THIS question may not have an easy answer. Even though he wrote for films, Sahir Ludhianvi was a poet of great merit and depth. In simple, even casual, words, he would ask dumbfounding questions. This one is one of those. Sahir goads us to look at how we live -- all the time on the run, to achieve something, or to move away from something. And when you are on the run, can you ever think of achieving the ability to pause and think and focus on the Divine? -- he asks. In these simple words, thus, the poet raises a core issue before all of us -- beyond gender, beyond religion. This is one issue that connects us directly to ourselves -- what we are, how we conduct our life, and what goals we cherish as we keep running all the time, sometimes even without purpose. Purpose! Purpose of life! That should actually be the destination of life -- finding the purpose which the Divine had ordained us with.

 

Does not R L Stevenson state this in his own, simple yet powerful manner?: The child, The Seed, The grain of corn, The acorn on the hill. Each For some separate end Is born. In season fir, And still, Each must Arise In strength To work Almighty Will .. (from ‘Mother and Son’)

 

This little part of the long poem tempts one to use it again and again while thinking about the larger life and its purpose. For, this poem urges us to realise how certain divine purpose underlines the birth of everything -- the child, the seed, the grain of corn, the acorn on the hill ..., and how all these have to rise at the right moment to work the Almighty Will. However, the runners-away (from life) are never the ones to achieve the greater or the divine purpose of life. And so they are also never going to attain God or the Nirvana, if one uses that term as the final destination. In Sanskrit -- or Indic languages -- a wonderful word is often used for destination -- Gantavya (the place or point where the journey finally culminates). Many thinkers comprehend that as the place of God, or Brahman! And the core spiritual belief is that Brahman can be reached only when one has lived one’s life fully and properly -- without running away from its vagaries and viciousness. Sahir Ludhianvi raises that very issue.