PREFACE

“The udgitha (Om) is the best of all essences, the highest, deserving the highest place, the eighth.”                                                                                                         Chhandogya Upanishad (1:1:3)

As far as I remember, it was the last day of 1997. I was in my bed, listening to the BBC news as usual. Suddenly a news came that the American scientists had discovered the eighth part of the Quark which they christened Leptok and that they had discovered a humming sound coming out of it. By amplifying the sound millions of times, they had succeeded in recording it, the audio cassette of which was with the BBC and that they were going to play it for their listeners. As soon as they played the cassette, I jumped up with excitement. To me, it was the exact audio replica of Om which the Chhandogya Upanishad has eulogised as “the best of all essences… deserving the highest place, the eighth.” Is it coincidence or has it really anything to do with the Leptok? I don’t know. But in my view, the deeper the scientists are going into matter the closer they are coming to spirituality. The discovery of Higgs-Boson/God Particle is a quantum leap forward in that direction. It shows that the basic principles of science and spirituality have started to converge. According to Einstein, an integration of science and spirituality is essential for the healing of ourselves and of the whole culture. He believed: “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind”. (Ref. Science and the Sacred by Ravi Ravindra, p. 259)

You may call it Anhad or give it any other name of your choice. That won’t change the divine symphony, the cosmic rhythm, humming through the space and sustaining All. In the Bhagawad Geeta (7:8) Lord Krishna says to Arjuna, “I am the light in the moon and in the sun; I am the syllable Om, in all the Vedas, sound in ether and virility in men.” (Trans. Swami Chinmayananda)

Further in the Upanishads Om is called Pranava i.e. “Brahaman, the intelligent cause of the universe.” (p. 117, Hindu Scriptures edited by Dr Nicol Macnicol, Foreword by Rabindranath Tagore). God is One, Truth is One and there is no religion greater than Truth. Yes, the sages express it in different ways and in different words. One of the three declared objects of the Theosophical Society is “to form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity”. The ancient Vedic sages of India propagated the same ideal in the form of a dictum Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam i.e. the whole earth is one family.

Despite all the discoveries of science and beliefs propagated by the theologians of the world, life is still the biggest mystery. The world is full of paradoxes and life is full of contradictions and complexities. A Persian poet has rightly said that Life is a book the first and the last pages of which are missing. (Ref. History of Philosophy Eastern and Western vol.1 p. 13 edited by Radhakrishnan and others). We still do not know from where we come, what is our destination and after all under what compulsion we are here.

The poems included in this volume named Cosmic Rhythm were published in the Uradhawagami (Excelsior) the yearly magazine of G.G.D.S.D. College, Palwal. I joined this college in Oct., 1966 as Lecturer in English and retired from the same as Head, Dept. of English in June, 2001. The selected poems have been arranged chronologically. This has been done to reveal as to how the content, style and the form evolved with the passage of time. In most of the poems, I have tried to relate spirituality with science.

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I am very grateful to all the dignitaries and my respected friends who have been kind enough to send their messages of good wishes / blessings in the form of Foreword, Introduction and analytical comments.

If any mistake has crept in due to the limitations of my knowledge or due to oversight, I hope, my erudite readers would forgive me for the lapse. There is always room for improvement.

Finally, I’ll feel highly pleased if this collection of my poems gives pleasure to my esteemed readers, tickles their imagination and inculcates in them a respect for our ancient culture and philosophy.

B.R.ANEJA

Residence:
DU-166, Kalra Colony
Palwal – 121102
Haryana , India

Email: anejabra342@gmail.com