Narayanan Nair writes

Kathopanishad

(                             Aum!
knowledge is the essence, bliss, Brahman!
May Brahman bestow, upon us, the fruits of knowledge!             Aum!   Peace,....Peace.....Peace....!    )

I

Questions personified, was Nachiketa,
He queried his father, Vajasravasa,
Who yearning rewards, had  performed a ritual,
Visvajit sacrifice, giving away all possessions.
Everything - including bony thin zilch cattle!
"Are those of any use on earth or heaven?
My dear father, do tell, whom will you give me?
Will you give your son away, too?" the boy asked.
Irked, the father said, "yes, unto Death."
"Oh, what use am I," asked Nachiketa,
"To the King of Death?
Mortals ripen and fall like corns.
To sprout and spring up again!
I am not the first to die, or the last.
What purpose then?" thought the Brahmin boy,
Seeking answers, he entered House of Death!
The Householder, Yama, lord of justice,
Ensured victuals and a seat to the visitor.
The Boy declined water, food, rest, but fasted
For three nights in quest about - what, how, when!
Yama impressed by the true Brahmin spirit,
Showed his respect to the keen curious guest.
"Thou dwelt in my House three days and nights,
Fasting and alert, let me offer three boons." 

II

Nachiketa said, " If so, first, cheer up my father,
Cool he be to receive me warmly when I am sent home."
"Yes, the second ?" asked Yama to the young guest.
"Teach me the ways for immortality, what sacrifice,
What acts and insight into nature can lead one to it."
"Fire of austerity" said Yama, "and recognizing in every other,
As in self, the omniscient, ultimate, adorable One.
Let the holy fire of sacrifice be known by your name!
Now choose the third boon, oh Nachiketa."
"What happens when one is dead? please teach me,
Does something exist or there is none?
I wish to learn this truly from you.
Do treat this as my third vital boon."
"Even Gods have doubts on that," said Yama,
"And it is too subtle, choose another boon."
Boy said, " there is no better teacher than you!
If Gods have doubts on it, let me surely learn."
"Choose good healthy progeny or wealth or territory,
Fair maidens in chariots and servants to wait upon you,
Choose to be a king or satisfy all desires," said Yama.
"But do not ask me about death and afterlife."
"Sir, none of that for me, those exhaust senses,
Pleasures do not endure and life is ever short" Boy said.
"Please teach me what I have asked as my third boon.
Disciple I wish to be of a great teacher, You!"

III

"Oh Nachiketa, good is one thing, pleasant another,
Who opts good does well while the two are within reach.
One who chooses pleasant sinks in greed, avarice,
Good to see that you have renounced those pleasures,
You seek knowledge, as ignorance leads to darkness,
Do learn the essence of scriptures, not mere words,
Please see what endures by looking in, by self-knowledge,
Atman, soul, the core, dwells in you, rests in the body,
Be aware, it is symbolized by pranava, holy Aum!
Meditate, learn of Brahman with qualities felt,
And the absolute indescribable one as well!
Know the body as a chariot, with soul the master in it,
Intellect is the charioteer and mind, the reins.
Senses are the horses needing right control,
Arise, awake, learn to be beyond the razor's edge,
Be ready to leave those aside, disciplined, to see inner light,
To know the subtlest, blissful, unmanifest  supreme reality! "

(Aum! May Brahman protect us! Bestow upon us the fruit of knowledge and harmony! May truth be revealed! Aum! Peace...Peace...Peace!)

Yamaraja Answers the Questions of Nachiketa -- Dominique Amendola

Narayanan Nair writes

ON LIFE & LAUGHTER

Life is an odd mix

Of sorrow and laughter.

Sorrow at the earthmates

Languishing in want,

Denied, deprived, lost, 

Abandoned in hunger

For flyover, dam, port, 

In development spins

By crafty leader dudes, 

Pocketing piles of dough.

Worse still are some,

Bullied, threatened,

Shot bloody down for

Views against a creed!

But one truly shudders at the

Violated, slit, annihilated,

Tender buds of tomorrow

Barely out of our cradles!

Do laugh at the follies

Of cosmetic displays

And hollow eloquences

Of political dons. 

Hoping against hope of

Fascists in waiting!

Do have a hearty smile

If  you share your bread,

Or chip in your mite for

A roof over the heads

Of bare forsaken bros.

Or free, and wake, them up,

From the stranglehold of dope

Under a gloomy lonesome sky.

 

Sintesi Fascista -- Alessandro Bruschetti

Narayanan Nair writes

GOKU’s QUESTS

Moved but undeterred 

Goku first blazed the trail  

Of tutored multilingual 

And metered knowledge. 

While quests arose in his 

Formative but sharp mind, 

Does one grasp and harmonize 

The vibrant hormones 

And ​nerves' communes 

To do service to the sapiens?

Or take to non-Euclidean domains 

With cosmic paradigms 

And tensored codes to track 

Fundamental inexactitudes?

There! the laureate stepped in 

As if from the vivid blue sky 

'Be bold' he said radiantly 

'Probe deep into basics 

And you do have the mettle 

To delineate any quantum muddle'. 

Galvanized, Goku packed his bags 

With dedication, probity  

Inspiration and joy 

And strode forth into the realm 

Of leptons, gluons, quarks and photons 

And bosons with neutrinos anti and pro. 

Armed with photogenic ideas stacked thick 

To fly high and track the Jekyll and Hyde 

Of strong weak duos of Ks and mews 

At Bristol, Mumbai, Deccan and Delhi.

Flourished as an inspired coworker, 

Mentor, friend, philosopher, guide  

And leader unparalleled and bigger 

Than numerous decorations conferred. 

Blessed be his name, as we are blessed too 

By the shining star, now in his heavenly abode.   

(In revered memory of the great Indian Scientist, Prof. M G K Menon)