HEALTH IS WEALTH

 

HEALTH IS WEALTH

When I was a school boy, my language teacher told me almost daily : 1. Health is wealth. 2. If money is lost, nothing is lost; if health is lost some thing is lost; but if character is lost every thing is lost. These were good sayings. I even absorbed them in my mind. However, later in life I learnt more valuable views about heath some of which are as follows.

            (a)Without health, life is not life. (b) Take care of your health; you have no right to neglect it. (c) To preserve health is a moral and religious duty, because health is the basis of all social virtues. (d) Health is certainly more valuable than money, because it is by health that money is procured. (e)Life is not to live, but to be well. (f)To become a thoroughly good man is the best prescription, for keeping a sound mind in a sound body.(g) Be sober and temperate, and you will be healthy. (h) He who has health, has hope; and he who has hope, has everything.

                                                                        *******

 

G. R. Kanwal

31st August 2023

 

IMMORTALITY

 

IMMORTALITY   

Immortality is the not the need but the desire of everybody. In God’s scheme of opposites, if there is beginning, there is also end; if there is life there is also death.  There is however a sense in which there is no death.  The Holy Gita says so. In English poetry, an anonymous poem  THERE IS NO DEATH is worded as follows:

There is a plan far greater than the plan you know;

There is a landscape broader than the one you see.

There is a haven where storm-tossed souls may go ---

You call it death -----we, immortality.

 

You call it death ----this seeming endless sleep;

We call it birth----the soul at last set free.

‘Tis hampered not by time or space ----you weep.

Why weep at death? ‘Tis immortality.

 

Farewell, dear voyageur ---‘twill not be long.

Your work is done ----now may peace rest with thee.

Your kindly thoughts and deeds ----they will live on.

This is not death ---‘tis immortality.

 

Farewell, dear voyageur ----the river winds and turns;

The cadence of your song wafts near to me,

And now you know the thing that all men learn:

There is no death ----there’s immortality.

 

            Note the two major points made by the anonymous poet. The death of the physical body is the liberation of the soul which was imprisoned therein.  So this is the gain. Secondly, “Your kindly thoughts and deeds ----they will live on” and thus you will remain alive and there will be no death.

                                                *******

G.R. Kanwal

27^th August 2023

  

 

 

ABOUT RELIGION

 

          ABOUT RELIGION

            Religion is defined as belief in the existence of a supernatural ruling power, the creator and controller of the universe, who has given to man a spiritual nature which continues to exist after the death of the body.

It is further defined as one of the various systems of faith and worship based on such belief. In our world, there are quite a few major religions including Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism Judaism  Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.

Those who do not believe in the existence of God are called atheists, non-believers, disbelievers, heathens, infidels, nihilists, skeptics, etc.   Most of such people are of scientific temperament. They condemn superstitions, illogical rituals and hollow beliefs. When they fall sick they go to medical experts not family priests, and depend upon medicines rather than on prayers.  Some, however,  mix both science and religion and feel more comfortable.  Doctors claim: We treat, He (God) heals.

            Is religion necessary? The best answer is’ yes’. Science, too, is perfectly necessary.

Let us conclude this short note with the following words of Daniel Webster, American orator and statesman (1782-1852):

            “Religion is the tie that connects man with his Creator, and holds him to his throne. If that tie is sundered or broken,he floats  away a worthless atom in the universe, its proper attractions all gone, its destiny thwarted, and its whole future nothing but darkness, desolation and death.”

             Such a man , says Webster, is far, far away from the purposes of his creation.     

                                    **********

G.R.Kanwal

26^th August 2023

 

ALONG THE ROAD

          ALONG THE ROAD

“Along THE ROAD” is a short 8-line poem written by the American poet Robert Browning Hamilton (1867-1950). He was not a prolific writer, yet this one tiny poem about ‘Pleasure’ and ‘Sorrow’ made him famous.  It reads as follows:

I WALKED a mile with Pleasure;

She chattered all the way,

But left me none the wiser

For all she had to say.

 

I walked a mile with Sorrow

And ne’er a word said she;

But oh, the things I learned from her

When Sorrow walked with me!

Though the poem is short, its interpretation can be as long as the interpreter wants that to be. What is the difference between ‘Pleasure, and ‘Sorrow’ and which of the two is better.  The poet says when her co-walker chattered with Pleasure a mile’s distance, she left him none the wiser; but when he walked with Sorrow and she never said a word, he learnt a lot of things from her.

 

            Sorrow is thus a great teacher.  It makes us wiser.

Here are two quotations one each on pleasure and sorrow in support of poet’s viewpoint.

            “A life merely of pleasure. or chiefly of pleasure, is always a poor and worthless life, not worth the living; always unsatisfactory in its course, always miserable in the end.” Theodore Parker, American Theologist (1810-1860).

 

 

            Sorrows are our best educators.  A man can see further through a tear than a telescope. Lord Byron, English poet (1788-1824).  

                                               

            ********

G.R. Kanwal

24^th August 2023

SLEEP SWEET

 

          SLEEP SWEET

Sleep is a necessity which must be fulfilled every day, failing which we cannot remain healthy. According to medicos for most adults, eight hours of sleep is compulsory.  Less than that is sleep deprivation which causes various health issues  like low energy, less consciousness, weight gain, high blood pressure, cardiac ailments, diabetes, depression and tiredness.  

However, mere sleep is not a surety for good health.  It should be an un-disturbed, carefree sleep which refreshes both the body and the mind.

Given below is a short poem : Sleep Sweet, written by American poet Ellen M. Huntington Gates (1835-1920). It pleads for a quiet sleep during which you think of no mournful yesterdays and also of no unlucky tomorrows.

As you get ready for sleep, you should forget everything, including yourself, the whole world, and  remember only God your maker and eternal protector. Let there be no garish light in your room . Just  notice ‘ The stars are shining overhead’ to give you comfortable sleep with sweet dreams,

The poem reads as follows:

SLEEP sweet within this quiet room,

O thou, whoe’er thou art,

And let no mournful yesterdays

Disturb thy peaceful heart.

 

Nor let tomorrow mar thy rest

With dreams of coming ill:

Thy Maker is thy changeless friend,

His love surrounds thee still.

 

Forget thyself and all the world,

Put out each garish light:

The stars are shining overhead---

Sleep sweet! Good night! Good night!

 

                                    ******

G.R.Kanwal

23 August 2023

 

 

MY EVENING PRAYER

 

MY EVENING PRAYER

IF I have wounded any soul today,

If I have caused one foot to go astray,

If I have walked in my own willful way---

Good Lord, forgive!

 

If I have uttered idle words or vain,

If I have turned aside from want to pain,

Lest I myself should suffer through the strain---

Good Lord, forgive!

 

If I have craved for joys that are not mine,

If I have let my wayward heart repine,

Dwelling on things of earth, not things divine---

Good Lord, forgive.

 

If I have been perverse, or, or hard, or cold,

If I have longed for shelter in Thy fold,

When Thou hast given me some part to hold---

Good Lord, forgive.

 

Forgive the sins I have confessed to Thee,

Forgive the secret sins I do not see,

That which I know not, Father, teach Thou me---

Help me to live.

           

            The author of this prayer is the American poet  Charles H. Gabriel (1856-1932.  The title of the prayer is significant.  ‘My’ owns that whatever moral foibles, committed or were possible to be committed, were of the poet. ‘Evening’ was the time of stock-taking of his good or bad actions. If they were undesirable, as judged by Good Lord, not by the poet himself, he should be forgiven and shown the right way of living.  The word ‘forgive’ shows the humility of the poet.  His evening prayer is not a demand for such gifts as make life more delightful. It is a humble prayer for forgiveness of those immoral acts which he might have committed according to Good Lord’s judgment.     

                                                ******

G.R.Kanwal

22 August 2023

 

BEST EVENING PRAYER

 

BEST EVENING PRAYER

In a book whose author I could not identify, some readers had asked the question: What is the best evening prayer? The answer given to them was short, yet almost complete. I noted it for my literary diary. Here below I am sharing it with you.

“Thank you for our home and a place to sleep and good food to eat. Help us rest well, give us peaceful dreams, and send your angels around our home to protect us throughout the night. Teach us to trust you and to love you more and more. You are good; you are great; and you are faithful, God. “

                                                ******

G.R.Kanwal

21 August 2023

 

 

 

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH AND NATURE

 

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH AND NATURE

English romantic poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850] is recognized hed as the greatest Nature poet of England. His close friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge was also a lover of not only nature but also supernaturalism. They together wrote Lyrical Ballads, which was first published in 1798 and marked the beginning of romantic movement in literature. Their predecessors William Cowper, Robert Burns and William Blake had also been inspired by Nature, but more  than they their close contemporaries Lord Byron, John Keats and P.B. Shelley turned out to be  great lovers of Nature.  

            The principal object of Lyrical Ballads, said Wordsworth  was to write poems with incidents and situations from common life described in a language actually used by men. Both he and Coleridge chose humble and rustic life because in that condition the essential nature of humanity found a more congenial soil.

            Wordsworth worshipped Nature not for its physical beauty but because he saw in it the innate spirit of  the Supreme Being. Nature in his view was a perfect all-round teacher.  As a character says in Shakespeare’s play “As You Like It”, Wordsworth also found: tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.    

                    Nature, as a teacher,  finds mention in many places in Wordsworth’s poetry including Lucy poems. At one place, he says a linnet, the small song bird, imparts more wisdom to a listener than a whole book on the subject does to a scholar.

                 Finally, the following words of Wordsworth in support of his thesis that Nature is a unique moral and spiritual teacher:

                 One impulse from a vernal wood

                 May teach you more of man;

                Of moral evil and of good,

                Than all the sages can.

                                                ******

G. R. Kanwal

20^th August 2023        

An Ode To Solitude

 

 

                             An Ode To Solitude

Given below is a short poem on solitude. I have appropriately enlarged the title as “ An Ode To Solitude”. Its author is the English poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744). Pope was a perfect poet, poetry essayist, satirist, translator and critic. He was self-educated, could not have ideal  education in best contemporary institutions.  His education happened in catholic schools and under the family priest. He was physically weak and of biter temperament. To offend him was to invite  a fatal  hit-back.  He is known for his best works like The Essay on Criticism, The Rape of the Lock, Dunciad, Translations of Homer and an edition of Shakespeare.  He is also known for  immortal quotations like: A little knowledge is a dangerous thing; To err is human, to forgive divine; and Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

        The word ‘Solitude’ has several meanings, such as: loneliness, isolation, retirement, privacy, seclusion, away from crowds.

 Pope’s poem reads as follows:

Happy the man, whose wish and care

A few paternal acres bound,

Content to breathe his native air

In his own ground.

 

Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread,

Whose flocks supply him with attire;

Whose trees in summer yield him shade,

In winter, fire

 

Blest, who can unconcern’dly find

Hours, days and years slide soft away

In health of body, peace of mind,

Quiet by day.

 

Sound sleep by night, study and ease

Together mixt, sweet recreation,

And innocence, which most does please

With meditation.

 

Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;

Thus unlamented let me die;

Steal from the world, and not a stone

Tell where I lie.

 

            The poem tells the benefits of solitude, contentment, meditation, limited responsibilities, escape from too many companions, self-sufficiency in paternal land and unnecessary desires of fame and recognition. Urdu poet Ghalib said : let me be drowned rather than be entombed. Pope says: Let me steal from the world and not a stone tell where I lie. How similar!

 

                                                ********

G. R. Kanwal

19^th August 2023    

A STRONG NATION

 

                                        A STRONG NATION

Whereas modern rulers at the top of their nations are mad after more and more economic development, real national strength, believes  Ralph Waldo Emerson , the American poet, essayist, lecturer, philosopher (1803-1882)  does not depend upon massive wealth but on the qualities and virtues of its people.  He has written the following  short poem listing some of them

                        Not gold, but only men, can make

                        A people great and strong

                        Men who for truth and honour’s sake

                        Stand fast and suffer long.

                        Brave men who work while others sleep

                        Who dare while others fly

They make a nation’s pillars deep

And lift them to the sky.

It is obvious that Emerson regards brave, truthful, dynamic, steadfast, and honourable men better than wealthy people as the strong pillars of a nation. 

 

To put it briefly, he asserts that materialistic progress is inferior to moralistic advancement.             

                                              *********

G.R.Kanwal

17^th August 2023

           

 

Tagore’s Idea of Freedom

 

                Tagore’s Idea of Freedom

In the 35^th song of Gitanjali which won him Nobel Prize for Literature (1913), Rabindranath Tagore (7 May 1861—7 August 1941) expressed his idea of free India. When he wrote this song in 1913 India was under the British rule. Gitanjali, a collection of sublime songs was published in London in 1912.

              Tagore was a versatile genius. He was a poet, author, playwright, composer. painter,  educationist, social reformer, political thinker, philosopher and a great humanist. He wrote a large number of books including  Gora, a novel on politics and religion (1910), Sadhna, The Realisation of Life (1913) and The Religion of Man (1931).

As an educationist, he founded Visva-Bharati , a central university, in Shanti Niketan, on 23 December 1921. The name of the university suggests the communion of the world with India.

The song Where the mind is without fear,  and which is given below,  dreams of a free India where people have fearless minds, lofty heads, tireless arms , unrestrained reasoning, free knowledge, a liberal unified world, progressive thoughts, perfectly truthful words and  absence of narrow-minded orthodoxy,  

The full song reads as follows :

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 toward perfection; Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert 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.

AMEN!

                                    ********

G. R. Kanwal

14^th August 2023      

 

 

SANT KABIR

 

          SANT KABIR

Here is a short note on Sant Kabir.   He was an Indian mystic and a great devotional poet. Born in a Muslim family, he adopted the Bhakti poet Swami Ramananda who believed that God is inside every person as his guru.

            Sant Kabir lived a long life. He was born at Varanasi  in 1398 and died in Maghar in 1518. The Muslim parents who brought him up were weavers by profession.

Kabir himself was a Bhakti poet and social reformer. His Dohas (couplets) describe the greatness and unity of the Supreme Being. His poetry found respectable place in Sikhism’s Guru Granth Sahib; the Satguru Granth Sahib of Sant Garib Das, and Kabir Sagar of Dharamdas.

                 Kabir attached great importance to the guru or the teacher and regarded him as the incarnation of God. Without a guru, the disciple is an unsuccessful traveler on the path of mysticism.

In one of his songs, Kabir says:

He is the real Master, Who can reveal the form of the Formless to the vision of these eyes: Who teaches the simple way of attaining Him. That is other than rites or ceremonies: Who does not make you close the doors, and hold the breath, and renounce the world.

As for God, Kabir says : He who is within is without: I see him and none else.

In another song: he tells us: I do not ring the temple bell: I do not set the idol on its throne: I do not worship the image with flowers.  When you leave off your clothes and kill your senses, you do not please the Lord: The man who is kind and who practises righteousness, who remains passive amidst the affairs of the world, who considers all creatures on earth as his own self, he attains the Immortal Being, the true God is ever with him. He attains the true Name whose words are pure, and who is free from pride and conceit.

                                                ********

1.     G.R.Kanwal

2.     13^th August 2023

 

 

             

MYSELF

 

          MYSELF

‘MYSELF’ is the title of the poem written by the American poet Edgar Albert Guest (20 August 1881-5 August 1959). He wrote around 11,000, mostly short poems of 14 lines each on popular themes of lost love, regret and death. He also wrote a lot of short stories but became famous as people’s poet.  His style is sentimental. In ‘MYSELF’ he presents a very brief mirror-like portrait of himself. As he says in a couple of lines of the poem: I want to go out with my head erect, and, I can never hide myself from me.  ‘MYSELF’ is a poem of inspiration for every frank, noble and un-hypocritical man.

Given below is the full poem.

“I have to live with myself, and so

I want to be fit for myself to know,

I want to be able, as days go by,

Always to look myself straight in the eye;

I don’t want to stand, with the setting sun,

And hate myself for things I have done.  

 

I don’t want to keep on a closet shelf

A lot of secrets about myself,

And fool myself, as I come and go,

Into thinking that nobody else will know

The kind of man I really am;

I don’t want to dress up myself in sham.

 

I want to go out with my head erect,

I want to deserve all men’s respect;

I want to be able to like myself.

I don’t want to look at myself and know

That I’m bluster and bluff and empty show.

 

I can never hide myself from me;

I see what others may never see;

I know what others may never know,

I never can fool myself, and so,

Whatever happens, I want to be

Self-respecting and conscience free.

                                 *********        

G.R. Kanwal

11 August 2023

YOU ARE ETERNAL

 

YOU ARE ETERNAL

While interpreting chapter second, verse 27 of The Bhagavadgita, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan(1888-1975]  says “For to the one that is born death is certain and certain is birth for the one that has died. “ In simple words, there is no conclusive death. There is rebirth and redeath and thus there is a cycle of births and deaths. You are eternal. According to Lord Buddha, this cycle can be terminated only through nirvana which is attainable through his philosophy of Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path.

Dr.S. Radhakrishnan, however  adds that the inevitability of death cannot justify murders, suicides or wars. We cannot desire deliberately the death of others, simply because all men are bound to die.

In verse 30 of the same chapter, Lord Krishna says :”The dweller in the body of every one, O Bharata (Arjuna), is eternal and can never be slain, Therefore thou shouldst not grieve for any creature.

Man is a compound of Self which is immortal and body which is mortal.

Recently, I came across a poem written by the American poet J. L. Mccreery (1835-1904), the first three stanzas of which reminded me of the above-quoted verse of the Bhagavadgita. They read as follows:

THERE IS NO DEATH ! The stars go down

To rise upon some other shore,

And bright in heaven’s jeweled crown

They shine forevermore.

 

There is no death ! The forest leaves

Convert to life the viewless air;

The rocks disorganize to feed

The hungry moss they bear.

 

There is no death ! The leaves may fall,

And flowers may fade and pass away ----

They only wait, through wintry hours,

The warm, sweet breath of May.

 

                                    ********

G.R.Kanwal,  10^th August 2023

 

 

ABIDE WITH ME

 

ABIDE WITH ME

“ABIDE WITH ME” is the title of a Christian hymn written by Scottish Anglican cleric Henry Francis Lyte (1793-1847). The word , abide, here means : to rest continuously, remain stable, stay permanently at a place or with a person’.  As  it is a hymn, it is addressed to God to stay with the poet throughout his life and death. In the second stanza, the poet says to God:

“Change and decay in all around I see;

O thou who changest not, abide with me.”  

 

It was a favourite hymn of Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) and was also included in the military’s Republic Day’s  the Beating of the Retreat ceremonies.

 

                        The full hymn reads as follows:

 

ABIDE with me: fast falls the eventide;

The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide:

When other helpers fail, and comforts flee,

Help the helpless, O abide with me.

 

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;

Earth’s joys grow dim,its glories pass away,

Change and decay in all around I see;

O thou who changest not, abide with me.

 

I need thy presence every passing hour;

What but thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?

Who, like thyself, my guide and stay can be?

Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

 

I fear no foe, with thee at hand to bless:

Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.

Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?

I triumph still, if thou abide with me.

 

Hold thou my cross before my closing eyes:

Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies:

Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee:

In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

                                                ********

G.R.Kanwal

9^th August 2023

 

  

EIGHTFOLD PATH OF LORD BUDDHA

 

EIGHTFOLD PATH OF LORD BUDDHA

Siddhartha Gautama, popularly Known as Lord Buddha (563-483 B.C.) is remembered for his three philosophies, namely, the Philosophy of Four Noble Truths, the Philosophy of Middle Path and the Philosophy of Eightfold Path. He discovered these philosophies through his extensive wanderings after abdicating the princely life.

  By the Four Noble Truths, he means (1) the truth of suffering, (2) the truth of the cause of suffering, (3) the Truth of the end of suffering and the truth of the path that leads to the termination of suffering.

The philosophy of The Middle Path deals with the extremism of self- denial and self - indulgence. According to the Lord , both extremes are faulty. The correct approach is the adoption of The Middle Path.

For freedom from endless suffering and its re-emergence, he recommends  The Eightfold Path. According to him the eight spokes of the wheel of Dharma are the rules of pure conduct which lead to the stoppage of suffering and sorrow. They are : Right views; right aspirations; right speech; right behavior; right livelihood; right effort; right thoughts; right contemplation.

Combined together these rules signify that noble truth which is related to the destruction of suffering and sorrow

                                    *******

        G.R.Kanwal

         8^th August 2023

           

THE MIDDLE WAY

 

THE MIDDLE WAY

As an ideal approach to carefree life, Lord Gautama Buddha (563-483 BC) recommended The Middle Way and Eightfold Path.  He was a handsome prince, had a wife and a child, yet felt disturbed when he saw people subject to disease,  old age and death. As soon as he realized that the world is a place of pain and suffering, he decided to find out a way of total liberation from them including freedom from the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. This liberation he called nirvana .

                             The Middle Way is a choice between self-denial and self-indulgence. Both are wrong. You can’t starve your body and yet remain alive. . You have to consume at least moderate amounts of food to remain fit for not only worldly duties but also to keep your soul in good shape. Self- indulgence , too, is bad and dangerous.  It is a form of gluttony that breeds illness and drives you towards death.

                                A follower of Lord Buddha says : The Tathagata (Perfect One) does not seek salvation in austerities, but neither does he for that reason indulge in worldly pleasures, nor live in abundance. He has found the middle path.

                                    Neither abstinence from fish and flesh, nor going naked, nor shaving the head, nor wearing matted hair, nor dressing in a rough garment, nor covering oneself with dirt, nor sacrificing to Agni, will cleanse a man who is not free from delusions. Anger, drunkenness, obstinacy, bigotry, deception, envy, self-praise, and evil intentions constitute uncleanness, not verily the eating of flesh.

                                    As regards sensuality, it is enervating. The self-indulgent man is a slave to his passions. But to satisfy the necessities of life is not evil. To keep the body in good health is duty, for otherwise we shall not be able to keep our minds strong and clear. Water surrounds the lotus but does not wet its petals. This is the middle path that keeps aloof from both extremes.

                                                *******

G.R. Kanwal

7^th August 2023                                 

 

 

 

 

 

A THING OF BEAUTY….

 

A THING OF BEAUTY….

A thing of beauty, says English romantic poet John Keats (1795-1821), is a joy for ever. He further says:

            Its loveliness increases; it will never

            Pass into nothingness; but still will keep

            A bower quiet for us, and a sleep

            Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.

 

These lines are placed by Keats in the very beginning of his long mythological poem ENDYMION, a young shepherd-prince in love with the moon goddess Diana.The relationship is dangerous and illegitimate because the goddess is pledged to remain chaste.

 

            The thing of beauty which Keats has in mind is extraordinary.  Unlike average things it is undeclinable.  Time has no effect on it. Its loveliness increases instead of decreasing,. It is exempted from ending into nothingness. It is like the moon in the sky, The Taj Mahal in Agra, Shakespeare’s plays in English literature, Ghalib’s verses in Urdu or Rumi’s poetry in Persian language. Their beauty is eternal and truthful and a source of  constantly ‘quiet bower, a sleep full of sweet dreams, sound health and peaceful breathing.’ Keats wants us to love such things of beauty and truth.  This is how he concludes his ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’:

 

            “Beauty is truth, truth beauty”, that is all ye know on earth and all ye need to know.

                                                            ******

G.R. Kanwal

5^th August 2023