O, darling, gentle tree
You always appeal to me. Not merely when in green foliage clad You come out frolicsome and glad Not merely in your charming, budding youth Flowering fragrance and fruition forsooth But even when you stand dry, bare and bald Barren of fruit, in your grey nudity clad. I’ am impressed with your solemn dignity, Unassuming greatness, noble humility. Your sense of equality, devotion to duty, And selfless sacrifice in the of humanity Can any noble life in the world ever compare To your life of sacrifice, so pure and rare? Your fruit, your shade, your very life you give In return for the cruel blows you mostly receive From us the most ungrateful wretches under sun, Who pride in their title of Lord’s best creation Oh! Your humble, noble life-an eternal ‘Give’! And ours-a constant ‘Take’ for which we live! Could mankind be but a little bit like Thee. This earth a veritable heaven would surely be. Oh! Noble, humble tree! Wish I were like Thee! When we see the sun, we call it day
And when we don’t see, we call it night. But the Sun is there always present And it has neither day nor night. The Sun neither rises nor does set But we attribute both to the Sun We say the Sun rises in the East And sets below the Western horizon. The Sun emanates both light and heat. The same light and heat for all But countries have a hot climate And some are not warm at all. Mostly when we compare ourselves With others of greater prosperity We hesitate not even to blame God. And accuse Him of partiality. But we forget that material prosperity Is not the sole criterion of comparison; Each individual has his own individuality Each reaps the consequence of his action. We forget likewise to look at those Materially much below us who are And whose thinking is exactly like ours When with us themselves they compare. How can we ever imagine God As getting pleasure seeing people suffer? When we take credit for our achievements Shouldn’t we take the blame in case of failure? We are ourselves partial in our dealings So we think God like us must partial be! He is Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscience And the abode of peace, Bliss and Grace is He. We judge God with our own imperfect scale So inadequate to gauge the Limitless And that is why we utterly fail That all-pervading grace to assess. Be fully content with what you have Think-‘Even this I don’t deserve’, Then will your heart fill with gratitude For the overflowing God’s love! A pot is essential to fetch water
From whatever source it may be And how much water we can fetch Is solely dependent on its size. If our pot is a small drinking glass And we start out in search of water Whether we go to a well, a pond, a river, A lake, a sea or an ocean for that matter. We can fetch only that glassful of water Proving that our reasoning was false In our expectation of getting more water If we go to a larger water source. Same are our heart, mind and intellect, If their power be restricted by selfishness They can’t go beyond that limit A situation in proper perspective to assess. But unlike any man-made pot They have enormous power of expansion We can utilize them to the best extent And go on enhancing our power of action. So enormously can our heart expand That it can contain within its fold Nature with Her various manifestations And all the living beings in this world. Our fickle mind can attain concentration Deep enough to visualize the universe And our intellect can be adequately sharpened To comprehend God’s creation mysterious Despite all apparent diversities Which are woven into a chain together By that all pervading invisible power No scientific research can discover. So enlarge your pot best you can Long before the last warning rings And Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Has given this advice to all human beings. Anyone can start this essential exercise Of ‘Enlarging one’s pot’ and in this process This first step is to get over narrow mindedness And the long standing slavery to selfishness Plant a seed in the soil
From a seed a big stalk is born And in time when the stalk ripens You get thousands of grains in return. Plant the seedlings of a fruit tree Or, say, any tree for that matter And what it gives during its life-time Do you just for once consider! That is ‘Nature’ and what is ‘Man’? We very well know what we are The best creature of God’s creation But how much for others we care? The trees ‘Give’ as long as they live Irrespective what they receive Need we reckon only how much we receive Oblivious of how much we should give? Isn’t it high time to take stock And think, before the last bell tolls, How much we owe to others? We’ve lived most of our lives for ourselves For the rest of our lives let’s ‘Give’ Whatever time and energy we still have For others to think, work and live Wealth can give you the fattest cushion
And the softest, if you please, But not a peaceful dreamless sleep, A sound slumber of ease The choicest works of the best authors, You may get with your pelf But the wealth of the world can’t make you be A good author yourself Your flourishing firms may will be equipped With herds of brainy men But where’s the wealth can make of you A man of capable brain? Wealth might buy you the service of doctors And drugs conducive to health But health itself you never can buy In return for all your wealth. You may have at table a sumptuous feast With many a flavored dish But where’s the can create in you The appetite to relish! Wealth can give you a thousand of friends, Not one to give his life. It can procure for you a hundred bed mates Never a true loving wife! Sure with wealth you can provide for self A life of endless leisure But where’s the wealth can buy the bliss Of rest after tiring labor! When all is said and done, you find That how soever you may try, Never can wealth give all want There are many, money can’t buy! When I think of your life of experiment The fruition of which was our independence My heart is tortured by utter torment And tears roll down my eyes without pretense O father of the Nation! When leaders forget their motto of service When parties fight to capture the power By hook or by crook or through any device How I wish you were with us at this hour O Father of the Nation! In South Africa you fought against apartheid, Demonstrating the power of non-violence in action And they extolled you as ‘Mahatma’; instead We cunningly plotted your assassination O Father of the Nation! But, were you really living at this hour You’d have been compelled suicide to commit Unable to bear the pangs of utter despair We have saved you from the gravest sin. Isn’t it? O Father of the Nation! Who is smaller than the smallest atom even? Larger than the largest one can imagine Who is beyond the grasp of comprehension? Of mind, intellect and imagination, Who transcends thinking and reasoning? Who, though unseen, pervades everything? Who is “The One”, “The Only Truth” to be known? Who has no beginning nor end and is unborn, Who was there before this creation came into being, Who would be there after dissolution of everything? In whom exist multitudinous Universes Within a tiny pore of His limitlessness, Whose glory the world continues to sing, He’s what we call ‘God’ the ‘Universal Being’. |
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