स्वतंत्र साखळ्या

स्वतंत्र साखळ्या

सकाळी उठल्यावर मी, हात
स्वातंत्र्याच्या साखळीत बांधतो
आणि मग हसत जगाला
माझं स्वातंत्र्य गीत सांगतो

समाजाच्या सूर्यात चकाकल्या कधी
तर साखळ्या, साखळ्या वाटत नाहीत
आणि अंधारात मात्र माझ्या-तुमच्या
साखळ्या वेगळ्या वाटत नाहीत

मला मिळालेलं, कधी माझं नव्हतंच
मी दिलेलं, कधी माझं नव्हतंच
विकत घेतलेलं, कधी माझं नव्हतंच
दान केलेलं, कधी माझं नव्हतंच

समाजाने लिहिले कायदे म्हणून
मी माझ्या स्वातंत्र्याचा चोर
आधी घातले जे हार गळ्यात
मग तेच झाले फाशीचे दोर

स्वतंत्रता शोधताना वाटतं
मी या शोधात मुक्त नाही
माझं स्वातंत्र्य माझ्यात आहे
आणि मी स्वातंत्र्याचा भक्त नाही

‘मला कशाचाही गर्व नाही’
याचा ही माणसाला गर्व नसावा
‘मी किती स्वतंत्र आणि मुक्त’
या स्वातंत्र्याचा पिंजरा नसावा

–मयुरेश कुलकर्णी

Louis Armstrong

Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana.

Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an “inventive” cornet and trumpet player, Armstrong was a foundational influence on jazz, shifting the music’s focus from collective improvisation to solo performers. With his distinctive gravelly voice, Armstrong was also an influential singer, demonstrating great dexterity as an improviser, bending the lyrics and melody of a song for expressive purposes. He was also greatly skilled at scat singing, or vocalizing using syllables instead of actual lyrics.

Renowned for his charismatic stage presence and deep, instantly recognizable voice almost as much as for his trumpet-playing, Armstrong’s influence extends well beyond jazz music, and by the end of his career in the 1960s, he was widely regarded as a profound influence on popular music in general. (Read more : wikipedia | Louis Armstrong house museum)

Quotes by Louis Armstrong : (wiki | brainyquote | thinkexist)

All music is folk music. I ain’t never heard a horse sing a song.

If you have to ask what jazz is, you’ll never know.

Musicians don’t retire; they stop when there’s no more music in them.

The memory of things gone is important to a jazz musician.

There is two kinds of music, the good, and the bad. I play the good kind.

We all do ‘do, re, mi,’ but you have got to find the other notes yourself.

What we play is life.

You blows who you is.

My whole life, my whole soul, my whole spirit is to blow that horn…

There is no such thing as ‘on the way out’ as long as you are still doing something interesting and good; you’re in the business because you’re breathing.

If ya ain’t got it in ya, ya can’t blow it out.

Never play a thing the same way twice.

I don’t let my mouth say nothin’ my head can’t stand.

I got a simple rule about everybody. If you don’t treat me right / shame on you!

 

आरशातला माणूस

आरशातला माणूस

विचारांचे घोडे दाही दिशांना दौडले आज
घोड्यांनी मनाच्या रथाचे लगाम छेडले आज

शब्द असे कुठे लपून बसले की
कवितेशी नाते मी तोडले आज

जखमा दिसल्यावर, मीठ चोळून
परत हसणारे हसले आज

हुशारांच्या कायद्यात अडकल्यावर
सत्य वेड्यांच्या खांद्यावर रडले आज

स्वप्नांच्या वाटांवर चालणाऱ्यांना
वास्तवातले साप परत डसले आज

आरशातल्या माणूसही अनोळखी झाला
असे काहीसे प्रसंग घडले आज

लोकशाहीवरच्या भाषणात त्यांनी
प्रत्येक उगारलेले बोट मोडले आज

उन्हात आनंदाने रोज मी भाजले स्वत:ला
मात्र चार शब्दांनी मज जाळले आज

भावनांनी घातला गोंधळ कितीही
तरी कागदावर शब्द नाचले आज

— मयुरेश कुलकर्णी

Joseph Campbell : From another blog

I really like reading Paulo Coelho’s blog. I have even linked a lot of his pages on this blog, because they are really interesting. Today I would just like to share one of his ‘Characters of the week’. I like these quotes, I hope you do too. (Paulo Coelho’s Blog) (Joseph Campbell : wiki | quotes)

Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.

Find a place inside where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain. Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls. Is the system going to flatten you out and deny you your humanity, or are you going to be able to make use of the system to the attainment of human purposes?

I don’t believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive. I think the person who takes a job in order to live – that is to say, for the money – has turned himself into a slave.
Your life is the fruit of your own doing. You have no one to blame but yourself.

When we quit thinking primarily about ourselves and our own self-preservation, we undergo a truly heroic transformation of consciousness.
What each must seek in his life never was on land or sea. It is something out of his own unique potentiality for experience, something that never has been and never could have been experienced by anyone else.

When people get married because they think it’s a long-time love affair, they’ll be divorced very soon, because all love affairs end in disappointment. But marriage is a recognition of a spiritual identity. When you make the sacrifice in marriage, you’re sacrificing not to each other but to unity in a relationship.

Life is without meaning. You bring the meaning to it. The meaning of life is whatever you ascribe it to be. Being alive is the meaning. The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are. Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy.

Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths.

Joseph John Campbell (March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987) was an American mythologist, writer and lecturer, best known for his work in comparative mythology and comparative religion.

माझ्याकडे उत्तरं नाहीत

माझ्याकडे उत्तरं नाहीत

१
काही विचार कसे हाताळावे
ते मला कधीच कळत नाही
ते विचार मला थांबवतात
आणि मी कधीच पळत नाही

मग हातात येतात ते
विचार कागदावर मांडतो
आणि त्या रिकाम्या कपात
मी कॉफी बनून सांडतो

कधी पेटवणारी ठीणगी
कधी पेटलेली आग आहे
कधी थंड झालेली कॉफी
कधी तिचा पडलेला डाग आहे

कितीही शिकलो तरी
मला न कळलेली उत्तरं आहेत
सदैव पडणारे प्रश्न आणि
त्यांची न मिळालेली उत्तरं आहेत

— मयुरेश कुलकर्णी

२
आजकाल अडकलेल्या श्वासात
स्वातंत्र्य का सापडत नाही
मुक्तपणे श्वास कोंडतो पण
ते ही मनाला आवडत नाही

आजकाल प्रश्न जास्त
आणि एकही उत्तर मिळत नाही
का जगावं? कसं जगावं?
मनाला कशासाठी जगवावं कळत नाही?

आजकाल मन गोंधळतं इतकं
की निराशही ते होत नाही?
आणि सुखी कधी नव्हतंच
पण समाधानी पण होत नाही?

आजकाल कापलेले हात चालतात
कापणारे हात चालत नाही
न होण्याऱ्या संकटाची चिंता मारते
माणसाला संकट मारत नाही

आजकाल मी म्हणतो मी वेडा
कुणाला शहाणपण शिकवू शकत नाही
वेडा असलो तरी इतकं कळतं की
बुध्दीत सुख टिकत नाही

— मयुरेश कुलकर्णी

३
घड्याळ म्हणतं रात्र झाली
शरीर म्हणतं झोपू दे
मन उत्तरं शोधत बसतं
आणि मी म्हणतो बसू दे

माझ्याकडे उत्तरं नाहीत
प्रश्न ही वाटतं बरोबर नाहीत
वाटतं हा शोधच एकटा
देव ही वाटतं बरोबर नाही

पण प्रश्न विचारल्याशिवाय
मन शांत बसत नाही
आणि या उत्तराच्या
शोधाचा अंत दिसत नाही

शोधणारे संपले तर मग
उत्तरंच प्रश्नात लपून जाईल
आणि घड्याळाचा आदेश पाळत
मी प्रश्न घेऊन झोपून जाईन

— मयुरेश कुलकर्णी

४
माझ्याकडे उत्तरं नाहीत

काळ्या अंधारात दडलेला
समाजाचा चेहरा पहावा कसा
आणि सज्जनांचे मुखवटे सगळे
राक्षसाचा चेहरा ओळखावा कसा

पोट हातावर घेऊन जगणाऱ्यांच्या
नशिबाचा भार अनुभवावा कसा
अपंगांची लाचारी जाणून आपण
त्यांच्यातला स्वाभिमान जगावा कसा

जन्मलेल्या बाळाला त्याच्या
आईचा त्याग सांगावा कसा
आणि मुक्या रिकाम्या पोटाचा
वेदनांचा आवाज ऐकावा कसा

ज्यांचं दु:ख मला कळत नाही
त्यांना नावं ठेवायचा, हक्क मला नाही
मी काही केलं नाही, तर
“काही होत नाही” म्हणायचा हक्क मला नाही

जे मी समजू शकत नाही
त्याचा मी आदर केला पाहिजे
आदराला कारणं लागलीच
तर मी निरपेक्ष प्रेम केलं पाहिजे

उत्तरं मिळाली नाहीततरी
सतत प्रश्न विचारत जगावं
जशी जमेल तशी मदत करत
देवाचे आभार मानत जगावं

— मयुरेश कुलकर्णी

Fantasy, abandoned by reason, produces impossible monsters; united with it, she is the mother of the arts and the origin of marvels.

Fantasy, abandoned by reason, produces impossible monsters; united with it, she is the mother of the arts and the origin of marvels.

— Francisco de Goya

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706 – April 17, 1790) was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author and printer, satirist, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. He invented the lightning rod, bifocals, the Franklin stove, a carriage odometer, and the glass ‘armonica’. He formed both the first public lending library in America and the first fire department in Pennsylvania. (wikipedia)

Quotes by Benjamin Franklin: (wiki | thinkexist | brainyquote)

A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body.

A learned blockhead is a greater blockhead than an ignorant one.

A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things. There will be sleeping enough in the grave.

A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle.

A penny saved is a penny earned.

A small leak can sink a great ship.

Absence sharpens love, presence strengthens it.

Admiration is the daughter of ignorance.

All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.

Anger is never without a reason, but seldom with a good one.

Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do.

Applause waits on success.

As we must account for every idle word, so must we account for every idle silence.

At twenty years of age the will reigns; at thirty, the wit; and at forty, the judgment.

Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.

Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing.

Beauty and folly are old companions.

Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.

Beware the hobby that eats.

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.

Certainty? In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.

Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor.

Creditors have better memories than debtors.

Diligence is the mother of good luck.

Distrust and caution are the parents of security.

Do good to your friends to keep them, to your enemies to win them.

Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.

Do not squander time for that is the stuff life is made of.

Each year one vicious habit discarded, in time might make the worst of us good.

Eat to please thyself, but dress to please others.

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.

Employ thy time well, if thou meanest to gain leisure.

Energy and persistence conquer all things.

Experience is a dear teacher, but fools will learn at no other.

Fatigue is the best pillow.

Games lubricate the body and the mind.

Genius without education is like silver in the mine.

Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.

Half a truth is often a great lie.

Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it, is.

He does not possess wealth; it possesses him.

He that can have patience can have what he will.

He that composes himself is wiser than he that composes a book.

He that has done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged.

He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.

He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money.

He that lives upon hope will die fasting.

He that won’t be counseled can’t be helped.

He that would live in peace and at ease must not speak all he knows or all he sees.

Hear reason, or she’ll make you feel her.

Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What’s a sundial in the shade?

How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them.

Hunger is the best pickle.

I conceive that the great part of the miseries of mankind are brought upon them by false estimates they have made of the value of things.

I didn’t fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.

I guess I don’t so much mind being old, as I mind being fat and old.

I look upon death to be as necessary to our constitution as sleep. We shall rise refreshed in the morning.

I should have no objection to go over the same life from its beginning to the end: requesting only the advantage authors have, of correcting in a second edition the faults of the first.

I wake up every morning at nine and grab for the morning paper. Then I look at the obituary page. If my name is not on it, I get up.

If a man could have half of his wishes, he would double his troubles.

If a man empties his purse into his head, no one can take it from him.

If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.

If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.

If you desire many things, many things will seem few.

If you know how to spend less than you get, you have the philosopher’s stone.

In general, mankind, since the improvement of cookery, eats twice as much as nature requires.

In the affairs of this world, men are saved not by faith, but by the want of it.

It is a grand mistake to think of being great without goodness and I pronounce it as certain that there was never a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous.

It is the eye of other people that ruin us. If I were blind I would want, neither fine clothes, fine houses or fine furniture.

It is the working man who is the happy man. It is the idle man who is the miserable man.

It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.

Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.

Life’s Tragedy is that we get old to soon and wise too late.

Many a man thinks he is buying pleasure, when he is really selling himself to it.

Many people die at twenty five and aren’t buried until they are seventy five.

Money has never made man happy, nor will it, there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more of it one has the more one wants.

Most people return small favors, acknowledge medium ones and repay greater ones – with ingratitude.

Never confuse motion with action.

Nine men in ten are would be suicides.

Observe all men, thyself most.

Our necessities never equal our wants.

Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

Savages we call them because their manners differ from ours.

She laughs at everything you say. Why? Because she has fine teeth.

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.

The absent are never without fault, nor the present without excuse.

The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.

The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is a knowledge of our own ignorance.

The use of money is all the advantage there is in having it.

The way to see by Faith is to shut the Eye of Reason.

The worst wheel of the cart makes the most noise.

There are three faithful friends – an old wife, an old dog, and ready money.

There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one’s self.

There was never a good war, or a bad peace.

Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead.

To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions.

Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that don’t have brains enough to be honest.

We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.

When in doubt, don’t.

When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.

Where there’s marriage without love, there will be love without marriage.

Who had deceived thee so often as thyself?

Wise men don’t need advice. Fools won’t take it.

Words may show a man’s wit but actions his meaning.

Write injuries in dust, benefits in marble.

आजी साठी भेट

आजी साठी भेट

आजीवर कविता करायला
वेळ कधीच लागत नाही
इतक्या भावना शब्दात
टिपू कशा ते कळत नाही

आजी म्हटलं की पटकन
ते सुरकुतलेले हात आठवतात
ती माऊली आणि तिची माया मला
माझ्या बालपणात पाठवतात

मग कळतं त्या हातांनी
दोन पिढ्यांना घडवलय
माझ्या वडिलांना रागवून आणि
मला प्रेमाने वाढवलय

काय सांगू माझ्यासाठी
आजीने काय काय केलय
या जगापासून दूर त्या
गोष्टींच्या गावी नेलय

खोट्या घड्याळांपासून, मोठ्या अंगठ्यांपर्यंत
तिच्याकडे सगळ्याचा हट्ट केलाय
आणि नातू म्हणून हक्काने
तिला भरपूर त्रास दिलाय

पत्ते खेळताना मी जिंकल्यावर
ती लहान मुलांसारखी चिडायची
आणि माझी पुरण-पोळी खुष
जेव्हा ती कटाची आमटी करायची

इंग्रजीतर स्वत: शिकून मग
मला तिने शिकवलय
आणि रोमांचक गोष्टीतून
जगावं कसं ते दाखवलय

हुशारीची गरज नाही लागत
तिने शिकवलं असतं वेड
ही छोटीशी भेट तिला कारण
माझ्याकडून शक्य नाही परतफेड

अजून भरपूर लिहू शकतो
पण ही कविता इथे संपवतो
हे वाचून रडत असेल ती
किमान या ओळीत तिला हसवतो

— मयुरेश कुलकर्णी

तू

तू

माहिती आहे मला, काय काय सहन करतेस तू
दिवसा लोकांपुढे निर्भय, रात्री स्वत:लाच घाबरतेस तू

काहीतरी सांगायचं असतं तुला
परिणामाला घाबरून, शांत राहातेस तू

शांततेतही इतकी ताकद तुझ्या
कळणाऱ्यांशी मौनातून बोलतेस तू

नशिबाबरोबर लढायला तयार,
रात्री अश्रुंनी उशी भिजवतेस तू

जी एकटी वाढतात, ती झाडं मजबूत बनतात
कोमलता कमी होऊ न देता, कठोर बनतेस तू

(जगाच्या काळ्या वादळात रोज
पांढऱ्या घोड्यावर जातेस तू)

आत्मविश्वास कमी झालाच कधी तर
त्याला मनाच्या कोपऱ्यांत शोधतेस तू

आजच्या अन्यायाला कुशीत घेऊन
न्यायाची स्वप्ने बघत झोपतेस तू

— मयुरेश कुलकर्णी

नवा मी

नवा मी

आज परत लेखणी हातात आली
“लिही” म्हणाली, जिवंत झालो मी

काल जीवनाने छळ केला माझा
आज त्याला धक्का लाऊन आलो मी

विचारांच्या आभावामुळे उपाशी पडलो
कधी भावनांच्या भरात वाहून गेलो मी

स्वत:बरोबर झाले संवाद असे की
लोकात शांत उभा राहिलो मी

काही बोलता नाही आलं तेव्हा
माझ्याच दुर्दैवावर हसलो मी

तिला कळेना, सगळंच वजा केल्यावरही
तिचा परत तसाच, कसा उरलो मी

मनातले कागदावर ओतून असा
माझाच कितीसा राहिलो मी

कविता संपली की मी रिकामा
किंवा परत नव्याने, जिवंत झालो मी

— मयुरेश कुलकर्णी