THERE SHOULD BE LIGHT WITHIN

 

                THERE SHOULD BE LIGHT WITHIN

            Darkness and light coexist in this world. Day represents light, night signifies darkness. Both make the full circle.

            Day is exertion, night is rest and relaxation. Day is reality, night a sort of dream. Day is long, night is short.

            Man has devised artificial sources of light to change night into day, but has also suffered by violating nature’s  eternal law. A sleepless night is the cause of several diseases. Those who do not relax at night, have to do sleep  during the day.

            Symbolically, darkness is vicious; light is virtuous. Various religions regard pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, anger, and lethargy as the result of  man’s spiritual darkness. On the contrary. Prudence, justice, courage, moderation, faith, hope, and love are his virtuous light.

            To remove inner darkness you do not require the light of earthen lamps or any other such device as for example wax candles.

             Lord Buddha found everlasting enlightenment not from lamps but from moral virtues. He removed the inner darkness which almost every human being develops while staying in this world.

             Light is a metaphor for knowledge, understanding, truth, spirituality, goodness, beauty, love, charity, etc. Darkness is a metaphor for ignorance,  evil,  sin, moral corruption, lust, vicious desires, arrogance, etc.

              Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) said: We all have within us the forces of light and darkness working side by side. Therefore, mental agony is inevitable. But this need not frighten us. Sustained resistance will defeat the forces of darkness in the end. But we must remain confident in our hearts that it is our sacred duty to strengthen the forces of light.  

            He also said: When a man’s mind is filled with the Light of Heaven, all obstacles in his path fade away.

            In conclusion, here are a few lines by the Indian writer, polymath,  statesman and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941):

            Light, oh where is the light ? Kindle it with the burning fire of desire!

There is the lamp but never a flicker of a flame ---is such thy fate, my heart? Ah, death  were better by far for thee! Misery knocks at thy door, and her message is that thy Lord is wakeful, and he calls thee to the love-tryst through the darkness of night.

The night is black as a black stone. Let not the hours pass by in the dark.

Kindle the love of lamp with thy life.

                                                            *******

G. R. Kanwal

7 November 2026

 

 

 

LIGHT

 

                LIGHT

            Thank God that He has illuminated this world with light. The morning sun, the evening moon, and the nocturnal stars enable humans as also non-humans to live and work comfortably all through their existence.

            Some synonyms of light are: illumination, brightness, blaze, radiance, luminosity.

            Besides the sun, the moon, and the stars there are glowworms that provide light at night.

            Artificial sources of light are: candle, torch, lantern, taper, and lamp.

            Some words staring or ending with ‘light’ are: lighthouse, lightweight, lightyear, sunlight, moonlight, flashlight, headlight, streetlight, spotlight, twilight, candlelight, and daylight.

             The word light is also used as a symbol or  metaphor of: truth, knowledge, intelligence, insight, clarity, spirituality, hope,  goodness, enlightenment, wisdom, philosophy, holiness, moral illumination, etc.  

            God called the light “day”.

            Jesus said about himself : “I am the light of the world”.

            A few important antonyms of light are : dark, dim, dusky, black,  swarthy, opaque, depressed, dejected, dispirited, discouraged and disheartened.   

            Here are some literary quotes about light:

*Hail, holy light, offspring of heaven, firstborn. ----English poet John Milton.

*The first creation of God, in the works of the days, was the light of sense; the last was the light of reason; and his Sabbath work, ever since, is the illumination of the spirit. ---English jurist and essayist Francis Bacon.

*Light is the symbol of truth. ---The United States poet and Ambassador to the United Kingdom.

*Light is the shadow of God.---Greek philosopher Plato.

*The light of nature, the light of science, and the light of reason, are but as darkness, compared with the divine light which shines only from the word of God.---American historian John R. Lord.

            Finally, the Indian festival Deepavali (The Festival of Lights} which will be celebrated this year on 8^th November is the symbol of victory of good over evil.                                  

G.R. Kanwal

6  November 2026

 

IDEAS

 

                IDEAS

1.     Castles built in the air remain in the air.

2.     Pleasant dreams taste sweeter than bitter realities.

3.     Silence can be more meaningful than speech.

4.     Words are like eatables, don’t make them bitter.

5.     Ability is a poor man’s wealth.

6.     Gray hairs deserve to be respected.

7.     Pride ultimately breeds humility.

8.     All men are brothers, and all women sisters.

9.     Spirituality is the  greatest source mental peace.

10.                         Poetry is a lyrical expression of emotions and ideas.

11.                        God is always around us.

12.                         Somebody rightly said that it is right to be contented with what we have, but never with what we are.

13.                         Goods and chattels are temporary assets.

14.                         Idleness is a major cause of physical and mental suffering.

15.                         Man is never alone, he is always surrounded by thoughts and ideas.

16.                         Kindness is a language  which even the dumb can speak.

17.                          Practice makes man perfect.

18.                         According to the English poet Lord Byron (1788-1824) man is half dust, half deity, alike unfit to sink or soar.

19.                         Love tries man in many ways.

20.                          Mahatma Gandhi said:  evenmindedness is the best of all knowledge.

                                                ****

G.R.Kanwal

5 November 2026  

 

 

 

 

LISTEN CAREFULLY

 

                LISTEN CAREFULLY

1.     Cause and effect are inseparable. To mention the effect without the cause is to speak half the truth with some ulterior motive. Listeners as well as readers know that there cannot be smoke without fire. Moreover, the whole truth cannot be kept back eternally.

2.     Every action has a reaction. If you hit a mirror with a piece of stone, you will instantly find many pieces of that mirror on the ground .

3.     Those who live in glass houses do not throw stones on others if they know that revenge is a stern reality.  

4.     A soldier without a weapon is like a purse without money.

5.     It is not individuals that defeat armed opponents but the larger in number or more destructive weapons.

6.     Pride is not immortal. Every individual is subject to decline and end in the long run.

7.     Every cloud has a silver lining is a scientific fact.

8.     Two wrongs do not make one right.

9.     To tremble before anticipated evils, is to bemoan what you have never lost.

10.                         Ever person is a volume if you know how to read him.

11.                         Borrowing is not much better than begging.

12.                         It is not only men but also material that fulfils a purpose.

13.                         Sin and repentance are inter-related.

14.                         The usual fortune of complaint is to excite contempt more than pity.

15.                          God sees the truth but waits.

16.                          Nothing is pleasant that is not spiced with variety.

17.                         Wrong is but falsehood put in practice.

18.                         Might is not always right.

19.                         Life is short but not eventless.

20.                         Much bending breaks the bow; much unbending the mind.

                                                ******

G.R. Kanwal

4 November 2026

 

           

    

FRANCIS BACON SAID (TENTH PART)

 

                   FRANCIS BACON SAID

                             (TENTH PART)

1.     Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their  chief use for delight , is in privateness and retiring ; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business. For expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best from those who are learned.

 

2.     To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules, is the humour of a scholar. They perfect nature, and are perfected by experience : for natural abilities are like natural plants that need proyning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience.

 

3.     Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation.

 

4.     Read no to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider.

 

5.     Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed  and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books; else distilled books are like distilled waters, flashy things.

 

6.     Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man. And therefore , if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit; and if he had read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not.

 

7.     Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtle; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend .

 

8.     Bowling is good for the stone and reins; shooting for the lungs and breast; gentle walking for the stomach; riding for the head; and the like. So if a man’s wit be wandering, let him study mathematics; for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he must begin again.

 

                                                      *******

G. R. Kanwal

3^rd November 2026

 

Note: No more extracts from Bacon’s Essays.                                                                                   -------

FRANCIS BACON SAID (NINTH PART)

 

FRANCIS BACON SAID

                        (NINTH PART)

1, Men’s thoughts are much according to their inclination; their discourse and speeches according to their learning and infused opinions; but their deeds are after as they have been accustomed.

 

2. A man that is young in years may be old in hours, if he have lost no time.  But that happeneth rarely. Generally, youth is like the first cogitations, not so wise as the second. For there is youth in thoughts, as well as in ages. And yet the invention of young men is more lively than that of old; and imaginations stream into their minds better, and as it were more divinely.

 

3. Beauty is as summer fruits, which are easy to corrupt, and cannot last; and for the most part it makes a dissolute youth, and an age a little out of countenance; but yet certainly again, if it light well, it maketh virtue shine, and vice blush.

 

4. Houses are built to live in, and not to look on; therefore let use be preferred before uniformity, except where both may be bad. Leave the goodly fabrics of houses, for beauty only, to the enchanted palaces of the poets, who build them with small cost. He that builds a fair house upon an ill seat , committeth himself to prison.  

 

5. God Almighty first planted a Garden. And indeed it is the purest of human pleasures. It is the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man; without which buildings and palaces are but gross handyworks:  and a man shall ever see that when ages grow to civility and elegancy, men come to build stately than to garden finely; as if gardening were the greater perfection.

 

6. Costly followers are not to be liked; lest while a man maketh his train longer, he make his wings shorter. I reckon to be costly, not them alone which charge the purse, but which are wearisome and importune in suits.

                                                *******

G.R. Kanwal

2^nd November 2026

 

FRANCIS BACON SAID (PART EIGHTH)

 

          FRANCIS BACON SAID

                         (PART EIGHTH)

1.     Entertain hopes; mirth rather than joy; variety of delights, rather than surfeit of them; wonder and admiration, and therefore novelties; studies that fill the mind with splendid and illustrious objects, as histories, fables, and contemplations of nature.

2.     Suspicions amongst thoughts are like bats amongst birds, they ever fly by twilight. Certainly they are to be repressed, or at the least well guarded : for they cloud the mind; they leese (old English meaning lose)friends ; they check with business, whereby business cannot go on currently and constantly.

3.     Of great riches there is no real us, except it be in the distribution; the rest is but conceit. So saith Salomon, where much is, there are many to consume it ; and what hath the owner but the sight of it with his eyes.

4.     Be not penny-wise; riches have wings, and sometimes they fly away of themselves, sometimes they must be sent flying to bring in more. Men leave their riches either to their kindred, or to the public; and moderate portions prosper best in both.

5.     Ambition is like choler; which is an humour that maketh men active, earnest, full of alacrity, and stirring, if it be not stopped. But if it be stopped , and cannot have his way, it becometh adust, and thereby malign and venomous. So ambitious men, if they find the way open for their rising, and still get forward, they are rather busy than dangerous; but if they be checked  in their desires,, they become secretly discontent, and look upon men and matters with an evil eye, and are best pleased when things go backward; which is the worst property in a servant of a prince or state.

6.     Nature is often hidden; sometimes overcome; seldom                  extinguished. Force maketh nature more violent in the return; doctrine and discourse maketh nature less importune; but custom only doth alter and subdue nature. He that seeketh victory over nature, let him not set himself too great nor too small tasks; for the first will make him dejected by often failings; and the second will make him a small proceeder, though by often prevailings.

G. R. Kanwal

1^st November 2026