Random Musings

One day while strolling on a beach I came across life Merry and carefree Full of joy and glee Life surprised me With its lightness and enchanting beauty Hey life! I said In my years of existence I have experienced you differently Sometimes you felt tough Sad and unworthy Full of misery Rough, heavy and hardly painfree And here as I speak Millions are in pain Suffering and tormented Diseased and abused Humiliated and killed In spirit and in reality What right Do you have then To be like this? Do you have no sympathy Or are you just Out of touch with reality? Life turned around Looked me in the eye And sighed loudly Son! I am what you make out of me When you met me You were happy and free Seeing you like this I also rejoiced But then you suddenly Awoke from your reverie And became unusually angry Am I to blame For this sudden change? Yes I am aware Of the pains and tribulations Humans go ...

Renowned Buddhist philosopher, author, educationist and my mentor in life, Daisaku Ikeda recently quoted Elizabeth Cady Staton, a pioneer of women's rights in US: "The happiest people I have known have been those who gave themselves no concern about their own souls, but did their uttermost to mitigate the miseries of others" . Ikeda who is fondly called sensei (or teacher by his followers) shared this with people from George Mason University who had come to Japan to confer on him an honorary doctorate, as an expression of his commitment to sharing with the rising generations the ideals of freedom and equality that George Mason propounded. This lead me to think, why are so many people coming and conferring such awards on sensei (he has more than 250 such doctorates conferred on him including one by Delhi Univ, which was conferred on him in a ceremony where Anil Wilson; who was the Principal of St. Stephen"s Delhi when I was studying there, was presiding)? ...