A CONFESSION BY LEO TOLSYOY

 

A CONFESSION BY LEO TOLSYOY

            Leo Tolstoy was a Russian writer. He was born on 9 September 1828 and died on 20 November 1910. He is known as one of the greatest and most influential writers of the world.

            His abundantly popular novels are War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1877). There is also a deeply spiritual memoir called A Confession (1882)  dealing with the existential crisis of his midlife.

            There are a few more well-known books written by him. They are: The Kingdom of God Is Within You (1894), What Is Art (1897), Childhood, Boyhood, Youth (1852-1856) and The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886).

            According to literary judges Leo Tolstoy’s philosophy centres on “Chritian pacifism, non-resistance to evil, and a radical rejection of state and church authority.”

            It is also important to note that Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi shared “a brief but powerful correspondence between 1909 and 1910 that helped shape the philosophy of nonviolent resistance.” Inspired by the philosophy of Leo Tolstoy Gandhiji christened his communal settlement for non-violent resisters in South Africa as Tolstoy Farm in 1910.

            Here is a brief extract from Tolstoy’s book A Confession:

            The religious doctrine taught me from childhood disappeared in me as in others, but with this difference, that as from the age of fifteen I began to read philosophical works, my rejection of the doctrine became a conscious one at a very early age. From the time I was sixteen I ceased to say my prayers and ceased to go to church or to fast of my own volition. I did not believe what had been taught me in childhood but I believed in something. What it was I believed in I could not at all have said. I believed in a God, or rather I did not deny God ---but I could not have said what sort of God. Neither did I deny Christ and his teaching, but what his teaching consisted in I again could not have said………

            Ambition, love of power, covetousness, lasciviousness, pride, anger, and revenge ---were all respected. “

                                                *******

G.R.Kanwal

28 September 2026

 

 

           

TWENTY MEMORABLE QUOTES

 

                TWENTY MEMORABLE QUOTES

            Memorable quotes are replete with wisdom.  They are the essence of unparallel experiences of life. Without their knowledge we are almost illiterate.

1.     Tears wash away your sins.

2.     Poverty is not a curse; it is a blessing that preserves our humility.

3.     Pay more attention to your soul, than  to your body.

4.     Every adjective has numerous interpretations.

5.     Action is better than idle thoughts.

6.     Don’t abuse anybody; even your enemy.

7.     Love of dust is better than love of gold.

8.     Beauty is not a physical characteristic; it is  mental and spiritual.

9.     Life is a pilgrimage, not a commercial activity.

10.                         Preserve your childhood innocence till the last moment of your survival.

11.                         It is not easy to tell a lie, if your conscience is not unclean.

12.                         Chances are created; they are not already existing according to your aims.  

13.                         Jealousy is the enemy of one’s mind and soul.

14.                         Greed is a forbidden fruit.

15.                         Poetry is the language of a sensitive heart.  

16.                         Love wins hearts; hatred loses them.

17.                         Look at the sky for natural light of the sun, the moon, and the stars.

18.                         Turn foes into friends in order to be proud of your intelligence.

19.                          Contentment is the best source of happiness.

20.                         The English poet-playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616) said in his play : As You Like It (Act 2, Scene 1): “And this our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.”

                                                ********

G.R.Kanwal

27 September 2026

 

THE PHILOSOPHY OF LORD BUDDHA

 

                THE PHILOSOPHY OF LORD BUDDHA

            Lord  Buddha was originally the son of an Indian Kshatriya king named Suddhodana. His own name was Siddhartha Gautama. He was born in 623 B.C. in the well-known gardens of Lumbini, situated between India and Nepal.

            He passed away in 480 BCE at the age of 80 when he had become a wandering ascetic at the age of 35 years after abandoning the princely life and practicing rigorous penance of observing fasts and inflicting pain on his body for about six years.

            This approach however did not enlighten him. He did not achieve the light by which human beings could overcome the pangs of suffering related to sickness, old age and death. He, therefore,  gave up fasting, started meditating deeply under a papal tree near Gaya and finally the day came when he suddenly attained the knowledge which made him the Buddha, the  Enlightened one.    

            After becoming the Buddha, he began to teach his philosophy of the four noble truths and the eight-fold path. The former were explained  as:

            Life is full of suffering; the cause of suffering is selfishness and desires; suffering ends when desires vanish; and desires can be made to vanish  by adopting  the eight-fold path consisting of :

1.     Right Faith.

2.     Right Resolve.

3.     Right Speech.

4.     Right Conduct.

5.     Right Living.

6.     Right Effort.

7.     Right Remembrance.

8.     Right Meditation.

Lord Buddha also preached the middle path void of extremism. It means : one should avoid over-indulgence and over-abstention. If over-eating is punitive, over-fasting, too, has the same consequence.  

According to him, it is the middle path which  leads to enlightenment and happiness.

Besides the above-mentioned ways he also laid emphasis on self-control. For example, anger should not be allowed to  remain anger; it should be converted into kindness.

The philosophy of Lord Buddha is called Buddhism which is even today practiced in a number of countries all over the world.

The first emperor to adopt Buddhism was Ashoka the Great(Died 232 BC).

Even the parents and other members of  the family of Siddhartha Gautama , now known as Gautama Buddha, adopted Buddhism.

                                          ********

G.R.Kanwal

26 September 2026              

 

SOME THOUGHTS ON RELIGION

 

          SOME THOUGHTS ON RELIGION

            “Religion” is defined as the belief in the existence of a god or gods, and the activities that are connected with the worship of them.

            A religious person is devout, holy, godly, pious, and saintly. He is absolutely virtuous and the least vicious. His actions are thoroughly sinless. He dedicates his thoughts and actions to the creator of the whole universe. The sun, the moon, the earth and the sky are not human gifts. They are divine.

            As regards some religious thoughts, let us begin with Guru Nanak Dev (1469- 1539).  He formulated his basic gospel – the mool mantra ----of Sikhism, which is worded as below:  

            “There is one God, the Supreme Truth, the Creator, without fear and hate, omnipresent, not born, not dying. You shall worship Him with His grace.  At the beginning of time there was truth, in the course of time there is truth and forever there shall be truth”.  

            Here are a few more valuable thoughts:

*There is only one religion, though there are a hundred versions of it.---Irish playwright and critic George (1856-1950).

**All the principles which religion teaches, and all the habits which it forms, are favourable to strength of mind. It will be found that whatever purifies, also fortifies the heart.----Scottish divine Hugh Blair (1718-1800).

***Nothing can be hostile to religion which is agreeable to justice.---English satesman William E. (Gladstone 1809-1893).

****The flower of youth never appears more beautiful than when it bends toward the sun of righteous. ---English divine Matthew Henry (1662-1714.)

*****True religion teaches us to reverence what is under us, to recognize humility, poverty, wretchedness, suffering, and death, as things divine.----German poet, dramatist, and philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832).

                                                            ------

PUNCHLINE: Religion is as necessary to reason as reason to religion.

                                                ********

G. R. Kanwal

25 September 2026

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SOME THOUGHTS ON TIME

 

 

                                SOME THOUGHTS ON TIME

 

                According to dictionaries time is that which is measured in minutes, hours, days, etc. A  famous  Islamic poet and philosopher Sir Muhammad  Iqbal (1877-1938)  said that time cannot be measured in terms of todays and tomorrows. It is an onward flowing stream, which is endless and eternal.

 

            The English poet Ralph Hodgson (1871-1962) compares time to an old gypsy man who is unstoppable. Last week, he was in Babylon and last night in Rome, then he was  in the crush under Paul’s dome; and under Paul’s dial he tightened his rein—he was  there  only for  a moment, and  was  off once again.    

                 For various day to day descriptive purposes, time is named as season,  period, , epoch, term. era, age, etc.

 

                       The antonym of all these words is eternity which time is.

Here are some valuable thoughts on time.  They are eye openers and mental illuminators.

 

*To choose time is to save time.

 

*As every thread of gold is valuable, so is every moment of time.

 

* There is time to be born, and a time to die, said Solomon, and it  is the memento of a truly wise man. However, there is an interval between these two times of infinite importance.

 

*Time is the greatest of all tyrants. As we go on toward age, he taxes our health, limbs, faculties, strength, and features.

 

*The hours of a wise man are lengthened by his ideas, as those of a fool are by his passions.

 

*Remember that time is money.

*Time once lost cannot be regained.

 

*Time, whose tooth gnaws away everything else, is powerless against truth.

 

*There is not a single moment in life that we can afford to lose.

 

*I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.-----William Shakespeare.

 

*Well- arranged time is the surest mark of all arranged mind.

                       

                                                ******

G.R.Kanwal

24 September 2026

TWO POEMS ON HAPPINESS

 

TWO POEMS ON HAPPINESS                 

 

                “Happiness” is defined as an emotional and mental state characterized by feelings of joy, contentment, and satisfaction.

 

            According to a famous dictionary: happiness is a state of well-being and contentment .

            Beyond a fleeting emotion, scientists and psychologists view it as an overall sense of subjective well-being.

 

            Emotional balance, satisfaction with one’s achievements and sound relationships with relatives and associates are important sources of happiness.

 

            Fixation of purpose, identification of one’s social and moral values, and choice of right goals are key factors in one’s state of happiness.  

 

                To put it briefly, happiness is not a gift of God. It is a result of one’s  faultless life style.       

 

            The English poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744) says in his poem The Quiet Life:

 

Happy the man, whose wish and care

   A few paternal acres bound,

Content to breathe his native air,

                            In his own ground.

 

Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread,

   Whose flocks supply him with attire,

Whose trees in summer yield him shade,

                            In winter fire.

 

Blest, who can unconcernedly find

   Hours, days, and years slide soft away,

In health of body, peace of mind,

                            Quiet by day,

 

Sound sleep by night; study and ease,

   Together mixed; sweet recreation;

And innocence, which most does please,

                            With meditation.

 

Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;

   Thus unlamented let me die;

Steal from the world, and not a stone

                            Tell where I lie.

                                    -----

            To conclude, here are some tips that tell the readers how to be happy:

 

Just to be tender, just to be true;

Just to be glad the whole day through;

Just to be merciful, just to be mild;

Just to be trustful as a child:

Just to be gentle and kind and sweet;

Just to be helpful with willing feet;

Just to be cheery when things go wrong;

Just to drive sadness away with a song;

Whether the hour is dark or bright,

Just to be loyal to God and right !

                                    ********

G.R.Kanwal

23 September 2026

 

CONSCIENCE

 

                CONSCIENCE

            “Conscience” is defined as the part of your s mind that tells you whether our actions are right or wrong. It is conscience that gives you guilty feeling about something if you have done it wrongly. It also makes you guilty if you have not done what you were expected to do. Your guilty conscience may not blame you if you have done something wrong, evil, immoral, wicked, or undesirable. To kill your conscience is to clear your way for doing immoral acts.

            A conscientious person is scrupulous, principled, straightforward, uncorrupt, honourable,  faithful, truthful,  and morally sound. If he is not so, he is wicked, corrupt, profligate, hardened, shameless, vile, and mischievous.

              A person without conscience is a devil.

            If your conscience does not allow you to commit a sin, it means that you are ethically virtuous.

            All sinners have guilty conscience.

            Here are some popular thoughts on conscience:

*Man’s conscience is the oracle of God.---English poet Lord Byron.

*The truth is not so much that man has conscience, as that conscience has man. ----Dorner, German theologian.

* I feel within me a peace above all earthly dignities, a still and quiet conscience.  English poet and playwright William Shakespeare.

*A good conscience is a continual Christmas.---Franklin, American statesman.

*Conscience is a great ledger book in which all our offences are written and registered, and which time reveals to the sense and feeling of the offender,---Richard Burton, American author and professor of English.  

* He that is conscious of crime, however bold by nature, becomes a coward.---Menander, German dramatist.

* Conscience warns us as a friend before it punishes as a judge.-----Stanislas. King of Poland.

*A disciplined conscience is a man’s best friend. It may not be his most amiable, but it his most faithful monitor----A. Phelps, American clergy.

                                                *******

G.R.Kanwal

22 September 2026