You are the judge. I welcome your bouquets and brickbats alike and, whichever it may be, I love to treasure it within the inner lobe of my heart, wrapped in velvet, forever. A.R. Narayanan OUM Namo Narayanaya! Chanting hymn octave Narayanan offers at Thy feet, his couplets stave. ALMIGHTY If temple idols suddenly start speaking, All the devotees, from sanctum, start sneaking! The god who is all pervading For fear of human, now hiding! The god Almighty is cemented* To altar, by him He created! (* In Hindu temples, the idols are fixed on the altar by 'Ashta bandham', i.e. eight knots, a rite of cementing and consecration using gum made of eight ingredients consisting of lacs and seeds) Who created man is unsolved mystery But, creation of god is man's mastery! Who is, how is and what name is the God? Man gives various answers as per his mood! If everywhere the god fill, Where, on earth, do devils dwell? Prayers are like letters sent by post – Some may reach, some in transit, get lost. Why count thy incantations by rosaries, To be accounted in Lord's inventories? So good, you're praying for hitting jackpot, But, buy a ticket at the racing spot! The timid bashful lotus, the mud born, Reached the palm of the Lord*, by devotion. (* Hindu God Vishnu, the second among the Trinity, is depicted as holding a full bloom lotus on his right palm.) Formless god is difficult to conceive Formation of the formless is defective. God, like spice to the soup, Adds flavour to life's scope. For all our deeds, let Him be patron; For he shall, all our mistakes, pardon. Partha* prayed unto the Lord to be his charioteer; Whom do you opt to drive yours thro' the future? (* Another name for Arjuna, the warrior hero of Hindu scripture, Mahabharata) Rituals are based on solid truth; The faithless find it all mere stealth. "Man proposes but God disposes", an adage; If proposal be divine, even God will budge. All the bank balance you have piled up Can't tilt His balance when you are called up. Only at the hour of calamity We all seek helping hand of Almighty! Lord who taught us not to expect fruit of action* Hath never sought reward for prayers he'd sanction (* Lord Krishna in Bhagvat Gita) God is not one we should visit; Make Him descend into our midst. When one has to wage a Mahabharatha war Certainly need a "Krishna" to prop him from rear. The religions amidst us were not founded By Krishna, Jesus, Buddha or Muhammad. Unmanifest will manifest When atheist becomes theist. You shall thank God for being generous In giving you that he's denied others. God used to come in the guise of man; Now the man comes in the guise of God. If "child is the father of man", Man is the father of God.