Mother

The mother is quiet
Her expression cold
Bitterness and pain
Have numbed her old

She has lost babies
She has wailed to no worth
This mother O mother
Bears the cross and glows

Vishnu Balo

O Vishnu with your Virat rupa
The angst of life fulfill and make whole

There be not peace in the world distressed
When each is searching and coercing his way

When will you awaken me and filled with love
Spread the joy as never witnessed

Give up desire

The restlessness of when
Pleasure is unfulfilled
The desires torment
Even sleep is not restful

Walking awake seeking more
But there are no sources to take you there
You become a crazy maniac
Stop before you start seeing haze

Step in to let go, bring back the mind within
Do not pursue, accept what comes
Do not want, you will get what's in need

Don't go by exterior

Beneath the big exteriors
The gnawing hollow interiors

A biting cold breeze blowing
Mercilessly cutting

The glass walls easily shatter
At slightest tremor of disturbance

There is not beneath the greenery
The eastern earthworm that lived there forever

Live as a lamp

I enclosed myself in darkness
Because I fell in love with it

Don't blame this heart for innocence
I'd rather retain its purity

Is not this world destroyed
By those who are its rational force

Let me burn this lamp
To enlighten a few lives

Do not miss the morning for anything

There is not a life lived
On this world the creation of marksmanship
That has lived if not seen
The rising ball of sun at dawn
And the brightened full moon at night

May you not miss the sunrise
In work and senseless pleasures that arise
And keep awake at dead of night
Sleep well and witness the morning glory
Bask in blessings of fresh morning
From none other than the ancient sun

A simple life

With the touch of simplicity
Does life come to bloom

Simple thoughts simple needs
A simple joy abounds

A deep satisfaction
That no pleasure can buy

A kind of smiling sleep
That no medicine can assure

A morning reflected

The bitter sweet tinge
Of the morning wake

Well slept and rested
At sight of cold day

No worries as a child
The craving of the heart

Cherish the simple life of past births
Now beaten to dust by greedy concrete

And then was i broken

Bending breaking doing all you can
You make plans build dreams of you will do
You do it thinking it's all in our control
Only to find that it never was in true sense

You do a thousand things right
And get pointed for the one wrong that slips
If you thought it will get overridden
Well no that is considered the most brutal mistake

So set aside these expectations
You have no control over life
Do what you have to
Accept happily what comes back

Your duty only was to do what's right
The result was already written far ahead

Magic

This is a world of magic and dreams
Even life and nature no less than magic

Science is only magic you know
The rest is called magic, until you know

The love that bonds, a creature and it's young
The fight that precedes, the choosing of the mate

If this beauty not magic, what word would you choose
But hark remember, not the value you lose

And beyond all this magic, is the magician watching
He who understands, but has sadly forgotten
And stuck in his magic, engrossed and brooding
Searching for the way, out of his own maze

Doers, Cribbers and Planners

I've learnt some things with the experiences and observations of being part of apartment association.
There are 3 types of individuals you will see when you want to plan an activity, event or anything at involves a change in general:

1) The Doers: These are the people worth emulating. If you are bringing up children, encourage them to be doers. These individuals are on the lookout for opportunities. They just need to be given the right platform to excel. And if not given the platform, they will make one themselves! They thrive in doing, in action. They are the champions, the celebrities, the young leaders, the role models and inspirations of the world. If it involves patient planning, they'll be in for the planning part and might need some motivation and support on the patience part. With experience, they learn the right skills for success in life. To put efforts, to be persistent, and to not be disheartened by failure.

2) The Planners: These are the people who create the platform for the doers. They are the planners on which platforms to be created. They are the ones who identify the doers, and groom nascent abilities to full potentials. These are the coaches, the Guru, the teachers, the senior leaders of the world. They have a huge role to play in the culture, the values, the development and progress of the institution. They have a duty to keep an eye on the big picture always and tread the thin line of what's the direction to give. To make sacrifices, to distinguish between right and wrong, ends and means, truth and false. Not always would they be recognised or appreciated. Nor might be what they want. They are behind the doers, motivating and supporting. Akin to the coach of a champ or the board of director or management consultant behind the CEO. They are the foundation of civilization and the ones who give shape to destinies.

3) The Cribbers: Yes I use a strong word, for what is perhaps an essential role. These are the cynics and criticisers. But without them, there would be no independent thinking. And without that, a team will be made of yes-men which means a lack of introspection and reflection. A major cause of failure to course correct when needed leading to failure in achieving the goal. However, given a free leash, the Cribbers have the enough negative energy to damage, destroy and even enjoy killing projects and the potentially potential in Doers. Hence it is very important to keep them away from the doers. The doers like all humans have their phases of self doubt, and the last thing they need is the shadow of the Cribbers. But it is essential for the Planners to have Cribbers in his team. Importantly, he needs to groom them because he is eventually going to consider the cautions in their advise and not really kill the initiative like the cribber would really like to. So he needs to groom them to have a balance in approach while appreciating and even encouraging his independent thinking.

There will always be Doers and Cribbers in the world. But the direction the world takes ever has been the burden of the Planner.

Bhakti

O Narayana, most loved Jagannathan
Each of your incarnations have led many to bliss

As Rama to Thyagaraja
As Krishna to Meera
As Venkatesa to Annamaya
Bless me with bhakti

At Sabarimala to the divine saint
And Bhadrachalam to Ramadasa
Grace this heart, with ever your presence

A lifetime is wasted, if the bliss of Bhakti not felt
O Dear Mahavishnu, one with the thousand names
May in minds and lips, be always your music

Come hither rain

The rain that brings with it, the wafting scents of Earth
The rain that sends messengers, as cooling breezes that blow
The rain that's carried fro, by heavy clouds with gait

That rain I look forward to, my heart with mirthful wait

Bhadra-Kali

You show your roudra bhava
To scare the world's miseries away

Why do the world's gullible people
Shun you in that glorious form
Ignorant they verily keep away
From the very sight that can liberate

Merciful Kali, invoking fear and love
As every mother precious to child

Bless me with vision of your enchanting form
Free me from the chains that drag and drown

Pray for Viveka

Keep me immersed in your love dear Mother
Keep me enchanted by your forms O Vishnu
Let me not get distracted by the fleeting
Keep me absorbed in meditation Parameshwara

A thousand lives and still counting
This shortened memory trapped in life's cycle
Deluded to believe everything around as real
Give me Viveka to be engaged in the eternal

Extremes are extreme

The pendulum at one end,
Is the same at the other end

Austerity is as admonishing as Depravity is

You say one religion is violent
The reaction in name of defence, is also violence

As is war murderous of bodies
So is peace only through murder of souls

There never can be just happiness
And pray that there never is

For it would be, the end of all fulfillment