It’s the time of the century
When we move forward
Into the 20s of the 21st
To recollect our Bapu
From the dark corners
Of out buried memories
As a ritual that needs to be
Respected and followed
Lest people think that Bapu 
Feels the pain that the nation
Forgot him and his legacy

Yes, the Soul of Bapu feels
But not for what we think
But for the fact that people
Failed him very miserably
By not following his legacy
And for making him a Soul
That needs to be worshiped
But impossible to follow

We made Bapu an Avatar
That only Ben Kingsley
Who brought Bapu back alive
On the silver screen like an epic
Can only imitate Bapu’s legacy

©Copyright of Bellamkonda Kishore

The myriad colors of fall
Faded away with time
Replaced by the snowflakes
And icicles on the tree tops
Glowing bright in the light of
A full moon night in silence
When a lonely owl echoed
To the howl of a distant wolf
Annoying a sleeping grizzly
A chilling winter ushered in
With its long cold nights
As the mother earth moved
Farthest from the sun
Entering into a retrograde
When life slows down
Like the merry go round
Coming to a halt at the end
Of the fair in marketplace

Moved by the ushering cold
The men prepared for a
Very chilling winter season
With firewood and food
As the women knitted
The last woolen for
Their kids yearning to make
The largest snowman ever
As the adults feared snow
Storms and deadly blizzards
That shatter their dreams

With all its fears and scares
Winter has its own beauty
For there comes the light
Of all lights in the world
The advent of Christmas
Cheering up all hearts
Bringing joy and warmth
With jingle bells jingling
In every home in the town

As the Santa after a long
Ride from the North Pole
Struggles his way through
The chimneys in dark night
Announcing the birth of
Jesus, the Son of God
Loving Child of Mary
Who brought light into
This world of darkness
Showing the path for
Those lost sojourners
To quench the parching 
Throats of the pilgrims
Giving the *Hope of Love* 
From his Heavenly Father
As the father has loved me,
So have I loved you, said
Jesus, the Child of Nazareth
And turned the earth into a Heaven…

©Copyright of Bellamkonda Kishore

However deep it may be
The ocean has a bottom
However severe it may be
The storm has a duration
However high the waves
A tsunami withdraws quickly
How much wide they spread
The wild fires die of finally
In Gods creation everything
That scatters human lives
Has a limitation of its own
But there is no bottom, or
There is no limit or no end
For the wickedness of man
For his nest of evil thoughts 
For his bottomless atrocities

Is it the start of Apocalypse?
Or a turning point in history
To force humans to decide
Whether they want to live
Or perish like the dinosaurs?
Whatever it is, it’s a call
From deep inside of us
That humanity has reached
A dead end and hit a wall
It cannot move forward
Unless it invokes the Divinity
Within and turns for help
From none other than the
Cosmic Consciousness
And emerge as a more
Advanced civilization
Conquering the human mind

© Copyright of Bellamkonda Kishore

At the end of the year
Going into deep silence
Of festive mood & joy
A silence that is deaf
To all noise around us
A silence that speaks
Only to our Inner Self
A silence that reflects
On itself like a mirror
A silence that tells us
That we are from a far
Region where there is
Bliss only that pervades
A silence that echos
Again and again to us
That what we think ours
May not last more than
A blink of the eye of
Cosmic Consciousness
That pervades in and out
Of us, round the clock
That is the real experience
Of Christmas we all need

© Copyright of Bellamkonda Kishore

In the Infinite Matrix
Of Space and Time
Man exists as a dot
With his own mind
And scale of time
Because his mind
Trapped a little bit
Of Consciousness
Like a soap bubble
Holding a pocket of
Air from vastness
As long as it can
Only to let it go
When time comes
So also the man…

Yet he is entitled to
Have the joys of
A Happy New Year
Because the Loving
Lord wants bubbles
Of His ocean waves
Make the shores
Beautiful and majestic
Happy New Year to All

© Copyright of Bellamkonda Kishore

• 

The colors of fall faded away
Replaced by the snowflakes on the ground
And icicles on the barren tree tops
That glow in the light of a full moon night
When a lonely owl responds
To the scary howl of a distant wolf
That annoys a hibernating grizzly

And thus ushered the chilling winter
With its short days and long nights
When all life seems to calm down
And enter into a deep contemplation
As the mother earth moved away from the sun
To cool herself after long scorching summer
And to give some rest to its flora and fauna

As the men prepare for a chilling season
With the stock of firewood and food
The women knitting the last pieces of woolen
For the children yearning to make a snowman
While the elderly fear snow storms and blizzards
That can shatter their fragile little lives
The winter has its own beauty

For there comes the Light of lights
The advent of White Christmas
That cheers up all hearts with joy
With jingle bells jingling all the way

As the Santa after a long ride from the North pole
Struggles his way through the chimneys at night
Announcing the birth of Jesus Christ
The only son of God, and loving child of Virgin Mary
Who brought light into this world of darkness
To show the path for the lost sojourners
To quench the parching throats of the pilgrims
To give the message of love sent by his Heavenly Father
Jesus, the Child of Nazareth makes the winter wonderful
By turning the earth into a Heaven…

© Copyright of Bellamkonda Kishore

Bapu, forgive us for failing you so miserably And for making your life and message a history You ceased to exist in our lives and memory Until Ben Kingsley brought you to life on the screen We cremated your vision with your mortal remains And nicely sealed your thoughts with black marble So that we can visit you in Rajghat once in a year To place wreaths and bow with folded hands reflexively You said, we must be the change we want to see in the world But, we expected everyone else in the world to change except we You said, forgiveness is the attribute of the strong But, we looked down on those forgiving us as the weak You said, we must not lose faith in humanity But, we lost faith in our human nature long ago And we cling to our faith in wealth, power and fame You said, an eye for eye makes the whole world blind But, we believed that an eye for eye settles the scores better You said, hate the sin, but love the sinner But, we hated the sinner, and thus embraced the sin You said, poverty is the worst form of violence But, we proved that wealth is the real source of violence You said, where there is love there is life But, we are adepts in living happily without love You said, it is not our patients who are dependent on us And it is we who are dependent on our patients But, we made our patients dependent on us And ensured that we need not depend on anyone You said, the day a woman can walk freely on the roads, That day we can say that India achieved independence But, sadly the women of India lost that freedom While Bharat Mata became independent 75 years ago The whole world pulsated when you ended the British Rule But, we closed your chapter with the fall of British Raj And soon after an assassin’s bullets pierced your heart Taking a cue from your life and message Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr. Living in far distant lands from India Emerged as great leaders and saviors But, none emerged from India as a great leader And yet, we are proud of your impact on the world Your life and message could influence Many honest leaders around the world Prompting them to do good for their people But, we became immune to your influence So, nothing can change us to do good to others Albert Einstein wondered whether future generations Could believe that you walked in flesh and blood on this earth But, we made everyone wonder by forgetting you so soon Steve Jobs was so inspired by your thinking That he used you in Apple’s “Think Different” ads But, the only time we need your ads is during elections To fool people that we have been thinking like you Bapu, God sent you to show us how to live in peace and harmony But, we believed that you were sent to fight the British Raj And you have no business to tell us how to lead our lives Bapu, your life and message are more relevant today Than when you walked in flesh and blood on this planet Because political freedom is not the end of life We need peace and harmony in our lives To enjoy the fruits of political freedom Humanity has to transform and transcend itself Without that political freedom has no meaning and value You showed us the path we need to tread But, we lost our way and we are groping in darkness Bapu, we need you now more than before We need to bring your values into our lives We need to light your vision into our society We need to understand you more deeply We need the inner strength to follow you We need the resolve to build our society We need to prove that you still live among us Living by the principles that you taught us Then only we can attain the peace and harmony Which you expects from a Vasudaiva Kutambakam © Copyright of Bellamkonda Kishore

• 

A leaf in the fall
Is falling of age
It knows that well
Yet it is not concerned
About its fall forever

It only concentrates
How it can spread
The beauty in nature
Even at the time of its fall
Putting on different colors
Like a beautiful flower
So, no one notices
That it is actually dying
Of a ripe old age

So also, we need to
Serve and beautify
The communities around us
When we are aging
And approaching our end

© Copyright of Bellamkonda Kishore

Diwali, the Festival of Lights
Brings new hope and joy
Cheering up our little lives
And filling up our hearts
With oil of passion and love
Feeding the wicks of our life
To burn without ashing
And thus lighten up our lives
So as to brighten our families
And the kith and kin around us
The myriad lamps we lighten up
On the  Festival of Lights
Are just a symbolic gesture
The only REAL lamp that we
Need to fill with oil of love
Placing a wick of peace and joy
Light it up with a match of unity
To drive the darkness out
From our hearts and minds
Is just within us and nowhere
Let us light the Real Lamps

© Copyright of Bellamkonda Kishore

What is life?
Is it just the beating heart?
Is it just the breathing nose
Is it just the brain waves?
Is it just the flowing blood?
Is it just the active pupil?
Is it just the flexing muscle?
Is it just the sound of voice?
All these, just the signs of life
Life is much more than that

Life is the struggle of the 
Infinite unmanifested Soul 
To express itself fully in this
Finite manifested Universe
A task very hard to achieve

In that eternal struggle
The Soul identifies itself
In various finite things
Like money, fame, power
Erroneously thinking that
It can manifest thro’ them
Until Divine knowledge dawns
And pulls the Soul out
From these endless traps

So, what we call life is
Just a bubble popping up
In the churning ocean
And bursting after a while
Leaving the ocean calm
Giving rise to new bubbles

Now, where is the real life?
Is it in the  bubble or ocean?
Let’s focus where life originates
Not where life struggles
To express itself fully

© Copyright of Bellamkonda Kishore