THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM PAIN

 

          THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM PAIN

Pain is a universal human phenomenon. Nobody has ever been able to escape from it.

It is defined as aching, throbbing, smarting, , pang, discomfort, irritation, spasm, cramp, agony, affliction, torture, torment, unhappiness, distress, anguish, misery, wretchedness, etc.

The antonyms of pain are happiness, pleasure, joy, rapture, comfort, consolation, delight, solace, elation, bliss, glee, felicity, euphoria, exuberance, etc.

Whereas pain is common, pleasure is occasional and rare.

The English poet and novelist Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)  said in his novel The Mayor of Casterbridge  : Happiness is the occasional episode in a general drama of pain. It happens when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony.

According to Lord Buddha pain is the outcome of sin. Suffering, he says, has a cause, and this cause can be eliminated by adopting the rightful eightfold path comprising, right intention, right view, right action, right speech, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. 

The practices of the above-mentioned  path lead to the liberation of human beings from the painful cycle of rebirth.

The English bishop Thomas Bentham (1513-1579) said: Nature has placed mankind under the government of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do. On the one hand, the standard of right and wrong; on the other, the chain of causes and effects, are fastened to their throne.      

There are no permanent pleasures. They are temporary and lay the foundations of new pains. Pleasure is one of the causes of pain.

Finally, this quote by Helen Keller: Although the world is full of suffering. It is also full of the overcoming of it.

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G.R.Kanwal

11 October 2024

 

 

 

 

 

HATRED IS POISONOUS

 

HATRED IS POISONOUS

Hatred is a very strong feeling of dislike for something or somebody. To all intents and purposes it is poisonous.

Some  synonyms of this word are: ill-will, antipathy, hostility, enmity, animosity, grudge, repulsion and rancour. Causes of hatred are: casteism,  communalism, jealousy, wrong religious beliefs, poverty, economic disparities, illiteracy, negative assumptions, baseless fears, false propaganda, etc.

            The consequences of hatred include: Health issues like stress, unhappiness, headache, depression, hypertension, insomnia, social divisions, disunity, disharmony, hate crimes, violence, genocide, intolerance, non-co-operation, war, destruction of property and institutions.

            The strategies that can remove or overcome hatred are: love, friendship,  forgiveness, empathy, understanding, unity, co-operation, expulsion of negative thoughts, belief in inter-faith harmony , secularism,  moral education and belief in the unity of God.

            The French novelist Honore de Balzac (1799-!850)  said: “Hatred is the vice of narrow souls; they feed it with all their littleness, and make it the pretext of base tyrannies.”

            People hate some persons because they do not know them; and they will not know them because they hate them,

            Greek philosopher and historian Plutarch (about 46 AD-119 AD) said: “If you hate your enemies, you will contact such a vicious habit of mind as by degrees will break out upon those who are your friends, or those who are indifferent to you. “

            Finally, this short quote : Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.

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G.R.Kanwal

10^th October 2024

 

 

 

   

THIS TOO SHALL PASS

 

THIS TOO SHALL PASS

The poem which is given below is titled ‘This Too Shall Pass” and is written by the American writer Helen Steiner Rice. She was born on 19 May 1900, at Lorain, Ohio, United States and passed away 0n 23 April 1981 at the same place. According to her biographical details :“ She became a successful business woman and lecturer but found her most satisfying outlet in writing verse.”

Rice had her own views about love. She said: “Love is unselfish, understanding and kind. For it sees with its heart, and not with its mind. Love is the answer that everyone seeks; love is the language that every heart speaks.”

   The poem under reference is inspirational. It teaches us to remain calm and quiet even in most disturbing circumstances. No situation however bad  it may be is stationary. It comes and goes . Every nocturnal darkness fades away with the morning. No event in life can upset a person if he believes that all situations, pleasant as well as unpleasant, are transitory. Like so many earlier, every new situation however frightening will passes away.

    Here is the full text of the poem:

            THIS TOO SHALL PASS

If I can endure for this minute

Whatever is happening to me,

No matter how heavy my heart is

Or how dark the moment may be-

 

If I can remain calm and quiet

With all the world crashing about me,

Secure in the knowledge God loves me

When everyone else seems to doubt me-

 

If I can but keep on believing

What I know in my heart to be true,

That darkness will fade with the morning

And this will pass away, too-

 

Then nothing in life can defeat me

For as long as this knowledge remains

I can suffer whatever is happening

For I know God will break all of the chains

 

 

That are binding me tight in the darkness

And trying to fill me with fear-

For there is no night without dawning

And I know that my morning is near.

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G.R.Kanwal

9^th October 2024

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY

 

 

                             HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY

Honest people are upright, honourable, moral, ethical, principled, righteous, right-minded, virtuous, good, worthy, decent, law-abiding, just, fair, trustworthy, dependable, loyal, sincere and straightforward.  

They act truthfully. To use any untrue and unfair means for achieving  even a desirable end is not acceptable to them. In their world of thoughts and actions, both ends and means must be fair. Dishonesty is totally unappreciable. In their eyes, to achieve success by hook or crook is condemnable.

 The results of using unfair methods, means, policies, mediums, etc. are ultimately punishable.

The English poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744) says: An honest man is  the noblest work of God.

The English poet-dramatist William Shakespeare (1564-1616) thinks to be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man picked out of ten thousand.

The Greek Philosopher Socrates (died 15 February 399 BC) believes the shortest and surest way to live with honour in the world, is to be in reality what we would appear to be; and if we observe, we shall find, that all human virtues increase and strengthen themselves by the practice and experience of them.

Somebody rightly said  true honesty takes into account the claims of God as well as those of man; it renders to God the things that are God’s, as well as to man the things that are man’s.

            Finally, this short but  great quote: One lie ruins a thousand truths.

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G.R.Kanwal

08 October 2024  

 

LIFE AND LAUGHTER

 

          LIFE AND LAUGHTER

It will be a blessing if we make laughter a feature  of our existence. Unfortunately, we don’t do so. We believe in being sad and serious. We think that to laugh is to misbehave. This is a grave misunderstanding. God does not want us to be gloomy when He has placed us in a vastly beautiful world where flowers bloom, birds sing, rivers flow, mountains welcome us with snow, cool water quenches our thirst, delicious fruits gratify our hunger, the bright sun lights our ways and the shining moon and stars fill our eyes with delight.

To laugh is to thank for all God’s blessings. The Indian mystic and philosopher Osho (1931-1990) said: Existence is hilarious. If you have eyes to see the hilarious points you will be surprised : in life there is no place to be serious. Everybody is slipping on banana peels  --- you just need an insight to see.”

The English essayist and poet Charles Lamb (1776-1834) considers a laugh worth a hundred groans. Another English essayist Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) thinks :“The man who cannot laugh is not only fit for treason, stratagems, and spoils ; but his whole life is already a treason and a stratagem.  According to the English novelist Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863) :”A good laugh is sunshine in a house.“ And John Dryden, the English poet and literary critic (1631-1700) thought : “It is a good thing to laugh, at any rate; and if a straw can tickle a man, it is an instrument of happiness. Beasts can weep when they suffer, but they cannot laugh.”

People who don’t laugh suffer from perpetual melancholy which can be healed only by adopting the habit of frequent laughter.   

Finally, this anonymous quote : “A good laugh makes us better friends with ourselves and everybody around us.”

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G.R.Kanwal

7^th October 2024  

 

         

 

CHANGE IS THE LAW OF NATURE

 

CHANGE IS THE LAW OF NATURE

The English poet Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-92) says in his long poem Morte d’Arthur ”: And slowly answered Arthur from the barge:   

“The old order changeth, yielding place to new,

And God fulfils Himself in many ways,

Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.

Comfort thyself: what comfort is in me?

I have lived my life , and that which I have done

May He within Himself make pure! But thou.

If thou shouldst never see my face again,

Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer

Than this world dreams of.”

 

            The truth “Change is the only constant thing” is explained in many verses of the Bhagvad Gita. One of them reads: The mind is always happy in change. If you are in a busy place, you will feel happy by going to an isolated place. But, if you are in an isolated place, you will be happy by going to a busy place. Thus  happiness is not in any place or external atmosphere.  It is in the change of the state, which is totally related to one’s mind.

 

            Change should be for the better. It should give us a new progressive outlook. No change should mean stagnation, orthodoxy and rottenness. The English philosopher and statesman Francis Bacon  (1561-1626) said : He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils and according to the English poet-dramatist William Shakespeare (1564-1616) : It is not strange that even our loves should change with our fortunes.  

                       

             Let us note that the world we live is evolutionary,  involving or causing a complete or dramatic change. It is not static even for a minute. From dawn to dusk and from dusk to dawn it exhibits numerous changes. This is besides rotation of weathers and seasons.

 

            Finally this quote by American author Jim Rohn (1030-2009): Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.

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G.R.Kanwal

6^th October 2024

 

KNOW THYSELF

 

KNOW THYSELF

Greek philosophers were unanimous in the demand: Know thyself. However, this is not possible as soon as you become an adolescent. You are a joint product of heredity and environment. You inherit a lot from your parents and also from your environment. Education or any sort of training makes you what you ultimately become. There are rare persons who are born as what they do as adults. Born poets, born leaders, born scientists, born businessmen, born fighters, etc. are few and far between.

Everybody is not born with a readymade destiny. Nearly all of us are the architects of our fate and for that it is necessary to know what our predominant abilities are.

French philosopher Chateau de  Montaigne  (1533- 1592) said: I study myself more than any other subject; it is my metaphysics, and my physic.

According to the German poet and philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)  “How shall we learn to know ourselves? By reflection? Never; but only through action. Strive to do thy duty; then shalt thou know what is in thee.

It is also the duty of the state to educate men and women according to its social needs. A state needs all sorts of workers and professional to fulfil its needs. Whereas we need manufacturers of medicines, we also need doctors to recommend their consumption.

A UNESCO report says educational systems must be changed off and on to meet the latest requirements of the ever-changing world.

   There is another eternal saying:  “Never lose sight of this important truth, that no one can be truly great until he has gained a knowledge of himself, a knowledge which can only be acquired by occasional retirement. “

Finally, this quote by the Chinese philosopher and writer  Lao tzu ( 571 BC---?)   “Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is wisdom.”

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G.R.Kanwal

5^th October 2024