When Dharma Graced The Earth

In honour of International Mother Language Day on 21 February.  

From Wikipedia:
"International Mother Language Day . . .  is an observance held annually worldwide to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism."

Written for: Poet's United Mid Week Motif - Mother Tongue

Compose a poem on any subject/event which includes an experience of more than one language.  Make us experience it too.

image source: google images

In Ayodhya did Lord Ram take birth

In the era of Treta Yug

And Sita Dharti Mata's (Mother Earth) girl

Born as his love so true.

His purpose to come upon this Earth

Vinash (Destruction) of evil that was spreading

To also show our atma's (soul) true worth

And soul's liberating.

Dharma (Righteousness) was His life's principle

Maryada Purushottam (Lord Ram the Greatest of men)

A warrior gentle but invincible 

Sweet Sita his prema (love) devotion.

How blessed were they in Treta Yug

With Him to be face to face

Perhaps they'd done some great punya (merits)

To earn his love and grace.

The Lord has promised in every yug (age)

To walk upon the Earth

And so in this troubled age of Kali Yug

We await that Divya (Divine) birth.

~x~

Lord Ram = 7th avatar of Bhagwan (God) Vishnu

Sita = avatar of Goddess Laxmi, Lord Vishnu's consort

Yug = an era within a four age cycle called a kalpa, A kalpa is the period of time between the creation and recreation of a world or universe (from Wikipedia)

Treta Yug = the 2nd cycle within a kalpa

Kali Yug = the 4th age within a kalpa and the current age we are in. Kali Yug is supposed to be the age of destruction after which the golden age (Satya Yug) will begin again.

Dharma = is a difficult concept to explain as it encompasses many things - right action, right thought, right speech, right conduct, right way of living, virtues, respect, duty, good character, upholding law and order, religious / spiritual merit among other things.

Maryada Purushottam = Maryada = limits,  Purushottam - greatest of all men. Lord Ram although Divine and the avatar of Lord Vishnu always acted within human limitations and did not use his Divine powers. He was a loving son, brother, husband, father, king, friend and an upholder of dharma. He was a great and fearless warrior and annihilated evil from the Earth. Hence he was called Maryada Purshottam the greatest of all men who lived upholding human limitations.

Punya =  that which accumulates as a result of good deeds, acts, or thoughts and which carries over throughout the life or the subsequent incarnations (from Wikipedia)

God's promise:

Yada Yada Hi Dharmasya Glanir Bhavati Bharatha

Abhyuthanam Adharmasya Tadathmanam Srijamyaham.

Parithranaya Sadhunam Vinashayacha Dushkritham

Dharma Samsthapanarthaya Sambhavami Yuge Yuge 

Whenever there is a fall in righteousness and a rise of unrighteousness, 
I manifest

For the protection of the good, for the annihilation of evil and 
to re-establish righteousness, I appear millennium after millennium.

~Lord Krishna, Bhagavad Gita~

Linking to:

Thursday Poetry Rally

Tweet

Follow me on
My facebook page Suzy's Ilation
Bloglovin
Pinterest Suzy Que
Google+ Suzy Que

The Bliss of You

The word I chose for 2014 was Joy so it's only fitting to end the year with a poem that depicts Joy or the Bliss of God.

image source:  google images

Sing that song you sang to me

That intoxicated my heart many millennia ago

Sing that song you sang to me

That made my heart overflow

Play the melody you played to me

That enticed my spirit and bound me close to you

Play the melody you played to me

That sparked a love so true

Dance that dance you danced with me

That exhilarated my soul through time and space

Dance that dance you danced with me

With cosmic swirls and perfect grace

For when you sing and play and dance

The Universe hums in harmony

And souls then sing and play and dance

And peace prevails consciously

For joy is the essence of your creation

And joy is the way to eternal life

For joy is your blessing for all creation

And joy is the way to your side.

~x~

Linking to:
Imaginary Garden With Real Toads
Poetry Pantry #233

Tweet

Follow me on
My facebook page Suzy's Ilation
Bloglovin
Pinterest Suzy Que
Google+ Suzy Que

Lost and Found

image source: google images

Life you threw me all askew

In despair I travelled trudging on

Ignorant of  jewels yet to be born

Of experiences wonderful and new

I lost it all, those material things

I thought that I had lost my soul

Then Lord you held me, made me whole

And Your flute, it brought me joy and wings

Written for:
Real Toads in Octave form = rhyming pattern abbacddc
Poetry Jam - Lost and Found
Linking to:
Poetry Pantry #205 


Tweet

Follow me on
My facebook page Suzy's Ilation
Bloglovin
Pinterest Suzy Que
Google+ Suzy Que

Blessing Or A Curse?

The sound of the flute, soothes my soul

A heartache acute, a longing uncontrolled

My body is aching, my mind is numb

My eyes are failing, I can eat only crumbs

But once I was young, my mind sharp as a tack

And life was a song, and there was no lack

I thought back to those moments, when I played with my mates

Jumping in puddles, no cares no complaints

Is life a blessing, or is it a curse?

What was its purpose, did I deftly traverse?

What were its components, pleasing or grim?

Did the Gods chant a lament or a blessed  hymn?

My mind is uneasy, my body is fading

I'm old and so weary, I'm slowly decaying

I long for some comfort, my heart is in pain

Then the sound of the flute, begins again.

~x~

The sound of the flute is so soothing and so comforting.
And those that hear Lord Krishna's flute are truly blessed.


Written for:
Poetry Jam - Age, Aged, Aging
Real Toads - Curse
Linking to:
DVerse Open Link Night
Poetry Pantry #204

Tweet

Follow me on
My facebook page Suzy's Ilation
Bloglovin
Pinterest Suzy Que
Google+ Suzy Que

The Spirit Of Love

Prompts this week:
One Single Impression - prompt #279 - Demon
Verse First - Lock
Linking up to Write Tribe picture prompt

write tribe picture prompt - image source

Verse First prompt:

Virginia Woolf once said, "“I thought how unpleasant it is to be locked out; and I thought how it is worse, perhaps, to be locked in.”

Upon consideration, one realizes that being locked - in  or out- can be literal, emotional, medical, figurative.  And there are other meanings to ponder. A lock can be a fastener fitted to a door or drawer to keep it firmly closed. It can be a section of canal that can be closed to control the water level; used to raise or lower vessels that pass through it. Or a lock can be a simple strand or cluster of hair.

Write a poem around the notion of a lock, using whatever meaning sets free your creativity.

image source: google images

Lock the door of my heart so I can behold only you

Hold the key in your hands to the end of time

Let my love not waver nor question this bond

Let my soul shine through like a beacon of love

You and I have sailed the tumultuous seas

In millennium after millennium

Locked our hands that none could break apart

And sang together the songs of our souls

Let me hear again the melody that entices my spirit

And binds me ever closer to you

Let me rest awhile in your loving embrace 

So my weary soul may dance again; renewed, refreshed, awakened

~x~

OSI prompt - Demon

The mind is in constant battle with the heart and is the mastermind behind that creeping fear.

Let the demon of doubt vanish from my mind

Let him not start a feud with my heart
Let him no place in my existence find

Let him not tear my soul apart

For love is the key to conquer all

With faith in my heart I free my mind

The demon of doubt then begins to fall

And unlocked are the fearful chains that bind

Also linking to dVerse Open Link Night #105

I Cried Out

Written for:  Verse First    Poetry Jam    G-Man    WoW

Also linking to:  Poetry Pantry #164        dVerse Open Link Night #111

Verse First - I cried out
Write in the first person. Avoid cliches; eschew the ordinary. Surprise, inspire, educate, elucidate. That's it. 

Wow - Fun with Repetition
your entry has to have one sentence that is repeated at least thrice in your post. You cannot repeat the sentence consecutively.

image source: google images

Why are you so elusive

I cried out, my beloved Lord

My soul it cannot truly live

Without your love and accord

I cannot find you anywhere

I cried out, my beloved Lord

My soul is weary with many a tear

My heart desolate and gored

Please hear my prayer 

I cried out, my beloved Lord

For you are my life, and breath and air

For aeons you I have adored

Let me hear your sweet flute

I cried out, my beloved Lord

For that's my guiding star, the route

That makes my spirit soar.

~x~

Poetry Jam - Vision  and  G-Man -Friday Flash 55

The vision of You
Is a sight to behold
A beautiful blue
And a halo of gold

I sat in awe
As she described You to me
My soul did soar
You set my spirit free

A moment Divine
Is now etched in my soul
I long for another sign
And your vision to hold.

~x~

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda. We give out themes for creative writing each weekend for Indian bloggers.

Update 30/10/2013 - My post was selected as a WoW post

 Tweet

An Ode To Places

Written for:  Verse First   and  Poetry Jam


Verse First - The Places I Love
Consider the places you love and all that they mean to you. Say their names aloud. Listen to their rhythm. Embrace the emotions they evoke, and then write an ode to those wondrous locales.

author's image taken from my lounge

In this life there are places I've seen

Wondrous, beautiful and so serene

The hills and mountains spiritual and grand

Valleys and plains all across the land

Woods and forests quiet and mysterious

But explore with care for they can be nefarious

Rivers and streams and babbling brooks

Crags and cliffs and caves and nooks

Meadows of flowers, shores and the sea

Any place where my spirit is free

These are the places in this world that I love

Breathtaking, amazing, and those I'm in awe of

~x~

Poetry Jam - Lost

Reflect on something "lost" and write about it.  Or a time you were lost.  Or a way you were lost.  Or perhaps think about what you would like to be able to lose?

image sources - google images and wikipedia

I am lost in my dreams

Of places unseen

The ones that my soul longs for

Where the Gods walked the Earth

To teach us our worth

And karma, dharma and more

I am lost in my dreams

Of places unseen

Or somewhere before have explored?

In a time long gone by
That I see in my mind's eye
Perhaps lifetimes that I came in before.

~x~

dharma = right thought, right speech, right action, duty

How strange that I recently took part in a blog festival via my blog Someday Somewhere and my chosen theme was 7 journeys I would love to take. I was truly lost in my dreams those 7 days.

Featuring poems
One of the things I learned through that festival was that it gave me great joy to pay it forward by featuring posts so will be doing that in future on all my posts. So here is one that I absolutely loved: Helen's Lost Youth.




  Tweet

Obsession and Steps

Written for:  Verse First   Poetry Jam

Verse First - Obsession
Make a list of obsessions - free flow for 15 minutes.  Select three obsessions from your list. Write a three-stanza poem, one stanza per obsession

Camera and Lord Ram images from google images

Oh camera, the medium of my precious memories

I am lost without your presence

For when those moments appear on my journeys

You are the one that captures their essence

Oh pretty dangly earrings that beatify

You sparkle as you swing

You never fail to catch my eye

Your loveliness makes me smile and sing

Oh Lord, you are my refuge and my joy

You are the melody of my soul

And when life falls apart or does annoy

Then Your love steps in and makes me whole

~x~

Poetry Jam - Steps
Wherever we go, whatever we do steps are always there. Just putting one foot in front of each other is taking a step forward. So this week think about and write about steps. Where would you like steps to take you? Do you make steps in your personal life? Do you follow others steps? Do you hate steps and the restrictions they can bring? 

image by sattva from  http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

Let each step I take be ever mindful of Your presence

Let each step I take for another life make a difference

Let each step I take be always in the reflection of Your love

Let each step I take be guided by You from above

Let each step I take be Your work that I do

Let each step I take bring me closer to You

~x~

 Tweet

Close to the Source I Swoon.

Written for the following prompts:
One Single Impression - Swoon
The Verse First - Close to the source
Linking to: Poetry Pantry #160   dVerse Open Link Night #107


Verse First's - Close to the source:
Good writing takes the reader on location. Good writing doesn't "talk about," but emanates the warmth, light and life of the topic at hand.  A good poem feels vivid and visceral and close to the source. Today, become the experience. Write from the source. With detailed yet precise language, make us feel your meaning. 

So here is my attempt, please let me know if I achieved the goal above and let me know if there were any improvements I could make. Drop by and leave a comment with your thoughts. Thanks.

A haunting melody

Whispering through the forest mist

Tickling my senses

Like a magnet I am drawn

Earthy boots crunching on fallen leaves

Searching blindly for that sweet sound

Footsteps quickening 

Anticipation testing my patience

The gurgling sound of a rushing brook

Mesmerising sweet refrain, tantalizingly near

Feet running fast, heartbeats quickening

Eyes aching to behold that source

~x~

One Single Impression - Swoon

And having beheld that source ..

There you sit by the pretty gulmohar

Under the light of a silken moon

That mesmerising sweet refrain

My senses begin to swoon

Mind intoxicated by your presence

Heart a flutter dancing wildly

Senses swimming uncontrollably 

Eyes locked and loving blindly.

~x~

Tweet

The Lesson

Today I have the privilege of being the host for The Writers' Post blog hop and my chosen prompt is "The Lesson".

My belief is that we all arrive into this world into this life so our souls may learn and grow.

So life presents us with situations to learn the lessons we are here to learn. And the situations present themselves over and over again until the lesson is learned.

If we look back at our lives, we can see a pattern emerge and from that we can establish the lesson(s) we are meant to learn. Steve Jobs put this quite nicely as "looking back to join the dots".

If the lesson evades us I believe that we carry it through from life to life until eventually we conquer and move on.

Over the years I have realised that there are a few lessons I'm pretty sure my soul is here to learn. Perhaps my karma is intertwined into this.

One of these I am sure is forgiveness.  Looking back to "join up the dots", I can see so many situations where an opportunity to learn forgiveness was presented. And I have finally learned to let go of bitterness where events have occurred that have been hurtful or where I felt betrayed or wronged.

So here's a poem I wrote and stored away for that opportunity to share. 

Image courtesy of akeeris http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

Oh forgiveness, you demanding friend

Through many journeys my soul you bend

A heavy load I carry through aeons

In life after life as queens or minions

My spirit is worn down and heavily chained

That elusive lesson from my mind refrained

A flash of light, a beautiful blue

A Divine intervention experienced by few

A message is handed in the kindest of ways

The mind is enlightened, dissolved is the haze

In anger I walked off, tired and weary

In proving my love was pure and worthy

I should've forgiven, looked into your heart

We may have journeyed together, instead of apart.

~

This poem is inspired by a past life reading that I had. It was one of the most amazing experiences I ever had. So truly the lesson of forgiveness I have carried over from a life a long long long long time ago. 

So what is The Lesson for you?

Fact or fiction, poetry or prose, take this prompt as you will and share The Lesson. Then link up with the linky below and please link back to my post.

I look forward to reading your lesson.


Also linking this post to: Poets United Poetry Pantry and dVerse

Appetite and Omniscience

The prompt this week at Verse First is Appetite.  But as I missed last week's prompt Omniscience I thought I would combine both

And also linking to One Single Impression - Fragile

image source: google images

A soothing melody

Invaded my daydream

Gently flowing

Like a singing stream

It teased my thoughts

It disturbed my reverie

It opened my eyes

It shook my lethargy

It came and went 

And it was haunting

I was captivated

It increased my longing

I closed my eyes

To capture its essence

It filled me with bliss

I felt His presence

Omniscient

All pervading

Love ineffable

Ever aiding

His Divine grace

Soothed my soul

My appetite insatiable

For His love and to extol

~x~

When we hear the beautiful strains of the Lord's bansuri (flute) we are blessed and yet we so easily forget His love and grace. His melody is everlasting, always enticing, yet we choose only to listen when we need something.

Our love for the Lord is so fragile

It waxes and wanes like the moon

But His love is steadfast without guile

Eternal, and ready to grant any boon

Also linking to dVerse Open Link Night #104