The Pale Blue Dot

Seen from about 6 billion kilometers (3.7 billion miles), Earth appears as a tiny dot (the blueish-white speck approximately halfway down the brown band to the right) within the darkness of deep space.

Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there–on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.

— Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994

Mehrooni – a beautiful short movie

Osho on Relationships

Question: I give as much freedom to my beloved as I possible can. So often, though, I put myself into an uncomfortable situation where I get hurt. Does this mean I don’t love myself so much, and that’s why I put myself second?

Answer by OSHO:

It may be much more complicated than you think.

First, the very idea that you give freedom to your beloved is wrong. Who are you to give freedom to your beloved? You can love, and your love implies freedom. It is not something that has to be given. If it has to be given, then there will be the problems that you are facing.

So in the first place you are doing something wrong. You really don’t want to give freedom; you would love that no such situation arises in which you have to give freedom. But you have heard me saying again and again that love gives freedom, so you force yourself unconsciously to give freedom, because otherwise your love is not love.

You are in a troubled situation: if you don’t give freedom, you start suspecting your love; if you give freedom, which you cannot give, the ego is very jealous and it will raise a thousand and one questions: “Are you not enough for your lover or beloved, that she needs freedom — freedom from you to be with someone else?” It hurts, and that’s why you start feeling, “I am putting myself second.”

Giving freedom to her you have put somebody else first, and you have put yourself second. That is against the ego, and it is not going to help in any way, because you will take revenge for the freedom that you have given. You would like the same freedom to be given to you — whether you need it or not, that is not the point — just to prove that you are not being cheated.

Secondly, because your beloved has been with someone else you will feel a little strange being with her. That will stand between you and her. She has chosen someone else and dropped you; she has insulted you. And you have been doing so much; you have been so generous that you gave her freedom. Because you are feeling hurt, you are going to hurt her in some way or other.

But the whole thing arises from a misunderstanding. I have not said that if you love, then you have to give freedom. No, I have said that love is freedom.

It is not a question of giving. If you have to give it, then it is better not to give it. Remain the way everybody is. Why create unnecessary complications? Ordinarily, there are enough.

If your love itself has come to that quality that freedom is part of it, that your beloved need not even ask your permission…. In fact, if I was in your place and the beloved was asking my permission, I would be hurt. That means she does not trust my love. My love is freedom. I have loved her; that does not mean that I should close all doors and windows so she cannot laugh with somebody else, dance with somebody else, love somebody else…because who are we?

That is the basic question that everyone has to ask: Who are we? We are all strangers, and on what grounds do we become so authoritative that we can say, “I will give you freedom,” or “I will not give you freedom,” or “If you love me, then you cannot love anybody else”? These are stupid assumptions, but they have dominated humankind since its very beginnings. And we are still barbarous; we still don’t know what love is.

If I love someone, I am grateful that that person allowed me, my love, and did not reject me. This is enough. But I don’t become an imprisonment to her: She loved me, and as a reward I am creating a prison around her; I loved her, and she, as a result, is creating a prison around me. Great rewards we are giving to each other!

If I love someone I am grateful and her freedom remains intact. It is not given by me. It is her birthright, and my love cannot take it away. How can love take somebody’s freedom away, particularly the person you love? It is her birthright. You cannot even say, “I give freedom to her.” Who are you in the first place? — just a stranger. You have met on the road, by the way, accidentally, and she was gracious to accept your love. Just be thankful, and let her live the way she wants to live, and live the way you yourself want to live. Your lifestyle should not be interfered with.

This is what freedom is. Then love will help you to be less tense, less full of anxieties, less in anguish, and more in joy.

But what goes on happening in the world is just the opposite. Love creates so much misery, so much pain, that there are people who decide finally that it is better not to love anyone. They close the doors of their heart because it is simply hell and nothing else.

But closing the door to love is also closing the door to reality, to existence; hence I will not support it. I will say: Change the whole pattern of love! You have forced love into an ugly situation — change the situation.

Let love become a help for your spiritual growth. Let love become a nourishment to your heart and a courage so that you can open your heart, not only to one individual but to the whole universe.

ek sher

kabhi kisi ko muquamal jahan nahi milta…..
kahin zameenn to kahin aasamaan nahi milta
tere jahaan mein aisa nahi ki pyaar na ho ….
jahan umeed ho iski wahan nahi milta…

मौत तू एक कविता है ..

मौत तू एक कविता है ..
मुझसे एक कविता का वादा है मिलेगी मुझको ..

डूबती नब्जों में जब दर्द को नींद आने लगे
ज़र्द सा चेहरा लिए चाँद उफक तक पहुंचे
दिन अभी पानी में हो रात किनारे के करीब
न अभी अन्धेरा हो, न उजाला हो, न रात न दिन
जिस्म जब ख़त्म हो और रूह को सांस आए .

मुझसे एक कविता का वादा है मिलेगी मुझको ..
मौत तू एक कविता है ..
मुझसे एक कविता का वादा है मिलेगी मुझको ..

कहानी दिए और तूफ़ान की

निर्बल से लड़ाई बलवान की
ये कहानी है दिए की और तूफ़ान की
इक रात अंधियारी, थी दिशाए कारी-कारी
मंद-मंद पवन था चल रहा
अंधियारे को मिटाने, जग में ज्योत जगाने
एक छोटा सा दिया था कही जल रहा…..
कही दूर था तूफ़ान, दिए से था बलवान
सारे जग को मसलने मचल रहा
एक नन्हा सा दिया, उसने हमला किया
अब देखो लीला विधि के विधान की…
दुनिया ने साथ छोड़ा, ममता ने मुख मोड़ा
अब दिए पे ये दुःख पड़ने लगा
पर हिम्मत न हार, मन में मरना विचार
अत्याचार की हवा से लड़ने लगा…
लड़ते-लड़ते वो थका, फिर भी बुझ न सका
उसकी ज्योत में था बल रे सच्चाई का….
सर पटक-पटक, पग झटक-झटक
न हटा पाया दिए को अपनी आन से
बार-बार वार कर, अंत में हार कर
तूफ़ान भागा रे मैदान से..
तूफ़ान भागा रे मैदान से…

एक मासूम मुहब्बत पे मचा है घमसान / सतीश बेदाग़

एक मासूम मुहब्बत पे मचा है घमासान
दूर तक देख समन्दर में उठा है तूफ़ान

एक लड़की थी सिखाती थी जो खिलकर हँसना
आज याद आई है, तो हो आई है सीली मुस्कान

एक वो मेला, वो झूला, वो मिरे संग तस्वीर
क्या पता ख़ुश भी कहीं है, कि नहीं वो नादान

फिर से बचपन हो, तिरा शहर हो और छुट्टियाँ हों
काश मैं फिर रहूँ, कुछ रोज़ तिरे घर मेहमान

एक मुंडेर पे, इक गाँव में इक नाम लिखा है
रोज़ उस में से ही खुलता है ये नीला आसमान

मैंने लिक्खे नहीं ये पल ख़ुद से / संकल्प शर्मा

मैंने लिक्खे नहीं ये पल ख़ुद से,
हो गई बस यूँ ही ग़ज़ल ख़ुद से।

तुझको दिल से निकालने के लिए,
लड़ता रहता हूँ आजकल ख़ुद से।

तेरी यादें तो बस बहाने हैं,
मेरा झगडा है दर-असल ख़ुद से।

इस से पहले के साजिशें होतीं,
ढह गया सपनों का महल ख़ुद से।

जब से वो हमसफ़र हुए हैं मेरे,
मंजिलें हो गयीं सहल ख़ुद से।

triveni – sankalp sharma

बिन मिटे किसने देखी है जन्नत,
ये दरिया डूब के ही पार हुआ

इसका ‘नेचर’ कुछ कुछ तुमसा है

तेरी बातें तेरे अल्फाज़ – sankalp sharma

अब अक्सर…
तेरी बातें तेरे अल्फाज़,
यूँ मुट्ठी में दबाए फिरता हूँ।
जैसे बच्चे के हाथों में
पूरे हफ़्ते की ’जेबखर्ची’ के सिक्के।
जितना कसके पकड़ता हूँ.. कमबख़्त!
फिसलते जाते हैं यूँ ही।
जैसे फिसले थे तेरे सुर्ख लबों से उस दिन,
वो जाँफरोज़ अल्फाज़ …
वो नग्मगीन बात…

वही बातें वही अल्फाज़
जिन्हें थामे रखा था
एक मुद्दत से…

बह गए हाथ से
और छोड़ गए चन्द लकीरें

कभी फुर्सत मिले तो
फिर से एक दिन,
तुम चली आना….
इन हाथों की लकीरों से,
तुम्हें कुछ याद आएगा,
इन हाथों की लकीरों को,
ज़रा सा ग़ौर से सुनना ….

सुना है आजकल…
ये लकीरें बात करती हैं…।