Sing out aloud at the top of your voice,

Let your soul dance and rejoice!

With the swaying winds sway,

Across the maze of life find your joyous way!

With the birds high in the sky soar,

Can you ask for anything more?

Groove to the rhythmic pitter patter of rain,

Why should you let gloom your energy drain?

The canvas of life with breathtaking colours fill,

Let your life be a happy gurgling rill!

In your myriad blessings find the fount of joy,

Why with the idea of giving up on life ever toy?

Every moment the liberation of your spirit celebrate,

Let that celebration be spontaneous, nothing deliberate!

Gyrate with the cosmic pulse in sync,

See yourself in the larger design as a vital blessed link!

Arun Bhagat

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Be like the sun,

Like it your daily race run,

Light up the whole world like it does,

Without any distinction and without any fuss,

Scatter your mesmerising kaleidoscopic hues like it does,

And add manifold to nature’s beauty thus,

Like it into every nook and cranny let your warmth seep,

Let that warmth infuse everything proper and deep,

Like it let your boundless energy of creation run the wheels,

See to it that all those around you it enthuses and heals,

Like it let people worship your glory,

But do not let that worship become a part of your story,

Like it without any motive just give and give,

Be clear like daylight that this is the way a great and lofty life to live!

Arun Bhagat

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Be kind to everything that lives,

Blessed is the one who freely gives,

Let fellow feeling be in the driving seat,

Let kindness with kindness meet!

Spread happiness and make your God happy,

Who has gained anything from being irritable and snappy?

Go the whole hog to help others,

What are relations for if not to help one’s sisters and brothers?

What are you there for if not of peace to raise the banner,

Why shouldn’t you be ever ready to help others in any and every manner?

Let all-encompassing compassion be your motto,

Take cognisance of others’ pain suo moto,

Let your heart be big enough to take every being into its fold,

Grow the power to everyone according to your goodness mould,

As you move ahead, of peace scatter the seeds,

Let love and well-being percolate to everyone who your mind reads!

Arun Bhagat

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We are not here to see through people,

We are here to see them through!

We are not here to show a mirror to people,

We are here to hold up a mirror to ourselves!

We are not here to pull people down and gloat over it,

We are here to give our fellow beings a leg up!

We are not here to tear each other apart,

We are here to sew up and mend what is torn and broken!

We are not here to laugh at people,

We are here to laugh with them and spread happiness and cheer !

We are not here to inflict mortal wounds,

We are here to act as a balm and heal!

We are not here to shake people’s faith in goodness,

We are here to restore and firm up their faith in humanity!

We are not here to spread the miasma of hate and rancour,

We are here to perfume the garden of life with love!

We are not here to play the role of heartless mercenaries,

We are here to live the life of missionaries to uplift society!

We are not here to negate life,

We are here to affirm it!

We are not here to fall into a bottomless pit,

We are here to evolve and rise!

Let us remember that God made us to soar up to heaven

While the devil is always there to tempt us to plumb the depths of hell!

Do not be smug and do not rest

Till you pass the litmus test!

Do not give in to any ensnaring vice

But do to the occasion rise!

Go out to prove your worth and your mettle,

Never let insidious evil you rattle,

You have it in you to win of life every moral battle!

Arun Bhagat

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While greeting you all on this New Year’s Day and wishing you all the best for this year and beyond, I will be sharing some issues pertaining to our current lives that should be of concern to all of us who care about a better future for mankind.

The one I am touching upon today is the increasing stranglehold of virtual reality on our lives. Virtual reality was very much there when the Covid Pandemic came along and pushed us deeper into its lap. With the fear of infection driving us indoors into self-isolation, it was online all the way from virtual teaching, interaction with loved ones to work from home. And, as I was reading in an The Times of India editorial today, immersive virtual reality is now making forays into our lives wherein just putting on a VRF headphone at home can take you to any corner of the world with whomsoever you wish to make it with. As if Zoom, Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter and OTT platforms were not enough, now this has come to add fuel to the virtual fire. The result is already there for all of us to see. People who are seemingly so close to us on virtual platforms either avoid any real life interaction or,when forced into them, fumble, behave awkwardly and seem rather cold and distant in face to face situations . The more the virtual takes over our lives, the more our disconnect with the real world! As we are social beings, this has disturbing implications not only for our mental health but our social skills and graces as well as our social lives. As we immerse ourselves into our virtual cocoons, we run the risk of becoming extremely self-centred and delusional, forget all about forging solidarities with other like-minded people on important larger existential issues facing us! And I have not yet touched upon the colossal wastage of precious time which getting perennially engaged with these virtual platforms entails. And what about the horrid misinformation, titillation, frivolity, toxicity and worse circulating on these platforms with their world wide reach and influence and playing havoc not only with our individual lives but also with our social and civilisational fabric!

What is the way out now that the virtual reality is here to stay and is going to become bigger and bigger with time ? Are we just going to tamely succumb to this all-too-seductive virtual giant or we will proactively do something to leash this menacing tiger, all ready to devour us and our better sense? Are we going to make conscious digital detox a daily practice when we shun all online activity for a few hours and painstakingly reconnect and engage with real relations and the real world? Are we going to work out a fine balance between the virtual and the real? Are we going to be alert and discriminating while lapping up the unending digital content and separate, as they say, the virtual grain from the chaff? Are we going to just sit there passively and be swept away by the digital torrent or we are going to get up, do some physical work inside or outside the house, go out for a brisk walk or a run or to play a real game with our friends that makes us sweat and interact with our family, neighbours, friends and even strangers along the way as we used to do not very long ago?

These are the vital questions and our responses to them will determine the future course of our individual and social lives as well as our human civilisation. I think the matter deserves a serious thought on this very first day of the new year.

( I will take up some other vital issues with you all as days go by.)

Here is to a more enlightened and thoughtful new year!

Arun Bhagat

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आप सब प्रियजनों के लिए नव वर्ष की हार्दिक मंगल और शुभकामनाओं सहित

नव वर्ष है आया,

यह संदेशा लाया,

कभी न छोड़ो मन की आस,

घृणा द्वेष न फटके पास,

जीवन पथ पर बढ़ो सतत,

प्रेम हृदय में रहे बसत!

मानस पटल हो प्रकाशमान,

विवेक बुद्धि रहे सदा विद्यमान,

हर बाधा को पार करो,

न मन पे किसी के वार करो,

मज़बूत इरादे, नीयत नेक,

अनेक हो कर भी सब हों एक,

उत्थान प्रगति के रहे सदा संग,

अति सुंदर हों जीवन के रंग,

सब हों मानवता से ओतप्रोत,

आनंद बने जीवन चिर स्त्रोत,

ईश्वर तत्व का करो आह्वान,

नव वर्ष में गाओ मंगल गान,

नफ़रत की ज्वाला न दहके,

जीवन बगिया सबकी महके,

आनंदित हों सब इस में रह के!

सप्रेम

अरुण भगत

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जिसे क़द्र नहीं अपनों की,

जिसे परवाह सिर्फ़ अपने सपनों की,

उसके सपने चाहे हों भी जाएँ साकार,

चाहे वह उन्हें दे भी पाए आकार,

उन सपनों में नहीं कोई रंग

जब तक न हो मोह भंग,

जब तक सब न लगें अपने

जब तक सबके सपने न बनें अपने!

जब तक प्रेम पथ का न हो विस्तार,

तब तक न हो कोई सार्थकता, न निस्तार!

जब तक हर कोई न लगे अपना,

तब तक समझो व्यर्थ प्रभु नाम जपना,

जब तक अहंकार से हों ग्रसित,

जब तक लोभ अभिमान करे व्यथित,

तब तक न मोक्ष न मुक्ति,

क्योंकि यह नहीं जीवन जीने की युक्ति!

जब तक हृदय का न हो विस्तार,

जिसमें समा जाए सारा संसार,

जब तक व्यापक न हो सोच

और वाणी की न हो लोच,

जब तक खुद को न दिखाएँ आइना,

तब तक क्या जीने का मायना?

जीवन वह जो पुष्प सरीखे महके,

चरित्र हो सबल और कदम न बहकें,

गहरी हों आस्थाएँ, अटल हो विश्वास,

तेजोमय हो आत्मा, सार्थक निश्वास!

अरुण भगत

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I already have what I could have asked for,

Why should I then knock at God’s door for more?

My blessings I already can not count,

Why then the runaway horse of desire should I mount?

Why should I grumble and whine

When all I could have dreamt of is already mine?

Why should a sense of inadequacy me plague

Why should I be in my thanksgiving tentative and vague?

When in every nook and cranny of my life I can see God’s grace,

Why then should i the banner of discontent raise?

Why then shouldn’t I be dancing with joy

Like a child does on getting his favourite toy?

Why shouldn’t my mind be at rest

When I have seen my life climbing from better to best?

When I should know that gratitude is all,

Why into the abyss of thanklessness do I ever fall?

Is it because we are too human to pass God’s litmus test

That even while sitting atop a mountain of blessings we can not rest?

Arun Bhagat

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Life is now,
To the present moment say’ Wow’!
Focus on it like a laser,
Let this be a lesson major!
Life is in the here and now,
There can not be to it any why or how!
Now is all that you have got,
Of this truth make a mental note!
Oscillating between the past and the present, if of now you lose sight,
Nothing in your life will you get right!
Now of life sums up the story,
That is a truth hoary!
It is now or never,
Remember it for ever!
Now of life the essence contains,
A wise man always of now the sanctity maintains!
Life is now, all the rest is a dream,
That of life is the truth supreme!
If you wholly in the now live,
If to the moment all that you have you give,
That will show your wisdom profound and deep
For which a rich reward you will reap!

Arun Bhagat
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फ़िज़ाओं में घुलता ज़हर कुछ बोल रहा है,

रिश्तों का घुटता दम कुछ बोल रहा है,

क़हर बरपाया है जिस कुदरत पे वह बहुत कुछ सह रही है,

इंसान की इंसान से बेज़ारी बहुत कुछ कह रही है!

मरते हुए एहसास भी कुछ बोल रहे हैं,

डरे हुए अल्फ़ाज़ भी कोई गिरह खोल रहे हैं!

दबी हुई सिसकियों का शोर है काफ़ी,

कह रहा है शायद हमारे गुनाहों की है कोई है नहीं माफ़ी!

ज़र्रा ज़र्रे से माँग रहा है उसके किए का हिसाब,

कोई तो है ऊपर जो लिख रहा है यह गमगीन किताब!

कहाँ खतम होगी यह अंधी दौड़?

ग़र्क़ करके ही छोड़ेगी शायद यह ग़ैर इंसानी होड़!

किस से करें फ़रियाद, किस से माँगें पनाह,

कौन है जो बख्शेगा हमारे बेशुमार गुनाह?

कौन है जो हमारी दफ़्न इंसानियत को जिलाएगा,

कौन है जो हमें फिर इक बार ज़ेहानत की घुट्टी पिलाएगा?

कौन है जो ईसा की तरह सूली पे चढ़ जाएगा,

कौन है जो रूहानी क़द्रों के लिए मौत से भी लड़ जाएगा,

शायद वो मसीहा कोई और नहीं, हम खुद ही हैं,

अपनी कश्ती को पार लगाने वाले बुद्ध हम खुद ही हैं!

चलो खुदी को करें बुलंद इतना

कि ज़िंदगी सच में जन्नत बने, न रह जाए यह महज़ सपना!

अरुण भगत

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