I AND MY WORDS

फिर उठा परदा फिर वही रात, वही बारिश वही मिटटी की महक और वही चमकती बिजलियों से रोशन आसमान न जाने क्यों लगता है यह मनज़र नया सा हर बार न तारों की चमक, न चाँद की रौशनी फिर भी न जाने क्यों खूबसूरत है ये बारिश का समा न जाने क्यों ये बूँदें किलकारियाँ मारते बच्चों को हसा देती है हर बार न जाने क्यों भीगे हुए कपडों में लहलहाती है वोही महक हर बार लेकर एक नया रंग, एक नया अंदाज़ न जाने क्यों बारिश की इस चादर को हिलाती ये मदमस्त हवा बयान कर जाती है एक नया सुर, एक नयी ज़बान न जाने क्यों रात की वो आगोश बदल जाती है न जाने क्यों टिड्डों की किरकिट बंद और मेंद्कों की टर्र टर्र शुरू हो जाती है न जाने क्यों

बीता हुआ कल तो केवल एक स्वप्न था आने वाला कल तो केवल मिथ्या होगी जो भी है, केवल इस ही क्षण में है इसी में राम का बाण है इसी में कृष्ण की माया इसी में है शक्ति का निवास इसी पर है शिव का साया यही काल है, यही महाकाल है इसी के द्वारा बना हुआ सृष्टि का यह मायाजाल है यही विजय, यही पराजय यही जीवन का संघर्ष है इसी में प्राण, इसी में मृत्यु इसी में बसा जीवन का मूल सत्य है इसी पल में होगी किसी के प्राणों की आहुति स्वाहा इसी पल में कोई हसेगा लगाकर ठहाका बस, सम्पूर्णता है इसी एक क्षण में साकार, निराकार, विकार, सभी कुछ यही है मनुष्य, दानव, ईश्वर, सभी यही है इसीलिए, हे मनुष्य, तेरे जीवन का मूल सत्य है यही सत्य, निष्ठा और बलपूर्वक व्यतीत कर यह क्षण जो हाथों में है तेरे अभी

Life can be so complicated; no one can even try to fathom what it stores in its depths. The sands of time keep flowing down the hourglass’ neck, and yet we all try to hang on to each grain of it, as if that grain itself is going to take us into the eternal finality of the moment that was. But is there anything that ever was, or will be? There is only that which is manifest in front of us, that which we refer to us as our present. This is the moment; this holds the key to everything that we comprehend of time in typically human ways-past, present ad the future, or whatever you wish to call it. Let your action be guided by what the soul desires, not by what the possible outcome is going to be. Be yourself; don’t think yourself out, or pretend to be ‘normal’-go natural boss. Even if there could be a predictor that could gives 99.9% accuracy, never listen to it-there will still always exist that 0.1% possibility of the prediction to go wrong. I read tarot, and yet tell all the questioners ...

“Have we reached India Maa?” asked Moyna, who looked really tired after walking for so long. They had not eaten anything today, as it was dangerous to prod out casually near the border, especially with soldiers of the Pakistan Army moving bout. “Not yet chotomaa, not yet,” said Charu, as she looked at her tired eight year old daughter’s face, even as her six month old son slept on her shoulders. She herself felt exhausted, but the thought of all that had transpired in the last three weeks would re-energize her again. After all, it was what had happened three weeks, rather a month ago, that had led to her hiding in the tall grass bushes today. The day, and all that had led up to it, was very well etched in Charu’s mind, with the hands of time having slowly etched it into her stone-like mind. There was a lot of panic amongst the Hindus in her village in Mymensingh, as notices had been put up at the behest of the local Maulvi, with the help of the local Muslim League goons, which decreed ...

Shoaib was all alone, but for the classes at the madrsa that he attended. Nobody was his friend-neither brothers, nor his parents, nor his grandparents. His only friends were his ‘teachers’ at the madras, who taught him the true meaning of the Holy Quran, and how not to let yourself be deluded by the evils that surround us all-the televisions, the radios, the movies, the music-and to defend yourself and other brothers of the faith from the torment and the Satan that tried hard to surround them all around. “You must learn the true meaning of the Quran-e-Sharif, and save the world. You must try hard to make the entire world Dar-ul-Islam. Hell be to the infidels; the kafirs have to be removed from the face of the earth. That is the only true way to save the faith, which is under attack from the kafirs today everywhere. There is only one true faith, and that is the path that the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) has chosen, which only a select few like us are destined to use.” This was what he belie...

Let us now take the case of the spiritual sciences. Even these sciences are based on a lot of assumptions, and I fully say so. But these assumptions, one could argue came from a lot of deep thinking and observation. Take the case of the practice of Rajayoga. In this practice, we say that there are two channels in the spine, called the ida and pingala that tend to channelise the energies flowing in the body. Incidentally, the formation of the spinal cord is such that each vertebra is in the shape of an eight kept sideways. Also, the position of the chakras or centres of spiritual energy are incidentally the same as the various endocrinal glands, except for one that is located in the heart, as was propounded by the philosopher and spiritual scientist Patanjali nearly two and a half thousand years ago. So, to dismiss it entirely would also be a mistake. However, the beauty of any science, be it of the physical or the metaphysical, states a common observation, which disciples of both the...