Charles Darwin on Poetry:

“If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once a week.” – Charles Darwin

A Thought for Today-37: July 31, 2007

“Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to enjoy simply, to think freely, to risk life, to be needed.” – Margaret Storm Jameson

Little Nuggets-6:

“Love is the most abiding power of the world” – Martin Luther King Jr

My Photo Album-8: Children and Happiness

The charming smile of a child can make for you forget your worries. I have seen severe and morose faces melt in the presence of children. Great souls become children and start playing when they are with them. Even pictures and photos of children have a magical quality and make one happy.

Gautam, a grandson of one of my brothers-in-law, visited our home sometime back and some phtos were taken on the occasion by my friend, Annamalai. A few of them I post here for the reasons cited above.

Health Warnings-1: "Bio-degradability of Some Materials"

Banana Peels : 3 to 4 months
Paper Bags : One month
Cotton Bags: 5 months
Woollen: One year
Wood : 10 to 15 years
Tin cans: 50 to 100 years
Aluminium cans: 200 to 500 years
Plastic Bags: One Million Years
Bottles (Glass) : Unknown

So use them carefully and dispose of them responsibly!

(Courtesy: Centre for Science & Environment, New Delhi)

My Poems-3: "Dindigul" (From Suri’s Autobio)

The name brings to memory
A fort on a hillock;
As a boy climbed it
several times.
This is where
dad was working,
when I was born.

His diary records
the momentous event:
“A Red Letter Day :
Telegram from ANY
informing birth of my son”.
What Red-letter day?
My son snorts now!

My mom and me,
as a babe,
were taken to
my paternal uncle’s house -
“40, Society Street”.

Travelling by train
from mom’s place,
changing trains in between,
commences my association
with Railways
which continues.
They are live-characters
in my life-drama.
All that
we will see later.

During my uncle’s time,
40, Society Street
was a jolly-good place,
for a lot of children -
my cousins, me and
all the kids nearby.
That house is
associated with
many many events
of my life -
some memorable and
some better forgotten.

I was named after
this uncle -
“SIVASURIYANARAYANAN” .
‘Reminds me of a
goods train’ -
a friend commented
on my name.
Yes, what a long name!
But I can’t blame
my uncle.
He inherited it
from his grandpa
and dad chose it for me,
for uncle was more
a father to him.
(Dad lost his father
when he was 8.)
Hope, my son
will be more
imaginative and
comes up
with something better
for his son,
when he is born.

But I am
either
“Suri” or “Murugan“
to all near and dear.
The longer version
is for records only.
Murugan?
Oh, petname mother
chose for me.
Still many from
mother’s side
know me as ‘Murugan‘.

Later my siblings
took to calling me,
‘Mulla‘ -
a corrupt form of Muruga
or maybe after
Mulla Nazruddeen,
whose jokes
I used to crack often.

My namesake uncle was
Town Congress leader,
popular and soft-spoken gent,
respected and trusted by many.
A Municipal Councillor,
till his tragic death,
his ward,
Ward No.4 to be precise,
came to be known as
“Congress Fortress”.

Cut at the prime of life,
he fell like a
huge banyan tree,
leaving many branches
to dry and wither away.

Uncle gone,
40 society street gone,
all the glories gone, -
his children,
that is,
those that are left,
despair there,
facing calamity
after calamity.

On uncle’s death,
burden fell on Sethu -
my cousin and the
eldest son of uncle,
when he was hardly 20.
Crushed almost,
he still lives there.

Now, 40 years after,
Dindigul is
just another name,
with fragrant and painful
memories.

Avoid unpleasantness,
well, that is me.
Pressed down as I am
with worries and problems,
Relatives and friends mean solace to me;
When they turn unpleasant,
I hide my face and
run away.
Weakness of character?
Self-centredness?
I rue this flaw of character,
but what to do?

Gems from the Bible-4: ‘Do not worry about Tomorrow’

Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Courtesy: ThinkExist.com :

http://en.thinkexist.com/quotes/bible/2.html

Q & A-6: ‘What are the means by which one can see God?’

“Can you weep for Him with intense longing of heart? Men shed a jugful of tears for the sake of their children, for their wives, or for money. But who weeps for God? So long as the child remains engrossed with its toys, the mother looks after her cooking and other household duties. But when the child no longer relishes the toys, it throws them aside and yells for its mother. Then the mother takes the rice-pot down from the hearth, runs in haste, and takes the child in her arms.”

(Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa- From “The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna” translated into English by Srimat Swami Nikhilanandaji Maharaj)

Gems from the Bible-3: ‘Everyone is Unique’

Everyone has a unique role in God’s plan. One that no one else can play. I am sure you will do what you are meant to do. Have Faith. No matter what lies ahead. Hold onto your Faith.

(Courtesy: Jerusalem 30 A.D. Quotations:

http://www.j30ad.org/Quotations.htm)

Gems from Jainism-2: Expiation

When a person commits a sinful deed, whether intentionally or unintentionally, he should immediately withdraw from that with the resolve that such an act will not be committed again.

(Courtesy: ‘Springs of Jaina Wisdom’ by Dulichand Jain)

Gems from the Bhagavad Gita-3: The Atman (Soul) is indestructible

No one can bring about the destruction of the self, this immutable principle. It is eternal, imperishable, immeasurable. He who thinks it (self, atman or soul) to be a slayer and he who thinks it is slain, both are ignorant (of the truth); it (self) neither slays nor is slain. It is not born and it does not die at any time. And it does not again come into existence by being born. It is birthless, constant, eternal and ancient; it is not slain when the body is slain. Weapons do not cut it, fire does not burn it, water does not wet moisten it, and wind does not dry it. Just as a person gives up worn out clothes and puts on other new ones, even so does the embodied self give up decrepit bodies and enter other new ones.

(Mainly based on the English translation of Srimat Swami Vireswaranandaji Maharaj)