Fear

Why pray, do you fear? 

Why do your limbs shudder? 

Do you fear losing something or someone?

Do you fear temporal and spatial seperation?

Do you fear what people will think about you?

Or do you fear failure, penury and ruin?

Or do you fear the dark abyss of your soul where light dare not penetrate?

Or do you fear the greatest of fears which visits uninvited on one and all? 

But needless are your worries and fears

For what is destined to happen will happen anyway

Continue fighting on the battlefield of life

So that you may leave this realm with a smile

And then in Odin's arena continue fighting fearlessly

So almighty father may grant you the best place in the banquet 

Hemlock!

 

I must have committed some heinous crimes

In my past births, verily to suffer thus!

I must have done something bad to you in some lives past

To ensure that you came into my life to make me repent!

Time and again have I groveled at your feet

With the hope that my heart is not shattered into a thousand pieces

But now I had enough of being servile! 

What has to happen must happen!

Like Socrates of Athens before me,

I gladly welcome the hemlock of your tortures

I have become numb to the countless poison darts

That you have kept firing at me mercilessly

I hereby declare that I am a lost soul

Seeking my true destination. 

I have also realized that this is a lonely battle

There is only one seat reserved at Odin's feast in Valhalla!

Castles in the air!

 What does it cost? you think, 

to build castles in the air!

Does it hurt, you think,to 

nurture dreams of your own?

Why not dream big, you think,

So long as you dream anyway!

Little realizing that, all this dreaming

Can cost you dearly!!

For as you trudge daily towards your castles

They seem to move farther and farther away

And then they seem to be a blip in the distant horizon

Beyond reach and all but forgotten.

Then you understand that, this is but a small sacrifice

For the ones you love. You work like a machine to provide for them

And yet the work never seems to be completed.

Deadlines are always looming large.

Barely has one deadline passed, 

one would be confronted with a new task

But you bravely try to manage that

Knowing that you are doing it for the ones you love

You start wondering if you are doing a good enough job?

A casual remark, a jibe an insult pierces you 

However none of that hurts as much as it does

To hear the ones you love say, you don't do much for them!

Realize this now oh foolish heart! The mind

is filled with unrequited desires by the thousands!

A million regrets and a thousand insults rear their ugly heads!

Yet remember that none of them can enter without your permission!

So build strong fortified walls around your heart

Let the icy winds of the Norse gods steele your heart

So what if you live in a hut built of mud and bricks

It can be the castle of your dreams and you can be the king!

So go ahead and dream a little! Maybe dream some more!

And go along inching towards your dream.

We are all weary travelers hoping to reach the ultimate destination

So stop and smell the roses and enjoy the ride!

Emptiness

Every second I face the tortures of purgatory

Every breath I draw is painful and hurting

Suffering grevious wounds from a pestilence

That torments all and is called Expectation

A thousand times Iam stabbed in my heart

By those whom I call my own!

Who is this "I" and who are "they"?

They seem to be illusions of light and shade

A numbness comes ater the immense suffering

Stealing my sleep and hunger before my very eyes

I stare into the darkness  to find a Kindred soul

Only to stare at the vast emptiness of space

Friendless and bereft of love 

I stare into a lifeless chasm

One must pay for one's deeds good or bad

One must bear with fortitude the tortures of Hade's realm!

Gandhi Bazaar!

The scooters, motorbikes and the occasional cars made their way slowly amidst the sea of humanity. One had to be very cautious, for the gaze of most of this sea of humanity would be on the different shops in the bazaar. There were the street vendors selling flowers, vegetables, fruits and whatnot. The footpaths were crowded to a such an extent, it was difficult to figure out where to place one's next step. This was one of the most well lit streets in the entire South Bangalore. Night here turns into day. If one were to stop at any point in the street, and instead of looking at the wares in the street or the shops, were to look up at one of the electic poles one would gain valuable life lessons. For there one can gaze at beautiful verses from Dr.D.V.G's Magnum Opus "Manku Thimmana Kagga".

"Life is a Horse Cart! Fate it's master! You are the horse. The driver decides who the passengers along the journey are! Whether it's to a marriage or a funeral, the master of the cart decides. Run wherever he takes you, and if you get tired along the journey and should your feet tire out, you have the ground (Mother Earth) to support you!" One of the Kagga's were emblazoned, alongside a picture of the Great Dr.D.V.G. You have but to take a stroll here to learn valuable life lessons. The journey on foot through the streets of Gandhi Bazaar are sure to aid you in the journey of life.

As one looks around, everyone seems to be happy and contented. Everybody is looking around to buy something for the oncoming festival. Some seem to be taking a stroll, taking in the colors, lights, sights, sounds and smells. You can hear people haggling over flowers, fruits and vegetables. The effect of the streets are almost magical. People seem happy. The place almost seems therapeutic. I have never seen anyone looking morbid around here. It is mysterious how a stroll in here can heal painful wounds.

I think anyone with an ailment of the mind or body will find the atmosphere here soothing and healing. It is a mystery as to why Gandhi Bazaar exudes this kind of magical effect. Go there during Ganesh Chaturthi, and you will find the streets bedecked and lit up to rival the Disney world parade. And then there are places which are a gastronomical delight. Walk a little further along D.V.G road and taking a right would take you to a place perhaps more crowded than the rest of the Bazaar. You will be able to see people sitting on benches outside an old building, looking expectantly at an old man carrying a notebook and a pen. "Ramesh, 3 people!" he calls out! Ramesh with his wife and son gets up excitedly and walks in hungrily to the world famous Vidyarthi Bhavan. You can stand there outside looking at the somewhat old sign which announces proudly "Vidyarthi Bhavan : since 1942". This is a heritage place. Step inside and you find the interiors are in very good condition. It appears to be freshly painted. On the walls hang portraits of famous personalities who have tasted their world famous dosa. The delicious dosa which you can smell from outside. Once inside, a waiter comes and writes down the now familiar order "2 Dosas and a cup of coffee!". After waiting for a while you see the waiter clad in blue, carrying a huge stack full of Masala Dosa plates that resemble the leaning tower of Pisa. With great adroitness, the waiter transfers the plates to different tables. The moment the dosa plate is in front of you, you can smell the delicious aroma of Dosa roasted in Clarified butter (Ghee). As you are looking at the beautiful read, crispy looking dosa stuffed with spicy potato curry, another waiter pours ample spicy chutney on the side. If you haven't eaten their dosa yet, you should.

In case you happen to reach Gandhi Bazaar at a time when Vidyarthi Bhavan is closed there are numerous other hotels which serve gastronomical delights! And if you look at Gandhi Bazaar over the years, very little seems to have changed. I remember as a kid, my father taking me to a small book store (Which isn't there anymore! Unfortunately I do not remember the name either!) to buy me my very first Tintin comic book. It was "Crab with the Golden claws!". Back then, it cost Rs.60 and it was expensive. But my father inculcated this habit in me of reading classy books like Tintin. Even back in 2012, Belegere's Books and Coffee was a very nice and fancy book store (Unfortunately this too is closed). There is "Shri Book World" which sells mainly technical books and text books. Then there is "Ankita Book store" to serve your thirst for Kannada books. Then if you are in the mood for fried foods or sweets there are countless shops that cater to your tastes. Famous amongst these is "Subbamma" shop.

What can I say? As a book lover and a foodie, I find walking past the various shops in Gandhi Bazaar therapeutic. As I walked the streets of Gandhi Bazaar the day before Nagarapanchami festival, I felt : If heaven had a thoroughfare and a market it would resemble the streets of Gandhi Bazaar!

This dervesh was once a sober man

This dervesh was once a sober man
The shrine in his heart was uninhabited

He roamed the markets buying ever new wares
Brought by merchants from afar

"I cannot live without this new soft Persian rug"
Thought this dervish once with fervent desire

Thoughts of the new rug gripped him until he bought it
However the joy of having the new rug lasted not more than a fortnight

When his thoughts were drawn to the new carriage his neighbour bought
Drawn by white and grey steeds of the finest variety from Medina

This dervish who speaks now, started saving up for the carriage
And so continued the hoarding and unending conquests of desires

However the happiness remained elusive as ever
The void in the shrine of the heart seemed to grow

Until the dervish caught whiff of the beloved's holy feet
Sweet "attar" wafted from a great distance as the faithful started their worship

The fakir's enigmatic presence started pulling at my heart strings from a distance
The unbearable yearning filled the void now and I ran towards the shrine like one possessed

The children remarked, "There goes another madman running after the fakir!!!"
This happened once in a while when someone was this close to eternal happiness

I drank in the wine of the beloved's presence all night
I then danced in unbounded joy at the fakir's sight

Once I left for the fakir's shrine in the city centre
The fakir came back to reside in my heart shrine

From that day all sobriety was lost like the chaff before wind
And this person became the drunken dervish never to become sober again!

The Flute's lamentation

“Hear ye, how the flute wails, lamenting the separation from the reed - bed” said Rumi in the Masnavi. This is the tale of mankind. The ego it seems has severed the connection to the divine within, and men lament in manifold ways this painful separation. All ailments and ills of the society are due to this ever drifting divide between man and his maker. 

I wonder if at any moment one looks at the situation around him and finds that it is not acceptable, then the ensuing emotions like anger, frustration, sadness, greed etc are all due to this separateness from the beloved.

If one knows that there is a cosmic design behind everything and I am being guided by that design and I need it’s support and not the other way around, half our problems will go away. Then we will work and take action from a position of strength and not weakness. When the mind feels overwhelmed by events and the ego steps in and says “I must do something or the whole village, country, nation, universe will burn…” This is an illusion. Often the most extraordinary miracles have saved us from calamities. A sincere prayer at the shrine of the Sadguru has always ensured success. When we have the most powerful almighty who rules the entire creation within our hearts, why worry? First we should not get perturbed by events, but look at them calmly and then if we can change anything we should try to, else we should cling to the feet of the Sadguru and request his aid, which will unerringly take us in the right direction as it always does!