Editor's Choice 
Theme : Culture
A Hindu Obligation

As I lie breathing my last 
somewhere 
one more tree is being chopped 
so that enough wood is available  
to make a pyre 
The last bed of my earthly life 
To commence my journey yonder  
And my devoted son 
is crying.....

Reminiscences of the past float by......
Born a Hindu 
every now and then
the family would perform 
Puja and Havan  
BURNING wood 
pouring Ghee  

And on my first "Lohri" 
when I was barely 4 months old 
Wood equivalent to one big tree 
was BURNT

Blessed was the male child!

Then Holi! 
And Holika burnt again with wood 
This BURNING has continued 
all my life.

The birthdays  
The marriage  
The anniversaries 
The birth of my children 
On all occasions 
A Havan 
BURNING of wood 
with Vedic Chants.....

And what did I do?  

I remained a silent witness 
To the Deforestation  
Endangering Species 
Environmental Pollution 
Ecological Imbalances

Not once did I PLANT trees
although I consumed dozens of them 
in the rituals and traditions.
A price of being a Hindu! 

Simply planting bushes in the pots 
is not a substitute 
to the destruction of TREES 
that happened because of me.

Son, 
Cry Not
But Remember  
Your HINDU obligation  
of planting and growing more trees 

And,
while Yama still is afar 
and I am LIVING with a few breaths more  
help me 
so that I can plant One Sapling ....

... and become the image of Nirvana.

(c) Rajender Krishan
May 24, 2000

Photograph by Rajender Krishan

Editor's Choice April 10, 2005
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