1 verses · ~1 min
इस गाढ़े अँधेरे में यों तो हाथ को हाथ नहीं सूझता लेकिन साफ-साफ नजर आता है: हत्यारों का बढ़ता हुआ हुजूम, उनकी खूँख्वार आँखें, उसके तेज धारदार हथियार, उनकी भड़कीली पोशाकें मारने-नष्ट करने का उनका चमकीला उत्साह, उनके सधे-सोचे-समझे क़दम। हमारे पास अँधेरे को भेदने की कोई हिकमत नहीं है और न हमारी आँखों को अँधेरे में देखने का कोई वरदान मिला है। फिर भी हमको यह सब साफ नजर आ रहा है। यह अजब अँधेरा है जिसमें सब कुछ साफ दिखाई दे रहा है जैसे नीमरोशनी में कोई नाटक के दृश्य। हमारे पास न तो आत्मा का प्रकाश है और न ही अंतःकरण का कोई आलोक: यह हमारा विचित्र समय है जो बिना किसी रोशनी की उम्मीद के हमें गाढ़े अँधेरे में गुम भी कर रहा है और साथ ही उसमें जो हो रहा है वह दिखा रहा है: क्या कभी-कभार कोई अँधेरा समय रोशन भी होता है?
इति
The Poet
अशोक वाजपेयी
Ashok Vajpeyi
1941 · 2008
Ashok Vajpeyi occupies a towering position in contemporary Hindi letters as both a prolific poet and a master architect of cultural institutions. Born in 1941 in Durg, he joined the civil service and subsequently shaped India's modern arts landscape by founding institutions like Bharat Bhavan. Despite his immense public responsibilities, his poetry remains fiercely dedicated to the intimate and the personal. He views poetry as a civilizational defense against the crushing impersonality of the modern world. In collections like Shaher Ab Bhi Sambhavana Hai and his Sahitya Akademi Award winning Kahin Nahin Wahin, Vajpeyi explores the themes of love, death, nature, and absence with remarkable linguistic precision. He writes in free verse, employing a sparse and exact vocabulary to capture fleeting moments of domestic quiet or sudden metaphysical dread. His work has been translated across the globe, bringing modern Hindi sensibilities to a vast international audience. Vajpeyi demonstrates that a writer can navigate the complex machinery of the state while keeping the solitary flame of the poetic conscience brilliantly alive.
Paired Painting
Goddess Kali
In this powerful depiction, the divine Mother stands as the ultimate destroyer of illusion, her form radiating the fierce and protective love that transcends worldly fears. Her dark skin absorbs all light and color, symbolizing the infinite void from which creation springs and into which it eventually returns. Stepping upon the inert form of Lord Shiva, she pauses in her wild dance of dissolution, a potent reminder that consciousness without divine energy is motionless. The garland of skulls and severed arms she wears are not symbols of malice, but trophies of conquered ego, freeing the human soul from the heavy chains of attachment. Through the masterful lithography popularized by the Ravi Varma Press, this profound spiritual vision entered countless homes, inviting devotees to look past external terrors and embrace the liberating grace of the supreme feminine power.
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