A Poem in Hindi: Pal Ki Jeevan

Since this poem is in Hindi (and perhaps an older style of Hindi at that), I have included a translation and how it is constructed below.

Pal ki Jeevan

Jhukke jeevan kyon bithai;
Din jab tez chalen |
Jo mann ki soch sunai;
Ananth sukh kyo na palen ||

Dukh ki vicharan jab utthe;
Mann ki labh utho |
Jab soch anushashan huae;
Sahi marg nischit ho ||

Pal ki raaz kisko pata;
Yeh raaz kabhie na mittai |
Mitr, bandhoo, prabhu, atma;
Jeevan saphal karai ||

Jhukke jeevan jo bithai;
Pal ko vyarth karai ||
Jo pal ki labh utthai;
Sat-Chit-Anand kyon na banai ||


Lost in Translation

I did run this verse my by friends from Delhi - they strained the old bean to help me.  So here is my translation.

Pal ki Jeevan
(Life of a moment)

Jhukke jeevan kyon bithai;
(Why live with the head bowed)
Din jab tez chalen |
(When the days go by fast)
Jo mann ki soch sunai;
(One who listens to the mind/heart)
Ananth sukh kyo na palen ||
(Why wouldn't he experience infinite bliss) -- the phrases are gender neutral in Hindi


Dukh ki vicharan jab utthe;
(When sad thoughts arise)
Mann ki labh utho |
(Take advantage of the mind/heart)
Jab soch anushashan huae;
(When thinking is disciplined)
Sahi marg nischit ho ||
(The right path will materialize)


Pal ki raaz kisko pata;
(Who knows the mystery of time)
Yeh raaz kabhie na mittai |
(This mystery will never mitigate)
Mitr, bandhoo, prabhu, atma;
(Friends, relatives, the lord and the soul)
Jeevan saphal karai ||
(Will make life complete)


Jhukke jeevan jo bithai;
(He who lives with head bowed)
Pal ko vyarth karai ||
(Wastes time)
Jo pal ki labh utthai;
(And he who takes advantage of time)
Sat-Chit-Anand kyon na banai ||
(Why wouldn't he become truth-consciousness-bliss?)


Recipe

I did write this piece in a moment of inspiration But I thought I would deconstruct it into its ingredients and ask you if the whole is equal to, or more than the sum of its parts.

The first ingredient, regarding living life with head bowed is taken from President Franklin Roosevelt's (FDR) first inaugural address in 1933, where he said, "So first of all let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself....."  And then went on to lift the U.S. out of the great depression and win WWII.

The second ingredient is Swami Vivekananda's exhortation, "Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached". Ever since I came across that saying as a kid, I have always wondered what was the 'goal' that the Swami meant. Reading it in the context of Indian history, one could assume he meant the goal of Indian Independence. Over the years I am realizing he probably meant 'sat-chit-anand' is the goal.

The third ingredient is 'Pal' or time. A lot of poetry of course is about evanescence. Robert Frost has a beautiful verse expressing the fleeting nature of time in his poem.

"Nothing Gold can Stay"

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leafs a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

This amazing piece needs its own commentary! So here are a few words on it by a literary critic - "Frost's most evocative use of the metaphor. The subsidence, the sinking, the going down is, by the logic of the poem, a blessed increase if we are to follow the cycle of flower, leaf, bud, fruit, into the full life that includes loss, grief, and change."

The fourth ingredient is a bit of masala. Remember a Hindi movie Raaz a few years ago. I loved the title of the movie Raaz - which means 'secret'. That word 'raaz' is smooth, silken and rolls off the tongue. So I knew sooner or later I was going to use it in some context!

We now have all the ingredients. However, we need the pot to cook them in.  There is a kitchen store called William-Sonoma (http://www.williams-sonoma.com) which insists that the right cooking utensil is to be used for each type of cooking (and thus sell more utensils!).

The utensil I have chosen to put these ingredients into is a Kabir Das Doha;  Doha being a type of poem, a couplet.   I learned from my Hindi/Sanskrit teacher Shri Bhaskar Iyer.

The Doha goes like this:

Dukh me sumiran sab karai
Sukh me karai na koi |
So Sukh me sumiran karai
Dukh kahe hoi ||

Translation:

Everyone prays while sad
No one while happy
If you pray while happy
Why would you ever be sad?

Notice how each line of the doha ends - karai, koi, hoi etc. That Hindi that is no longer used in contemporary vernacular. But I decided that the subject matter of 'Pal Ki Jeevan' required this particular utensil - so I used it.

So now here we have the recipe:

- 4 parts Robert Frost
- 1 part Swami Vivekananda
- 1 part FDR
- a pinch of Raaz

Simmer gently in a Kabir Das pot for a while.

Experience the waft and hope you enjoyed 'Pal Ki Jeevan'!