The people of Ayodhya
Lit up the entire city
To welcome Rama the victor.
It was then.
Now,
For an individual like me,
The 'Festival of Lights' Is to know the flame within
That glows eternally
So that "I" too may attain
Victory over Ravana
- The symbol of evil -
That also dwells within
Like a shadow
And manifests in the form of
Anger, Carnality, Attachment, Greed and Enmity.
Unless I as an individual
Am not able to conquer these passions
Until then
I cannot truly celebrate
Diwali -
'The Festival of Lights.'
A very appropriate reading of the Diwali festival and its lost symbolism in commercialised India. Different sensibility, different expression, different thought process---poet Rajender Krishan.
sunilsharma
11/14/2012
13 Nov. 2012 TO: Mr. Rajender Krishan Very much close to Tagore's-
"Timiro rater Oi Gagaganer Dwipgulire Hemantika, korlo gopon anchol ghire ghire Ghare ghare Dak pathalo Dipali tar jalao alo...."
Unfortunately, I never translated this song before but let me try it in a crude way -
"In the dark night, the lights of the sky (i.e. the stars) Hides Hemanta* draping with her scarf; (* season that preludes the Winter)
Sends Her call to every home Light up the lamps of Diwali. Light up thy own...."
Of course the Poet suggests enlightenment of our mind.
Rajat Das Gupta
Rajat Das Gupta
11/13/2012
Honestly, if Life is where the innate self merges in truth, and, lit flower pots, as ever, continue to shine sparklers of temptation, the struggle, is sparring for ever!
