to the Truth that leads;
Be unhoused, O my soul! 
Only the Infinite be your goal.

Stop not on the unending way.

Never build a house of clay.

Endless the quest both night and day:

No end, no end to your play!

Be unhoused, O my soul!

Only the Infinite be your goal.

The Infinite cancels its end,

Endless the quest you apprehend

And so, Infinite, you ascend

Be unhoused, O my soul!

Only the Infinite be your goal.[4]

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[1] Kuvempu, Manuja Matha Vishwa Patha (Human Religion, Universal Path) (Mysore: Udayaravi, 1971), 13. 
[2] Kuvempu, Vichaarakranthige Aahwaana (An invitation to the Revolution of Thoughts) (Mysore: Kuvempu Vidyavardhaka Trust, 1976), 7. 
[3] Kuvempu, Vichaarakranthige Aahwaana, 9-12. 
[4] Kuvempu, Aniketana, trans. by, V.K. Gokak.