A Life That is Rich

If you can look yourself in the eye,

If with a clear conscience you can die,

If the guilt of wrongdoing does not plague your soul,

If you are able to remain well-rounded and whole,

If your intentions have been noble,

If the other person’s just share you have not tried to gobble,

If you have consistently tried to expand and grow,

If you haven’t dealt anyone an unsavoury blow,

If a life of empathy you have led,

If the hapless and the hungry you have fed,

If you have not let vanity your vision cloud,

If you have not let ignorance your better sense shroud,

If the lamp of reason you have tried to light,

If you have always stood by what is true and right,

If the high horse of ego you have not mounted,

If your untold blessings have you always counted,

If you have added life to your years,

If you have not succumbed to baseless fears,

If through the storms of life you have kept your cool,

If you have refused to act like a jittery fool,

If such a life you have led,

If the dogs of envy and hate you have not fed,

If no unholy alliance you have tried to stitch,

You have certainly led a life honourable and rich!

Arun Bhagat

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A mother’s love is like a balm,

Keeps you so happy and calm!

It is like the delightful shade of a leafy tree,

Under it you frolic and feel so free!

It is like the gushing waters of a river

Which of life and sustenance is a giver!

Of your life-boat it is the anchor

Because she only loves and knows no rancour!

A mother’s love is something to cherish

As, even when she is gone, it will not perish!

It will always be there as a beacon light,

That of her love is the might!

As you venture through the rather forbidding worldly mart,

It will always be there to light up your heart!

It will always be there to nourish your soul,

That is the moral of the story whole!

Arun Bhagat

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न अपनों से कर गुज़ारिश कोई,

फिर अपनेपन का भरम नहीं रहता,

न कर ज़ुबान का इस्तेमाल ज़्यादा,

फिर ज़हानत का भरम नहीं रहता,

न खैंच किसी बात को बहुत ज़्यादा,

फिर वापसी का कोई रास्ता नहीं रहता,

न तोड़ किसी के भी नाज़ुक दिल को,

फिर जोड़ने का कोई ज़रिया नहीं रहता !

न डूब जा अपने प्यार में इतना गहरा,

फिर दूसरों से कोई नाता नहीं रहता!

न बदहवासी में हो यूँ गाफ़िल,

फिर होशो हवास नहीं रहता,

न पी-पी कर खुद को हलकान इतना,

फिर पीने का भी कोई असर नहीं रहता,

न ख़ुदा को ले खड़े सवाल इतने,

फिर खुदाई पे भरोसा नहीं रहता!

न कटहरों में खुद को खड़ा कर इतना,

फिर खुदी पर भी भरोसा नहीं रहता,

न बना ज़िंदगी को इतना बेरंग और बेरौनक़,

फिर रंगों का कोई मायना नहीं रहता!

न हर बात को बना आन का मसला,

फिर वजूद का कोई ज़ायक़ा नहीं रहता!

अपने पैमानों के चलते न कर सब को दूर इतना,

फिर कोई कहने को भी अपना नहीं रहता!

अरुण भगत

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A warm hug tugs at your heart,

It makes a little less soulless this worldly mart!

A hug seeps into your very being,

It gives you a healthier way of seeing!

It sweeps you off your feet,

Your heart’s deepest desire does it meet!

It can be a real game changer,

It can fill with love even a lone ranger!

It brings down the most forbidding barrier,

Of enormous fellow feeling is it the carrier!

A hug makes both the hugger and the hugged glow,

It can soften the impact of even the most devastating blow!

A hug can sew any hole in your heart,

It can be of your life a deeply healing part!

If you can hug someone without any but or if,

You will come across as of invigorating air a whiff!

Many a warm hug has solved problems knotty,

It has melted the hearts of the most haughty!

When you hug someone, you are doing God’s work,

It will dispel any negativity that in some corner does lurk!

If you hug your fellow travellers to your heart’s fill,

Of a fine human being you will fit the bill!

Arun Bhagat

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Be kind every single day,

Be kind to all you meet on your way,

Be kind to everyone who crosses your path,

Be kind to those whose souls have been lacerated by others’ wrath!

Be kind to the good and the bad,

Be kind to those who are morose and sad!

Be kind to everyone in anguish,

Be kind to those who suffer and languish!

Be kind to the tiniest possible being,

Remove your blinkers and change your way of seeing!

Be kind to the dumb and the meek,

Be kind to the powerless and the weak!

Be kind even to those who no kindness know,

Let any animus against them out of the window go!

Be kind to the whole universe,

Let go of any feeling that is perverse!

Your kindness will go a long way,

It will turn even an ominously gloomy night into a cheerful sunny day!

If you believe that kindness is all,

You will among your fellow beings stand tall!

Wear your kindness on your sleeve,

And you will have no reason to grieve!

Treat your kindness as your lucky charm,

It will keep the cockles of your heart warm!

It will not only obliterate your blemishes and warts,

But will also light up numberless hearts!

Arun Bhagat

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If there is a hole in your soul,

To plug it expend your energy whole!

A hole in the soul can cause a lot of trouble,

It can turn your conscience into

rubble!

It can cause mayhem and plunder,

It can lacerate your humanity and it sunder!

It can undermine your whole being,

It can severely impair and distort your way of seeing!

If left unattended, it will grow only bigger,

For unwholesome and unwarranted things it will be a trigger,

And may remain gaping despite all your rigour!

No hole in the soul should remain unattended,

Otherwise the consequences can be grave though unintended!

Whenever you set out to heal your wounded soul,

Rest assured there can be no worthier goal!

Arun Bhagat

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If you love, love some more

Till your love becomes part of folklore!

Love so much that nothing else remains

So that from loving you back none refrains!

Shower love like the gentle falling rain

So that it acts as a balm to every ache and pain!

Let love rule the roost

So that wholesome living gets some real boost!

Let the symphony of love the world permeate,

Let it spread its gossamer wings and its sheeer magic create!

Love is a many splendored thing,

Let it its enchanting song sing!

Let it every festering sore of humanity heal,

Let it all the layers of hate peel,

Let it of peace and humanity the bugle sound

So that the hate-spewing demons no longer us hound!

Arun Bhagat

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Put your soul into your song,

No note of it can then go wrong!

Give all you have to your goal,

Press into service your energy whole,

And find nature waving its magic wand

And lending you a helping hand!

Let your purpose be noble,

Don’t let your resolve wobble,

And all the formidable mountains will be yours to scale,

And to your victory lead every treacherous looking trail!

If you are so primed to blaze a trail,

All impediments before you will quail!

If unfounded fears you don’t let you bug,

The whole limitless expanse of the sky will be yours to hug,

And you will be a triumphant liberated soul,

Every moment you will be on a roll,

That is the moral of the story whole!

Arun Bhagat

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Empty vacuous eyes

That speak of broken ties,

That tell of broken hearts,

That show up all of modernity’s warts!

Money making machines,

The thoughtlessly splurging teens,

People stretching themselves beyond their means,

Living by credit cards,

With wisdom eluding them by yards!

Plundering and brutalising nature,

Losing their own moorings and stature,

Greed and naked lust blinding their eyes,

Holding them in their grip that is like a vice!

The virtual world driving them crazy,

Making them dumber and mentally lazy,

Touch with reality they lose,

That is how they cook their own goose

And sink deeper into an escapist morass of their own making

From which there will be no easy waking!

The super rich and the impoverished stand out like thumbs that are sore,

Can of an unjust world there be indictment any more?

Benumbed by their toxic lives, as for a way out they fumble,

They can hear an ominous rumble

That sends down their spine a shiver

As the hour of nemesis draws near!

Arun Bhagat

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Happiness is largely a matter of choice,

Let me lend weight to this thought and give it voice!

Choose always to be happy,

Don’t be needlessly surly or snappy!

You are here to spread sunshine and cheer,

Not to belittle someone or at someone to jeer!

Don’t spread unhappiness, hate or gloom,

Who has asked to be an agent of doom?

Happiness comes from a sense of gratitude,

Put an end to your litany of woe, don’t give it any latitude!

Count your blessings and all around you will find beauty,

Let it sink in that to be happy is your profound and sacred duty!

Let happy thoughts always you surround,

Let your happiness radiate out to and envelop all others around!

If over unhappiness happiness you choose,

You will gain and gain and nothing you will lose!

Arun Bhagat

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