THE LOTUS EATERS

 

THE LOTUS EATERS             

 

                     The Lotus Eaters

Hateful is the dark-blue sky,

Vaulted o'er the dark-blue sea.

Death is the end of life; ah, why

Should life all labour be?

Let us alone. Time driveth onward fast,

And in a little while our lips are dumb.

Let us alone. What is it that will last?

All things are taken from us, and become

Portions and parcels of the dreadful past.

Let us alone. What pleasure can we have

To war with evil? Is there any peace

In ever climbing up the climbing wave?

All things have rest, and ripen toward the grave

In silence; ripen, fall and cease:

Give us long rest or death, dark death, or dreamful ease.

            The poem given above was written by the English poet Lord Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892). It is about the Greek mariners who happened to come to the land of lotus-fruit and ate that fruit as a result of which they became dormant  and decided not to resume their journey of active life, travelling from one place to another, without any rest and relaxation.

           

            Tennyson’s source for this poem is Greek poet Homer’s Odyssey (Book IX). Odysseus, the Greek hero, was the king of the island of Ithaca. In English literature, he is referred to as Ulysses. Tennyson also wrote a poem about Ulysses who was aged and yet the converse of the Lotus-eaters . He wanted to remain active till his death and follow knowledge like a sinking star. He said to his companions including The Lotus Eaters : Every hour can bring new things, and with this personal  belief, he exhorted them ‘to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield’.

 

            The questions raised by The Lotus Eaters are absolutely valid. No great thinker, no top-ranking philosopher, and  no religious saint or spiritual  mystic  can declare them as meaningless.  

           

            This is what they say and ask:

 

(i). Death is the end of life. (ii).Why should life all labour be. (iii). Time driveth onward fast, and in a little while our lips are silent. (iv). What is it that will last? (v). All things are taken from us, and become portions and parcels of the dreadful past. (vi). Let us alone.

 

                        They also ask questions which may not be fully relevant. For example: What pleasure can we have to war with evil?

 

                        But again, here is a most relevant  observation :

           

            All things have rest, and ripen toward the grave in silence---ripen, fall, and cease.  

                                   

                                    Finally, let us look at these lines by a modern English poet William Henry Davies (1871-1940);

                                    What is  this life if, full of care,

                                    We have no time to stand stare?

                                    …………………………………………………

                                    A poor life this if, full of care,

                                    We have no time to stand and stare.

                                                            ********

G.R.Kanwal

4^th April 2026                     

SOME FAMOUS EXPRESSIONS FROM THE BIBLE

 

                SOME FAMOUS EXPRESSIONS FROM THE BIBLE

           The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and also esteemed in other religions such as Islam. It was originally written in Hebrew and common Greek. Its contents consist of instructions, stories, poetry, prophecies, and other literary compositions characterized by specific themes.  

          It is not wrong to say that The Bible is not merely a book. It is a living scripture that has a unique series of beautiful ideas, and admirable moral maxims.

            The Scottish essayist and historian Thomas Carlyle (1795 -1881) exclaimed :  A noble book! All men’s book! It is our first, oldest statement of the never-ending problem ---a man’s destiny, and God’s ways with him here on earth; and all in such free-flowing outlines,--grand in its sincerity; in its simplicity and its epic melody.

            Here are some famous expressions from the Bible:-

1.      He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.

2.     Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways , and be wise.

3.      Refrain your tongue from backbiting.

4.     Let the dead bury their dead.

5.     A living dog is better than  a dead lion.

6.     For dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

7.     Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

8.     Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

9.     Eye for eye, tooth for truth tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

10.                         Father, forgive them ; for they know not what they do.

11.                         If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

12.                         In my father’s house are many mansions.  

13.                         Man’s life on earth is a warfare.

14.                          Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

15.                         Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  

16.                          No man can serve two masters.

17.                         As is the mother, so is her daughter.

18.                         Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.

19.                         God created man in his own image.

20.                         The love of money is the root of all evil.

                                                            ******

G. R. Kanwal

3^rd April 2026

 

 

 

 

 

ONE-LINERS PACKED WITH WISDOM

 

          ONE-LINERS PACKED WITH WISDOM

1.     Knowledge is power.---Francis Bacon.

2.     A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.----Alexander Pope.

3.     They also serve who only stand and wait.----John Milton.

4.      The foolish run after outward pleasures and fall into the snares of vast-embracing death.---Katha Upanishad.

5.     Truth is the highest virtue, but higher still is truthful living.---Guru Nanak.

6.     Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter.---John Keats.

7.     Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.---William Wordsworth.

8.     If winter comes, can spring be far behind?----P. B. Shelley.

9.     Advice is like snow ---the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and deeper it sinks into the mind.-----S. T. Coleridge.

10.                         Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves.----Lord Byron.

11.                         Nature that taught us in our hearts to fear, cannot be banished from our guilty hearts,----Christopher Marlowe.

12.                         Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.----Samuel Johnson.

13.                          Try again. Fall again. Fail better.----Samuel Beckett (Novelist and playwright).

14.                         Those who are at war with others are not at peace with themselves.---William Hazlitt.

15.                         There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.----William Shakespeare.

                                                            ******

G.R.Kanwal

2^nd April 2026

NON-ATTACHMENT

 

                NON-ATTACHMENT

            Non-attachment is one of the main teachings of Lord Mahavira (c.599-527 BCE). He was the 24^th and last Tirthankara of Jainism.

            A Tirthankara is a supreme spiritual teacher.  He is  “one who has conquered the cycle of rebirth, attained perfect knowledge and established a path for others to achieve liberation.”

            Lord  Mahavira’s teachings consist of: (i) Non-violence  i.e. advocating non-injury to all living beings in thought, word and action. (ii) Truthfulness  (iii) Non-attachment  which also means non-possession and detachment from people, places, and material possessions. (iv). Anekantavada i.e. non-absolutism of truth and reality which are not final but conditional and have many challenges to it. In fact, opinions about every rule, law, faith, belief, and conviction, etc., differ from one another and each one has some different element of truth and reality in its composition. (v). Equality. It means that every soul has the potential to attain divine consciousness.

            Non-attachment is non-possession and is also known as  Aparigraha.

            It is unfortunate that human beings are greedy by nature. Their lust for more is unlimited. They lack contentment. Their desires go on multiplying. Initially, they humbly seek one house and when they get it they pray for the second house and thus the number of houses sought by them go on becoming larger and larger. What is true about houses is equally true about other possessions. They want to be recognized as the richest persons, not the poorest ones. They fail to realize that all the possessions in this world are un-exportable to the other world at the time of a person’s death.

            The German religious reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546)  said: Lord God, I thank thee that thou hast been pleased to make me a poor and indigent man upon earth. I have neither house nor land nor money to leave behind me.

            It is painful for a human being going to the other world to think that he has to leave behind all his possessions.

            Non-attachment , that is non-possession, is a blessing. It is sensible to replace possessiveness by contentment which means “a state of peaceful happiness, satisfaction, and ease of mind, often characterized by being pleased with one’s current situation or possession without desiring more.”

                                                            *******

G.R. Kanwal

1^st April 2026     

i

 

 

 

SOME QUOTES ON MAN

 

                SOME QUOTES ON MAN

            Man is a mysterious being. His qualities,  both positive and negative,  are innumerable. He is the best ,  but also the worst, among living beings.  f he is an angel, he is also a devil. He creates as well as dissolves. His virtues and vices are almost equal in number. If he is calm, he is angry, too. If he is a builder, he is also demolisher. If he loves peace, he also likes war. He is a combination of godliness and devilishness. In short, as a poet has said:

            Wonders are many, but none, none is more wondrous than man. Man moves over the grey sea, using the wind and the storm, during the depths and surges. Even the eldest of all the gods ---Earth, inexhaustible Earth---man masters her with yearly ploughs that turn and return and the steady step of the horse. Language and thought, light and rapid as wind, man has taught himself these, and has learnt the ways of living in town and city, shelter from inhospitable frost, escape from the arrows of rain.  

            Cunning, cunning is man. Wise though his plans are, artful beyond all dreaming, they carry him both to evil and to good. (Quoted by Gilbert Highet in Man’s Unconquerable mind.)

            The Indo-Pak poet- philosopher Dr. Muhammad  Iqbal (1877-1938) said : Man is the deputy (vicegerent) of God on earth.

            In his play Hamlet, Act 2, Sc.2, the English poet-dramatist William Shakespeare (1564-1616) says: What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! in form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel! In apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! The paragon of animals!

            Finally, the following lines from “Essay on Man : Epistle II”  by the English poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744):

 Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;

The proper study of mankind is man.

Plac'd on this isthmus of a middle state,

A being darkly wise, and rudely great:

With too much knowledge for the sceptic side,

With too much weakness for the stoic's pride,

He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest;

In doubt to deem himself a god, or beast;

In doubt his mind or body to prefer;

Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err;

Alike in ignorance, his reason such,

Whether he thinks too little, or too much:

Chaos of thought and passion, all confus'd;

Still by himself abus'd, or disabus'd;

Created half to rise, and half to fall;

Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;

Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl'd:

The glory, jest, and riddle of the world!

                                                            *******

G. R. Kanwal

31 March 2026

 

RETURN GOOD FOR EVIL

 

                        RETURN GOOD FOR EVIL

            Goodness is a generous quality of the heart. The antonym of goodness is evil, badness, wickedness, and cruelty. Goodness is kindness. It belongs to the category of love, affection, compassion, kindness, forgiveness, and mercy. Whereas evil is repulsive, goodness is attractive. It is magnetic.

            If you return evil for evil, you add fuel to the fire. But if you return good for evil, you generate peace,  love, affection, friendliness, and cordiality in  relationship.

            Evil is a negative force. It is immoral. It is brutal. Goodness is a positive attitude.  It has an element of spirituality. It is angelic. It is a non-violent response to a provocative situation. It has the fragrance of forgiveness, not the foul smell of revenge.

            Evil is darkness of the mind; goodness is its brightness that abolishes  gloom and obscurity.

            As war can be stopped by embracing  peace, so can evil  be transformed by goodness, love, affection, forgiveness and benevolence.

            Mercy is an attribute of God. Blessed are they who adopt it as one of the qualities of their life-long character.

            Finally, read and remember the following sonnet written by the English poet-dramatist William Shakespeare (1564-1616) . It is included in the play The Merchant of Venice.  

            The quality of mercy is not strain’d,

            It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven,

            Upon the place beneath : it is twice blesse’d;

            It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:

            ‘T is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes

            The throned monarch better than his crown;

            His sceptre shows the force of temporal power.

            The attribute to awe and majesty,

            Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;

            But mercy is above this sceptred sway,

            It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,

            It is an attribute to God himself.

            An earthly power doth then show likest God’s

            When mercy seasons justice.

                                                                        ******

G. R. Kanwal

30 March 2026       ``        

 

 

 

MY THOUGHTS TODAY

 

                MY THOUGHTS TODAY             

1.     War is a crime against humanity. Its results are death and destruction. It does not solve problems, rather multiplies them.

2.     Modern wars are more lethal because of more deadly weapons. Those who win may not be  deserving ones because the principle of might is right is always in vogue.

3.     Man-making education is vanishing. Money-making is taking its place.  

4.     Greed rather than contentment is the rule today. In an old story a farmer was allowed to occupy as much land as he could cover by walking. His greed did not allow him to stop walking at the safest time. Consequently, over-walking exhausted him so much that he died.  

5.     Greed is the mother of many evils. It creates immoral rivalry and undesirable disputes. It presents virtues as vices and vices as virtues. In many cases it stands for  fair is foul, and foul is fair.

6.     It is undesirable to spoil one’s health for the sake of wealth.

7.     Communalism is poisonous. All faiths and religions have their own beauty. They lead to the supreme God who is only one. The earth, the sky, the sun and the moon and billions of world’s contents are His creation.

8.     It has been rightly said by James Kirkup, a modern English poet (born 1923) that no men are strange, no countries foreign, beneath all uniforms, a single body breathes like ours; the land our brothers walk upon is earth like this, in which we all shall lie. They, too, aware of sun and air and water, are fed by peaceful harvests, by war’s long winter starv’d. Their hands are ours, and in their lines we read a labour not different from our own.  

9.     Prayers cover the whole of man’s life. There is no thought, feeling, yearning, or desire, however low, trifling, or vulgar we may deem it, which, if it affects our real interest or happiness, we may not lay before God and be sure of His sympathy.

10.                           Pride, the most dangerous of all faults, proceeds from want of sense, or want of thought.

                                                ******

G. R. Kanwal

29 March 2026