Bliss Beyond Words

“When lofty thoughts are given out in the course of a lecture, the benefit flowing there from could be likened to the effect of local rain; that is, the immediate listeners are the gainers. When the same thoughts are recorded in the form of an article, a pond comes into being from which drinking water could be drawn for a longer time, by a wider circle of people. Best of all is to condense the ideas in poetry which is in the nature of a perennial stream serving innumerable generations” – these are the words of Swami Vethathiri Maharishi who, in addition to being an Advaitin-Philosopher and a master of Yoga, is also a Tamil poet whose output in terms of literature has been prodigious and prolific.

Many hundreds are the inspired and inspiring Tamil poems composed by him during the past four decades of his active spiritual and social service. The present book contains a selection of his verses translated into contemporary English. We have been fortunate in securing the services of Mr. T.G. Narayanaswamy for rendering the poems into English. The work commenced with one poem a month for the cover-page of the bilingual (Tamil & English) journal Anboli which is the official magazine of the World Community Service Centre founded by Swamiji. The English renderings were widely read and appreciated in India and abroad; and it is the yearning of so many readers that has come to fruition now in the form of this valuable book. Mr. T.G. Narayanaswamy’s expertise in translating from Tamil to English and vice versa has been acknowledged by men of letters for many years now. Being also a journalist, he has been privileged to present Swamiji’s philosophy in modern idiom, as the run of the poems here would reveal.