LET US REPEAT

 

                LET US REPEAT

            Some poems, speeches, and religious texts never become old or outdated. Their contents remain eternal. So they deserve to be repeated in current times for guidance and inspiration.  Here are three of them:

1.     A song from the book titled Gitanjali (Song Offerings) written by India’s poet and author  Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)  

“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;

Where knowledge is free;

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;

Where words come out from the depth of truth;

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;

Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action -----

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

                                                ------

2.     A sonnet on Mercy by the English poet-playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616) contained in his play 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 bless’d;

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:

‘Tis 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.

                                                -----

3.     The Ten Commandments – a set of ten Biblical laws given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai.

Found in the Old Testament , they guide people on how to love God and how to treat other human beings.

 

Their details are:

*Put God first and do not worship false idols.

*Do not make or bow down to carved images.

*Treat the name of God with respect.

*Rest and honour God on the holy day of rest.

*Show respect to your father and mother.

*Do not kill other people.

*Do not commit adultery. Be faithful in your marriage.

*Do not steal.

*Do not give false testimony against your neighbour.

 *Do not be greedy for your neighbour’s house, wife, or possessions,

 

            The  above-mentioned commandments  appear in the Bible text (Exodus 20).

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G.R.Kanwal

20 August 2026

LEARNING FROM GREAT MEN (PART III)

 

                LEARNING FROM GREAT MEN (PART III)

            Great men are enlightened with a number of sublime thoughts which they liberally share with others in their speeches and writings. Here are some of them.

1.     A Prayer by Indian poet, philosopher, and writer Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941):

This is my prayer to thee, my lord-

Strike, strike at the root of penury in my hear,    

Give me the strength lightly to bear my joys and sorrows.

Give me the strength to make my love fruitful in service.

Give me the strength to make my love fruitful in service.

Give me the strength never to disown the poor or bend my knees before insolent might.

Give me the strength to raise my mind high above daily trifles.

And give me the strength to surrender my strength to thy will with love.

                                                ---

2.     A quote from the Bhagavadgita by the great philosopher and the former President of India Dr. S.Radhakrishnan (1888-1975):

 

The spirit of man is immortal. Weapons do not cleave the Self, fire does not burn him, waters do not make him wet, nor does the wind make him dry. He is un-cleavable, he cannot be burnt, he can be neither wetted nor dried; he is eternal, all pervading, un-changing , immovable; he is the same forever.

 

Note: The Self in this quote means the Divine in man.

 

3.      A few words from the writings of the Indian mystic Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, popularly known as Osho (1931-1990).

 

“If you respect life, you will start finding it difficult even to pluck a flower. You will enjoy the flower, you can kiss the flower ----but plucking it up, you are destroying it and you are hurting the plant, which is as alive as you are.  

 

Nonviolence simply says don’t kill others. Do you think it is enough? It is only a negative statement: don’t kill others, don’t harm others. Is that enough?

 

Reverence for life says share, give your joy, your love, your peace, your bliss. Whatsoever you can share , share.

                                                            -------

PUNCHLINE: Life is the childhood of our immortality (German writer and philosopher Goethe (1749-1832).

                                                ********

G.R.Kanwal

19 August 2026

     

 

 

LEARNING FROM GREAT MEN (PART 2)

 

          LEARNING FROM GREAT MEN  (PART 2)

1.  At the very outset some important DON’TS:

*Don’t make a mountain of a mole hill.

*Don’t burn your fingers in somebody else’s fire.

*Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched.

*Don’t put all your eggs in a single basket.

*Don’t put too many irons in the fire.  

*Don’t judge a book by its cover.

2.  Thus Spake A.P.J.Abdul Kalam (1831-2015), Former President of India.  

(i). God our creator; has stored within our minds and personalities, great potential strength and ability. Prayer helps us tap and develop these powers.

(ii). To succeed in your mission, you must have single-minded devotion to your goal.

(iii). Great dreams of great dreamers are always transcended.

(iv). Life is a difficult game. You  can win it only by retaining your birthright to be a person.

(v). Do not lose hope and courage. Success can only come to you by ccourageous devotion to the task lying in front of you.

(vi). Dream transforms into thoughts and thoughts result into actions.

(vii). Every pain gives a lesson and every lesson changes a person.

(viii). Confidence and hard work is the best medicine to kill the disease called failure. It will make you a successful person.

(ix). Good behavior doesn’t have any monetary value. But, it has the power to purchase million hearts.

(x). If you fail, never give up because Fail means “First Attempt In Learning”.                                                            -----------

PUNCHLINE: Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.---------------Napoleon Bonaparte

                                                           

G.R.Kanwal

18 August 2026   

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LEARNING FROM GREAT MEN (PART I)

 

                LEARNING FROM GREAT MEN (PART I)

            To read the biographies of great men is to discover how they became great and what were the magnificent thoughts which made them so.

            The American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) says in his poem A Psalm of Life :

            Lives of great men all remind us

            We can make our lives sublime,       

            And, departing leave behind us

            Footprints on the sands of time :-

           

            Footprints, that perhaps another,

            Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,

            A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

            Seeing, shall take heart again.

 

            Let us, hen be up and doing,

            With a heart for any fate ;

            Still achieving, still pursuing,

            Learn to labour and to wait.

           

            From the life of Siddhartha Gautama, universally  known as Lord Buddha  who was born a prince in Lumbini (modern Nepal) in  (c.480 BCE)   and lived about 80 years, we learn the Four Noble Truths :

 

            1. Life involves pain, dissatisfaction, imperfection, and impermanence. 2. Suffering stems from craving, selfish desire, and attachment tied to ignorance. 3. Suffering ends when you let go of craving and attain liberation, known as Nirvana. 4. The practical way to end suffering  is the Noble Eightfold Path.

           

            The details of The Noble Eightfold Path are:

 

Right understanding; Right Thinking; Right Speaking; Right Action i.e. abstaining from killing, stealing, harmful sexual misconduct; Right Livelihood i.e. earning a living without harming others; Right Effort i.e. adopting healthy mental tendencies; Right Mindfulness i.e. maintaining steady consciousness of body, feelings, and mind; Right Concentration, i.e. developing deep mental focus and tranquility trough meditation.      

 

            Lord Buddha is just one of the great men in history. In this blog, here is one more example. It is of Mahatma Gandhi, the great Indian spiritualist  and follower of non-violence  (1869-1948).  This is what he says about the issue of revenge:

            Let us dismiss all thought of revenge from our hearts. Revenge is not the way of peace. It is not humanity. The Hindu scripture teach forgiveness as the highest virtue, Forgiveness becomes a brave man. ---(Source: Harijan : November 17, 1946).

                                                            *******

 

G.R. .Kanwal

17 August 2026                                                     

THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK

 

          THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK

            The full proverb is “ Think before ou speak, and look before you leap.”

            Thoughtless speech can be dangerous. When you speak spontaneously, you get no time to examine the consequences of what you say.

            Never forget that the essential purpose of an ideal speech is to heal, not to hurt.

            Also remember, that words cut deeper than the sword. The cuts of a sword heal up sooner than those of the tongue.

            Somebody rightly said that “The true purpose of speech is to share ideas, spark action, and connect mind.” It can also be said that a good speech should turn enemies into friends, not friends into enemies.  

            Gandhiji (1869-1948) said: Man spoils matters much more by speech than by silence. He suggests: Look at Nature. She is continuously in action, never rests for a single moment, yet is mute.

             Here are some famous quotes:-

1.     Speech is a faculty given to man to conceal his thoughts.---Talleyrand, French clergyman and statesman (1754-1838).

2.     A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.---Confucius, Chinese philosopher (Died 479 BC).

3.     According  to Solomon, life and death are in the power of the tongue; and as Euripides truly affirmeth, every unbridled tongue in the end shall find itself unfortunate; in all that ever I observed I ever found that men’s fortunes are oftener made by their tongues  than by their virtues, and more men’s fortunes overthrown thereby, also, than by their vices.---Sir Walter Raleigh, English statesman and writer (1552-1618).

4.     There are three things that ought to be considered before Some things are spoken, --the manner, the place, and the time.----Robert Southey, English poet (1774-1843).

5.     Never rise to speak till you have something to say; and when you have said it, cease.----John Witherspoon, OTTISH DIVINE (1723-1794)/

6.     Discretion of speech is more than eloquence; and to speak agreeably to him with whom we deal is more than to speak in good words, or in good order.---Francis Bacon, English philosopher and essayist (1561-1626).

                                                            *******

G.R.Kanwal

16 August 2026  

 

 

 

OSCAR WILDE’S EPIGRAMS ON THOUGHT

 

          OSCAR WILDE’S EPIGRAMS ON THOUGHT

            A thought is defined as something a person thinks of or remembers.

            And thoughts are said to be a person’s mind and all the ideas that are there  when thinking is going on.

            Some important synonyms of thought are : Idea, judgement, conclusion, appraisal, assessment, estimation, opinion,  point of view, position, stance  , stand, feeling, sentiment, belief, conviction, etc.

            Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was an Irish poet, novelist and playwright. He became famous due to his sharp wit, flamboyant style and  playing a leading role in the aesthetic movement which promoted art for art’s sake.

            He is most famous for his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), a brilliant comedy The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) and his large number of epigrams under various heads.

            According to a literary critic Wilde considered thought to be more important than action, and regarded contemplation as the most cultured way of living.

            When at home, he spent hours, lying on a sofa, expending his energies of thought.  

            Given below are some of his great epigrams on THOUGHT.

1.     A thought is immoral. Its very essence is destruction. If you think of anything, you kill it. Nothing survives being thought.  

 

2.     The value of an idea has nothing whatsoever to do with the sincerity of the man who expresses it.

3.     Consistency is the las refuge of the unimaginative.

4.     An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.

5.     Only the shallow know themselves.

6.     Men of thought should have nothing to do with action.

7.     “What are you thinking?” is the only question that any civilized being should ever be allowed to whisper to another.

8.     Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow.

9.     Action ! What is action? It dies at the moment of its energy. It is a base concession to fact, The world is made by the singer for the dreamer !

10.            Intellect is in itself a mode of exaggeration, and destroys the harmony of any face. The moment one sits down to think, one  becomes all nose, all forehead, or something horrid.

 

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

PUNCHLINE: I CAN STAND BRUTE FORCE, BUT BRUTE REASON IS QUITE

UNREASONABLE.

 

                                                            *******

G. R. Kanwal

15 August 2026

 

 

 

.

QUOTES THAT MATTER

 

QUOTES THAT MATTER         

1. The only freedom worth possessing is that which gives enlargement to a people’s energy, intellect, and virtues. The savage makes his boast of  freedom.  But what is its worth?  He is indeed, free from what he calls the yoke of civil institutions. But other and worse chains bind him, The very privation of civil government is in effect a chair; for, by                                                 withholding protection from property it virtually shackles the arm of industry, and forbids exertion for the melioration of his lot. Progress, the growth  of intelligence and power, is the end and boon of liberty; and without this, a people may have the name, but want the substance and spirit of freedom.----American  clergy, William Ellery Channing (1780-1848).   
2. The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good, in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it. ----English economist John Stuart Mill (1806-1872).
3. A useful definition of liberty is obtained only by seeking the principle of liberty in the main business of human life, that is to say, in the process by which men educate their response and learn to control their environment. -----American author and editor Walter  Lippman  (1889-1974).
4. Freedom requires action, responsibility, and respect for others.----Indian lawyer and anti-colonial nationalist Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948).
5. Man is born free, and everywhere he is chains. -----Genevan philosopher and writer Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778).
6. The English poet John Milton (1608-1674)  defined freedom as the power of human reason to choose good over evil.
7. The character Satan in  John Milton’s book Paradise Lost, Book II, said : “Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven”.
8. True freedom demands incessant hard work and the service of suffering millions. -----Former Indian Prime Minister Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) in his Tryst with Destiny Speech on August 14, 1947.

                                                            ********

G.R.Kanwal

14 August 2026