Life Is A Stage

When ye retire to sleep at night’s moon, Feel as if entering a Green Room, The play hath ended, yet the scene still on, The dress and décor of the day still donned; The act nor role has been done as yet, No one has been allowed a let— To take off sweaty dress nor easy make, As if there may follow another take Soon at the crack of morrow’s dawn; Be ready and suppress thine yawn, Place thy self at His disposal, He knows, for ‘tis His proposal; It is He who hast writ the play, Knoweth He the end as ends the day, He every twist knows, every turn, Thy job’s to act, and then return. ____________________________________________________ Compare Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. -William Shakespeare This theme, ‘life is a stage; we are all actors, and He alone directs’, is being utilised by many a poet for centuries. But it was first used thousands of years back in ancient India when Vedas were written perhaps spanning over centuries, and contributed by so many of our sages and seers. The above is a translation of some (shlokas/mantras) verses from Atharva Veda. Of course, the translation is not literal. ________________________________________________________________ - Translations | 04.09.10 |