In a culture of more, it is hard to sell the concept of less. The Tao Te Ching teaches us, “In the pursuit of knowledge, every day something is added. In the practice of the Tao, every day something is dropped.” In the same vein, 19th-century American naturalist, poet, philosopher, and transcendentalist, Henry David Thoreau, once said, “A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.” Neera Kashyap’s poetry collection, The Art of Unboxing, embodies and draws inspiration from this principle. The collection, which charts the journey of the body, mind, and soul, uncovers poetic expressions down to their core essentials under twelve groupings.
While each image in her poems accurately reflects physicality – sensations, movement, and colour – they ultimately dissolve into the restful, achromatic realm of abstraction, a space liberated from tumultuous and clear references, yet one that captures the essence of existence. Her poems guide readers from sensory perception to symbolism, from the vital force inherent in life to its intangible, yet actual realities, from the certainty of knowing to its suspension, and from earthly connections to the elevated domain of the Source, the crucible of all that is. The cover aptly encapsulates these poems: the shades of green reflect botanical vibrancy and convey the warmth, nurturing qualities, and groundedness of nature and life, the indistinctness in the background evokes a sense of the beyond, representing the inscrutable and timeless nature of existence’s reality.
In search of a single, unified reality
“The Sky in the Puddle”, the first set of poems, immerses readers in the struggles of existence. The array of vivid images – gritty sand, a restless sea, falling rain, cloudbursts, bird calls, ripe, juicy watermelons, blasted hills, uprooted trees, forest fires, dandelions, exploding flowers, dispersing seeds, circling eagles, cardboard boxes packed in bubble wrap, and the watchful eyes of Nanda Devi – feel tangible. Yet these images, though visceral, evoke a sense of oscillation within the reader’s mind. They quietly swing their perceptions between their concrete presence and an acceptance of their absence. As “other” foggy, formless impressions begin to emerge, and their silhouettes become clear, the readers perceive a “silver flash in the summer's mother-of-pearl,” an “empty gift box,” and “a leaf wafting to the earth,” to become indistinguishable from it. These muted images, strangely, become more real than the others, and without realising it, the readers move from skin to soul. This seamless movement enables them to embrace both possibilities simultaneously, much like holding movement within stillness. This premise sets the tone for the volume, and the poem “Fullness” captures this idea where there is a fusion of the thinker and her thoughts, where the aspirant is one with the object of her meditation.
“My finger digs deep.
First there is wet sand
then water spurts up –
a sudden spring
I press my ear to it.
It is the boom of the sea.
A tide breaks over me,
my body surges seawards.Hole – now all sea.”
“A Fine String of Beads like Teardrops” carries forward the skin-soul juxtaposition through the idea of search. Discovery here is not about new landscapes but vision. The concept of eternity could be potentially terrifying, as it may be “not personal, not empty, not random/ simply there – raining sorrow, raining solace – indifferently” (“Shards of Glass”). Yet this batch of poems is not without light. “The Beckoning”, “Dance of the Dancing Girl”, and “The Call” provide pathways to those seeking the eternal through unfamiliar and changing gods, and guides through encouragement, urging them to seek in their own way, undeterred. For, in the end, “we need to close the apertures shutting ourselves from ourselves.” (“Changes in the Apertures”).
The “Seed, Cell, Tree, Heart” series explores hatred and the damage humanity inflicts on nature, even though it is our most faithful ally.
“The seed knows;
— “Free Radicals”
it can unify ecosystems, clans, religions
but not when genes turn radical
not when cells turn cancerous”
Truth, both physical and psychological, is buried beneath the façade of illusion. The “A Peeping Gazania in My Garden” sequence highlights this intriguing peek-a-boo.
“Her persona being close to her inner reality
— “Why a Persona?”
She knows she cannot reveal the whole of her thought
unsheathed.”
Yet the mirror never lies, and is bound to strip away self-delusions.
“The mirror is beyond
— “Mirror and the Image”
my vanities an inanities
my cosmetics and kinetics.”
How can one find a stable footing in a world, such as this, filled as it is with deception, instability and inequalities? This is the question poems in “Moist Earth Loosened for Seedlings” address. In her poem “Stories”, the poet discovers an answer in the centeredness of a humble earthen pot, which holds eternity within its hollow. Her mother gifts it to her on her deathbed; yet this is not just a personal story, in its telling, it catches a truth for us all.
“Its story lay in centredness;
stable clay coned on a spinning wheel.
Bone dry, the pot was fired.
All moisture, all suphur, all carbon
burned away.
A solid porous vessel glazed to
hold Ganga water
and Ma’s story.”
In “Farewell by the River”, the poet, yet again, resolves the duplicities of life and death. When her mother passes away, she sees her death as the return of her individual consciousness to the universal reality.
“The currents coursing now with purpose,
carrying her away on a strong flow
lit by lights from a town on the other shore.”
When she experiences a restless desire to eliminate the world’s inequalities and seeks quick solutions, she comes to understand that these changes take time and unfold at their own pace. She realises that true tranquillity can only be found by relying on her inner balance.
“An evolving hunger –
— “Leaving Shadows Behind”
to be lotus-like, inured to stagnant murk,
opening slowly in pink blissfulness.
At peace in the midst of murk
free of it, free of thoughts of it.”
In “Endless Supply Suddenly Cut Loose”, the poems plunge the readers into the turmoil faced by countless dispossessed people who are searching for lost homes and identities. They conclude that recognising human dignity and our interconnectedness is the only way to escape this inhumanity. These lines remain rooted in one’s mind.
“An endless supply, an endless endurance,
Unknown adventurers, entrepreneurs unsung.”
The stanzas in “Light and Silence Trailing Back” are affirmations of women who may not have power or equality but flourish quietly. A housemaid “who was once equal to her man” as a tribal, and who “sowed the land with him, and owned it” is stripped of her power in the city (“Reversals”). A city woman with a demanding career is still expected to serve “timely meals, tidy cupboards, stock larders, clean washing (“Tall Dreams”). Many other women endure “death by fire and rape”, new penalties in a new age (“A Change of Instruments”). These women may be diminished by society, but continue to persevere. “Durga, With Hope” envisions women’s power in these circumstances.
“The unitive power that combines and balances,
with hope,
the male and female
the female and male
in all.”
Explorations and introspection
The “Love the Good More” initiative begins the journey of self-discovery, emphasising the importance of understanding one’s thoughts, emotions, and motivations. It explores feelings of lack of inspiration (“An Offering”), a sense of limitation (“A Wind Murmurs”), a desire for self-improvement (“Iblis”), and a yearning to overcome limitations (“The Leap”). The following section, titled “Turn Your Gaze Inwards”, makes a bold entrance into the exploration of the soul's interiority, and the poems in the subsequent sections, titled “A Glowing Pinpoint in the Dark” and “It’s Not Time Yet” delve deeply into this theme with remarkable insight and clarity. These sections are the nucleus of the unboxing enterprise.
“A Garland That Ensnares” captures the upheavals of this inner journey that is anything but easy. The seeker fluctuates between “hope, despair, and observation,” as this pursuit compels an awareness of the ways she seeks to escape that ultimately hold her captive. It also demands of her an understanding of what is real, whether through the lens of multiple deities or in their absence, and requires her to confront her vulnerabilities and shortcomings (“Unveiled”). Additionally, it requires an “impassive intelligence” of hers that can balance action and inaction (“Durga’s Weapons”), a sense of stillness, the kind of serenity that goddesses display under their mask of destruction and gore, and an acceptance of the “death of sensory pulls’ (“Cessation”). Furthermore, there is the necessity to recognise the limitlessness of the formless space beyond, which is embodied by Shiva (“Bridges”).
The section called “A Glowing Pinpoint in the Dark” is dedicated to the wisdom of Ramana Maharishi, whose idea of self-inquiry stands as an inspiration behind this entire collection. Emphasising that our highest instinct is to know ourselves – essentially, to know God – the poems in this section guide readers on a journey toward divine understanding. “Dawn on Arunachala” describes devotees who eagerly await the sunrise over the hill of Arunachala. However, a transformative experience does not come instantly to all; it follows a period of deep introspection, as explored in “A Continuum”. Here, the realisation dawns that there is much more to life than the “grey shield” one initially perceives. This newfound awareness teaches the importance of perseverance “through opposing forces threatening daily rupture,” as expressed in “Colours of the Unconscious”. And, in “Unerring”, there is the realisation:
“Perhaps the answer
is to live with dirt,
be scoured by it,
and wait –
till ripeness comes
unhurried”
The penultimate section, “It’s Not Time Yet,” describes the quest for inner truth as an ongoing struggle that extends beyond the limits of our universe.
“Are there other planes of existence, of consciousness?
— “A Searching War”
That help us take steps towards the new?
A universe within – that is there for each of us –
uniting us
even as we wage our wars in search of it.”
The distillation of ideas in the last section of haibun titled “Silent Frames” balances prose with poetry. The layering of diverse thoughts – whether academic, social, cultural, philosophical, or experiential – is achieved with delicate beauty and elegance.
Chitra Gopalakrishnan is a writer based in New Delhi.
The Art of Unboxing, Neera Kashyap, Red River Press.
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