While thinking of the Poets and the Prophets, I think of great Maharishi Vyasa, great poets Kalidasa, Bhagat Kabir and Guru Nanak Dev ji.
Dr. Jernail S. Anand
THE GREAT JURY
There are those who are judged
Not by men, nor by juries,
But by time.
Who are not an instant success.
Who live forever.
In the hearts of the people.
Poets and prophets deal
Not with the present
But with the future.
They have a destiny,
Not luck
Like instant blockbusters
So, time waits till the future arrives
And the truth tumbles out
From the grave of the present.
When we talk of great heroes, and blockbusters, immediately some great films like Sholay, Titanic, Avataar, and Star Wars come to mind. Stars twinkle, and if they are dotting the skies today, tomorrow they are gone, without leaving a trace behind. Films are flimsy stuff, so are their heroes whose entire work is focused, not on the present, but on the moment. Once the moment is gone, they too lose their luster.
I am now talking of those who have fallen on evil days even in the present, they have no sense of the moment, and they are not stars themselves, but whose eyes are fixed on the future. I am talking of poets and prophets, who are full of so much, but their behaviour is considered entirely incompatible with contemporary times. The poet keeps babbling, while the prophet maintains silence, both of which irritate the common mass.
The greatest reward that a poet gets for his writings is from the people who value his works and apply his philosophy to their living ethos
The poets too have among them the filmy stuff. As soon as a poet writes a book, he has a great craving to see it declared the best book of the times, placed on the shelves at airports, and doing brisk business in selling saloons like amazon. Every poet has a dream of sitting in a great book store, what if it is a foreign country, or signing the copies of his book at a great literature festival. Sale is not so important as the face book post of the signing spree. Poetry which serves the moment, and which is promoted like films, succeeds in dotting charts of the best works. No doubt, the Bible is the greatest best seller of all times, followed by Kahlil Gibran’s ‘The Prophet’, but, the best sellers of our times have a unique quality. Today they get awards, tomorrow they are replaced by another one. The poet, who has no dearth of money, as compared to the poets of yore, makes all efforts to shoot films, get into newspapers, and engages literary agents to influence even the juries, as film people do.
How can a poet live on poetry, is a mute question, which does not carry easy answers. But, yet, one thing can certainly be said. A poet lives for his poetry.
A film maker wants success, which means name, fame and millions. A poet too wants to create a best seller, and success like that. What is bad in it? They give to society something for which they expect great rewards. So far so good. But, when we come to serious poetry, it is not business. It is one way traffic. You only give to the world from which you have already received a lot. The poet is very close to being a Prophet because, no doubt he stands on the pitch of the present, his flight is not into the moment of his time, but into the future. Great poets take no time to assimilate their living moment, and immediately go on to think of the future, which turns them into Prophets.
When Shelley called them unacknowledged legislators of the world, he was under estimating the prophetic powers of a poet. Legislatorship is a small time job, and a poet’s job cannot be limited to the moment, or even to the present. He has to live for centuries. His message is for the times to come. He will be questioned and quoted century after century and epoch after epoch. When I am thinking of the Poet and the Prophet, I think of great Maharishi Vyasa. I am thinking of great poet Kalidasa. I am thinking of great poets like Bhagat Kabir and great Guru Nanak Dev ji. They were a different breed of poets, for whom airport book-shop outlets were not the objective, nor did they want to create best sellers to make millions and live in luxury.
Novels, travelogues, short stories – these things do represent their time, and find their takers in the immediate present. Films fall in this category, though I would not like to add drama to it, because, drama belongs to the category of poetic creation which is not meant for immediate returns. It does not however mean that the drama does not react and represent the present. Drama presents the present in the context of the future. What Shakespeare wrote, is valid even today. Poetry too is timeless and as times travel into the unknown future, it acquires in intensity as well as authenticity. As we move farther into the Kalyuga, the poetry of Mahabharata and Guru Granth Sahib will become more relevant and more intense. Novels written in 17th century, you may not like to re-read, but not so with great poetry, which the more you read, the more it surprises with its depth and breadth of meaning and message.
The greatest reward that a poet gets for his writings is from the people who value his works and apply his philosophy to their living ethos. We become great, not when we get awards, or recognitions, but when people accept us as their conscience and their voice. How can a poet live on poetry, is a mute question, which does not carry easy answers. But, yet, one thing can certainly be said. A poet lives for his poetry.
Read: THE AGE OF COMPARISON: THE BEST AS AN ILLUSION & A ‘VERBAL MUJRA’
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Dr. Jernail Singh Anand, President of the International Academy of Ethics, is author of 161 books in English poetry, fiction, non-fiction, philosophy and spirituality. He was awarded Charter of Morava, the great Award by Serbian Writers Association, Belgrade and his name was engraved on the Poets’ Rock in Serbia. The Academy of Arts and philosophical Sciences of Bari [Italy] honored him with the award of an Honorable Academic. Recently, he was awarded Doctor of Philosophy [Honoris Causa] by the University of Engg and Management, Jaipur. Recently, he organized an International Conference on Contemporary Ethics at Chandigarh. His most phenomenal book is Lustus: The Prince of Darkness [first epic of the Mahkaal Trilogy]. [Email: anandjs55@yahoo.com
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