For Peace

For Peace...

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu!
May Peace and Happiness Prevail...

May there be peace in your heart
Where it should, really, all start...

May there by peace in your eyes
So that from there it flows, gently to arise...

May there be peace in your utterance
And all that you speak, makes a warm difference...

May there be peace in every deed
To bring harmony to those in need!!

May all of us be these symbols
of Peace, ringing out from from us, the Cymbals!!

A fairy tale, a dream dreamt, yet untold
I know: but why can't we make so bold

As to try and be peaceful
and thus, make the world more beautiful?

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu!
Om Shanthi...Shanthi....Shanthihi...!

7 May, 07

****

Another re-post. The hope is strong, still. So I had to share this one too. The prayer is derived from this entire sloka, which has nothing to do with religion, just an expression, from ancient scriptures on the need for universal harmony, that holds the key to existence in society, harmoniously. Something we lack, sadly, utterly, today.

svasti prajabhyam paripalayantham nyayeana margena mahim maheesah
gobrahmanebhya shubamsthu nityam lokah samastha sukhino bhavanthu

Om lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu. May peace and harmony prevail. Although this mantra does not appear in any of the existent Veda sakhas [Vedic branches], it is an expression of the universal spirit that we find therein.
For peace and harmony to prevail, the kings--i.e. the politicians and leaders--should have a healthy approach towards their subjects and govern according to principles of dharma. And that is what the ancients interpreted it as. Is it any different now, in our contemporary context?

28 November, 2008

Picture, Courtesy: www.womenretreat-vcws-us.org

Dark Was the Night

Dark was the dusk
When the storm broke!

Long was the night
When the fires raged!

Deep were the wounds
that seared the hearts!

This is not a picture of long ago,
but of yesterday
when demons born of man's mind
roamed the streets
to ravage, to pillage humanity.

I stood a mute witness
to this nightmare come alive
And thought - is this what we have
come to?
Is man merely a refined instrument
of death in the name of religion,
of land, of tiny man-made divisions?

Has he lost sight of his glorious
self?-
The one in all of us...

If he would only stop to think
to take stock of himself
look around

See... the trees, flowers, mountains,
valleys, plains, rivers....

Listen... to the laughter of a child...

Feel... the blessings his mother gave him..

Share... in the love of his comrades
And come home,
Into his heart... with peace.

Oh please! just pause a while
And thank god for giving you
A mother who has the
largest, warmest, most loving
heart of all...

She has suffered enough..
and now all her sons
and daughters shall join
hands and hearts and sing
with one voice -

God Bless you always..
Vande Mataram!

Written in 1993

****

A Note:

It seemed appropriate to share this one now, with the fires still raging and shooting still going on in Mumbai. This was actually written post-Babri Masjid, when the riots almost shattered the secular fabric of our nation. But fifteen years later, how much has really changed, other than the faces? It is still humans, doing this, to each other, for all those twisted reasons they find, isn't it? Not aliens, not extra-terrestrials! My heartfelt condolences to all those who have lost near and dear ones to these kinds of acts of violence. May God grant them the strength to bear their loss and live through this time of pain and anguish. The silent succor of our prayers are always with you all.

God Bless us all!

28 November, 2008

Treasure

Liquid treasure
Stored for ages-
Mellowed, yet holding
The Sting.

Only with you
Could I share it.
For only you could
Know, the value...
For no one else
Could even make me
Want to try...
For, no one else
Was deserving too...

Your tenderness
The gentleness
Of your quiet question:

Why are you holding it in?

When you read
The pain,
In my eyes..
Was enough.

Trembling, in your arms,
My head tucked into your shoulder,
I can only let you
Soak it too..

That treasure:

Now as much yours...


22 April, 2008


***
A re-post again :) Till the muse visits again :)

Knowing

I’ve never understood
Quite exactly
How you always know…

Times, when my brightest
Smile, I flash-
Not wanting you
To be touched by that
Ache, I hold below;
You simply draw me
In, into your arms,
And take that ache away.

Times, when I seethe,
In silent stony, stubborn steam-
You gently warm, and
Keep me cool, and pliant,
With the lightness of your heart!

Times, you know so well-
Brimming with the intense emotion,
We simply touch,
And melt, into the
Dervish of the recurring
Love Dance-
Spiralling upwards
Ever entwined,
Our fragrances…

And so, I don’t want to know too…
How you always know-

You will always…
What more, then
Remains,

To be known?




23 April, 2008

A Butterfly Visits!!!

A butterfly's wings
Hold more magic
Than the rainbow
Or the varied hues
That Nature can ever give...:)

For they catch the light
Trap, and reflect;
And make a merry dance
Whirls, and whorls of magic!!!

And so such magic comes here
Gifted by a crusader,
An honest soul,
A discerning thinker,
A young man who makes
A difference!!

He wonders, why
I say "Thank you" ...
Why, I use it so... :)
My answer?

For these
Random Acts of Kindness:)
For being his natural self...!
For speaking up,
For speaking for,
For sharing... :)

23 November, 2008

Thanks Praveen :)
Now you can ignore this silly on-the-spot verse :) :)
Except for the thanks, of course:)

P.S. More on the award and those I would like to have it shared with on my other space, Overdrive, HERE! Thanks again, Praveen!!!

A Dangerous Optimism

My queer notion
Defies the crucible
Of its inception.
So you tell me.

But no, I shall
Not let it be-
I shall not surrender
That intangible wealth
For, it is all I have
This day.

When you, and the
World, shun the prospect,
Lacing homilies and
Anecdotes to underscore
The real and reel,
I know I shall not
Let go.

Not of the belief-
That Knowledge alone
Is power.
That knowing therefore,
Separates, then fuses
As with chaff and grain,
And growth from grain!

Not to you, or your
Foreboding can I
Ever abandon the
Unquenching thirst,
Of the limitless, seamless
Knowing, which shall,
Someday lead me

To that place
Here on Earth, in Life
(Not any astral plane, for sure!)
Where I am finally
Truly, Contentedly
Me, living with that Knowledge!

A dangerous optimism
A mrigatrishna you say!
But, you know, don't you?

I like to walk the
Razor's Edge!

I wonder,
Would you, then, like
To join me?


12 November, 2008

Grey

Shades of grey?
You ask.
Puzzled. In askance.
You wonder that
I like them!
I know I don’t
Need to explain-
But I’d like to share-
Maybe, then you’ll see them fair!

The grey in dawn-
The beginning of life;
That space between the
Eyelids and the eye
Before they open;
The softness of grey clouds-
Such a warm and cosy shelter
From the blinding sun.

Deeper grey- storm clouds:
Harbingers of the elixir of life;
Spreading to the grey drops
That fill and surge and quench
The Earth!

The colour of Grief
Which resounds only
In a heart that loves;
The colour of possibilities
Unnamed and innumerable;
The hue of ash,
That makes a man of a Son
And a woman of a Daughter.

It is the grey
That defines-
In more ways
Than I can tell you-

More than all the
Whites and Blacks;
For it carries
Both
In generous balance-

Black and White
To the Grey of
Experience!


15 November '07

Ode - I

If it could be like this

Always-

You and me and happiness
till past
Eternity.

If it didn't have to be
play-acting,
make-believe:
just an interlude
in the misty, nebulous
world of dreams!

If only all this
were true-
that you're still with me
walking this road together...

I miss you, my friend.
The part of me that you were
Will always be yours..
Till that promised

Past Eternity...




10 December, '85

*********

Picture, Courtesy: profile.myspace.com

A re-post again... :) Pushed up from the bottom of the list, in February when this was first posted. Just came across this today and decided to refresh it :)

This write has a sequel of sorts :)... Do read, if time and inclination permit:)

Ode - II

*********

Oodles of Noodles

Oodles of noodles
Intertwined
Entangled
Wisps of greenery
A bit of orange carrot
thrown in
for good measure.

Garnished; set.


1985

***
Picture, courtesy:

dalitoy.blogspot.com

As the labels proclaim, this is, incidentally, a silly ramble! But one, like all the nonsensical and silly things in life, I love.. :) Just pulling it up from the nether worlds of the blog.. :D!!

Through the Halls of Time...

All along the Halls of Time
Adorning its endless walls
Are those pictures;

If ever I were to regress
Into a past-
Any one of those myriad lifetimes
I may have lived-

I'd know one thing for sure:
Somewhere, somehow-
Among those portraits
Will hang some; very special ones...

When you and I meet,
And Greet-
Even if, to part;
To meet again,
Further down the Hall!

And that, you see,
Is just that!

Us.




25 December, '07

***

Picture, Courtesy : www.flickr.com

Getting Here

It's been a long way...
And it's been a long time...
getting here.

Dark, desperate
torturous paths,
Stormy troubled times..
Lashed by bitter
experience
Briefly relieved
by caring helping
hands..

It's been a lonely fight...
getting here
But if life
had been
kinder...
Would I have ever
discovered
my strength,
my faith?

Would I have
ever searched..
sought and
found
my own echoing
self...
in you?

It's been worth it
getting here.

6 June, 2002

***

Perhaps you have the time for this too?

Untitled

Thank you :)

Storm

The storm tossed leaves
on those trees
so reflect my inner turmoil.

Bits of hope
Shreds of despair;
warring and joining.
Joy and sorrow too,
those inevitable companions
and
undeniable rivals
for life's affections...


Churning in the sea of life.



The clouds must
break someday
And the wind cannot
blow forever.

Maybe, just maybe
the sun will shine
again, someday soon....


Just for me??



16 November'92

***

Another one of aeons ago :)
Pictures, courtsey:

www.nytimes.com
news.bbc.co.uk

We... CAN!

Can we-
Ever, but never

Put aside masks

So part of us?
I'm human-
Oh? I'm Super-human!
Uh-Oh! I'm Super-duper-Human!
And so speaks
The Social Conscience,
In all those (ph)(f)aces
Of our existence!

I wonder,
Yet again-
Can we
Someday, sometime
Merge our colours
Into the stream
That once was?

(The Greens, The Reds
The Saffrons...
Strand by strand
Thin myopic reeds, like veins
Dispersing, dispensing, insidiously
Into the bloodstream of a populace
To tinge, stain, mark
Indelibly!)

Fuse again, into that pure white
Light of the knowledge
That we are indeed built
Upon that cell, with the
Same stream of Consciousness
Running through its memory!

Are we so far gone
Down that wilderness
As a rampant equine
Without blinkers?
That we shall not ever
See the wood for the trees?
(Or is it the other way around?)

Can we
Just
STOP!
Right There.
Just stop.
And think.
Know. Believe. Act.

Rewind to that
Moment of Truth
When a Great Soul
Told us-
At that Midnight tryst
We Can! We did!



And down the
Chute of time
We undid...

How I wish we'd
Strive again,
And know!

Can't We?

We

Can?



5 November, 2008

***
(Gandhiji's Picture, courtsey, theinspirationroom.com)

***

In wait, for the indomitable human spirit to rise again, here - an echo of which we heard this day, in the U S of A!
Also Congratulations to Mr Barack Obama, for being the harbinger of a possibility that we should explore :) The possibility, of course, being the clarion call he made for Unity of all the colour, creed, orientation, class, political ideology!!
I believe, that it is possible:) With the Children of Today... Can't we tell them at least that? That They Can... ? Teach them the wonder of the uplifting song called

The Impossible Dream

from that timeless movie on Don Quixote, "The Man from La Mancha"


Also, I just came across this on Youtube.. And it charmed me no end!!!

Gandhi’s words in this Telecom Italia TV ad:

“If you want to give a message it must be a message of ‘Love’, it must be a message of ‘Truth’. I want to capture your hearts. Let your hearts clap in unison with what I’m saying. A friend asked yesterday, ‘Did I believe in one world?’ How can I possibly do otherwise, of course I believe in one world”.

An Option!

Perched on the edge of sanity
Is a bit of eclectic thought
A bit that is quite entirely me-
Wondering if it were not better
To fall off the precipice of conformity
And wallow in the sheer wanton world
Of a seamless, rule-less, liberation
In being only a soul; naked of the body
Soaked in the stupor of endless ecstasy

Of discovering that


16 June, 2008

***

Please don't stone me dear readers, for, as you guessed it :), I'm just airing another that got lost in the pile here:)

Perhaps you'd like to read these too, if you have the time:

Fathomless

Homing In

Evolving

A Question

In Search Again...

Your silence suddenly
Has muted-
Or is it that I'm
On a different wavelength?

Has the light in your
Eyes really dimmed?
Or am I, perhaps
Looking too hard?

All of a sudden
Interference jams the
Vibes, and all of a sudden
I am lost in the pandemonium
Of frequencies, that
Don't find resonance!

And yet, we talk-
Of this and that...
But never what
We always used to...



Are the pieces of the
Perfect Puzzle, made by each other
Falling out, all over again?

Is it just a momentary lapse?

I hope!
I know?

I know.
We will
Piece together again...

And then, finally,
Again



Just Be!



22 October, 2008
***

Pictures Courtesy:
www.worldofstock.com
www.cardiomyopathy.org

***

Forced the muse again, and so comes this rather unfinished and rambling post..:) Do bear with the eccentricity of the author, Lol! And thanks in advance, for being here!