Remake Me

I am not born to

flow like a rivulet

collecting canker and dirt
in smelly choked flow

losing my energy

on rocks and stones.

Why didn't you make me

Saraswati reborn in grace?

I would have flown

long and wide winding

bending, feeding man

for long centuries moving

towards the glow

of civilization.

Birds, creepers would have

grown big and forest like

vast fruity bountiful,

but you have made me

a lingering half stream dying

before knowing my end.

I am not dead yet

still lingering in the desert

you created around me

I am still pure, sweet and limpid

come bathe in me and see

how I will make the desert green

my immortal flow will compel

you to shift your abode

covering me on either side.

Sabita Sahu

Religion in India is Divisive

Prafulla Kumar Mohanty

Religion is the opium for  the damned - said Bernard Shaw. But hardly anyone agreed. Centuries have gone by. Science and rational ideas have changed many a mindset. Despite Descartes and Secularism blind faith has swept the world. Superstitions and ritualistic practices have enslaved men and women of all faiths. Temples and Mosques are destroyed only to be built again. The aggressors and believers in different faith systems come to a clash for which any odd thing is provocation enough to fight, kill and burn the works of centuries. Countries where the population believes in one religious faith do not have any real conflict to worry about. Those are states with one God regimen. The others are theocratic states where minorities lose their identities in no time. The Muslims and Christians never see eye to eye on anything. The clash  of Civilizations is an unpalatable reality in the modern world.  The Islamic State , inspired by religious persuasion, has during the past thirty years, done more harm to civilization than wars. Hatemongers roam the world without fear. But India is in an undeclared crisis after the creation of the Islamic State of Pakistan - a state carved out of greater India in 1947 along religious lines. The British for their own amusing mischief supported the two nation theory and made partition of India a Trozan Horse of a parting gift. India a Hindu majority state has more than 16 percent of Muslims and the two communities are never at peace with each other. Religion instead of being a uniting factor has now become a dividing energy which is more carnal than spiritual. The world too is in a state  of unease only because of religion. Should we now not question the veracity of religion? Does man need religion today.

Religion is a system of moral practices inspired by human incomprehension of the  larger world of nature around. Since the human condition is so very painful religion promises to relieve that pain. The limitations of man, his weakness, fear  and uncertainties of the morrow have an assured counter in religion. A passive surrender to an Almighty gives some confidence to face the real challenges of life. But the Gurus or the interpreters of religion do some clever fearmongering only to collect a large number of supporters  and use them as a power group. This power starts with spirituality but practically it becomes a political power to consolidate empires. During the last two centuries science has given man more power to heal and kill.  These gifts of science too are now used by the religious 'dictators'. The state, even if it is democratic exploits the beliefs of the people by adaptation or promise of protection.

Therefore we see more temples and mosques, longer queues in temple, more faith business and more money for the states. All our places of religious worship are all veritable hotels. The temple cities are tourists hubs. And now modern night life is created in a big way  to attract more tourists. Is it ever possible to separate religion from our socio- political life? Could we isolate the Vatican, the Kaba, Jagannath temple, Ram Mandir from the state management ethics of present day politics? The answer is No. But what is the reality, especially in India?

India stands divided by votebank politics for the groups of different faiths fight for power-not spiritual but political . India being a democracy religious freedom is guaranteed by the constitution and that freedom is exploited by power groups. All parties agree that religion should not be mixed with politics. They swear by a secular Constitution and practice votebank politics. The majority in Indian population believes in the Constitution, freedom of choice and expression and free market economy. But the political minorities create all confusion. Religious identity of  the turban and topi has made the Indian society chaotic. All institutions, the police, bureaucracy , courts of law and other branches of civil administration, even the army is powered by religion. Politicians openly support religious groups and everything is questioned on religious lines. Is it now time to think of "banning" all religions to private spaces?

In the now world one small Island country, Iceland, has demonstrated to the world that  society, civilization and political administration can be  safely made vibrant without religion. One may worship whatever faith he/ she has but it shall not be recognised in the administrative process of civilizational management and progress. India badly needs a similar political attitude. Let people go to their temples, mosques or clubs but that should not invade public space. Can the Indian Parliament pass  such a law as Iceland did? I know it is easier said than done but it must be done to save the Indian society. Science should predominate education, all religious festivals and processions should be banned, there should be one uniform civil code and no citizen will mention religion in any kind of form. The identity of an Indian should be Male/ Female and nothing else. Does anyone have the gumption to enforce it in  India?

Insanity

Prafulla Kumar Mohanty

Often people ask how can a true human being retain his sanity in this mad mad world? Whenever I hear  such a question I doubt whether the question is merely a rhetorical  expression of a confused mind or a statement made unthinkingly just to make  a conversation move directionless into abstractions. For who is a true being.  And how is this zillions year old world  mad? If the world is created to grow and move along  time's uncharted course with a purpose to reach a definite goal, the mater is different. But if this is a 'mad mad' world how could a 'being' decipher the mad elements being a part of it for some time- say a hundred or less or more years? If a being fails to retain his sanity is the world at fault or the so called being  fails  to come to terms with his reality which in any case is a partial perception of the totality as the being's movements both physical and mental, are spatio-temporally limited. One may call this hair-splitting. But is it not true  that sanity is an inner accord of all inborn qualities ? A man is born with a body ( machine) which is operated by mind and heart: The other parts are built around them to function in a rational manner . If  man is a rational animal his rationality is shaped and formed by nature- society and the unseen unpredictable happenings which shock man to ponder the energies impalpably present in the world of eye and ear. A rational man is never stuck at any point. His perceptions are seldom synecdochic.  He may generalise on particulars but does not particularize although to " Particularize is the alone mark of distinction" as William Blake opined. All particularities and generalities are sorted out by human observation and these observations are the components of a rational view of the world. This is human sanity.

What is insanity then ? When a person fails to assimilate and analyse the insanitary events and things , the incongruous and unfamiliar things into a meaningful whole related to life and experience he gets stuck at a point of incomprehension. His mind fails to control the psychosomatic system. His words, actions, movements become erratic and out of sync with what we call  normal rational behaviour. We call such persons insane, mad and lunatic. A man who fails to win the love of a woman at times goes 'mad'. People laugh at him and say - see what a fool this man is ! There are  so many woman in the  world if one ditches you, you ditch ten, well, the lover is a rare specimen. He finds his world, purpose and meaning of life in one woman. He cannot find substitutes for his love does not compromise or settle for less. Would you call him mad, insane? Was Hamlet  mad? I would have called Hamlet mad, had he eloped with Ophelia. Insanity is at times a poetic  frenzy where the world seems to be too small before his love. What will you call Harry and Meghan who have forsaken royalty to seek out their own identities? They are saner than the others. Diana was insane for she moved out of the charmed world of royalty to seek forbidden pleasures.

There are exceptional people who relinquish power and the mundane luxuries to find out their society. They have the right to ask the question with which I have begun this piece. Was Alexander Fleming insane to work in a ramshackle openwindowed room to save wounded soldiers? Insanity has different connotations. We have clinical insanity where the mind has congenital defects or induced defects because of a weak nervous system. But where the mind searches for ways and means of changing the state and fate of man and behaves abnormally we have to pause and think before calling them mad. Einstein, Nietzsche, Romeo, Dr Schwitzer and  Newton were all mad to keep humanity sane . Some politicians like Vajpayee, Churchill, Mao Tse Deng  were mad to change the society and put man on a higher order. Rousseau, Lincoln and Marx were mad but their madness was  Super-rational. They thought not of themselves but of the rest of humanity.  The creative  artists is always irrational and insane for they follow a different order of nature  to change the society for the good of man.

Sanity is a balance of contrarian values proportionately harmonized to avoid extremes either way. They never try to reach the moon, never spend sleepless nights imagining heavenly grace with their beloveds. They are homeopathic men and women who worry  how to get more from petty lives. They never dream of giving things in word or deed. They generalize like idiots to particularize and  hold he value aloft as a beacon for man is not in their mind or heart. The genius is often called insane but how true and beautiful is that insanity which gives a turn to the drab routine of history!

Shadow Play

If I am the universe for you-

You see in me the sun, moon, stars

the valleys,  the mountains

and cascades of beauty

the sound of silence

in equal measures,

where do you find me then?

I am like the wind

embracing you

I am the light

illumining your mind

goading and pushing you

to conquer other worlds.

But you ask me to speak

and  play in reverse rhythms

to match your fancy,

Why?

We are in eternal union

we play with words

a shadow play for our

fights and mystic joys,

I know  I am your whole 

which you fill up with love.

Sabita Sahu

Never Say Die

Prafulla Kumar Mohanty

Man is not born for defeat, neither for guaranteed victory but he fights on to survive, grow and prosper. In the last forty five  Centuries man has evolved from the unicellular amoeba to his present space suit only by his desire not to give up. In the last ten thousand years he has consolidated his victories for sure and because of his ingenious invention of agriculture has multiplied himself to occupy most of the earth. Man cannot cease from mental fight, wrote William Blake, and he has not ceased ever. He fought with existential fears and also spiritual fears. Defeated he was million times in his fight against hunger, disease and fear but he fought on to conquer in most areas to a great extent. He now controls nature  to a large extent, his other survival fears of disease and war too are manageable: But is he a victor? A victor of course has no finality. Permanent victory is always meaningless. Man's greatest challenge is now Man. We are now numerous unimaginably and everyman in his own way fights intellectually with the elements in such a manner that he makes the biosphere tremble. Humans have produced weapons which can destroy the human race ten times over. His new pet of this century is the AI- Artificial Intelligence - which can control the most intelligent to do its bidding. In the name of progress we have ruined the environment which had sustained the race over the centuries. We have made the climate change which we now experience can extinct us without an epitaph. So are we victors or victims of our own megalomaniac selves.

We are now in such a state that to celebrate our ' victory' would be blasphemous: but to acknowledge our defeat too is unmanly. In fact man has never acknowledged defeat even in the face of extinction or degenerate ruin. After the Archangel became the creeping Serpent under the Victor God's wrath, he did not surrender. " What though  the field he lost, All is not lost - the inconquerable will" writes John Milton. Adam did not apologize, never begged for  mercy. Man is too wilful to surrender, too proud to give up. Churchill in his memoire of the great War writes: In victory magnanimity, in defeat defiance. Man defies danger, destitution and death. He is not necessarily  magnanimous in victory but he is certainly defiant in defeat. After the death of Achilles in the Trozan War Ulysses comments- With the death of Achilles gone is Greek courage but not Greek cunning . Man devises deviant ways to reconquer. The ways may be demeaning but to accept defeat is death which man will never accept. People die fighting till the last breath. Abhimanyu fought the mighty warriors who surrounded him defying all military rules of the time, he knew that he could not defeat the seven great chariot warriors but he fought till his body fell inert on the Kurukshetra battle field. We celebrate even that defeat as a heroic feat. Death is a crowning glory for a man who does not turn his back. This is the glory of man; he rises after every fall, returns with the fury of  a wave to strike again. This is true of all battle fields. When Paris runs away from the field to the arms of Helen, she too chastises him: For it is  a shame to her feminine pride to embrace a coward who chose survival over heroic death. Man's 'this never say die will power' is seen not only in the tented fields but in every sphere of human activity.

In the social sphere we use ' failure' as a substitute for defeat.  A Surgeon tries to save life and uses all ingenuity to its epitonic limits. Raphael drew a perfect circle without using an instrument after several failures. Even Shakespeare must have failed for  words in spite of his genius. Madame Bovary was revised 39 times. A starlet in the film industry becomes a star after several C grade performances. A teacher-scholar devotes his time and energy to earn a reputation. A scientist never admits failure: he is at his project till his emaciated body springs up with eureka one day. The politician too fights his battles till victory saves his name. There are some apolitical people who fight elections without ever winning once: They defy all personal and situational logic. All this is true of our species for failure is death. This fear of death keeps alive the flame of defiance. Even housewives go on experimenting with their culinary art to reach the heart of men through their palates.

Defeat or failure shrinks the soul.  Man feels he is not worth anything. He puts in all his efforts to succeed. But the philosophical question is what is the meaning of success? We may say that man wishes to make his temporary sojourn on earth meaningful by showing or demonstrating his capabilities which may be beneficial to others. In lone cases the individual wishes to satisfy his own ego. Therefore those who ring the bell once and turn away are not true humans. Your victory over sky and earth may  not be  worth anything ; your knowledge may turn effete after five years but you must always strive to win. You should know that no glory, no record is permanent and it may not be worthwhile. With all our knowledge, science and technology we have not been able to put out the Australian Bushfire. But we must try and try straining every muscle to put defeat at bay.

Break The Mirror

Who is not scared  of the mirror?

It exposes the mind

reveals dark secrets

in pores and bumps

the skin cracks and

colours fade

Time conspires with the mirror

to add to your fright.

It's not possible to ask

like the legendary Princess

who is more beautiful than me?

Why do you need a mirror

to  tell you what you are

and what you will be?

There is no magic in mirror

it always chimes with your

wishes often exposing

the lies to your make up:

You are not what the mirror shows

your mind is your mirror

your action is your image

your goal is your soul

break the mirror and

be what you are!

Sabita Sahu

Born At A Wrong Time.

When I came here

I thought

I am of the same species

as the others are

but am I ?
I see -

the creeping sophisticated
specimen elongate their hands,

the lovers betray every moment

the kings and rulers

who put their conscience

in the boxes and treasury-

I am  not of that species,

I am a human being with

a mind, soul and a heart

Yes- I know-

Pure gold.

Is this the place destined for me-
the human jungle,
where nature is beastly
What will I do here?
I came here with love-
love here is synthetic,
truth runs away
with a question mark,
but I will fulfill my destiny
create and worship everything
with truth and love.
They will beat me? - Let them
They will kill me ? - Let them
My death will be a sacrifice
to reestablish the species
for posterity to adore.

Sabita Sahu