सूरज कहीं नहीं जाता

People change, Situations change, Opinions change. But there's something that does not change...ever. Unshakeable, unperturbed, untouched by impermanence. Call it Knowledge, Love, or Divine...If you have ever truly known it, it is yours forever...You never lose THAT!

सूरज कहीं नहीं जाता

घिरें बादल भले, वर्षा भी तो है उसी का उपहार
जानते हम वह रहा चमकता घन के उस पार
धरती की तृषा बुझे जैसे ही 
प्रकाश से फिर नहलाता 
सूरज कहीं नहीं जाता

भले ही मुँह फेर ले धरती उससे रात अँधेरे में
क्षितिज के पार ठहरा मूर्त धैर्य सा हम जब घूमें फेरे में
तम से ज्योति की ओर दृष्टि हो जैसे ही 
नए दिन को फिर फैलाता 
सूरज कहीं नहीं जाता

जो भी है अमूल्य आलोकित जीवन में तुमने पाया 
भले छूट जाए कुछ क्षण कुछ दिन जब हो मन भरमाया 
अगर जाना है उसे मन से, भले ही अब है नकारा
जानो अनन्त समय तक हर पल वो है तुम्हारा 

भीड़भाड़ में हाथ से छूट कभी 
कंकड़ सा ठोकर भी खाता
धूल की परतें हट जाएँ 
रत्न फिर हाथ आ जाता
 
...सूरज कहीं नहीं जाता

- BhairaviParag

Quote of the moment:

"...Once you blossom then you never wither. If you move ten steps ahead, you may go back eight steps but you can never go back all ten steps..." ...(Full text here)

-Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

वलय

Situations do not leave a mark on a mind that is one with the vast creation, just as no images lie permanent on a mirror. Disturbances, if any, only last for a few moments, like ripples in water...and as time flies, they only add to the richness of understanding of life.

शांत जल एक सरोवर में
उस में साफ़ स्पष्ट दिख रहा

प्रतिबिम्ब आकाश का 

हर प्रहर बदलता, बिना छाप छोड़े

हवा से ज़रा सा कभी कभी कांपते 

उस पानी को सूर्य की किरणें चमका रहीं 

जैसे रत्न झिलमिलाते रहते

नीरव है वातावरण
बस कुछ पंछी ही उड़ रहे 

तभी कोई आया टहलता 

उसी निःशब्दता की तलाश में

शायद आदत नहीं थी उसे
जल से आकाश से एक हो कर 

बस एक हो कर कुछ देर बैठने की
उठाया एक पत्थर किनारे से
क्या देखना था...कितनी दूर जाता है?
पता नहीं...बस उठाया
तानकर फैका पानी में

...छपाक... 

जा गिरा सरोवर में

पानी उड़ा थोडा
उड़ती बूँदें भी ज़रा सी चमकीं धुप में
फिर मिल गयीं ताल में
मछलियाँ चौंकीं, तैर दूर गयीं
पक्षी भी उड़े एक आवाज़ दे कर
जल में कुछ वलय बने
फ़ैल कर कुछ बड़े बन
फिर मिल गए समतल में
झिलमिलाते आसमानी दर्पण के 

 
हाँ, एक बात तो है
वह पत्थर भी तो गीला हो गया

जब गिरा जल में
बस गीला ही नहीं
डूब गया है पूरा ही
पानी में, बैठ गया तल में

अब पानी की मछलियाँ
खेलेंगी आसपास, तैरती हुईं
बनाएँगी घर उसी पत्थर के पीछे
इस तालाब का छोटा सा
एक हिस्सा ही बन गया
वह पत्थर जो गिरा
एक बार....छपाक से

 

-BhairaviParag

धूप में एक फूल

सूर्य खिला है आसमान में 
धुप सुनहरी है लाया 
विश्व सारा दिख रहा है उजला
साफ़ साफ़ हर कण दिखलाया

उद्यम में लगा जग सारा
प्रकाश को गले लगाया
सुवासित श्वेत शतदल सुमन
कहीं कुञ्ज में था, दिख न पाया 

तप्त हुआ वातावरण
लौ का जैसे बादल लहराया 
पुष्प दल से नमी लगी उड़ने
रंग भी ज़रा सा कुम्हलाया 

पर वही गर्म हवा
कभी शीतल पवन थी, जब था साया
जो जाना था ह्रदय से 
उसे अनदेखा न कर पाया

तृषा कई दिनों की थी बुझी
जब पवन था वर्षा लाया 
उन्हीं पंखों पर आया था जल
बन ओस किरणों को था चमकाया

समय बदल गया है, देखो,
बात हमारी भी मानो 
संभल जाओ, जी जाओगे
पत्तों ने बहुत समझाया

दाह लगा हुआ था पर
शीतलता भूल न पाया
फूल कभी कंटक बन न पाया
क्या करे, मुरझा गया 

-BhairaviParag 

The Tale of a Tree

After reading "THE MANGO TREE'

First stanza (emphasized)  idea courtesy - friend Ashish Khandeparkar's poem ‘THE MANGO TREE’, which I rephrased here, summarizing it in 4 lines.
Inspired by that tale of letting go, I extended the thread as a story of change & growth. 

The gifts we receive – all our talents, wealth, knowledge become a burden if we fail to share them with the world around us. Any possessions are of no value if they bind us down. Letting go of ego, when we become light and open to the life around us, we in turn become a vehicle for goodness in life, an instrument of the divine. As one who gives, gets more and more, to be passed on in turn. And that makes a complete person, grown to his full potential, bright and beautiful, and loved by all.

A Mango Tree was with fruits weighed down,

Gave away sweet treasure it possessed

For comfort brought by sharing all you own

is precious than any wealth, it expressed.

In freedom new, tree sang and danced

with breeze and rains and birds that flew.

Flowers then blossomed, Gave a chance

to grow and gift again fresh fruits new.

As seasons changed the tree rejoiced

the letting go of wealth, be light.

For sweetest boons it became the choice

like flute hollow plays notes just right

As years passed by, tree grew to be

a shelter giving shade hope and rest

for the passersby who could well see

a life well-lived in times that test.

-BhairaviParag

Cynicism

There's a difference between Skepticism & Cynicism.

While skeptics may doubt, and do not accept an IDEA without understanding it fully through logic/experience, Cynics take a PERSON, or worse, Human beings in general to be flawed, by nature, and as driven by selfishness, greed, anger, lust, false ego. 

Doubts come and go. A cynic assumes beforehand the worse to be true. Not trusting the goodness of people around, often without a thorough examination. There is no margin for imperfections left before adjudging a person as untrustworthy. If a person is not seen as pure white, that has to be black, in a cynics book.

What is beyond a cynic’s grasp is, the thoughts, emotions or tendencies of the mind do not define a person. Neither are qualities - good or bad - permanent. Any thought or action is a product of a person’s state of mind at that moment, the situation, and past impressions – that is Karma. 

Judging a person by any of his past action or word, taking it to be a line on stone is not only unwise, it transforms healthy skepticism into hard cynicism, turns love into hatred, alienates a person from people around, brings loneliness and depression, and in turn, makes a person fiercely defensive of his views, going in a stonewall so as to be somehow guarded from pain. They begin to see sensitivity and innocence as fragility and vulnerability – a weakness. And take pride in smart cynicism as an ability to ‘see through’ people.

But pain is as much a beautiful part of life as joy is. One just cannot insulate oneself from pain. And neither should try. As anything one tries – So called ‘positive attitude’, defensiveness, sarcasm, escapism - will be superficial. Pain is there for a reason. It gives depth and new insights, brings loved ones closer to support you, and reminds you of impermanent nature of things.

Human beings do not come in Black or White. There are all shades of colours, different at any given moment. Thoughts change, emotions change, opinions change. Nothing is worth holding on to, except the realization that our true nature is pure consciousness, which gets hidden by imperfections, which are just distortions because of ego and past karma. This is an understanding that Indian mind sciences give, with its source in the Upanishads, and is best achieved through experience, not by intelligence alone. 

A cynic’s view that human beings are essentially flawed and have to be disciplined - or have to be fearful of God sitting somewhere in heaven - in order to behave is more reminiscent of desert religions.  And that gets reflected in psychological theories that originated in the west. That thoughts and actions are a product of deep-rooted fear or memory of some events of the past, and that makes up a personality. The same discipline of psychology does take different phobia or emotional disturbance or depression as issues that need help. 

The point that i look to arrive at in this write-up, essentially a reflection at the approach taken by many to make sense of the world, is that cynicism causes so much negativity that it is a sure-shot path to depression. (As emphasized in paragraph 5 above.) As such, it should also be viewed as a tendency that needs help to come out of. A vicious spiral not only harmful to the person involved, but also the people around who get pulled down by the negativity. 

Thanks for reading. Please do leave your comments, as i look forward to your views and a good discussion and new insights.

लोकः समस्त सुखिनो भवन्तु

-BhairaviParag