VAANIYOG

Tradition makes us offer

Holy water in tarpan

To the dead

At Har-ki-Paudi

Haridwar by the side

Of the holy river Ganga.

Taking water in hands

Offering is made

To the mother

Father, brother

Ancestors, siblings

under the chanting

Of holy mantras

Incantations followed by

Pouring the water

Back into the river.

Puzzled till one day

Its significance dawned

What is there

In our hands?

Can we defy death?

We are to suffer

Innumerable losses

In a life span

Do we always cry

Or move on

Accepting the reality

Certainty of death

The biggest loss

Mother, father

Brother, spouse

Other losses

compare poorly

But life must

Go on and on

We determined

To march forward.

Water in our hands

Small quantity

Merged into larger

River Ganga

Flowing from

The great Himalayas

merging into the sea

Like our souls

A small part of

That bigger soul

Aatmaa-parmaatmaa

Leaves little scope

For longer mourning.

When we realize

The cycle of

Life & death!

We can hold

The holy water

In our hand

Only so long !

So we empty

It into the Ganga

To merge water

With water

To maintain

The flow

The flow

Of Life !