Goal

Its the Goal in a mans life that keeps him going. Without any Goal a mans existence would have no meaning. There are individual Goals and there are collective too. However a man can be a part of a collective Goal that becomes his individual Goal too.

Everyone knows that every religion, faith, sect etc ultimately has the same goal, attainment of Peace. If only we actually started believing in this collective Goal and make it our individual Goal this world will be a different place to live in.

Madhushala says;

मदिरालय जाने को घर से चलता है पीनेवला,

'किस पथ से जाऊँ?' असमंजस में है वह भोलाभाला,

अलग-अलग पथ बतलाते सब पर मैं यह बतलाता हूँ -,

'राह पकड़ तू एक चला चल, पा जाएगा मधुशाला।'। ६।,

English Translation:

The drinker leaves his home for the inn,

But becomes confused with the direction,

Different folks show different paths, but I suggest to him,

Take any path and keep walki’n; ultimately you will reach the Tavern. (6)


If the Goal is known and we keep working hard towards it ,it doesnt matter what paths we take as the Goal starts walking towards us rather than us towards it.

Unconditional Love

What is Love? Is it just another bitter sweet symphony? Or Is it another one of those unforgetful experiences that make what you are? Is Love boundless? If so can it exist?

In Madhushala the poet writes...

प्यास तुझे तो, विश्व तपाकर पूर्ण निकालूँगा हाला,

एक पाँव से साकी बनकर नाचूँगा लेकर प्याला,

जीवन की मधुता तो तेरे ऊपर कब का वारचुका,

आज निछावर कर दूँगा मैं तुझ पर जग की मधुशाला।।२।,


English Translation

I shall simmer the cosmos for wine, to quench your thirst,

Being your courtesean I shall hold the cup and dance on one leg in mirth,

You were gifted the wine of life for a long time now,

Today I shall bestow you with the Tavern of the Universe. (2)


Is Love an untitled poem with no boundaries? Is Love itself unconditional
else it's not?There can be a million questions and a billion answers
around Love.

All I know is that Love is the fodder for Love to grow - the purer
the fodder the better it grows and more the fodder the longer it lasts.

Us!!

"We passed by each other, therefore we are".

If asked - "Is your existence completely independent?" - what would your anwser be? Do you think something can even exist independently? By independence I mean the absolute form of independence - living without the dependency on other or others depending on you.

I feel everthing is interlinked - A Circle. Life comes from water; hence life exists cause water exists and water is valued only because life exists - each existing for the other.

Relationships too exists not because of the individual 'I' and 'You' but because of 'Us'. Your existence is counted when you are part of 'Us' and 'Us' exist because of 'You' - valid both in the physical and metaphysical world.

The sweetness of the marrow of life is truely experienced when shared. How often after reading a great book did you desire to share it with another? How often did you desrie to embrace somebody when you are broken?

The thought of "dependent existence" reminds me of the stanza from Madhushala:

प्रियतम, तू मेरी हाला है, मैं तेरा प्यासा प्याला,

अपने को मुझमें भरकर तू बनता है पीनेवाला,

मैं तुझको छक छलका करता, मस्त मुझे पी तू होता,

एक दूसरे की हम दोनों आज परस्पर मधुशाला।।३।,

English Translation

My beloved! You are my wine and I your thirsty tumbler,

Filling yourself within me you yourself become the drinker,

I play with you while you drink me, both brimming with joy,

We both make and complete the Tavern, one within the other. (3)


At a spiritual level I read it as - God exists cause we believe in Him, and we exist cause He does.

At a physical level I read it as - Man and a Woman complete each other when they physically and mentally consume each other, blurring the lines of 'I' and 'You' and the only thing that ultimately exists is 'Us'


Ardhnarishwar painting Courtsey :http://img.alibaba.com/photo/11072549/Ardhnarishwar_Paintings.jpg

Introduction

I am a so called "English Reader", as I read works of literature written in english only. However on being insisted by one of my friends I read Madhushala, a work of Hindi literature by the famous Indian poet Shri Harivansh Rai Bachchan. Madhushala is a book of 135 quatrains with a touch of sufism.Shri Harivansh Rai Bachchan tried to fathom life through the usage of 4 primary but simple words: Madhushala (The Tavern), Saaki (The wine bearer), Haala (The Wine) and Pyala (The wine cup).
After having read Madhushala; I realized what I had missed all these years in terms of literature. I chose to translate the quantrains to english and blog them as a mechanism to share my feelings and thoughts on Madhushala with others.
I hope you enjoy your stay at my blog and any feedback from you will be highly appreciated. Also I tried my best to translate the qutrains from Hindi to English; however I am sure theres a huge scope of improvement. If you feel you could do a better job in translation please feel free to comment on such occassions, I would be more than happy to improve the transaltions for the benenift of all the readers.
Madhushala is a book which will give a different flavor to each of its diverse readers. Also when read multiple times by a given reader, it gives the reader a different taste each of those times.This was suitably predicted by the poet himself and hence we wrote:

भावुकता अंगूर लता से खींच कल्पना की हाला,

कवि साकी बनकर आया है भरकर कविता का प्याला,

कभी न कण-भर खाली होगा लाख पिएँ, दो लाख पिएँ!

पाठकगण हैं पीनेवाले, पुस्तक मेरी मधुशाला।।४।

English Translation
Make your imaginative wine, from the grapevines of emotions,

The poet arrives as a wine bearer with a brimming cup of poems,

Let a million or more drink from the cup, it will never empty,

For me the Tavern is my book and the drinkers its disciples. (4)


No matter how many readers read it, the poem will not be deciphered by a given set of thoughts. With each reader a new thought process will be born keeping the book immortal as it will have more and maybe something different to offer to its prospective readers.

The explosion of various thought flavors after having read Madhushala leaves the reader intoxicated. Madhushala succeeds in quenching the thirst of the reader only to increase his appetite for more.