Crazy goes silent

Today, my dear friend Crazy Mohan passed away. He had no business passing away so suddenly, in the peak of his life. But then that’s the way he was. Spontaneous in everything. For him life was theater, where timing is everything. You may say he passed away with his boots on… He walked into the hospital today… And passed away soon after…

Mohan Rangachari, was a genius… His achievements need no elaboration… A terrific humorist – he was loved for the  great dialogues he wrote for some of the best ‘humor movies’ in Tamil. Other than his incredible contributions in cinema and drama, he was also a poet, a painter, and a most pure hearted human being. Such humility, such humor, such easy availability – he was a golden lotus in the murky waters of the workaday world.

My friendship with him was all about Ramana Maharshi. He was a great devotee of the silent sage of Arunachala. When we spoke on phone or met in person, our Hello and Bye were substituted by the happy greeting ‘Arunachala!’. He wrote a whole book of poems on Ramana, in beautiful Tamil.. A biography along the lines of Ramayanam… He named it Ramanayanam. Although he had written this, he had never visited Ramanasramam. It was only later… His first visit to Ramanasramam was with me… And I was privileged to work with him and render in English a series of discussions we had on Ramana Maharshi, which we serialized in the Ramana Way magazine, and  later brought out as a book titled ‘Crazy About Ramana’.

He constantly wrote exquisite poetry in Tamil. Every single day, he would share his ‘poem of the day’ with a bunch of his friends. And I was privileged to be one of them. Yesterday, he wrote a couple of verses…. These are perhaps the last verses he wrote…  I am giving them below… And I am also sharing my attempt at translating that to English, with a bit of license… Normally, I would have shared it with Mohan… And he would call me happily and we would chatter-chat… So, here’s to you Mohan….

His poem first…

மற்கடக்(குரங்குக்) குட்டியே, மாதா ரமணரை
நிற்க அனுமதிப்பாய் நின்னுள்ளே -வர்கத்தின்
பேதங்கள் போகும் பிறவிப் பிணிதீரும்
மோதுங்கள் அண்ணா மலை’’….!

வந்த மனக்குரங்கு வாயுள்ளே வாத்ஸல்யம்
சந்திர வம்சத்து சூரியன் -பந்தமறுப்பு:
முற்றும் துறக்க முனிவனாய் மாறலாம்
கற்ற களவை மற….கிரேசி மோகன்…!

                       

My attempt at rendering it in English…

O monkey mind, will you please,
Allow Mother-Ramana into your heart;
For all distinctions will then cease
And birth-cycle will depart.
Sing the praise of Aruna hill
Hail Aruna  ‘That-thou-art’.

Inside your mouth, O monkey-mind
Is motherly love;
Born of the moon, you will find
The Sun that shines above;
Renouncing all, me and mine,
A monk indeed art thou;
Your clock of knowledge, do unwind
Be free of all you know.

(O monkey mind, will you please,
Allow Mother-Ramana into your heart;
For all distinctions will then cease
And birth-cycle will depart.
Sing the praise of Aruna hill
Hail Aruna  ‘That-thou-art’..)

*

They say that mere ‘thought of Arunachala’ grants liberation. And here Mohan has punned on odungal as modungal (modungal arunachala)… Smash into Arunachala… As always, he is a smash hit!

Adieu my friend… It seems that the Gods need lots of laughter… Go shake them up…