TWO IMPORTANT QUOTES

 

 TWO IMPORTANT QUOTES

            What is said in the following two quotes is not transient. It is perpetual. To read them is to become not only knowledgeable but also better human beings.

1.     From the Gita, the sacred Hindu scripture, known as the divine song of Lord Krishna.

“He who is free from malice towards all beings, who is friendly as well as compassionate, who has no feeling of meum (mine) and is free from egoism, to whom pleasure and pain are alike and who is forgiving by nature, who is ever content and mentally united to Me (Lord Krishna), who has subdued his body, mind and senses and has a firm resolve, who has surrendered his mind and intellect to Me (Lord Krishna), ---that devotee of mine is dear to me.”

Note: According to an authentic source: Lord Krishna is the eighth and most revered avatar of Lord Vishnu in Hinduism. He is the supreme god of compassion, tenderness, love, and protection. Millions revere him as a divine lover and a profound philosopher.

            Also note that an avatar is a manifestation of a deity in bodily form on earth, such as a divine nature.  

            Another notable point is about Hindu Trinity comprising –Brahman, the creator, Vishnu, the preserver, and Shiva, the destroyer.

                                                -----

2.     John Milton’s sonnet “ON HIS BLINDNESS”.

            John Milton (1608-74 ) was a great Puritan poet of England. He died blind.  Blindness  came to him slowly for ten years  but he became totally blind in 1653.

            As a literary critic says the sonnet “On His Blindness” is the spiritual struggle to accept personal limitations and the realization that faithful submission to God’s will is the highest form of service.

            Look at the following most relevant lines:

            ‘Doth God exact day labour, light denied’?

            I fondly ask ; but Patience, to prevent

            That murmur, soon replies : ‘God doth not need

            Either man’s work or His own gifts : who best

            Bear His mild yoke, they serve him best: His state

            Is kingly; thousands at His bidding speed

            And post o’er land and ocean without rest:

 

The last line of the sonnet : ‘

 

 

They also serve who only stand and wait.’ has become proverbial.

                                               

The full text of the Sonnet follows:

 

When I consider how my light is spent,

 

   Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,

 

   And that one Talent which is death to hide

 

   Lodged with me useless, though my Soul more bent

 

To serve therewith my Maker, and present

 

   My true account, lest he returning chide;

 

   “Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”

 

   I fondly ask. But patience, to prevent

 

That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need

 

   Either man’s work or his own gifts; who best

 

   Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state

 

Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed

 

   And post o’er Land and Ocean without rest:

 

   They also serve who only stand and wait.”

 

 

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G.R.Kanwal

26^th June2026        

 

 

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