India’s Journey from Lamp to Lotus
By Dr Basheer Ahmed Khan
Garden Grove, CA
It was sad to read that the Headmaster of a school in the Pilibhit District of UP in India was suspended for letting the children of the school sing the “Prayer of a Child” written by Dr Sir Muhammad Iqbal (Pakistan Link, Nov 1, 2019) in its morning assembly. The punitive action was taken by a District Magistrate in response to a complaint from a Hindutva organization that the song was a “Madrassa Prayer” and therefore had no place in a public school in India.
Surely, it was not difficult for the magistrate to read and understand the meaning and message of this poem which is in simple Urdu before taking his unwarranted decision. But with the looming fear of thugs roaming the streets it is difficult for even Magistrates to be fair and just in Indiatoday. This disconcerting situation is not prevalent just in India but all over the world both under democracy as well as dictatorship.
I shudder for the future of India with this type of demagogy that has infiltrated into its politics and officialdom. I am sad for this land of tolerant people which I dearly love as one of its sons. While going on my usual walk with my friends around the parks surrounding the Mysore Palace I used to say: If God decides to make any part of this world a heaven, it will be India. That was in the sixties when I was a dreamy youngster and things were not so bad. I had the hope that one day we will overcome the wrongs that we experienced then.
In those days, the RSS did exist and its political wing Jan Sangh was headed by partisan ideologues. It also had visionaries like Atal Behari Vajpayee, Rajmata Scindia,et al. The symbol of the party used to be a lamp. It is lamentable that demagogues in the group used the lamp to spread fire in India rather than spreading the true light of Hinduism. They changed their name from Jan Sangh to BJP and their symbol from the Lamp to Lotus in order to come to power. Now with a megalomaniac at its helm, these demagogues are making the democratic rule of BJP party over India as “Modi’s Rule” indicating that Democratic Secular India is grooming the Hitler of the 21st century. In return, PM Modi has given these demagogues a free hand to do whatever they want preying upon the nationalistic and religious sentiments of innocent people. They are not making India a beautiful lotus as they try to imply from the symbol of their party but they are making India a swamp in the hope of seeing it grow and progress. The lukewarm and hypocritical attitude of the so-called “Democratic” and “Secular” forces and the narrow-mindedness of the “Religious” groups are also responsible for the growth of religious fanaticism and liberal anarchy, not just in India but all around the world. May God save India and the world.
With this background I give my translation of this poem by the “Icon of Universal Consciousness”, Dr. Sir Muhammad Iqbal (see my article Pakistan Link, Oct 11, 2019) so that people know what these demagogues are up against. I am proud that I grew up chanting this prayer which is titled “Bach-chay Ki Dua” meaning “Prayer of a Child” and is among the early poems of this great thinker in his collection “Kulliyth e Iqbal”.
Prayer of a Child
My longing finds its expression
on my lips.
Make me a lamp O God,
that my surrounding be lit.
Let my existence remove,
the darkness that abounds
Make me glitter,
to bring light all around.
Beautify my country
with my life.
Like flower that makes
the Garden bright.
To knowledge my life
be attached.
Like a circling moth
around the lamp.
Give me courage
to support the weak.
Bless me with compassion
to love the meek.
Keep me safe from evil ways
Lead me to path that is right.
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