The Lotus

 Oh! blessed are the

ignorant who sin, but not

the sinner who knows!

Sahil Patel has set the July third week’s prompt in Lifeline. He challenges us to consider writing 

… a poem inspired by the character of the movie/book you liked. You can add more qualities and strengths to the character. In nutshell, you can use your creativity to make a strong character.

I have been completely flabbergasted as which movie/book I should write about, and which character, should I choose. 

There have been so many books and plays I have read, and the movies I have seen, and so many characters, people, and sometimes, animals, aliens, who have kept me company, taking turns at different stage in life, becoming more prominent, more alive, like an electric butterfly buzzing in my mind, and then becoming less important at a different stage, receding in the background. 

They have been giving me hope, giving me strength, showing me how to be what I want to be, and many others, showing me what I shouldn’t do, and what I don’t want to be. 

Here, I am compelled to write about a character from a movie that I had watched many years, actually, a few decades ago, as a little girl, and which, at that tender age, had left a deep impression on my mind. 

It was the character of a very strong, yet an extremely loving and soft woman, who knows, who she is, and is proud of her work, place in life, and the choices she has made. 

She remains, where ever she is, true to her values. 

Her character gave me a lasting lesson in being myself, being true to myself, and being true to the world, not hiding, not pretending, but living, truthfully, with pride, where ever I am, and that lesson, I have never forgotten.

My poem, is about that character, whom, I call 'Kamal', the lotus flower, which blooms in muddy, and murky water, but spreads, its radiance all around. 

People don't care about the place where it blooms, but adore it for its grace, and enjoy its beauty.

The Lotus

It may be dark, it may be murky

the place, where I wake up, 

the abode of my kind, 

but it’s my radiance 

in the darkness, that glows.

Not bound by your rules, and 

the regulations that you impose

not found in your false statements of piety

but I am everything that you oppose,

as you choose to shun life, 

and shut out those living humbly, 

not your worth, their lives,

their happiness, or their sorrows

and I live to love, to enjoy 

what this life offers me,

its beauty, its luxury, and 

share, what gifts it chose

to give me!

Don't scare me, of condemnation,

I don't know what sin is!

But you tell me all the time,

sinners will be punished

and deprived of redemption,

as one reaps as what one sows

But when the dawn comes

and the Sun rises, in

each direction, its light flows,

you are a sinner, or virtuous,

it doesn't know that, 

as on each one, its blessings,

it equally bestows,

I may be a sinner, I don’t care,

as I don’t know what sin is,

Oh! but, yes, what about, you,

you haven't sinned, I suppose.

---

Born a courtesan, she enjoys a life of luxury, living in a palace, decking herself up with silks and diamonds, and singing and dancing, to please the king, but her motives are pure, and she truly loves him, she fulfils her role, with such finesse, such grace, that she radiates beauty and charm all around her. She loves nature, she enjoys a good life, and shows great affection, and generosity towards others, and though, she leads a life of sin, as she is told, she is not a sinner, or amoral. She questions, “what is good, and what is bad, in this life, what is sin, and what is virtue”! It is better to be born in and live in humble condition, even if there is sin everywhere, like a lotus, which grows in muddy water, but is beautiful and pure, one can remain virtuous, rather than becoming an ascetic, who withdraw from their duties, renounce the world, abstain from life, and serve no one but only themselves, and their ego.

And I believed her, and started to question, why one person, due to being born in a particular class, having the conditions, and life they have to live, becomes an outcast, and a sinner in the eyes of those, who are born respectable, those ‘honourable’ who lead a better life, and pretend to be saintly, but who might actually harbour immoral motives. 

I understood, that, the world is our stage, where we are, whatever place this is, this is our karambhoomi, where we have to fulfil our duty. So, why run away from action, and become useless praying mantis?