October 2nd 2019 will be the 150th anniversary of the birth of Mohandas K Gandhi, he who became 'Mahatma' (Great Soul). In India, it is common practice to begin a year of acknowledgement and honouring of great people in the twelve months prior. The following video has been produced by the Ministry of External Affairs (Foreign Office).
This bhajan (devotional song) was a poem by Narsimha Mehta - here is the translation.
One who is a Vaishnava (Devotee of Vishnu)
Knows the pain of others
Does good to others
without letting pride enter his mind.
A Vaishnava, Tolerates and praises the entire world.
Does not speak ill of others
Keeps his promises, actions and thoughts pure
your mother is blessed indeed.
A Vaishnava sees everything equally, rejects greed and avarice
respects women as he respects his own mother
though his tongue may tire he will utter no untruth
Never touches the property of others.
A Vaishnava does not succumb to worldly attachments
he has renounced lust of all types and anger
The poet Narsi will like to see such a person by who's virtue,
the entire family gets salvation
Knows the pain of others
Does good to others
without letting pride enter his mind.
A Vaishnava, Tolerates and praises the entire world.
Does not speak ill of others
Keeps his promises, actions and thoughts pure
your mother is blessed indeed.
A Vaishnava sees everything equally, rejects greed and avarice
respects women as he respects his own mother
though his tongue may tire he will utter no untruth
Never touches the property of others.
A Vaishnava does not succumb to worldly attachments
he has renounced lust of all types and anger
The poet Narsi will like to see such a person by who's virtue,
the entire family gets salvation
I wish we people would try to adopt some of this good things... our world would be no longer such a dangerous and cold place...
ReplyDeleteWhat beautiful words and I agree with Da Twinies....if we all just tried to do a few of these the world would be better.
ReplyDeleteHugs HiC
if only each of us in this sad world could live by the words to this song, wow! what a world we could have, no matter the language music speaks its own language. a beautiful voice is a beautiful voice even if we can't understand the words
ReplyDeleteI love the video of the singers from all those different countries. Kyrgystan has the best headgear! Is the UK absent because of the history, I wonder? Or did I blink and miss it?
ReplyDeleteCheers, Gail.
Hari Om
DeleteNo blinking... in fact, only 50 made it to the video, though the Indian Missions all over the world did gather local musical renditions of the bhajan. Yxx
That was a beautiful tribute to a very wise man. If only our world today had more humans like him . . .
ReplyDeleteSuch an amazing man!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful, uplifting video. A person to emulate, a poem to live by in every moment.
ReplyDeletenamaste, janice xx
" Knows the pain of others
ReplyDeleteDoes good to others
without letting pride enter his mind."
A perfect thing to aspire to particularly at this time of year.
Thank you!