IN PRAISE OF WOMEN

 

          IN PRAISE OF WOMEN

Literally a woman is a female human. She is a wife,  a mother, and the better half of man.  

According to some writers  the qualities of a good woman include , kindness, empathy, ambition, determination and loyalty.  She is also expected to be decent, respectful and compassionate.

The French writer Victor Hugo (1802-1885) said “No one knows like a woman how to say things which are at once gentle and deep.”

            I found one of the best descriptions about women in Italian Revolutionary Joseph Mazzini’s essay “The Duties of Man.” He was born on  22 June 1805  and died on 10 March 1872. His main aim was the unification of Italy.

Mazzini wrote : The angel of the Family is Woman. Mother, wife, or sister, Woman is the caress of life, the soothing sweetness of affection shed over its toils, a reflection for the individual of the loving providence which watches over Humanity. In her there is treasure enough of consoling tenderness to allay every pain. Moreover for everyone of us she is the initiator of the future.

He adds : The mother’s first kiss teaches the child love; the first holy kiss of the woman he loves teaches man hope and faith in life ; and love and faith create a desire for perfection and the power of reaching towards it step by step; create the future, in short, of which the living symbol is the child, link between us and the generations to come. Through her the Family, with its divine mystery of reproduction, points to eternity.

Finally, an anonymous  quote about a strong woman :” A strong woman knows she has strength enough for the journey, but a woman of strength knows it is in the journey where she will become strong. “   

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G. R. Kanwal

30 JUNE 2024

THE LAW

 

THE LAW

            ‘Law’ is defined as the whole system of rules that everyone in a country or society must obey. There are however many man-made laws in human societies and their disobedience invites various types of punishments and imprisonments.

            The world, not the societies therein, is the creation of God and its eternal laws of life and death are unchangeable. They are known as divine laws.

            The following extract entitled ‘The Law’ is taken from Joseph Mazzini’s book ‘ The Duties of Man and Other Essays ’ first published in 1907.

Mazzini (1805-1872) was an Italian politician, journalist and activist. He was a  revolutionary who worked for the unification of Italy. A country, according to him, is not a mere territory . It is the sentiment of love, the sense of fellowship which bind together all the sons and daughters of that territory.    

Mazzini starts his essay with the words: There is no life without a law. Whatever exists, exists in a certain manner, according to certain conditions, and under a certain law. A law of aggregation governs minerals; a law of growth governs plants; a law of motion governs the stars; a law governs you and your life; a law as much nobler and more lofty than these, as you yourselves are higher than all other created things on earth. To develop yourselves, to act, to live according to your law, is your first, nay, your only duty.

Mazzini adds : God gave you life: God therefore gave you the law. God is the only Law-giver to the human race. His human laws are only valid and good in so far as they conform to His law, explaining and applying it: they are bad whenever they contradict;  and it is then not only your right, but your duty, to disobey them and abolish them. He who best explains God’s law and applies it to human occasions is your legitimate head : love him and follow him. But you have not, and cannot have, any master but God, without being false and rebellious to Him.

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G.R.Kanwal

29 June 2024

 

A POEM ON SLEEP

 

          A POEM ON SLEEP

‘Sleep’ is defined as “a condition of body and mind that typically recurs for several hours every night, in which the eyes are closed, the postural muscles relaxed, the activity of the brain altered, and consciousness of the surroundings practically suspended.”

Some of the synonyms of this word are : rest, slumber, nap, doze, siesta, etc.

The English poet-dramatist William Shakespeare (1564-1616} calls it “Our foster-nurse of nature in repose.”

A sleepless man looks  fatigued, lethargic, irritable, depressed, stressed and nervous. 

The English writer and magistrate  Henry Fielding (1707-1754) says: One hour’s sleep before midnight , is worth two after.

Roman poet, Publius Ovidius Naso, known in English as Ovid (43 BC---18 A.D) said: Sleep , thou repose of all things; thou gentlest of the duties; thou peace of the mind, from which care flies; who dost soothe the hearts of men wearied with the toils of the day, and re-fittest them for labour.

Finally, a sonnet entitled Sleep by the English poet, courtier, and soldier Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586):

Come sleep; O Sleep ! The certain knot of peace.

The baiting - place of wit, the balm of woe,

The poor man’s wealth, the prisoner’s release,

Th’ indifferent judge between the high and the low;

With shield of proof shield me from out the prease

O those fierce darts Despair at me doth throw:

O make in me those civil wars to ease;

I will good tribute pay, if thou do so.

Take thou of me smooth pillows, sweetest bed,

A chamber deaf to noise and blind of light ,

A rosy garland and a weary head;

And if these things, as being thine by right,

Move not thy heavy grace, thou shalt in me,

Livelier than elsewhere, Stella’s image see.

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G.R.Kanwal

28 June 2024

SELF-LESS GOALS

 

            SELF-LESS GOALS

It is in the eighteenth chapter of the  Bhagavad  Gita, the sacred book of the Hindus, where its author Lord Krishna says human beings have the right to perform their allotted  actions but not to the fruit or reward thereof:-

“To do thy duty is the only right;

            Thou hast no right to crave reward or fruit.

            Do all thy work with a detached mind.

            Enjoy the joys thy fortune may bring thee,

            But with aloofness, ready to give up.

 

Another English version Is like this:”You have right to work only never to its fruits. Let not the fruits of action be your motive, nor let your attachment to be inaction.“

This  is what is meant by a self-less goal. In other words: One should choose a selfless goal and use selfless means to attain it.

 

            Finally, a quotation  from the translation of the Bhagavadgita by Dr. Sarvepalli  Radhakrishnan (1888-1975) :  An action which is obligatory, which is performed without attachment, without love or hate by one un-desirous of fruit, that is said to be good.

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G.R.Kanwal

27 June 2024

IN PRAISE OF MERCY

 

                IN PRAISE OF MERCY

Mercy is defined as a kind or forgiving attitude towards somebody that you have the power to harm or right to punish.  Some of the synonyms of this word  are : pity, kindness, sympathy, tolerance, generosity, forgiveness, compassion and tender-heartedness.

The theory of Karma is based on mercy and punishment. There is mercy of God or punishment by God according to our deeds. To say the least,  we are all at the mercy of God because none of us is perfectly innocent and  God’s mercy is like that of a father to his children.

According to the Spanish poet and novelist Seavedra M.de Cervantes (1547-1616) among the attributes of God, although they are all equal, mercy shines with even more brilliancy than justice. I

t is also true to say that mercy more becomes a magistrate than the vindictive wrath which men call justice.

Finally, this is what English poet-playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616) said  in his famous comedy , The Merchant of Venice:

“The quality of mercy is not strained; it droppeth, as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath; it is twice blessed; it blesseth him that gives and him that takes: ‘tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes the throned monarch better than his crown. Mercy is an attribute to God himself; and earthly power doth then show likest God’s, when mercy seasons justice. Consider this, ---that, in the course of justice, none of us should see salvation: we do pray for mercy, and that same prayer doth teach us all to render the deeds of mercy.”

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G.R.Kanwal

26 June 2024

 

 

   

 

SOME UNUSUAL QUOTATIONS

 

SOME UNUSUAL QUOTATIONS

A quotation is defined as a group of words or a short piece of writing taken from a book, play, speech, etc. and repeated because it is interesting or useful.

A good quotation contains an extraordinary thought which supports you when you are writing or speaking on some topic. More often than not it becomes a part of your permanent knowledge and lasting  memory.

Usual quotations please you but don’t surprise you. Unusual quotations surprise you. They make you laugh as if they had some foolish thought in them.   

Here are some unusual quotations on various topics:-

1.A philosopher is one who doubts.

2. What a mercy it would be if we were able to open and close our ears as easily as we open and close our eyes.

3. It is easier to ruin a kingdom than to set up a greengrocer’s stall.

4. In eating, a third of the stomach should be filled with food, a third with drink and the rest left empty.

5. Envy makes strange bedfellows.

6. Fasting is a medicine.

7. You cannot understand history without having lived through history yourself.

8. Principles have no real force except when one is well fed.

9. No man is rich enough to buy back his past.

10. Success has ruined many a man.

            Finally, an unusual quotation by the Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) : Punctuality is the thief of time.

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G.R.Kanwal

26 June 2024

 

      

NO PAST, NO FUTURE

 

                NO PAST, NO FUTURE

            Here is a stanza from a poem “A Psalm of Life”. Its author is an American writer Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882}. The full poem is pretty long comprising nine stanzas of four lines each. The first stanza reads like this:

            Tell me not, in mournful numbers,

            Life is but an empty dream!

            For the soul is dead that slumbers,

            And things are not what they seem.  

 

The stanza which I have referred to above is as follows:

            Trust no future, howe’er pleasant!

            Let the dead past bury its dead!

            Act, act in the living present!

            Heart within, and God o’erhead!

 

Of the three divisions of time--- present, past and future, only the present is available to us. It is here and now and is turning into past every fraction of a second. We are using it as we wish. As for the past, it is gone ever and exists only in historical records. The future is totally uncertain. It may or may not come. We cannot be sure about its availability.

 

People who go on remembering the past and keep their minds loaded with its good or bad events, waste even their present time. It is desirable to keep our minds empty of what happened in the past and what may happen in  future. Talking about painful or shameful events of the past, especially to hurt some listeners is hardly appreciable. Hence, the psychologically and morally

sound advice of the poet:

 

            Act, act, in the living present !

            Heart within, and God o’erhead !

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G.R.Kanwal

24 June 2024