LONELINESS VERSUS SOLITUDE

 

 

                                LONELINESS VERSUS SOLITUDE

            Loneliness is unwanted. It is an unhappy situation because you have no friends and people to talk to. Solitude is also the state of being alone, but it is a pleasant one and wished for. It does not make you sad. On the contrary, it gives you relief from an over-busy schedule and the presence of madding crowds.

If you are alone at a place which is quiet and un-inhabitated and has natural beauty like that of a garden or a mountain, you are blissful .

English clergy Lawrence Sterne (1713-68) says in solitude the mind gains strength, and learns to lean upon itself; in the world it seeks or accepts of a few treacherous supports – the feigned compassions of one, the flattery of a second, the civilities of a third, the friendship of a fourth; they all deceive, and bring the mind back to retirement, reflection and books.

According to the American poet and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-82): It is easy, in the world, to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy, in solitude, to live after your own; but the great man is he who, in the midst of the crowds, keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.

Finally, loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self. Moreover, solitude shows us what we should be; society shows us what we are.

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G.R.Kanwal

9^th June 2024                                 

LONELINESS

 

                LONELINESS

A lonely person is one who has no friend or people to talk to. It is not a healthy situation because man is a social animal. He must have companions to live with and talk to. There was a time when nobody was lonely because of being a member of a large family or tribe. Today, families are small and they further become smaller when grown up children settle somewhere else or go abroad never to come back. Divorces and deaths, too, become a cause of loneliness.    

Lonely persons must have a remedy to escape the ill-effects of loneliness such as physical, mental or emotional disorders. If there is a loss of a friend,  replacement by a new friend must fill the vacuum. Supposing, it is not possible, then make books, movies, music,  T.V. programmes,  tours, trips, social service, talking to strangers, doing writing of some sort,  to prevent  the ailments of loneliness.

Religion tells us that we are never alone. God is always with us through His creation wherever we are.

Psychologically, no person is mentally inactive. Current or past events or future schedule go on occupying our mind ; moreover we  also indulge in talking to ourselves voicelessly.

Finally, here is a good quote on loneliness: “We are all born alone and die alone. Loneliness is definitely part of the journey of life.“

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G.R.Kanwal

7^th June 2024

 

SOME THOUGHTS ON ANGER

 

          SOME THOUGHTS ON ANGER

Anger is natural. We feel angry when we dislike some situation or when some wrong is done to us. The best response to such situations is tolerance or forgiveness. It has been rightly said  that  anger is never without a reason but seldom a good one.  However, if you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.

Religion does not permit anger. It believes in calmness even in provocative and offensive situations. The best response to such  events is silence, delay of any revengeful action. Better, talk it out with somebody, or express  it on a piece of paper, the result will be cooling down.        

            The Greek philosopher and polymath  Pythagoras said “Anger begins in folly, and ends in repentance; and  according to a Chinese proverb :“The fire you kindle for your enemy often burns yourself more than him.”

 An English divine Isaac Watts (1674-1748 )  believed that to be angry about trifles is mean and childish; and to maintain perpetual wrath is akin to the practice and temper of devils; but to prevent and suppress rising resentment is wise and glorious, is manly and divine.

            I don’t believe in suppression of anger. My approach is  non-injurious, tranquilizing  expression; otherwise it will  keep alive and harm you both physically and mentally.

            Finally, a piece of advice by the American President  Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826):”When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, count a hundred.”

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G.R. Kanwal

6^th June 2024

 

 

OVERWORK IS INJURIOUS

 

                      OVERWORK IS INJURIOUS

It was U.S. Secretary of, State Charles Evans Hughes (1862-1948), who said: “ I believe in work, hard work and long hours of work. Men do not break down from overwork, but from worry and dissipation.“  

The English writer Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) almost agreed with this view when he said: ‘I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.”

According to the Polish-British novelist Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) “A man is a worker. If he is not that he is nothing.”

Surely, it cannot be denied  that everybody in this world must work profitably  to keep his body and soul together.

However, overwork is not allowed  by Nature. If day is meant for work, night is meant for rest and recoupment. Overwork can cause not only fatigue but even death. Even machines have to be stopped to avoid outbursts. .

To conclude, here is a poem titled “Leisure” by the English poet William Henry Davies (1871-1940): It reads as follows:

            “What is this life if, full of care,/ We have no time to stand and stare?

            No time to stand beneath the boughs/And stare as long as sheep and cows:

            No time to see, when woods we pass,/Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

            No time to see, in broad daylight,/Streams full of stars, like skies at night:

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,/And watch her feet, how they can dance:

No time to wait till her mouth can/Enrich that smile her eyes began ?

A poor life this if, full of care,/We have no time to stand and stare.

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G.R.Kanwal

5^th June 2024

 

               

  

 

MAKE WORK YOUR RELIGION

 

          MAKE WORK YOUR RELIGION

‘Work’ means doing of such action as involves physical or mental effort. Its synonyms are duty, service, profession, etc.

Nobody in this world is supposed to be an idler. He must use his natural talents by doing some work in the service of God.

When we say work is worship, we mean  that God wants us to use our energies in useful activities for the world,       

          If someone makes work his religion, he expresses his belief in a god or gods and in the activities  connected with this belief.

          Further, a person who makes work as his religion becomes a  Karmayogi; and according to Lord Krishna, the author of the Bhagavad Gita, Karma yoga is the spiritual practice of selfless action performed for the benefit of others. It is also a path to achieve  spiritual liberation through work.   

          To conclude, here is a saying of Lebanese-American writer and poet Khalil Gibran (1883-1931):

“ He brings disaster upon his nation who never sows a seed, or lays a brick, or weaves a garment, but makes politics his occupation.”

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G.R.Kanwal

3^rd JUNE  2024  

 

A POEM ON BLOSSOMS

 

             A POEM ON BLOSSOMS

A blossom is defined as a flower, especially on a fruit tree or bush. So we have such terms as cherry blossom, orange blossom, apple blossom. Blossoms are beautiful but their life is very short. In fact, shortness of life, including those of human beings is an eternal theme in literature. What follows is a “To Blossoms” is a very famous poem by the English poet Robert Herrick (1591-1674). It tells us that all living things are transient. Humans are also like short-lived blossoms. They survive and show their worth in this world for a destined period and are then seen no more.         

            Robert Herrick’s poem reads as follows:

Fair pledges of a fruitful tree,

Why do ye fall so fast?

Your date is not so past,

But you may stay yet here awhile

To blush and gently smile,

And go at last.

 

What, were ye born to be

An hour or half’s delight

And so to bid good-night?

‘Twas pity Nature brought ye forth

Merely to show your worth

And lose you quite.

 

But you are lovely leaves, where we

May read how soon things have

Their end, though ne’er as brave

And after they have shown their pride

Like you, awhile, they glide

Into the grave.

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G.R.Kanwal                                                     

2^nd June 2024

 

                                                             

TAGORE’S UNANSWERED PRAYER

 

          TAGORE’S  UNANSWERED PRAYER

India’s great poet, writer, social reformer and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was awarded Nobel Prize in literature in 1913. India was then under the British rule. The prayer which is given below and is included in his anthology of poems ‘Gitanjali’ states what type of free India he wanted to emerge after freedom. It is an excellent prayer addressed to God and since it is still unfulfilled deserves to be repeated on every appropriate occasion.

“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 towards perfection;

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand 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.”

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G.R.Kanwal

1^st June 2024