Being in the game

When soldiers become
leaders, wars are stationed,
bargained, rationed, because
they had been there, done that
many times before, they know
its futility, all the more.

When writers become
leaders, nation recovers
from disasters, since they had
criticized those hankering
after, pelf, position, and power.

When lawyers become
leaders, rate of crime, corruption,
violation significantly drops
as they had dealt with the malice
a number of times in their profession.

When doctors become
leaders, the nation heals under
their guidance for they know
how to cure illnesses.

I know, by this time, impatient
readers, like me, are nodding
their heads in disapproval;
reality paints a picture that's
way too imperfect, people who
go to the top, those who matter
the most, for the eradication
of the disturbing conditions,
cannot opt to break away from
the vicious norm, and usher their
nations into a brighter morn.

We need fresh thinking, a collective
strength to help, not blame; to deliver
the world from this self-destructive
system, we need to create an innovative
game where players learn and benefit
without any guilt, or shame of defeat;
where all of them, regardless of their
professions win as they play,
all along the way.

সুপ্রভাত

ওই যে মানুষগুলো,
রাস্তার চারিধারে আছে,
তাদের ফুটপাথের
চিরন্তনের উচ্ছেদের
আচ্ছাদনের ভিতর...
তারা মর্নিং ওয়াক রত
পথযাত্রীদের থেকে সুপ্রভাত
শুনলে অবাক হয়ে তাকিয়ে
দেখে, কোথাও থেকে ভাতের গন্ধ
আসছে কিনা। 

আমি বসে এক কোনে ভাবি
মনে মনে, এই দারিদ্র কি
কখন মিটবে না?
এতো লোক হাটাহাটি করছে,
হাতাহাতি, মারামারি করে মরছে,
পৃথিবীতে এতো ধন, এতো
প্রাচুর্য, এতো আড়ম্বর
এর মধ্যে যারা বনবাসের মত
দারিদ্রে বসবাস করছে নিরন্তর,
কবে দিনমনির মত উঠবে
তাদের মাথার ওপর ছাদ,
মুখে পেটভরা হাঁসি,
পাতে গরম ভাত,
কবে আসবে জাগরণের
সেই মনোরম সুপ্রভাত।

Sex and sexuality

Sex, in essence,
is heterosexual, sexuality
is in between a man
and a woman;
both manifest within
persons where
only pure and passionate
love matters,
gender doesn't;
it's always
a man and a woman,
looking for each other
 while making love on the bed,
or elsewhere as partners 
for a one-night stand,
or for good, holding hands
for a lifelong affair. 

The elusive

Imagination is trapped
in words, 

when I say, Jesus

I cannot imagine him

playing the flute,

a hut has to stand
somewhere in a land,

it cannot sail afloat 

in a boat,

Krishna cannot find himself

in a mosque,

images that want to live

die in predicted captivity.

Through arranged letters,
are created, unconscious

waves of wars, 

they're meant to anchor ashore

like a vehicle of

communication, but on their way

they invariably hit hidden

icebergs, their fixed destinations,

like a mirage in a desert, 

are forever distanced 

in tragic destiny.

They bond, to depict reality
they're bound in sounds, 

lie in silent pages, to separate, 

yet expressions rejoice, 

in volumes of 

heard, unheard voice

in the illusion of liberty.

The absolute truth

From the moment of birth,
death starts; destruction of homes
in its literal and metaphorical sense
commences with its inception.

I die because of my breath
yet, when I die I cannot breathe
life is destroyed because it eats,
it also perishes when it stops to eat.

All definitions collapse with
Vishwadarshan, Krishna becomes
Radha, he leaves, but never ever
abandons the Vrindavan.

When Arjuna beholds Krishna,
not the one we are condemned
to imagine, like the one playing
with the Gopis, or as the shepherd
with a peacock's feather on his head,
a flute in his hand,
but the Krishna who absorbs destruction,
creation, and operation, in whom duality
of opposites ceases and continues to confuse,
yet coexist, the Krishna who is beyond time
and space, where the part and the whole are
seen at once, where Krishna, in the majestic
scene becomes the stage, the director,
the audience and the performer.

Where all differences become one,
where no rule can be established,
although its existence can be experienced,
Arjuna dared to define the indefinable
in the clumsy lines that overruled all the
rules of meters.

That whose beauty and vivacity cannot be
contained in measured lines, whose existence
cannot be lied in words or description, which
is intertwined like birth and death, whose
vision may be denied to some, but can never
be defined, that which is within us at ease
all the time, but beyond any dogma or proof,
that is the state of the absolute truth. 

The inner exercise

The writer Vyasa is writing. 

Dhritarashtra, Sanjay, 

Arjuna, Krishna, are talking

in riddles and symbols. 

It is one single voice speaking

With names that are made

To appear different through

Definition.

Of the five, the king

is the culprit that

cannot see. 

Sanjay, Arjuna, Vyasa

Behold Krishna. 

Are they the hidden pandavas, 

Carrying the kurukshetra

Inside? Has the Mahabharata

Ever manifested outside? 

Or is it an inner exercise? 

ডায়েল করুন দশ, নয়, আট

চাইল্ড ট্র্যাফিকিং রুখতে
ডায়েল করুন দশ, নয়, আট
অসহায় শিশুদের বাঁচাতে
এগিয়ে আসুন, বাড়িয়ে দিন
আপনার সাহায্যের হাত।

পুলিশের সুযোগ্য আনুকূল্যে
এরা শক্তিশালী সমস্ত ভারতে,
অক্লান্ত পরিশ্রমের মূল্যে
এনারা পারছেন ফিরিয়ে দিতে
শিশুদের মা-বাবার হাতে।

আমরা শেষ করতে পারি এ বর্বর
ব্যাভিচার, যদি সমস্ত দেশ হন তৎপর,
শিশুদের আশঙ্কা পড়লেই নজর
তাই ডায়েল করুন ১০৯৮, এই নম্বর।

Please dial ten, nine, eight

To prevent child trafficking
dial ten, nine, eight; help
will reach the spot in minutes,
they’re committed to their work,
they will fulfil their promise.

It is backed up by the police,
the offenders will be promptly
brought to book, the children
will receive help with kindness
and grace, they will be returned
home in no time, thus restoring
a smile on their parents’ faces.

The number 1098 is valid
throughout India, our beloved
country, so please dial 1098 when
you see a child in your locality,
in trouble, or if you see them
going through pain, or distress.

Against this social malice,
let us all be united, let us all stand,
let us raise our voice and give
1098, a helping hand.

Pris dans les débris des mots

Silence s'il vous plaît, soyez calme,
essayer de vous vous noyer
dans la tranquillité, et lentement
découvrez la conscience.
Les conversations maladroites mènent
toujours vers les conflits; on se sent 
empoisonné avec un échange
de potions toxiques ;
les mots n’ont que des sons pollués,
mais c’est dommage parce que dans les
sons réside la vraie sagesse ; c’est
le siège de Brahma*, son royaume
unique et inestimable, c’est
un jardin où peuvent disparaître
toutes les jalousie, les discordes,
et les peurs; c'est un paradis
où la paix inévitablement
nous conduit de ténèbres 
à l'illumination, prévaut;
rassurez-vous, votre corps,
votre esprit, et l'âme vont
se libérer de maladie,  à chaque
instant, vous allez vous réjouir
du pur, calme du silence.

Silence s'il vous plaît, soyez calme,
parlez à la Kathamrita de
Thakur*, vous noyez-vous dans
le jus de l'élixir, restez en état d'ébriété
félicité du silence ; vous étiez
enterrer dans un débris de mots,
ruiné, meurtri ; en ce moment-ci,
dites adieu à insignifiant, mortel,
des lettres ; comme un voleur,
dérobez subrepticement
la conscience afin de dire bonjour
au bonheur, pour toujours.

 

Remarque:

Brahma - (Sanskrit: ब्रह्मा, IAST: Brahmā) est le dieu créateur dans l'hindouisme. Il est également connu sous le nom de Svayambhu (auto-né), Vāgīśa (Seigneur de la parole), et le créateur des quatre Vedas, un de chacune de ses bouches.

Kathamrita de Thakur

Ici, Thakur fait référence à Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita (bengali: শ্রীশ্রীরামকৃষ্ণ-কথামৃত, Śrī-Śrī-Rāmakṛṣṇa-Kathāmṛta, The Nectar of Sri Ramakrishna's Words) est un ouvrage en bengali en cinq volumes de Mahendranath Gupta (1854-1932) qui raconte des conversations et activités du mystique indien Ramakrishna du 19ème siècle, et publié consécutivement dans les années 1902, 1904, 1908, 1910 et 1932. Le Kathamrita est considéré comme un classique bengali et vénéré parmi les adeptes comme une écriture sacrée. Sa traduction la plus connue en anglais est intitulée The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (1942).

Caught in the debris of words

Quiet please, be quiet,
drown in silence, and slowly
discover consciousness.
Petty conversations, a mere
step towards conflicts,
it has only reaped competitions,
intoxicated in an exchange
of poisonous potions;
it had polluted sounds
where reside true wisdom;
the seat of Brahma’s
unique, priceless kingdom,  
an ambit where disappear
jealousy, discords, fear;
where peace, that inevitably
leads from darkness
to enlightenment, prevails;
rest assured, your body, mind,
and spirit will be freed from
disease, if in every moment,
you bathe in the pure,
quiet of silence.

Quiet please, be quiet
be in tune with Thakur’s
Kathamrita*, settle down
in the juice of the elixir,
stay inebriated in insane
bliss of silence; caught in
the debris of words,
you are ruined, bruised;
therefore, bid adieu to
meaningless, deadly, lethal
letters; like a thief, surreptitiously
steal into consciousness
and experience the phenomenal,
supreme happiness.

 

Note:
Brahma - (Sanskrit: ब्रह्मा, IAST: Brahmā) is the creator god in Hinduism. He is also known as Svayambhu (self-born), Vāgīśa (Lord of Speech), and the creator of the four Vedas, one from each of his mouths.

Here, Thakur refers to Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita (Bengali: শ্রীশ্রীরামকৃষ্ণ-কথামৃত, Śrī-Śrī-Rāmakṛṣṇa-Kathāmṛta, The Nectar of Sri Ramakrishna's Words) is a Bengali five-volume work by Mahendranath Gupta (1854–1932) which recounts conversations and activities of the 19th century Indian mystic Ramakrishna, and published consecutively in years 1902, 1904, 1908, 1910, and 1932. The Kathamrita is regarded as a Bengali classic and revered among the followers as sacred scripture. Its best-known translation into English is entitled The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (1942).