Song Of The Poppadum

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The Song of the Poppadum was written by the spiritual master Ramana Maharshi. As the story goes, his mother wanted to make him a treat and decided on poppadums. She was making a lot of poppadums, two to three hundred and asked him to help. Thinking that his helping her might set a precedent for future ambitious productions, eliciting his help, he wanted to put a stop to it then. He playfully told her that she could make the poppadums by herself and eat them but he was going to make another kind and eat those. Instead of helping her, he composed this song which he finished by the time she was done. She was fond of songs; she had a rice song, a soup song and other such songs with Vedantic meaning, but no poppadum song. The song is full of humor and wisdom teachings. A poppadum is a spicy crisp cracker made of lentil flour. It is fun to eat and as Ramana Maharshi described it, also fun to make. He sang this song, giving a recipe to make poppadum as a metaphor for Self-Realization. I can just imagine the joyful atmosphere with laughter as his devotees sang this kirtan, an ode to the poppadum! Enjoy!

No need about the world to roam
And suffer from depression;
Make poppadum within the home
According to the lesson
Of “Thou art That”, without compare,
The Unique Word, unspoken
Of Him who is the Adept-Sage,
The great Apotheosis.
With his eternal heritage
That Being-Wisdom-Bliss is.

Make poppadum and after making fry;
Eat, so your cravings you may satisfy.

The grain which is the black gram’s yield.
The so-called self or ego,
Grown in the body’s fertile field
Of five-fold sheaths, put into
The roller-mill made out of stone,
Which is the search for Wisdom,
The “Who am I?” ‘Tis thus alone
The Self will gain its freedom.
This must be crushed to finest dust
And ground up into fragments
As being the non-self, so must
We shatter out attachments.

Make poppadum…

Mix in the juice of square-stemmed vine,
This is association
With Holy Men. With this combine,
Within the preparation,
Some cummin-seed of mind-control
And pepper of restraining
The wayward senses, with them roll
That salt which is remaining
Indifferent to the world we see,
With condiment of leanings
Towards a virtuous unity.
These are their different meanings.

Make poppadum…

The mixture into dough now blend
And on the stone then place it
Of mind, by tendencies hardened,
And without ceasing paste it
With heavy strokes of the ‘I-I’
Delivered with the pestle
Of introverted mind. Slowly
The mind will cease to wrestle.
Then roll out with the pin of peace
Upon the slab of Brahman,
Continue efforts without cease
With energetic elan.

Make poppadum….

The poppadum or soul’s now fit
To put into the fry-pan.
The one infinite symbol it
Of the great Silence, which can
Be first prepared by putting in
Some clarified fresh butter
Of the Supreme. And now begin
To hear it till it sputter,
On Wisdom’s self-effulgent flame
Fry poppadum, ‘I’ as That.
Enjoying all alone the same;
Which Bliss we ever aim at.

Make poppadum of self and after eat;
Of Perfect Peace then you will be replete.

Translated by A W Chadwick