~Eagam Khaling~
Whenever there is a celebration of Bhanujayanti (the birthday celebration of famous Nepali poet ‘Bhanubhakta Acharya) I do remember his poem ‘Ghahsee’. When I was in my primary school we also had Bhanujayanti celebration where we recited some stanzas of Nepali Ramayana translated by Bhanubhakta and his poem ‘Ghahsee’. We too had that poem in our Nepali language book but I do not know it was exactly in which class. Since then the poem has been coming in my mind. The poet himself has described that he once met a poor grass-cutter, who used to cut grass and sell. He was accumulating money from his sales to construct a water tank for collecting water and distributing to his villagers so that the service given by him for the society would remain even after his death. When he met the Ghahsee he was greatly inspired and self-enlightened by Ghahsee’s farsightedness. He was self-motivated to express that in the poem ‘Ghahsee’.
From his poem one can easily understand a transformation that the poet had after meeting the grass cutter. The moment they met each other was not an ordinary moment but an extra-ordinary. That was the moment of transformation of soul and the realization of his purpose of life. He had a realisation of his purpose of life and unknown energy (spirit). The moment the poet was composing the poem-‘Ghahsee’ was not the same person that was before meeting the grass-cutter. He had a good transformation in him and the consequence of that was his translation of Ramayan written in the simple language, meters, and rhymes with the objectives of spreading Nepali language as the common language, social and linguistic unification of the Kingdom Nepal. At then, Nepal was infected by many political, geographical, racial, social and economical problems and fears of foreign invasions (post-colonisation). Bhanubakta translated Balmiki’s Ramayan was able to bring some positive transformations in culture and attitude of the families and societies of Nepal as a whole.
We do not need days and weeks or months and years to transform our lives. A moment of realisation is enough to change us. A thought can change a person completely and influence the whole world. We need such moment of realisation in our lives. Once we have the realisation we become enlightened and liberate ourselves to salvage from the ignorance and bondages. We become free and start seeking perfection in our lives. We also become connected to our base and above all. It also brings a purposeful living and living with the lights of knowledge. The persons who have been able to experience and realize such moments and discover their ‘Selves’ are able to make difference in the world and have guided the human generations. We should also find time to think on our lives and everything that is related and connected with our lives and life-world and the universe. Meditation on life would bring much good to us. It will help us to live a rightful and purposeful life. It is the thoughts that make a person. The principles, experiences and understanding and knowledge create the destination of a person.
The greatest discover in the life of a person is the realisation of a discovery of his Self. This is also a realisation and discovery of our base or fundamental life entity. This realisation increases our potentialities and takes us to the path of enlightenment and perfection. These improvement and development would lead us to live a higher and purposeful life. We all are not able to have experience of such extra-ordinary moment that transforms our selves. But Bhanubhakta might have experienced that extra-ordinary moment where he had a realisation and thereby transformation. That moment he might have known the purpose and destination of his life. That particular moment the poet met his man the grass-cutter was not an ordinary moment.
He has stated it was Ghahsee who inspired him and opened his inner eyes. The moment he had realisation of the purpose of life he was no more an ordinary man. He had a transformation of his soul. He was connecting himself towards past and future. He started becoming more than his life. The poem tells us that he had everything: family, wealth, social respects and knowledge of scriptures though he was not able to realise the purpose of life. But at that particular moment he experiences himself like a Buddha before the Ghahsee.
How the Ghahsee wanted to be remembered in the society even after his death touched his inner person. After our death, every material thing that belongs to us will not remain ours but only the good deeds will remain in our names. This also means that whatever produced is destroyed. The soul of a person does not die because it is immortal (as it is believed). When he dies his soul also doesn’t remain in his material body. Only the culture of good deed will go with our soul and our names remain in the society.
When we realise a purpose of life the possibilities of a life open and we become small that our present lives become so short that need another life also. Thus the moment of poet’s realisation is a moment of transformation. I am remembering what Khalil Gibran has said somewhere else in one of his books and here I quote, “One day a thought will come and I will be changed.” According to him, a thought is enough to change a person. This change is not a material change (or bodily change) but change in understanding of life.
When a thought is enough to change a person then a realisation of self is enough to transform a person. This transformation is not a transformation from higher to lower and from positive to negative but always from lower to higher or from higher to higher and from negative to positive and positive to more positive. There is not any exact gradation and degree of transformation because it is a matter of a self-realisation. It always ascends and transcends. Thus the moment of poet’s meeting the Ghahsee was an extraordinary moment.
The poem also quietly inspires us to explore the God’s energy in us. Discovering self is the highest discovery in a life of a person. Once it is discovered he is never lost in the world. He can give his best in any field of life.
(Source : Writer submitted via ‘Kritisangraha@gmail.com‘.)
