8 verses · ~1 min
जीवन, यह मौलिक महमानी!
खट्टा, मीठा, कटुक, केसला कितने रस, कैसी गुण-खानी हर अनुभूति अतृप्ति-दान में बन जाती है आँधी-पानी
कितना दे देते हो दानी जीवन की बैठक में, कितने भरे इरादे दायें-बायें तानें रुकती नहीं भले ही मिन्नत करें कि सौहे खायें!
रागों पर चढ़ता है पानी।। जीवन, यह मौलिक महमानी।।
ऊब उठें श्रम करते-करते ऐसे प्रज्ञाहीन मिलेंगे साँसों के लेते ऊबेंगे ऐसे साहस-क्षीण मिलेगे
कैसी है यह पतित कहानी? जीवन, यह मौलिक महमानी।।
ऐसे भी हैं, श्रम के राही जिन पर जग-छवि मँडराती है ऊबें यहाँ मिटा करती हैं बलियाँ हैं, आती-जाती हैं।
अगम अछूती श्रम की रानी! जीवन, यह मौलिक महमानी।।
इति
The Poet
माखनलाल चतुर्वेदी
Makhanlal Chaturvedi
1889 · 1968
There is a poem that lives at the absolute center of the Indian literary imagination of sacrifice a poem in which a flower, offered for worship, instead asks to be pressed into the wreath of a martyr, to fall upon a brave man's chest as he marches into the cannon's mouth. That poem is Pushp Ki Abhilasha The Flower's Longing and its author, Makhanlal Chaturvedi, composed it with the hand of a man who had already offered himself in exactly the same spirit. He was imprisoned multiple times by British colonial authorities for his journalism and his poetry. He was the editor of Prabha, one of the luminous literary political journals of the independence era. He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi's very first prize in 1955, and the Padma Bhushan followed. But what no institutional recognition can fully capture is the texture of his moral life the extraordinary combination of burning patriotic fire and absolute personal humility, a man who wrote about martyrdom while quietly being available for it himself. Born in Babai in 1889, he lived to see the independence he had helped dream into existence, and then he wrote on for two decades more, finding in a free India new obligations for the literary conscience. He is the poet of pure sacrifice not sacrifice celebrated from a distance, but sacrifice inhabited, practiced, and offered without expectation of return.
Paired Painting
Pandavas and Krishna on a Palace Balcony
This deeply resonant painting transports the viewer to the legendary epoch of the Mahabharata, capturing a quiet, profound moment shared between Lord Krishna and the Pandava brothers. Gathered upon an ornate, sunlit marble balcony overlooking the sprawling gardens and magnificent architecture of their capital, the figures exude an aura of divine destiny and mortal contemplation. Krishna, radiant with His characteristic celestial blue hue, stands closely alongside the royal household, pointing toward the vibrant horizon where their righteous kingdom unfolds. The artist has lovingly detailed the opulent pillars, the delicate flower garlands, and the traditional garments, evoking a palpable sense of reverence for an era where the divine walked intimately among humanity.
Open the viewer →