Is the New Meaning Understood?

His body showed no sign of exposure

To the scorching noon sun.

His Maker had blessed him with a special strength

To bear the blazing heat, the beating rain and

The gnawing hunger flung at him

As if to ask, ‘Should beggars have comfort?’

He chose his very own spot on the roadside

Raised his dry eyes at the moving shadows of passersby

Grey hair hid his sweat-soaked face as he cried out

In a heart-breaking voice, ‘I am blind!’

The blind man selectively called out to the wealthy

But the rich and famous were not surprised by his voice.

Some hurried mumbling they had much to do

Thinking it degrading that one of their own should weep.

‘Let us reach God’s holy temple fast

To offer milk, fruits and favourites’, they said

Never forgetting the ball of rice to their departed.

Doesn’t the old man, writhing in the hot sun

Deserve a handful of rice?

Did Siva as Pidchadan beg a handful of raw rice

To appease his own hunger?

What was God’s teaching posing as a kind beggar?

Is it not He who hungers and suffers within every being

That calls out pitifully in gut-wrenching hunger!

Because beggars and donors exist in this world

Beautiful love blossoms forth

For righteousness to grow and flourish.

If God governs every action, if He is within all beings

If God designs every cause and effect, then

‘Compassion’ is His innate message.

We pray to God for our needs to be fulfilled

But we scorn and deny the deprived who begs.

Did that pleading beggar get anything from you?

River atop His matted locks, Siva imparts a new meaning –

Is that meaning understood?