Many a time, a dissertation can seem so much humdrum and yet sometimes a beauteous couplet of two to three lines hurtles us into its deep profoundity that we are left enthralled and rapt. Some lines are so banal that we can gauge their meaning with just a dekko and some words are so deep that even a concentrated scrutiny appears to be futile.
And such are the words of Kahlil Gibran, the famous Lebanese-American writer, poet and visual artist. His lines not only leave you stupefied but also add insult to the injury by leaving you with a skepticism appurtenant to your tenacious beliefs. One such of his couplets left me befuddled and it did take me some time to verily appreciate and extol the covert beatify concealed between those naive lines.
The couplet goes like this
The first two lines seem not be hiding much, but the third line is the one that is engulfed by a very unfathomable meaning and hence we need to go beyond these mere words to unravel what Gibran wanted to convey to us.
Gibran asks us to give but not for joy, for joy becomes a reward and giving is in vain if rewards are deemed as an end; he then asks us to not give with pain, for pain would nullify the very quintessence; finally, he talks about giving in a way which induces no joy in you and which forces out no pain out of you, which ultimately means give phlegmatically because only nonchalance to pain, happiness, merriment or joy indeed signifies the true act of giving. Mr. Khalil wants us to be like the silent myrtle in the valley which exudes fragrance not to please itself or anybody else but for the sake of exuding, he wants to be like the stolid myrtle which emanates aroma not to imbrue itself with joy but just because it is its work to give out. The author says that by giving we are not doing something extraordinary that we must be pleased and he wants us to understand that. The moment we extract joy out of our giving, the process in itself becomes a deal in which we have defalcated; the very moment we append our feelings with this act, the very quiddity of giving is lost in that transaction and what remains is just an fugitive human emotion that we have haggled out of this transaction. Gibran goes further to assert the vitality of his way of giving by saying that God deems only such givings as the as pious and I believe that the biggest proof of this hypothesis is nature. God has programmed nature to give to others without any feeling and I believe that he wants out act to be that pure too. He wants you neither to be pretentious nor be shrewd. He wants us to consider 'giving' as a responsibility executed and nothing more. And then only he will communicate through our eyes and talk with our lips.
And such are the words of Kahlil Gibran, the famous Lebanese-American writer, poet and visual artist. His lines not only leave you stupefied but also add insult to the injury by leaving you with a skepticism appurtenant to your tenacious beliefs. One such of his couplets left me befuddled and it did take me some time to verily appreciate and extol the covert beatify concealed between those naive lines.
The couplet goes like this
There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.
And there are those who give with pain, and that pain is their baptism.
And there are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue;
They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space.
Through the hands of such as these God speaks, and from behind their eyes He smiles upon the earth.
The first two lines seem not be hiding much, but the third line is the one that is engulfed by a very unfathomable meaning and hence we need to go beyond these mere words to unravel what Gibran wanted to convey to us.
Gibran asks us to give but not for joy, for joy becomes a reward and giving is in vain if rewards are deemed as an end; he then asks us to not give with pain, for pain would nullify the very quintessence; finally, he talks about giving in a way which induces no joy in you and which forces out no pain out of you, which ultimately means give phlegmatically because only nonchalance to pain, happiness, merriment or joy indeed signifies the true act of giving. Mr. Khalil wants us to be like the silent myrtle in the valley which exudes fragrance not to please itself or anybody else but for the sake of exuding, he wants to be like the stolid myrtle which emanates aroma not to imbrue itself with joy but just because it is its work to give out. The author says that by giving we are not doing something extraordinary that we must be pleased and he wants us to understand that. The moment we extract joy out of our giving, the process in itself becomes a deal in which we have defalcated; the very moment we append our feelings with this act, the very quiddity of giving is lost in that transaction and what remains is just an fugitive human emotion that we have haggled out of this transaction. Gibran goes further to assert the vitality of his way of giving by saying that God deems only such givings as the as pious and I believe that the biggest proof of this hypothesis is nature. God has programmed nature to give to others without any feeling and I believe that he wants out act to be that pure too. He wants you neither to be pretentious nor be shrewd. He wants us to consider 'giving' as a responsibility executed and nothing more. And then only he will communicate through our eyes and talk with our lips.
JAI HIND, JAI BHARAT
JAI MA BHARTI
No comments:
Post a Comment