I lost a lot chasing pleasures of flesh--
My son that gave me age lost loving wife,
Mine lost her mind, woe to me, to my rash
Acts, to my ways to invite my own strife!
A venomous snake (what else) had stung me,
Yayati poured out his heart in a dream
To a victim drowned in a self-made sea,
Forced to run a rat race, rise still like cream,
And stressed, lest he’s left behind-- a vague fear
To lose life of pleasures, nay, pains so sweet
Of today’s man driving on reverse gear
And out, a make-believe monster to beat.
Whence hast arisen this fantasy from?
Self-made, from what-will-the-world-say syndrome.
_________________________________
Sonnet | 01.03.2026 | dream, fantasy, fear, illness, joys
Note: Yayati of Mahabharata suffered from the fear of loss of life’s pleasures, now known as Yayati syndrome. This sonnet warns about its counterpart known as anti-Yayati syndrome born off today’s world of rat race.
As goes old scriptures’ guiding word,
The elderly should sure be heard,
But never still those far too old--
Backward bound they be in babe’s mould.
___________________________
Translation | 20.10.2025 | childhood, elderly/old,
Note: This verse is taken form Mahabharata, Udyoga Parva wherein avenues for peace between the two warring cousins are explored. Duryodhan is advised to listen to the elderly. But this is his response. Here is the transliteration of the verse in Sanskrit:
Shrotavyam khalu vrddhnaam iti shaastra nidarshanam |
Na tu eva hi ati-vrddhaanaam punah baalaa hi te mataah || Mahabharata, Udyoga Parva ||
Call me low birth, make what so fun,
No pink birth, but a proud man’s son,
Fate-bestowed be my birth,
But built I’m by self-worth,
Dare, who’s here ever what I’ve done?
_______________________
Translation | 19.10.2025 | birth, fate, pride, worth
Note: This verse is taken from a Sanskrit play, Veni Samhaar, by Narayana Bhatt of 9th Century CE. It centres around the story of Mahabharata. When Karna is questioned about his birth-- not as blue-blooded warrior, saying that he is just a son of a chariot-in-charge, not a full-fledged kshatriya warrior, he responds with this verse. Veni Samhaar means braiding of hair, a vow taken by Draupadi/Bheema to avenge an insult by Kaurava cousins. Here is transliteration of the text, and feel the force of the Sanskrit verse:
Sootah vaa soota-putrah vaa
yah vaa kah vaa bhavaami aham |
Daiva-aayattam kule janma
mad aayattam tu paurusham || Veni Samhaar ||
I know what’s being virtuous--
What’s not my born nature to be,
I well know what’s being vicious,
Still, I can’t but be vicious me.
What so fate hast how so cast me,
Just so how in life shall I be.
__________________________
Translation |29.09.2025| dharma, evil, epic, virtue, vice, fate
Note: O to be honest and unrepentant. In contrast let us compare many in today’s times who wear a mask. Duryodhan responds with a straight face to his elders who advise him to follow the path of dharma. Transliteration of the Sanskrit verse from Mahabharata as under:
Jaanaami dharmam na cha me pravrttih,
Jaanaami a-dharmam na cha me nivrttih |
Kena api daivena hrdi-sthitena
Yathaa niyuktah asmi tathaa karomi || Mahabharata ||
There’s no council without wise old,
Nor old that vouch dharma nor virtue,
No virtue, truth would not uphold,
Nor truth free from fraudulent hue!
______________________
Translation |20.10.2024|assembly, old, virtue, truth, trickery
Poet’s note: Sanskrit has thousands of verses of wisdom called Subhashhitam. This verse is taken from Mahabharata, Sabha Parva. Draupadi was molested in the royal court despite the presence of wise old people like Bheeshma, Drona, Vidur, and Kripacharya. They were all talking about dharma while allowing such a thing to happen. (What Draupadi said is valid; what Duryodhan argued is also not invalid…) The transliteration of the Sanskrit verse follows:
Na saa sabhaa yatra na santi vriddhaah,
vriddhah na te ye na vadanti dharmam |
Dharmah na vai yatra cha na asti satyam,
satyam na tat yat chhala na anu-viddhyam ||
Take to arms, who will come ye to save?
What hope from face-less faces ye have?
Never plead, nor for them ever rave,
From shameless what succour can ye crave?
Take to arms, none will come ye to save.
________________________________
Translation |06.09.2024| women, world
Poet’s note: This is third in the three-piece series on the theme. The incidence is taken from Mahabharata during Draupadi’s vastra-haran, disrobing. All the elderly so-called keepers of dharma keep quiet in the name of righteous action under the circumstances. The original in Gujarati as transliterated (in PS-acceptable way) is as under:
Suno Daraupadi, shastra uthaalo, ab naa Givind aayenge,
Kab tak aas lagaaohi tum bike hue akhabaaro se,
Kaisee rakshaa maang rahi ho Duhshaasaan darbaaro se?
Svayam jo lajjaa heen pade hai vo kyaa laaj bachaayenge!
Suno Daraupadi, shastra uthaalo, ab naa Givind aayenge.
- Pushyamitra Upadhyay
Captive truth in pages stay confined,
History no kind be to mankind.
In vain Draupadis cry,
We all watch will-less dry,
Why just Dhritarashtra?
Proud, what we call rashtra,
Perhaps all of the world has turned blind.
__________________________
Translation |04.09.2024| history, women, world
Poet’s note: What with the happenings all around the world today, this quip based on an episode in Mahabharata, points a finger at all of us. Rashtra, Hindi, for nation. The original in Gujarati as transliterated (in PS-acceptable way) is as under:
Itihaas ne unchakee shakun evaaye skandh chhe,
Pan shun karun? Itihaas to paanaa maan bandh chhe.
Kalpaanta karati kyaar ni nirvastra Draupadi,
Dhritarashtra ni kyaan vaat, aakhun vishva andh chhe.
- Ashok Chavda
Raising hands, hoarse do I cry,
No one hears, nor bothers to try,
Wealth and wants be had by virtue,
Why not then that’s what ye pursue?
__________________________
Translation |01.09.2024|
Poet’s note: At the end of the massive hundred thousand verses of Mahabharata, a historical epic in poetic medium, poet Vyasa in utter desperation comes to this verse on dharma. Now, dharma is the central theme of this epic and a lot is said on it. Yet, few seem to follow this virtuous path of dharma. The transliteration of the Sanskrit verse follows:
Urdhva baahu viraumi esha, na cha kashchit shrunoti me |
Dharmaat arthah cha kaamah cha, sah kim artham na sevyate ||
- Mahabharata, Bhaarat Saavitri ||
Curious
Yaam yaam ati vasam
Taam taam ati pojanm
I'm am curious to know how I
Will die suray putram taam namami Yamaha garjanam tam namami sri sani charay give me the pain after death what ever I am as I told my self as a rout of lord Shiva and durga Kali as my wife if I am wrong my soul of energy on your feet exprincess can't be explained you called me to the earth by telling their is lot of sin please to remove it now when people are dieing I am not responsible for it even in Mahabharata when stupid arjuna confused then last words was by my you do your work I am only sarti I handle the point but you have to put your party of work...
Karam do leave rest
Like a bud, flower, and finest fruit
Like any fruit-trees’ strongest root
Like a seed or weed or waving reed
Like a wise word of a man with creed
Like a story, a poem, or an epic
Like a word or verse of the Holy Book
Like rivers that have their source, mountains
And waters within rivers with their fountains
Voice of my conscience has many sources
The Source of my conscience has many voices.
I think of Arjun the Mahabharata warrior
Who had his dilemma standing as a barrier
To do or not to do was the great question
It’s hence to Lord Krishna his intercession
'Duty' and 'Renunciation' was his kind order
Selfishness is the world’s great disorder
Sisyphus had this dilemma, the myth says
Hence, he listened to his conscience always
Jesus had the dilemma of carrying the cross
His love-filled conscience came to pass
What do I do? Why I do it? Really matters
Is it the highest good of the highest numbers?
I hear my conscience often quaking
I feel my blood like cocoa get baking.
I just close my eyes and contemplate
In love, like a lover, I get consummate.
01 June 2021
Voice of Conscience Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Unseeking Seeker
Vedic legends in centrifugal swirl,
whirling, twirling across this world,
in and out through many planes;
counter-active, gravitational things.
Vimanas high in nebulous skies,
legendary, ego-driven butterflies;
worlds are conquered, worlds undone,
according to ancient, mystic tongues.
Upanishads and Samar, Mahabharata, Ramayana;
even in the Samaranganasutradhara;
words have power, words have strength
and they will ride upon wavelengths.
Cast your dreams upon the skies,
upon Vimanas you may ride.
when the spirit embarks upon a quest,
it rides with incorporeal zest.
__O thou lowly hunter,
Let no glory may ever grace
Thee for endless years-- still later,
To have slain, and so merciless
A pair of swans in love embrace.
__________________________________
Sanskrit:
ma nishada pratishtham tvam
agamah shashvatih samah |
yat krauncha mithunat ekam
avadhih kama-mohitam ||
Sage Valmiki was so moved when he saw a hunter’s arrow killing a pair of swans lost in love embrace that a shloka (verse) came up to his tongue as above. Enraged, he cursed the hunter. And this inspired him to write the epic Ramayana. He is considered as adi kavi, the first or the oldest known poet. Ramayana happened even before Mahabharata. ____________________________________
Happenings | 22.02.2019 |
In the Mahabharata, the protagonist Dharmaputra
and his wife Kunti, driven out of their own land,
penniless and living in a forest, could host their numerous guests
(who had thrown their lot with them).
All that the royal couple did was to pray.
And the phenomenon is known as Akshaya patra,
The Indian synonym for cornucopia.
Once we (as a family) went
to a special restaurant
Run by persons to whom light and dark made no difference.
Pitch dark was the ambience.
We ate the meal with delight;
Thanked God, too, for the wonderful gift—of sight.
Let’s stay positive; miracles happen;
Cornucopia, then, may be a mindset.
***
Winner, III Prize, Cornucopia Contest, sponsored by Kim Rodrigues, November 24, 2017.
Posted on November 3, 2017
My Li(f)estyle
If Yudhisthira* can have Drona* killed with a lie,
Can I not, a small guy, follow the path I desire.
With small lies it was a quick and easy try,
out of the mess I saw myself fly.
When I got away with a bolder and bigger lie,
delighted I was, that I did not have to cry.
These lie wins gave me instant Joy.
Oh! I said ‘This is the Life of my way, that I need to enjoy’.
Later journeys in Life got me pain I did not ask for,
Marking wins I celebrated on lies with an unseen scar.
My mind is forever quick
and plays a ploy;
So, I now always ask my honest friend ‘my Heart’,
if Truth is what I am out to destroy.
‘When you lie, Truth you may cover,
making the heart holding it suffer’, he avers.
I stopped asking if Yudhisthira ever did lie,
Truth as my path is all that I Aspire.
PS: *In the Hindu epic Mahabharata, Yudhistira and Drona are some of the key characters. Yudhistira in the epic is the epitome of Truth.
**************
Truthfully Yours,
Sathya
I like the sky blue and clear
I like the sea blue in colour
I see my God blue in colour
Emerging out of this blue sea
I keep chanting Ohm Krishna
The name of my God that the
Roaring sea waves whisper,
Into my ears incessantly;
I adore my God of blue colour
And He is Krishna and only Krishna,
Whose commandments form the
Holy Baghwat Gita in the epic
Mahabharata.
Sub Categories
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.