Paagal

dhan, bal, gyaan se poorna hua
man se ghayal ho chuka hoon

sooni aankhon mein lag na saka
vyarth kaajal ho chuka hoon

baras na saka tarasti dharti par
nikamma baadal ho chuka hoon

ghar sona bhara, par so na saka
haan mein paagal ho chuka hoon

jeevan saadhanon ki hod mein
jeene ka kaaran kho chuka hoon

Basant

kathor sheet chhayi hai aaj
garjan karta hai vrishti paat
din bhool chuka nij ujjwal roop
hai tharrati kaali si raat
par ye kya, dekho door se
khelta, khilkhilata
ghutnon ke bal chala aa raha hai basant

kya bhay ab kaali raat ka
sard, vyakul
rok payega aasha ka sanchaar anant

kya teri ye tez aandhiyaan
madhosh, prachand
mita payengi bulbule ko jeevan paryant

kya teri yeh maansik bediyan,
fauladi, vishal
nav srajan ka kabhi kar payengi ant

dekho
pairon par khada ho raha hai basant

Bhoomiputra

भूमिपुत्र

(In response to Janmbhoomi)

जब तूने मुझसे जन्म लिया
मैं फूली ना समायी थी
तेरी हँसी किलकारी में
मस्ती रास की छायी थी
तेरी विशाल भुजाओं में ही
मेरे पर्वत की परछायी थी
तेरा नाम जब लिया किसी ने
मैं मोर सी इतरायी थी

जब जब टपके तेरे अश्रु
मुझसे है सौंधी महक उठी
एक बार तो कहता माँ

खेल खेल में मित्रों के संग
चोट हँसकर तूने खायी थी
बचपन के उस हँसी मज़ाक में
छुपी रिश्तों की गहरायी थी
बड़े हुए पर बड़प्पन खोया
निज स्वार्थ हेतु की लड़ायी थी
भूल बैठे वो जीवन की क ख
मेरी प्रकृति ने सिखलायी थी

अपने पुत्रों के इस संग्राम में
मैं पराजित शव सी दहक उठी
एक बार तो कहता माँ

हताश ना हो ऐ मेरे लाल
न किस जीवन में कठनायी थी
आशा की अंगीठी बुझा नहीं
एक बार जो तूने जलायी थी
बढ़ चल आगे, दौड़ा था तू
पर पहले ठोकर खायी थी
और लौट के आ दामन में मेरे
जहाँ पहली ली अंगड़ायी थी

तु रूठ के चुप चाप चला गया
मैं ममता वश हुई बहक उठी
एक बार तो कहता माँ

Janmbhoomi

Janmbhoomi

godi mein teri pala bada
naam tera meri jaati hai
teri nadiyan sakhiyan meri
tera aagan hi saathi hai
apni pushp lataon se har
bachpan tu mehkaati hai
phir aaj jab chhaya dukh ka baadal
kaise nishthur reh paati hai

dekh meri aakhon ka aansoon,
tu phoot phoot ke ro na saki,
tujhe kaise keh doon maa

jab jab nikat dikhi safalta
kuchh ghatna ghat jaati hai
kuchh saajish kuchh ranjish aisi
ki haar hi bas mil paati hai
khushi sage bhai ki aksar
kyun bhai ko tadpati hai
phenk mujhe hi peechhe kyun
kaum aage aana chahti hai

apni hi santanon ke beech
tu beej prem ke bo na saki
tujhe kaise keh doon maa

chala aaya mein door desh me
ab aur sahi nahi jaati hai
par door hua hoon jabse
yaad teri hi satati hai
dagmag meri jeevan naiya
ek saaya teri chhati hai
laut tere paas aana chaahon
vaapas kyun na bulati hai

jaan mera nit akelapan
tu meri hokar bhi ho na saki
tujhe kaise keh doon maa

See the followup in Bhoomiputra

Yun hi kahin

Yun hi kahin chala jaa raha hoon mein..

maine sir hilaya, apekshaayein bad gayin
auron ki chah theen, meri mazboori ban gayin
aur aaj
vaada jo kiya nahi, nibha raha hoon mein..

kuchh acchha kiya, yaad kisne rakha
ek bhool kya hui, sab ho gaye khafa
aur aaj
ankahi si paheliyan, bujha raha hoon mein..

jeena chahta hoon mein, jaagta hoon
bachna chahta hoon mein, bhagta hoon
aur aaj
door jaakar bhi beech aa raha hoon mein..

bas
yun hi kahin chala jaa raha hoon mein..

Surya Namaskar: 10 minutes for good health!

For someone like me who does not like the nerdy and stuffy enviroment of a gym, an alternative might be a simple ancient exercise, that you can do anywhere, in 10 minutes or less: Surya Namaskar. It’s a combination of some Yogic postures, done at a relatively fast pace (no meditation). I have been practising it for 10-15 years, although not very regularly. Hard to clearly define how much has this been beneficial to me. But if the fact that I haven’t fell sick enough to take any medicine in last 10 years or so is anything more than my good luck, then a fair share of credit should go to Surya Namaskar. See if you like it too!
One reason for creating this page is that I found a number of online links on Surya Namaskar, but all of them seem to propose their own thing, and some of them even mess up the breathing rythm which may cause more harm than benefit. So after consulting multiple sources and my own learning and experience with this technique, I have attempted to put together “the” correct protocol to the best of my knowledge. Sarve Santu Niramaya!

On spirituality

I do not believe in God, if the word refers to a super-human who can do magical things, or someone who is controlling everything we do, or someone who deserves to be prayed or worshipped. But at the same time, I do respect the concept of God and worship places like church or temples as places of faith and peace. Great spiritual leaders have used the concept of God as a means of promoting good values among general masses, and I would imagine the world might have been a worse place to live in, had there been no fear of God. I feel that the real God is actually the nature, nothing more and nothing less, and everything follows the simple laws of nature; including the fact that whatever has been created or assembled out of nature will be destroyed or dismantled back into nature, may it be your or me, the WTC towers or the pyramids, the earth or the galaxy. The only constant thing might just be the overall mass+energy (actually only one term if Einstein’s E=mc^2 relation holds) resultant of the whole universe, and the fundamental laws of nature.

The aim of life, I feel is to be happy; happiness I believe comes from satisfaction; and satisfaction may vary with time, with person, with place and with other conditions. When satisfaction, and hence happiness, can come from spending money on various materialistic things, we should do that. But probably there is a saturation level to the satisfaction level that can be achieved through material means. Satisfaction is probably the level of equilibrium between demand and supply; demand is what I want to have, and supply is what I get. And it is generally observed that either demand outpaces supply with time, or the thing becomes so routine that it no longer offer the same levels of satisfaction. Thus one way of being happy, the common way, is to always keep working towards satisfying the new and increasing demands; the other way, the difficult one, is to reduce the demands themselves and have as little needs as possible. A stable and peaceful mind is typically more satisfied, and thus it is also important to keep the mind peaceful.

Bhagwad Gita has suggested the concept of devoting every action and belonging, good or bad, to God. The rationale behnid it, I would imagine, is to provide mental peace and calmness, that is lost when person starts worrying about the results of every action he or she does. I greatly respect Gita and other religious texts, but the problem with these is that their writers have embedded great knowledge in symbolic things like many Gods, rituals etc., probably for the ease of understanding and following by common masses, so I have to sort of decrypt the text while reading.