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

THE POWER OF SILENCE

 

THE  POWER  OF SILENCE

According to dictionaries silence is soundlessness, noiselessness, stillness, quietness, muteness, wordlessness, voicelessness, uncommunicativeness,  and also peacefulness and  tranquillity.

A silent  person may be mum, dumb, tongue-tied or tight-lipped.

Despite all its connotations, silence is not  the opposite of speech.  It has  its own sound and way of communication.

A silent man is wordless but not uncommunicative. He does speak but without the use of language.  His is a language of silence which has to serve a purpose different from that of speech.

A Persian poet says that in certain situations  the meaning conveyed by silence is almost impossible to be conveyed through speech.

English poet William Shakespeare (1564-1616) tells us “the silence, often of pure innocence, persuades when speaking fails.“

British author Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) regards silence as greater than speech.

American author Mrs. S.J.Hale (1790-1879) believes that the temple of our purest thoughts is silence.

French mystic Madam Gyyon (1648-1717)  divides silence into three kinds. Silence from words because inordinate speaking tends to evil. Silence or rest from desires and passions because it promotes quietness of spirit. The best of all is silence from unnecessary and wandering  thoughts, because that is essential to internal recollection, and because it lays a foundation for a proper reputation.

Hungarian patriot  Kossuth Louls (1802-94) recommends silence because the unspoken word never does harm.

BY quoting the Vedanta, Indian professor of Sufism, Hazrat Inayat Khan ( 1882-1927) describes speech as a breach in the breath which is dangerous because breath is the chain which links body, heart, and soul together.  When breath goes, life goes and cannot be retrieved by any medicine. Thus by speaking we take away much of our life; a day’s silence means a week longer of life and more, and a day’s speech means a week less of life. This explains why Indian Munis and mystics who seldom speak live a long life. Silence besides being a relaxation of mind and body is restful and healing. Thus, the power of silence is very get, not only for the gaining and preservation of energy and vitality, but also morally because most of the follies we commit ae follies of speech.

             Finally, an extract from Gandhiji’s “Virtues of  Silence “ mentioned in The Health Guide : “I find that silence avoids irritation….There is a perceptible drop in blood pressure. After every silence I feel recuperated and have greater energy for work. The output of work during silence is much greater than when I am silent. The mind enjoys a peace during silence which it does not without it. The  decision to be silent itself produces a soothing effect on me. “

 

12^th October 2021                                                                 G.R.KANWAL     

REMEMBERING GANDHI JI, THE MAHATMA

 

REMEMBERING GANDHI JI, THE MAHATMA

Today, the 2^nd October 2021, is the 162nd birth anniversary of Gandhiji, the Mahatma. To remember him is no obligation to him. On the contrary, It is of great benefit to him who remembers him. Such is my case. I have for long regarded him as my intellectual father.  I lost my biological father long ago and the vacuum created by him was immediately filled by Gandhiji by his teachings  on almost every problem of life. For me he became not only an omniscient teacher but also a world university. There was hardly an issue on which he had not some great idea to bestow upon me.  

His ideas on life’s innumerable problems were based on his practical experiences which he called  ‘MY  Experiments with Truth.’  Truth, which  according to  him,  has no form. Everyone forms such an idea or image of Truth as appeals to him, and there will be as many images of Truth as there are men These will all be true as long as they last. For, they enable a man to obtain every thing he wants.

There is a lot which he says about Truth and that is what I think we must  always remember for our unassailable peace of mind .

Here are a few quotes gratefully selected by me from: The Encyclopaedia of Gandhian Thoughts, complied by Anand T. Hingorani and Ganga A. Hingorani,  and  Published by All India Congress Committee (I), 24  Akbar Road New Delhi in the year 1985.

1.“The definition of Truth is deposited in every human heart. Truth is that which you believe to be true at this moment and that is your God. If a man worships this relative truth, he is sure to attain the Absolute Truth, i.e. God, in, in course of time.“

2. “All reading is fruitless so long as we have not  learnt to live a truthful life.  A lover of Truth will not try to appear different from what he is. His thoughts, words and actions will be harmonious. This condition is easy to attain for those who recognised Truth as God.”

3. “Truth is not to be found in books. Truth resides in every human heart, and one has to search for it there, and to be guided as one sees it. But one has no  right to coerce others to act according to his own view of Truth.”

4.”There should be Truth in thought, Truth in speech, and Truth in action. To the man who has realized this Truth in its fulness, nothing else remains to be known, because all knowledge is necessarily included in it. What is not included in it, is not Truth, and so not true knowledge.”

5. It is not given to man  to know the whole Truth. His duty lies in living up to the Truth as he sees it and , in doing so, to resort to the purest  means, i.e. to non-violence.”

            These quotes on Truth with which I would like to end this short write-up are indeed an infallible  guide to  leading a perfectly peaceful life In this otherwise turbulent world.  However,  Truth is not the only subject on which you can go to Gandhian literature for your profound enlightenment. He writes even on mundane issues  like sewing machines, clapping, dinners,  tea and coffee.

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2^nd October 2021                                                                    G.R.Kanwal    

CAN A MOMENT BE LARGER THAN A LIFE-SPAN ?

 

CAN A MOMENT BE LARGER THAN A LIFE-SPAN ?

            I feel shocked when somebody disconnects himself from his very old organisation due to a momentary hurtful experience.  He forgets his whole life-span of pleasant years spent in that organisation and defects to dissimilar one  as if a moment of hurt is larger than the decades of hurtless days and nights. 

He instantly  becomes estranged, decides to take revenge even by taking the help of those whom he never liked before.

This is a puzzling phenomenon. As an Urdu poet says:  Ik zara see baat par, barson ke yaranay gaye. (A  tiny unpleasant event  ended the friendship of so many years.)

            What is important for a loyal person is his unbreakable relationship with a faith, philosophy, ideology , conviction, tenet, canon,  creed, belief, system, love affair, friendly        bond which he chose not only sentimentally but also intellectually and  spiritually.

No course of life whether it  is  social, political, religious or of any other denomination is smooth. .  Even after a number of  years, a moment may come when it may  prick him deeply. But that is the  moment of his trial.  Its pain should not overpower the pleasures of the preceding life span. Forgetting that moment, sooner than later, is a blessing rather than a curse.

Altering one’s loyalty is undesirable.

Let me conclude this short write up with one of the most popular sonnets by the English poet William Shakespeare( 1564-1616):

“Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit  impediments. Love is not love

Which alters wen it  alteration finds,

Or bends with the remove to remove.

O no! it is an ever-fixed mark

That looks on tempests and is ever shaken;

It is the star to every wand’ring bark,

Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.     

 

 Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle’s compass come;

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears It out even to the edge of doom.

 

If this be error and upon me prov’d,

I never writ, nor no man ever lov’d.”

 

1^st October 2021                                                                    G. R. KANWAL