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.

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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.

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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.

 

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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

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        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.

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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.

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G.R. Kanwal

5^th August 2023