Of Man’s true story
| Date :07-May-2019 |
By Vijay Phanshikar:
Manus maze naav, manus maze naav
(Man is my name, Man is my name)
Daha dishanchya ringanat ya pudhe mazi dhaav
(In the domain of ten dimensions do I keep advancing)
......
Meech ithe osadavarti
(Here on this barren heath)
Nangar dharuni dublya haati
(Holding the plough in my weak hands)
Kankan hi jagawili mati
(I woke up each grain of the soil)
Durbhikshyacha chhatadavar hasat ghatlaa ghaav ....
(And smilingly stabbed the famine in the chest)
......
Sukhech mazi mala bochati
(My comforts are my
discomforts)
Sahasaas mam seema nasati
(My adventure has no port to report)
Navi kshitije sada khunaviti
(As new horizons beckon)
Dur daat nibidat mandla punha nava mee daav
(I launch a new adventure in that distant wilderness)
Manus maze naav, manus maze naav.
(Man is my name, Man is my name)
- Excerpted from
Marathi poem ‘Manus Maze Naav’
by iconic humanist
Baba Amte,
SUCH powerful yet simple words sound great when Baba Amte utters those. For each of those words in this famous poem, Baba Amte wrote his own poetry in action all his life. Each of his humanist adventures, each of his forays into the unknown, each of his efforts to make life of the oppressed and the challenged better, easier to live comes alive in this meaningful poem. This is humanity’s anthem -- written in his words, and acted upon in his life. This is Man’s story, mankind’s march -- of search of newer meaning, better purpose of life, seeking newer frontiers of achievement. Seeing man engaged in great adventures, many poets wrote countless such poems in all languages, in all cultures, in all lands around the globe. Yet when a doer himself writes such simple words, they assume a different power. For, they have the backing of concrete and fruitful action. Once one is addicted to such action, one does not like to sit idle. One, then, hates not doing anything, and one’s own comforts become discomforts. In that state of mind, material comforts actually hurt, prick, make one restless, addicted as one is to seeking challenges, daring the standard, disturbing the calm -- so that newer horizons would open their doors for deeper forays into the unknown. So shunning the comforts of the secure home, countless humans often seek newer horizons to reach out to. Seeking challenges that would test capabilities, countless people have carved newer domains of achievement whose span covers everything from the immediate neighbourhood to the celestial backyard beyond Mars ...! ‘Manus Maze Naav’ is a tribute to this spirit of man trying to go beyond the normal, breaking the barriers of the unknown. Superficially, the words are very simple. But they have the power to titillate the core human urge to expand the horizons limitlessly. For, they come from Baba Amte who refused to stop even after most of his dreams -- of working for God’s children -- had been fulfilled. He kept seeking newer challenges. For, in his own words, Manus Maze Naav -- Man was his name. And this is everybody’s story.
This is Man’s story! Man’s true story!