Journey Towards Light Poem by Arun Maji

No matter what you do, life will pain you anyway.
You do bad things, you will be punished.
You do good things, you will be punished, sometime.
Christ was crucified,
Galileo died in darkness of dungeon,
Copernicus died chastised.
They all did good things in life. Yet they all were punished.
So truth is- life will pain you anyway.

Reflect on you life, you receive pain everyday.
Every moment, you fight an war within you.
That war- wounds you, bleeds you, tears you apart.
You cry loud, you shed tears in silence.

Yes, you are being wounded every moment,
but what you do to heal your wound? Perhaps nothing.
If anything, you prepare yourself for more and more pain.

What a tragedy of human life!
Life pains human, but human does nothing to heal himself. Rather, he works hardto receive more pain!

Tell me, what is the greatest challenge of human race? Is it winning over Mars? Is it building a bridge between Jupiter and earth? None of them is true. The greatest challenge of human race is- the emotional pain, emotional conflict he suffers every moment. if you reach Mars, would you have lasting happiness? No. But if you learn to deal with emotional pain, you would be more happy. Isn't happiness the destination of life's journey?

2.
You all work hard. You all are courageous.
Tell me a name- who never smiled through his tears!
Tell me a name- who never loved with broken heart!
Can you? You can not.
We all do that brave act. We all do that hard work.
Yet, we all are pained and wounded.

Courage, hard-work, intelligence- none of them guarantee happiness.
Rather, as a doctor I have observed, human works hard to create more pain for himself. What a misfortune! What a calamity! What a stupidity! Yet, you tell me human is the greatest amongst all, most intelligent amongst all!

A man who digs his own grave, you call him intelligent? Isn't that a human delusion?

Recently, I have treated a bright young lady. She studies commerce, and runs her own business. She has chest pain for a while. I assess her but I don't find much. Then I ask her-
"Alice, tell me- how life treating you? "
She replies- "yea good. It's good."
I ask her again- 'Are you sure? Is there anything you want to tell me, but you have not told me so far?
She turns her head away. I look at her- tears rolling down her cheek. She sobs then she bursts into tears. While whimpering, she tells me- "I often think of killing myself, doc".

She is bright. She works hard, she studies hard. And now she tells me- she often thinks of killing herself.

I ask you now dear friends- are you working day and night all your life just to kill yourself? Are you sacrificing your youth, your family just to hang yourself from roof?

Unfortunate part is- many of us do that.
May be- not to the extent of killing,
but definitely to the extent of paining ourselves more and more.
She does not want to face the life,
And you? You don't want to get up at morning to face the day.
She wants to be dead,
and you are living as dead.

Living the life of a dead! Living the life of a putrefied corpse! Is that life?
You don't smile, you just pretend to smile.
You don't live, you just pretend to live.
You can hide your pain to others. But can you hide that pain to yourself?
You can cover your wound with flower. But can you stop its decay?

You wear flower, but inside, you are stinking and decaying. You may call it life, but I call it corpse in cover of life.

Life wounds you! Yet, you don't think of healing those wounds. Rather, you invite more and more wounds. Have you ever thought- what is it human strives in his life? You all know that. It's peace, sense of well-being, joy, happiness, calmness, serenity.

You work really hard. Yet, you end up in more distress! Why?

Have you seen a monkey jumping from one branch to the other, sweating and panting- but not doing anything? You work day and night. Yet, you can't reach your destination of peace and well being. Then what good you have done to yourself? What difference you have from monkey?

You wear a dazzling degree from "Harvard". You wear a gorgeous necklace of diamond. While wearing them, you hang yourself from roof. Wow! what a celebration of human life! I am so pained to see suffering of human. And that is why I devoted my life in research of human suffering. please help me.

O human,
why you toil hard and then kill yourself?
If death is so sweet
then why don't you die in peace?
Why you tear yourself apart
and die in agony?

What an irony o human!
You work hard, you boast your supremacy.
Yet, neither can you live in peace
nor can you die in peace.
Tell me o man-
Why you have to cry in life
and repent in death?

All is not darkness of dungeon. There is light. In fact, there is bright light. You just have to know the direction, where that light waits for you. Yes, I will show you that light, I will show you that direction. Please, wait for next part.Arun Maji my name. Please read me on facebook and poemhunter.

© Arun Maji
Painting: Richard Johnson