Blasting of the Buddha at Bamiyan

Blasting of the Buddha at Bamiyan

The Talibans blasted the Buddha at Bamiyan
Because the apostle of love and peace,
Almost intact for two millenniums,
Suddenly appeared to them a dreadful ‘kafir’ rock!
Why are people so afraid of their own roots and relics?
Aren’t all religious structures mere brick and stone?
Then why are they preserved, pampered and even fought for?

Are the devout pilgrims drawn to mere stone?
Each religion has its holy places, its rituals, symbols and scriptures —
Parameters of faith, as conceived by its saints and seers.
Is bowing before an idol different from bowing before a book?
Each layer in the foundation, each rung of the ladder deserves care.
Each present, howsoever vivacious, is destined to get senile.
And yet wrinkles may belie what vibrates beneath them.

Can you pinpoint which wave is holier than the other in the ocean?
Was mankind born to be herded and tethered to a stump?
If only one was to speak and decide for all,
Why were others gifted with speech and divine thought?
Knowledge is infinite and deep like the cosmos
And man is being beckoned by distant planets and stars.
God manifests Himself not only in galaxies but also in the quarks.

Neither a book is mere paper nor an idol is mere stone.
Can anyone be perfect and claim universal acceptance?
Beware ! Even Evil seems to be a permanent feature of existence,
As devilry itself was inherently involved in the Big Bang,
If to me it’s Om or Anhad vibrating within each quark,
To you, it may appear your own image of God.
Does it matter? Let us learn to love and tolerate for the good of All.

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