Do you know how the term 'popular' emerged? Have you ever wondered about its origin? It comes from the Latin, 'publicum', that is, of/for/by people. Why am I talking about it? Is that your question? Okay, let me explain.
Yesterday I wrote about Sant Ramdas. I do appreciate his great writing, and I tried to explain why. Now let me clarify that it was more in the 'popular' domain. Unfortunately, these days, 'popular' has a rather populist meaning. To give an example, a mobile is a popular mode of not merely communication, but of multiple operations now.
In the original sense quoted above, however, 'popular' means more 'public', as explained through etymology. My appreciation of Sant Ramdas was thus in the public/popular mode yesterday. Today it is in the private/personal mode.
Aai began her systematic study of Marathi 'sant kavya', the bhakti poetry of Maharashtra, with the study of 'Dasbodh', a great treatise, by Sant Ramdas. She studied it systematically. She attended discussion programmes at Sajjangad. She had lovely memories of her stay there. She used to describe the 'Shivthar Ghal' most devotedly.
Once she completed her studies there, she joined the establishment as a trainer cum examiner. Disciples across Maharashtra used to send her their answers. She used to read them, not merely mark them, but she would add inputs, give suggestions to make the answers more rooted in the text and its philosophy.
Having started thus, she later progressed in to her detailed study of the 'Bhagvad Geeta', of the 'Dnyaneshwari' by Sant Dnyaneshwar, of the 'Gatha' by Sant Tukaram. Her study of each of these texts was systematic, and in depth. I used to get her relevant critical books from the library. She read them, at times even when they were a 'culture shock'. An example could be the book by A.H. Salunke on Sant Tukaram. Yet she absorbed it as her better understanding of the texts.
Now I could not include all this information in a general, 'popular', public discussion of Sant Ramdas, right? Hence this separate episode, a separate blog. Hence the title of the blog today. As we know, the feminists assert that the personal is political. Here is my attempt to maintain that the public, the 'popular' need not always be, cannot ever be mixed up with the personal, the private. Hence these two separate blogs that weave in to the response to Sant Ramdas in the public/popular sphere, and in the personal/private space.
Pratima@ What moves us as an individual is the personal association(s).
No comments:
Post a Comment