We Do Not
We do not get a human life
Just for the asking.
Birth in a human body
Is the reward for good deeds
In former births.
Life waxes and wanes imperceptibly,
It does not stay long.
The leaf that has once fallen
Does not return to the branch.
Behold the Ocean of Transmigration.
With its swift, irresistible tide.
O Lal Giridhara, O pilot of my soul,
Swiftly conduct my barque to the further shore.
Mira is the slave of Lal Giridhara.
She says: Life lasts but a few days only.
Related quotes
I will sing the praises of Hari
We do not get a human life
Just for the asking.
Birth in a human body
Is the reward for good deeds
In former births.
Life waxes and wanes imperceptibly,
It does not stay long.
The leaf that has once fallen
Does not return to the branch.
Behold the Ocean of Transmigration.
With its swift, irresistible tide.
O Lal Giridhara, O pilot of my soul,
Swiftly conduct my barque to the further shore.
Mira is the slave of Lal Giridhara.
She says: Life lasts but a few days only.
Life in the world is short,
Why shoulder an unnecessary load
Of worldly relationships?
Thy parents gave thee birth in the world,
But the Lord ordained thy fate.
Life passes in getting and spending,
No merit is earned by virtuous deeds.
I will sing the praises of Hari
In the company of the holy men,
Nothing else concerns me.
Mira's Lord is the courtly Giridhara,
She says: Only by Thy power
Have I crossed to the further shore.
Life In The World Is Short
Life in the world is short,
Why shoulder an unnecessary load
Of worldly relationships?
Thy parents gave thee birth in the world,
But the Lord ordained thy fate.
Life passes in getting and spending,
No merit is earned by virtuous deeds.
I will sing the praises of Hari
In the company of the holy men,
Nothing else concerns me.
Mira's Lord is the courtly Giridhara,
[Translated by A.J. Alston]
The Rainy Season
The rainy season is abroad
And the skirt of my dress is wet.
You have gone off to distant lands,
And my heart finds it unbearable.
I keep sending letters to my Beloved
Asking when He will return.
Mira's Lord is the courtly Giridhara:
O Krishna, O Brother of Balram,
Grant me thy sight.
Sonnet: To God, All Men Are Alike
Which human life is superior in cost?
Which human blood is royal all along?
Which human breed has been always foremost?
Which human voice has sung world's most hit-song?
Nothing can be for long, the best, purest;
All human lives are equal 'fore God's eyes;
Reward/punishment of God is fairest;
Can God be God if He should reward vice?
Like pendulum, our life keeps swinging forth;
And see-saw-like, we have our ups and downs;
Despite iniquities, living is worth;
A circus-show has many, also clowns.
Never look down upon another life,
Lest angered God serves us enormous strife.
poem by John Celes
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I Danced Before My Giridhara
I danced before my Giridhara.
Again and again I dance
To please that discerning critic,
And put His former love to the test.
I put on the anklets
Of the love of Shyam,
And behold! My Mohan stays true.
Worldly shame and family custom
I have cast to the winds.
I do not forget the beauty of the Beloved
Even for an instant.
Mira is dyed deeply in the dye of Hari.
Only He Knows the Bitterness of Love
Only he knows the bitterness of love
Who has deeply felt its pangs.
When you are in trouble
No one comes near you:
When fortune smiles.
All come to share the joy.
Love shows no external wound.
But the pain pervades every pore
Devotee Mira offers her body
As a sacrifice to Giridhara for ever.
[Translated by A.J. Alston]
Strange Is The Path When You Offer Love
Do not mention the name of love,
O my simple-minded companion.
Strange is the path
When you offer your love.
Your body is crushed at the first step.
If you want to offer love
Be prepared to cut off your head
And sit on it.
Be like the moth,
Which circles the lamp and offers its body.
Be like the deer, which, on hearing the horn,
Offers its head to the hunter.
Be like the partridge,
Which swallows burning coals
In love of the moon.
Be like the fish
Which yields up its life
When separated from the sea.
Be like the bee,
Entrapped in the closing petals of the lotus.
Mira's lord is the courtly Giridhara.
She says: Offer your mind
To those lotus feet.
O my mind
O my mind,
Worship the lotus feet of the Indestructible One!
Whatever thou seest twixt earth and sky
Will perish.
Why undertake fasts and pilgrimages?
Why engage in philosophical discussions?
Why commit suicide in Banaras?
Take no pride in the body,
It will soon be mingling with the dust.
This life is like the sporting of sparrows,
It will end with the onset of night.
Why don the ochre robe
And leave Home as a sannyasi?
Those who adopt the external garb of a Jogi,
But do not penetrate to the secret,
Are caught again in the net of rebirth.
Mira's Lord is the courtly Giridhara.
Deign to sever, O Master.
All the knots in her heart.
The Celestial Pilot. (From Dante. Purgatorio, II.)
And now, behold! as at the approach of morning,
Through the gross vapors, Mars grows fiery red
Down in the west upon the ocean floor,
Appeared to me,-- may I again behold it!--
A light along the sea, so swiftly coming,
Its motion by no flight of wing is equalled.
And when therefrom I had withdrawn a little
Mine eyes, that I might question my conductor,
Again I saw it brighter grown and larger.
Thereafter, on all sides of it, appeared
I knew not what of white, and underneath,
Little by little, there came forth another.
My master yet had uttered not a word,
While the first whiteness into wings unfolded;
But, when he clearly recognized the pilot,
He cried aloud : 'Quick, quick, and bow the knee!
Behold the Angel of God! fold up thy hands!
Henceforward shalt thou see such officers!
See, how he scorns all human arguments,
So that no oar he wants, nor other sail
Than his own wings, between so distant shores!
See, how he holds them, pointed straight to heaven,
Fanning the air with the eternal pinions,
That do not moult themselves like mortal hair!'
And then, as nearer and more near us came
The Bird of Heaven, more glorious he appeared,
So that the eye could not sustain his presence,
But down I cast it; and he came to shore
With a small vessel, gliding swift and light,
So that the waters swallowed nought thereof.
Upon the stern stood the Celestial Pilot!
Beatitude seemed written on his face!
And more than a hundred spirits sat within
'
In exitu Israel de AEgypto!
'
Thus sang they all together in one voice,
With whatso in that Psalm is after written.
Then made he sight of holy rood upon them,
Whereat all cast themselves upon the shore,
And he departed swiftly as he came.
poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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Days
- Album: Reality
- Lyrics and music by David Bowie
Hold me tight
Keep me cool
Going mad
Don't know what to do
Do I need a friend?
Well I need one now
All the days of my life
All the days of my life
All the days I owe you
All I've done
I've done for me
All you gave
You gave for free
I gave nothing in return
And theres little left of me
All the days of my life
All the days of my life
All the days I owe you
With redeyed pain I'm knocking on your door again
My crazy brain in tangles pleading for your gentle voice
Those storms keep pounding through my faded heart
I'll play your sooth my sorry soul
All the days of my life
(All the days of my life)
All the days of my life
(All the days of my life)
All the days I owe you
All the days of my life
(All the days of my life)
All the days of my life
(All the days of my life)
All the days I owe you
All the days of my life
(All the days of my life)
All the days of my life
(All the days of my life)
All the days I owe you
All the days of my life
song performed by by David Bowie
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A New leaf
There’s a new leaf upon the Tree
A thousand, thousand have been before
In the life of this great tree
Yet, the Tree rejoices, and is glad
For there is a New Leaf upon the tree
The roots are deep, and hidden
Tis one tree from root to branch
And lives in and through each leaf
The hearts’ smile resurrected
Through the New leaf upon the tree
Like the stars of heaven
New leaves have been many
And so they all are One
For they all share the same root
Bless the New leaf upon the tree
Perfection in the Blessing
Joy released in tears of love
The strength in life will comfort
From root to God above
A New leaf upon the tree
Beauty, Truth, and life
Complete from root to branch
When life’s cycle turns
Leaves fall to nourish roots
And behold, a New leaf upon the tree
poem by Adrian Wait
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Strange Are The Decrees Of Fate
Strange are the decrees of fate.
Behold the large eyes of the deer!
Yet he is forced to roam the forests.
The harsh crane has brilliant plumage,
While the sweet-voiced cuckoo is black.
The rivers flow in pure streams,
But the sea makes them salt.
Fools sit on thrones as kings,
While the wise beg their bread.
Mira's lord is the courtly Giridhara:
The king persecutes the Bhaktas.
[From 'The devotional poems of Mirabai' and translated by A.J. Alston]
Just Three Days
Ah life
For what are all these fights
While we live for few whiles
What for are our fights
We are like butterflies
Our existence is just for Whiles We are strangers passengers across roads of life
What for broken hearts
How long lasts our lives
Why lovers become strangers
Why all these wars
If Life lasts just whiles
For love we die thousands times
And yet we spend lifetime trying to find
A shelter to survive
And our lives flies just in whiles
Nothing is eternal in this world
Just the prints of our feet
The Provence of our deeds eternally survives
We are just innocent butterflies
Who's life lasts just while
Three days lastour lives than we pass
When or how no one of us ever knows
Just the prints of our steps stay there
Even when we are gone.
poem by Sossi Khachadourian
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A Human Body
Words and music by roger taylor
They were talking in whispers
In bear skins and fur
Captain scott and his heroes to be
To have laboured so long
To have made it this far
Ooh its been such a long ride
Ooh you know its been a long way
For a human human human
For a human body you see
Can you believe it happens?
Now it happens here
Do you believe do you believe or really care
Can you believe it happens?
Now it happens here
To a human human
With a human body you see
There aint nobody gets out of this moonlight
Today is surprisingly fair
Oh oh oh oh woo woo
Weve got problems the lone ranger cant fix
The invisible man couldnt see
It takes a tough guy
To learn some new tricks
Ooh it takes such a long time
Ooh its been such a long way
For a human human human
For a human body you see
Can you believe it happens?
Now it happens here
Do you believe do you believe or really care
Can you believe it happens?
Now it happens here
To a human human
With a human body you see
You know its been such a long while
Its been such a long while
Takes such a long time
It takes such a long time
Its been such a long way
Been such a long way
Its been such a long while
Been such a long while
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah!
Its gonna be a long ride
song performed by by Queen
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Dagger
The dagger of love has pierced my heart.
I was going to the river to fetch water,
A golden pitcher on my head.
Hariji has bound me
By the thin thread of love,
And wherever He draws me,
Thither I go.
Mira's Lord is the courtly Giridhara:
This is the nature
Of his dark and beautiful form.
Life Is A Circle.
It isa circle, from birth
To death ending up in cries,
Of arrival and departure,
The soul may even go round
In cirle frm deat to birth
In another for the cycle
to continue as believed
In the eadt as per
Our deeds entering
The cycle like animnals,
Birds, other beings,
Keeping the soul in tact,
So we must be careful
As per the myth to do
Good deeds only,
To rebirth again as humans,
Though to be battered
By our own emotions,
And suffer through human life cycle.
Ravikiran Arakkal
poem by Ravikiran Arakkal
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Embryonic Homicide
Life is same, no matter young or old;
Life is precious, more than silver, gold;
Life isn’t commodity that is sold;
Life’s from God, not from this nasty world!
Alike is life in children and adults;
Alike is life ‘in utero’, ‘ex womb’;
Alike is life of born and that unborn;
All human lives are equal before God.
All human beings are in God’s semblance;
Each body gets a soul that everlasts;
The love of God is shown to all creatures;
The Life-Giver alone can take back life!
The Embryo has life that’s God-destined;
The Embryo was formed by love of God;
The Embryo must grow by divine Word;
The Embryo has soul like anyone!
Why kill the embryo for its small parts?
Why destroy one life to save another?
Why treat the embryo with great disdain?
Why murder lives in womb for sake of born?
The embryo is healthy, not diseased;
The embryo is living, not deceased;
The embryo is child, awaiting birth;
The embryo is human too and worth!
No beast kills babies that are still unborn;
The world demands kindness to animals;
Why not protect the human lives unborn?
Preserve the dignity of life in womb!
Could God watch human lives desecrated?
Would God spare merciless human beings?
The embryonic life is life as well;
All ruthless murderers shall land in hell!
Copyright by Dr John Celes 3-9-2009
poem by John Celes
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Sonnet: My Plea to God
O free me God from shackles that bind me,
Preventing my movements towards Thine way;
The burden on my shoulders is heavy;
The justice which I seek remains at bay.
How can I watch atrocities on men,
Perpetrated by men in power/ pelf?
How can I stay on in a lion’s den?
I want to be a good human myself.
O free me God from bondage urgently;
I can’t collude in vices, sinful deeds;
Arrest my heart, mind, body soul gently,
If You can’t fulfill all my human needs.
Allow me God, to function in good ways;
To live in righteousness and spend my days!
7-18-2002
poem by John Celes
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Waxes And Wanes
Never realised how disastrous it would be
to wear a T shirt with Guess written large
on it, combined with my pirate jeans and
bandy-legged boots I was Che Guevarra
himself, not a good look
Realising it's full moon on 5 April it made
sense, while the moon waxes and wanes
my life changes and not in a good way -
Big Bro becomes belligerent; 8000 years
standing still as politicians dither
Playing charades calling it human rights &
respect without meaning it, felt better when
I changed my T shirt, being Che does not
feel good at all…
poem by Margaret Alice Second
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Like A Falling Star
The sunset began before my eyes,
Angels sinking their heads in soulful cries.
The soldier's thumping footfalls fade away
The oldman now drags his atrophied feet about all day.
The mud of life soon taints
The white garment of birth so quaint.
And as the smoke rises in the air
Displacing the tranquil wind everywhere
The human life spans like a sunset
The beginning phase being the brightest.
I know the music of this valley has taught me how
Like a falling star, life creeps its way down
Before the face of the world engrossed with sunset
As the traders start displaying their wares
To the sight of their common costumer- the thirsting tyrant
Whose thin long cane yearns for victims
And the displayed wares- throbbing human hearts
Their value; their dignity wanes before life's long cane,
Like that falling star.
poem by Warrith Olawale
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