Êkla chôlo, êkla chôlo, êkla chôlo, êkla chôlo re- By Ravindra Nath Tagore

Bengali phonemic transcription

Jodi tor đak shune keu na ashe tôbe êkla chôlo re,
Êkla chôlo, êkla chôlo, êkla chôlo, êkla chôlo re.
Jodi keu kôtha na kôe, ore ore o ôbhaga,
Jodi shôbai thake mukh firaee shôbai kôre bhôe—
Tôbe pôran khule
O tui mukh fuţe tor moner kôtha êkla bôlo re.
Jodi shôbai fire jae, ore ore o ôbhaga,
Jodi gôhon pôthe jabar kale keu fire na chae—
Tôbe pôther kãţa
O tui rôktomakha chôrontôle êkla dôlo re.
Jodi alo na dhôre, ore ore o ôbhaga,
Jodi jhôŗ-badole ãdhar rate duar dêe ghôre—
Tôbe bojranôle
Apon buker pãjor jalie nie êkla jôlo re.

Translation into English

If they answer not to thy call walk alone,

If they are afraid and cower mutely facing the wall,

O thou unlucky one,

open thy mind and speak out alone.

If they turn away, and desert you when crossing the wilderness,

O thou unlucky one,

trample the thorns under thy tread,

and along the blood-lined track travel alone.

If they do not hold up the light when the night is troubled with storm,

O thou unlucky one,

with the thunder flame of pain ignite thy own heart

and let it burn alone.

Your love should never be offered…by Hafez

Love sometimes wants to do us a great favor: hold us upside down and shake all the nonsense out.

Your love
Should never be offered to the mouth of a stranger,
Only to someone who has the valor and daring
To cut pieces of their soul off with a knife
Then weave them into a blanket
To protect you.

Stay close to any sounds that make you glad you are alive.

Ever since happiness heard your name, it has been running through the streets trying to find you.
I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in the darkness, the astonishing light of your own being.

There are different wells within your heart.
Some fill with each good rain,
Others are far too deep for that

Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I would like to see you living in better conditions.

Even after all this time the sun never says to the Earth, “You owe me”

There is no pleasure without a tincture of bitterness.

Krishna is Christ consciousness

Krishna is poorna or complete. He manifests perfection, an ideal being, who knows how to live, love, fulfil his duties and fight, if need be. "I would like to walk the path that Krishna advocates in the Bhagavad Gita. His is a path of love; to give your 100% to everything that you do and surrender the result of your actions to Him," says Mansi, a PhD student in Mumbai. Mridula Bhatia and Poonam Jain make regular visits to the church to pray Neither is Christian, yet they are able to connect with Christ.

"I feel his presence sometimes in the Church," says Bhatia, a Delhi University student. "I may not follow Christ religiously, but i definitely want to cultivate qualities that are associated with him. He always talked of love and service." Both Krishna and Jesus embody Supreme Consciousness. A state of being aware, at all times, of all our actions Jesus said: "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you." That kingdom can be accessed not by idolising Jesus, but by attuning yourself with him; by being mindful of the Divinity that you and I are a part of, the Divinity personified by Jesus and Krishna.

"In the divine plan, Christ was responsible for the evolution of the West, and Krishna, for that of the East. It was intended that the West specialise in developing objectively, through logic and reason, and that the East specialise in inner, intuitive development. But in the cosmic plan, the time has come to combine these two lines into one East and West must unite," Paramhansa Yogananda wrote in Autobiography of A Yogi. Logic and rationale must be combined with inner intuitive wisdom to reach that perfected state of being.

Swami Kriyananda recalls, "Yogananda said it was Jesus himself who appeared to Babaji (Yogananda's guru) and asked him to send this teaching of Self-realisation to the West." He adds, "At that meeting, Yogananda told us, Jesus said, 'My followers have forgotten the art of divine inner communion. Outwardly they do good works, but they have lost sight of the most important of my teachings, to seek the Kingdom of God first.'" 

In the Gita, Krishna spoke of surrendering the mind to Him He said, "Still yourself in me, and without a doubt you shall be united with me, Lord of love, dwelling in your heart." 

Both Krishna and Jesus spoke of merging the self with God. The state of enlightenment is the highest state of intellectual development and emotional maturity. Masters who realise the Self have the emotional intelligence to lead others to it "Great masters have that level of consciousness For us, it is difficult even to visualise such a state. By attuning ourselves to them, we begin to sense what it is they have, and to develop that same consciousness in ourselves," says Swami Kriyananda referring to his guru Paramhansa Yogananda.

"You can know Jesus only through a man who has attained to Christ Consciousness. A Krishna can be known only through a man who has attained Krishna Consciousness. And they are the same thing: Krishna Consciousness. Christ Consciousness, Buddha Consciousness - the transcendental," says Osho In the end, it's all about becoming a better human being - doing everything with a smile and making life a happy experience for everyone journeying towards transcendence.

Giving Somebody Your Heart by Christopher Lowman

In every interaction you have with another human being—doesn’t matter who—you always have two main choices.

(The keyword is choice.)

One choice usually leads to logical (boring) interaction, politeness, formalities. And, more importantly, a lack of connectivity.

The other usually leads to interesting discussion, love (yes, love), aliveness, friendship, gift giving. And connectivity.

In every interaction you are either giving somebody else your mind—your intellect, your intelligent points, the who/what/where/when/why of your existence.

This is the easy thing to do. The safe thing to do. It doesn’t require much, if any, emotional strength or really expose who you are. In this way, you can hide from others (or from your self, depending on how you look at it) and not risk rejection by not even giving somebody the chance to reject you.

Or, you are giving somebody your heart—the real you, your presence, your true attention.

This is the hard thing to do. The risky thing to do. It involves an enormous amount of emotional strength (until it doesn’t). It entails entering the present moment. And it entails pushing through the challenging and stifling fear of doing so.

Instead of thinking about what to say or do, you let your inwardly felt experience inform your words and actions toward others.

Think about how often you self-censor and hit the mute button. Why? Why not just assume that what you have to say is valuable, even if it comes out not so smooth? Then maybe you say next, “oh, that was lame” and then laugh.

It’s this kind of moment-to-moment truthfulness that is required.

It’s so easy (but frightening) to practice because you always know what to say or do in any interaction with somebody else. The problem is having the courage to act on it.

Isn’t it time to feel less anxious and less alone and less unfulfilled?

--Christopher Lowman

जो बीत गई सो बात गई — हरिवंशराय बच्चन

जीवन में एक सितारा था
माना वह बेहद प्यारा था
वह डूब गया तो डूब गया
अंबर के आंगन को देखो
कितने इसके तारे टूटे
कितने इसके प्यारे छूटे
जो छूट गए फ़िर कहाँ मिले
पर बोलो टूटे तारों पर
कब अंबर शोक मनाता है
जो बीत गई सो बात गई

जीवन में वह था एक कुसुम
थे उस पर नित्य निछावर तुम
वह सूख गया तो सूख गया
मधुबन की छाती को देखो
सूखी कितनी इसकी कलियाँ
मुरझाईं कितनी वल्लरियाँ
जो मुरझाईं फ़िर कहाँ खिलीं
पर बोलो सूखे फूलों पर
कब मधुबन शोर मचाता है
जो बीत गई सो बात गई

जीवन में मधु का प्याला था
तुमने तन मन दे डाला था
वह टूट गया तो टूट गया
मदिरालय का आंगन देखो
कितने प्याले हिल जाते हैं
गिर मिट्टी में मिल जाते हैं
जो गिरते हैं कब उठते हैं
पर बोलो टूटे प्यालों पर
कब मदिरालय पछताता है
जो बीत गई सो बात गई

मृदु मिट्टी के बने हुए हैं
मधु घट फूटा ही करते हैं
लघु जीवन ले कर आए हैं
प्याले टूटा ही करते हैं
फ़िर भी मदिरालय के अन्दर
मधु के घट हैं,मधु प्याले हैं
जो मादकता के मारे हैं
वे मधु लूटा ही करते हैं
वह कच्चा पीने वाला है
जिसकी ममता घट प्यालों पर
जो सच्चे मधु से जला हुआ
कब रोता है चिल्लाता है
जो बीत गई सो बात गई

          —   हरिवंशराय बच्चन

I Am Nothing by Paul Buchheit

What will you do if you're too tough to be a good woman, too sensitive to be a good man, too selfish to be a good husband, too lazy to be a good employee, too shy to be a good friend, too caring to be rational, too fat to be pretty, too effeminate to be straight, too introverted to be a good leader, too smart to be kind, too young to be taken seriously, too old to make a difference, or too far behind to even get in the race?

These are all false standards and false dichotomies, but they are so common and so ingrained that we sometimes believe in them without even realizing it. And this leads to a mountain of insecurities, because nobody measures up to these crazy standards (and nobody should). But even if we don't believe in these things, it still matters what other people think, right? What will the neighbors think? Or how about our co-workers, or the people at church? And so everyone works to hide their insecurities, and they look around at their peers for comparison, and maybe they feel bad because everyone else seems to have it easy, to have it all figured out. The truth is, nobody can see the truth anymore. They are all working to hide the truth, because the truth is that they are afraid of who or what they really are. So they all put on a show, and they pretend to be a good whatever. Or maybe they rebel, and make a point of being a bad whatever, but then they are still under the control of that false standard, and they are still not being themselves.

That is all so exhausting.

I am nothing. It's simple. If I were smart, I might be afraid of looking stupid. If I were successful, I might be afraid of failure. If I were a man, I might be afraid of being weak. If I were a Christian, I might be afraid of losing faith. If I were an atheist, I might be afraid of believing. If I were rational, I might be afraid of my emotions. If I were introverted, I might be afraid of meeting new people. If I were respectable, I might be afraid of looking foolish. If I were an expert, I might be afraid of being wrong.

But I am nothing, and so I am finally free to be myself.

This isn't license to stagnate. Change is inevitable. Change is part of who we are, but if we aren't changing for the better, then we are just slowly decaying.

By returning to zero expectations, by accepting that I am nothing, it is easier to see the truth. Fear, jealousy, insecurity, unfairness, embarrassment -- these feelings cloud our ability to see what is. The truth is often threatening, and once our defenses are up, it's difficult to be completely honest with anyone, even ourselves. But when I am nothing, when I have no image or identity or ego to protect, I can begin to see and accept things as they really are. That is the beginning of positive change, because we cannot change what we do not accept and do not understand. But with understanding, we can finally see the difference between fixing problems, and hiding them, the difference between genuine improvement, and faking it. We discover that many of our weaknesses are actually strengths once we learn how to use them, and that our greatest gifts are often buried beneath our greatest insecurities.

--Paul Buchheit, in I Am Nothing

देखा हुआ सा कुछ है तो सोचा हुआ सा कुछ
हर वक़्त मेरे साथ है उलझा हुआ सा कुछ
होता है यूं भी रास्ता खुलता नहीं कहीं
जंगल सा फैल जाता है खोया हुआ सा कुछ
साहिल की गीली रेत पे बच्चों के खेल सा
हर लम्हा मुझ में बनता बिगड़ता हुआ सा कुछ
[saahil=shore; giilii=wet; lamhaa=moment]
फुर्सत ने आज घर को सजाया कुछ इस तरह
हर शय से मुस्कुराता है रोता हुआ सा कुछ
[fursat=leisure; shay=object/thing]
धुंधली सी एक याद किसी कब्र का दिया
और मेरे आस-पास चमकता हुआ सा कुछ - निदा फ़ाज़ली
[qabr=grave]