COMMENTS ON TENNYSON’S THE LOTUS EATERS

 

                COMMENTS ON TENNYSON’S THE LOTUS EATERS

                        “The Lotus Eaters” is a poem by the English poet Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892). It is based on an incident in the epic poem Odyssey written by the ancient Greek poet Homer who lived during the 8^th century BCE on the coast of Asia Minor and belonged to a long tradition of wandering oral poet. In Book IX of his epic he wrote:

            “But on the tenth day we set foot on the land of lotus-eaters, who eat a flowery food.’’

            This fruit had an adverse effect on them. They became victims of forgetfulness and an intense desire for ease and relaxation.

            They even forgot the way to their homes. Moreover they were in no mood to travel again.

            In the above-mentioned mood they make pertinent statements about exertion and relaxation and ask such questions as have very deep relevance to human life.

            Here are some selected lines from the poem:

“There is sweet music here that softer falls

Than petals from blown roses on the grass---

Music that gentlier on the spirit lies,

Than tir’d eyelids upon tir’d eyes.

                        -----

After this they ask:

 

“Why are we weighed upon with heaviness,

And utterly consumed with sharp distress,

While all things else have rest from weariness?

All things have rest: why should we toil alone,

We only toil, who are the first of things,

And make perpetual moan.

Still from sorrow to another thrown:

Never ever fold our wings,

And cease from wanderings,

Nor steep our brows in slumber’s holy balm;

Nor harken what the inner spirit sings,

Why should we only toil, the roof and crown of things?

                                                ---

They further say:

The full juiced apple, waxing over-mellow,

Drops in a silent autumn night,

All its allotted length of days,

The flower ripens, in its place,

Ripens and fades, and falls, and hath no toil,

Fast-rooted in the fruitful soil.

                                                ----

After this they firmly and rightly say:

 

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 grave

In silence; ripen, fall and cease:

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

                                    _____

 PUNCHLINE: Rest is rust if not followed by hard work.

                                      *******

G.R.Kanwal

17 July 2026

  

 

PERFECTION

 

                PERFECTION

                      What is perfect is flawless, faultless, unmarred, ideal, impeccable, consummate, immaculate, exemplary, superb, superlative, supreme, excellent, and wonderful.

                        If you are working on the perfection of any technique, you are trying to achieve improvement, refinement, consummation, superbness, and flawlessness.

                        A perfectionist is a stickler for perfection. He is a purist, formalist, precisionist, or idealist.

                        If a thing is perfectly good, it is utterly, absolutely, completely, altogether, fully, exquisitely, superbly, superbly, and wonderfully and thoroughly good.    

                        Perfection is however difficult to achieve. What seems perfect today, appears imperfect tomorrow. Even the world is not perfect after billions of years. Perfection is thus a process, not a final achievement,

                        The English writer John Ruskin (1819-1900) said: No good work whatever can be perfect, and the demand for perfection is always a sign of misunderstanding of the ends of art.

                          According to the Greek philosopher Diogenes (died 323 BC) to arrive at perfection, a man should have very sincere friends or inveterate enemies; because he would be made sensible of his good or ill conduct, either by the censures the admonitions of the other.

                        The French writer and philosopher Voltaire (1694-1778) says perfection is attained by slow degrees; it requires the hand of time           

                        The English courtier, orator and wit Philip Dormer Stanhope 4^th Earl of England (1694-1773) said: Aim at perfection in everything, though in most things it is unattainable, However, they who aim at it, and persevere, will come much nearer to it than whose laziness and despondency make them give  it up as unattainable.

                                      _______

PUNCHLINE : Napoleon said :  The word impossible exists in the dictionary of fools.

                                                            ****

G.R.Kanwal

16 July 2026

 

 

 

 

                  

 

 

SOME QUOTES ON WORK

 

                SOME QUOTES ON WORK

            “Work” is  defined as  activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result.

            Some synonyms of work are: effort, exertion, labour, toil, job, trade, profession, employment, vocation, calling, craft, career, business, occupation, and function.

            Work is worship is a proverb which means that we should respect and worship our work as we worship God.  It teaches us to do our work with full dedication and devotion.

            Work is also a duty, rather a sacred duty. It should never  be neglected. On the other hand it should be done punctually and most faithfully.

            Look at the following quotes:

*The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of work. –Sara A. Bolton

*It is the biggest mistake to think you are working for someone else.—Nashua Cavalier

*Work as if you were to live 100 years. Pray as if you were to die tomorrow.---Benjamin Franklin.

*We work day after day, not to finish things; but to make the future better. ---Charles F. Kettering.

*Man must work. That is certain as the sun. But he may work grudgingly or he may work gracefully; he may work as a man, or he may work as a machine. There is no work so rude, that he may not exalt it; no work so impassive, that he may not breathe a soul into it; no work so dull that he may not enliven it.----Henry Giles.

 

                        Work is life. Even iron shines when it is used. Idleness is rust. Not to use your faculties actively is to kill them through slow poisoning.

                        Good things come to those who work really hard.

                        Never forget that work is livelihood.

                        The American inventor Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) said : I never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident.       

                        According to the Polish-British novelist Joseph Conrad (1857-1924):A  man is a worker. If he is not that he is nothing.

                        And finally these words of an American politician, academic and jurist Charles Evans Hughes (1862-1948):

                        “I believe in work, hard work and long hours of work. Men do not break down from overwork, but from worry and dissipation.”

                                                _______

PUNCHLINE: All growth depends on activity.

                                                *******

G.R.Kanwal

15 July 2026

 

SHORT LINES WITH DEEP MEANINGS

 

                SHORT LINES WITH DEEP MEANINGS

1.     Lives of great men all remind us we can make our lives sublime.

2.     Life is simply life; it is one flow.

3.     One should live to love, to enjoy, and to be ecstatic.

4.     Each moment is full, overfull.

5.     Nirvana is a very simple phenomenon. It simply means ‘blowing out the small candle of the ego’.

6.     Conscience is given by the society.

7.     Ego is that which you accumulate.

8.     Self is that which you are born with.

9.     A great library contains the diary of humanity.

10.                         The execution of the laws is more important than the making of them.

11.                        Never return a kindness. Pass it on.

12.                         The difference between existence and life is the intelligent use of leisure.

13.                        He who adds not to his learning diminishes it.

14.                         Living without faith is like driving in the fog.

15.                        Failure is only te opportunity to begin again, more intelligently.

16.                         It is a double pleasure to deceive he deceiver.

17.                         It isn’t necessary to blow out the other person’s light to let your own shine.

18.                         He who borrows sells his freedom.

19.                         A danger foreseen is half avoided.

20.                         It is magnificent to grow old, if one keeps young.

21.                         Everybody wants to live longer but nobody wants to grow old.

22.                         Zeal is fit only for wise men but is found mostly in fools.

23.                         Impatience and not inexperience is the greatest handicap of youth.

24.                         Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow.

25.                         It is the biggest mistake to think you are working for someone else.

                                                            ******

G. R. Kanwal

14 July 2026

 

                                      

SUPERSTITIONS

 

                                SUPERSTITIONS

            A superstition is defined as “the belief that particular events happen in a way that cannot be explained by reason or science.”

            This word is also used to mean that particular events bring good or bad luck.

            We daily come across people who believe that such and such days in a week are lucky; if somebody sneezes while you are going to do some important piece of work, it will not produce the result that is expected; number 13 is unlucky; if a cat crosses your way, it means bad luck.

            Scientific temper is still not wide-spread. Idol worship has not vanished. Success is still regarded as the fruit of good luck. Hard work is not fully regarded as productive of proportionately good results. God is considered as the real doer; you are only an agent.

            According to another interpretation superstition is regarded as a belief or practice that is not based on reason or scientific evidence. “It often involves the idea that certain unrelated actions or events bring good or bad luck, or that magic and supernatural forces influence the future.”

            It is a common phenomenon that many people consult astrologers for lucky days or time to do something auspicious significant.

            Some people wear particular types of rings for good luck.

            Some astrologers calculate lucky days or time according to your date and   time of birth.

             Science doest no support such irrational beliefs.

            Given below are some popular quotes on superstitions.

*By superstitions I mean all hypocritical arts of appeasing God and procuring his favour without obeying his laws, or reforming our sins; infinite such superstitions have been invented by heathens, by Jews, by Christians themselves, especially by the Church of Rome, which abounds with them.----English bishop Thomas Sherlock (1678—1761).

*The greatest burden in the world is superstition, not only of ceremonies in the church, but imaginary and scarecrow sins at home,---The English poet John Milton (1608-1674).

*Superstition renders a man a fool, and skepticism makes him mad.---Henry Fielding, English novelist (1707-1754).

*Superstition is the poetry of life. It is inherent in man’s nature; and when we think it is wholly eradicated, it takes refuge in the strangest holes and corners, whence it peeps out all at once, as soon as it can do with safety. ---German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832).

*Liberal minds are open to conviction. Liberal doctrines are capable of improvement. There are proselytes from atheism; but none from superstition. ---Junius, pseudonym of an unknown political writer in England  who wrote during 1769-1772.

                                                            ------------

PUNCHLINE:” As we sow, so shall we reap” is not a superstition.

                                                            *******

G.R.Kanwal

13 July 2026                                                                       

 

 

LITTLE THINGS

 

                LITTLE  THINGS

            The  main question in life is how to spend one’ time usefully. Most of the people aspire to do such activities as enhance their wealth. They work for money and more money. They are selfish. If some needy person seeks their help, they do not accept his request. They mind their own business. However,   some of them do love God, worship Him, go to places of prayer and offer gratitude, but these very people do not spare any time for social service.

            In a poem, a character tells an angel who is writing the names of those who love God and when he is asked by a person who was watching him whether his name was also there in the  book which he had completed.  The answer given to him is “No”.  Not disappointed, he requests that very angel to write his name as one who loved the people of God. The angel fulfils his request and when he comes again the next day his book shows that whose name was not there the previous day was now at the top.

            In an anonymous which is given below, the poet prays to God:

            “Give give me love, and care, and strength

            To help my toiling brother.        

 

 The toiling brother here is not his own real brother but any  other man who is there in the world looking for help.

 

                        Here is the full text of the aforesaid anonymous poem. Its title is Little Things but its message is great,

 

                        If any little word of mine

                        May make a life the brighter,

                        If any little song of mine

                        May make a heart the lighter,

                        God help me speak the little word

                        And take my bit of singing,

                        And drop it in some lonely vale

                        To set the echoes ringing.

                       

                        If any little love of mine

                         May make a life the sweeter,

                        If any little care of mine

                        May make a friend’s the fleeter

                        If any little lift may ease

                        The  burden of another.

                        God give me love, and care, and strength

                        To  help my toiling brother.

                                                *******

G.R.Kanwal

12  July 2026          

           

 

THREE TYPES OF MEN

 

          THREE TYPES OF MEN

            In one of the most sacred books of the world known as The Bhagvad Gita, its chief character Lord Krishna says: There are three types of men  in the world whose inherent qualities are mentioned below.

            The first type is known as Sattvic. They belong to the category of goodness. Their characteristics  are: purity, sagaciousness, tranquility, truthfulness, spiritual comprehension, and inner non-disturbance.

            They are the best of three categories. The world is safe in their hands, They are fittest to become world leaders. They are peace-makers. Their interest is in moral values and devotional behavior. They are not lovers of flesh without its  control by divine qualities.

            The second type of men are called Rajasic. They are passionate by nature. They are restless, ambitiousness, greediness, over-activity  lust for  maximum wealth, power and heavy rewards of their labour. Their desires go on multiplying. Their number in the world is much higher than that of Sattvic persons.

            The third category is called Tamasic. The persons of this category are distinguished by their ignorance. They are dull, apathetic, lazy, idle, sleepy, dormant,  un-ambitious, and unconcerned about their duties. Their number is quite high and they are the most unwanted people by the various agencies which manage the world.

            The three categories of men mentioned above find place in Chapter XIV of The Bhagvad Gita . Here, Lord  Krishna says :”According to one’s existence under the various modes of nature, one evolves a particular kind of faith. The living being is said to be of a particular faith according to the modes he has acquired.

            “Men in the mode of goodness worship the demigods, those in the mode of passion worship the demons, and those in the mode of darkness worship the dead and ghosts.”

            The food habits of the categories of men mentioned above also differ. “Foods in the mood of goodness increase the duration of life, purify existence, give strength, and increase health, happiness and satisfaction. Such foods are juicy and fatty.” These are liked by Sattvic category.

            “Food that is too bitter, too sour, too salty, too pungent, too dry or too hot causes distress, misery and disease. Such food is very dear to those in the mood of passion.”  This is liked by people of Rajasic disposition.

            Foods prepared more than three hours before being eaten, which are tasteless, juiceless and decomposed, which have a bad smell, and which consist of remnants and untouchable things are very dear to those in the mode of darkness.”  These foods are the favourite of Tamasic disposition.

                                                **********

PUNCHLINE: In life, as you sow, so shall you reap.

G.R.Kanwal

10 July 2026