A hymn by Narsihn Mehta

Narsihn Mehta was a great Gujrati saint and a poet. Born somewhere in 15th century, he was a pioneer of Gujrati literature but little is known about his life and time. Most of his life has kind of become a folklore with several writers writing about it differently and then Bollywood making movie on it.

There are no manuscripts of his work but they were carried down orally across generations and were later put on paper first time (most probably due to non-availability of any earlier ones) somewhere in 17th century. "Vaishnav jan to" has nearly become a synonymous to his work due to its immense popularity.

वैष्णव जन तो तेने कहिये, जे पीड़ परायी जाने रे
पर दुखे उपकार करे तोये, मन अभिमान न आने रे

सकल लोक मान सुहाने वन्दे, निंदा ना करी केनी रे
वाच काछ मन निश्चल रखे, धन धन जननी तेनी रे

सम-दृष्टी ने तृष्णा त्यागी, परस्त्री जेने मात रे
जिह्वा थके, असत्य ना बोले, पर-धन नव झाले हाथ रे

मोह माया व्यापे नहीं जेने, दृढ वैराग्य जेना मन मा रे
राम नाम शु ताल रे लागी, सकल तीरथ तेना तन मा रे

वा ना लोभी ना कपट रहे रहित छे, काम क्रोध निवार्या रे
भने नारसैयो तेनो दर्शन करता, कुल एकोतर तरया रे


Rough English Translation

He is the true Vaishnav who knows and feels another's woes as his own.
While he serves those who are suffering, he does not entertain pride in his mind about it.

He respects everyone, and denounce nobody.
He keeps his speech, deeds, and thoughts pure; blessed is his mother.

Viewing all equally, he rids himself of covetousness, and reveres every woman as though she were his mother.
His tongue would fail him if he were to attempt to speak an untruth. He does not covet another person's wealth.

Material attachments do not occupy his mind, it being deeply rooted in renunciation.
Every moment he is intent on reciting the name of Rama. All the holy places are ever present in his body.

He has conquered greed, deceit, lust, and anger.
Says Narasi, the sight of such a Vaishnav saves a family through seventy-one generations.

Heal Thyself

Falling into a bottomless pit, its so hard to wake up since there is no shock involved - you just fall uninterrupted or sometimes you slide so slowly that you do not even know. You need to create a bottom for yourself, which is very hard, and it should be hard enough to stop your fall. But once you create your own end, no one is going to be there to help you rise again. You have to find your own help to come out. You have to heal thyself from the falling side-effects because thou hast only thyself to blame.

One Liner

While driving back to Delhi on a recent trip to Jaipur, read this one liner written behind a truck

बुरी नज़र वाले पाकिस्तान चला जा 

Although we all must have read more funnier (or strange) ones behind trucks but this was one was unique for me. Haven't read something like this till now - why the hell are we getting our neighbors into this. They have their own set of problems, so let them be alone. :)

Sometimes, I do think that people should do research on some of the things which are unexplained till now. One of them is the 'Origin and History of One Liners written behind Trucks'. I also wonder whether such a thing happens only in India or is this a phenomenon in other countries as well.

Power To Dream

Nearly everyone of us have dreams but only very few of us have the power to dream.

This power is not just limited to the dreaming realm only but it spills over to the reality - power to actually go for your dreams. That is the real 'power to dream'.

Sometimes, I wonder can this power be nurtured and developed? Just to think of it, was Mahatma Gandhi already possessing this power or did he developed it across the years? I think he did developed it. It also boils down to how strong is the dream.

So, if someone has a strong enough dream, it is most likely that the power to go for it would actually come in time.

Library Setup & Independence Day Celebrations @ Koshish

After several months of thinking what to buy, what not to buy and then buying the books, we were finally able to setup the library at KTC for Koshish kids. A team of volunteers joined us in setting up the library. It was a day before Independence day, and we were able to view the Independence day celebrations at Koshish school also.

All the kids were very much excited to have the volunteers there for their Independence day celebrations. And most of them had prepared special dance or songs for us.

Some pics from the day (courtesy VJ @ http://ripple4photography.blogspot.com/)

Creating a library setup

Urging the kids to read

A part of the library setup

The school

All geared up for spoon race

Look No Further

Look no further if I am thinking about negative thoughts. They are deep within me which keep coming back and back to haunt me. Each time they engulf me in their hazy darkness, I cannot see beyond them. They are like the soggy winter mornings so thick that golden sunlight cannot penetrate them. And then comes the act - Anger.

Anger is generated out of negative thoughts. It is the one which is ignited by the darkness of negativity. Surely the worst medium to use for coming out of negative thoughts but most often than not it is the easiest one. But choosing an easy route has its own rough side lanes - Hurt.

In the short run, one feels guilty that by anger you hurt someone. But the fact is that you are hurting yourself. You let yourself down - not in front of someone else but in front of yourself. It is like getting angry on a mirror.

Channelizing the anger is an art which is surely not my forte - but I have to give it one more try.