RING OUT, WILD BELLS

 

                RING OUT, WILD BELLS

On this new year’s eve, let us sing with English poet Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892):

Ring out wild bells, to the wild sky…

 

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,

Ring in redress to all mankind.

 

Ring out a slowly dying cause,

And ancient forms of party strife;

Ring in the nobler modes of life,

With sweeter manners, purer laws

…………………………………………………..

            The stanzas given above don’t make the whole poem, but they are as relevant today as they were long ago when the poem was published in 1850 and Tennyson as made Poet Laureate.

           

            The following stanza may also be added because of its eternal relevance:

Ring out false pride in place and blood,

The civic slander and the spite;

Ring in the love of truth and right,

Ring in the common love of good.

                                                                                                                                                                                                            *******

G.R.Kanwal

31^st December 2023                

.

VIEWS ABOUT NICKNAMES

 

          VIEWS ABOUT NICKNAMES

Negative names given to persons instead of their real names are called nicknames. They are provocative and offensive and may encourage the victims to retaliate. Donkey for a dull person or fatty for a fat man is a nickname. But such words as Longfellow or Wordsworth are not nicknames. They are surnames common to all the members of a family. They don’t incite their bearers.

            Here are some more views about nicknames.

1.     A nickname is the heaviest stone the devil can throw at a man.

2.     . A good name wears out; a nickname lasts forever.

3.     Nicknames don’t disappear. They continue to stick to their recipients because they have a good deal of adhesive power.

4.     There may be laws whereby nicknaming a person may be punishable.  

5.     There is also a positive view about nicknames. It says that nicknames have been a part of human culture from time immemorial. They serve as endearing terms of familiarity, often used by friends, family, or close acquaintances to add an extra layer of intimacy to personal relationships.

G. R. Kanwal

29^{th December 2023}

ARNOLD ON FAITH

 

                ARNOLD ON FAITH

Matthew Arnold was an English poet and cultural critic (1822-1888). He was the

eldest son of DR. Thomas Arnold, the famous headmaster of Rugby school.

 

He is known for preserving   eternal values in a changing society and makes severe attacks on rising  cultural anarchy.

 

He was a romantic poet influenced by the spiritual values of William Wordsworth (1770-1850) who said “The world is too much with us”.  He spurned the materialistic tastes and manners of the contemporary aristocracy and through his writings wanted to revive the classical values of urbanity.     

 

Given below are his famous lines on “The Sea of Faith.”

 

“The Sea of Faith

Was once , too, at the full and round the earth’s shore

Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furl’d.

But now I only hear

Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,

Retreating, to the breath

Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear

And naked shingles of the world.

 

Ah, love, let us be true

To one another! For the world, which seems

To lie before us like a land of dreams,

So various, so beautiful, so new,

Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,

Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help, nor pains;

And we are here as on a darkling plain

Swept with confused alarms of struggle and fight,

Where ignorant armies clash by night.

                                                ******

G.R.Kanwal

28^th December 2023

                                               

 

 

 

 

 

OMAR KHAYYAM

 

OMAR KHAYYAM

Given below are two Persian quatrains of Omar Khayyam translated into English by the English poet Edward Fitzgerald (1809-83).

Khayyam was an Islamic scholar who was a distinguished poet and mathematician. He was known for his popular doctrine of skepticism, fatalism and hedonism . Of these three, hedonism was at the top. It  stood for the belief that pleasure is the most important thing in life. So: “laugh, drink and be merry”. Trust today. Don’t wait for tomorrow. As Shakespeare said: Present mirth has Present laughter.

QUATRAINS  

A book of verses underneath the bough,

A jug of wine, a loaf of bread – and Thou

Beside me singing in the wilderness –

Oh, wilderness were Paradise now!  

 

Some for the glories of this world; and some

Sigh for the Prophet’s Paradise to come:

Ah, take the Cash, and let the Credit go,

Nor heed the rumble of a distant drum!

                                    *****

G.R.Kanwal

26^th December 2023

CHRISTMAS DAY

 

 

                                                CHRISTMAS  DAY

Today (25 December 2023) is Christmas Day, the birthday of Lord Jesus Christ. People say merry Christmas to each other which means:” May your heart be light, your celebrations be joyful, and your time with loved ones, be filled with warmth and laughter. The day occurs as a part of holiday season. A good number of celebrators go away from their homes to picnic spots like hill stations.

            Former French  Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) says the nature of Christ’s existence is mysterious, I admit; but this mystery meets the wants of man.---Reject it and the world is an inexplicable riddle; believe it , and the history of our race is satisfactorily explained.

            According to German religious reformer Martin Luther (1483=1546) , in his life, Christ is an example, showing us how to live; in his death, he is a sacrifice, satisfying for our sins; in his resurrection, a conqueror; in his ascension, a king; in his intercession, a high priest.

                                                *******

G.R.Kanwal

25 December 2023

                                               

ONE EARTH, ONE FAMILY

 

          ONE EARTH, ONE FAMILY

According to Dr. S. Radhakrishnan ,the former President of India (1888-1975), we have had with us, from the beginning of history people who told us ‘One earth, one family. Goodwill to the whole of humanity.’  But he asks ‘how many of us have really become testimony to these great truths in our actual lives.’

Expressing his observation, he says that today violence is much more common than it used to be,  and questions  why it is that we are unable to adhere to the teachings which our great sages and saints have given to us.

Religion is not a thing which one can buy or get from going to a temple, church or gurdwara.  It is a thing which one can practise only if one wages incessant war on the baser instincts, which still have so much on human nature. These are the things which we have to set aside if we wish to be true followers of any great sage or religious teacher.   

                                    *******

G. R. Kanwal

24 December 2023          

 

Two Quotes on The Sun

 

                Two  Quotes on The Sun

The first beautiful quote is by  Sir David Brewster Scottish Physicist (1781-1868).

“The glorious sun, the centre and soul of our system, --the lamp that lights it, --the fire that heats it,--the magnet that guides and controls it; --the fountain of colour, which gives its azure to the sky, its verdure to the fields, its rainbow-hues to the gay world of flowers, and the purple light of love to the cheek of youth and beauty.”      

             The second quote which is a little more beautiful is by the  American clergy  Henry Ward Beecher (1818-1887). It reads as follows:

            “The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers, but for the wide world’s joy.—So God sits, effulgent, in heaven, not for a favoured fiew, but for the universe of life, and there is no creature so poor or low that he may not look up with childlike confidence, and say, “My father ! thou art mine.”

                                                *******

G. R. Kanwal

23 December 2023

 

 

 

SHAKESPEARE SAID

 

SHAKESPEARE SAID

Neither a borrower, nor a lender be;

For loan oft loses both itself and friend,

And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.

This above all: to thine own self be true;

And it must follow, as the night the day,

Thou canst not then be false to any man.”

                                   

These lines of practical advice are by British Playwright and poet William Shakespeare (1564-1616) and are found in his play Hamlet, Act I.

 

Given below is another piece of valuable advice which occurs in King Lear, Act I.

 

“Have more than thou showest,

Speak less than thou knowest.

Lend less than thou owest

Ride more than thou goest,

Learn more than thou trowest,

Set less than thou throwest,

Leave thy drink and thy whore,

And keep in-a-door,

And thou shall have more

Than two tens to a score.

                                                            ********

G.R.Kanwal

22 December 2023

SHAKESPEARE ON LOVE

 

          SHAKESPEARE ON LOVE

            British dramatist and poet William Shakespeare (1564-1616) has much to say about love in his plays and sonnets. Here are some quotes.

1.O powerful love! That, in some respects, makes a beast a man; in some other, a man, a beast.

2. Love talks with better knowledge, and knowledge with dearer love.

3. The course of true love never did run smooth.

4. Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,/Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend/More than cool reason ever comprehends./The lunatic, the lover, and the poet,/Are of imagination all compact.

5.Love sought is good, but given unsought is better.

6.Young men’s love then lies/Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.

7. Love’s reason’s without reason.

8.Let me not to the marriage of true minds    

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove

O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wandering bark,

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

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

Within its 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 proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

 

G.R.Kanwal

21^st December 2023                                       *******

 

REWARD OF SERVICE

 

REWARD OF SERVICE

“Reward Of Service” is an inspirational poem by the English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning. She was born on 6 March 1806 and died on 29 June 1861. She was the wife of English romantic poet and playwright Robert Browning(1812-1889). Elizabeth was popular both in England and United States.

            The word service in the poem is not used as paid work, employment, labour or duty but deeds of selfless help to others who deserve and need it. Here there is no monetary reward, or praise  but other non-material rewards which are generated by love “which ennobles all.”

            The poem reads as below:

“The sweetest lives are those to duty wed,

Whose deeds both great and small

Are close-knit strands of an unbroken thread,

Where love ennobles all.

The world may sound no trumpets, ring no bells,

The Book of Life the slurring record tells.

 

Thy love shall chant its own beatitudes,

After its own like working. A child’s kiss

Set on thy singing lips shall make thee glad;

A poor man served by thee shall make thee rich;

A sick man helped by thee shall make the strong;

Thou shalt be served thyself by every sense

Of service which thou renderest.”

                        Let us repeat the lines:

“A poor man served by thee shall make thee rich;

A sick man helped by thee shall make thee strong;”

                                    *************

G.R.Kanwal

20 December 2023                      

CIVILIZATION

 

                CIVILIZATION

“Civilization” is defined as human society that has highly developed material and spiritual resources and a complex cultural, political, and legal organization; an advanced state in social development.

 English poet, essayist and critic Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) has this to say about civilization. Here is the element or power of conduct, of intellect and knowledge, of beauty, and of social life and manners, and all needful to build up a complete human life.

Indian poet, philosopher and pioneer of the transmission of Sufism to the West Hazrat inayat  Khan (1882-1927) has written a beautiful paragraph on this subject. According to him the best way to understand civilization is the spiritual way. Once a person understands spiritual morality, he does not need to learn man-made morality, it will come by itself. As soon as a man begins to regard the pleasure or displeasure of God in the feeling of every person he meets, he cannot but become most refined, whatever his situation in life.

Referring to Sufi conception of God as the Beloved, he says the divine spirit exists in  everyone---is practised in everyday life and is considered in dealing with everybody.

                                                                                                                                                                                                *******

G.R.Kanwal

17^th December 2023

BE STRONG

 

          BE STRONG

 

BE STRONG is an inspirational poem by a noted American clergyman and writer Maltbie Davenport Babcock (1858-1901). Strength, he says, is necessary for human beings because they have hard work to do and carry on the struggles till the end instead of abandoning them  at any intervening stage.

            Here is the full text of the poem :

Be Strong!

We are not here to play, to dream, to drift;

We have hard work to do and loads to lift;

Shun not the struggle ---face it; ‘tis God’s gift.

 

Be strong!

Say not, “The days are evil. Who’s to blame?”

And fold the hands and acquiesce –oh, shame!

Stand up, speak out, and bravely, in God’s name.

 

Be strong!

It matters not how deep intrenched the wrong,

How hard the battle goes, the day how long;

Faint not ---fight on! Tomorrow comes the song.

                                    ******

G. R. Kanwal

16^th December 2023

 

SLEEP

 

          SLEEP

“Sleep” is defined as condition of the body and mind such as recurs regularly every night in which the eyes are closed and the muscles, nervous system, etc., are relaxed. Its synonyms are slumber, doze, nap, drowse, repose and rest.

Miguel de  Cervantes (1547-1616) the Spanish author of the novel Don Quixote says blessings on him who first invented sleep. It covers a man all over, thoughts and all, like a cloak. It is meat for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, heat for the cold, and cold for the hot. It makes the shepherd equal to the monarch, and the fool to the wise.

To quote one more author, Leigh Hunt , the English critic  and essayist (1784—1859) : It is a delicious moment, certainly that of being well nestled in bed and feeling that you shall drop gently to sleep. The good is to come, not past; the limbs are tired enough to render the remaining in one posture delightful; the labour of the day is gone. A gentle failure of the perceptions creeps over you; the spirit of consciousness disengages itself once more, and with slow and hushing degrees, like a mother detaching her hand from that of a sleeping child, the mind seems to have a balmy lid closing over it, like the eye ----it is closed ---the mysterious spirit has gone to take its airy  rounds.

                                    ******

G.R.Kanwal

15^th December 2023

 

TASAWUUF

 

                TASAWUUF

TASAWUUF , says  DR. Muhammad Sadiq, Principal Dyal Singh College, Lahore, may be defined as an emotional approach to the reality of life. It is held by the materialists (those who believe that matter is the ultimate reality in life) that all knowledge is due to the activity of the intellect, and that the senses provide the only infallible avenue to a knowledge of the world.

He further adds that the sufis, on the other hand, are of the opinion that intellect can only deal with the world of the senses. Beyond the material world, there is a spiritual world to which reason has no access, and which can only be approached through feelings.

            It is, therefore, a part of the discipline of a sufi  to develop the latter at the expense of the former. He believes that it is only with freedom from the tyranny of reason that the real nature of the universe is apprehended.

                                                *****

 

G.R.Kanwal

14 December 2023  

 

 

 

WHAT IS BEAUTY ? A RARE QUOTATION

 

          WHAT IS BEAUTY ? A RARE QUOTATION

Socrates called beauty a short-lived tyranny; Plato, a privilege of nature; Theophrastus, a silent cheat; Theocritus, a delightful prejudice; Carneades, a solitary kingdom; Aristotle. That it was better than all the letters of recommendation in the world; Homer, that it was a glorious gift of nature, and Ovid, that it was a favour bestowed by the gods.

Note: All the names excluding that of Ovid are of Greek poets/ philosophers. Ovid was a Roman poet.   

                                                            ********

G.R.Kanwal

13^th December 2023

 

HE WHO KNOWS

 

          HE WHO KNOWS

“HE WHO KNOWS” is a very short inspirational poem. It is based on a Persian proverb. The name of the writer is unknown. The poem mentions three types of persons ‘who know’ or ‘know not’ but only one of them is called ’wise’.  The fist one of the other two is termed ‘a fool’ and the second one ‘a child’. Let us read the poem to know ‘Why?’.

THE POEM

He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool, shun him.

He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, is a child, teach him.

He who knows, and knows not that he knows, is asleep, wake him;

He who knows, and knows that he knows, is wise, follow him.

                                                *******

G.R.Kanwal

12^th December 2023

A LOVE POEM

 

A LOVE POEM

Love is a matter of the heart but is also a matter of physical charm.  Young people love each other for their external beauty.  They are drawn towards each other bodily more than for any other quality of their personality. They are loyal during youth but become unfaithful during old age when their love becomes cold because of vanished physical attractiveness, Here is a unanimous poem which asks the right question: WILL YOU LOVE ME WHEM I’M OLD?

  I would ask of you. My darling,

A question soft and low,

That gives me many a heartache

As the moments come and go.

 

Your love I know is truthful,

But the truest love grows cold;

It is this that I would ask you:

Will you love me when I’m old?

 

Life’s morn will soon be waning,

And its evening bells be tolled,

But my heart shall know no sadness,

If you’ll love me if I’m old.

 

Down the stream of life together

We are sailing side by side,

Hoping some bright day to anchor

Safe beyond the surging tide,

Today our sky is cloudless,

But the night may clouds unfold;

But, though storms may gather round us,

Will you love me when I’m old?

 

When my hair shall shade the snowdrift,

And mine eyes shall dimmer grow,

I would lean upon some loved one,

Through the valley as I go.

I would claim of you a promise,

Worth to me a world of gold;

It is only this, my darling,

That you’ll love me when I’m old.

 

                                    *******

G.R.Kanwal

11^th December 2023

 

WHAT IS A HOME

 

WHAT IS A HOME

A house is is a building made for people to live in. A home is a place where one lives, especially with one’s family.  According to English clergy James Hamilton  (1864 – 1867 ) six things are requisite to create a “happy home.”  Integrity must be the architect, and tidiness the upholsterer. It must be warmed by affection, lighted up with cheerfulness; industry must be the ventilator, renewing the atmosphere  and bringing in fresh salubrity day by day; while overall, as a protecting canopy and glory, nothing will suffice except the blessing og God.     

            Here is a poem by English poet Charles Swain (1801-1874). Its title is Home Is Where There Is One To Love Us. It reads as  follows:

Home’s is not merely four square walls,

Though with pictures hung and gilded;

Home is where affection calls—

Filled with shrines the Hearth had builded!

Home! Go watch the faithful dove,

Sailing ‘neath the heaven above us.

Home is where there is one to love!

Home is where there’s one to love us.

 

Home’s not merely roof and room,

It needs something to endear it;

Home is where the heart can bloom,

Where there’s some kind lip to cheer it!

What is home with none to meet,

None to welcome, none to greet us?

Home is sweet, and only sweet,

Where theirs is one we love to meet us !

                        ********

G.R.Kanwal

10 December 2023

SUFFERING

 

SUFFERING

           Suffering is distress,  discomfort, pain, agony, torture, hardship, misery, etc. According to Buddhism it is inevitable. The world is a place of suffering. However, if one understands the causes of suffering and knows how to overcome them , liberation from suffering is possible.

There are four universal  sufferings ---birth, aging, sickness and death. Desires related to sensual pleasures, material goods, immortality , etc., cause suffering because they are unable to be satisfied.

To stop suffering, it is necessary to stop the cycle of birth, death and re-birth.This is called emancipation.

              To conclude, here is what Subhadra Bhikshu (1709-61) said about suffering . “To be born is to suffer;: to grow old is to suffer; to die is to suffer; to lose what is loved is to suffer; to be tied to what is not loved is to suffer; to endure what is distasteful is to suffer. In short, all the results of individuality, of separate self-hood, necessarily involve pain or suffering.”                                                                  *****

G. R.Kanwal

7^th December 2023

                                                                                                                                          

        

 

SOME THOUGHTS ON LAUGHTER

 

SOME THOUGHTS ON LAUGHTER

             Dictionaries define laughter as making sounds and movements of the face and body, showing amusement, joy, etc. There are quite a few phrases with this word having various meanings. For example, If you laugh in somebody’s face , you defy him openly or show contempt for something or idea; and if you laugh up your sleeve you aim at hidden amusement.

            Here are just five quotes on laughter.

1.A laugh is worth a hundred groans in any market.—English essayist Charles Lamb. (1775-1834).

2. Laughter is a most healthful exertion; it is one of the greatest helps to digestion with which I am acquainted; and the custom prevalent among our forefathers, of exciting it at a table by jesters and buffoons, was founded on true medical principles. ---Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland---German Physician (1762-1836).

 3. Laugh if you are wise.—Roman poet Martial (40-102 AD).

4. The laughter of girls is, and ever was, among the delightful sounds of earth---Thomas De Quincy, English author (1785-1859).

5. Beware of him who hates the laugh of a child. ----John Caspar Lavater, Swiss theologian (1741-1801).

            Indian mystic and philosopher Osho (1931-1990) is the author of a book titled: Laughter Is My Message.

                                                ********

G.R.Kanwal

6^th December 2023

AN INTERESTING QUOTATION

 

                                AN INTERESTING QUOTATION

Here is an interesting quotation from one of the lectures delivered by the Indian mystic and philosopher Osho (1931-1990) on the question of God’s existence.  The issue was raised by one of the listeners with reference to the opinion of Karl Marx,  German philosopher and economist (1818-1883), about the existence of God.

Osho: “…that’s why I say that even our so-called  great thinkers go on committing very small mistakes, but their impact can be tremendous. Karl Marx is saying that scientists have not been able to bring God into the lab, dissect him, find out what is inside him, turn him inside out, just to have a look all around. Because this has not happened, he (Karl Marx)  says God does not exist.” 

                                                ******

G.R. Kanwal

5^th December 2023  

SOME THOUGHTS ON DEFEAT

 

SOME THOUGHTS ON DEFEAT

1.Defeat is a relative term. Even victory can be called defeat, if it is undeserved.

2. Some of the synonyms of defeat are: setback, rejection, overthrow, failure,  ruin, undoing , rejection and undoing.

3. Victory by hook or crook is defeat.  What is defeat? Nothing but the first step towards becoming better.

4. According to the American clergy H. W. Beecher (1813-1887) defeat  is a school in which truth always grows strong.

5. No man is defeated without some resentment, which will be continued with obstinacy while he believes himself in the right.

6.There is no eternal defeat, especially of goodness against evil.    

 7. Defeat can inspire, not disappoint, if properly understood.

8. The defeat of the mind is worse than that of the body..

9. Defeat should enable you to prepare for victory.

10. Victory should make you humble not proud.

                                    ********

G. R. Kanwal

3^rd December 2023

 

 

FROM A PSALM OF LIFE

 

                   FROM A PSALM OF LIFE

Here are three concluding stanzas from one of the most inspirational poems by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882). The language is so simple and the message in each stanza is so clear that even a junior school student needs no help to understand them. The stanzas read as follows:

            “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 then, be up and doing,

With a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing,

Learn to labor and to wait.

                        ********

G.R..Kanwal

1^st December 2023