After the Bhagavad Gita

By Brian George

1

They could not grasp him—for he was born. With Brahma Vishnu plays. The planet vanishes. Of  pure stock. Frightening his yoga. I saw the boy test weapons far from his own field.

*

In those days the omnipotent were beasts. To pervert the teacher's judgment was a challenge. The boy found a head to wear. “Is x-ray vision violent?” he asks. The chant exits the tornado. Vam ! They launch the egg. It burns. The clouds above the destruction are gigantic. The 8-spoked eye of the teacher rolls. Species fed with blood before the institute march.

*

Tell what my sons and the sons of Pandu did—when they massed at Kurukshetra.

*

At first there was noise. Forces blew. Suspended animation froze the shouts. Their wheels did not advance.

*

Krishna says: “Hesitate to kill the gods will laugh at you. Sympathy is seen as fear. The dead call you names. Therefore fight.”

*

Is what was? Was there once a time when you or they did not exist? The story bring forth.

*

Declining health made speech approximate. The contraption a work by Visvakarman begs. It wants fuel. Is too much enough? Asia smokes. Visions haunt the creator of industrial descent. Think of others: be. Determine what actors crouch behind your tongue.



*

Can a robot cause an earthquake with its chrome extensor arm? You have.

*

Teacher: is direct perception of the self a gift that came between us? The star sat on the head of the Bharata. Is the enemy light? Space junk hovers. Static grows. Knowledge stops. The transplanted wave carouses. In the future you will need a book to read.

*

I will put the shadow of the giants here—or perhaps there. The city flames. As it was then—now. I appropriate the Soma; it occurs to me that I own your work. Beasts board the departing wheel. Presences consume.

*

The clouds are anxious. For 36 thousand years we wait for you to come. You are on the way.

2

Labyrinths march. Lands tilt. Now starts the echo of oceanic flux. The lord of Sthanu appears—to withdraw. A survivor is raped by birds. Castes intermix. Crime commits the Dharma to an institute that flies—where doctors hoard the seeds. Friends don't recognize friends. Good families kill each other.

*

He hallucinates a gulf. Stage sets blow from crags. His head is a fort inhabited by few. Winds whack Nanga Parvat. Spells from Saturn quarantine the species.

*

Worlds aimed by the nonexistent science ring as they collide!

*

You serve. It is we who say if you are marked for death. East the west sends ants to scale the ruins of the Vedas. Unnatural disasters roam. Shake to confront the energies that judge you.

3

The early plant fossils. Signs race the north. Dig from Tyranosaur's throat the weapon Agni cast. Its unapproachable power smokes. By the thousands the bald creators turn to cows.

*

Wonders fight the archaic senate. Tornadoes victimized by building codes endeavor to move the Earth. Drunk with harmony the gods roar. Yoga says: perfect the muse of the catatonic self. Arts I test you. I pass for a flying rock. Is the war continuous? Great. Webs advance on the rusted spokes of history. A frightening moon speeds. Says the boy to the Bharata, “Here I am!”

*

The teacher opens—as if his touch were a vehicle to ride. Death creates joy. Space revolts. I hang a tribe from the wish fulfilling tree. The troops that flatten Saryanavat laugh.

4

 

Cities implode. A crowd falls on its face. We kiss the triumphant shadow of the self. Rods and crosses streak the red sky over Earth. Who knows the motivations of Svarbanu? He blots the sun.

(Illustration: Brian George: Shiva, Dancing, 2001)