Mengiaan Mangiaan

meh haan ik keerra is srishti vich
tu hain eh srishti, tu hain sabh kich
meh haan ik boond paani da, dariya vich
tu hai eh dariya
tu hai eh aasmaann
tu hai eh dharti
tu hai, tu hai

par, ki mengiaan si mangiaan darshanaan
jo toon darshan ni denda ve

je pyar di hi gal si
fir dil kyon manzoor ni

je ik phul di zaroorat si
fir sir kyon manzoor ni

sirf ik pal di gal si
par darshan vi menge bhe gay

ki tenu enaan masooman naal pyar
ke tu masooman dian jaanaan lehnaan

ki tenu bacheyaan naal ena pyar
ke har ik dhruv nu chuk lehnaan

ki tenu enaan shauk daata hondaa
ke diti hoi zindgi scheen lehnaan

ki mengiaan si mangiaan darshanaan
jo toon darshan ni denda ve

jaandaan haan tera saneha,
jaandaan haan lakeer...

jad ik kiri pahaarr nu chuk ni saki
mera varga eanna tenu kive apnaa lave

jad koi insaan kisi masoom di zindgi lehnda
pucheyaa jaanda, ke Rab nu ki savaal devengaa

par, jad tu masoomaan dian jaanaan lehnaan
tenu ki puchiye? tenu kaun puche? tu kinu javaab den da?

din raat din raat loki tenu poojde
kade darshan vi deh de
maavaan, thiyaan, bhenaa, bharaavaan diaan jaanaan
tu hi chuk lehnaan, vapis ni kardaa.
fir vi tenu loki poojde
ik vaari darshan deh de

ki mengiaan si mangiaan darshanaan
jo tu darshan ni denda ve

“Trust, Love, Qurbani”

“Sach kahon sun leh sabhai, jin prem kio tin hi prabh paaeo”

Guru Sahib says that in order to attain Akal Purakh, one must love.  This means that we must bring love in general into our hearts, and one way to do that would be to love Akal Purakh and everything he does/has created.  When we love someone, we want that which makes the person we love happy.  If the person we love wants to go some place or do something, we want to do that too.  When we apply this love to Vaheguru, then we love and want that which is in Vaheguru's hukam.  Whatever is Vaheguru's hukam, is what we want.

In order for us to attain this love for Akal Purakh, we must have absolute trust or unwavering faith in Akal Purakh, because trust is a fundamental factor in every relationship of love.  A fish in the sea, the reason it continues to live in water and float around its random ways is not because it believes that food is there for it or that it believes that the water will always be there.   It trusts that there will be food provided; trusts that the water will be there.  Think about it, if it was only belief, and not trust, then the fish would be paranoid; it would live in constant fear of the water suddenly evaporating or there not being food.  Its own paranoia would kill it.  In the same way with our minds, we have to trust Vaheguru, and not just believe in something of a Vaheguru being there, or believe in Vaheguru doing something.  We have to trust that Vaheguru sustains us, that whatever happens is in the will of Vaheguru.  It’s not about Vaheguru testing us or not testing us with whatever happens in life, it’s about it just being what Vaheguru wants.   From our trust comes our love. 

When applying this concept to the Shaheeds in our history, physical Qurbani was not a big deal because for them everything was in Vaheguru's hukam, they were in love with Vaheguru; so, whatever was in Vaheguru's hukam they accepted gladly.  Their Qurbani had already occurred in their spiritual and mental life, when they made the realization of “mera mujh meh kich nahi, jo kich hai so tera” and attained the love that made them utter “tera kia meettha laage, har naam padarath nanak maange.”   For them, the end process of their life was not some act of doing something for a higher cause than themselves, or sacrificing something of their own for future generations, it was simply flowing along with the Hukam of Akal Purakh, the Hukam that demanded them to stand up for Righteousness.  The Shaheeds were already merged into Akal Purakh when their bodies were torn apart, so how can there be a sacrifice of some particular thing, when they in essence are existing in everything?  There is no sacrifice, it is simply a life lived in Hukam.

So then, where in all of this does Guru Granth Sahib Ji come in?  Where is our Guru in all of this?  It is something like the following analogy.  If someone were to present to you a glass of water that did not look clean, was all brownish looking and displeasing in sight, would you drink it? No, most likely you would make sure to filter the water and then when it looks good and when you are thirsty, you would drink the water.  Imagine that our existence is analogous to glasses of water.  Our soul is the glass, and the content of the soul is the water.  In our existence in this world, amongst Maya, our glass of water becomes dirty as we allow it to become polluted by outside things.  The reason we need Guru Granth Sahib Ji is because Guru Sahib is the eternal source of filtering and clean water that when poured into our glasses, continually purifies our being and makes us appealing to Akal Purakh.  Then, whenever Akal Purakh chooses he can enjoy that glass. 

That is how the Shaheeds were, these every ready “tyar bar tyar” sources of purity in spirit, which Akal Purakh decided to enjoy.   In our lives, we have the choice of either becoming these glasses of purity in spirit, or remaining glasses of filth, and when we chose to listen to our Guru we begin to become purer in our minds and in our spirits.  If we take a glass of dirty water, and continually pour clean water into it, what you see eventually is an overflowing glass of clean water.  Gurbani is the same way for us, we continually need Gurbani because it is the eternal source of that water, of that purity, that keeps on pouring into our glasses.  If we live attached to Gurbani we live as Shaheeds, if we become detached from Gurbani we become diseased and deceased.

An Apology too Many

I know I said I was sorry
I know I said I was here to stay
But you know I walked out
And I cheated on you
What can I do
I am addicted to abuse
Your feelings
I have never been true
I have said my apologies
I have tried to be sincere
But I have lost my way
Again and again
Only finding myself
Ashamed
Am continually begging
On your footsteps
If I could be perfect
You know I would be
For you I want to say
I will give my life
And never hesitate
But you know I cheated
And know that I walked out
I know I can never expect
For you to forgive me
Or give me a second chance
I don’t deserve anything
Because I am the devil
Reincarnate
A second chance has become cliché
In my life where apologies
Continue to escalate
As I lead my life astray
I committed to you then
I am committed to you now
But I am far from what I wanted to be
What I wanted for you and me
I had once dreamed of living
In a mansion made of love
Of trees and leaves and sunsets
And a beautiful breeze
While we walk in the park
Of a life in a paradise
Just you and me
I look around now and see
Really it was all a dream
How could someone like me
End up with someone like you
Only in a dream
Could it ever come to be
Am a foolish man
With foolish dreams
God help me
Because I am begging on my knees
Any good I did in my life
Was a tribute to thee
But my actions make me
The accumulation of all the
Forsaken particles in a sea
Of all that is to be loathed
Please, I beg on my knees
I am not anything I was supposed to be
Just breathe, into me breathe
All that you wanted from me
Because I am nothing in this body
Without you breathing life into me

- Sevak -

Time

What is destiny without time?
What is time without destiny?
if time were to stop,
would we all be free
to do as we please?
or would we be frozen
for all eternity?

time, its a funny beast
it keeps running and running
never looks back, running endlessly
what could it possibly fear?
it has no predator, we are all its prey
Is it scared of its own sphere?

time, its a funny beast
it controls both you and me
never looks back, running endlessly
is unforgiving, of our mistakes
it preys upon and digs for us
our very own graves

time, its a funny beast
never lets us be free
never looks back, running endlessly
confined to its chambers, we live our lives
set into life's motions, with one thing in mind
awaiting death like hopeful midwives

imagine, if we could control time
imagine, if we could be free
what if time were the key
that allows us to open our sphere
the sphere that runs this world irrevocably

ah, but the question is how to control time?
maybe the answer is this moment
when we realize time controls our lives
you see, time is like us
we are both running endlessly, we both meet an end
time also awaits death, it is no different
and if we are no different, then we are one and the same
if we're one and the same, then we've won this game

Life

life is too short
so go take the stock
quit trying to appraise
let your mind let loose
loosen all the chains
free fall into mystery
and when you're done
don't forget to raise

the mystics, the mistricks
the chicks, the flicks
misfits for life
its all about the game
thats in the frame
it frames you into strife
always looking without
gets harder to look within
and so on the boat of time
and in an ocean of opportunity
gone, wasted is your life

when the chips start falling
then remember joyous yesterdays
the days that you couldn't praise
then, put on a different lens
look from another horizon
and take a second to pray
its not for other people,
not to a god,
and definitely for you
pray for a miracle,
for a second chance
this life, my friend
only once is it true
and when you begin to see the leaves falling
and the beards turning shades of gray
and the branches beginning to tumble
take a grip onto the nearest roots
let them humbly help you find you

What is fiction?

The first essay...keep in mind I wrote this at 2am, and was due the same day, so if it doesn't make sense blame the time...

Fiction is a natural right. Fiction is a dream. Fiction is the natural right of every individual to dream. The culmination of our hopes, desires, and perception is fiction; it is in this world of fiction these three key components play together to create a mental world separate from our own. Every time we have hopes, we are hoping for something that does not exist now but we wish for it in the near future. Every time we desire something it is fiction, because that which we desire does not exist at the moment, but we wish for it in the near future. Fiction just is that which does not exist now but we wish for it to exist, and it comes into being through the culmination of our hopes, desires, and perception of life.

Fiction does not necessarily entail something being a video game, movie, or TV show, rather “fiction” through those media could just be reflections upon our own lives and the way we fictitiously live them; the way we behave in everyday life due to the hopes and desires pushing us forth. This is the realization that can be seen through many video games such as The Sims, or even Grand Theft Auto, or other video games where the player may use the character to do whatever he or she wishes or desires. In support of this view of fiction, Will Wright, the creator of The Sims, while speaking to Chuck Klosterman, the author of the book Sex, Drugs, and cocoa puffs, tells him that “’…it does seem like some people come to these interesting conclusions about themselves when they play. And if a game changes your perception of the world around you, it’s successful.”

Viewing fiction from a slightly different scope is the literary observation of two words that are often used in opposition, Fact and Fiction; though, that has never been clear to me why it is that way. Something factual does not mean it contains truth, and something fictitious does not mean it does not contain truth. For example, it is factual information that Columbus discovered the Americas and the Native Americans, and that some historians have written Columbus developed a good relationship with them. That does not make it true information. In fact, Columbus was one of the first people to make slaves of the Native Americans, sending them to Europe in exchange for money; all the while, the Natives endured immense cruelty and hardship.

If viewed thusly, fact then becomes the objective view of truth, eliminating the several factors involved in deciphering it, while fiction becomes the subjective view of the truth, which allows for many interpretations and perceptions upon the objective truth. While facts would be the accumulation of specific data, fiction would be the interpretation of those data recorded. Fiction, then, allows for people, societies to cultivate their thinking through realizations, which come from the process of reflection presented by different media, of how it is that they truly perceive life, and what it is exactly they are continually hoping and desiring for.

While the literary sense of fiction provides us with reflections into our own inner lives, fiction in general also serves to provide us with goals, even if they maybe a bit dreamy, that are fostered in our minds through our hopes, desires, and perceptions. That which the King, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., sought in his world was something fictitious. It was something that did not exist at the moment, but his hopes, desires, and perceptions pushed him to seek the day his dream would come true; this is the basis for fiction being a dream. If this dream was not allowed to exist, then the King would not have been who he was, and is why fiction is a natural right. If the dream was not allowed to exist, then the realizations society made through the King’s speeches and actions would not have been possible. For the purpose of serving this need of realizations in society, fiction is the natural right of every individual to dream.

Posting Essays

So I decided, because I am not always writing poetry, and am going to be writing a bunch of essays this semester for my English II and Philosophy classes, I am just going to post them up here on my blog. Enjoy.