JOHN DONNE AND LORD KRISHNA

 

                JOHN DONNE AND LORD KRISHNA

In his divine song The Bhagavadgita Lord Krishna tells Arjuna who had refused to take up arms against his kith and kin because he did  not want them to die :

“Never was there a time when I was not, nor thou, nor those lords of men, nor will there ever be a time hereafter when we all shall cease to be.”  

Speaking about the difference between the perishable body and the immortal soul therein, the great Lord says: “The dweller in the body of every one, is eternal and can never be slain. Therefore thou shouldst not grieve for any creature.”

The English metaphysical poet John Donne (1573-1613) has a poem on almost the same theme of human immortality. The title of the poem is : Death Be Not Proud. It reads as follows:

Death be not proud, thou some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou are not soe,

For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,

Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill mee.

From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,

Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,

Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie

Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings and desperate men

 

And dost with poison, warre, and sickness dwell,

And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,

And better than thy stroke, why swell’st thou then?

One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,

And death shall be no more, death, thou shall die.

                                    ***********

G.R.Kanwal

25 August 2024