AN ANCIENT PRAYER

 

                AN ANCIENT PRAYER  

                        “An Ancient Prayer” is an admirable poem written by Thomas Henry Basil Webb. His biographical details are not reliably available anywhere. But the full text of the poem is easily available at relevant sources. It is one of the best loved poems in anthologies consisting of faith and immortality poetry.

                         Here is the full text of the poem:

                Give me a good digestion, Lord, and also something to digest;

Give me a healthy body, Lord, and sense to keep it at its best.

Give me a healthy mind, good Lord, to keep the good and pure in sight;

Which, seeing sin, is not appalled, but finds a way to set it  right.

Give me a mind that is not bound, that does not whimper, whine or sigh.

Don't let me worry overmuch about the fussy thing called I.

Give me a sense of humor, Lord; give me the grace to see a joke,

To  get some happiness from life and pass it on to other folk.

                        The above-mentioned  prayer in the poem is mainly concerned with health and happiness which, according to the poet, depend upon “good digestion” and a mind that does not “whimper, whine or sigh” and also does not allow the poet  ”to worry overmuch about the fussy thing called I.”

                        It is not wrong to say: “We do not die but kill ourselves.”  According to a  proverbial quote : One man’s meat is another’s poison.”

                        The French writer and philosopher Voltaire  (1694-1778)  believed that regimen is better than physic. Every one should be his own physician. We ought to assist, and not to force nature. Eat with moderation what agrees with your constitution. Nothing is good for the body but what we can digest. What medicine can procure digestion?  Exercise. What will recruit strength? Sleep. What will alleviate incurable evils? Patience.

                        To conclude, here  is a relevant quote by the Greek philosopher Plato (427 BC – 347 BC) : Health, beauty, vigour, riches, and all the other things called good, operate equally as evils to the vicious and unjust, as they do as benefits to the just.

                                                            *******

G. R. Kanwal

12^th  April 2026

 

PEACE QUOTES AND PRAYERS

 

PEACE QUOTES AND PRAYERS

            Peace is defined as a state of calmness, tranquility, and harmony. In another sense it means the absence of war and the cessation of hostilities between nations.

            Some common synonyms of peace are: harmony, serenity, security and accord.

            According to the American civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr.:  True peace is not merely the absence of tension but also the presence of justice.

            A few famous  quotes on peace are:

1.     Peace is the happy, natural, state of man; war, his corruption, his disgrace.---James Thomson, Scottish poet (1700-1748).

2.     Five great enemies to peace inhabit with us: viz., avarice, ambition, envy, anger, and pride. If those enemies were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace.----Italian poet Francis Petrarch (1304-1374).  

3.     Peace  is rarely denied to the peaceful.---German poet and playwright Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805).

4.     Peace hath her victories, no less renowned than war.----English poet John Milton (1608-1674).

5.     Peace is a dear nurse of arts,  plenties, and joyful birth.----English poet and playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616).

            Here is a famous  peace prayer from the ancient Hindu scripture Yajurveda : 36:17:

May there be peace in heaven, peace in the atmosphere, peace on earth, peace in the waters, peace in the herbs, peace in the vegetation. May all the divine powers bring peace. May there be peace in Brahman. May there be peace in all things. May that peace come to me. Om Peace, Peace, Peace.

              In the end, a  Christian peace prayer by St. Francis,   

            Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.

                                                *******

G.R.Kanwal

10^th April 2026

 

                                   

SOME FAMOUS QUOTES ON WARS

 

SOME FAMOUS QUOTES ON WARS         

            Wars are not new. They have been there since the creation of the world. The difference is in their weapons and horrors. In the beginning, there were either no weapons or they were as simple as sticks and stones. Today there are various types of destructive weapons and bombs including nuclear and hydrogen bombs.

            The means of transportation and communication have also become awfully fast. Now the parties engaged in wars can have videos of all the actions taking place.

                Personally, I believe in the permanent abolition of war and the non-manufacturing of all sorts of destructive weapons.

                Wars should be declared not only  punishable crimes but also  unpardonable sins.

                  Given below are some famous war quotes.

1.     If war has its chivalry and its pageantry, it has also its hideousness and its demoniac woe. Bullets respect not beauty. They tear out the eye, and shatter the jaw, and rend the cheek. ---American clergy J .S. C. Abbott.

2.     War is the business of barbarians. ---Former Emperor of France  Napoleon Bonaparte.

3.     War is nothing less than a temporary repeal of the principles of virtue.---English clergy Robert Hall.  

4.     War comes today as the result of one of three causes: either actual or threatened wrong by one country to another. Or suspicion by one country that another intends to do it wrong, or from bitterness of feeling. ----American lawyer Elihu Root.

5.     Only the dead have seen the end of war. Greek philosopher Plato.

6.     I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity. ---Former American President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

7.     War is a defeat for humanity.---Pope John Paul II.

8.     Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die. ---Herbert Hoover, 31^st President of United States.

9.     Militarism and warfare are childish things if they are not more horrible than anything childish can be. They must become things of the past.----English novelist and historian  H. G. Wells.

10.                         As long as war is regarded as wicked it will always have its fascinations. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular.----English writer Oscar Wilde.                 

                                                                        ********

G.R. Kanwal

9^th April 2026

 

REMEMBER

 

                REMEMBER

1.     A lie has no legs to stand upon.

2.     Truth fears no examination.

3.     Suffering is the result of your actions.

4.     Killing, stealing, falsehood, greed, hatred, arrogance, envy, revenge, sloth, deceit, fear, stealing, are among the deadly sins.

5.      Prudence (wisdom), justice, fortitude (courage), temperance, truth, forgiveness, mercy, contentment, love, humility, honesty, sharing  and caring are among the cardinal virtues.

6.     Birth, old age, sickness, and death are inescapable.

7.     Pity is the virtue of law and none but some tyrants use it cruelly.

8.     Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.

9.     We know what we are, but do not know what we may be.     

10.                        Good character is human nature in the best form.

11.                        Taste and habits change progressively.

12.                        Want of decency is want of sense.

13.                        It takes two to make a quarrel.

14.                        Forgiveness is the best punishment.

15.                         As one lamp lights another, so does nobleness enkindles nobleness.

16.                         A noble deed is a step toward God.

17.                        Do thy duty; that is best; leave unto the Lord the rest.

18.                         Beautiful is the activity which works for good.

19.                         In idleness there is perpetual despair.

20.                         Man is an animal that makes bargains; no other animal does this.

21.                         Morality is the vestibule (entryway) of religion.

22.                        Most pleasures, like flowers, when gathered, die.

23.                        Few except the poor feel for the poor.

24.                        Undeserved praise is satire (criticism) in disguise.

25.                         Sorrows remembered sweeten present joy.

26.                        Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.

27.                         Talent is power; tact is skill.

28.                         Learn to say “No”.

29.                         Thoughts are but dreams till their effects be tried.

30.                         Thinking is talking of the soul with itself.                   

G. R. Kanwal

8^th April 2026

 

TO DAFFODILS

 

 

                        TO DAFFODILS

 

            Given below is a poem written by the English poet Robert Herrick . He was born in London on 24 August 1591 and died on 15 October 1674. He was not only a popular lyric poet but also an Anglican cleric.

 

               “To Daffodils” is a deeply musical  poem about the fleeting nature of life and beauty. It inspires the readers to spend their life’s transient moments as delightfully as possible. The poem succeeds in effectively highlighting the rapid transition of life from growth to decay. Daffodils, a product of nature, is used  as a metaphor, and is said to  pass quickly like human life.

 

                  Herrick’s most famous quotes, which are relevant here,   are:

(i)                “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.

(ii)              “That man lives twice that lives the first life well”.                  

 

Here is the full text of the poem “TO DAFFODILS”

 

 Fair Daffodils, we weep to see

You haste away so soon;

As yet the early-rising sun

Has not attain'd his noon.

Stay, stay,

Until the hasting day

Has run

But to the even-song;

And, having pray'd together, we

Will go with you along.

 

We have short time to stay, as you,

We have as short a spring;

As quick a growth to meet decay,

As you, or anything.

We die

As your hours do, and dry

Away,

Like to the summer's rain;

Or as the pearls of morning's dew,

Ne'er to be found again.

                                                            ********

 

G.R.Kanwal

7^th April 2026

 

GOD IS MERCIFUL

 

          GOD IS MERCIFUL

            There are innumerable attributes of God . Some of them are common in almost all the religions. These are: He is omnipotent. Omnipresent, omni-benevolent, eternal, sovereign, immutable, righteous, invariably  good , and merciful.   

            The American clergy Henry Ward Beecher (1813-87) said :  the very  word “God” suggests care, kindness, goodness; and the idea of God in his infinity, is infinite care, infinite kindness, infinite goodness. We give God the name of good: it is only by shortening it that it becomes God.

            The first President of U.S. George Washington said: It is   impossible to govern the world without God. He must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligation.

            Swiss theologian John Caspar Lavater (1741-1801) said: It is one of my favourite thoughts, that God manifests himself to mankind in all wise, good, humble, generous, great and magnanimous men.

            The Spanish poet and dramatist (1547-1616) rightly said that among the attributes of God, although they are all equal, mercy shines with even more brilliancy than justice.

            The English poet-playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616) believed that the quality of mercy is not strained; it droppeth, as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath; it is twice blessed; it blesseth him that gives and him that takes; it is mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes the throned monarch better than his crown. Mercy is an attribute to God himself.

            God is the supreme monarch of this world. He is most forgiving and merciful, otherwise we shall not find millions of wicked people breathing safely  in their dwellings, workplaces, and recreational  resorts . God  forgives the sinners again and again and assures them of His mercy whenever they decide to reform themselves and abandon their notorious past.

            Finally, look at the following  lines by the Persian Sufi  poet Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207-1273):

           

 Come, come, whoever you are,

Wanderer, fire worshipper, lover of leaving.

 This is not a caravan of despair.

It does not matter that you have broken your vow

a thousand times. Still come,

and yet again come.

                                                            ********

G. R. Kanwal

6^th April 2026

                                                           

  

PRIDE, POWER, AND ARROGANCE

 

PRIDE, POWER, AND ARROGANCE             

            Pride is both a virtue and a vice. If you heal a sick person , you can be proud of your achievement. But if you kill him out of enmity, you commit a sin, and your action is most vicious.

            Forgiveness, not revenge , is a noble deed. Humility, not pride, is venerable. Pride is not the noblest feature of any quality you may be having. Humility makes your actions, in spite of your powerfulness, lovely and admirable.

            Power should be constructive, not destructive. It ought to be forward-looking , not  regressive.  Napoleon  Bonaparte ( 1769-1821), the Former Emperor of France,  said : Even in war moral power is to physical as there parts out of four.

            An American banker and journalist Frank A. Vanderlip (1864-1937) said : Since nothing is settled until it is settled right, no matter how unlimited power a man may have, unless he exercises it fairly and justly his actions will return to plague him.   

            Misuse of power anywhere is sinful and condemnable.

            The French philosopher and Catholic writer Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) believed: Justice without power is inefficient; power without justice is tyranny. Justice without power is opposed, because there are always wicked men. Power without justice is soon questioned. Justice and power must therefore be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just.

            Arrogance is defined as “ the  quality of being unpleasantly  proud, behaving as if one is more important or superior to others. It involves an exaggerated self-opinion, often characterized by rudeness, contempt, and the dismissal of others’ views.”

            The Scottish philosopher and historian David Hume (1711-1776) said: When men are most sure and arrogant they are commonly most mistaken, giving views to passion without that proper deliberation which alone can secure them from the grossest absurdities.

            Finally, before concluding, this quote by the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910): An arrogant person considers himself perfect. This is the chief harm of arrogance. It interferes with a person’s main task in life ---becoming a better person.

                                                            *******

G.R.Kanwal

5^th April 2026