SUBRA VE.SUBRAMANIAN

 A POEM BY

SUBRA VE. SUBRAMANIAN

Translated into English by Latha Ramakrishnan(*First Draft)

Seeing the woman who was asked to go get mustard seeds

returning with handful of that

Buddha was taken aback.

‘Is there a household without Death’ asked he

‘This mustard is not from an abode built by human

I plucked it out from a plant

grown on the soil’ said she.

Giving the mustards to Buddha

the woman remarked –

‘Nature dies not’.

Deriving satisfaction in learning another lesson

Tathàgata got immersed in meditation.

**For Reference:

Kisa Gotami and the Parable of the Mustard Seed

A famous parable of Buddhism is called The Parable of the Mustard Seed. It is found in the foundational texts of Theravada Buddhism. It revolves around a woman named Kisa Gotami, who lived during the time of Buddha’s life when he had already achieved nirvana and was traveling to impart his teachings upon others.

Kisa Gotami

Kisa’s only child, a very young son, had died. Unwilling to accept his death, she carried him from neighbor to neighbor and begged for someone to give her medicine to bring him back to life. One of her neighbors told her to go to Buddha, located nearby, and ask him if he had a way to bring her son back to life.

Bringing the body of her son with her, Kisa found Buddha and pleaded with him to help bring her son back to life. He instructed her to go back to her village and gather mustard seeds from the households of those who have never been touched by the death. From those mustard seeds, he promised he would create a medicine to bring her son back to life. Relieved, she went back to her village and began asking her neighbors for mustard seeds.

All of her neighbors were willing to give her mustard seeds, but they all told her that their households had been touched by death. They told her, “the living are few, but the dead are many.”

As the day became evening and then night, she was still without any of the mustard seeds that she had been instructed to collect. She realized then the universality of death. According to the Buddhist verse her story comes from, she said:

“It’s not just a truth for one village or town, Nor is it a truth for a single family. But for every world settled by gods [and men] This indeed is what is true — impermanence” (Olendzki, 2010).

கடுகு வாங்கி வரச் சொன்ன

பெண் கை நிறைய கடுகோடு திரும்பி வந்ததைக் கண்டு திகைத்தான் புத்தன் .

மரணமே நிகழாத இல்லமும் உண்டோ என வினவினான் .

மனிதர் கட்டிய இல்லத்தில் பெற்றதில்லை இக் கடுகு

நிலத்தில் வளர்ந்த செடியில்

பறித்து வந்தேன் என்றாள் அவள் .

திகைத்து நின்ற புத்தனிடம்

கடுகுகளைக் கையளித்து

விட்டுச் சொன்னாள் -

இயற்கைக்கு ஏது மரணம் ?

இன்னொரு பாடம் கற்றுக் கொண்ட

திருப்தியில் தியானத்தில்

ஆழ்ந்தான் ததாகதன் .

சுப்ரா வே சுப்ரமணியன்