Windmills of My Mind: February 2011

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Sunday, February 13, 2011

The Centenary

Va Yabqaa Vajho Rabbika

(The Face Of Thy Lord)

Ham daykhayñ gay

Laazim hae keh ham bhee daykhayñ gay

Voh din keh jis kaa vaadah haé

Jo lauhé azal mayñ likkhaa haé

Jab zülm-o-sitam kay kohé garaañ

Rooee ki tarah ü∂ jaaeñ gay

Ham mahkoomoñ kay paaooñ talay

Jab dharti dha∂ dha∂ dha∂kay gee

Aur ahlé hikam kay sar oopar

Jab bijli ka∂ ka∂ ka∂kay gee

Jab arzé khüdaa kay kaabay say

Sab büt üthva-ay jaaéñ gay

Ham ahlé safa, mardoodé haram

Masnad peh bitha-ay jaaéñ gay

Sab taaj uchhaalay jaaéñ gay

Sab takht gira-ay jaaéñ gay

Bas naam rahay ga allah ka

Jo ghaaéb bhee haé, haazir bhee,

Jo manzar bhee haé, naazir bhee,

Ütthay ga "Anal Haq" kaa naarah,

Jo maéñ bhee hooñ aur tüm bhee ho,

Aur raaj karay gee khalqé khudaa

Jo maéñ bhee hooñ aur tüm bhee ho!

(America — January 1979)

Faiz Ahmad Faiz

The poem was removed from Nuskha Haaé Vafaa during Zia's regime!
"Ütthay ga Anal Haq kaa naarah"
was removed from Nüskha Haaé Vafaa when it was published again.
Meray Dil Meray Musaafir has the whole poem!

Labels: People, Urdu

: Name: Zakintosh; Location: Karachi, Pakistan

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Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.

These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.

I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy - ecstasy so great that I would often have scrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness - that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that the saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought and, though it might seem too good for human life, this is what - at last - I have found.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.

Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.

This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.

Bertrand Russell

The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum - even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate.

Noam Chomsky

Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.

Albert Einstein

Each century seems to take on a particular character as we view it in retrospect. How will the 20th Century be remembered? My guess is that this dramatic span of 100 years will ultimately be marked not by computers or the Internet, but by the drive toward individual freedom, the breaking of human barriers of prejudice, and the opening of society to include all people.

John S. Spong

DESIDERATA

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann