Intaj Malek has created, refined, and crafted a homage to Lord Krishna which updates and unites insight and sentiment. In rhymed verse, Malek combines lyricism with insight, poem after poem. Simultaneously charming and reflective, Malek reveals multiple sides of Krishna, most notably as an all-pervasive presence offering sage counsel.
The following couplet provides an apt example of Malek’s approach:
No more Gopis in the field, but followers online,
In the realm of social media, his presence does shine.
Virtually all readers of this collection will recognize the many themes in these poems that tie into the well-known stories told about Krishna such as his childhood playfulness, his love for Radha, and the philosophical wisdom shared with Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita. This poem builds on the boundless love of the Gopis, a mutuality of their affection for Krishna, and Krishna’s love for their beauty, to be found in every field. Just as the Gopis’ love served as a metaphor for divine grace, these poems suggest that similar new meanings can be found in the ubiquity of online communication.
The working man and working woman provide touchstones for seeing the divine at play and work. Malek invokes the foundry forge, people toiling in the fields, and the very glimmer of tomatoes themselves as reminders of divine presence in the world. This extends as well into reflections on the moon, gazing upon cows in the meadow, a well-played game of cricket, and the boundless sky. Each poem evokes a sense of joy and awe, seeing the divine in all things.
Malek negotiates between the panentheistic and the analytical approach with the realm of contemplative philosophy. On the one hand, as noted above, Krishna’s hand, his smile, and love can be found in beauty, in work, in worship, and in a job well done. This sentiment echoes the monism of Advaita Vedanta, the ‘everyman’ of Spartacus. At the same time, these poems lift up the importance of the sthita-pragnya, the person of stabilized mind emotion, so lauded by Gandhi as the exemplar of the attitude needed to effect social change. By remaining unruffled in the midst of inevitable change, one can truly take a stand in wisdom, as did the freedom workers who threw off the shackles of colonialism. Their efforts, grounded in a sense of connection with the highest truth, gave birth to independent India, Pakistan, Burma, and Ceylon. Krishna’s wisdom also fuelled the civil rights movement in the United States and South Africa where activists by the millions took up the stance of the sthita-pragnya, advancing, as celebrated by Malek, the true cause of democracy.
This delightful collection of poems informs, entertains, and enlightens! Recommended for home and school, it communicates universal wisdom in a spirit of whimsy and gravitas.
Christopher Key Chapple is Doshi Distinguished Professor, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, USA.