Monthly Archives: August 2009

“Love every day. Each one is so short and they are so few”.
– Norman Vincent Peale

Kabir – The couplet

transliterated:

Durlabh manush janam hai, hoi na dooji baar |

Pakka fal jo gir pada, laage na dooji bar ||

Translation:

Human life is difficult to achieve, and it is only one we get – no 2^nd chance |

Like the ripened fruit (once it falls ), no way to reattach it to the source of life ||

My understanding:

Life is a miracle. Life is a blessing. Life is something that needs to be enjoyed. A full life still seems short at the end of it all. We each have a lot to do, a lot to love, a lot more to achieve, and so very little time to do it.

With so much opportunity all around us, is there really a need for any negativity? Not really – think it over ..

Let us enjoy life, and teach those around us to enjoy the bounty that life is.

“The emotional cost of failing to attain our goals is great, I won’t deny that. But what is the psychic cost of failing against the psychic cost of not setting goals beyond our abilities out of fear and lack of confidence in ourselves? That is, what is the value in not trying because we fear, before the first step is taken, that we’ll fail?”
– Dustin Wax (Get D.U.M.B.! The Value of Unattainable Goals)

Kabir – The couplet

transliterated:
Bada hua to kya hua, jaise paid khajoor |
>Panchhi ko chhaya nahin, phal laage ati door ||

Translation:
Of what use is the very tall, like the date palm?
No shady shelter for birds, and the fruits are so out of reach ||

My understanding:
Big, tall, great, high – all are nice adjectives, all marking a level that might be difficult to attain. Of what use is the pursuit of a goal that distances us from those around us, or so engrosses us that we neglect common courtesy?
It is good to set tough goals, but our goals need to be synchronous with, complementary to and allow us to work with and be part of everything around us.
Even the pioneers of our histories all worked to further that which they already had – no one snapped the link since continuity is our greatest win and one of our most humane characteristics.
So let us work to further ourselves, but with recognition of everything that brought us here, not in isolation within ourselves.

“All good thoughts” in spite of righteousness
is the kind of thoughts in spite of greatness.
Often now the State is advocation.
If we form a power of recognition.

Forget loss and perfect advocation.
If it drops or stays in convocation.
All we praise is all we want in commerce
All we praise is parties, foreign commerce.

Entertain ideas of great communion,
Shelter not materials in union
(All we praise is not the kind of commerce.
Thats the right solution!)

“All good thoughts” is not the act of doing
What we want but what we should be proving
(Properties?), ideas, a woman’s pleasure
is empowered by love, a perfect measure!

– Sufjan Stevens (Lyrics of a popular song)

Kabir - The couplet

transliterated:

Aisi vani boliye, man ka aapa khoye

Auron ko sheetal karai, aapa sheetal hoye ||

Translation:

Let the voice voice such words, that the soul is calmed

Calm other souls that hear, and the self is enveloped in calm ||

My understanding:

Whether it is Sufjan Stevens today, or Kabir from ages ago, the power of the spoken word has always been recognized.

As social interaction degenerates into power play, we often say things that lead into complex structures, knotting our thinking and that of others into essentially meaningless one-up-man-ship.

The easiest way to overcome this (and hence the most difficult) is to state our thought in simple words, taking care only to ensure that the said words do not hurt anyone, intentionally or unintentionally.

But just as Rome as not built in a day, but still stands and grows today, so also, if we all begin today, we can promise our next generations a world that will be ‘Heaven on Earth’ as peace takes over. For true peace emanates from within, not without. Each one of us, without exception needs to contribute.

I have started – will you all join me, please?