Thursday, 2 August 2018

God defined in a song


Background...

A graduate expresses her gratitude to her guardian who had singlehandedly, in spite of being from the lower strata of the society, understood the value of education and worked hard towards her education. 

The song describes God rather as an entity instead of being an external force that watches our every move and keeps a scoresheet of our deeds. This way of thinking must have evolved during the Bhakti stage of Hinduism. It was a reactionary move made by dwellers of the Land of Sindhu to protect their land from invaders from the north. Interestingly, its teachings are still relevant in socialist societies or liberals alike. Service to mankind is equivalent to divinity.

Translation of lyrics:
Here is my God right in front of me,
In a single smile, I saw Him.
The knowledge that you acquire after reading many books,
For public benefit, you spend your wealth,
In the ascent of others that you find joy,
In all these resides GOD.
In passionate eyes, God lives,
In loving hearts, He builds a temple.

In this short snippet of a song from the 1972 Tamil film 'Babu', a few couplets from this song convey such high philosophy that can only be found in Indian songs.

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