Prabhakar reflections

Hungry Soul — Hurt Soul — Dead Soul How do we identify the state of our being that tells us that our soul is hungry? Perhaps it requires a pause—a little silence, and some honest reflection. A hungry soul does not always announce its hunger in words. Sometimes it speaks through a quiet uneasiness within us, a discomfort that arises when we know, somewhere deep inside, that something is not right. We may experience such a feeling: → When the peace of our mind does not return even after we have achieved what we planned or desired through methods that were scrupulous or unscrupulous. → When we feel uneasy even after defeating an enemy or rival by using superior force at our disposal. → When we fail to acknowledge the hard work done by others in general, or for us in particular. → When we snatch something from someone by force instead of respecting his or her consent. → When we fail to offer even a small token of gratitude to someone for the help, however little it may have cost us. → When...

The Purpose of Life Everything we do has a purpose. If an activity does not seem to have one, perhaps we need to find one for it. After all, an activity that we continue to pursue over time is likely to acquire a definite purpose through experience. The purpose of eating is to satisfy the need of hunger. The purpose of drinking is to satisfy the need of thirst. The purpose of reading is to satisfy the higher needs of the mind. The purpose of writing is to satisfy the need for self-expression. On the basis of the same analogy, what then should be the purpose of life? One reflection says that the purpose of life is to make life “worth living”. But then, how do we make life worth living? Here, the answer varies from mind to mind. Such variation has a deep connection with the environment in which one grows, the upbringing one receives, what destiny brings, the choices one makes, and the resources one happens to have. For many, the entire endeavour of life revolves around making life happy....

Nation @ 80 India celebrates its Independence Day on the 15th of August every year. What is popularly known as Independence Day is, in technical terms, the day associated with the transfer of power from the British to Indian leadership. This transfer of authority was the culmination of a prolonged and determined struggle against colonial rule. --- However, to describe this event merely as a “Transfer of Power” would be an oversimplification if we fail to acknowledge the nearly century-long struggle that preceded it. This struggle encompassed a wide range of movements and agitations, from the Swadeshi and Non-Cooperation movements to Civil Disobedience and others. It began with the Revolt of 1857 and reached its decisive phase with the revolutionary momentum generated by the Quit India Movement. One may liken the experience to the discomfort of generations when an intruder, under the guise of familial association, gradually occupies one’s home, assumes control over it, and compels the r...

काल्हि स्वतंत्रता दिवस पर जाहिं-ताहि सब ठाम जिलेबिए छनैत दृश्य देख कऽ जे भाव उपजल तकरे कलमबद्ध केनै छी. नीक लागल ते कहब. ********* चलू जिलेबी छानै छी                        नै मैदा से तऽ गप्पे से               आऽ नै किछु ते अन्ताक्षरिये से                तहू से नै ते किछु गीते-नाद से  चलू जिलेबी छानै छी  नै मैदा से तऽ गप्पे से                   *** चलू जिलेबी छानै छी             नै चासनी से ते मधुर बोलिए से            आऽ नै किछु ते मधुर मुसकिए से             तहू से नै ते किछु नैन-बोलिए से  चलू जिलेबी छानै छी  नै मैदा से तऽ गप्पे से                     *** चलू जिलेबी छानै छी                ...

Out of curiosity, I picked up a book on Modern Indian History by Bipan Chandra. Incidentally, the chapter that opened before me, without any plan or prior intention, was “The Reforms after 1858.” The chapter dealt with the major reform movements and their advocates—the Brahmo Samaj, the Prarthana Samaj, the Ramakrishna Mission, the reforms associated with Debendranath Tagore, Vivekananda, Gopal Hari Deshmukh, Dayanand Saraswati, the Theosophists and several others. The issues they raised were largely concerned with the social evils and practices prevalent among Hindus, which, in their view, had rendered Indian society unfit for a dignified life. The belief they inherited and chiefly attacked was idolatry. Almost all of them, in one way or another, criticised idolatry on the ground that it encouraged or sustained evils such as superstition, discrimination, child marriage and the plight of widows. Without any prejudice to their erudition or to the immense contribution they made to contem...

खाली वक़्त में भी कहाँ आराम है, अपनी किस्मत में तो  खाली वक़्त में भी काम, काम और सिर्फ़ काम है।           *** खाली वक़्त का वजूद तो ख़ामख़याली है, वरना काम की बेशुमारी से अक़्ल की पामाली है।                  ***** सर खुजाने से फ़ुर्सत मिली नहीं कि कान ने भी खुजाने की दस्तक दे डाली। फिर नाक ने अपने बंद होने की अर्जी थमा दी। बिस्तर पर लेटे रहने की ज़िम्मेदारी, घूमते सीलिंग फ़ैन को घूरने की जवाबदारी, कमरे की दीवारों के हो चले पुराने रंग के बहाने आईने में अपने चेहरे की सलवटें देखने की होशियारी— इनसे फ़ारिग़ हुए नहीं कि मोबाइल के नोटिफ़िकेशन का इंतज़ार मुंह बाए खड़ा है। इससे निबटे नहीं कि घुटनों के दर्द को सहलाने में क़ीमती मेरा वक़्त सर्फ़ हुआ जा रहा है। दर्द से नीम-आराम मिला नहीं कि कान की सनसनाहट अपनी अहमियत से वाक़िफ़ कराने लगी। दाॅंत का दर्द अलग से तवज्जो की धमकी  दे रहा है. और टेबल पर रखी बीपी और शुगर की गोलियाँ! इसे समय पर निगलने की ज़िम्मेदारी भी तो मेरी हीं है!             ...

Here is a story one may have read during childhood in some Sanskrit book. The same is written here with the help of that memory. The conclusion to be drawn is left to the readers. There was a poor woodcutter. He would daily go to cut some dry branches of trees with the help of an old axe. He would sell those dry twigs in the nearby “Haat” to earn his livelihood. One day, he, having climbed upon a tree situated beside a flowing river, was cutting some dry branches of the tree. Suddenly, the axe slipped out of his hand and fell into that flowing river and disappeared. The woodcutter became deeply sad. He sat on the bank of the river and wept like a child, crying in grief. How would he, without the axe, eke out his living and support his family? Seeing the poor woodcutter in deep grief and anxiety, the water god Varuna, in the guise of a diver, appeared before him and asked him the reason for weeping. The woodcutter explained to the diver his plight. The diver went inside the river and re...

शब्द के विषय में क्या कहा जाय! शब्द ही सब कुछ है। वेद को तो ‘शब्दब्रह्म’ कहा गया है। लेकिन कब? जब शब्द भाव का आकार ग्रहण कर लेता है। यही तब मंत्र कहलाता है, जब भाव के साथ शब्दों का संयोजन हो जाता है। तब शब्द का सार्थक होना भी आवश्यक नहीं रह जाता है—शाबर मंत्र का मर्म यही है। अधरों के स्पर्श से जो मुख से उच्चरित होता है, वह शब्द है। उसका नाश नहीं हो सकता, क्योंकि वह ‘स्वर’ से न बनकर ‘अक्षर’ से निर्मित होकर उच्चरित होता है। क्या हम ‘शब्द’ का यही स्वर किसी वातावरण में उच्चारण करके उस शब्द को नष्ट किया जा सकता है? नहीं। हाँ, वर्णों के समूह से जो कागज पर लिखित है, वह मेरे विचार से वह शब्द यथार्थ में न होकर उसकी ‘छाया’ है, ‘स्मृति’ है। ठीक उसी प्रकार जैसे वायुमंडल में उच्चरित हो रहे शब्दों को कोई टेप-रिकॉर्डर में कैद कर ले। अक्षर एवं वर्ण में वस्तुतः कोई अंतर नहीं है—क्योंकि एक अनित्य ध्वनि का संकेत है और दूसरा कागज पर अंकित उसका दृश्य रूप। मेरे विचार से आज तक विज्ञान उस स्तर की प्रगति नहीं कर पाया है कि गीता में श्रीकृष्ण ने जो अर्जुन के प्रति बातें कहीं, उन्हें आज किसी यंत्र की सहायता से उ...

There are many people in the system who occupy positions of responsibility without fully realising the core responsibilities attached to their office. But inefficiency and betrayal of the system are not the same thing. A person may be less efficient than his predecessor, less decisive, or technically dependent on his colleagues and subordinates. These shortcomings may make him an inefficient administrator, but they do not necessarily diminish the dignity of the office he holds. Incompetence is not dishonesty. The real test begins when a person uses the power and resources placed at his disposal for his personal benefit. When an office entrusted to serve the system becomes an instrument for advancing oneself or one's family, it is no longer merely a failure of efficiency—it is a betrayal of institutional trust. The deeper question, therefore, is not simply how efficiently a person exercises power, but how he conducts himself when power gives him the opportunity to misuse it. Power p...

फाइलों को ऊपर-ऊपर से पढ़ता हूॅं लेकिन भीतर-भीतर हीं तौलता हूॅं,  मगर लगता है जैसे नींद में सोया हूॅं-खोया हूॅं.                *** घर में अज़ीज़ों से घिरा हूॅं,  मगर तबियत ऐसी जैसे कोई मिटिंग में हूॅं.  बिछावन पर लेटा हूॅं, मगर लगता है आफिस में बैठा हूॅं.                               *** हूॅं मुखातिब तेरी ओर, मगर पाॅंव गामजन हैं उसकी ओर. रिंद की सीरत में ख़िज़्र दिखता हूॅं, हूॅं इधर का मगर उधर का लगता हूॅं.              *** पूजा-इबादत में ऑंखें मूंद कर माला-तस्बीह फेरता हूॅं,  मगर बगल से कौन गुजरा उसका भी हिसाब रखता हूॅं.                ******* लुब्ब-ए-लुबाब कि जहॉं हूॅं वहीं से नदारद हूॅं; जिंदा वक़्त के क़त्ल ओ ग़ारत में पारंगत हूॅं.               या कहिए  ऊपर से रामायण   मगर भीतर से पक्का महाभारत हूॅं. ~राजीव रंजन प्...

A famous painter wanted honest feedback on his painting. So he displayed in the street his work without his signature on that with a note of request anyone may please mark with Cross (❌) the mistake or error in it,if any. Curious enough to see the mistake (if any!) in his painting, he, on the following day went to the street. The artist was disappointed to find his entire painting covered with crosses, the whole of the painting was thus more or less invisible.                            **** Dejected and with sunken heart, he went to see a friend from there and said to his friend that perhaps he was not talented as he thought himself to be. The friend smiled and said to him-Don't lose heart. Criticising is a great source of enjoyment for both- the laity as well as the learned. If you had disclosed your identity by putting your signature below that painting, nobody would have dared do so. But that said, it is also a fa...

When you feel committed to yourself to write something on something daily, you throw a big challenge upon yourself. You may not be equipped with any idea to reflect upon in terms of writing the same, even then you are enjoined to write. The situation then becomes typical. You can take the pen in your hand and still fumbling as to what to write upon. It's just like you bring a horse to the pond but you can't make him drink water.                      **** This makes me feel thinking what makes the Sun rise daily without fail? What makes the Earth rotate without a break or pause? What makes a living being to breathe incessantly? Certainly, it's because of the internal force operating within them. Similarly, so long as that internal force or urge will operate within me I will continue to write. I also know that someday it will stop operating for no reason as I know also that to keep a thing continued despite in the most routine way is ...

From sometime in the past I have been observing that my nature is changing slowly. In matters I used to rejoice, now do not excite me unnecessarily. In matters I happened to be furious at; more or less now don't disturb me.  My friend circle is shrinking these days perhaps because gossiping as a hobby of mine is being replaced by taking interest in letting myself remaining alone. Silence now attracts me much more than speaking on an issue.  Whatever food my wife serves I eat them without any complaint.  Normally I don't watch TV.  My daughter keeps on studying and I don't help her actively except by way of giving some tips that may or may not be of any use given the nature of exam she is to take. I don't feel like advising anyone even upon being asked for. Previously it was a part of my hobbies.  Despite all these, I prefer reading and writing as well as I also want to have mobile in my hand, of course without talking to anyone through this device to entertain m...

जीवन में जितना महत्त्व कर्म का है, उतना ही महत्त्व आराम का भी है। यद्यपि हमारे शास्त्रों एवं व्यवहार में कर्म की अपेक्षा आराम को उतना गौरव प्राप्त नहीं है, तथापि यह निर्विवाद सत्य है कि कोई भी व्यक्ति निरंतर कार्य नहीं कर सकता। श्रम के उपरांत शरीर और मन दोनों को विश्राम की आवश्यकता होती है। इसलिए आराम करना कोई दोष नहीं है, बशर्ते वह आलस्य का पर्याय न बन जाए। विश्राम का उद्देश्य नई ऊर्जा का संचार करना है, न कि कर्म से विमुख कर देना। प्राणिमात्र—चाहे वह मनुष्य हो, पशु-पक्षी हो अथवा अन्य कोई जीव—सभी को अपने अस्तित्व और संतुलन के लिए विश्राम की आवश्यकता होती है। अब ज़रा आराम के सोपानों पर भी दृष्टि डालिए— खड़े रहने की अपेक्षा बैठने में अधिक आराम मिलता है। बैठने की अपेक्षा लेटने में अधिक आराम मिलता है। लेटने की अपेक्षा करवट लेकर सोने में अधिक आराम मिलता है। और सोने के बाद तो मानो बाह्य जगत का बोध ही समाप्त हो जाता है। यही क्रम यह संकेत देता है कि यदि मनुष्य केवल आराम के पीछे चलता रहे, तो उसकी कोई सीमा नहीं रह जाती। आराम की चाह जितनी पूरी होती जाती है, उतनी ही बढ़ती भी जाती है। इसलिए विवेक इ...

I am not a computer expert. At best, I possess only the basic skills that almost every ordinary computer user has today—typing, copying, cutting, pasting, editing, undoing, and performing a few simple calculations. I am fully aware that these skills are far from sufficient in this age of Artificial Intelligence. Yet, while working on a computer, a thought occurred to me. A computer faithfully records every activity performed on it. Even after months, or sometimes years, one can often trace what was done, when it was done, and by whom. It stores information with remarkable accuracy. Then I reflected on something even more astonishing—the human brain. It is an incomparable masterpiece, infinitely more sophisticated than any supercomputer humanity has ever built or may ever build. Every action of our body, every word we utter, and even every thought that arises in the mind seems to leave an impression upon this extraordinary "CPU." Unlike a computer, however, it has no genuine ...

Religiosity and communalism are fundamentally different concepts, though they are often confused. A person may be deeply religious without being communal. Religiosity is an inward disposition rooted in faith, self-discipline, moral conduct, and the pursuit of spiritual growth. Its primary concern is the purification of one's own character and the cultivation of virtues such as compassion, truthfulness, humility, and self-restraint. Communalism, by contrast, is not a spiritual outlook but a political or ideological one. It seeks to mobilise people on the basis of religious identity by portraying the interests of different religious communities as inherently conflicting. Its objective is not spiritual elevation but the pursuit of temporal or political ends through the exploitation of religious sentiments. This distinction may be illustrated by the example of Mahatma Gandhi, whose life reflected profound personal religiosity without advocating communal politics. By contrast, Muhammad ...

एक महात्मा का कथन है—"कुछ मत करो।" पहली दृष्टि में यह कथन असंभव प्रतीत होता है, क्योंकि जीवित रहते हुए कोई भी व्यक्ति पूर्णतः अकर्म नहीं रह सकता। जीवन स्वयं एक सतत क्रिया है। तब इस वचन का वास्तविक आशय क्या है? इसका तात्पर्य यह है कि जो भी कर्म सामने कर्तव्य के रूप में उपस्थित हो, उसे अपनी समस्त क्षमता, लगन और निष्ठा के साथ संपन्न करो; किन्तु उसके परिणाम के प्रति आसक्त मत हो। कर्म पूर्ण होने के पश्चात् उसे छोड़ दो। उसके फल, सफलता-असफलता अथवा अनुकूल-प्रतिकूल परिणामों के रस में डूबे रहने का प्रयास मत करो। यदि परिणाम के प्रति मन उदासीन हो जाए, तो अनुकूल और प्रतिकूल दोनों स्थितियाँ समान प्रतीत होने लगती हैं। यदि कर्म करते हुए भी मन में यह भाव स्थिर बना रहे कि "मैं कुछ नहीं कर रहा हूँ," तो यह अत्यन्त उच्च आध्यात्मिक अवस्था है। इस भाव को क्रमशः पुष्ट और प्रगाढ़ करते जाना चाहिए। गीता कर्म के इसी रहस्य का उद्घाटन करती है— "नैव किञ्चित् करोमीति युक्तो मन्येत तत्त्ववित्।" तत्त्वज्ञ योगी यह जानता है कि वास्तव में वह कुछ नहीं करता। देखना, सुनना, स्पर्श करना, सूँघना, खा...

اپنی خوبی پہ اترانے سے فرصت نہ ملے جب ،تو  اپنے نقائص و خامیوں پہ نظر ڈالتا کون ہے؟ *** دوسروں کے پھٹے میں پیر اڑانے میں جب لطف آئے، تو  اپنے گریبان اور پیوند کو پھر دیکھتا کون ہے؟ *** سارا دن جب سیاست ہی میں بسر ہو جائے، تو  ملک کی فلاح و بہبود کا خیال رکھتا کون ہے؟ *** جب ہر شخص خود کو اہل و قابل سمجھتا ہو، تو  پھر اس دہر میں جاہل بچتا کون ہے؟ ؎ راجیو رنجن پربھاکر

अपनी ख़ूबी पर इतराने से फ़ुर्सत न मिले, तो  अपने नक़ाइस और ख़ामियों पर नज़र डालता कौन है? *** दूसरे के फटे में पैर अड़ाने में जब लुत्फ आये, तो  अपने गिरेबान और पैबंद को फिर देखता कौन है? *** सारा दिन जब सियासत में ही बसर हो जाये, तो  मुल्क की फ़लाह-ओ-बहबूद का ख़याल रखता कौन है? *** जब हर शख़्स ख़ुद को अहल व क़ाबिल समझता हो, तो  फिर इस दहर में जाहिल बचता कौन है? ~ राजीव रंजन प्रभाकर