Don't ever say:
' I can't help myself...'
  every situation
  you can control
  if you believe in yourself

World history
means nothing
to the common person-
each is only interested
in their own life-story

We can't rush through life:
living requires patience
waiting, grit and endurance
there's much discomfort and strife

I should never say:
Let the day inspire me
rather,   let me inspire the day

The heart has desires
that the mind can never understand

Without stillness
there's no mental clarity
people are over-active
they are shrouded in ambiguity

West:  Accumulate

Zen:    Empty yourself

I don't thirst
to be first
unknown and unnoticed
I silently pursue my life-purpose

I can't say
people are unkind
but this I do believe:
selfishness is what drive their each mind

I can't say
people are unkind
but this I believe:
selfishness is what drives their each mind

An ugly word- 'accuse'
   why do you use?
   Do you really have a case?
   On what legitimate ground does it rest?

Every person
     creates their freedom
     or their prison-
     it's an internal phenomenon

It's within---sanity-
     I don't look out to society

Where love is
people neglect
where it's not
they regret

Powerful is the word 'not'
it releases one---it unties the knot

I don't need

my leader to be

myself I accept fully-

I'm free!


To be or seem

a leader for others' eyes?

Wouldn't that be self-surrender

and my sad moral demise?

I don't change myself
to suit life or the world
if I were any time to do so
I'd be worth nothing at all

I'll be as I am, no less, no more
even unnoticed or frowned upon
despite my weaknesses and faults
I'll thrive fully and still be my very own

Human nature is never homogeneous
and this is the rub of life first and foremost:
everyone has to be treated in a different way
to save us and the others from needless dismay

no fixed formulas are available to anyone of us
how the other parties should be addressed
no wonder living with those around causes us so much stress
how often do we find ourselves in such interpersonal mess!

I  don't step into the day
with a view to winning
my role I well know:
myself I should not be failing

for to win is to compete
as though I still lack in self-being
the day is silently  prompting:
'   Focus on your self-flourishing'

The how-to of life
doesn't lie in books
or anyone else's advice
nor in the teachings of the most wise

you're from start to end your own
only you know yourself best
you chart your life-path alone
you don't belong to the rest

you'll traverse the darkest night
and know the terror of the experience
there will be no sign that points to the light
an hour seems a life-sentence

but after having found your exit
you'll. emerge as a new person
the mystery has been unveiled
at last,  your how-to has landed in your hand!

Nature or nurture?
       I'm 49% of the former
       and 51% of the latter-

     nature is linear and  deterministic
     nurture in learning and experiencing
     forges ahead and is always dynamic
     also  there's no standing-still
     from beginning to ending

     whatever nature has endowed me
      is the raw material I need
      to mould into the desired shape
      that will my life harmoniously fit
      made possible by the maturity of nurture
      both I'll never fail to keep

      the two are twins in symbiosis
      they need each other and never compete
      those who segregate them will suffer setbacks
      and their lives will not be complete

Self-understanding is the greatest freedom.

How can anyone
judge me?
I'm not an external
but an internal identity.

Truth
is that which
no one can mute

How can I hide
from myself?
Can a tree rid itself
of its branches
twigs or leaves?
Can I just disappear
leaving my self behind?

The broken pieces
the vanished hopes
are parts of life
and can't be severed-
they remain within
the fabric that makes
a person what he is-
such he has no choice
but to accept in heart and mind

himself he must hold together
all else set aside and despite
then nothing of him will be segmented
and wholesomeness he will ultimately find.

How can I be like yesterday?
The scene has changed
and I'm ****** into a new unknown
challenging me, clinging to my heels
it's as though myself I've to invent

to cope--the past dissolves, loses its grip
and is lifeless, no longer relevant
I've to assume the guise of a new man-

time has spoken and has split open
now is a new world---its contours
images and the people within
are a sea of fresh encounters-
I'm a newcomer, a total stranger
stranded in an incomprehensible  land

who and what will be on my side
to offer a comforting word or lend
a helping hand ?   Here I lonely stand
in a trajectory the language of which
I don't understand!

This is not yet
       harvesting time
       patience you need
       for that which is to come-

      love you can't ever rush
      the seasons do know when to show
      the rose-bud tonight is in slumber
      upon daylight it will cheerfully blow

I prefer steadfastness
      to success

I'm my own
      as life is
      I don't beg
       or beseech

      no ally do I need
      though I'm fragile
      yet I'll not let myself down
      I'll continue to strive

     for to me I owe a duty
     to act freely and in dignity
     I'll not be a mere shadow
     I'll not bow to destiny-

     heroism I never seek
     fame is ephemerality
    if  only I should be true to myself
     I would have lived meaningfully

Myself in time
         I learned and unlearn
         much slicing and adapting
         I know what I can't and can-

        travelling in the tunnel of life
        the darkness into light
        experiencing every moment
        searching my innermost inside-

        things and people
        are not what they seem
        the inescapable lacuna and the nuances
        they are like the images of a dream-

       time in the outside
       more encroaching on my inside
       we are conjoined- I, in reluctance
       there are secrets that I'd rather hide

Over-active
    doesn't achieve
    no forced-action
    has the furthest reach

Life should be lived without having to think of how others regard you-
this is the true measure of your maturity and self-sufficiency

My eyes follow
  the drift of the sea
   it's the hottest summer
   the memory of you
   suddenly flashes back to me
   but too well I know
   you'd no longer remember
   those days of innocent gaiety

   we sat then under the same tree
  where we shared Keats's poetry
  my hand you held tenderly
  and kissed me so passionately :

   'Do not ever leave me
   I'll die for you---surely
   if you were to walk away..'
   your spoke tearfully-

   a decade hence--how time did flee!
  to Cambridge you went to study
  you promised to return after your degree
  but there you stayed on permanently

a telegram reached me before long:
'  Love is a strange thing--I met Henry
    he scored double- first--he promised
    next week to marry me!
    I wish you every happiness
   you'll learn to forget me..'

     A tiny boat is gliding by
     a bird is chirping merrily
      as I watch the slow-moving sea

Life is no easy take
it exists for no one's sake:
our own path we must chart
with fullness of mind and heart

yet mistakes we'll make
and some will continue to plague :
this is the price we pay for being human-
the perennial life-story of every man and woman

My voice is hoarse
  I'm like a bird
that can't sing-
before we parted
my songs of love
you had gladly heard-
you even joined me
in total abandon
without the slightest hesitation-

I can't sing now as before
I know I'd choke if I try
my heart would no longer respond
in brokenness I'd choose to die-

when love-songs I hear anywhere
my ears I'll immediately shut
the past I wish not to resurrect
it'd only break my heart

This is the age
    of angst and rage
    the evil of man
    has exploded
    and morality is dead-
    nations in wars
    and conflicts
    innocent lives
   have been lost
   yet there's no sign
   of pity or remorse-

   the tears of mothers
  and children fill the earth
  the lives of husbands and fathers
  are sacrificed for no worthy cause

  will there be peace?
  Will poor souls be consoled?
  Will love overcome hate?
  Will evil be cut away from its wicked source?

How often is often ?
How seldom is seldom?
How is such measured?
Who has the final opinion?

Do you and I know?
Does it really matter?
Is each to be denied or treasured?
This is ultimately a personal conjecture.

I'm my own,  my alone
I'll decide what suits my character:
the often and seldom of my life
I'll balance -- in the best order

Truth isn't often welcome-
     it lays bare the things
     we shouldn't have done

Once time
you've mastered
everything else
you've conquered

West:   Wrestle

     Zen:     Be settled

The greatest strength
    emerges when everyone
    has walked away from you
    leaving you alone to your battle-
   your every ounce of energy
   you'll harness to overcome the obstacle
   you'd never met before

To walk away from yourself
  is the greatest  cowardice-
you've nothing left at all
not even the tiniest moral piece

Your deepest sorrow overcome
  makes you the true hero:
  look not to historical figures
  nothing else outside would you need to know

Understanding the 'what'
       is the zenith of living-art

We are all different
   each has to find their 'how'
   living life has no fixed formula
   not in the past nor in the future
   surely too, not in the now

Put aside the why
   all that life is
   is to be endured and lived
   some problems will always persist

When
would you
get even
with life
and move on
beyond
angst and strife?

If you know the truth
why would you want
to be understood?

Not the world-
but yourself
which is the  cause
of the greatest trouble

If with yourself
you steadfastly stay
nothing of you
can be taken away