For ages they are in prisons,
Chained with flowers, candle sticks,
We worship them inside lifeless bricks,
For days and nights, months and seasons.
They are so high above the ground,
We can’t reach them when the world makes a sound,
It’s time to do things anew,
We just need to free ourselves, walk a step or two.
They’d now like to be free,
Be with us, think and play,
Work in us in every minute of the day,
We need to let them do this you see.
How strange is the mind,
Those who empower us to be wealthy and kind,
To keep them so far from the land,
Not to bring them down;
and let them be with the earth and the sand?
and let them be with the earth and the sand?
Let us now keep the destroyers and killers there,
It's hard on the mind;
But let's worship them with love, respect and care,
But let's worship them with love, respect and care,
We’d never apply them in our lives again,
Like we never did those prisoners’ prayer.
Dear All,
ReplyDeleteMr. SEN invites people to reduce the distance between the “worshiped” and the worshipers. Where the worshiper is indeed us, the ordinary people; and, “worshiped” appears to be the symbols, statutes of mythological characters whom we call God and Goddess in our daily lives. The poet asks us to move forward, and to liberate those godly characters from being fettered into garland of flowers. Because they too want to be part of ‘this’ human world, as this is the world where all happenings occur; and, the world of those divine characters seem to be undesirable and less interesting for them.
In the second last stanza, Mr. SEN presents a picture of our argumentative mind that questions the status-quo of our psychology. It asks us to develop a kind of will power so that we can attain the degree of maturity that we can share this earth with those heavenly ‘living’ beings whom we considered and adored as objects of much above our humanly grip.
In the very last part of the text, the author seems to retract his entire proposition which he has been maintaining till now; and, asks us to respect the status-quo which means that let our worshiped characters remain there, we should respect the distance between the two worlds. It’s the distance between us which makes us aware of the importance and strength of those godly objects. It’s the distance between the two worlds that bless us with happiness and joy.
It seems that Mr. SEN understands that the imaginary distance beyond time and space which exists between the two worlds can be reduced to nothing through the philosophy of “non-dualism” of ‘Madhyamika’ of Nagarjuna.
Kind regards,
Ajitabh DAS
Dear Mr. Das,
DeleteI can't thank you enough for giving your views on the poem. I am honored.
The last stanza is indeed very bold in that it's against the mindset of human beings at large. Those whom we respect, we don't follow. and those whom we disrespect, we follow. Hitler's war strategy is followed by all countries, even today. So the poet here urges the likes of Hitler to be worshiped (as in not to follow) and likes of gods and goddesses not to be worshiped, (respected so to speak), but to follow.
It is very strange Mr. Das that we don't follow good and constructive things, we only respect them, and don't believe in them at all. Those who are conceited are not respected, but they are believed and followed. So the yearning here is to chain the destroyers with garlands with love and care (imprison them) and deliver those prisoners whom we call god or human beings who have elevated themselves (Sirdi Sai, Ramakrishna, Aurobindo, Guru Nanak, and so on).
Your interpretation on non-dualism is interesting.
Regards,
Supratik