RABINDRANATH TAGORE

 

 

                                                RABINDRANATH TAGORE

            Rabindranah Tagore was a great Bengali poet, writer, essayist,   philosopher, educationist, composer, and artist,  

            He was born on 7^th May 1861 and passed away on 7^TH August 1941. Mahatma Gandhi called him Gurudev.

            He was a prolific writer. His works consist of poems, novels, short stories, dramas, paintings, and songs.

            Among his most  famous writings are two novels Gora (1910) and Ghare Baire (The Home and the World, 1916), as also two plays Dak Ghar (The Post Office, 1912) and Raktakarbi  (Red Oleanders, 1926).

            According to literary critics : “He transformed Bengali literature with short stories, notably Kabuliwala and Postmaster.

            He is said to have composed 2,000 songs.

            His internationally known book is Gitanjali (Songs Offerings) for which he was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.

            Tagore also composed the national anthems of India ---Jana Gana Mana and Bangladesh (Amar Sonar Bangla).

            As an educationist, he is famous  for having founded  in Santiniketan Visva-Bharati University which blends Indian traditions with Western education.    

              Briefly speaking, Tagore was a key figure who promoted intercultural harmony in the Bengal Renaissance.  

            In his introduction to Gitanjali, William Butler Yeats,  the Irish poet, dramatist, writer and literary critic (1865-1939)  rightly says “All the aspirations of mankind  are in his hymns. “

            Most of the songs in Gitanjali are addressed to God. Here is the first one:

            “Though hast made me endless such is thy pleasure. This frail vessel thou emptiest again and again, and fillest it ever with fresh life.

            This little flute of a reed thou hast carried over hills and dales, and hast breathed through it melodies eternally new.

            At the immortal touch of thy hands my little heart loses its limits in joy and gives birth to utterance ineffable.

            Thy finite gifts come to me only on these very small hands of mine. Ages pass, and still thou pourest, and still there is room to fill.”

            To conclude, look at one of his famous quotes :

              “What you are you do not see, what you see is your shadow”.

                                                            *******

G.R. Kanwal

3^rd May 2026

 

                                                            .  

NOTHING IS ENDLESS

 

                                                NOTHING IS ENDLESS

            This is a world of dualities. If here is life, there is also death. Darkness does not stay forever, it yields place to light. The sun not only rises, but also sets  in the evening. Night is the opposite of day. No story, no tale, no poem is without its end. Every season stays for a fixed time and not for eternity. Progress and regress, upward climbing and  downward descending,war and peace, happiness and sadness,  prosperity and poverty are not endless. They have their limited tenure. Every change that occurs is short-lived. The overall scenario of the world is always changing yielding place to the new.

           

            Given below is a poem titled This, Too, Shall Pass Away by Mrs. Lanta Wilson Smith (1856-1939) on the fleeting nature of events. Its central idea  is that “all earthly things ---both good and bad –are temporary.”

            It is not a pessimistic poem. On the other hand it emphasizes that difficult times in human life are impermanent.

            She is right because there is a silver lining in every cloud and dark nights are followed by bright mornings. Death, too, is succeeded by rebirth because  the human soul continues to survive in a new form.

                                    Here is the full text of Mrs. Smith’s poem.        

 WHEN SOME GREAT SORROW , like a mighty river,

Flows through your life with peace-destroying power,

And dearest things are swept from sight forever,

Say to your heart each trying hour:

" This, too, shall pass away. "

 

When ceaseless toil has hushed your song of gladness,

And you have grown almost too tired to pray,

Let this truth banish from your heart its sadness,

And ease the burdens of each trying day:

" This, too, shall pass away. "

 

When fortune smiles, and, full of mirth and pleasure,

The days are flitting by without a care,

Lest you should rest with only earthly treasure,

Let these few words their fullest import bear:

" This, too, shall pass away. "

 

When earnest labor brings you fame and glory,

And all earth's noblest ones upon you smile,

Remember that life's longest, grandest story

Fills but a moment in earth's little while:

" This, too, shall pass away. "

             

             Mrs. Smith, wrote more than five hundred poems, articles and hymns, dealing with faith, immortality, moral and spiritual subjects.

                                                ********

G.R.Kanwal

2^nd May 2026

 

                                               

     

LORD BUDDHA

 

          LORD BUDDHA

            The Buddha is a Sanskrit word which means ‘the enlightened one.’ For our purpose, it is the title given to Siddhartha whose family name was Gautama. He was born a prince in Lumbini  (modern Nepal) and is believed to have lived from c.563 B.C. to 483 B.C.

            Siddhartha belonged to the noble family of the Kshatriya (warrior) clan. He is therefore also called Sakyamuni which means the sage of Sakya clan.

            His father wished that he should succeed him as a ruler but, according to a tradition, it was predicted by astrologers and sages that he would become either a universal ruler or a universal teacher.

            To ward off the realization of this prediction, the father took great pains to keep his son  away from all misery and any omens that would persuade him to become a teacher.

            Siddhartha spent his youth in great luxury, married Yashodhara at age 16,  and fathered a son named Rahula.

            However, when he was 29, he went for a ride in the royal park and saw four signs ---an aged man, a sick man, a corpse, and a wandering religious mendicant --- that decided the course of his remaining life.

            In the first three signs, he had noticed the presence of suffering in the world, and in the fourth  one the way to escape from it. He therefore  resolved to adopt the fourth one.

               Enlightenment was attained by Siddhartha at age 35 under a pipal tree in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, and to deliver his first sermon titled “Setting In Motion The Wheel Of Law “to his five former companions , he travelled to Sarnath, where he talked about “Four Noble Truths.” The truth of suffering; the cause of suffering by which he meant the abandonment of desire; the end of suffering which can come by renunciation; and the path to the end of suffering known as The Eight Fold Path which consisting of:

1.     Right View. 2. Right Intention. 3. Right Speech. 4. Right Action. 5. Right Livelihood. 6. Right Effort.  7. Right Mindfulness i.e developing awareness of the body, feelings, thoughts, and phenomena. 8. Right Concentration comprising developed mental focus and meditation to support the other seven parts of the Eightfold Path.

To conclude, here is one of his famous quotes:

“We are shaped by our thoughts;

 We become what we think.

When the mind is pure,

Joy follows like a shadow

That never leaves.

                                                    ******

G. R. Kanwal

1^st May 2026 (Budh Purnima Day).

 

 

TALKING ABOUT ANTS

 

                TALKING ABOUT ANTS

                    Ants are  defined as  small insects that live in highly organized groups. They are usually black or various shades of brown, red, or yellow.  

                        You can find them worldwide . They are universally  known for their industrious nature.  

                        Zoologically ,they are any of 2,500 species of insects constituting the family order to which the bee and the wasp also belong.

            You can regard  them as  cosmopolitan in distribution. All of them  show some degree of social organization. 

            Their body is divided into three distinct regions; the narrow front part of the abdomen, called the waist or pedicel, is characteristic.  

            Due to their over-active nature, the phrase to ‘have ants in you pants’ means you are very excited or impatient about something and unable to stand still.  

            The  idiom  acting like “a colony of ants” means ‘ busy teamwork.’ Or to work together in a highly organized, industrious manner. If you say : “An ant may well destroy a whole dam “, you mean a small overlooked problem can lead to massive failure.

            The idiom small as an ant means something very tiny.

            The proverb ‘Even an ant can make a mountain of crumbs’’ highlights the power of persistence and small, constant efforts.

            “Like a small boy walking across an ant hill” suggests traversing a difficult or treacherous path.

            To inspire for tireless work ethics, the Holy Bible says: Go to an ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.

            Sometimes I find on the floor of my washroom a solitary ant continuously moving very fast and taking a  turn if it finds an obstruction. In such a situation, I do not use water to avoid wetness. The presence of the solitary ant and its speedy movement from one spot to another not only delights my eyes but also inspires me to become exceedingly dynamic.

            To conclude, here is a famous quote by an American Army general, diplomat, and statesman Colin Powel (1937-2021)  :

            “A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.”        

                                                            *******

G.R.Kanwal

30 April 2026

               

 

                 

FIVE QUOTES ON POLITICS

 

                FIVE QUOTES ON POLITICS

            “Politics” is briefly defined as the work and ideas tha are connected with governing a country, a town, etc.

            According to another definition: it refers to the activities, processes, and actions involved in gaining, using, and managing power with a country or society to make collective decisions.

            Given below are ten famous quotes which further enlighten us about the multi-sided nature of politics.

1.     The political parties that I would call great, are those which cling more to principles than to consequences; to general, and not to special cases; to ideas, and not to men.  Such parties are usually distinguished by nobler character, more generous passions, more genuine convictions, and a more bold and open conduct than others.------De Tocqueville ( 1805-1859), a French diplomat, political philosopher and historian.

2.     A politician is like quick-silver: if you try to put your finger on him, you find nothing under it. -----Austin O’Malley (1858-1932) , Professor of English literature at University of Notre Dame and author of a book of aphorisms.

3.     Nothing is more deceitful than the statements that what we need in politics is the business man. Politics are a business --- at least they are a field in which experience tells for usefulness and effectiveness --- and a man who has devoted his entire life to the successful establishment of a business is generally not the man who will be useful to the public in the administration of public business. -----William Howard Taft (1857-1930), 27^th President of the United States from 1909 to 1915 and the tenth chief justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930.

4.     Noting is politically right which is morally wrong. ----Daniel O’Connell (1775-1847), a  political leader of Ireland’s Roman Catholic majority in the first half of the 19 century

5.     By discharging our duty thoroughly and well, and personal ambition to an exalted love of country, we will not only receive the endorsement of the people, but what is far better, we will deserve their endorsement,----Champ Clark (1850-1921),  Attorney and former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.                    

                                                            ________

G. R. Kanwal

29 April 2026

 

WHO PRAYETH BEST ?

 

          WHO PRAYETH BEST ?

          Prayer is defined as the act of  communicating  with a deity or higher power to express thanks, offer praise, or make requests.     

            This word also means ---appeal, entreaty, petition, solicitation, supplication, invocation, etcetera.

            The English divine Thomas Hooker (1586-1647) said: Every good and holy desire, though it lack the form, hath in itself the substance and force of a prayer with God, who regardeth the very moanings, groans, and sighings of the heart.  

            The American clergy Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) said: Prayer covers the whole of a 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. His nature is such that our often coming does not tire him. The whole burden of the whole life of every man may be rolled on to God and not weary him, though it has wearied the man.     

            The English poet laureate Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) believed : More things are wrought by prayer than the world dreams of. What are men better than sheep or goats, that nourish a blind life within the brain, if, knowing God, they lift no hands of prayer both for themselves and those who call them friends.

            Prayers are both limited and unlimited. You may pray for yourself, a friend, a relative, the whole mankind, some animal who is your pet, a city, a state, the whole world, even for your rival or enemy.

            However, to pray for the largest number of all kinds of  inhabitants of the world is most praiseworthy.        

            To conclude, one of the most famous quotes on prayer which  came from the English romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) said in the concluding stanzas of his long poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner:

 

            “He prayeth well , who loveth well

            Both man and bird and beast,

            He prayeth best, who loveth best

            All things both great and small;

            For the dear God who loveth us,

            He made and loveth all.

                                                ********

G.R.Kanwal

28 April 2026

 

                       

THE PRINCE BY NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI

 

          THE PRINCE BY NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI             

            “The Prince” is a 16^th-century political treatise. It is one of the most famous books on political science which enabled its author Niccolo Machiavelli  to be known as the “father of modern political science.”

            Niccolo Machiavelli was an Italian diplomat, philosopher, and political theorist . He was born on 3 May 1469 at Florence in Italy and died there on 21 June 1527.

            According to some critical comments The Prince advises leaders that is better to be feared than loved if they cannot be both. It also tells them to abandon medieval idealism and act in a new way which is currently known as the Machaiavellian way comprising deceptive, pragmatic, or cynical politics. In this modern way,  the end justifies the means. It is a pragmatic way preferring  ruthless decisions to moral ones.

            Given below are some short extracts from the book mentioned above.    

·        A prince ought to have no other aim or thought, nor select anything else for his study, than war and its rules and discipline; for this is the sole art that belongs to him who rules, and it is of such force that it not only upholds those who are born princes, but it often enables men to rise from private station to that rank.

·        A wise prince should never in peaceful times stand idle, but increase his resources with industry in such a way that they may be available to him in adversity, so that if fortune changes, it may find him prepared to resist the bows.

·        It is necessary to be a fox to discover the snares and a lion to terrify the wolves. Those who rely simply on the lion do not understand what they are about.

·        He wo seeks to deceive will always find some one who will allow himself to be deceived.

·        And you have to understand this, that a prince, especially a new one, cannot observe all those things for which men are esteemed, being often forced, in order to maintain the state, to act contrary to fidelity, friendship, humanity  and religion.

·        For this reason a prince ought to take care that he never lets anything slip from his lips that is not replete with the above-named five qualities, that he may appear to him who sees and hears him altogether merciful, faithful, humane, upright and religious.

·        Finally, everyone sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are, and those few dare not oppose themselves to the opinion of the many; who have the majesty of the state to defend them; and in the actions of all men, and especially of princes, which it is not prudent to challenge, one judges by the result.

                                                            ******

G. R. Kanwal

27 April 2026