RING OUT THE OLD, RING IN THE NEW

 

RING OUT THE OLD, RING IN THE NEW

“Ring out the old, ring in the new” is a line taken from the poem “Ring Out, Wild Bells, written by the British poet laureate Alfred Lord Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892).

The poem itself is an extract from “In Memoriam, an elegy written on  the death of his friend Arthur Henry Hallam, his sister’s fiancé.

  Tennyson was a great poet of the Victorian age which took the view that poetry should teach a moral lesson. Surprisingly enough, Tennyson sacrificed his native creative impulse and yielding to the pressure of his age became a preacher as well as a poet.    

“Ring Out, Wild Bells” is an immortal poem.  Published in 1850, its contents have not dated even after 171 years. What it wants to ring out and ring in is the need of every country and will remain  so for decades, if not centuries, to come.   

The poem reads as follows:

 Ring out, wild bells, to  the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty light:

The year is dying in  the night;

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

 

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow;

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

 

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,

For those that here we see no more;

Ring out the feud of rich and poor,

Rind in redress to all mankind.

 

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,

The faithless coldness of the time;

Ring out, ring out my mournful rhyme,

But ring the fuller minstrel in.

 

Ring out false pride in place of blood,

The civic slander and the spite;

Ring in the love of truth and right,

Ring in the common love of good.

 

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,

Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;

Ring out t he thousand wars of old,

Ring in the thousand years of peace.

 

Ring in  the valiant man and free,

The larger heart, the kindlier hand;

Ring out the darkness of the land,

Ring in  the Christ that is to be.

 

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31^st December 2021               G.R.Kanwal    

NO MEN ARE FOREIGN

 

 

NO  MEN ARE FOREIGN

‘‘No Men Are Foreign’’ is a most famous poem written by the prolific English poet, translator and travel writer James Harold Kirkup.  He was  born in England on 23 April 1918 and passed away at Andorra on 10 May 2009.

Kirkup is reckoned as an author of  over 45 books in various literary genres. English poet Stevie Smith (1902-1971) described him as “a poet in the English tradition, original without being freakish , contemporary without being fraudulent. “

Kirkup’s books include novels, plays, autobiographies, anthologies of poems  -----all of which he wrote under several pen-names such as James Falconer, Andrew James, Felix Liston, Edwards Raeburn and many others.

              “No Men Are Foreign” is a poem on universal brotherhood. Its message deserves to be conveyed to every child and every adult in the whole world.  It is a poem which people of all religions must read with an understanding heart.  Political leaders, social reformers and heads of defence forces ought to imbibe from its powerful lines  the spirit of unity of mankind and cherish the dream of a world without borders. 

To enjoy the power and beauty of  this poem is easy but to comprehend its core values and to practically work on  them is quite difficult.    

            The poem reads as follows:

REMEMBER no men are strange no countries foreign.

Beneath all uniforms, a single body breathes

Like ours ; the land of our brothers walk upon

Is earth like this, in which we all shall lie.

 

They, too, are aware of sun and air and water,

Are fed by peaceful harvests, by war’s log winter starv’d.

 

Their hands are ours, and in their lines we read

A labour not different from our own.  

 

sleep and strength that can be won by love

Remember, they have eyes like ours that wake

Or sleep, and strength that can be won

By love. In every land is common life

That all can recognize and understand.

 

Let us remember, whenever e ae told

To hat our brothers, it is ourselves

That we shall dispossess, betray, condemn.

Remember, we who take arms against each other.

 

It is the human earth that we defile,

Our hells of fire and dust outrage the innocence

Of air , that is everywhere our own.

Remember, no men are foreign, and no countries strange.

 

            Read again and again: (a) Their hands are ours, and in their lines we read a labour not different from others. (b) Remember, they have eyes like ours that wake or sleep, and strength that can be won by love. In every land is common life that all can recognize and understand. (c) and most of all repeat day after day this contemporarily relevant stanza:

 

It is the human earth we defile,

Our hells of fire  and dust outrage the innocence

Of air, that is everywhere our own.

Remember, no men are foreign, and no countries strange.           

 

In my humble view, this is one of the greatest and loveliest poems on universal brotherhood.

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

30th December 2021                             G.R. Kanwal

                            

 

 

 

 

ALL MEN ARE BROTHERS

 

ALL MEN ARE BROTHERS

 Greek  philosopher Epictetus  (60?-120?) said the universe is but one great city, full of beloved ones, divine and human, by nature endured to each other.

And according to the Roman philosopher Lucius Annaeus (54 BC-39AD) however degraded or wretched a fellow may be, he is still a member of our common species.

Calvin Coolidge, the 30^th President of the United States from 1923-1929 believed “Our doctrine of equality and liberty and humanity comes from our belief in the brotherhood of man through the fatherhood of God.”

In a similar vein  American theologian (1809-1894) said: “Whoever in prayer can say “Our Father,” acknowledges and should feel the brotherhood of the whole race of mankind.“

            In the political, social and religious of literature of the world there is no dearth of such quotations as lay emphasis on the unity of God and mankind, yet we find that the brotherhood they talk about so reverentially is seldom practised  anywhere.  Mutual hatred and violence are rampant throughout the world.

 A 1958 UNESCO publication carrying the life and thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi (1889-1948) ‘as told in his own words ‘ bears the title “All Men Are Brothers”. The purpose of the book is to “describe the main features of the Mahatma’s philosophy and his influence in furthering friendship and understanding between peoples.

The book starts with these words of Gandhiji:

“I have nothing new to teach the world, Truth and non-violence are as old as the hills.”

            As regards his belief in the unity of mankind, Gandhiji says:

“All my actions have their rise in my inalienable love of mankind. I have known no distinction between relatives and strangers , countrymen and foreigners, white and coloured, Hindus and Indians of other faiths whether Mussulmans, Parsees, Christians or Jews. I may say that my heart has been incapable of making any such distinctions.  By a long process of prayerful discipline, I have ceased for over forty years to hate anybody. All men are bothers and no human being should be a stranger to another. The welfare of all, Sarvodaya, should be our aim. God is the common bond that unites all human beings. To break this bond even with our greatest enemy is to tear God to pieces. There is humanity even in the most wicked. “

            It is regrettable that most of the followers of Gandhiji  hardly believe like him that “All Men Are Brothers.”       

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14^th December 2021                                                      G. R. Kanwal

 

                  

TO THE VIRGINS (A Poem by Robert Herrick)

 

     TO THE VIRGINS

                                (A Poem by Robert Herrick)

Robert Herrick  (1591-1674) was an English clergyman and poet. He graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1617, took his M.A. in 1620 and was ordained in 1623. He was one of the cavalier poets who were mostly light-hearted, gay, trivial and licentious and were unlike George Herbert (1593-1633) , Henry Vaughan (1622-1695) and others who sang of sacred things.

Herrick wrote during the time of political polarisation between those who were  the supporters of the king, Charles I, and those who stood by Oliver Cromwell the supporter of puritan Parliament. The former were called Royalists and Cavaliers; the latter, Roundheads and Parliamentarians.

 

            Though Herrick also wrote some divine poems, he is better known for his pagan poetry in which he draws attention to the brevity of life and the necessity to enjoy the current moment as deeply and as fast possible.

 

His cult is:

 

            Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

            Old time  still a-flying:

            And this same flower that flies today

            Tomorrow will be dying.

In another famous poem Corrina’s going a-Maying, he says:

           

            Come, let us go, while we are in our prime,

And take the harmless folly of the time!

We shall grow old apace, and die

Before we know our liberty.

Our life is short, and our days run

As fast away as does the sun.

And as a vapour or a drop of rain,

Once lost, can ne’er be found again.

So when you or I are made

A fable, song, or fleeting  shade,

All love, all liking, all delight

Lies drown’d with us in endless night.

Then, while time serves, and we are but decaying,

Come, my Corinna, Come, let’s go a-Maying.

 

Let’s go ‘a-Maying’ is the earliest reflection of modern times ‘existentialism.’

 

            In ‘To The Virgins’, Herrick repeats the same message .  Life is short. The vigorous period of youth, too, is short.  It should be enjoyed as it is available right now. In this world of mortal world of men and material, postponement is mere stupidity.  Delay ,too, is unwise. Both these attitudes lead to decay.  Put your trust in the powerful “Today” , not  decayed ‘Tomorrow”. Moreover, the strong ‘Today’ is reliable, reachable and trustworthy, the enfeebled  ‘Tomorrow ’ is both uncertain and undependable.  

 

            The text of the poem under reference is as follows:

 

To The Virgins

 

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

Old Time is still a-flying

And this same flower that smiles today

Tomorrow will be dying.

 

The glorious lamp of Heaven, the sun,

The higher he’s a-getting,

The sooner will his race be run,

And nearer he’s to setting.

 

The age is best which is the first,

When youth and blood are warmer;

But being spent, the worse and worst

Times still succeed the former.

 

Then be not coy, but use your time,

And, while ye may, go marry;

For having lost but once your prime,

You may forever tarry.

   

            Herrick‘s language is sweet and melodious.  He is deservedly called the sweet singer of his time.

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5^th December 2021                                                           G.R.Kanwal

 

 

           

 

 

 

                              SOME WORDS OF WISDOM

Life is a difficult journey.  It has many pitfalls and a lot of ups and down.  It is both bitter and sweet, beautiful and clumsy. Everybody loves it, holds it passionately, does not want to lose his grip upon it even in most trying circumstances. 

Life is also a constant learning.  From rawness to ripeness, it has many stages of foolishness and maturity.

Everybody grows wiser from his personal experience.  But that alone is not enough.  To benefit from the experiences of others is also worthwhile.

 Given below is a bunch extracts from The Qabus Nama by Kai- Kaus Ibn Iskandar, Prince of Gurgan, Greater Iran (1291-1300 AD). If not acceptable, they are ae deeply illuminating.

1.The world is ploughland; as you sow, be it good or ill, you reap. Yet no man enjoys on his own ground what he has reaped there. It is in the place of Delight that he enjoys it, and that is the Everlasting Abode. Now in this present world virtuous men are imbued with the spirit of lions, whereas wicked men have the spirit of dogs, for while the dog consumes his prey where he seizes it the lion takes it elsewhere.

1.      You cannot praise God in terms worthy of him.  If you cannot even praise him worthily, how can you know him ?

2.      Do not permit the thought to enter your head that any neglect in your devotions is permissible, for whether you regard it from the point of view of religion or of philosophy there are several advantages to be derived from worship. The first is that he who performs the obligatory ritual of worship has body and garments clean, and cleanliness ever preferable to defilement. Secondly, the worshipper is free from vainglory, for the reason that the principle of worship is based upon self-abasement.

3.      A man may be compared to the fruit and his parents to the tree; the greater the care you give to the tree, the better will be the fruit. If you hold your parents in great honour, their prayers for your well-being will be swiftly answered and you will be brought near to God’s favour. Guard against wishing for your father’s death merely for the sake of the inheritance; your allotted portion will come to you irrespective of your parents’ death Each man’s allotted portion is pre-ordained and to each there comes that which in past eternity was decreed to be his fate. Do not, therefore,  burden yourself with overmuch anxiety; your fortune is daily bread depends on your earning, not on your fretting.

4.      Though it may be the case that old men sigh for youth, yet doubtless also young men hunger after old age, to which they may or may not attain; and, if you observe carefully, each is envious of the other, despite the fact that the young believe themselves the wisest of all beings. Have a care; do not range yourself with that kind of youth. Treat old men with respect and do not address them frivolously, because their retort, like that of clever persons, may be sharp. It is said that a very old man was going along with bowed back and leaning on  a stick when a youth mockingly aid to him, “Grandfather, what did you pay for that bow ? I should like to buy one, too”. He replied, “If you live long enough and exercise patience, you will be given one free, even though you do not deserve one.  

5.      Nobody, indeed, knows the troubles of old age better than one who has reached it.

6.      Do not let the way in which you spend your life be devoid of method.

7.      In truth, everything consumed, whether it be food or drink, becomes poison if taken in excess. That is what the poet meant when he said:

Your antidote for thirst is none the less

A poison when you use it to excess

8.A good name, once acquired, should be cherished; it becomes even better if one’s behaviour remains impeccable.

                                               *******

2^nd December 2021                                                  G.R.KANWAL

COUNSELS OF NAUSHERWAN-E-ADIL

COUNSELS OF NAUSHERWAN-E-ADIL

King Nausherwan-e-Adil was born at Ardestan (c.512-514 ). He is called by several names, one of them being Khusrau, which means ‘of good deeds’ or ‘of immortal soul.’ He is  also known as the Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 531-579. 

            ‘Adil” is a Persian word synonymous with “just, fair, equitable, etc.”. Nausheerwan is described as  an unbiased ruler whose fair sense of justice caused personal tragedy when his own son cheated a woman and as a father, he had to deliver the justice.     

            According to some historians Nausherwan (also called Khusrow I) was one of the most celebrated kings. His reforms were pro-people and the tax reforms which he introduced  were also adopted  by a number of successors.

            The counsels , a sample of which is given below, were taught by Nausherwan to his son.  They are available in The Qabus Nama, also called A Mirror for Princes,  by Kai Ka’us Ibn Iskandar. To quote the distinguished translator ,  Reuben Levy, Professor of Persian at Cambridge, who translated this book from Persian into English (Cresset Press: London:1951), the Qabus Nama is a guide intended to warn Kai Ka’us’s son  against the pitfalls on life’s journey. In essence it combines the functions of popular educator, manual of political conduct and text book of ethics, with expedience as its motive.

            Qabus Nama is divided into fortyfour chapters bearing  such titles as On Knowing God, On Showing Gratitude to Parents, the Good and Bad in Speech, Age and Youth, The Etiquette of Eating, On Romantic Passion, Sleep and Rest, Pardon and Punishment, etc.

‘The Counsels of Nusherwan the Just to His son’ is one of the best chapters. The counsels mentioned therein are evergreen. They haven’t become stale  even after a passage of about fifteen centuries .   

A BRIEF SAMPLE OF COUNSELS

1.How is it that men commit actions of which they afterwards repent, although others before them have done them and repented.

2.Form no friendship with men lacking merit, for such men are worthy neither of friendship nor of enmity.

3. Beware of the man who deems himself wise but is in actual fact  a fool.

4. Speak the truth though it be bitter, and if you desire your enemy not to become possessed of your secret do not reveal it to your friend.

5. The great man who looks upon himself as small is indeed the great man of his age.

6. If you desire men to speak well of you, then do you speak well of your fellowmen.

7. If you desire to remain free of unhappiness, be not envious.

8. If you desire to command men’s respect, then exercise justice.

9. If you desire to be amongst the great, then see yourself in the mirror of other men.

10.  If you desire to be a man of justice, be generous as far as lies in your power towards them that are subordinate to you; and if you desire your heart never to be stricken a blow which no remedy can heal, never engage in argument with fools.

 

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30^th November 2021                                                        G.R. Kanwal  

SOME PRECIOUS THOUGHTS OF PANDIT JAWAHARLAL NEHRU

 

 

          SOME PRECIOUS THOUGHTS OF PANDIT JAWAHARLAL NEHRU

The first Prime Minister of free India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (14^th November1889 – 27^th May 1964) was a  great prolific thinker.  He had lots of original ideas about history, political science, religion, and statecraft.  He authored a number of writings, most significant  among them being The Discovery of India 1946, An Autobiography 1936 and Glimpses of World History 1934.   He wielded a powerful pen and his style was as lucid and sublime as of a distinguished  literary writer.

Given below are some of his  most precious  thoughts on a handful of weighty  subjects.

 “1.Science has two faces like Janus: (it) has its destructive side and a constructive, creative side. Both have gone on side by side and both still go on. No one knows which will ultimately triumph….It acknowledges no authority to which it must bow except to show proof by experimentation or error….it does not believe in authoritarianism of anything, and, if I may say so with all respect, in Public Affairs and Politics, even in Religion, Science challenges that too, not disrespectfully but  simply because it does not wish to accept anything without adequate proof being afforded to it. It does not accept pure speculation.  It may indulge in it occasionally but that has to be justified by experiment.

2. None of us can evade death, but youth at least does not think of it. Old men work for the span of years that still remains for them; the young work for eternity.

3. It is not what you say that matters, but what you do.

4. In a proper democracy, discipline is self-imposed. There is no democracy if there is no discipline.

5. I believe completely in any government, whatever it might be having stout critics, having an opposition to face. Without criticism people and governments become complacent. The whole parliamentary system of government is based on such criticism. The free Press is also based on criticism. It would be a bad thing for us if the Press was not free to criticise , if people were not allowed to speak and criticise government fully and in open. It would not be parliamentary government. It would not be proper democracy.  I welcome criticism in Parliament. In fact, we welcome criticism from our own party members.  The amount we have in our own party for criticism of Government’s policy is great.

6. Our constitution lays down that we are a secular state, but it must be admitted that this is not wholly reflected in our mass living and thinking…We have not only  to live up to the ideals proclaimed in our constitution, but make them a part of our thinking and living and thus build up a really integrated nation. That, I repeat, does not mean absence of religion, but putting religion on a different plane from that of normal political and social life. Any other approach in India would mean the breaking up of India.

7. I can say with considerable confidence that I am proud of the women of India. I am proud of their beauty, grace, charm, shyness, modesty, intelligence and their spirit of sacrifice, and I think if anybody can truly represent the spirit of India, the women can do it  and not the  women….I am not talking about the ancient Indian ideal of womanhood, which I certainly admire…for the women of India today. I have faith in them. I am not afraid to allow them freedom to  grow, because I am convinced that no amount of legal constraint can prevent society from going in a certain direction. And if you put too much restraint  , the structure breaks.

8. When I see a healthy tree being cut, it pains me. It is as if the head of a human being has been cut. Those who but trees should be punished and it would be better if there is a law to punish those who cut healthy trees.

9. We have laid down that every citizen, whether he is a Hindu or Muslim or Christian or Jew or Jain or Buddhist or whether has no religion at all, has equal rights.  In the political sphere we are the citizens of India and we have to work together.  Any person who creates difficulties in the name of State or religion does an ill-service to India and he does an ill-service to his own State or religion or language.  

10. I have been attached to the Ganga and the Jumna rivers in Allahabad ever since my childhood and, as I have grown older, this attachment has grown. …The Ganga especially, is the river of India, beloved of her people round which are intertwined her racial memories, her hopes and fears, her songs of triumph, her victors, and her defeats. She has been a symbol of India’s agelong culture and civilisation, ever-changing, ever-flowing, and yet ever the same Ganga.  She reminds me of the snow-covered peaks and the deep valleys of the Himalayas, which I have loved so much, and of the rich and vast plans below, where my life and work have been cast.  Smiling and dancing in the morning sunlight, and dark and gloomy and full of mystery as the evening shadows fall; a narrow, slow and graceful stream in winter, and a vast roaring thing during the monsoon, broad-bosomed almost as the sea , and with something of the sea’s power to destroy the Ganga has been to me a symbol and a memory of the past of India, running into the present, and flowing on to the great ocean of the future. And though I have discarded much of past tradition and custom, and am anxious that should rid herself of all shackles that bind and constrain her and divide her people, and suppress vast numbers of them, and prevent the free development  of the body and the spirit ; though I seek all this, yet I do not wish to cut myself off from the past completely. I am proud of the great inheritance that has been, and is, ours, and I am conscious that I, too, like all of us, am a link in the unbroken chain which goes back to the dawn of history in the immemorial pat of India. That chain I would not like to break, for I treasure and seek inspiration from it. “       

            These are some of the highly acclaimed thoughts of a liberal thinker, a  great humanist and a perfect statesman whom the world knows as Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India. For their collection I have  gratefully depended upon various reliable sources and reproduced them here just to enlighten the readers about  some of the ideas which Nehru deeply cherished and practiced.      

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14^th November 2021                                                                           G.R.Kanwal

 

THE WIND OF THE LAMP

It was a sacred evening

of the “Festival of Lights.”

 

A tiny lamp had been lit by a child

in the verandah of his house,

where passersby could see

its symbolic flame of good’s victory

over evil.

 

Suddenly a puff of furious wind

came  and slaughtered  the flame.

 

The child sank into loud sadness. 

“The wind has no right to kill the flame ” he shouted ,

and by relitting the lamp felt elated.  

 

But the wind lost no time to revisit and re-extinguish

the flame; and the child who was determined  to defeat

the wind, relit the lamp and burst out:

 

”O mad wind, you cannot win this battle

against my lamp, which is a  source of eternal light.

 

The soul of the flame, a transient expression

of immortality, is in the lamp.   Like the human

soul , it, too, is governed by the law of reincarnation.

 

Each time you come, you will find me there   

to beat you away.

So, better abandon your vain attempts and bootless revisitings.  

  

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7^th November 2021                                          G.R.KANWAL

     

 

 

 

F L O W E R S

 

F L O W E R S

To me flowers are like fresh poems

Of God the poet.

 

I look at them with awfully amazed eyes.

 

Their delicate structures, indefinable hues, surreal  poses

give birth to numerous mystical questions to which I get no answers from

any gardener. 

 

God the gardener is beyond the comprehension of all the

gardeners of the world.  He is incomprehensible even by a master gardener.    

 

In fact, He is the mightiest  Brain-Teaser for all those who try to understand Him.

 

To me flowers are not merely fragrant  petals.  They are an aesthetic, spiritual and

philosophical entities whose ultimate elucidation is missing even from   

the poetry of Ghalib, Iqbal, Kalidas, Wordsworth,  Dante, Goethe and Shakespeare.

 

For onlookers like me flowers  will always remain  mysterious reflections of God , the Supreme Poet.

 

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27^th October 2021                                                             G.R.KANWAL      

THREE MEMORABLE QUOTES

 

THREE MEMORABLE QUOTES

Whenever I find a memorable quote in some book or magazine, I feel in myself a great urge to share it  with others.

The following three most memorable quotes are from the speeches of India’s unique freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose (23.01.1897—18.08.1945).

It was he who raised the first Indian National Army (INA) which inspired thousands of Indian youths to join the war for liberation from the British colonial rule and it  was also during this war that he gave the oft-repeated patriotic slogan “Jai Hind”.    

            The first quotation that follows is from his Presidential address at the Maharashtra Provincial Conference, Poona, May 3,1928:

            “I agree with Sir Flinders Petrie that civilizations , like individuals grow and die in a cyclic fashion and that each civilization has a certain span of life vouchsafed to it. I also agree with him that, under certain conditions, it is possible for a particular civilization to be reborn after it has spent itself. When this rebirth is to take lace, the vital impetus, the elan vital, comes not from without but from within.”

            The next quotation is from the speech delivered at a military review of the Indian National Army, July 5, 1943:

            “A true solider needs both military and spiritual training. You must, all of you, so train yourselves and your comrades that every soldier will have unbounded confidence in himself, will be conscious of being immensely superior to the enemy, will be fearless of death, and will have sufficient initiative to act on his own in any critical situation should the need arise. During the course of the present war, you have seen with your own eyes  what wonders scientific training, coupled with courage, fearlessness and dynamism, can achieve. Learn all that you can from this example,  and build up for Mother India an absolutely first-class modern army.”           

            The third and the last quotation is an excerpt from a broadcast  from Singapore, June 24, 1945

            “A true revolutionary is one who never acknowledges defeat, who never feels depressed or disheartened.  A true revolutionary believes in the justice of his cause and is confident that his cause is bound to prevail in the long run.”

             Finally, I acknowledge my indebtedness to the Government of India’s Publication “The Selected Speeches of Subhas Chandra Bose, 1962.”                                       ---------   

26^th October 2021                                          G.R.KANWAL

 

 

IN PRAISE OF JAMES ALLEN

 

IN PRAISE OF JAMES ALLEN

James Allen was a most famous British writer , known for his philosophical books  whereby he inspired and motivated millions of readers all over the world. 

He was born in the United Kingdom on 28^th November 1864 and passed away on 24^th January 1912.

His books have become classics and are all time-hot cakes. “From Poverty to Power” is on the realisation of prosperity and peace. “All These Things Added” contains the bread of life in abundant measure for all who hunger for spiritual food.  The reading of the book lifts and elevates, and raises one from the worries and cares of everyday life to think of higher aims. “Byways of Blessedness” expounds those right states of mind, and wise modes of action which, when adopted under trying circumstances, bring about results of fruitful blessedness. “The Eight Pillars of Prosperity “ is for business and commercial men, and for men and women who are anxious to achieve an honourable success in the various pursuits of life. “Light on Life’s Difficulties” sheds light on material and spiritual values and shows the way of wisdom.

For his “Book of Meditations” has been truly called the Prophet of Mediation.  Here, in an age of strife, hurry, religious controversy, heated arguments, ritual and ceremony, he comes with his message of Meditation, calling men away from the din and strife of tongue into the paths of stillness within  their own souls, where “the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world ” ever burns steadily and surely for all who will turn their weary eyes from the strife without to the quiet within. “

One of his greatest books is As a Man Thinketh dealing with the power of thoughts and their applications .

In the Foreword to his book The Life Triumphant, James Allen says “Every being lives in his own mental world; his joys and sorrows are the creations of his own mind, and are dependent upon the mind for their existence. In the chapter “Man The Master” in this book, he writes: “Man is fitted for conquest, but the conquest of territory will not avail; he must resort to conquest of self. The conquest of territory renders man a temporal ruler, but the conquest of self makes him an eternal conqueror.”  “Man is destined for mastery ; not the mastery of his fellow-men by force, but the master of his own nature by self-control is the crown of humility. He is man the master who has shaken off the service of self for the service of Truth, who has established himself in the Eternal Verities. He is crowned, not only with perfect manhood, but with divine wisdom. He has overcome the disturbances of the mind and the shocks of life.  He is superior to all circumstances.  He is the calm spectator, but no longer the helpless tool, of events. No more sinning, weeping, repenting mortal, he is a pure, rejoicing, erect immortal. He perceives the course of things with a glad and peaceful heart; a divine conqueror, master of life of death.”      

      Another important book by James Allen is “The Divine Companion” which is the history of his own spiritual life. As a commentator puts it,  here one may, if he has  the spiritual insight, trace  James Allen’s  footsteps from the first glimmer of the Great Light that broke over his soul.

     Luckily, Most of James Allen’s  books are still available all over the world. They are worth reading by all those who want to live a highly  motivated and inspired life.

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23^rd October 2021                                                                    G. R. KANWAL