Title: MAYA: Lifting the Veil
Author: AMAR B. SINGH
Genre: Poetry
Book Blurb:
Thousands of years later, Krishna and Arjuna meet again in the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Arjuna finds himself in a new battle – that with the virus…
The bravest of warriors is helpless against nature and seeks some fundamental answers from the Creator himself...
With his son dead, will Arjuna listen to the Lord and get over his grief or, have times changed...Written in verses, the poetry takes to the human experience of life and the basic quest of understanding how life works and why... The impossible task of knowing God's mind...
Excerpt:
‘I heard there’s a virus
Killing human beings
What do I do but…?
Have to feed my kids!’
‘No, the world cannot just stop
Not like this…
I don’t have a bank balance
And, I have kids!’
His wife came forward
Smiled weakly and said,
‘Let’s move forward’,
She touched his head.
The night sky their shelter
They rested under a tree
Food wasn’t forthcoming
Survival wasn’t free…
The boy was close now to the father’s heart
Fever wasn’t the word, like coal he burnt
Arjun couldn’t do much, except hope his sweat
Cooled his son down and now, the falling tears…
He was his favorite son, he thought
Always waiting for him, stars in his eyes
When he reached home, made him feel an emperor
Lost his frustrations, in the company of his son dear…
But, today was another day, this hour
The night wasn’t the time they said,
To reach the night shelter…
He sat under the old oak tree
Only God provides, he thought,
At all times, a shelter free…
The son kept burning
Until the sun was burning…
There was the need for some registration
Before the child got medical attention…
He was ‘positive’, they said
The virus, the poor child did infect
‘While we take care of him in the ICU
You’ve to stay in quarantine, nothing you can do!’
The nurse, she came walking out
She must’ve seen many cases, without doubt
She moved her head, right to left
Then back to the right…
Indicating the child was gone,
Before a bed they could find!
Arjun looked at his wife, she looked lost
Staring as if, at some mid-air spot
Shortly afterwards, he realized shock was better!
The shock gone; memories kicked in…
The sorrow storm clouds gathered much faster!
What’s this world, dear Lord?
Are you really there? Are you the God!
Why the pain? Why to only some?
Why not clarify the rules of the game!
You never said anything… You didn’t ask
Sent me to the world, take away in cask
I’m fed up! This body I’ll kill
You are the creator, but I’ve my will!
This is my warning! Answer me now!
Hide n seek you play, mercilessly how!
Why should it happen to us?
Resentment and anger, in his voice.
Tears beginning to fill his eyes
Trickling now down his cheeks…
We were good to our son
He was joyous, mischievous
Brought him up so carefully
His face always, seemed ready to laugh!
We planned a rich life for him
His joy always flowing above the brim…
Has been too much for me,
For my ranting, please excuse me!
Only a few days ago
He was playing, joyfully shouting
Now he is gone forever
God, you indeed, are so cruel!
Why should it happen to us?
I have been honest, led a decent life
Loved my wife, loved the son even more…
He’s gone now, my life is an empty thing!
Life is ugly, life is meaningless
Sobbing he said, full of bitterness!
Krishna said:
Comfort is one thing, truth another
They lead away from each other
Seeking comfort, is seeking security
A satisfactory explanation, a comforting belief
Puts you soothingly to sleep…
But there is no comfort lasting
Back on your door, will be life knocking
That knocking, the awakening, is sorrow
Will come back, today or tomorrow!
Your mind can generate any state you desire
To find out the truth though, is a different matter…
Who in his right senses
Would want to cultivate bitterness
Karma is the determining cause
By past actions, the future is fixed
As you sow, so shall you reap
Through the chain of cause and effect,
All the world happens, has its being!
Is effect though, separate from the cause?
Is there a gap between them, is there a pause?
If cause and effect are constants
There’s no freedom for man, destiny is the destination!
Your mind need not be held
Can free yourself from the effects
Not get bound to follow the cause
Start with a blank slate, take a pause!
Your yesterday shapes your today
Your today shapes tomorrow
A wrong means can’t get a right end
One contains the other, the means is the end
Your thoughts become actions, do you see
The seed it’s not, it is the tree!
Do you have time, Lord?
I have many questions.
I am not convinced
Want to reach an outcome…
#
Do I have time! God laughed
I’m timeless, do you understand?
When you wear green glasses
You see only green?
With your mind, your orientation,
You can’t see the unseen!
Time exists in me,
As even space does
What do you want to know?
Am caught by your focus…
#
Arjun said:
You say your rules
Are the same, demon or sage
Why, I can’t agree at all
Have seen you influence
Have seen you participate!
Buy Link:
What’s your favorite way to combat stress?
Self-awareness, meditation.
Why is your featured book a stress busting read?
Seeing how life works is the best way to bust stress. We have several ways to be full of sorrow and stress but the solution is only one – the realization of who we are. My book deals with one such situation and helps the reader see the fact.
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Open internationally.
Runs May 1 – June 3.
Drawing will be held on June 4.
Author Biography:
Born in Jamshedpur, India, in 1979, Amar B. Singh grew up in the township of Telco Colony. His early schooling was at the Chinmaya Vidyalaya which helped shape his interest in Hindu Vedanta philosophy. In 1997, he went to Bihar Institute of Technology, where he studied metallurgical engineering. He went to XLRI, Jamshedpur for his MBA and studied finance and strategy for his major areas. He later added the LLB degree to his educational qualifications.
He worked across areas of finance, marketing and strategy but he refuses to brand and limit himself to any name or function, that can define him. This existential question of who we are, remains his essential point across all his writings.
About his own work, Amar has said that he is helping create conditions for a more perceptive society – a society that doesn’t live blind. His poems and narratives have the ancient wisdom of religion and culture embroidered together with the context of the modern day. The early influences on him, of the great epics, run like a thread through all that he writes.
Amar’s interest areas lie in philosophy, psychology, religion, and more specifically, into the concept of human existence w.r.t space and time. He sees science and religion as two sides of the same coin. In his own words, “a non-scientific person cannot be truly religious, and a non-religious person will never know beyond the known sciences.”
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