Raghavendra Aarthi (in Marathi) - जय जय आरत तुझी राघवेन्द्रा

जय जय आरत तुझी राघवेन्द्रा
गुरु सार्वभौम देवा-स्वरूपा।
जय जय  आरत तुझी राघवेन्द्रा। 

हृदय कमल वासे श्री मूला रामा 
मुख जपित असे श्री हरी नामा। 

जय जय आरत तुझी राघवेन्द्रा
गुरु सार्वभौम देवा-स्वरूपा।
जय जय  आरत तुझी राघवेन्द्रा। 

सदा माघे ऊभा देवा हयग्रीवा 
अभय देईत असे लक्ष्मी नरसिम्हा। 

जय जय आरत तुझी राघवेन्द्रा
गुरु सार्वभौम देवा-स्वरूपा।
जय जय  आरत तुझी राघवेन्द्रा। 

वेद शास्त्र निपुण तुमि बोधपूर्णा 
जगात आनंद भरिता वाज़वूनी वीणा। 

जय जय आरत तुझी राघवेन्द्रा
गुरु सार्वभौम देवा-स्वरूपा।
जय जय  आरत तुझी राघवेन्द्रा। 

ज्ञान आरोग्य देवुनि कृपा दृष्टि ठेवा 
सदा उद्धार करा अनुग्रही देवा। 

जय जय आरत तुझी राघवेन्द्रा
गुरु सार्वभौम देवा-स्वरूपा।
जय जय  आरत तुझी राघवेन्द्रा। 

Wrote & Offered at Lord Shri Guru Raghavendra's feet on 22/09/2014 after the goshala seva with reverence.

How can you enjoy Bliss when you're habituated to Pain - ज़िन्दगी दुःख की आदी

जापान पर गिराए परमाणु बम्ब  तो दुनिया देहल गईं
ना नस्ल बची न फसल उगी बची तो सिर्फ दर्दनाक यादें।
मुझपे इतने प्रहार हुए तो डोर जीवन की छूट गई
ना आस रही डेमी सांस रही और रही कुछ अनकही  बातें।

उफ़ तक ना करसके हम ज़माने के डर से
जब रोंधकर चल दिए काफिर अपने मन को।
आत्मा रोई पर न टपके बूंद आंखों से
मन का दुःख कम करने सहलाते रहे अपने आप को।

तोडा दिल किसीने और अरमानों का ठत्मा किया
खुशियां लूट ली कईयोंने दुखों का बौछार दिया।
भरोसेमंद वालों का भी तो रंग बदल गया
खुशहाल जीनेवाले राजा को रंक बना दिया।

हर दिन गुज़र जाते हैं गहरे घाव को सहलाते
ना किसीको इनकी खबर ना किसीको हम बताते।
बस हादसों को याद कर हम अपना मन रिझाते
मन बेचारा क्या करे जब उसे ही हम दबाते।

अब ऐसी है ज़िन्दगी जैसे लगी हो महामारी 

सब जल कर भस्म हुई ना प्यार बचा ना प्यारी। 

रब नर्क में मुझे दाल दें बिना किसी माफ़ी 

स्वर्ग सुख कैसे जियेंगे जब दर्द का हूँ आदी। 

Written on : 21st Jan 2006

A Tribute to Teju - Life may end but, moments cherished Don't

TO My Dear Teju,

A time in life when happiness had no place or role to play,

you came into my tumultuous life as gods great boon to stay.

Your smiley suave graceful looks made every head to turn,

as a big bundle of joy you came in, to douse every heartburn.

Your intelligence I admired when you stopped at the RED signal light,

even humans didn’t dare to go past you looking at you stand upright.

As days rolled by, I saw you grow from walk, trot and then to canter,

every day was an experience as my life revolved around you in center.

Jealousy oozed out of every horse while you strode at Princess Academy,

riders & watchers too loved your gait when you cleared hi-jumping alchemy.

I remember the day when a dozen horses charged at me due to a stallions fuss,

In a second you leapt in-front of me & prevented them from making me lifeless.

This sacrificial nature of yours did really put me & my family in a wonder state,

this courageous act made us love you more & you became my favorite mate.

So much were you the light of my life whom I wanted to have the best of all,

from housing to food to grooming to all that really makes you stand tall.

The days of colic are fresh in my mind when you writhed and suffered the pain,

day and night Anmol & I medicated you to see your cheerful happy face again.

The days you limped due to an iron spike that got pierced through your hoof,

treating that wound my heart inconsolably wept & prayers went above the roof.

When you recovered from the hoof injury and ran a steady gallop,

I loved to see your mane fly and happiness in every stride you took-up.

Its unforgettable to all at Eden Park who witnessed you leaping over a car,

All of us were struck with awe with this impossible leap on the slippery road of tar.

You never liked foul mouthed people and law breakers was all I always noticed

Whacking Naresh and sit on the honking van were some of the ways you punished.

I felt your sadness when you shed a tear when horses around you passed away,

you were an emotional being I knew who cared and loved all in every little way.

Now that you have passed away leaving me to live with your beautiful memories,

This poem is a small tribute to you my dear Teju to tell “you are alive with me in these stories”.

A Vision he died with …… Make Earth Cleaner, Greener & Lovelier.

Come June 5^th/ 6^th and there is a lot of buzzing activity regarding “Environmental Day”. It’s like the Government, NGO’s, organizations, companies and the environmental activists suddenly wake up and get into action – planting trees, have walkathons/ competitions, delivering speeches or do some kind of a drive/ activity that perhaps acts as a satisfier to them. No doubt these activities/ events may satisfy the personal psyche but are they really creating an environmental impact? Are we seriously pursuing on conserving the environment or is it only a “ONE DAY WAKE-UP CALL”? Is our “ONE DAY” contribution a real resuscitator for Planet Earth or the environs that we live in? Organizations who daily pollute and kill the lakes/ rivers (along with all the life forms that depend and thrive on it) for 364 days can be redeemed by one-day activity? It’s like saying you commit sins throughout the year and then have a dip in the ganga to redeem what you have done or as the Hindi proverb elegantly says “Sau chuhey khake billy haj ko gayi”?

These questions from a 13-year-old who was battling for life at a hospital today roused my mind and forced me to ponder over the major issue “Environmental Conservation”. Moreover, his statement “I don’t have enough time left uncle, but can’t people who have a long life ahead do something in this regard which could possibly bring about impactful results”. The questions had somehow created an internal drive in me to seek answers or if possible solutions to the ever growing environmental issues. Comfortingly, I held his hand and first thought of seeking what possible avenues he had in mind that could be impactful – he sighed and replied “I have dreams uncle, but these need whole hearted and involved participation and execution”. He went on “My one dream is that:- Just imagine a day Uncle when people across the country would not use a single vehicle that burns out fossil fuels – all the cars, buses, motorbikes, airplanes, trains etc come to a grinding halt or holiday for vehicles for one day. And then the roads would relive our ancient transport system of tongas’, bullock carts’, horse carriages’ etc under the pretext of “re-live history”. Those who use vehicles banned for the day should be fined severely along with imprisonment (rigorous where they will have to perform environmental cleaning tasks/ works for 6 months during the period of punishment). On this day if even 10% of our population in our country would plant 1 TULSI sapling each and commit to take care of it until the next Environment Day. This I feel will be impactful”.

This reminded me of one day festivities during Dussehra Festival called the AYUDHA Puja where we Hindu’s perform puja and celebrate by resting all our vehicles, machinery and all energy (i.e. Shakti centric) related articles/ artefacts for a day as a mark of equipping/ empowering the goddess Durga with enough strength to overcome inimical powers. Whether myth or legend the fact is every hindu family practiced it and still does so. This raised a couple of questions in my mind – were the child’s thoughts revolving around this practice that has been in existence from time immemorial? Did our ancestors know that such a situation was bound to arise in the future that they devised such a practice (which fitted well with the child’s dream)?  Whatever the purpose it certainly sounds doable and enforceable.

Secondly, the planting of TULSI (keeping religious sentiments aside) was such a great idea solely because it is believed that Tulsi is a plant that emits 20 Hours of Oxygen each day and 4 hours of  Ozone. One Tulsi Sapling consumes least water, easy to maintain, most animals don’t prey on it and emits enough pure air for a family of 4 to enrich their health in all aspects. The quantum of purification of air (if I may be allowed to say Oxygenated Air) due to 1 Billion people (10% of the 10 Billion people – being the current estimated population of India) planting Tulsi is really astounding and taking care of the plant the year through certainly a worthy contribution to Mother Earth. This again sounded doable and enforceable by each individual.

Moreover, my dialogue with the child made me realise the fallacy in the way the organizations think and perform. When I enquired with a few, I understood that it was only for numbers that mattered for them to be a record in the books to self-satisfy that they have done their duty towards protection or conservation of the environment. The stupidity became all the more evident when one of the organizations (an MNC) took up a drive to plant over 5000 tree saplings at Ramanagaram a town close to Bangalore. The region of Ramanagaram is known for a rocky mountainous terrain that presently reels under scarcity of water. Planting of trees is certainly a great idea but who is accountable for nurturing these sapling planted, what kind of an accounting process has been put into place i.e. who would monitor each saplings growth and protection during growth, who is responsible to water it every single day, where and how will the water be made available, what would happen if the plants died/ withered away/ eaten away by predators due to human negligence and who would be held responsible, who is accountable for what….. there are many more aspects that perhaps the organization needs to take into consideration or has taken into consideration.

Looking at its one single day theory, it sounds more like I need to show it in my books about our contributions made in the light of environment day. I say these because, to grow these trees it is going to take years and the organization should have taken into account and made plans regarding water availability, plant security, nurturing and many more. And if they have it’s a miracle else it’s another debacle of euthanizing trees for the sake of filling up the organizational books of record. But what the organization could have done is to have taken an easy route by doing a plantation drive called “1 HOME 11 SOWN” asking each house to plant 11 Tulsi saplings which is easy to manage. Also prior education to the people or school children on the characteristics of Tulsi could have addressed the environmental requirement, organizational records, the accountability issue, the responsibility of nurturing etc. Moreover, the outcome would have been astounding where the town would have witnessed cleaner/ cleansed air within a few days and also would have experienced a changed climatic situation in the following months this could influence timely monsoons & better weather conditions in the years to come.

After my dialogue with the child I realised how myopic we so called corporate intellectuals are and  can be. A lesson well learnt is “the greatest of achievements can be obtained by simplistic actions”. All that we need, is, to have a worthy VISION followed by an undying passion to make it happen. As the child breathed his last holding my hands his piercing eyes expected a promise from me – a promise to make the world a better, cleaner place to live in. I did not want him to go so quickly I wanted him to stay and witness his dream come true yet the time had come for him to depart – his last words were like an arrow that would pierce even the strongest of armour and soothingly touch the heart to make or elicit a commitment. “Please allow me to go uncle, I will reach the heavens and ask gods to come down to earth, but remember they can only come down when it is clean out here because “Cleanliness in next to godliness”, I will keep my promise of sending them here but will you make me a promise to ensure cleanliness here – make earth more cleaner, greener and lovelier such that gods and humans love residing here. This is a big commitment I know but can you really try”. As he bid adieu, he left behind a legacy of thoughts and dreams imprinted into my mind to strive on what he envisioned. Perhaps with the ocean of people and dauntless passion the hope I now have is WE CAN TOGETHER MAKE IT HAPPEN.