• A Great secret hidden for eight centuries
• The swan has been telling her story for 800 years but no one has identified who she is....
• Naishdha Kavya a trinity of Mantra, Yoga Vedantha Sciences
• Sriharsha a Srividya Upasaka
• Damayanthi is none other than Sri Maha Tripurasundari
• Ajapaa Gayathri Chinthamani Thiraskarani mantras treasured in this kavya....
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Two Great Peaks in the world literary criticism and research
Shodasi: Secrets of The Ramayana and Swarnahamsa Harshanaishada from the mighty pen of the great Telugu poet, Gunturu Seshendra Sharma are considered to be the two great peaks in the world literary criticism and research. This is a truth most contemporary Telugu writers and readers aren’t aware of. The way Seshendra could discover Kundalini Yoga, Gayathri Mantra in Shodasi, he could discern the treasure trove of mantra yoga, Sri Mahatripurasundari, Chintamani mantra in Swarnahamsa.
At a time when our universities which are mere Degrees production Units, churn out “solid waste” in the name of research; Seshendra even while attending to his job as a Municipal Commissioner created research oriented critical volumes like a sage.
Though Shodasi was published in 1967 and Swarnahamsa in 1968; Swarnahamsa was created by him much before Shodasi was conceived. The concepts that Srinatha, Nannayya and Mallanatha, the Telugu Classical poets couldn’t decipher, Seshendra could. He humbly submits that he is most fortunate that the triumvirate had left behind some pertinent concepts only to be discovered by him at a later stage.
These two great kavyas were serialised under the editorship of late Neelamraju Venkata Seshaiah in Andhra Prabha Daily, Sunday Literary Supplements from 1963 to 1967 and Seshendra’s poems and non-fiction were published in the book forms (6) only after they appeared in serial form in Andhra Prabha.
Seshendra : Visionary Poet of the Millennium
http://seshendrasharma.weebly.com
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SESHENDRA
A SRIVIDYA UPASAKA: A GOLDEN SWAN
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In Sanskrit literature there are two well - known writers
with the name Sriharsha. One was a king (Harshavardhana
7th century AD), a follower of Buddhism and author of three
plays – Nagananda, Priyadarshika and Ratnavali. The
second Sriharsha of 12 Century AD was a Srividya Upasaka
and an eminent poet–scholar. It was he who authored the
famous book Naishadha (The story of Nala and Damayanthi)
in sanskrit. Later, in the 15th Century, Srinatha, The
Legendary Telugu poet, translated it into Telugu metrical
poetry. Srinatha was a Saivite and perhaps was not formally
initiated into the Shakteya form of worship and its praxis.
Srinatha could not decipher the hidden mystery of
Damayanthi conceived by Sriharsha as Sri Devi. It would
seem that it fell to the power of intuition of Seshendra, our
contemporary poet, to unravel the mystery after several
centuries. This is indeed a surprise. Sri Aurobindo’s ‘Savitri:
A legend and a Symbol’ is witness to his being the sacred
privy to Pristine Savitri Mantra. Very similar is Seshendra’s
Golden Swan, which transcends its apparent meaning of
being a mere commentary to niche of mystic trance
committed to words. Thus in his Shodasi: Secrets of the
Ramayana are included Trijata Swapna and Gayatri Mantra
is in itself a mystery. For, apparently in his Shodasi,
Philosopho-poetic intuition, the dream of Trijata (in the
Ashoka Vana) is verily the Gayatri Mantra as discerned by
the deep yogic sensibility of Seshendra (A nigoodha Yogi).
I have had intimate relationship for over six decades with
Seshendra. All who know him admire him for is poetic
|genius but mostly from reading his recent prose and poetry
works. Even so, how many of them who have read Golden
Swan and Shodasi: Secrets of the Ramayana will have seen
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the mystic surrounding his poetic vision?
Saatyaki has now requested me to review Swarna Hamsa.
He is devoted to filial adoration. It is only because of this
that volumes of Seshendra’s works are seeing the light of the
day again.
The sacred Mantras: Ajapaa Gayatri, Chintamani are the
common heritage of many upasakas. Not all of them may
have read Sriharsha’s Kavya. Even those who might have
read only now know through Seshendra that Sriharsha is in
reality a Srividya Upasaka.
Srividya, the highest form of devotion to Enlightenment,
which gives liberation (Vimukthi) from the travails of both
the worlds, has its own trinity of Mantra, Yantra and form of
worship. Mantra is called Panchadashi. In this context it
would be helpful to study the commentary on
“chaturbis Sreekanthais Siva yuvatibhih panchabhir api
prabhinna abhis Sambor navabhir api moola prakritibhih
chatus chatwaarimsad vasu dala kalaasra trivalaya
tri raekhaabhis saartham tava Sarana konaah parinataah”
11 Sloka in Shankaracharya’s Soundarya Lahari.
Contemporary literature is beset with many diversities and
divergences. A swan, they say, can separate milk from water.
How many scholars have the calibre to do a swan,
unearthing the inner meaning of the text? Seshendra, like
that mystic swan, did it with aplomb. Because of this unique
quality Seshendra is a Golden Swan.
Prof. M. Shiva Prasad
Professor of Telugu (Retrd)
Osmania University
Karthika Purnima
15-11-2016
