... and the Beauty killed the Beast

"Sundara jinisa ra abasada nahi,

jete dekhu thile nua lagu thai!!"

- A thing of beauty is joy forever.. the more you see, still more there is!!

"Roj maraa ki zindagi" is usually mundane, boring, repetitive, uneventful. You see the same old stuff that you see everyday and it doesn't even register in your mind. There is no distinguishable factor between any two given days. Then one fine day out of the blue you "see" something and its beauty leaves you spellbound. The image sticks to your brain. You stare agape at it as if your life depended on it.

You realize how one beautiful thing can make everything else look beautiful too. You feel its radiant glow in everything. Someone said beauty is only skin deep. But you realize that that someone was wrong. A really beautiful thing has beauty to its core. Its the beauty that Kabir saw in God, its what Nader Shah saw in Koh-i-noor, its what science saw in E=mc2, its what killed the King Kong, its what there is in those kohled brown eyes.

You try to consume this beauty in your mind but you remain hungry for more. You try to describe it but words fail you. You wish you were a poet only if to describe that majestic beauty. You are not. So you take help from well-known poets by plagiarizing their work.

Who gave thee, O Beauty!

The keys of this breast,

Too credulous lover

Of blest and unblest?

Say when in lapsed ages

Thee knew I of old;

Or what was the service

For which I was sold?

When first my eyes saw thee,

I found me thy thrall,

By magical drawings,

Sweet tyrant of all!

.....

All that's good and great with thee

Stands in deep conspiracy.

Thou hast bribed the dark and lonely

To report thy features only,

And the cold and purple morning

Itself with thoughts of thee adorning,

The leafy dell, the city mart,

Equal trophies of thine art,

E'en the flowing azure air

Thou hast touched for my despair,

And if I languish into dreams,

Again I meet the ardent beams.

Queen of things! I dare not die

In Being's deeps past ear and eye,

Lest there I find the same deceiver,

And be the sport of Fate forever.

Dread power, but dear! if God thou be,

Unmake me quite, or give thyself to me.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

chehra ek phool ki tarah shadaab hai

chehra usaka hai ya koyi mehtaab hai

chehra jaise ghazal, chehra janey ghazal

chehra jaise kali, chehra jaise kanval

chehra jaise tasavar bhee, tasveer bhee

chehra ek khawab bhee, chehra taaber bhee

chehra koyi alif laila kee dastan

chehra ek pal yakin, chehra ek pal guman

chehra jaisa ke chehra kahin bhi nahi

mahru mahru mehjabin mehjabin

......

ankhen dekhi toh main dekhta rah gaya

jam do aur dono hee du atesha

ankhen ya maikade ki duab hain

ankhen inko kahu, ya kahu khawab hain

ankhen nichi huyi toh haya ban gayi

ankhen unchi huyi toh duwa ban gayi

ankhen uthakar jhuki to ada ban gayi

ankhen jhukakar uthi toh kada ban gayi

ankhen jinme hain asman aur jamin

nargisi nargisi surmayi surmayi

.....

zulf-e-jana ki bhi lambi hai dastan

zulf ki mare dil par hai perchayiya

zulf jaise ke umadi huyi ho ghata

zulf jaise ke ho koyi kali bala

zulf uljhi toh duniya pareshan ho

zulf suljhi to yeh din asan ho

zulf bikhri siyah rat chane lagi

zulf lehraye toh rat jane lagi

zulf zanjeer hai phir bhi hai kitni hasin

rashmi rashmi ambari ambari

- Hasrat Jaipuri

Dekh kar tumko yakeen hota hai,

Koi itna bhi haseen hota hai,

Dekh paate hain kahan hum tumko,

Dil kahin hosh kahin hota hai.

- Nida Fazli

And lo, the beast looked upon the face of beauty, and beauty stayed his hand. And from that day forward, he was as one dead.

- Carl Denham

... and still you are not satisfied... still there is so more to say.. still....

Hinduism To Hindutva

First there was nothing. Then there was God. He then created the whole universe with just pure will. He said "Let there be light" and there was light. ..... On the 6th day He created Man, from dust, in his own image. He asked His angels to bow before His best creation. All but one bowed. The angel claimed himself to be superior to man as he was created from fire; and he could bow down only to the One.. God himself.. and no one else. God obviously got angry and dispelled him off heaven. The angel while departing asked for a last request. God asked what. He said now that you have created man, he'll need some rules to live by. God said you hate man.. how can I let you make the rules for him. The angel replied I am not asking to make the rules.. I am just asking that neither will You. Let man make his own rule. God agreed, the angel, whose name was Satan, left heaven - smiling.

Quoting Old Testament in a blog about Hinduism?? The point is.. Man and his rules.. which today we know by the name of Religion.

Now somewhere around 12000 years ago (the age here is scientific.. if we follow mythology we'll surpass even the birth of universe i guess) a new set of rules were written.. by man.. for man. The Vedas and Upanisads. And Hinduism was born. Contrary to popular belief it wasnt a "religion" per se. It was a way of life. It taught how to live. (The use of past tense is voluntary. Will come to that later)

Hinduism

Objective of Life :-

dharma "righteousness",

artha "livelihood",

kāma "sensual pleasure" and

mokṣa "liberation"

Ways to get there:-

Bhakti Yoga (the path of love and devotion),

Karma Yoga (the path of right action),

Rāja Yoga (the path of meditation),

Jñāna Yoga (the path of wisdom)

Concept of GOD :-

Monotheism (there is only one God),

Polytheism (there are many Gods and Goddesses),

Panentheism (God is present in every particle),

Pantheism (God is the supreme-most),

Monism (All Gods are really one),

Henotheistic (My God is true and so is everybody else's) and

Atheism (There is no God).

[All the above are Hinduism-accepted concepts. Thats why a theologian called it "Hinduisms"]

So you see.. even if you did NOT believe in God.. it was OK.. you were still accepted. That was how broad minded Hinduism was. For a change.. Man had got it right.

But now.. Hinduism is dead.. replaced by Hindutva. The Hindutva of RSS, of VHP, of BJP, of Narendra Modi. This particular book of rules teaches to hate others, kill others. The book teaches how shitty every other religion is. This teaches to deceive the same people whom you claim to be representing. This makes you exactly what Satan expected.

But Modi is being questioned now for the riots. Maybe its too implausibly optimistic to believe that justice will be done. Maybe its too fantastical to hope he'll get what he deserves. But still people know what he is.. and what his party and alliances stand for. Maybe karma will catch up with them. Maybe Hinduism will resurrect and Hindutva will die. Maybe someday people will remember the thing they already know. Just maybe.