" DEEP IN MY HEART " by alka narula: A Questionnaire

“The greatest book in the world, the Mahabharata, tells us we all have to live and die by our karmic cycle. Thus works the perfect reward-and-punishment, cause-and-effect, code of the universe. We live out in our present life what we wrote out in our last. But the great moral thriller also orders us to rage against karma and its despotic dictates. It teaches us to subvert it. To change it. It tells us we also write out our next lives as we live out our present.

The Mahabharata is not a work of religious instruction.It is much greater. It is a work of art.

Few lines inspired by Peter Brook's the Mahabharata (1989 film)

I asked the stars I asked the moon

Why do you smile at me standing far away

They told me they are in a mood to share with me a secret

That I had been ignoring in the past years

On my reluctance to hear what they want to share

Until they agreed to solve my questionnaire

That I put forth for them to answer

For me that was the easiest way to escape

Here I share the questionnaire that was answered well with in time

That I gave them and promised to hear what they had to say

"What is quicker than the wind? "

"Thought."

"What can cover the Earth?"

"Darkness."

"Who are more numerous? The living or the dead?"

"The living, because the dead are no longer."

"Give me an example of space."

"My two hands as one."

"An example of grief?"

"Ignorance."

"Of poison?"

"Desire."

"An example of defeat."

"Victory."

"Which came first, day or night?"

"Day, but it was only a day ahead."

"What is the cause of the world?"

"Love."

"What is your opposite?"

"Myself."

"What is madness?"

"A forgotten way."

"And revolt? Why do men revolt?"

"To find beauty, either in life or in death."

"And what for each of us is inevitable?"

"Happiness."

Like a fool I looked at my questionnaire
That they took no time to answer
And asked me if there are few more to come their way
An ignorant like me , now had no choice but nod
And hear the secret that they wanted to share
With me on that star studded night
That was as bright as a day

In a lighter mood they questioned me
If I knew " The greatest wonder of the world ?"
My widened eyes were enough to convey
Decode the secret I am your slave
And found myself murmur
"A little wisdom that I have is granted by you
And the secret world of far away"

While my mind was still searching for the answer
They peeked into my eyes as if they knew
I am searching for an answer so I looked away
With a widened smile the moon whispered in my ear
"Each day death strikes,And we live as though we were immortal. This is the greatest wonder."
The passing by wind was so amused
That it stopped by and wondered
Why had the moon come so close to my ear
And tried to hear the secret it shared
So was I amused on realisation that the stars and the moon
Were no longer smiling and I wondered
" Who was it that whispered in my ear "