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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Omicron, the newest avatar of coronavirus, is knocking at the door,

A purveyor of terror more and more!

We are getting our just deserts

As many of us are nature’s culprits, moral cripples and perverts!

Doesn’t it serve us right

As we took lightly mother nature’s might?

Steeped in our hubris and ignorance, we are not willing to turn over a new leaf,

Why should nature then hold for us any brief?

When even today we are not ready to make amends,

When we have no intent of changing our ways and trends,

When we continue with our callousness and our policy of thoughtless drift,

We should know that the punishment is going to be relentless and swift,

As what we do, to us comes round

Which people down the ages have found!

As in nature everything turns on its head,

As one calamity another does wed,

We find ourselves hurtling towards own doom,

And for escape there is hardly any room!

Howsoever much we rant and rave,

Only true contrition and a complete change of heart can us from self-destruct save!

Arun Bhagat

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हो एक व्यापक दृष्टिकोण,

सोच न संकुचित हो, न हो गौण!

सागर सा हो हृदय विशाल,

न कोई द्वेष, न मलाल!

जीवन के प्रति हो उमंग,

मन में उठती हो तरंग!

दामिनी की भाँति धमनियों में दौड़ता हो रक्त,

आभा ऐसी जिसे लखने थम सा जाए वक़्त!

जीवन मूल्यों के प्रति हो अपार निष्ठा,

जिससे सहज ही बढ़ती जाए प्रतिष्ठा!

मन हो निर्मल, अंतरात्मा हो शुद्ध,

जैसे भीतर ही विराजमान हो गए हों बुद्ध!

प्रेम पथ सतत विस्तार हो,

जड़ चेतन के प्रति श्रद्धा अपार हो,

स्व:जीवन प्रेरणा का स्तोत्र हो,

ओज से ओतप्रोत हो,

संतुलित विकास हो,

दिव्य ज्ञान का प्रकाश हो,

प्रखर ललाट हो,

बुद्धि के खुले कपाट हों,

चरित्र अविस्मरणीय हो,

जीवन अनुकरणीय हो,

गुण हों अपार, प्रतिभा विलक्षण,

यही हैं उच्च जीवन के लक्षण!

अरुण भगत

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Keep the child in you alive,

Let it flourish and you drive!

Let its spontaneity enliven your life,

Keep intact its innocence at any price!

Let its honesty your life mark,

Let its tinkling laughter be a ray in your life dark!

As life batters you, only the child inside you will keep you alive,

It will enthuse you and will make you thrive!

It will add life to your years,

It will lay to rest your nagging fears!

It will not let you into the sea of cynicism drown,

It will transform into a beatific smile your every stormy frown!

It will the nerve-wracking tedium of your life relieve,

It will not let your ego bedevil you and deceive!

It will add infinitely to your charm,

It will keep the cockles of your heart warm!

Nourish the child inside you and keep it alive,

Cherish it and to its rhythm jive!

Arun Bhagat

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Beauty resides in a heart,

A heart that knows no wart,

A heart that like a glow worm shines,

And draws no narrow constricting lines,

A heart that is all light,

That like the moon illumines the dark night,

A heart that goes out to others

And is as large as that of all mothers,

A heart that with the milk of human kindness does flow,

That in giving others happiness does glow,

A heart that sings a mellifluous song,

That just can not anyone wrong!

Such a heart is the abode of beauty

As it sees doing good by others its sacred duty,

As it dances to the rhythm of the rain

And looks upon loving others as its absolute gain!

It does so freely and with gay abandon give

Because it knows that that to feel love and to embrace all is to live!

Arun Bhagat

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I left because you never asked me to stay,

I realised that I had to find my way!

It dawned upon me that in life you are on your own,

So the mantle of self-reliance I decided to don!

As I gathered the courage to go my own way,

I was mesmerised by the splendid

hues of the unfolding day!

As the adventures of the journey beckoned to me,

I opened out my arms to them with glee!

It seeped into me that my destiny was my own to make,

The plunge into the seeming abyss was my own to take,

The seeds were my own to sow,

The boat of action was my own to row,

I had to push myself to be a person on the go!

With you gone, my God showed me the way,

His presence showed up as a luminous ray,

I went ahead knowing that He watched over me,

And would always be there to resolve my every dilemma and hear my every plea!

I left because you never asked me to stay,

But it proved a blessing as It helped me find my own way!

Arun Bhagat

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You have nothing to prove,

So to the music of your soul groove!

You have nothing to hide,

Why hedge your bets and your time needlessly bide?

You have nothing but your chains to lose,

Why then haul yourself over the coals and cook your own goose?

You have nowhere to go to,

Why then do you good luck for the success of your journey woo?

Just be and be happy in that being,

Take the blinkers off your eyes and develop a new way of seeing!

In being yourself there is unbounded bliss,

Why should you this treasure trove of unalloyed joy miss?

Be yourself and do your own thing,

Does it in the recesses of your heart a bell ring?

Dig in your feet and be what you are,

And let nothing extraneous your resultant happiness mar!

Arun Bhagat

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जो जीता वही सिकंदर,

जो हारे न उसके कुछ पल्ले, न उसके अंदर!

जीतने वाले का जादू सिर चढ़ कर बोले,

हारने वाले का तो जैसे सूरज ही अस्त हो जाए हौले हौले!

जीतने वाले का सब लोहा मानें,

हारने वाले को कौन है जाने?

जीतने वाले का तो झूठ भी सच माना जाए,

हारने वाले का सच भी किसी को फूटी आँख न सुहाए!

जीतने वाले की है यह दुनिया सारी,

हारने वाले की तो मानो सिमट गयी है पारी!

जीतने वाले के लिए तो उपलब्ध है हर सुविधा,

हारने वाले के हिस्से तो केवल दुविधा ही दुविधा!

इसीलिए हर कोई जीतना चाहता है हर दम,

हारने वाले के दामन में तो रह जाते हैं केवल भर्त्सना, उपेक्षा और ग़म!

इसीलिए जीतना ही रह गया है सब का अंतिम गंतव्य,

जीत कैसे भी हासिल हो, यही सब का मूल मंत्र, यही सब का मंतव्य!

जीतने की इस अंधी दौढ़ में हो रहा जीवन मूल्यों का तीव्र पतन,

क्या हो पाएगा फिर एक स्वस्थ समाज का निर्माण, चाहे कितने भी कर लें यतन?

अरुण भगत

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When glum people see a happy soul

Who is always on a roll,

They are cut to the quick,

And to mar her happiness they can be upto any trick!

I wonder why people can not take another’s happiness,

Why they are so put off by her peppiness,

Why they do not take a leaf out of her book

And give their own lives a happier makeover and look.

But howsoever I may wonder,

life will go its own way,

And those with darker shades will live cheek by jowl with those who are bright as a sunny day!

Happy people should take heart and know that they are doing God’s work,

They should guard their happiness against all woebegone souls who in the shadows lurk!

They owe it to themselves and to their Maker to keep their spirits high

Because that is the only way they will find their God nigh!

Arun Bhagat

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