Mysticism:
The word "Mysticism"
is a derived from "Mystes" which means a person initiated into the
"mysteries". "Mystes" in its turn is derived from the Greek
word “muein" which means "to keep silence". Thus, Mysticism is
the belief that knowledge of God and of Real Truth is independent of the mind
and the senses. Being independent of understanding and senses, this knowledge
can be obtained through contemplation or spiritual insight. The term Mysticism
is embloved to cover:
1.The first-hand experience of direct communion with God or Ultimate Reality; and
2.The theologies-metaphysical doctrine of the
soul's possible union with the Ultimate Absolute Reality or God.
Mysticism and Religion:
One thing should be
clearly understood that prayer, worship and religion may form a part of
mysticism but they are usually viewed as means and not essence because they are
continuations of sensory experiences where as "mysticism" is
unaduterated unity consciousness or a union with God. "Mysticism"
like poetry and depends more on contradictions and unusual use of language. Philosophies
may lead to or follow from mysticism but are not mysticism themselves. "Mysticism"
conforms the claims of religion and is viewed as providing a foretaste of life
after death.
Definitions:
Here are some of the many definitions of "Mysticism”:
1." 'MYSTICISM' is the immediate experience
of oneness with the Ultimate Reality. When we call mysticism an experience of
oneness, we mean that the relationship into which the mystic is inducted transcends
the ordinary distinctions between the subject and the object of between I and
thou. And the term 'Ultimate Reality' in the definition seeks to make clear
that the mystic knows himself to be involved with no more idea or thing but
with that beyond which nothing can be known or imagined." -
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA VOL. XV., P. 1129.
2."... religion in its most concentrated and exclusive form", as "that if the mind in which all other relations are swallowed up in the relation of the soul to God." --ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA
3."The essence of Mysticism is the assertion of an intuition which transcends the temporal categories of the understanding. ... Rationalism cannot conduct us to the essence of things; we, therefore, need intellectual vision.” - ADOLE LASSON.
4.The mediaeval theistic view of Mysticism:
"... a stretching out of the soul into God
though the urge of love, an experimental knowledge of God through unifying
love."
5.“... ... the immediate feeling of unity of
self with God; it is nothing, therefore, but the fundamental feeling of
religion, the religious life at its very heart and centre." —OTTO
PELEIDERER.
6.“Mysticism is the consciousness that
everything that we experience is an element, and only an element, i.e., that in
being what it is, it is symbolic of something else." – RICHARD NETTLESHIP
7."Mysticsm” in religion is an immediate
knowledge of spiritual presence and a sense of direct contract with it. In
religions with a belief in personal God, Mysticism may involve a direct
communion with the Supreme Being. A mystical experience may come through visions
or ecstogies, or through meditation (the burning of mind on itself and into the
realm of the spirit). Mysticism in philosophy is the experience of personal
union with the Ultimate Reality, and is the belief that the chief end of man is
to seek such a union, Philosophical mysticism often becomes a pantheism that
sees God in all things." - NEW STANDARD ENCYCLOPAEDIA, VOL. VIII.
Mysticism in Sarojini Naidu’s Poetry:
Sarojini
Naidu is the supreme poet of love. She is an Indian version of Elizabeth
Barrett Browning or John Keats. She deals with all the aspects and hues of
Love-union, separation, moods of hope, despair, challenge, frustration, sorrow,
expectancy, ecstasy etc. jealousy, suspicion, anger, revenge are also
there. Love in both violent and delicate aspects is depicted in her poetry.
Occasionally we discern an unmistakable strain of mysticism in her poetry,
especially in The Temple—sequence of poems, "Song of Radha, the Milk-Maid", "The Flute
Player of Brindaban", etc. It is for this reason that Sarojini is often
called the English Meera Bai. Engrossed in the love of Krishna, she is
unmindful of her immediate surroundings and abruptly cries out "Govinda!
Govinda!
—From Stanza II and I, "Song of Radha, The Milkmaid"
There is dearth of poems depicting her intense Love for God, desiring union with the Supreme Soul:
"So
shall my yearning love at last Grow
sanctified, Thro'
sorrow find deliverance From
mortal pride, So shall
my soul, redeemed, re-born,Attain
thy side." —Stanza
IV, "Invocation" from "The Sanctuary of The Temple.
Similarly, she expresses the intense desire for union and is prepared to go to any length and pay any price to fulfil her wish:
Truly, many of "mortal moments are a session of the Infinite", as may be clear and amply illustrated by the above excerpts.
Sarojini's mysticism enchant, exalt and sanctify her poetry and qualify her to take her place among the great poets of all times.
Conclusion:
Besides such poems as "Song of Radha, the Milkmaid", "The Flute-Player of Brindaban", and many other poems, she has The Temple—sequence of poems divided into three parts, each consisting of eight poems of spiritual love, “The Gate of Delight”, "The Path of Tears” and “The Sanctuary” corresponding to the temple architecture. Mysticism is the leading strain in these poems. In her love-poetry with an undercurrent of mysticism and spirituality the poet is very severe on herself often castigating flagellating herself for her lover. Throughout there is an exaggerated self-abasement and excess of emotion. But the path to the sanctum sanatorium (The Sanctuary) is through the annitutation of the self and the ago-the essential ingredients for merging with the Supreme Soul.