{ Saturday, February 22, 2003 }
I am food! I am food! I am food!
I eat food! I eat food! I eat food!
My name never dies, never dies, never dies!
I was born first in the first of the worlds, earlier than the gods, in the belly of what has no death!
Whoever gives me away has helped me the most!
I, who am food, eat the eater of food!
I have overcome this world!
He who knows this shines like the sun.
Such are the laws of the mystery!
There is something irresistible about this fragment from the Taittiriya Upanishad. I know nothing about it (it is one of the epigraphs to Lewis Hyde's The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property), but I keep reading it over and over. The unexpected exclamation "I am food!" three times followed by the "I eat food!" three times -- the joyful kooky excess, the exclamation points, the gleeful good humor of this "I" -- and all this as a vehicle for conveying a Great Mystery, it's just so great! I am charmed. Would that all wisdom were delivered this way.
"The root of our English word 'mystery' is a Greek verb muein, which means to close the mouth," Hyde writes in the conclusion of the book,"Dictionaries tend to explain the connection by ponting out that the initiates to ancient mysteries were sworn to silence, but the root may also indicate, it seems to me, that what the initiate learns at a mystery cannot be talked about. It can be shown, it can be witnessed or revealed, it cannot be explained."
But then, if you flip back to the beginning, here comes this rambunctious "I", shouting and laughing like it's all a big joke, saying clear as day: I am food, I eat food, so are you. A clearer explanation you could not ask for. O wonderful indeed.
LINK | 2:20 AM | TB
Does anyone out there read Sanskrit (and have the Upanishads handy)? I want to find out if the repetitions are in the original or only the translation. I've just found a Penguin Classics translation, and it starts out thusly:
Oh, the wonder of joy! I am the food of life, and I am he who eats the food of life: I am the two in ONEIt lacks the joy of this translation.
Caterina | February 22, 2003 9:11 PMMystery might be connected with 'close to the mouth' because in the ancient world reflective surfaces were not as common, while beards and a lack of table manners were more common.
Hence the prevalence of bits of food sticking to the face, and being unaware of them, would have been higher.
Puts a new spin on 'mystery meat' as well.
Interesting what you can and can't learn with Google.
The verse is the penultimate in the last section (Book 3 Lesson 10) of the Taittiriya Upanishad. Here's another translation which does include the repetition:
"10. Oh! Oh! Oh! I am food, I food, I food! I food-eater, I food-eater, I food-eater! I am the combining agent, I am the combining agent, I am the combining agent. I am the First- born of the existence! Prior to gods, the centre of the immortal. Whoso giveth me, he surely doth thus save. I, the food, eat him who eats food. I the whole being destroy. Light, like the sun!"
I wasn't able to find a commentary which explains the verse, nor the original Sanskrit (pity, as I'd like to know what it sounds like).
But here's a paper on Wendell Barry in which the verse is quoted.
I am inspired to reply in kind:
Oh! Oh! Oh!
I am information! I am information! I am information!
I process information! I process information! I process information!
I am Google! I am Google! I am Google!
I, who am information, process the processor of information!
I index the whole world!
Google, like the sun!
Excellent, Prentiss. Thank you!
Caterina | February 26, 2003 3:15 PMCertain of the Rig Vedas contain the same manic, exuberant joy in parts.
Thank you! That is a wonderful piece, I wasn't previously acquainted with that particular Upanishad, I must correct that soon. :-)
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I find it difficult to read and enjoy serious literature, especially poetry, because I can't stop myself from intellectualizing it. I usually have to shut off all of my analytical reflexes to let a piece seep in; and even then I'm sure I don't get as much as I could. (A good technique for muting the intellectual faculties is to read the piece backward at first; you feel the cadence and get more imagery from words - features that would have passed by unnoticed).
Someone should write a book for those of us who sincerely want to appreciate good literature but have a hard time of it: "How to Read Literature."
Igor Stravinsky once said that his music was best understood by children and animals. I think I know exactly what he means.
Anyway, a piece like this is a joy for someone like me because it smacks you between the eyes. Caterina said it as eloquently as it can be said. This is a style I could get used to and really enjoy.
Jeff | February 22, 2003 8:48 AM