(Response To Some Articles In NeuroQuantology Magazine, Sept. 2011)

It was disappointing to see how most of the scientists writing in the NeuroQuantology magazine (Sept 2011) do not understand what human mind is.

Human mind is not some supernatural entity, which religious people would like to believe, but a man-made program. Mind is the sum total of the best of the knowledge mankind has gathered since the dawn of usable consciousness. It is based on human experience and human ideas. Experience many people are able to understand but most of the people have no clue how ideas are formed in human beings. The old thinking was that ideas come from God. No, they are man-made.

Mind is an attempt to understand reality. So, by the very nature of reality, which is not only the reality outside human beings but also the one inside them, in popular reckoning, there will never be a final understanding of reality.

No mathematical equations can be set up for the human mind. All the articles in the magazine which are talking about having human mind as a variable in the theory of everything equations are deeply flawed, as mind is nothing but a body of ideas, and ideas are not quantifiable and cannot be subject to physical analyses.

It is shocking and deeply dismaying that most of the scientists today are not thinkers, as they should be, but operators, who just apply ready-made knowledge to the problem at hand. There are supposedly 35,000 neuroscientists in the world and most of them have no hang of what human mind is like; they consider it more like a natural phenomenon like gravity and nuclear energy, which can be understood by experiments and equations.

Human mind is unlike any machine. No machine can ever be built which functions like and has the potential of a human mind. The primitive human mind was only concerned with survival. As the survival needs of human beings improved over time the mind started exploring other frontiers. The primitive mind saw strangeness and mystery in everything and it took thousands of years of mental evolution for man to be able to separate the reality outside himself from the reality within him. As he gained confidence in his understanding of the external reality, he began to use his abilities creatively. In every action he performed and everything he saw there was a question mark. Man’s need to know is elemental, as it comes from his instinct to survive.

An unusual aspect of human brain is that it has a capacity much more than that is needed for mere survival. Just for mere physical survival he did not have to go to art, philosophy, and other mental arenas, although they also have some survival features in them, but it is pure mental sphere of man, much larger than any animal’s, that engages his attention quite a bit, and that appears so mysterious to people. Simply put it, human brain hardware has much more capacity than is needed for mere survival.

Most of the common scientists would like to show that mind is nothing but an extension of brain. By having everything physical in nature, they think, they would be better able to understand the universe. As indicated in Karl H. Pribram’s article, “…could we not do the same for brain functions by ridding it of mind.” and “…I espoused and helped develop a science of psychology based on phenomenology as it is formed by brain processes.” Most of the scientists have no imagination as how the mind and brain are related.

Mind is nothing but a collection of ideas. Ideas about everything: things, actions, feelings, thoughts, etc. Corresponding to everything there is an idea. The ideas are the highest level perceptions of the reality. Primitive man’s ideas were quite different from ours. The evolved man was able to connect different ideas about some phenomenon and come up with an understanding of it. Later on we called such understanding theories. There are philosophical theories and there are scientific theories. Most of the human beings are not capable of understanding these theories and they do not need them for survival.

Many scientists erroneously think that we are born with a consciousness. No, we are not. We are born with a physical capability of senses and facilities of the brain to observe things and retain the observations in memory. There is also the capability of looking from different perspectives. Logical thinking and refinement of understanding is purely man-made. Consciousness is something that has evolved. That is why the consciousness of primitive and modern man is quite different.

All the efforts of thousands of scientists in the world to find a physical basis of human mind are doomed to fail. No machine can ever be made that is like human mind. Human mind has grown from its need for survival and then from its capacity to imagine. Both religion and science are the greatest inventions of human mind. There is no ultimate reality. The very fact that human brain depends upon sense impressions for its basic data, all mental constructs are constrained by that. We should be content that we are still able to “understand” a lot of things.

The idea that some universal power empowers human mind is quite wrong. There is no God. Universe and human brain are self-sustaining phenomena. Science is an attempt to understand the physical reality without the help of God.

One of the tragic milestones in the human history has been the invention of Quantum Mechanics. When in the quantum realm establishing the common physical attributes like position and momentum of elementary particles became impossible, a theory that nature at its most basic level is not only indeterministic but also probabilistic was developed. The tragedy is that most of the scientists, who cannot think, believe that nature is so built. There is no way that aspect of nature can be proven; although due to human limitations we may not be able to measure its certain attributes beyond a level.

The quantum mechanical idea that observation changes the reality has been taken to absurd levels. The EPR (Einstein, Podolosky, Rosen) logic about Quantum Mechanics’ shortcoming has not been refuted. When a bug looks at Alpha Century star how much of it is changed by the observation?

One of the absurd projections of QM used by some people is that all the reality we are aware of is the creation of human observation. Well, human beings are only about 4.5 billion years old, what happened to the universe which existed before that. How can you create something out of nothing?

QM is not a complete theory; something more has to come yet. In the history of science there have been long stretches of time when what we consider now as foolish understanding has prevailed.

QM just cannot be applied to human mind as it non-physical. It could be applied to some operations of the brain. The brain basically observes and remembers but it is the ideas of reality that man has gathered over a long stretch of time that interpret the observations. Therefore, the statement, “According to quantum theory, a system evolves casually until it is observed. The act of observation causes a break in the casual chain. Consciousness is a mark of the break in the strict regime of causality,” an observation of one of the scientists in the magazine cannot be applied to human mind. The brain is a mechanical organ, the interpretation of whose work is made by mind, a system of ideas, which has evolved over eons.

Niels Bohr did a great disservice to humanity by giving some unscientific interpretations to QM. His complementary theory was one such theory. Instead of simply saying that the dual nature of some aspects of reality, like its wave and particle nature are irreconcilable, he put forward a theory that these two complement to give the full picture of reality. It is not science but a fairy tale.

When the present curse of QM lifts in future, man’s innate rational sense will regain its control, and then we will see what man is: just a small element in the vast cosmos, and his science just an attempt to fathom it.

I curse my fate that I live in a time when materialism and quantum mechanics have significantly wounded some aspects of man’s grand imagination.

12 Zeck Ct., Suffern, N.Y. 11.30.12, Rev. 11.15.20
www.kaulscorner.com
maharaj.kaul@yahoo.com

Life comes with no meaning at its birth.

It is correct that human life does not come with a meaning at the time of its birth,but it is endowed with a strong force to live right from that point on, which remains alive till its end.

This strong will to physically survive forms the basis of the mental existence of most of the human beings. If we did not have that force within us, many humans would end their lives due to their painful struggle with the extreme economic, social, cultural, and political forces opposing their existences. So, life does come with a rai·son d’ê·tre for its existence.

Happiness depends on self-delusion.         .

The other meanings we give to our existences are purely human creations, nothing to do with the universe. But they can be meaningful to humans. Let us say a man wants to devote his life to the upliftment of the downtrodden.  It is perfectly meaningful. The existential state of man is such that while he is born without a purpose, but he can pick up one from the rich oeuvre of human culture. If he does not pick any, then most likely he will lead a frustrated and unfulfilled life. Therein lies the drama of human existence. So, the art of a meaningful existence is to pick one of the purposes that best suits one’s abilities and personality. If you do not pick any you will still survive, but with a lot of struggle and woes. For a common man, even devoting his life to his family is meaningful. Many artists, scientists, and humanists devote their lives to a purpose higher than their lives. And that is being absolutely creative. Einstein emphasized creativity in pursuit of existence. Otherwise, you may end up being a neurotic, alcoholic, or a bum. But since many people are incapable of being creative, and do not have a philosophical disposition, they end up being religious, to save their life from insanity and ruin.So, happiness is achievable if one is creative and philosophical.

Maharaj Kaul

www.kaulscorner.com

maharaj.kaul@yahoo.com

Life looks the same to everyone

But it could not be so, as everyone is a different filter,

But it has a generic quality of a song,

Which we try to hide as we can’t understand it.

What do birthdays mean?

Are they the celebration of life or the day?

But as life is a celebration so why celebrate it,

The world has got it all wrong.

Life is a gushing torrent,

Don’t turn it into an accounting ledger,

Or a sermon delivered from a mountaintop,

Feel its flow leave its meaning to dumb skulls.

Suffern, New York, August 18, 2021

www.kaulscorner.com

maharaj.kaul@yahoo.com

Love is one of the very mysterious experiences of life.

In today’s Age of Technology love is even more mysterious than it was in the earlier times. This is because man lives more in a cut and dry fashion in his relationships, human and immaterial, than before.

Love for God is the most widespread manifestation of love. Man does not understand God very much but loving Him comes easily to him, though it is heavily laced with a fear of Him. Loving Him is a way of total submission to Him. But love does not have to be blind, in fact it is one of the great illuminators.

Love for knowledge, social causes, and pursuit of excellence can make their achievement easier. Love is a great lubricator. A state of love can facilitate understanding and production of effort to achieve something. Love comes from the humanity of man and, therefore, its use in the pursuit of large and abstract projects makes them appear within human grasp. This is the greatest benefit of love. In the beginning God was worshiped with fear and later with awe. Relating Him with love has taken place after considerable development of the human civilization. Love as an emotion was not present in the primitive human times but evolved as human mind evolved. It is among the more sophisticated aspects of the human personality. As the power of love grew, man used it selectively in his enterprises. But the converse of it, hatred, also developed and did its damage. But it is not as widespread as love is.

Love is of many different types. Let us first look at the love between a man and a woman. Romantic love has been on wane since we have gotten deeper into the Age of Technology. The center of gravity of today’s love between a man and a woman generally falls into an erotic terrain. Sexual fulfillment is the driving force for the inter-gender love. But its physical causation is not its end also, sex stimulates a whole spectrum of emotional and intellectual ambitions.

Beyond the inter-gender relationships, there is a whole gamut of relationships between man and other entities. Today’s man does not love another person in the old sense but simply cares for him. The emotion of love is thought to be unnecessary. It is because emotions can create problems. An unemotional relationship is easier to maintain and mold. Today’s thinking person does not relate with his work, society, and humankind emotionally but with thoughtful awareness. He strives for understanding and not for an emotional bond. This detachment is the result of man’s loneliness, subconscious realization that it is he who controls his life and not some supernatural entity, and the demands of the modern life. Again, in relationship with God, today’s man seeks more understanding than love.

But to think that love is dead would be a huge mistake. Love is still the raison d’être of many relationships for a vast number of people, though it is on decline.

But what is love? It is a durable emotion developed in the process of a mind’s relationship with something it considers to be of great necessity and interest to it. Technically, one could be in love with anything but because it entails an intense subjective attachment with an object, the human system can comfortably carry only so much of this burden. The modern man wishes to carry as little of this burden as he can, as he needs as much energy as he can command for the basic process of living, which is highly demanding. But since some emotion is necessary for a healthy life, through a long process of cultural evolution, his emotions are now focused primarily on himself. Narcissism is the most widely practiced form of love in our age.

Love is a sophisticated projection of self-concern. In the antiquity of the human mental development, there was no love. All emotions were primitive, including that for self. Physical needs ruled the human behavior. As the mind developed, some of the human emotions became more refined. Ego and selfishness grew incrementally. At a more advanced stage of the development, the self-concern grew up into self-love, which in turn became love, as we know it today. Love of an object is the sophisticated involvement of our self-concern with it. Some of the greatest work man has accomplished and some of the fundamental knowledge he has gained has been due to his concern and love for himself. The prism of self has made us see things which intellect would have taken much longer to do. Our relationship with universe is due to our perception of our selves.

In love we look at things with an outpouring of our selves. Self provides the focus and energy for the object of our interest. As opposed to love, intellect, the great facility of reason, works through other mental channels than self-concern. Love is the child of humanity that humankind has developed through eons. It is much simpler than intellect, it creates lot more energy, and is more universal. When a man wants to give all his being to something, he has to draw on the resource of love.

Suffern, New York, June 20, 2024

www.kaulscorner.com

maharaj.kaul@yahoo.com

(1942 – 2022)

Kanwal Muthu, whom we knew as Nanaji at home, was born as a pure soul, unruffled by the worldly concerns, unmindful of personal gain. As we were close in childhood, I saw to my amazement as well as to my concern, how he connected with people without fear and favor. At that time in his life I do not think he ever had a quarrel with anyone. I realize now that his fearlessness came from the purity of his soul, as reflected to him through his consciousness. See the picture above and look into his eyes, you will understand what I am talking about.

Lucky was Nanaji as he was born to special parents. His father, Dr. Dwarika Nath Muthu, was a noble man, who at times gave money to his patients to buy medicines and defray other expenditures, rather than take it from them as his rightful fees. For his compassion and generosity he was nicknamed Satyayogi Doctor. His mother, Roopawati, my father’s sister, dotted on her children the like of which I have never seen. The parents treated the two children they had like God-given gifts, which they must raise with infinite care. Sometimes I thought they were going beyond the reality of life and raising them as softies.

Kanwal spent his pre-college life in small towns like Sopore, Anantnag, etc. He had a protected and privileged childhood in company with his highly doting parents, a younger brother, who was very different than him, and the special treatment he got from the public surrounding him, being a town medical officer’s son.

I spent a lot of time with the Muthu family, as I was a functional orphan, having been sent by my parents to Kashmir to pursue my studies, while they lived in New Delhi, on the basis that education in Kashmir was superior to the one dispensed in New Delhi. Although I was not convinced of that evaluation, I ended up spending six years of my boyhood with my uncle and other relatives. I spent time with Muthus in Srinagar, Sopore, and Pahalgam. During the F.Sc exam preparation, which would be about 12ttth grade in the modern school system, I ended up spending about a month and a half with Muthu family at their Ganpatyar, Srinagar residence. Muthus liked me very much and so the extent of the time I spent with them.

Kanwal while riding a bicycle would shout greetings to his friends and neighbors, without shyness and decorum considerations, which was not considered good taste. But he did not care as his heart had given him the green light. In the third year of college, which was the first year of B.A., he went for the enrollment very early in the morning, so that he would get the roll number one, so that people at the college would remember him easily. At this time in Kanwal’s life he did not have much ambition in his education. He was not very fond of reading books, nor had any high interest in sports. His interest in girls was sharp and durable, which was augmented by their response to his overtures, propelled quite a bit by his Hollywood – looks. See the picture above to confirm this. He just wanted to have a good time in this period of his life.

Kanwal’s seriousness about his life started when after his finishing B.A. in Kashmir he joined Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute in Bombay for the studies in engineering. Away from the love of his parents and comforts of his home, he faced life in its raw and challenging state. He was disappointed with some of his performance at the Institute but he did not allow it to make a mark on him. Proverbially he hit the sack but then got up quickly, steadied himself, and strode the path in front of him determinedly. This was the birth of new Kanwal, the personality that would guide him through the rest of his life. He became a serious man and ambitions took root in him. That is why I have called him a man of nobility and perseverance. Nobility he was born with but perseverance he cultivated. After VJTI he taught at Reginal Engineering College in Srinagar for five years. Some of the people he taught and those who were his colleagues have told me that he was a very good teacher. They also told me that he was good also outside the classroom.

After the first tenure at Regional Engineering College, Kanwal decided to do M.Tech from IIT Delhi. He secured a first class in it, lashing at his VJTI performance. He re-joined Regional Engineering College for a couple of years. At this point he came to the realization that he was not an academician, as he confided to me a few years ago. So, henceforth he changed his tables and worked in manufacturing. He worked with several companies at high management levels. While doing that he maintained his interest in engineering societies, as he was fond of organizing events and meeting people. Ideally, he should have been in politics, but that would have been too risky an undertaking. After he stopped working for companies, he opened his own consulting company. So, Kanwal actually never retired. Below is a listing of his academic and professional careers.

But the glory of his life was to end, as it happens with most of the human lives. It was in early 2017 when Kanwal was attending the wedding of the daughter of his cousin in Delhi, he suffered a heart attack. Maybe, he could have come back fully after that, as he had lived a healthy life for the most part, but it was followed with two more heart attacks in the next year and a half. As if they were not enough burden on his health, he incurred a fracture of the femur bone and suffered prostate cancer. The multiplicity of his ailments produced a serious setback to his recovery. Then after some five years after his first illness, he passed away on Oct. 24, 2022, on Diwali day.

We see in Kanwal’s life there were two pivotal factors that gave it shape. One was his inborn nobility, the other his perseverance. Never did I see him harboring a grudge against someone who may have hurt him. He was naturally benign with people. Past did not weigh heavy in his life, present and future were his path. He was not an intellectual but a doer. That is why he was always doing something. In his mature years he had cut socializing, spending more time with his family. He loved his children very much, especially his daughter. He or his wife had given them cute nicknames: Minnah and Baya.

Like the string of lakes in my neighborhood which I frequently visit, Nanaji was a scintillating phenomenon of nature that I was connected with from childhood. Though he had become remote and uncommunicative with the passage of time, he was always there for me. But now he is in the company of stars: beyond reach but yet inspiring.

Academic and Professional Histories:

Full name: Kanwal Krishen Muthu
Actual date of birth: January 18, 1942
Official date of birth: January 20, 1942

Academic History:

I do not have information where Kanwal did his high schooling and F.Sc., but he joined Amar Singh College, Srinagar, in 1958, for B.A. I guess he completed it in 1960.

He joined Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute, Bombay, in 1960, and graduated B.Tech, Mechanical Engineering, in 1964.

Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, 1970-72. Graduated M. Tech., Industrial Engineering.

Professional History:

Regional Engineering College, Srinagar, Kashmir: 1965-70. Taught in Mechanical Engineering Dept.

Regional Engineering College, Srinagar, Kashmir: 1972-73. Taught in Mechanical Engineering Dept. again after M.Tech. from IIT Delhi.

Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi: 1973-75. Taught in Mechanical Engineering Dept.

Kelvinator Of India: Joined in 1975.

Weston Electronics: Joined in 1988.

Hero Honda Motors: Joined in 1991. He moved from the position of G.M. Commercial to V.P. HR & TQM.

Lumax Industries: joined 1995 as VP.

Corporate Consultancy Services: Launched his own consulting firm in 1998. Provided management consulting services and conducted in-company training programs all over India.

Membership of Professional Organizations and Societies:

All India Management Association (AIMA)
Delhi Management Association (DMA). Served as president for one term.
Indian Institution of Industrial Engineering (IIIE)
Indian Society of Mechanical Engineers (ISME)
Operational Research Society of India (ORSI)

Picture of Kanwal taken in Pahalgam, Kashmir, May 1957:

Suffern, New York, Nov. 7, 2022; Rev. 5.14.24
www.kaulscorner.com
maharaj.kaul@yahoo.com

Following writing about my father is from my autobiography, Inclinations and Reality, published in 2010:

My father and uncle Papaji emerged as the towering personalities and gurus of our family after the untimely passing away of my grandfather. A pair of siblings could not have been more dissimilar. My father, called Babuji by family members younger than him, was a straight-from-the-gut person; he had little need for social hypocrisy, but at the same time he was warm, friendly, and gregarious. He was incorruptible but forgiving. He amassed a wide circle of friends as friendship was his lifeblood. He was self-conscious, as almost all Kashmiri Pandits were those days, but had a wide empathy for people. He was serious and responsible but did not have any large-scale ambitions or goals in his life.

From his job with All India Radio, New Delhi, where he was a newscaster among other things, he moved to Information Services of India in New Delhi. On behalf of the organization, he went on diplomatic assignments to many countries of the world. This experience enriched his life, enlarging his perspective on world and life. He could work hard only to the limits of its need but did not like programmatic hard work. That is one of the reasons why he did not often top as a student though he did well in exams. He maintained very good relationships with people, especially with his friends and relatives. People adored him for his simplicity, his easy straightforwardness, his generous warmth, his ample generosity, and his spontaneous humor and wit. When with his friends, he would be at the peak of his jollity and agreeability; but when with his core-family he would generally be serious and silent.

Money did not inspire him, it was only a survival tool for him. He did not aspire for property or other material possessions. One way he looked at life was to treat it as a duty that one must strive to perform well. He was against over-intellectualization of human life. He thought its basic elements were quite apparent; all that was needed was to respond to them adequately. He generally lived in forward direction and on short-time basis. He conducted himself very well at his job. He was quick in his work and extremely good with his colleagues, especially his subordinates. He spent some of his spare time in reading books on history, literature, public life, and in other fields. He also wrote many articles on politics. He was well-versed in Urdu poetry. He was a colorful man, full of fun. He was a very good talker and the spark of his conversation stayed on people’s mind for quite a while. His education prevented him to be religious, but he did not dismiss it as absurd, especially in his later years. He tried to live everyday as best as he could. He did not have metaphors for the marvel or mystery of life, neither did he condemn its painfulness and absurdity. Such detached and stoic approach to life, to some extent, could be traced to Hinduism, which surrounded him; though he did not practice it consciously. He could become nervous when confronted with an important but a difficult situation or in an emergency or at the start of a long travel.

My father provided reliable and effective intellectual and emotional support to his relatives and friends, when he was asked to do so, or the situation warranted so. He was always willing to go to any length to help and comfort his family. He would not have liked to think that his life had a message, but if we were to look for it, it was to maintain the dignity of one’s life at all the times, keep good relationships with people, follow the rules, and have fun. He passed away prematurely, at 65, on 16 August 1982, under unusual circumstances. That day in the morning he underwent a benign prostate surgery and passed away at midnight in the hospital. Circumstantial evidence strongly suggests he suffered pulmonary embolism, due to the mistakes in his surgery. His going away hurt his relatives and friends deeply, as they thought he was yet young and capable of a lot of goodness. No other person in our family, since and before his passing away, has equaled his perceived high human stature or his popularity, even though he had left Kashmir for good in 1948.

While bravely fighting his heartbreak over his younger son’s accident, Daddy passed away on 16 August 1982, at an unripe age of 65, after a benign prostate surgery. I was traveling in Europe when the news of his passing away reached me. Hurriedly, I reached India the following day, only to be able to see his ashes. A man who liked to laugh and joke had now passed on to eternity. Below is the response I sent to people’s condolence letters:

“It was quite some time ago that I received your letter about my father’s passing away. The reverberations of that event in the last August are still strong and I have been unable to bring myself to replying you.

The invisible forces that tie us all seem very visible when calamities strike us. A man’s life depends upon the sympathies and the smiles of other human beings.

Death is as final as anything can be. To understand and cope with it is challenging.

For your understanding and sympathy, I cannot find good enough thoughts to express my appreciation in. But this much I can say: by your letter you have reached out for the human heart and added to our bonds.”

My father, whose happiest moments were spent when he was in the company of people, would have been touched by such a moving response to his passing away, as has been generated by the people who knew him.”

His death seemed to mark the end of an era for me. He was like a big Chinar tree over me, whose presence sometimes I did not feel, but now by its absence, it has come to full life. All my life, during which Daddy was alive, he maintained, it appeared, a studied distance from me. Part of it was due to the cultural lag of Kashmiri fathers in relationship with their children and part of it was due to his innate shyness, well-hidden by his outwardly gregarious personality. But there were two more elements to it. My birth being the first in the family, when he was struggling to find a footing in the world, was reminiscent to him of his struggles. This experiential association, perhaps, made him cool toward me. Later, when I grew up, Daddy did not like my artistic disposition, as almost all his life he had wanted to be a practical man. Although he admired artists but living like one was too irresponsible and risky in his view. He wanted to take the world as it appears and man’s role in it to be like that of a captain in a ship. But I had forgiven his aloofness toward me a long time ago. I wrote a book about our relationship, Life With Father, whose introductory verse is:

He remained an aloof tower in my life,

When I was looking for a father.

But the flow of time has washed my wounds

And now I miss his unalloyed love, his fulsome compassion,

Sharpness of his wit, his unaffected manner.

His presence is imprinted in the recesses of my consciousness,

His incorruptible nobility a light forever shining in my firmament.

Suffern, N.Y., May 4, 2024

www.kaulscorner.com

maharaj.kaul@yahoo.com

Maharaj Kaul translates and discusses Mirza Ghalib’s (1797 – 1869)

most popular and famous shers:

Ghalib Sher 20:

 go hāth ko junbish nahīñ āñkhoñ meñ to dam hai
rahne do abhī sāġhar-o-mīnā mire āge

 Translation:

 although there is no movement in the hand but eyes have power

let the wine glass and flagon remain before me

 Discussion:

 Due to old age or dissipation of passion the body feels weak, but

still the eyes have power. It is not all over yet. So, let the wine glass

and the flagon (a large container of wine, which has a handle and

a spout) stay on. Man’s life is dependent on the vigor of body, but

beyond that the mind still exerts power over his existence.

 Ghalib Sher 19:

 bāzīchah-e at̤fāl hai dunyā mire āge
hotā hai shab-o-roz tamāshā mire āge

 Translation:

 a game of children the world is before me

happens night and day a spectacle in front of me

Discussion:

 Ghalib sees the world as games that children play. The spectacle goes on day and night. He does not think much of it, he is unaffected by it. This means that he has an inner life that he lives for and by it. His division of his internal and the external lives is strong. This is clearly different from run of the world people.

 Ghalib Sher 18:

 ham ne mānā kih taġhāful nah karoge lekin
ḳhāk ho jāʾeñge ham tum ko ḳhabar hote tak

 Translation:

 I concede that you won’t show negligence but

dust I will become by the time the news reaches you

Discussion:

 The lover has come to concede that his beloved will not be negligent in taking care of him when he is in some dire condition, but the problem is that she may have gone so far away or is in some difficult situation such that his bad news may not reach her in time. So, this is the dark cloud hanging over the lover’s head.

Ghalib Sher 17:

 ham ko un se vafā kī hai ummīd
jo nahīñ jānte vafā kyā hai

 Translation:

 we have hope for faithfulness from the one

who doesn’t know what faithfulness is

 Discussion:

 Ghalib says that the irony is that we are expecting faithfulness from a beloved who does not know what faithfulness means. It could be that she is so young yet to know what it is, or that she is old enough to know what it is, but does not think it is required of her. That is faithfulness is not a requisite in love. On one hand the lover is going in the full fever of love with all its trappings, but on the other hand the beloved does not seem to care for faithfulness.

 Ghalib Sher 16:

 ishq mujh ko nahīñ vaḥshat hī sahī
merī vaḥshat tirī shuhrat hī sahī

 Translation:

 love it may not be let it be madness

my madness your fame let it be

Discussion:

 Ghalib tells his beloved that let it be his madness as she feels his love is. But his madness has imparted a fame of specialness on her. In other words, even though she thinks his passion for her is madness, but nevertheless it has cast her as a special person in society.

 Ghalib Sher 15:

yih nah thī hamārī qismat kih viṣāl-e yār hotā
agar aur jīte rahte yihī intiz̤ār hotā

Translation:

this was not our destiny that union with the beloved would take place

if we had kept on living there would have been the same waiting

Discussion:

 Ghalib laments that it has not been his luck to have had a union with his beloved. Also, he has come to the realization that had he and his beloved waited longer, the union between them would still not materialize. This is so because it is their destiny.

 Ghalib Sher 14:

ishq se t̤abīʿat ne zīst kā mazā pāyā
dard kī davā pāʾī dard-e be-davā pāyā

Translation:

through passion the being found the relish of life
found cure for a pain found an incurable pain

Discussion:

Ghalib says that by means of passion a human being can make life enjoyable, but that passion is not easy to cultivate and hold on to, because of the problems associated with it. So, while the enjoyment in life is cultivatable, but the fuel to support it is problematic.

 Ghalib Sher 13:

muḥabbat meñ nahīñ hai farq jīne aur marne kā
usī ko dekh kar jīte haiñ jis kāfir pah dam nikle

Translation:

in love there is no difference between living and dying

seeing her we live the infidel who would make us die

Discussion:

 Ghalib says that in love one lives as well as dies, as it is a challenging experience that involves a relationship with another person. Depending on her state of mind one’s feelings can swing from living to dying.

Ghalib Sher 12:

 baskih dushvār hai har kām kā āsāñ honā
ādmī ko bhī muyassar nahīñ insāñ honā

Translation:

it is difficult for every task to be easy

even for man it is not easy to be human

Discussion:

 It is difficult for every human task to be easy. For man also to be human is not easy. Man is the physical aspect of the human race, being human is his qualities of love, sacrifice, compassion, etc.

Ghalib Sher 11:

nah thā kuchh to ḳhudā thā kuchh nah hotā to ḳhudā hotā
ḍuboyā mujh ko hone ne nah hotā maiñ to kyā hotā

Translation:

when there was nothing there was God if nothing happened God would be created

I was drowned by my existence if I didn’t exist what would happen

 Discussion:

 It is a deeply philosophical sher by Ghalib. He says that when there was nothing in the universe, there still existed God; and if nothing was going on in the universe, the phenomenon of God would still be occurring. Ghalib says that his existence has ruined him. Because if he had not existed, he would be a part of God, a superior situation than his human situation.

 Ghalib Sher 10:

hazāroñ ḳhvāhisheñ aisī kih har ḳhvāhish pah dam nikle
bahut nikle mire armān lekin phir bhī kam nikle

 Translation:

all the thousands of longings are such that over every longing I would die

many of my wishes were fulfilled but still few were fulfilled

Discussion:

Ghalib says there are thousands of desires in life such that, for each of them one would sacrifice his life. Many of his desires were fulfilled, but still they turned out to be few.

 Ghalib Sher 9:

koʾī vīrānī-sī vīrānī hai
dasht ko dekh ke ghar yād āyā

Translation:

it is a desolation like desolation

seeing the desert home came to mind

Discussion:

This is a famous sher known for its vast ambiguity. Is Ghalib reminded of his home seeing the desolation of the desert? Or is he longing to be at his home, seeing the desolation of the desert? Or, is he in a state of the mood of desolation; then, seeing the desert he is reminded of his home, as a state of relief. We cannot understand what Ghalib had in his mind writing this couplet.

Ghalib Sher 8:

koʾī mere dil se pūchhe tire tīr-e nīm-kash ko

yih ḳhalish kahāñ se hotī jo jigar ke pār hotā

Translation:

let someone ask my heart about your half-drawn arrow

where would this romantic pain have been if it had gone through beyond the liver

Discussion:

The half-drawn arrow thrown by Ghalib’s beloved at him, whether by amateurishness or by design, has produced a beautiful pain in him. On the other hand, had it been thrown fully by her, he would have been dead, but without any pain. This pain is what produces the feeling of love. So, he is better off in pain than being dead.

Ghalib Sher 7:

ġham-e hastī kā asad kis se ho juz marg ʿilāj

shamʿa har rang meñ jaltī hai saḥar hote tak

Translation:

for the grief of life Asad what would be the cure except death

the candle in every color burns until the coming of dawn

Discussion:

Ghalib asks what is the cure of the unavoidable grief of life. He answers his question by saying it is death. He laments further that life is like a candle, which keeps on burning all night till dawn. Then when its wax runs out it extinguishes. When the flame of life is burning it can encompass everything imaginable. This is the inherent tragedy of human life. The second line of the sher is awesome, as it tells that while alive a man can be an element in all the possibilities. That is, the scope of human life is great; man’s consciousness can take him  anywhere.

Notes:

Asad is the middle name of Ghalib. His full name was Assad Ullah Khan Ghalib.

Ghalib Sher 6:

āh ko chāhiye ik ʿumr aṡar hote tak

kaun jītā hai tirī zulf ke sar hote tak

Translation:

a sigh needs a lifetime until the appearance of an effect

who lives until the subduing of your curls

Discussion:

It is among the most famous as well as popular shers of Ghalib. Most of its translations into English have been marred by the translation of the second line of the sher. They have been given to the effect: ” who will live until she deigns to pay attention to her lover.” The word “sar” means subduing or disentangling or softening. So, “zulf ke sar hote tak” means ” until the hair curls are disentangled, subdued, or softened.”

Ghalib says that his sighs for his beloved will need a lifetime to be effective, as it is the nature of human life. But while he is waiting miserably, his beloved does not pay any attention to him, as she is busy disentangling the curls of her hair. This is the utterly painful contrast between the two.

Ghalib Sher 5:

ham ko ma.alūm hai jannat kī haqīqat lekin

dil ke ḳhush rakhne ko ‘ġhālib’ ye ḳhayāl achchhā hai

Translation:

we know the reality of paradise but

to keep the heart happy Ghalib this idea is good

Discussion:

This is one of Ghalib’s famous shers. It says that we know what paradise is actually, an illusion; but to keep oneself happy and distracted this idea is good.

Ghalib Sher 4:

merī qismat meñ ġham gar itnā thā

dil bhī yā-rab ka.ī diye hote

Translation:

in my fate if so much sorrow was ordained

hearts Oh God many should I have been given

Ghalib Sher 3:

dil hī to hai na sañg-o-ḳhisht dard se bhar na aa.e kyuuñ

ro.eñge ham hazār baar koī hameñ satā.e kyuuñ

Translation:

 it’s just a heart no stony shard why shouldn’t it fill with pain

I will cry a thousand times why should someone complain

Ghalib Sher 2:

ishq par zor nahīñ hai ye vo ātish ‘ġhālib’

ki lagā.e na lage aur bujhā.e na bane

Translation:

love we do not have power over it is that flame Ghalib

it may not ignite when we ignite it nor it may extinguish when we try

Ghalib Sher 1:

ishrat-e-qatra hai dariyā meñ fanā ho jaanā

dard kā had se guzarnā hai davā ho jaanā

Translation:

the desire of a drop is to obliterate itself in a river

pain growing beyond limit becomes its own cure

Discussion:

Ghalib says that the ecstasy of a drop of water is to lose its little identity by merging with the much larger expanse of a river, thereby enriching its existence vastly. Let us say there is a man who lives in a small village, where he leads an ordinary life. Then he decides to migrate to a large metropolis as he feels he is not living fully. Though by moving to the metropolis he loses his identity but he vastly gains in the scope of his profession and culture. It is this expansion of mind what Ghalib is referring to.

The second line says that when a human being suffers very much due to something, the suffering elevates his fortitude to tolerate it. Great suffering challenges the human spirit, giving birth to a high threshold of forbearance in him.

Suffern, N.Y., April, 2024

www.kaulcorner.com

maharaj.kaul@yahoo.com

Dilip Kumar Is No More:

It is a deep personal loss to me that Dilip Saab, one of the heroes of my life, passed away a few hours ago.

I discovered him in my mid-teens when I was living in Srinagar, Kashmir. During those years there was not much going on in a teenager’s life except reading books, listening to music on Radio Kashmir, seeing movies, and imagining romances with pretty girls. The last item was more in the realm of imagination than in reality, as the existing morality strongly looked down upon it .

When I saw the first Dilip Kumar movie, I was hypnotized. His emoting, speaking, walking, and everything else was sharp, sensitive, coming deep from his heart. And the tragedy roles he played were in sync with my soul. After seeing a Dilip Kumar movie I used be so moved, that for several days I would be knocked out. It would take me effort to come back to real life.

After seeing his many movies I came to think that he must be a special personalty in his real life. My thinking came to be true after I delved deeply in his real life. I found that he was an intelligent and a sensitive man, who had a strong character. Also, I came to know that that he was very selective in the roles he played, was very good to people, so much so you could not criticize any person in Bollywood and beyond in his presence. If you did, he would come out with many good qualities and deeds that the criticized person had to his credit.

In the last few years I had a wish that he live up to 100, to add aura to his personality.

His life, beyond the cinema, I studied keenly. I found that he knew how to live it, true to his personality. He maintained his artistic personality, knitting it with realism, and constrained to practical difficulties of life. The same qualities of sensitivity, intelligence, and character he used in his movie roles, he also applied to his life. He was selective in his roles, so that he ended up working in less than 60 films; while actors of his level of success would act in more than 100. This was a delineation of his character. He did not want to work in all kind of cheap movies, just to make money.

Using Tagore’s language, Dilip Kumar was greater than his deeds and truer than his surroundings. His name will not only live on in Bollywood, but in India, and beyond.

He was the first hero of my life; subsequently, I added four other heroes, as I grew up. But none of them chipped away anything from the magic of Dilip Saab.

Today my hero has left me, but his life will keep on inspiring me by its sensitivity, tenacity, talent, realism, and strong character.

Maharaj Kaul

https://www.facebook.com/profile/100009422537911/search?q=dilip%20kumar

It was hard to believe when you left us,

A shock to our existences,

A joy-wrencher, a peace-snatcher.

For years you walked on earth with tough-feet,

And carried high-ambition,

But soft ways and words you used with the world.

Though in rough business,

Your concern for humanity never wavered,

Family was your prime focus.

You left a mark for us to look up to,

A way to emulate,

A memory to rekindle our souls.

Suffern, New York, February 23, 2024

www.kaulscorner.com

maharaj.kaul@yahoo.com