Your thought is like a
rainbow-colour bird
perched on your hand.
Learn to be still, observe.
Take a silent gaze;
Then translate that experience into
your signature style verse or prose .
Any disruption in
stillness
may cause the thought-bird fly away.
But, when you learn the stillness,
more thought birds fly towards you,
which means more fodder to churn
of course naturally !
Khalil Gibran was a Lebanese-American artist, poet,
and writer. Following are his immortal quotes :
•
Be wise
- let Reason, not Impulse, be your guide.
•
Without
her blood-sister, Knowledge, Reason is like houseless poverty; and Knowledge
without Reason is like a house unguarded.
•
The
learned man who has not judgement is like an unarmed soldier proceeding into
battle.
•
Reason
and learning are like body and soul.
•
Reason
without learning is like the untilled soil, or like the human body that lacks
nourishment.
•
Reason
is not like the goods sold in the market places.
•
Know
your own true worth, and you shall not perish.
•
Each
day look into your conscience and amend your faults; if you fail in this duty,
you will be untrue to the knowledge and Reason that are within you.
•
Keep a
watchful eye over yourself as if you were your own enemy; for you can't learn
to govern yourself, unless you first learn to govern your own passions
and obey the dictates of your conscience.
•
Study a
question from all sides, and you will be sure to discover where error has crept
in.
•
Blessed
are they on whom God has conferred the gift of Reason.
His small verses in vernacular Telugu are so
popular in Andhra and Telangana States in India. They are simply not poems but snippets
of wisdom.
There is an adage in Telugu that a 'bhogi is
bound to become yogi' in course of time. Vemana's life mirrors
this transformation.
Vemana originally known as Kumaragiri Vema Reddy was the third and youngest son
of Gaddam Vema, the then king of Kondaveedu in present-day Andhra Pradesh.
Much of the credit for bringing Vemana's literature to light goes
to Britisher C.P. Brown who estimated the year of his birth as 1652 AD
based on some of his verses. Some other sources say, he was born in 15th
or 16/17the centuries.
His poems contain four lines and the last line is his signature line ' Viswadhaabhi
Raam, Vinura Vema. A large section of his poems are part of present
high school curriculum in the two Telugu
speaking States of Andhra and Telangana. There is a University in
his name in Kadapa city, Andhra Pradesh called 'Yogi Vemana University'
established in 2006.
The popularity of Vemana in the cultural life of Andhra Pradesh can be emanated
from the fact that two feature films were made on Vemana, one in 1947, directed
by Kadiri Venkata Reddy and other in 1988, directed by C.S. Rao.
With his remarkable wisdom translated into lucid poetry, Vemana continue to
inspire generations of Andhraites.
My body reverberates with patriotism when I
listen " Sare Jahan se Accha''
sung by Lata Mangeshkar, India’s noted playback singer. Though I know that it was written by Muhammad
Iqbal, beyond that I know nothing.
The other day when I was reading the poetry of Ghalib, a friend of mine told
that there was another marvelous urdu/persian poet whose poetry I should not
miss to read. Then my attention has gone to find about Iqbal and luckily
in our office library I got a book "Iqbal - His poetry and Message
written by Sheikh Akbar Ali.
The cover flap gave a brief bio of Iqbal. He was born at Sialkot (Pakistan) on
22nd Feb., 1873. He graduated in philosophy and was awarded two gold medals and
a scholarship for his proficiency in English and Arabic. His profession was
teaching history and philosophy. After a fruitful life, he died at the age of
60 due to prolonged illness.
On the death of Iqbal, Rabindranath Tagore said that India, whose place in
the world is too narrow, can ill-afford to miss a poet whose poetry had such
universal value. Another giant Sarojini Naidu said that ' though the
earth may enshrine the precious dust of Sir Mohammad Iqbal's body, his
imperishable genius will shine through the ages in undimmed splendor.
Though we all know him as a lyricist of great patriotic song 'Sare
Jahan se accha', he did not get his due recognition in India for his poetic
works. And it is time for all of us to savour the following translated lines of
his poetry :
"Among the sweet-tongued poets I
have been endowed with a power of expression, That I sing in tune with the
birds that soar to the high Arsh.
Don't ignore my song of love, you shall find in it, The way to saintliness,
and the glory of Kings'.
God unfolded to me the secrets of state and religion, And took a way all
other images from the retina of my eyes.
Life is occupied with conquest along, And the one charm for conquest is
desire. Life is the hunter and desire the snare, Desire is love's message to
beauty.
No particular tune is prescribed for lamentation, And the cry is not bound
the flute.
O reader !, do not find fault with the wine cup, But consider attentively
the taste of the wine'
I prefer this earth to the celestial paradise, As it is the place of love
and enthusiasm and is the repository of burning pangs.
What is Quran ? - a message of death for the capitalist, It befriends the
laborers of no means. Seek not any good from the hoarder of wealth, You cannot
attain to virtue unless you spend out of that, which you hold dearest.
Poems are rough notations for the music we are.
I didn't come here of my own accord, and I can't leave that way.
Whoever
brought me here will have to take me home.
There
is a fountain inside you. Don't walk around with an empty bucket !
