G. N. Das

Tulasīdāsa

Couplets from Thulasee Das

Here Is A Treatise By The Author Of Shri Rama, The Man And His Mission And Lessons From The Mahabharata With An Attempt To Oversee The Possibilities Of The Whole World With A Number Of Different Human Communities And Races Living As One Family As If Living In A Circumscribed Area Of A Country With Few Nations. The Author Had The Opportunity To Visit A Number Of Countries Under A Uno Fellowship Programme. He Has Put In His Personal Experiences (A Rich Account Of The Countries, Peoples And Civilisations Of Different Nations He Had Chance To See Himself). In The End, The Author Has Arrived At The Conclusion That Basic Human Nature Being The Same All Over The World Covering Peoples Of Various Races, Communities, Speaking Different Tongues, Observing Different Social And Communal Norms In Spite Of These Differences Belong To One Human Race. He Has Not Only Visited Them For Superficial Study But Lived With Them Under One Roof And In One Kitchen Which Accommodated The Author And The Author Acclimatised Himself Without Demur From Either Side To Live As Belonging To One Family.

One World One Family

Kabir

Kabir (1398-1518), The Illiterate Jolaha (Weaver) Poet Who Flourished In The 15Th Century In Our Ancient Land Sang Hundreds Of Songs And Couplets Effortlessly. The First Authentic Record Of Some Of These Songs Of Great Spiritual And Poetic Excellence Is To Be Found In The Holy Guru Granth Saheb Of The Sikhs. These And More Of Them Which Have Been Handed Down To Us Through Other Sources Run Into Thousands. Of Them A Large Number Portray The Prem-Lila (Love-Game) Between The Soul Of Man (Jivathma) And Paramathma (Supreme Soul) For Their Ultimate Union Signifying The Salvation Of The Soul In Man And Also Of The Man Concerned. Kabir Was Firmly Of The Conviction That God, Or In Other Words Salvation, Can Be Attained By The Way Of Love.Some Of The Love Songs Of Kabir Together With Other Songs Had Been Translated Into English Free Verse By Tagore In 1915, And By Lynda Hess And Another In 1947 And By Pritish Nandy In 1980. Kabir Is Now Widely Read By The English Knowing Readers In The Country And Abroad.But, For The First Time One Hundred And One Of The Love Songs Of Kabir Are Presented In Simple Lucid English Free Verse For The Benefit Of The Wider Audience In This Book Which Will Remove A Long Felt Want.

Love Songs of Kabir

The Book Is Chiefly A Record Of The Activities Of Shri Rama, The Eldest Son Of King Dasaratha Of Ayodhya (Oudh) In North India In The Treta-Yuga. It Is Commonly Believed That Shri Rama Incarnated As Such With The Objective Of Getting The World Rid Of The Menace Of Demon King Ravana Of Lanka (Ceylon). In Reality Shri Rama’S Long Fourteen Years Of Exile From Ayodhya, Capital Of King Dasaratha’S Kingdom (Oudh), Was Not Only For The Extermination Of Demon King Ravana Of Lanka. The Record Of Shri Rama’S Life Story During The Period Of His Long Fourteen Years Of Exile Ending With His Victory Over Ravana And Also Establishment Of Friendly Relationships With Various Forest Kingdoms Extending Over South India And Ceylon Shows That His Life’S Mission Was Mainly The Establishment Of Cordial Relationships For India With Various Territories And Peoples In Essence To Show That Man Should Be Able To Live In The World As Friend To As Large A Number Of People As Possible. And Shri Rama Has Shown That This Is Not Only Possible But Salubrious For The Peoples Of The World At Large

The Man and His Mission

Shri Rama

The Story Of The Mahabharata Is Not Only Of The Great War Between The Kouravas And Pandavas For A Period Of Eighteen Days In The Battlefield Of Kurukshetra Near Delhi. As A Matter Of Fact The Supreme Lesson Held Out By The Great Epic Is The One With Which Vyasa Deva, The Author, Starts-Viz. When Men Live Together As One Family They Not Only Thrive, But They Exist As A Great Community Or Race. As Long As The Pandavas And Kauravas Lived Together They Not Only Thrived As Two Great Wings Of A Race But As One And The Same Race Of The Kurus. As We Proceed With The Story Of The Mahabharata We Notice How This Was Stabilised As Long As They Lived Together With Each Other. And We Have Noticed How The Great War Reduced The Powerful Kurus And Decimated Them To A Struggling Few To Call Themselves As Remnants Of The Great Kuru Race. This Holds Good Not Only In The Case Of Few Families Living Together In Small Units But Number Of Races Living In The World Culminating In The Truth Noticed In The Maxim “One World One Family” Which Is The Title Of The Next Work By The Same Author.

Lessons from the Mahabharata

Mystic Songs of Kabir

Saint Poet Kabir Was Illiterate By Choice. He Was Of The Firm View That If One Realises The Value Of The Two Letters Of The Alphabet R And M Which Make The Name Of Shri Rama There Was No Need To Bother About The Rest Of The Fifty-Four Alphabets Which Might As Well Be Washed Down The River As Being Of No Value. But Kabir Also Emphasised That The True Value Of Shri Rama Should Be Realised Which Will Help Man To Realise The Intrinsic Value Of God And Ingrain True And Deep Love For The Lord. And Kabir Acted Accordingly As He Has Shown In His Songs And Maxims Which Flowed From His Lips In Thousands. The Maxims Selected For This Book Through Small In Number Being 160 In All Show How Deep And Broad Were His Realisation.

G. N. Das

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