Thursday, July 3, 2008

Collection of thoughts/poems

Few favourite quotes / poems / thoughts , which I have collected recently.


What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?...
Or does it explode?

-- Langston Hughes, Harlem


Hope, like the gleaming taper's light,
Adorns and cheers our way;
And still, as darker grows the night,
Emits a lighter ray.
-- Oliver Goldsmith

A man used to ask his mother, 'How can I find the right woman for me?' and she would answer, 'Don't worry about finding the right woman- concentrate on becoming the right man.
-- anonymous


There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations.
Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness when shared, is doubled..
If you want to feel rich, just count all the things you have that money can't buy.
'Today is a gift, that is why it is called - The Present.'
-- anonymoys

A good friend who points out mistakes and imperfections and rebukes evil is to be respected as if he reveals a secret of hidden treasure.

-- anonymous


...You shall not dwell in tombs made by the dead for the living.

And though of magnificence and splendour, your house shall not hold your secret nor shelter your longing.
For that which is boundless in you abides in the mansion of the sky, whose door is the morning mist, and whose windows are the songs and the silences of night.

-- Kahlil Gibran ( on Houses )


You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts;

And when you can no longer dwell in the solitude of your heart you live in your lips, and sound is a diversion and a pastime.

And in much of your talking, thinking is half murdered.

For thought is a bird of space, that in a cage of words may indeed unfold its wings but cannot fly.

-- Kahlil Gibran


It is the highest form of self-respect to admit our errors and mistakes and make amends for them. To make a mistake is only an error in judgment, but to adhere to it when it is discovered shows infirmity of character.
-- anonymous


King, saint, thief, madman -
Love has grabbed everyone by the neck
And drags us to God by secret ways ...
How could I ever have guessed
That God, too, desired us?

-- Rumi ( Odes )


Be drunk on love, because love is all that exists;
Without love, no one has the right to enter His house.
They ask, "What is love?" Reply: "Giving up your self-will."
He who hasn't given up his will isn't chosen.
The lover's an emperor, the two worlds are at his feet:
Does an emperor notice what is thrown in his path?
It is Love and the Lover that live eternally -
Don't lend your heart to anything else; all else is borrowed.
How long will you go on and on embracing a corpse?
Embrace the soul that is embraced by nothing else.

-- Rumi ( Mathnavi )



When God created the pure body of Adam he drew it out of the earth and breathed into it His sacred breath and said to Gabriel, "Take from the sea of My Omnipotence three pearls, place them on a plate of light, and present them to Adam so he can choose one." The three pearls were reason, faith and humility.

Gabriel presented the plate to Adam and told him what God wanted. Adam, illumined by the divine light, chose the pearl of reason, Gabriel wanted to take back the plate with the two pearls it still held to the sea of Omnipotence; but, because of their heaviness, he did not have the strength to lift them. The pearls of faith and humility then said to him, "We cannot separate ourselves from the holy company of our friend Reason; without him, we cannot establish ourselves firmly or even exist. During ancient times we were all three the jewels of the mine of Divine Glory; the pearls of the Sea of Omnipotence are inseparable."

Then the voice of God rang out, "Gabriel, leave the two pearls where they are and return!" So Reason installed itself at the peak of human intellect; faith lodged itself in Adam's pure and sensitive heart; humility reigned on his holy face.

These three pure pearls are the heritage of the children of Adam. Every child descended from Adam who is not adorned by these pearls and does not shine with their brilliance is shut off from the light and deprived of authentic gnosis.

-- Rumi ( AFLAKI )


Time is the wisest counselor.
-- anonymous


Mujhe us se ab bhi mohabbat hai,
magar na jaane kyon,
ab is mohabbat mein, pehle si shiddat nahin rahi.

Mujhe woh ab bhi yaad aati hai,
magar na jaane kyon,
ab uski yaad mein, sitaron se haal-e-dil kehne ki aadat nahin rahi.

Mujhe us ka ab bhi intezaar rehta hai,
magar na jaane kyon,
ab us se milne ki tadap nahin rahi.

Sochta hoon, kitna badal gaya hoon "main"...
lagta hai...
"uski" tarah hi bann gaya hoon "main"!
-- anonymous


Oh Beloved, take me.
Liberate my soul.
Fill me with your love and
release me from the two worlds.
If I set my heart on anything but you
let fire burn me from inside.

Oh Beloved,
take away what I want.
Take away what I do.
Take away what I need.
Take away everything
that takes me from you.

--Rumi


Let go of your worries
and be completely clear-hearted,
like the face of a mirror
that contains no images.
If you want a clear mirror,
behold yourself
and see the shameless truth,
which the mirror reflects.
If metal can be polished
to a mirror-like finish,
what polishing might the mirror
of the heart require?
Between the mirror and the heart
is this single difference:
the heart conceals secrets,
while the mirror does not.

-- Rumi





Lab pe aati hai dua ban ke tamanna meri,
Zindgi shama ki surat ho Khudaya meri.

Door duniya ka mere dam se andhera hojaye,
Har jagah mere chamakne se ujala hojaye.

Ho mere dum se yunhi mere watan ki zeenat,
Jistara phool se hoti hai chaman ki zeenat.

Zindigi ho meri parwaane ki soorat ya rab,
Ilm ki shama se ho mujko mohabat ya rab.

Ho mera kaam ghareebon ki himayat karna,
Dardmandon se, Zaeefon se muhabbat karna.
Mere Allah! Buraee se bachana mujhko,
Naik jo raah ho us rah pe chalana mujhko.

2 comments:

Kazim Zaidi said...

Really beautiful indeed!

In particular, loved the ones by Kahlil Gibran and a few anonymous ones.

Keep rambling, :-P.

tuxdna said...

Khalil Gibran has written very elegantly. I am just amazed by the way he explains even the most difficult questions of 'life'.