Divinity Redefined

By Chander Mahadev

When Dr Manjusha went about writing her intense verses on the God of her understanding, Lord Shiva to be precise, little did she realize that she had redefined divinity in this age of information and technology. Deeply in love with Lord Shiva, she sees herself as his divine consort Gauri. In her debut book of prose & verses Magic of Divine Love, she invokes Lord Shiva whom she sees as the Super soul. She says that according to what she has assimilated while undertaking the divine journey of writing these, she realized that Shiva is indeed Shav without Shakti. But since Shiva and Shakti are one, they compliment each other. That is the reason why they are non-existent without each other. She says that her intense love for Lord Shiva sprang out of long meditation sessions and it was her inner urge and the Lord’s divine will that made her put pen to paper. In her spiritual fiction of poems & short stories, she longs to be one with the Lord, whom she embraces in the form of Gauri, Lord Shiva’s mythical consort.

Much like in the bhakti ras tradition of Meerabai, Dr Manjusha has ardently penned her divine passionate verses in the praise of her Lord. Her lilting verses invoke a great sense of devotion and she comes across as an earnest devotee seeking consummation with her Lord. Her poetry is endowed with fluid grace and her lines rhyme like a gurgling brook seeking its final destination at the Lord’s feet. Sample these lines:

She laments:

…Not even for a moment now

Apart from You can I exist!

You are my Lord, my Saviour,

Don’t ever go out of my sight,

Otherwise this beloved of Yours

Will die a thousand deaths in just one life!

You rule all my actions, my every behavior,

Etched forever in this heart of mine

Are these two Lotus Feet of Yours,

That I ever lovingly want to kiss & hold;

And wash them daily with the pure waters

Of love, devotion & surrender,

That pour out from the depths of my heart,

Making way through my love soaked eyes!

A doctor by profession, Manjusha’s poems come across like a whiff of fresh air that caresses the soul in these stress-filled times. She reveals that her work has been inspired by Jaidev’s Geet Govinda & Kalidas’s Kumar Sambhav and she feels that it is her inner striving to be one with the Lord that keeps her going. Even if you don’t believe in institutionalised religion, take a dip into the Magic of Divine Love, and you are bound to emerge refreshed if not pure.