चौकट राजा

दैव किती अविचारी

2008-07-22T12:43:00.000+05:30

दैव किती अविचारी !
जीवनगति ही न्यारी !

शुभ्र वर्ण बगळ्यास दिला तू
कोकिळतनु अंधारी;
कृष्णलोचने सुंदर हरिणे
वनि वनि भ्रमति बिचारी.

मूर्ख भोगितो राजवैभवा
पंडित फिरती भिकारी;
सूरदास विनवितो प्रभूला
क्षणक्षण हो जडभारी !

योगी पावन मनाचा

2008-03-18T09:11:00.003+05:30

योगी पावन मनाचा । साही अपराध जनाचा ॥
विश्व रागें झाले वन्ही । संती सुखें व्हावें पाणी ॥
शब्द शस्त्रें झालें क्लेश । संती मानावा उपदेश ॥
विश्व पट ब्रह्मदारा । ताटी उघडा ज्ञानेश्वरा ॥

संत तेचि जाणा जगीं । दया क्षमा ज्यांचे अंगी ॥
लोभ अहंता न ये मना । जगी विरक्त तेचि जाणा ॥
इह परलोकीं सुखी । शुद्ध ज्ञान ज्यांचे मुखीं ॥
मिथ्या कल्पना मागें सारा । ताटी उघडा ज्ञानेश्वरा ॥

एक आपण साधू झाले । येर कोण वाया गेले? ॥
उठे विकार ब्रह्मी मूळ । अवघे मायेचें गबाळ ॥
माय समूळ नुरे जेव्हां । विश्व ब्रह्म होइल तेव्हां ॥
ऐसा उमज आदिअंतीं । मग सुखी व्हावे संती ॥
चिंता क्रोध मागे सारा । ताटी उघडा ज्ञानेश्वरा ॥

ब्रह्म जैसें तैशा परी । आम्हा वडील भूतें सारी ॥
अहो क्रोधें यावें कोठे । अवघे आपण निघोटे ॥
जीभ दातांनी चाविली । कोणें बत्तीशी तोडीली? ॥
मन मारुनी उन्मन करा । ताटी उघडा ज्ञानेश्वरा ॥

शुद्ध ज्याचा भाव झाला । दुरी नाही देव त्याला ॥
अवघी साधन हातवटी । मोलें मिळत नाही हाटीं ॥
कोणी कोणास शिकवावें । सार साधुनिया घ्यावें ॥
लडिवाळ मुक्ताबाई । जीव मुदल ठायीचे ठायीं ॥
तुम्ही तरुनी विश्व तारा । ताटी उघडा ज्ञानेश्वरा ॥

बा. सी. मर्ढेकर - १

2007-10-05T17:34:00.002+05:30

बा. सी. मर्ढेकरांच्या कविता वाचतोय. त्यातलीच ही एक कविता. :)

*********

सकाळी उठोनी। चहा-कॉफी घ्यावी,
तशीच गाठावी। वीज गाडी ॥

दती त्रुण घ्यावे। "हुजूर" म्हणून;
दुपारी भोजन। हेंची सार्थ ॥

संध्याकाळ होता । भूक लागे तरी,
पोराबाळांवरी। ओकूं नये ॥

निद्रेच्या खोपटीं। काळजीची बिळे;
होणार वाटोळें। होइल तें ॥

कुणाच्या पायाचा । कांही असो गुण
आपुली आपण । बिडी प्यावी ॥

जेथे निघे धुर । तेथे आहे अग्नी;
आम्ही जमदग्नी । प्रेतरूपीं ॥

A couple of poems

2007-04-02T10:38:00.000+05:30

I was browsing through my collection of poems and came across these two. I couldn't help but notice the striking similarity with the song "Jag Jaa" from Omkara.

Here are the two poems. The poet is yet unknown to me. Will update it as soon as I know.

--------

सुबह की गोरी

रात की काली चादर ओढ़े
मुँह को लपेटे
सोई है कब से
रूठ के सबसे
सुबह की गोरी
आँख न खोले
मुँह से न बोले
जब से किसी ने
कर ली है सूरज की चोरी

आओ
चल के सूरज ढूंढे
और न मिले तो
किरन किरन फ़िर जमा करें हम
और इक सूरज नया बनाएँ
सोई है कब से
रूठ के सबसे
सुबह की गोरी
उसे जगाएँ
उसे मनाएँ
--------------

जाग री

बीत्ती विभावरी जाग री ।

अंबर पनघट में भिगो रही -
तारा घट ऊषा नागरी ।

खग कुल कुल-कुल सा बोल रहा,
किस्लय का आंचल डोल रहा,
लो यह लत्तिका भी भर लाई
मधु मुकुल नवल रन गागरी ।

अधरों में राग अमंद पिये,
अलकों में मलयज बंद किये,
तू अबतक सोयी है आली -
आंखो में भरे विहाग री ।

मुंगी उडाली आकाशी

2006-09-09T18:42:00.000+05:30

मुंगी उडाली आकाशी । तिने गिळले सुर्यासी ॥
थोर नवलाव झाला । वांझे पुत्र प्रसवला ॥
विंचु पताळासी जाए । शेष वंदी त्याचे पाय ॥
माशी व्याली घार झाली । देखोनी मुक्ताई हसली ॥

ए री पवन

2006-06-20T10:45:00.000+05:30

ए री पवन, ढुंढे किसे तेरा मन, चलते चलते
बावरी सी तू खिले, कौन है तेरा सजन

बादल से तेरा क्या है कुछ नाता
काहे झूमे, नाचे गाए, आए जब सावन
बावरी सी तू खिले, कौन है तेरा सजन

मन के द्वारे से, चोरी चुपके से
सपनों की तू पायल बांधे, गुजरे छननन छन
बावरी सी तू खिले, कौन है तेरा सजन

एक अकेली तू, मेरी सहेली तू
जिसका कोई साथी नाही, उसका क्या जीवन
बावरी सी तू खिले, कौन है तेरा सजन
ए री पवन, ढुंढे किसे तेरा मन, चलते चलते

There is a touch of Mira Bai's love songs to the lyrics. Beautiful!
Film: Bemisaal, Music: R.D.Burman, Lyrics: Anand Bakshi, Singer: Lata Mangeshkar.

And here is one more ..

मोरा गोरा अंग लै ले, मोहे शाम रंग दै दे
छूप जाऊंगी रात ही में, मोहे पी का संग दे दे

एक लाज रोके पैय्या, एक मोह खिंचे बैय्या
जाऊ किधर ना जानू, हमका कोई बताई दे

बदली हता के चंदा, चूप के से झांके चंदा
तोहे राहू लागे बैरी, मुसकये जी जलायके

कुछ खो दिया है पायके, कुछ पा लिया गवायके
कहा ले चला है मनवा, मोहे बावरी बनायके

Such a beautiful song.
Film: Bandini, Music: S.D.Burman, Lyrics: Gulzar, Singer: Lata Mangeshkar

नाम्या ..

2006-04-18T15:39:00.000+05:30

चक्रवाक पक्षी वियोगें बहाती । झालें मजप्रती तैसे आतां ॥१॥
चुकलिया माय बालकें रडती । झालें मजप्रती तैसे आतां ॥२॥
वत्स न देखता गाई हंबरती । झालें मजप्रती तैसे आतां ॥३॥
जीवना वेगळे मत्स्य तळमळती । झालें मजप्रती तैसे आतां ॥४॥
नामा म्हणे मज ऐसें वाटे चित्तीं । करीतसे खंती फार तुझी ॥५॥

......

Mystic Poets of Maharashtra

2006-02-17T19:40:00.000+05:30

Source: This

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Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.usa,soc.culture.british,soc.culture.indian.kerala,
soc.culture.israel,soc.culture.indian.gujarati,soc.culture.indian.marathi
Subject: The Mystic Poets of Maharashtra
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 19:39:09 -0400

The Mystic Poets of Maharashtra

There was a resplendent galaxy of poet saints in Maharashtra from the 13th to the 17th Century, from Jnandev (1275-'96) down to Turkaram (1608-'90). Altogether this was a time of great national vitality, covering the Maratha struggle for independence of the Moghul Empire and its final achievement under Shivaji. On the whole, however, the poet-saints showed no concern with such matters.

They were a strong, rugged, outspoken dynasty drawn from all social classes. Jnandev was a Brahmin, but there were also Namdev, a tailor; Gora, a potter; Savanta, a gardener; Chokha, a sweeper; and Tukaram, a tradesman. There were women too among them: Jnandev's sister Muktabai, Namdev's servant Jani, Chokha's wife Soyara. Their outstanding quality is a beautiful fusing of bhakti (devotion) with Jnana (knowledge). They worshipped and merged into Oneness with the God they worshipped. This is especially prominent in Tukaram. He declares for instance, "When I meditate on the Lord of Pandhari the body becomes transformed together with the mind. Where is there room for speech then? My I-ness is become Hari (God). With the mind merging in Divine Conciousness all creation looks divine. Tukaram says: 'how shall I put it?
All at once I became lost in God-conciousness." And again, "The glory of the bhaktas is known only to themselves. It is hard for others to understand. In order to increase the happiness of love in this world they display duality without actually dividing. This is understood only by those who have experienced Unity through faith."

Jnandev with his sister Muktabai and his two brothers, all four of them poet-saints, had an unhappy childhood. Their father, after living the life of an ascetic, returned to married life, and on that account the orthodox Brahmins ostracised the whole family. They were orphaned young and their genius blazed forth while still in their teens. Jnandev, the greatest of them, is better known as Jnaneshwara, the 'Lord of Wisdom'. His great work, the Jnaneshwari is a monumental verse commentary on the Bhagavad Gita. Apart from this there are also his Anubhavamrita or 'Elixir of Experience'. Having himself attained this elixir, he says, "The distinction between liberated, aspirant and bound subsists only so long as this Elixir of Experience is unknown to one. The enjoyer and the enjoyed, the seer and the seen, are merged in the non-dual, which is indivisible. The devotee has become God, the Goal has become God, the Goal has become the path; this indeed is solitude in the universe.'

This magnificent achievement was completed by the age of 22, when he declared that his life's work was finished and ceremoniously entered into samadhi in a specially prepared crypt, having given instruction that it was to be bricked up. This was in the village of Alandi in Poona district. There is a beautiful atmosphere of sanctity and serenity there. It contains a tree under which an unending chain of recitation of the Jnaneshwari has gone until the present day. Jnaneshwara has remained a perrenial fount of inspiration for Maharashtra. He was at once the foundation and crown of this amazing dynasty.

Namdev, who arose next, described the three brothers as manifestations of Para-Brahmin and spoke of them as shining suns. In his youth he had been a thief and murderer, until one day, hearing a young mother explain to her fatherless child that they had to live in penury because his father had been killed, he realised with sudden horror that it was he who was the killer, and with a violent revulsion of feeling he rushed to the nearby temple to take his own life. He was prevented, however, and he devoted the rest of his life to penance and worship. He wrote in Hindi as well as Marathi (two sister languages both derived from sanskrit, as are most of those of North India), and it is interesting to note that some of his Hindi songs are included in the Granth Sahib, the scripture of the Sikhs, which their founder, Guru Nanak, partly wrote and partly compiled. While he was still a simple devotee of God in the form of Vithoba it was Jnaneshwara's sister Muktabai who awoke him to deeper understanding. when he met her she astonished him:

What if you have become a devotee of the Lord?
The Inner Refuge is beyond your ken;
Never have you turned your gaze Spiritward!
What use is your godly talk till then?
Your Self you have never found;
I-ness has you in its iron grip.
Yet, unmindful of your own failure,
You question us about our roots.
She also wrote for him:
All form is forever permeated with formlessness.
Shape it has none, but enveloped in Maya
The devotee does with form endow
The all-pervading Boundless That within.

Such was the celestial group of which one, the sweeper Chokha proclaimed: 'God neither has form nor is without form.' Another, the servant-girl Janabai, felt that she 'ate God, drank God, slept on God and carried on all her activities with God.' Namdev died in 1350. He desired his ashes to be buried under the doorstep to the main entrance of the temple of Vitobha at Pandharpur so that all devotees who went there might bless him with their holy feet.

The next great saint of this galaxy was Eknath (1533-'99). He taught that bhakti and jnana are like flower and fruit, inconcievable in seperation. He carried on the tradition of Jnaneshwar and Namdev. The text of the Jnashwari had become corrupted, so he re-edited it, and his recension has remained current to the present day. He was both scholar and poet, and his verse exposition of chapter XI of the Bhagavata is as illuminating and as popular as the Jnaneshwari. His copious and varied compositions (including folk-songs called 'Bharudas') have enriched Marathi literature with their unique quality.

Eknath had a contemporary, Father Stephens, an English Jesuit from Oxford, living in Goa who composed a Christa Purana in Marathi distinctly reminiscent of Eknath's Bhagavata.There are many sayings that bring out the pure advaitic understanding of Eknath. "My body is Pandhari" (a place of pilgrimage) he says, and Atma is Vitthala (God) therein." And again: "When I bathe in the river the water is liquid conciousness!" He was famed for his never-ending patience as well as for his tolerance and compassion. He was carrying holy water for his worship but gave it to a thirsty donkey. On the anniversary of his ancestors he called an untouchable for food and gave him the consecrated dishes prepared for the Brahmins.

The next great figure in this dynasty, Tukaram, (1608-'50) was a peasant trader by profession but ranks as the crown of Maratha sainthood after Jnaneshwara. The woman poet Bahinabai speaks of him as the steeple or pinnacle of the edifice whose foundation Jnaneshwara had laid. Rameshwar, a contemporary disciple, declaired that " in jnana, bhakti and vairagya (dispassion) there was no one to match Tukaram". Even today his songs sway our emotions as they did his contemporaries. The secret lies in the rustic simplicity and utter frankness on self-revelationin his songs together with their profound understanding and ardent devotion. He had not an easy life. He could not get up any interest in trade, with the result that he and his family often went hungry,and his wife developed into a scold, as well as she might. The local Brahmins declared that, being of low caste, he had no right to compose poems and ordered him to throw them into the river flowing through the town. Obediently he did so, but the waters washed them ashore undamaged. Abashed by this, his critics allowed them to be kept. He rose above body-conciousness while still in the body. In a well known poem he declares; "I witnessed with my own eyes my bodily death. That was indeed a unique sacrament!" He started (like his prototype Namdev) as an ordinary devotee of God as Vitthala but attained transcendent experience "I went to see God and there stood transfigured into God'" he says. He is one of those rare saints who have disappeared bodily at the end of life. Since there was no body to entomb there is no shrine to him to which pilgrims can repair. Instead they go to the spot on the river bank where his poems were washed ashore. There is a beautiful atmosphere there.

Apart from this fraternity of saints centred around Pandharpur, there were two other contemporaries of Tukaram who were eminent Marathi poet-saints. One of them was a Muslim faqir , Sheikh Muhammed, whose tomb at Ahmednagar became a place of pilgrimage for Muslims and Hindus alike. The other was Samartha Ramdas, the powerful inspirer of Shivaji, whose shrine is at Sajjangad in Satara District. Sheikh Muhammed is chiefly remembered today for his Yoga-sangrama, a long allegory in songs describing the spiritual struggle as a 'battle of yoga'. He confesses: "I do not know refined speech. Cultured pandits may laugh at my uncouth expression. But look into the core and understand my soul." Like Kabir he understood the basic unanimity of the religions and he could have said with Kabir: " Ram and Rahim, Ishwar and Allah are all the same." He regarded all sadhus as the same and not other than the Absolute, whatever their external forms or religions. "The peel of the jackfruit is rough and prickly but the pulp inside is sweet. The shell of the coconut is hard and rough, but the milk and kernel inside are delicious." He also said: "There is no difference between Paramatma (universal spirit) and saint. They are essentially the same although they appear different." Tukaram said in almost the same words: "All saints are the same. They appear different only in externals, just as milk is all the same though it comes from cows of different colour."

Samartha Ramdas also said the same: "Sadhus look different, but, merged in Self, they are all manifestations of the One Real." What distinguished him from the Pandharpur group of saints was that, unlike them, he was interested in the national life also. He became the Guru of Shivaji and inspired the freedom struggle against Aurangzeb. His Das-Bodha is a Marathi classic of rare merit. Though composed in the ovi metre, it has the terseness and forthrightness of vigorous prose. Its pragmatism is impregnated with the highest spiritual values. It inculcates Vedanta in practical terms of work-a-day life. Its code of enlightened conduct covers all social classes
and applies to both ruler and ruled. The message and mission of Ramdas were summed up in the meaningful phrase 'Maharashtra Dharma'. His work contained that mixture of realism and intuition which are so characteristic of Maharashtra through the ages. In fact his Das-Bodha with Tukaram's Gatha or Book of Songs and the Jnaneshwari can be looked upon as the 'Triple Veda' of Maharashtra down to this day. Their appeal is both to the head and heart. They are couched in a form which some might consider more like rythmical prose than verse. But they are all alike embodiments of Satyam-Sivam-Sundaram - 'Truth, Purity, Beauty'. The truth must be experienced, and these had experienced it and could indicate it for others to experience.
>From the Mountain Path

न था कुछ ..

2006-02-11T19:58:00.000+05:30

न था कुछ, तो खुदा था, कुछ न होता, तो खुदा होता
डुबोया मुझ को होने ने, न होता मैं तो क्या होता

हुआ जब ग़म से यूँ बे हिस, तो ग़म क्या सर के कटने का
न होता गर जुदा तन से, तो जानू पर धरा होता

हुई मुद्दत कि "ग़ालिब" मर गया, पर याद आता है
वो हर एक बात पर कहना, यूँ होता तो क्या होता

निखळ

2005-12-23T12:31:00.000+05:30

..... म्हणून मी कविता करायचे ठरवले.- कागद, पेन्सिल घेऊन बसलो. काही केल्या कविता काही जमेना. म्हटलं असं का बरं होतं? आपण इतकी पुस्तकं लिहिली, नाटकं लिहिली आणि ऋचासारखी एक कविता लिहिता येऊ नये? कुणाला सांगू नकोस-पण माझ्या डोळ्यात पाणीदेखील आले. आणि काय चमत्कार झाला बघ-एकएकी माझ्या लेखणीतून गाणे फुटले :

ज्यांच्यापाशी नसतो खाऊ
त्याला म्हणावे आपला भाऊ
त्याला द्यावा एक लाडू
खेळात घ्यावा नवा भिडू
जिच्या डोळ्यात दिसते पाणी
तिच्यापुढे गावीं गाणी
तिचा घ्यावा हातांत हात
तिला घेऊन जावे गात
तिला म्हणावें गोष्टी वाचू
दोघं मिळून खूप नाचूं

मी सारखा विचार करतोय, मला ही कविता कशी लिहिता आली? मग लक्षात आलं की मला ऋचासारखं लहान होता येत नव्हतं म्हणून गाणी लिहिता येत नव्हती........ ....... .....
ऋचा, तू अशाच कविता लिहित जा. म्हणजे मोठी माणसे लहानपणात पुन्हा एकदा शिरतील. ..... ..... ......

बाल कविता संग्रहाच्या कवियत्री ऋचा गोडबोलेला लिहिलेले पत्र.
पु. ल. देशपांडे.

An Afternoon

2005-12-07T14:23:00.000+05:30

बाजे रे मोरी पायल झनन
कैसे आऊँ तोरे पास?

And then...

लट उलझी सुलझा जा बालमा
हाथों में मेहंदी लगी है मोरे

माथे की बिंदिया बिखर गयी मोरी
अपने हाथ लगा जा बालमा

चिमणी

2005-11-14T16:24:00.000+05:30

Have you realised how rare it is to spot a sparrow these days? I read this poem on a sparrow and the girl in one of this years दिवाळी अंक and thought about writing it down here. The poem is by noted marathi poet ना. धो. महानोर. It tells a story of how a girl daily fed the sparrow with grains and how the sparrow had become a part of her life until one day when the sparrow was no where to be seen. Wonderful poem!

चिमणी
दररोज तिच्या खिडकीशी येते.
चिवचिव चोचीतली, मंजुळ बोलीतली...
चिमणी येताच खिडकीशी ती बहरुन असते

चिमणीसाठी अंगणात ती दाणॆ टाकते दररोज.
एवल्याशा चोचीनं, चिमणी दाणे वेचते दररोज
एकदा चिमणी अलगद तिच्या खांद्यावर आली,
चिवचिव बोलुन नकळत दूर निघून गेली.
दूर कुठे आकाशात, गजबज मेघुटात
चिमणी नंतर कधी दिसलीच नाही अंगणात

ती दररोज खिडकीशी मलूल असते अलिकडे,
चिमणीची वाट पाहात सैर भैर असते अलिकडे.

उतरत्या आषाढाची हलकीशी झिमझिम
अंगणातल्या झाडावर
तिच्या लांबसडक मोकळ्या
काळ्याभोर केसांवर
तिच्या पोक्तशा डोळ्यांच्या
काळ्पट वर्तुळांवर कुठल्या आठवणींचा वावर

दूरवर गेलेले चिमणीचे पंख
आणि ओंजळीत राहिलेले मूठभर दाणे

खिडकी सगळं पाहत असते तिचे -
खिडकीचे - तिचे संबंध आयुष्यभरचे.

-ना. धो. महानोर

By Vasant Bapat..

2005-10-28T11:13:00.000+05:30

Some poems carry a lot of meaning with them. Not in what just they say but also in the way it is to be sung. Its the same about this poem too. This one is a composition by Vasant Bapat. If you know him, and if you know how this poem is sung, then you would understand it, in its entirety.

But mind you, I am completely apolitical when I am writing this poem. So I am not taking any sides. :)

आता उन्हाळा पडद्यास्नी वारा
झळीचं नाव कुठं माय हो ?
रंकाला मात्र बाभळीचं छत्र
संगतीला कुत्रा होय हो ।
चांदीच्या ताटात जेवायचं थाटात
मिठाई पोटात जाय हो ।
मातीची मडकी जवार किडकी
रंकाला सण कधी नाय हो ।
- वसंत बापट

PS: I realised that its a festival time as Diwali is close. So let me tell you again, I am not a communist. I hope you get my drift. If not, write to me and I will explain :)

I Draupadi

2005-09-05T20:31:00.000+05:30

Todays Indian Express has a article by Fali Nariman. The link is here.
The article is about empowering women of India. He writes about a short poem sent by Kartikeya Sarabhai to his sister. Here is the excerpt:

*******************
Which prompts me to recall a story about the Mahabharata—not the story of old, but a story of modern times, a true story. A few years ago, Kartikeya Sarabhai, son of the great scientist Vikram Sarabhai, witnessed in Avignon (in France) the performance of the great Indian epic Mahabharata, a production by Peter Brooks.
It depicts the entire tale of how Yudhishtra lost all his wealth in playing dice with Duryodhana and continued with the game even whilst continuously losing and ultimately offering his wife Draupadi as a wager. The tale is familiar—after he loses, Draupadi is fetched by force to the victor who starts removing her garments. And then a miracle occurs, fresh garments are seen to close her body, and good men praise God and weep.
After seeing the Mahabharata at Avignon, Kartikeya Sarabhai came back the same evening and wrote a poem representing the thoughts of Draupadi and offered it to his sister. The poem I Draupadi is inspired—but it is also poignant and expressive of the reality of conditions of women in modern India.
In the poem Draupadi says:

‘‘All rights belong to husbands so says society,
But to be shared by five, - a commodity in the market place?
...All this I accepted, became the wife of five - to each gave a son
I was the only wife of none.’’

And then it goes on:

‘‘Gambling they went, invited by Duryodhana
Lost all they had, losing even themselves
I unspared was dragged into the court of men
Which were these bonds of Dharma
That tied my husbands?
What kind of husbands these, that are tied by the Dharma of lies?’’

And the poem ends with a condemnation of the male gender for forsaking equality in practice:

‘Years went by, our lives we lived together
Started on our journey’s end towards the snow-clad Himalayas
I fell first, no Pandava stretched a hand
Towards paradise they walked, no one stayed by my side.
Then, I realised heaven too must be only for men
Better then to rest in the warm embrace of this snow.’’

The significance of the poem written with such spontaneity by an Indian male about Indian women highlights the difference between formal equality, hypocritically mouthed by us all and the actual inequality which the fate of Draupadi has eternally symbolised: the inequality that women have had to bear, and continue to suffer, even in present-day India.

*******************
Very true isnt it? Fali Nariman is on the point when he talks about empowering India. It also reminded me of one poem my Professor told me about. He was talking about one they had in school. It was about Sita in exile and her feelings after being abandoned. The poem was in Malayalam. Does anybody know about it?

हंस करो पुरातन बात...

2005-09-01T10:55:00.000+05:30

हंस करो पुरातन बात,
कौन देस से आया हंस, उतरना कौन घाट?
कहाँ हंसा बिसराम किया है, कहाँ लगाए आस?
अब ही हंसाँ चेत सबेरा, चलो हमारे साथ!
संसाय-सोक वहाँ नहि व्यापै, नहि काल के त्रास;
हिआँ मदन-बन फूल रहे हैं, आवे सोहं बास,
मन भौंरा जहाँ अरुझ रहे हैं, सुख की ना अभिलास.

- दास कबीर

Another one by Kabir and my fascination with Hans continues :)

First they ignore you, ....

2005-08-24T18:34:00.000+05:30

First they ignore you,
Then they laugh at you,
Then they fight you,
And then you win
--- Mahatma Gandhi

Question to Swami Vivekanand

2005-08-08T17:57:00.000+05:30

When asked who is the most content in this world , Swami Vivekanand replied 'fish, because none can see the tears of a fish'

उड जायेगा हंस अकेला

2005-07-22T16:21:00.000+05:30

उड जायेगा हंस अकेला
जग दर्शन का मेला

जैसे पात गिरे तरुवर के
मिलना बहुत दुहेला

न जानु किधर गिरेगा
लगया पवन का रेला

जब होवे उमर पूरी
जब छुटेगा हुकम हजूरी

यम के दूत बडे मजबूत
यम से पडा झमेला

दास कबीर हर के गुण गावे
वा हर को परन पावे

गुरु की करनी गुरु जायेगा
चेले की करनी चेला

This is another wonderful composition by sant Kabir and rendered equally well by Kumar Gandharva. Kabir here compares ones soul with that of a bird.
Now I am not equipped with skills to narrate the beauty of poem so I will write no more. But if you want to listen to this wonderful nirguni bhajan click here and do the needful. I would recommend you that. It is wonderful.
(PS: Atul, Dan-Two if you are reading this then.. you missed a Kishori Amonkar concert at Shanmukhanand on this ashadhi ekadashi)

हज़ारों ख्वाहिशें ऐसी

2005-07-19T19:23:00.000+05:30

How is this..

बावरा मन देखने चला एक सपना

बावरे से मन की देखो बावरी है बातें
बावरी सी धड्कने है, बावरी हैं सांसे
बावरी सी करवटों से निंदीया क्यों भागे
बावरी से नैन चाहे बावरे झरोकों से बावरे नज़ारों को ताकना

बावरा मन देखने चला एक सपना

बावरे से इस जहां में बावरा एक साथ हो
इस सयानी भींड में बस हाथों में तेरा हाथ हो
बावरी सी धुन हो कोई, बावरा एक राग हो
बावरे से पैर चाहे बावरे तरानो के बावरेसे बोल पे थिरकना

बावरा मन देखने चला एक सपना

बावरा सा हो अंधेरा बावरी खामोशियां
थरथराती लौं हो मद्धम बावरी मदहोशीयां
बावरा एक घुंगटा चाहे होले होले दिन बतायें, बावरेसे मुखडेसे सरकना

बावरा मन देखने चला एक सपना

(Click here if you cant see the lyrics)
And now for those of you who havent heard about a movie called as Hazaaron khwaaisein Aisi see it whenever you can. It is a intense movie, the characters, background score, locations, actors, everything is top class. I liked it.
The above mentioned lyrics are from this movie.
I am very grateful to Aditya who pointed me to this location. I suggest you go there immediately and do the needful. And then read these lyrics again. It made my day. I hope it will make yours too.

आनंदवन भुवनी

2005-07-13T12:05:00.000+05:30

स्वर्गीची लोटली जेथे, रामगंगा महानदी
तीर्थासी तुळणा नाही, आनंदवन भुवनी ॥१॥

त्रैलोक्य चालिल्या फ़ौजा, सौख्यबंध विमोचने
मोहीम मांडिली मोठी, आनंदवन भुवनी ॥२॥

येथुन वाढला धर्म, रमाधर्म समागमे
संतोष मांडला मोठा, आनंदवन भुवनी ॥३॥

भक्तांसी रक्षिले मागे, आताहि रक्षिते पहा
भक्तांसी दिधले सर्वे, आनंदवन भुवनी ॥४॥

येथुन वाचती सर्वे, ते ते सर्वत्र देखती
सामर्थ्य काय बोलावे, आनंदवन भुवनी ॥५॥

उदंड जाहले पाणी, स्नानसंध्या करावया
जपतप अनुष्ठाने, आनंदवन भुवनी ॥६॥

बुडाली सर्व ही पापे, हिंदुस्थान बलावले
अभक्तांचा क्षयो झाला, आनंदवन भुवनी ॥७॥
-समर्थ रामदास

This poem was written by Samarth Ramdas in the praise of Shivaji Maharaj.

(My first post. I wish to write more things here. Keep coming)