Dr.G.MEND-OOYO (Mongolia)
Poetry is an unknown light signal from Cosmos.
Poetry is the magic wave of spiritual energy.
Poetry is the heavenly body of human’s inner Cosmos.
Poetry is an outstanding phenomenon of the spirited Mandala.
To
speak about poetry within today’s cognitive frame would be a bit
insufficient. With other words, one cannot explain many hidden values of
real poetry by means of our understanding of things of today. One of
these values is the energy wave of the poetry. The energy wave contained
in the poetry is an inexhaustible wealth of the poetry culture of the
humankind. Strangely enough, in nomadic cultural heritage one often
faces something that resembles efforts to manage natural energy through
the energy of poetry. This should be given importance and careful study,
I think.
It is said that at the end of 19th Century
in the Gobi desert of Mongolia there was terrible drought for many
years. People and animals suffered tremendously due to non-existent
rain, dryness and the parched soil. The famous poet Gelegbalsan from the
Gobi composed verses and invocations asking the Heavens for rain. Then
he went to an ancient shrine with offerings along with the local people.
The poet recited in verse and song his invocations with his face
directed to the Sky, with all the people around him accompanying him in
chorus. Soon afterwards clouds gathered out of the clear Sky and rain
started to fall.
This story demonstrates the magic of poetry’s
energy, and on the other hand, it tells of the unique capability of the
poet to manage natural phenomenon by galvanizing people’s spirits
and consciousness.
Mongolian nomads believe that all mountains
and waters have their own spiritual Masters who are not visible, but
have the mysterious quality of being felt by people’s thoughts and
minds. That’s why each mountain and body of water has its own
praise-songs and rituals. Addressing these praise-songs and rituals to
the mountains, people can call preferable natural phenomenon like rain,
rainbows etc. to their aid.
If one carefully listens
to the evocations, incantations and calls of shamans one can hear verses
addressed to the Heaven, Water-spirits and the shaman’s own spiritual
helpers.
In the Eastern Mongolian steppe, namely in Dariganga,
there is a small steppe mountain called Altan-Ovoo. Local people for
hundreds of years have been praying and worshipping this small mountain.
Around the 13th Century people worshipped the mountain according to
shamanist rituals and starting in the 18th Century, the mountain was
worshipped in accordance with Buddhist rituals. Both Shamanist and
Buddhist rituals were performed in verse. Worshippers recited verses in
the form of religious songs praising the mountains and waters and asking
the Masters in the Sky and Earth for mercy, rain, good luck and peace.
With full devotion and belief, people offer the choicest of their food
and drinks and chant:
My sacred Altan-Ovoo
My sacred Altan-Ovoo
My sacred Altan-Ovoo
When
a word is repeated many times by many people at the same time it
becomes energized by the concentrated spiritual energy of many people.
In this way, the word attains an extraordinarily strong spiritual charge
and energetic frequency.
A local herdsman would utter
the name of Altan-Ovoo when his or her horse stumbled and offer thanks
to Altan-Ovoo that he or she didn’t fall from the horse. Once a nomad
has discovered and learned how a word can be energized and produce this
wave-like energetic effect, he will highly respect poetry as something
heavenly and sublime.
During the rule of Chinggis Khaan important
messages, especially, ultimatums, were written in verse, which
messengers had to memorize and recite in the form of a song to the
recipient. Many of Chinggis Khaan’s teachings that were passed down are
in verse. These are examples of using the strength of poetry in state
affairs.
From history, we know that when the Mongolian
State became more sedentary and urbanized, namely in the Yuan Dynasty
era, almost all khans and ministers composed verses.
History
also tells us that Zanabazar, Mongolia’s 17th Century enlightened
lama’s famous poem “The pacifying prayer” (Tsagiig tohinuulagch
zalbiral”) distributed widely throughout the country by his students,
could even prevent wars between rival regions.
Mongolian
nomads use verses and melodic words for dealing with their animals. The
animals, not knowing human language, are moved by the verses and
melodic words presented to them by the herders.
The
strength of a real poet lies in his ability to create a totally new
being and to open an unknown world. Poetry forms itself through an
ensemble of musical and rhythmic words and carries the energy of the
content that matches the words and their form. This inner energy, having
created a certain shape of thought, flows out as mind’s true
expression, spreading like a flow of atomic energy. If the words, the
rhythm and the meaning in a poem work harmoniously together, the poetry
can have infinite magical meanings and can contain exciting energy that
pleases countless readers throughout time. Truly vital poetry contains
invisible strength and exists as a magic sphere of meaning, which
revives people’s minds and changes itself again and again as soon as it
is stimulated.
They say a recipient of the Nobel
Peace Prize, Russian poet Boris Pasternak once exclaimed: “Dear fellow
poets. Please, do not foretell your sorrowful death in your verses
because poetry’s strength makes it to come true.” He must have had
noticed how Pushkin, Lermontov and Esenin were foretelling their deaths
in their verses.
A reader who reads a meaningful poem
experiences the same sufferings and joy of inspiration as those of the
poet when the poem was created. The very strong thoughts and
formulations in a poem that is read by scores of readers act as careers
of this magic energy. When the inner energy absorbed in a poem’s every
word and its energized sound radiates out, it occupies and possesses the
minds of the listeners. Real poetry has always had the strength to
exist regardless of space and time.
This is, I would say, is poetry’s energy or its magic wave.
This
magic quality of poetry’s energy has been used in different times both
for good and bad. There are cases of using the energized magic wave of
words as a weapon for fighting an enemy. At times there was the
so-called “curse poetry”.
Mongolians like the saying:
Benediction brings flowers
Cursing brings blood
The
logic of this saying is that words coming from a good heart and mind
lead people and society through bright paths. The shortest way to
enlightenment lies within poetry. Through poetry we can purify the human
spirit, shed light in the darkness of human’s inner world, fight for
enlightenment, bring peace, and in this way bring together peoples
hearts and minds. Poetry can eliminate distrust, differences in space
and time, and bring down the walls that divide us.
Therefore, we
shall pay attention to the fact that there is a possibility of using the
magic wave of the energy which lies in the multi-national poetry of
humankind. The more humane and merciful our poetry, the more the magic
wave of this purifying energy will help our deeds towards their
fulfillment: the absolute desire of humankind to live in peace.
Only
poetry charged by the light of love and mercy, coming from a human’s
mind, and the energetic words of a gifted human will make every thing
good and beautiful.
