Friday 31 July 2015

Who is a Guru ?

Who is a Guru ?
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Guru gyan bas dijiye, karke itna maan

Saamne jo maang raha, vh hai ek agyaan.

गुरु ज्ञान बस दीजीए, इतना करके मान

सामने जो मांग रहा, वह है एक अज्ञान .
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सर्वाधिकार सुरक्षित/त्रिभवन कौल

Yes, the common man is fast becoming disenchanted with the 

present day definition of a guru. An expert in any field is now a 

days called guru. Management Guru, Property Guru, Ad. Guru, 

Fashion Guru etc.etc. The real relevance and the significance of

a Guru has been lost to the common man. Fake Gurus have also

cropped up. Religious preachers are also sometimes regarded as

Gurus but they remain preachers only each interpreting the

religious tenants in their own way.

 ‘Gu (गु)’ refers to darkness assuming the form of ignorance and

‘ru (रु)’ to the radiance in the form of spiritual knowledge,

which dispels this darkness. Thus the Guru is the one who

dispels the darkness of ignorance.

As per our shashtras, the Guru is a man of knowledge and

wisdom who is ready to impart and share his/her knowledge

with everyone through his/her teachings. That is why a school

teacher is also sometimes referred to as Guruji. Grukuls are/were

established to teach the basics of life. Yet there is great

difference between a teacher and a Guru.

A true and real Guru is the one who besides having  great

knowledge and wisdom is also an enlightened and a realised

soul. He/ She is the one who makes people to shed confusions,

frustrations and doubts and shows them the path through which

people start believing in themselves and the GOD. Such a Guru

leads people from darkness to the light, from ignorance to

awareness thus making them feel the presence  of that

omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient invisible force  called THE

GOD/ THE ISHWAR. He/she is the one who can lead anyone to

that supreme realisation provided one is ready to follow his/her

spiritual pursuits. Such Gurus sometimes establish their own

panth/faith/math and initiate those people who are willing to

accept their guidelines.

So people adore their habitats with a picture of such revered

Gurus and place them with other deities as they have full faith

that Gurus are the one who can lead them to mingle with that

Supreme One.

गुरु गोबिंद दोउ खड़े, काको लागूं पाय
बलिहारी गुरु आपणो, जिन गोबिन दियो दिखाए
------------------------------------------------
Kabeer Amritvaani

Guru Gobind Dowoo Khade, Kake Lagon Paaye

Balihari Guru Apko, Jin Gobind Diyo Dikhaaye
 .

Both the God and the Guru stand before me, to whom I should bow

I must praise my GURU and bow to him as he only showed me the 

path to know HIM.
-------------------------------------
Tribhawan kaul.


Thursday 30 July 2015

चतुष्पदी (Quatrain)-10

चतुष्पदी (Quatrain)-10

जिहाद की जगज़ाहिर, तुम्हारी प्रवृति

सौहार्द की जगज़ाहिर, हमारी संस्कृति 

शिशुपाल* तुम्हारा न बने प्रेरणास्तोत्र 

हद तक ही सहना, है हमारी प्रकृति

Jihaad kee jagzaahir, tumhaari pravati

Sauhaard kee jagzaahir, hamaari sanskriti 

Shihupal tumahra na bane prernastotr

Had tak hee sahna, hai hamaari prakrti 
---------------------------------------------
सर्वाधिकार सुरक्षित/ त्रिभवन कौल

* कृष्ण लीला में प्रसंग है की भगवन श्री कृष्ण ने शिशुपाल द्वारा बोले गए 99  अपशब्दों को बड़ी ही शालीनता से सहन किया. पर सौंवे अपशब्द पर श्री कृष्ण ने शिशुपाल को सुदर्शन चक्र के द्वारा मौत के घाट उतार दिया.

Wednesday 29 July 2015

Review of my poetry book ' Children of Lost Gods' in ' The Literary Flight'

ASHVAMEGH...
The Literary Flight! Journal of English Literature    
-------------------------------------------------------------------
BOOK REVIEWS FOR JULY 2015 ISSUE
Title: “Children of Lost gods”
Poet:     Tribhawan Kaul-India
Reviewer:  Shahzia Batool Naqvi-Lahore, Pakistan

The scents of blossoms, the flowing brooks, and the exotic scenes of the elysian Kashmir gave birth and brought up to the potent poetic voice of Tribhawan Kaul, a poet who is the carrier of values, the inheritor of traditions, whose poems evidence the flow of norms in his sensitive veins. His poems speak of beauty in all those poetic forms which are directly but unnoticingly taught to him by the Mother Nature. He is the one who spent his childhood watching the mauve plants and colored stones seen under the flowing clear waters of the lovely lakes, and the one whose nights meant to him a moonlit reality which unfolded itself beam by beam like the slowly blown zephyrs without interrupting the silent conversations of the moon and the stars, studded on the sky above; and when this soul that was nurtured on the beauty and bounty of the native soil of Kashmir, started getting attached to the literary genius of Shakespeare and the sensuous souls of the great Romantics, he started writing his poems in English too, as an addition to the poems of Hindi. So the fun and frolic in the company of nature developed into the sittings in the poetry meetings of the renowned poets made him a poet himself.

The volume “Children of the Lost God “keeps the magazine touch of the poems of multiple themes concerning human life—the poems of senses, of tenderness, of love and beauty, and especially of humanitarian impulse. The volume is studded with a variety of touches like the strong pulse of society with its evils affecting the precious lives of individuals, the romance as an essential bonding of the souls, and the dominating political effects as well. Instead of occupying a single label, Mr. Kaul is simultaneously the poet of society, of nature, and the poet of sense and sensibility. This is almost the fact that lends him a touch of a modern poet whose soul directly takes upon it all the effects that affect, stir and strengthen him and his pen pours out all what his soul receives.

In his celebrated book,”Muqadma Sher-o-Shairi Per”Moulana Altaf Hussain Hali divides poetry into two kinds: aamad i.e intuitive poetry, and aaward i.e. the made poetry by the tools of learnt poetic trade. In the light of this classic division, Tribhawan Kaul stands different as a blend of both while asserting his own individuality, as he exclaims that he is not a poet left with poetic legacy, honed in workshops, dissected in Seminars but he says fervently:

“I write poems, as I feel like expressing
 In verses,
 My emotions and my feelings
 Rhythmical or Free, I worry not
 To the poesy tenets, I stick not my fault,
 Being sensitive to ongoing happenings,
 Forth comes creativity in my writings.”

In this book, the poet expresses his feelings while exhibiting an unrivalled command on various topics ranging from God to devotee, social ills, , romantic themes, all passions including love. He sees love as the main-spring of all virtuous passions. It is a passion that has always been, and will always be the focal point of all poetic thought encompassing the real essence of human bonding; to this treasury, the contribution of Tribhawan Kaul adds a substance. His poem “Love, Love, Love” talks about the vastness of this universal passion, so vast, so refined, as he says:

“Love knows no frontiers
 Love knows no religion
 Love has no caste
 Love has no religion.”

The poem is so complete in encompassing every shade of love that renders a remarkable touch to the work for its content and structural completeness. Such is the experience of poetry that truly deepens and fortifies itself with a general endorsement.

When the innate goodness and the skill in the art of versification gets blended together we see, then, the social issues panic him, and he bursts out in an apostrophe to God, claiming a right on Him, he prays to him:

“Oh God, Oh Ishwar, Oh Allah!
 Spare all human beings
 From untold miseries
 From pain, anguish and agonies”.

The way God is addressed in this poem reminds the celebrated passage in James Joyce:

“But, though there were different names for God in all the different languages in the world and God understood what all the people who prayed said in their different languages, still God remained always the same God and God’s real name was God.”

The title poem, “Children of the Lost God” records the complaints of one speaks for all in revolt with all grievances and restraints in this contemporary world of anguish and anxiety. The poem portrays the condition of man in these lines:

“Extended poems, seeking alms
 Sunken eyes, skeleton arms
 Jaundiced skin, frail frames…”

Though the term “lost” sounds alien & harsh to the ears attached to The Omnipresent Almighty, here the speaker’s state of mind is not unlike Angel Clare’s thinking in Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Hardy, when he says in anguish:

“God is not in His heavens
 All is wrong with the world.”

The same picture of the unsettled mind is found in what Hume says:

“The whole world presents nothing but the idea of a blind nature pouring forth from her lap without discernment of parental care her maimed and abortive children.”The objective interpretation of the state of mind of the devotee suggests the bleakness and barrenness of the faith lost in such circumstances in the world of bondage and struggle. This state of grievance is a looking glass for the masters of the society to keep a check on the social state of individuals so that faiths can be restored and saved, and instead of falling prey to the hands of despair, the faith should be kept awakened as for sure God is always there. The mind presented here is not of an angel but a sufferer who thinks accordingly; and the poet knows it very well that’s why he says :

“Hope, don’t raise expectations
 Set backs, I can’t endure.”

The volume comprises the poems advocating woman as an active character of the society having equal rights of a respectable life. The plight of women affects his sensitive soul. He shuns the unwelcoming general attitude at the birth of a baby-girl. “Trauma” is a sad case about the suffering of a woman in a male-dominated society. This poem mirrors the day-to-day affair of woman abuse, of she is hunted and molested before the crowds, and raped in the moving cars. This is the picture of the trauma felt by such victims. Many other poems are included in the book which advocate woman as a treasured being.

The nature poem, “A Morning in an Indian Village” gives a pleasant and pleasurable touch of an idyll with its photographic vision of the sun rising, birds chirping in symphony and the tillers working in the fields. In the end he concludes as:

“Temple, Mosque, Gurduwara and a Church
 Inviting everyone with open arms
 So many faiths
 Truthful and straight
 Mornings in a village has its own charm.”

Talking about the versification, there’s a variety as the poet has used according to the demand and nature of the theme he handles in the poems, sometimes we have Nanno poetry with the quality of compression with completeness as the substantial contribution of Mr. Kaul and sometimes we see the exhaustive long poems. He makes use of both the bound and the free verse, in couplets and stanza form both. This gives him a space to say what he wants to say.

The volume is a rich experience of emotions as it comprises the poems of variety of nature and themes giving him a touch of an insightful poet, though interpretations depend on the perception of the reader as the rainfall is always pure, now it depends on the nature of the soil if it is of marshy nature it doubles the mud, if it is of fertile nature increases the bounteous vegetation, but the rainfall stays the same rainfall, blessed and pure. Happy reading the good poems of life by Tribhawan Kaul.
===========================
Book Title : Children of Lost Gods (Paperback edition)
Publisher : Cyberwit.net    www.cyberwit.net
Year of publication : 2013
ISBN 978-81-8253-402-5




Shirdi: Now and Then


 I, with members of my family paid a visit to Shirdi on 25th July 2015 to have darshan of Sai Baba. We all had an earnest desire to visit the place to pay her obeisance to Sai Baba and to pray for everyone’s well being. Having first visited Shirdi in 1982 and later off and on, I could not help but to note the contrast between the first few visits and the latest visit.

Back to 80s I vividly remember my first visit to Shirdi village( with my family consisting of my wife, a young son and a daughter)which I always feel was much more fruitful and soulful than my visits in 21st century. Even later visits till late 90s made us to feel one with Sai Baba.

 Recollecting our first ever visit to Shirdi, we has reached Shirdi by taxi from Manmad Rly.Station. I found Shirdi just like another village with simplicity writ large everywhere. There were few inn type  small houses but we preferred to stay in Sai Sansthan which had only 50 room building near the temple itself. We heard that Manoj Kumar, the actor, was building an hotel there. It had become a talking point for the villagers as his film on Sai Baba made people of India aware of his smadhi in Shirdi. Shops were mostly around the temple. People were generous and gracefully acknowledged our presence helping and guiding us to the temple/samadi of Sai Baba. Entry was straight from the small hall gate near sanctum sanctorum. We had full darshan, squatted, prostrated, prayed, offered chaddar, took photographs freely, talked to pujaries and attended all four arties first one beginning at 5am. We mixed with villager to bathe baba contributing our own milk in the bucket. No hassles. No crowding. Every religious ritual was finalised with military like precision.  Fortunately we had visited on Thursday. The visit culminated with watching Baba ki Palki being carried from Dwarkamai to Chwadi and back with all the dance and drum beatings.  Witnessing of the procession was itself a soulful experience. We considered ourselves fortunate to be present. This was as far back as in 1982.Since then we had made it a point to visit Shirdi at least once in a two years.
Lot of changes have been taking place in and around Shirdi since 90s onwards. Temple now looks like a fortress. Waiting period for common man extends from an hour to four hours depending upon the day and time of visit. During festive seasons it may take upto eight hours.  Free entry is being regulated strictly for common devotee where as VVIP/VIP/anyone with a little connection with security/administrators etc. have easy access through short-cuts to have darshan of Baba(Through gates leading straight to sanctum-sanctorum) . Govt. Servants having valid ID’s and senior citizens also can have darshan skipping long rows through a bit longer short-cut(Shani Gate). Online passes are generated paying for your visit but still one has to go through Shani gate instead of VVIP gate.

Since my first visit, this simple village has been getting transformed into a township gradually. With the all round development due to influx of visitors and devotees, establishment like 3 or 4 star hotels/branded eateries/shops/inns have mushroomed all over. Roads have got widened. A shopping plaza now stands near the temple. The surroundings of the temple itself has undergone such a change that I feel lost in the commercialisation of the place. Long serpentine queues and waiting for darshan have now become norms of religious places everywhere and Shirdi is no exception as it is becoming number two in the collection of donations in India after Triputi.

However we hardly had reached near the Samadhi which was barricaded in such a way that hands could not reach to touch it. Pandits/Pujarees were receiving offering like robots, taking out garlands and returning offered Prasad. No emotions were expressed. Some shouts of Sai Baba ki Jai made people to respond with vigour. We prayed for everyone’s well being amidst the shouts of ‘chala..chala’ which forced us to move. Hardly one minute to pray and we were ushered out. I really prayed Baba to bring back the times of 80s/90s back.

One thing is clear in my mind that the Shirdi village has lost its innocence somewhere on the way. May be it is price that a village has to pay for development and reaping the commercial benefits while exploiting religious sentiments of crores of devotees. May Sai Baba bless us all.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tribhawan Kaul






Tuesday 28 July 2015

IT MAY HAPPEN TO ANYONE ON FACEBOOK




Dateline   19 Jul 15  as posted on FACEBOOK 

It was very scary. My reputation was at stake. Someone penetrated my timeline on facebook and posted a link in my name. The link showed number of indecent photos. I was informed by my son who being sunday was at home and checking facebook. He rushed and informed me about it. I immediately opened my account on FB and was shocked to find. In the meantime messages from friends poured in my inbox. Few phoned me too. I was felt totally embarrassed. In the meantime, my son started deleting photos. I opened my settings and tried to report to FB. Some advised me to deactivate the account and open a new one. My son was successful in intimating FB about these malicious posts. Those were though deleted from my account yet I was not sure whether those appeared still on my friends' account. I had to inform everyone that my account was breached and hacked. It was really a bad, very bad experience. Now a days every member of the family above 18 years is on facebook. Think of my mental agony. I am not yet over it. On advice of my son and facebook, I changed my password on facebook and my e-mail both. Facebook asked my permission to go into my computer too and find if any malware is present. However it could not find any, thanks to Quick Heal protection in my laptop.

Request everyone also to change your settings,’ who should see your post from Public to Friends only’

I would welcome any advice and suggestion how to deal such a situation to control the damage immediately and for future also. 

IT MAY HAPPEN TO ANYONE ON FACEBOOK 

----------------------------
Tribhawan Kaul

दुपदी -4 & 5


तुम गए तो ऐसे गए कि लौट के आना मुश्किल

मिज़ायलें तुम्हारी मोहोब्बत को अब तरस जाएंगी

Tum gaye to aise gaye ki laut ke aana mushkil

Mizailen tumahri mohabbt ko ab taras jayengi
-------------------------------------------



भारत ने ही नहीं खोया  एक बेहतरीन भारत रत्न

संसार से 'विंग्स ऑफ़ फायर ' भी अलविदा कह गया.

Bharat ne hee nahi khoya ek bahtareen Bharat Ratn

Sansaar se ‘wings of fire’ bhi alvida kah gaya.
-------------------------------------------------------------

सर्वधिकार सुरक्षित/ त्रिभवन कौल




दुपदी -3

दुपदी-3 


तलाश में तेरी ख़ुदा, सारी ज़िंदगी लग गयी

मिले तुम तब मुझे , जबकि वह पूरी हो गयी.

Talaash mein teri khuda, saari zindgi lag gayi

Mile tum tab mujhe, jabki vh poori ho gayi

-----------------------------------------------------

सर्वाधिकार सुरक्षित/ त्रिभवन कौल


Thursday 23 July 2015

'वर्ण पिरामिड' क्या हैं ?

'वर्ण पिरामिड' क्या हैं ?
----------------------------
बहुत सारे मित्रों ने मेरे ब्लॉग पर मेरे द्वारा रचित  'वर्ण पिरामिड ' विषय पर मुझसे पुछा की आखिर यह 'वर्ण पिरामिड' क्या हैंमैं समझता हूँ कि निम्नलिखित लघु लेख उनकी जिज्ञासा और उत्सुकता शांत करने में सहायक होगा
जब पहली बार मैंने ' वर्ण पिरामिड ' के जनक  श्री सुरेश पाल वर्मा 'जसाला' जी द्वारा रचित  'वर्ण पिरामिड' को  फेसबुक के पटल पर देखा तो मुझे उसी समय लगा की यह हिंदी काव्य की विधाओं में शीघ्र ही अपना स्थान प्राप्त कर लेगा . मेरा यह अनुमान निराधार नहीं था. पिछले चंद महीनो से फेसबुक पर इस विधा का काफी प्रसार हुआ है. आभासी दुनिया में सोशल मीडिया के रूप में  मुख्य भूमिका निभा रहे फेसबुक पर 'वर्ण पिरामिड' पटल आहिस्ता आहिस्ता अपनी पैठ बना रहा है. कुछ साहित्यिक/ काव्य  पटलों पर कविता  करने/लिखने वाले इस विधा का प्रयोग बहुत ही सुंदरता से कर रहें हैंचूँकि में अंग्रेजी और हिंदी , दोनों भाषाओँ में लेखन कार्य करता हूँ, मैं ' वर्ण पिरामिड' के विधा को अंग्रेजी काव्य विधा ' ईथरी'/etheree के बहुत आस पास मानता हूँ. फिर भी दोनों विधाओं में बहुत बढ़ा अंतर है. ' वर्ण पिरामिड 7 पंक्तियों में और  'ईथरी' 10 पंक्तिओं में लिखी जाती है. ईथरी में शब्दांशों/syllables का प्रयोग होता हैपहली पंक्ति में 1 , दूसरी पंक्ति में 2, तीसरी पंक्ति में 3.....इत्यादि  जबकि ' वर्ण पिरामिड में  पूर्ण वर्णो का प्रयोग होता है . पहली पंक्ति में 1 वर्ण, दूसरी में 2 वर्ण , तीसरी पंक्ति में 3 वर्ण....इत्यादि. एक भाव को केवल 7 पंक्तियों में पिरामिड रूप में समाना निश्चय ही एक अनूठा शिल्प कार्य हैजो वर्ण पिरामिड भाव और शिल्प पर खरा उतरता है वही अतिउत्तम वर्ण पिरामिड कहलाता है.

श्री सुरेश पाल वर्मा 'जसाला' जी के कथनानुसार

((((((****यह मेरी नवविधा है - ''वर्ण पिरामिड''****)))))
[इसमे प्रथम पंक्ति में -एक ; द्वितीय में -दो ; तृतीया में- तीन ; चतुर्थ में -चार; पंचम में -पांच; षष्ठम में- छः; और सप्तम में -सात वर्ण है,,, इसमें केवल पूर्ण वर्ण गिने जाते हैं ,,,,मात्राएँ या अर्द्ध -वर्ण नहीं गिने जाते ,,,यह केवल सात पंक्तियों की ही रचना है इसीलिए सूक्ष्म में अधिकतम कहना होता है ,,किन्ही दो पंक्तियों में तुकांत मिल जाये तो रचनामें सौंदर्य जाता है ] जैसे-
हे
कृष्ण
कर दो -
समाधान ,
भारत माँ को
दे दो परिधान
सद्भावों के कर्मों का
********सुरेशपाल वर्मा जसाला [दिल्ली]
ये
वर्षा
कनक-
झरें बूंदें,
उड़े विहग ,
तरुवर सूने ,
आनंद कंद फूले
 ********सुरेशपाल वर्मा जसाला [दिल्ली]

आशा करता हूँ कि श्री सुरेश पाल वर्मा ' जसाला' जी के ' वर्ण पिरामिड' हिंदी साहित्य जगत में अपना स्थान ही नहीं पायें अपितु इस विधा का प्रयोग हिंदी कि अन्य विधाओं जैसे गीत, गीतिका, नवगीत, छंद कि भांति निरंतर होता रहे. मैं इस विधा के जनक श्री सुरेश पाल वर्मा ' जसाला' जी को हार्दिक बधाई और शुभकामनायें देता हूँ.////

त्रिभवन कौल