Journey towards Light

As long as we try to focus light on ourselves, we rarely pause to ponder that by acting in this manner, we are depriving others of their legitimate lights, which is theirs by way of their birthright. As like us, they too have an innate right to stand under their own light, rather than staying forever in shadows, or waiting in the wings to have their moment, never bothering to think how brief or fleeting that moment might be. They would be more than content to get a small beam of light somehow to illuminate their dark world, rather than to fight their way to grab it.

But unfortunately, it seldom happens and their endless wait and ceaseless prayers for light to appear goes unheeded. Even though we may think that everybody is equal but the case is not so. We are equal only at the time of birth or in death, and each life follows its own course on predetermined and predictable ways. Very rarely their paths cross as they are orbitting in their own axis and the chance of their collision rarely occurs. But we ought to make a conscious efforts to share the blessings with each other instead of depriving others of the same.

Happy New Year MMXI

For last year's words belong to last year's language And next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning.
T.S. Eliot, "Little Gidding"

New Year Musings 2011

The lord has graciously let us enter the new day in year 2011 blessing us with a new day in this new year with all the joy and happiness it brings to us all.Another day has dawned that will bring, no doubt, its equal share of joys n sorrows like before, since both exists side by side and neither can exist alone in a vacuum. We can only experience deeper joys if our sorrows were profound enough to leave us wiser and compassionate human beings with lot more understanding and love to sail across the river of life.

Every moment of our life calls for celebration as Lord calls out to us to rejoice in everything but often we are too busy to pay attention to the hesitant and tremulous voice of the moment, which silently passes away from the periphery of our vision, lost for eternities altogether, only to be recalled in the moments of quiet contemplation, only if the time permits or the time stands still for any reason. Only then can we have a glimpse of the quiet splendor reposing in that fleeting moment.

It brings its own gifts of blessings or curses, as it might seem at that particular moment of time but in the long run everything, in fact every single bit has its rightful place in the scheme of things, as it weaves very distinctive and unique beautiful patterns/motifs in our lives, whose luminous radiance permeates to the very core of our beings. Most of the time we are unaware of the brilliant light radiating around us, as we tend to disbelieve the role of divine intervention and guidance in our lives.

But in the divine scheme of things nothing is irrelevant, meaningless or worthless. Only our short sightedness or myopic vision leads us to believe in such crass and crude classifications, which we apply very frequently in every sphere of our lives, choosing to disregard our inner voice or conscience which exhort us to tear away the veils of illusions, to reach at the doorway of the ultimate shrine of truth where everything is just perfect and beautiful. At that moment, when we discover the ultimate truth, dichotomy or the polarity of the reality tend to disappear as remembrance of the fact emerges from the deep and dim vortices of our unconscious that everything is a part of a whole. The communion in silence or quiet contemplation paves ways for epiphanies, which in turn leads to insights or revelations, which were next to impossible in the shrill and strident cacophony of our day-to-day lives.

This calls for moment of remembrance and thanksgiving and celebration for those countless moments, which may have gladdened your heart, or those dark grim and sorrowful moments that you might want to wish away. But those darkest hours brought out the most beautiful inner light of your being to the forefront for everyone to see, in which your inner strength and calm resolve and quiet determination shone like a star, giving courage and hope to countless others.

May the golden light of the glorious dawn shower, divine blessings, bring serenity, joy and equanimity in every one's lives. May the golden light of blessings surround you for years to come.

I wish to share these prayer with everyone.

A New Year's Prayer

Dear Lord, please give me
A few friends who understand me and remain my friends;
A work to do which has real value,
without which the world would be the poorer;
A mind unafraid to travel, even though the trail be not blazed;
An understanding heart;
A sense of humor;
Time for quiet, silent meditation;
A feeling of the presence of God;
The patience to wait for the coming of these things,
With the wisdom to recognize them when they come.
Amen.

Unknown


New Year Prayer

God grant us this year a wider view,
So we see others' faults through the eyes of You.
Teach us to judge not with hasty tongue,
Neither the adult ... nor the young.

Give us patience and grace to endure
And a stronger faith so we feel secure.
Instead of remembering, help us forget
The irritations that caused us to fret.

Freely forgiving for some offense
And finding each day a rich recompense.
In offering a friendly, helping hand
And trying in all ways to understand;

That all of us whoever we are ...
Are trying to reach an unreachable star.
For the great and small ... the good and bad,
The young and old ... the sad and glad

Are asking today; Is life worth living?
The answer is only in, loving and giving.
For only Love can make man kind
And Kindness of Heart brings Peace of Mind.

By giving love, we can start this year
To lift the clouds of hate and fear.

Helen Steiner Rice

My new year wish for every one

Let the rainbows lend their hues
to your each & every dreams
illuminate them like stars
to shine amidst the darkest nights.
May joyous songs reverbrate in
your lonely chaotic hearts
May joy, peace & hope be
thy guardian angels
showering blessings
guiding thy steps
in the journey
meandering through the lifetime.

Have a joyous and blessed new year 2011.

christmas poems

Some famous christmas poems/songs

1.
The Holy Night

We sate among the stalls at Bethlehem;
The dumb kine from their fodder turning them,
Softened their horned faces
To almost human gazes
Toward the newly Born:
The simple shepherds from the star-lit brooks
Brought their visionary looks,
As yet in their astonied hearing rung
The strange sweet angel-tonge:
The magi of the East, in sandals worn,
Knelt reverent, sweeping round,
With long pale beards, their gifts upon the ground,
The incense, myrrh, and gold
These baby hands were impotent to hold:
So let all earthlies and celestials wait
Upon thy royal state.
Sleep, sleep, my kingly One!

By Elizabeth Barrett Browning
British Poetess
(1806 - 1861)

*****

2.
Bells on Christmas Day
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play
And mild and sweet the words repeat,
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had roll'd along th' unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bow'd my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men.

'Til ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men!"

*****

3.
On the Morning Of Christ's Nativity Christmas poem
by John Milton


I
On the Morning of Christ's Nativity
This is the month, and this the happy morn
Wherein the Son of Heav'n's eternal King,
Of wedded Maid, and Virgin Mother born,
Our great redemption from above did bring;
For so the holy sages once did sing,
That he our deadly forfeit should release,
And with his Father work us a perpetual peace.

II
That glorious Form, that Light unsufferable,
And that far-beaming blaze of Majesty,
Wherewith he wont at Heav'n's high council-table,
To sit the midst of Trinal Unity,
He laid aside, and here with us to be,
Forsook the courts of everlasting day,
And chose with us a darksome house of mortal clay.

III
Say Heav'nly Muse, shall not thy sacred vein
Afford a present to the Infant God?
Hast thou no verse, no hymn, or solemn strain,
To welcome him to this his new abode,
Now while the heav'n, by the Sun's team untrod,
Hath took no print of the approaching light,
And all the spangled host keep watch in squadrons bright?

IV
See how from far upon the eastern road
The star-led wizards haste with odours sweet:
O run, prevent them with thy humble ode,
And lay it lowly at his blessed feet;
Have thou the honour first thy Lord to greet,
And join thy voice unto the angel quire,
From out his secret altar touched with hallowed fire.



4.
A Christmas Carol
by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

I

The shepherds went their hasty way,
And found the lowly stable-shed
Where the Virgin-Mother lay:
And now they checked their eager tread,
For to the Babe, that at her bosom clung,
A Mother's song the Virgin-Mother sung.

II

They told her how a glorious light,
Streaming from a heavenly throng.
Around them shone, suspending night!
While sweeter than a mother's song,
Blest Angels heralded the Savior's birth,
Glory to God on high! and Peace on Earth.

III

She listened to the tale divine,
And closer still the Babe she pressed:
And while she cried, the Babe is mine!
The milk rushed faster to her breast:
Joy rose within her, like a summer's morn;
Peace, Peace on Earth! the Prince of Peace is born.

IV

Thou Mother of the Prince of Peace,
Poor, simple, and of low estate!
That strife should vanish, battle cease,
O why should this thy soul elate?
Sweet Music's loudest note, the Poet's story,
Didst thou ne'er love to hear of fame and glory?

V

And is not War a youthful king,
A stately Hero clad in mail?
Beneath his footsteps laurels spring;
Him Earth's majestic monarchs hail
Their friends, their playmate! and his bold bright eye
Compels the maiden's love-confessing sigh.

VI

Tell this in some more courtly scene,
To maids and youths in robes of state!
I am a woman poor and mean,
And wherefore is my soul elate.
War is a ruffian, all with guilt defiled,
That from the aged father's tears his child!

VII

A murderous fiend, by fiends adored,
He kills the sire and starves the son;
The husband kills, and from her board
Steals all his widow's toil had won;
Plunders God's world of beauty; rends away
All safety from the night, all comfort from the day.

VIII

Then wisely is my soul elate,
That strife should vanish, battle cease:
I'm poor and of low estate,
The Mother of the Prince of Peace.
Joy rises in me, like a summer's morn:
Peace, Peace on Earth! The Prince of Peace is born!

*****


5.
Minstrels a Christmas Poem
by William Wordsworth


The minstrels played their Christmas tune
To-night beneath my cottage-eaves;
While, smitten by a lofty moon,
The encircling laurels, thick with leaves,
Gave back a rich and dazzling sheen,
That overpowered their natural green.


Through hill and valley every breeze
Had sunk to rest with folded wings:
Keen was the air, but could not freeze,
Nor check, the music of the strings;
So stout and hardy were the band
That scraped the chords with strenuous hand.


And who but listened?--till was paid
Respect to every inmate's claim,
The greeting given, the music played
In honour of each household name,
Duly pronounced with lusty call,
And "Merry Christmas" wished to all.


6.
At Christmas
by Edgar Albert Guest

A man is at his finest towards the finish of the year;
He is almost what he should be when the Christmas season's here;
Then he's thinking more of others than be's thought the months before,
And the laughter of his children is a joy worth toiling for.
He is less a selfish creature than at any other time;
When the Christmas spirit rules him he comes close to the sublime.

When it's Christmas man is bigger and is better in his part;
He is keener for the service that is prompted by the heart.
All the petty thoughts and narrow seem to vanish for awhile
And the true reward he's seeking is the glory of a smile.
Then for others he is toiling and somehow it seems to me
That at Christmas he is almost what God wanted him to be.

If I had to paint a picture of a man I think I'd wait
Till he'd fought his selfish battles and had put aside his hate.
I'd not catch him at his labors when his thoughts are all of pelf,
On the long days and the dreary when he's striving for himself.
I'd not take him when he's sneering, when he's scornful or depressed,
But I'd look for him at Christmas when he's shining at his best.

Man is ever in a struggle and he's oft misunderstood;
There are days the worst that's in him is the master of the good,
But at Christmas kindness rules him and he puts himself aside
And his petty hates are vanquished and his heart is opened wide.
Oh, I don't know how to say it, but somehow it seems to me
That at Christmas man is almost what God sent him here to be.

*****

7.
Angels from the Realms of Glory
by James Montgomery

Angels from the realms of glory,
Wing your flight o'er all the earth;
Ye who sang creation's story,
Now proclaim Messiah's birth:
Come and worship,
Come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King!

Shepherds, in the fields abiding,
Watching o'er your flocks by night,
God with man is now residing,
Yonder shines the infant Light;
Come and worship,
Come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King!

Sages, leave your contemplations,
Brighter visions beam afar;
Seek the great desire of nations,
Ye have seen His natal star;
Come and worship,
Come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King!

Saints before the altar bending,
Watching long in hope and fear,
Suddenly the Lord, descending,
In His temple shall appear:
Come and worship,
Come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King!

*****

8.
Prayer
By Robert Louis Stevenson

Loving God, Help us remember the birth of Jesus,
that we may share in the song of the angels,
the gladness of the shepherds,
and worship of the wise men.

Close the door of hate
and open the door of love all over the world.
Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting.
Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings,
and teach us to be merry with clear hearts.

May the Christmas morning make us happy to be thy children,
and Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts,
forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus' sake. Amen.

*****

WISHES
The gifts I'd leave beneath your tree,
Aren't those that you can touch or see,
Not wrapped in Christmas tissue gay
But gifts to bless you every day.
The gift of friendship warm and true,
Is one that I would leave for you
Good health and happiness and cheer
To keep you smiling through the year
The gift of peace that comes from God,
With prayer to guide each path you trod
And when your heart has lost it's song
The gift of hope to cheer you on.
These are the gifts I'd leave for you
By Maureen

***
*****
***

CUP OF GRACE

We are often disappointed in the circumstances we find ourselves in. We feel threatened and betrayed as the things unfold themselves in front of our eyes. We often feel like running away and busy ourselves in devising ways and means to extricate ourselves from the problems or situation we find ourselves in, instead of doing the most obvious thing i.e. put all our trust in lord, instead of relying on our worldly knowledge. We are afraid of holding the cup of bitter tears, bitter disappointments, defeats, diseases degradation, which at times are proffered to us. We are often inclined them to treat them as the cup of curses rather than as the cup of blessings. We are so stuck up in the present, that we are unable to see beyond our noses and we feel that we have all the knowledge and that we have arrived at the end of things beyond which nothing is possible. This is so because we never learn to trust the Lord properly. We are often ignorant of the ways and will of Lord, which makes things black and bleary to perceive. We are not ready to follow our crosses, though we cry ourselves hoarse proclaiming ourselves to be the true follower and are ever ready to shed our burden at the drop of the hat, forgetting that to be victorious we must finish the race, which has been given to us, cheerfully without complaining in any manner whatsoever.

Like so many things we are often called to bear the cross of diseases, disappointments, defeats, but we do not find ourselves ready to undertake the job, making excuses to wriggle out of it somehow. This is not confined to it only; rather it encompasses every aspect of our lives. It may be called so, as the cases of failures or disappointments we face so frequently in our lives, without waiting to persist for the blessings they contain. Only if we are perseverant, then only can we reach the Promised Land, otherwise we will have to contend with the glimpse of the holy land which will not be accessible to us simply because, we did not stay in the place where the lord wanted us to be. The diseases can be seen as blessing as they teach us not to not to be proud of our health like wealth etc. since these are transitory ephemeral and impermanent in nature. It also makes one a receptacle of patience, understanding and fills them with compassion and makes them aware of others’ sufferings and pain, and makes them more attuned and attentive towards the will of the lord as they learn to put their faith on Him when everything and everyone fails. They are able to look inward and have silent conversations with the Lord when every one stops listening to them. Then they are able to put beside all things of flesh and follow Him wherever He intends to take them since they realize that their stay at this world is just a brief stop over or sojourn in their journey to the kingdom of the Lord, which is the final destination of us all, if we are obedient and faithful to Him. We often forget that the cup of grace is filled with bitter tears and we are ready to wish it away, the moment it is offered to us, but if we accept it unflinchingly it would definitely turn into the cup of blessings which it actually is, and not the cup of curses as we tend to perceive it.

We often see our afflictions as curses, never as opportunities to be seized and made worthwhile. These divine interventions are often seen as mere interference’s meant to play havoc with our well-laid plans, as obstacles in the paths which we have carved out for ourselves so painstakingly by devoting every fibre of our being geared to fulfill the chosen goal. We never pause to wonder what lies ahead and as we are afraid of unknown, we tend to slip back in our old comfortable ways to our monotonous routine of nothingness, which begets nothingness in the end. We fail to appreciate the fact that no test is given to us beyond our strength and capabilities. In fact the Lord is always with us to take care of us but we fail to realize this and we frantically turn to the world to solve our problems seeking their opinions advice etc. to tide over the problems, never outsourcing the problems to the Lord who is easily available in our times of misfortune as the Psalmist says in praise of the lord. If we are not ready to bear the cross we are given and have failed to follow His will, then we are not trying to be trustworthy. If the Lord cannot trust us with a small cross, He has given us, how will He trust us with the greater things of His kingdom, which brings glory to Him? In fact at that moment of time we are found lacking, unwilling to follow Him, then how can He trust with the keys of his kingdom which we all are so desperately searching all our lives. Only He is the source of all and every thing. Everything is meant to bring out his glory in this world. Unless we understand this simple truth, we cannot understand His will or ways and will remain ignorant of Him despite proclaiming otherwise.

So it is best for us to take pride in our incapability’s and weaknesses as He gives riches to the poor and makes strong the weak. He only can turn our bitter tears into joyous laughter and our defeats into victories. He makes us more than victorious. To stay in His shadow, it is necessary to be obedient and willing to follow him in adversity, singing praises instead of lamenting or blaming the fate. Sometimes it seems that all these are mere means to bring us all nearer to Him as we strays and are lost in the wilderness of this world. Only then we learn to lean upon Him and trust Him when we are reduced to nothingness or when we are broken in spirit or body with no respite in sight. The world despises and never cares for those who have fallen down rather it moves ahead callously rough shoddingly, but the Lord always hold them dear and keep them close to His heart, the people with broken spirits and broken wings and gives a new song to those mute broken reeds.

Happiness.....

Happiness lulls us with the deep relaxing stupor filled with sweet dreams but pain and sorrows makes us sleepless and restless. Pain makes you angry and depressed while the happiness gets you in a more cheerful mood and lets you forgive and forget things, which have caused you deep pain and anguish in the past. But to be able to feel pain is a sign of being alive and being aware of your surroundings. Pain unfortunately keeps you glued or chained to your past, but can also be interpreted as a sign of recovery as it ensures a chance for change, recovery and survival too, since the entire mind is concentrating or engaged in the task of fighting for getting back the control over our lives. Otherwise the pain will dull our senses and weaken our resistance to fight it with tooth and nail against its dominating power.

The pain is a reminder that you are alive. The pain is the greatest catalyst. It overwhelms us no doubt, but it also brings about a subtle transformation of one’s consciousness as it increases the field of awareness to such an extent so as to include others into the direct line of observation or the observation field. The pain gives us an opportunity to connect with each other with more compassion, maturity, understanding and sensitivity. This makes us aware of the pain and anguish the other person is undergoing which is tearing him apart just like us. This knowledge is the greatest tool one can have to transform the lives of those around him and eventually everyone including his own.

Musings

Why do we resent things that are sent our way? Why aren’t we ready to accept the moment they appear on the radar of our consciousness? Their presence itself invokes a sense of foreboding, confusion and a threat to our fragile and over the edge existence. They somehow manage to set off a chain reactions of reactive actions blindly following some distorted and warped sense of atavistic logic which has lost its touch with the reality and hence its relevance. We try to shut ourselves off from whatsoever those truths or things might be trying to convey. We are so comfortable and smug with whatever little knowledge or information we have, that we never want to step away from our comfort zone to reach out to those things that comes our way.

To make any effort to comprehend and understand the mysteries those things might be hiding within themselves seems foolishness, an utter waste of time and resources which can be better realized in furthering one’s prospects and eventually one’s future instead of running around in circles or chasing some elusive mirages or chimera. But our stubborn or mulish attitude towards change and our inability to adjust to ever-changing realities makes us miss most of the opportunities which come to enrich and add more colors and meanings to our dull and mundane lives and allowing to be transformed in turn. We refuse to be bent or broken as it makes us seem weak and vulnerable in front of everyone around us. But unless we allow us to be bent or broken and made anew the stale and moldy confines of our spirits would never allow the fresh breaths of the winds of change to enter inside us and caress our aching soul, to transform renew and rejuvenate it in return.

If problems be poems…

3.

What if problems indeed be poems bursting with secret meanings, of a secret world of their own, leading us by our noses, playing with a practiced ease? What if they were sent our way to test whatever little faith we all have, or to secretly keeping an eye, to cool our tempers and put a check on our lashing tongue, what if they meant to keep us from straying afar, stumbling after reaching the heights, since we were running alone to gather the riches, with no thought of sharing with all those fools, that’s what everyone else is called, who happens to be outside the hallowed halls, the curtains of bulletproof glass drowning the voices, bored, with the wretched zombies outside, watching the barricaded doors wringing their hands, what do you say, when life’s a party, who dares to permit the entry of problems even as a poem.

What can it offer to our jaded taste, who have seen and played all the games, its just a nuisance, a minor inconvenience, who need to be taught in such a barbaric way, so when the teacher is ready the student disappears. Who can welcome the problems amidst, when the roof is leaking and the walls have gone. But with a sweet smile and a kind voice living there, bids them to enter, to share their wretched lives. Since sharing things is the only way of life, with no place to hoard or hide, and refusing to wither and die, with no one to share with or to care for.

Maybe the problems seek such humble hearts, to make the connection and receive the gifts of wisdom and strength, praising the Lord, as Lord Himself seeks out the chosen ones to understand the poems and sing aloud the new songs, of praise and gratitude, of joy, hope and happiness, a promise of peace and everlasting love, playing through the broken reeds and the mute flutes, with Lord holding them close lovingly with infinite love and care.