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