The Poets of the Powers: Magic, Freedom, and Renewal

By Kamil V. Zvelebil

This reprint of the classic work first published in 1973 is largely based upon interviews with Yogi Ramaiah, a direct disciple of Babaji. It was the first academic study of the culture of the 18... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0941255328
• ISBN13: 9780941255325
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: Integral Pub
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 0.5" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

very good

I really enjoyed this book. The reader feels at each page that the author is not only a scholar, but also a pasionnate man who can very well communicate his expertise. Un livre fort bien écrit, nourri de nombreux détails, dans lequel on ressent tout le respect de l'auteur pour la mystérieuse tradition des Cittars ou Siddhas tamouls.

Good starter on Tamil Siddha poetry.

This is one of the very few works on the subject of the Tamil Siddha teachings and poetry. Prof. Zvelebil was (before his retirement) Europe's top researcher and author on this subject. He, by his own admission, does not have the knowledge of medicine (thousands of pages were devoted to medicines and diagnosis - many of the chief Siddha sages were physicians of legendary status) to interpret the poems from that angle. There is a tremendous amount of Yoga teaching in the poetry of the siddhas, but this text did not delve deeply into the Yoga and Alchemy methods of Boghar and certain other sages, preferring to stick closer to the more common Kundalini system. This is probably due to the lineage of his "informant", with whom he credits much of his knowledge of the subject. He mentions that there is not much alchemy at all in the poems of the Siddhas, but nothing could be further than the truth. This may also be due to not having proper guidance from someone learned in the "Twilight Language" that encodes the medical, yogic and alchemical systems in order to protect them from the uninitiated. The author concentrates on the political and social aspects of the poets, which is a very good thing, because the professor makes sure to let readers know that the Siddha literature has been destroyed, supressed or ignored by the orthodox Hindus of past ages. Many of the Siddhas of the past put down the practices of the orthodoxy, taking a more direct and experiential view of metaphysics, cosmology and theology - and much in the way of early Zen practitioners, were considered heretics because of the way they used "colorful metaphors" in the attempt to engage the reader (or listner) in direct experience of the teaching. Many of the poems he presents in this small work have a flavor of the poetry of an oppressed minority clothed in the language of oriental mysticism. This is a book that could be very entertaining on a long flight, and is a good beginning for anyone interested in getting a start with the Tamil Siddha poets.