I must

Climb the hill, I must,
And extend,
A hand to the precarious.
Love them I must,
And smile,
Once at least.
Doesn't a smile light another smile?
Laugh and play in the sun, I must
And sing aloud,
Creating silly memories.
And know someone's pain,I must,
Every day.
Thank them all, I must,
Right now.
For, while I ponder and wait,
It could turn
Windless, silent and dark.

Patience

The earth heaves to yield
The stunning rise of snow-capped wonders,
And pebbles round to perfection
In the womb of slumbering glaciers.
From the crushing might of rocks
Stones with gleam emerge,
While smoldering ejections
Shape the green isle.
The winds pattern the golden dunes,
And the gorges stand apart to lead
The sands to the sea
Where an oyster hides and weeps,
To reveal its misery in a rare pearl.
And those who wait
Find festering wounds healed,
And grow the halo of the wise
All in good time.
Does the awesome ever happen in a hurry?

Rise or Not?

Untold agony pours forth
In a rain of tears.
Words of anger
And the foment of hatred,
Discharge in blinding flashes,
Again and again.
Yet, above the dark clouds
The wails fade into a blue silence,
And the grotesque turns invisible
By the glare of the sun.
Must I rise or not?

Are You That?

The stillness in silence, and
The swiftness of thought,
The infinity in the atom,
The blackness of the dark,
The dazzle of a million suns,
The lion and the fawn,
The formless in all forms,
Moving, yet still.
Are you That?

Gifts

You stood without interrupting
And gave me the gift of listening.
Just a casual compliment
Was a boosting gift of appreciation.
By forwarding that silly joke
You enlivened me with the gift of laughter.
With that kind and helping hand
You lifted me with the gift of love.
Your scribbled " thank you " note
Enclosed the gift of your thoughtfulness.
By letting me shut the door
You slipped me the gift of solitude.
And, what did these gifts cost you?
Please keep giving!

Lessons of Life

I was asked to speak at my high school a few months ago, 35 years after I had left it. This is what I shared with them as the lessons of my life.

1. Wherever you are, you must cause positive change. Success is measured by positive change. That which does not change, or cause change, is dead.
2. Let no one tell you that something is “too complex” to deal with. The adjectives simple and complex are purely circumstantial. “Unfamiliarity” is not to be confused with “difficulty” .
3. Believe that you can do it. If you do not believe in yourself why should others believe in you.
4. You have to be there to do it. Reflect on the topic intensely and imagine doing it.
5. Your passion must be criticized as obsessive. Till then you have not begun.
6. Reduce everything to elementary steps, and act on it one step at a time. Remember, it all happens in good time.
7. Take nothing for granted. Never stop questioning. When you stop, it is the end of learning.
8. Just go after the “grand” stuff. Choose no less.
9. Learn it well. When others can understand you, you have learned it well.
10.Avoid the tempting thrill of pretentiousness. If you need help do not be too proud or afraid to ask.
11. Nothing is ever done alone. It is a fallacy that credits have to add up to 100%.
12. Be like water, taking the shape of the container it is poured into; fluid and flexible to change, and open for surprise. Remember every pencil comes equipped with an eraser; make edits to you life as you go along.
13. Learn to accept the limitations and faults of others as you would readily demand that others pardon your shortcomings. This planet belongs to everyone.
14. C+P=D; The Choices we make + The Promises we keep = Our Destiny

He Needs a Hand

He gives over and over again,
Tirelessly, I have been told.
Yet, as I look around me
I see a billion outstretched hands.
Obvious it is that he needs some help.
Should I not give him a helping hand,
Even if he doesn’t ask as I do?
Have I been misled,
By the arguments of pundits,
To ask him for everything
Except for what he needs?

A Life of Lies

Fear mutes the truth
And transforms me.
I dissolve the mortar of trust
With unsuspecting friends.
And to feed my unending wants,
I spew nauseating flattery.
I evade embarrassment secretly,
I sigh deeply, and turn the corner
Only to be stunned by redoubled shame.
And fiercely possessed
By the habit of cowardice,
I forge forth undeterred.
I say what I want them to hear,
But strangely,
They hear only what I say not.
I turn deaf to the thundering truth
That never will I be,
What I am not.

A Confession

As hunger erases, disease devours,
And hopelessness subdues millions more,
Violated, maimed and discarded,
As though these children had no reason to be,
Their deafening cries, I mute
Every day, stoically,
With inexpensive prayer,
As no harsh penalty looms
For the cold neglect of another's child.

Wearing the pretense of helplessness,
I rush, I hoard, and I palpitate,
Moving not for another besides mine,
I give to none, except for something in return,
And those whom I lavishly feed,
Have plenty of their own.

I judge, I argue of right and wrong,
I mistrust and I question,
And I teach my child to eat, and to live,
But not to feel, to rise, or to fly,
Withholding the secret of the utter silence,
And the blackest void,
At the destination of this journey
Of selfish discontent.

On Non-Violence

Non-violence is the conscious practice of not harming anyone or anything; neither harm nor harmful intentions must result from thoughts, speech and actions. Such a state of mind is engendered by an inner transformation that embraces the practice of unconditional compassion and caring towards one and all. This transformation could result from firm conviction in a spiritual principle. The spiritual principle that everything in the universe is the extension of one's self, governed Mahatma Gandhi's practice of non-violence; he thus named the practice of non-violence as Satyagraha which translates as a "the firm belief in the Universal Truth".

The practice of non-violence leads to startling and perplexing responses to situations. For example, after the massacre at Jallianwalla Bagh in 1919, Mahatma Gandhi did not want to punish General Dyer, the perpetrator, as this would simply be an act of revenge or retaliation against an individual. Instead Mahatma Gandhi wanted the system that created the unjust laws that the General took advantage of, to be changed. In the practice of non-violence the means are not different from the end.

Mahatma Gandhi asserts that the practice of non-violence is a continuous inner struggle to recognize and respect the Universal Truth. Until one resonates with this Truth, the practice of non-violence could remain incomprehensible. When the practice of non-violence produces the desired response, this is also accompanied by a shameful realization of the spiritual principle of interconnectedness, by the oppressor or aggressor. In this way, the practice of non-violence is spread. The non-violent approach of Martin Luther King Jr. in the Civil Rights Movement, shamed oppressors to give up racial segregation. A violent rebellion would have suffered even greater loss of life and increased the reluctance to give up the inequalities.

Although mankind has sacrificed tens of millions of its sons and daughters in violent military conflicts, the prospect of everlasting global peace is not in our reach. Violence and conflict achieve control by instilling the fear of retaliation, and the resulting truce lasts only as long as the control exists. Consequently, ensuring long-term peace by the violent method requires the continued presence of the threat of excessive force and acceptance of living perpetually in fear. This causes the most powerful countries to suffer enormous expenditures in defense and deterrence. In this process, we weave an awfully tangled web around ourselves.

Our nine-year war on terrorism has consumed our men and resources and we still live in the fear of terror attacks. Violent military conflicts abroad have increased the suffering of the poor and enraged our aggressors. In a non-violent approach we will focus on seeking answers to: Why do these attackers hate and fear us? What is the threat that feeds their fears? Can we dispel our mutual fears? What would it take to transform our perceptions of each other? How can we tap into the ample goodness of our respective religious faiths to seek understanding? If we can answer these questions, there is surely a non-violent solution.