English Literature – Poetry ☆ The Mental Bondage…/ज़ेहनी ग़ुलामी ☆ Captain Pravin Raghuvanshi, NM ☆

Captain Pravin Raghuvanshi, NM

(Captain Pravin Raghuvanshi —an ex Naval Officer, possesses a multifaceted personality. He served as a Senior Advisor in prestigious Supercomputer organisation C-DAC, Pune. He was involved in various Artificial Intelligence and High-Performance Computing projects of national and international repute. He has got a long experience in the field of ‘Natural Language Processing’, especially, in the domain of Machine Translation. He has taken the mantle of translating the timeless beauties of Indian literature upon himself so that it reaches across the globe. He has also undertaken translation work for Shri Narendra Modi, the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, which was highly appreciated by him. He is also a member of ‘Bombay Film Writer Association’.

We present Capt. Pravin Raghuvanshi ji’s amazing poem “~ The Mental Bondage…/ज़ेहनी ग़ुलामी ~”.  We extend our heartiest thanks to the learned author Captain Pravin Raghuvanshi Ji (who is very well conversant with Hindi, Sanskrit, English and Urdu languages) and his artwork.) 

~ The Mental Bondage… ~ 

☆ 

The cage now stands open

Yet what is this invisible grip

Is it reality

Or merely an illusion of the mind

The bird still lingers within

Years slipped away

Longing for freedom

Dreaming of scaling the boundless sky

But as time quietly passes

Not only the body

Even the mind surrenders to captivity

The wings remain unbroken

Yet the courage to soar has faded

The doors stand open

Yet an unfamiliar fear

Shackles the feet

Keeping them from stepping forward

Be it a bird

Or a human soul

The harshest prison

Is never built of iron bars

The truest captivity

Lives within the mind

And once the mind is enslaved

An open sky

And a locked cage

Become one and the same..!

☆

~Pravin Raghuvanshi

हिंदी भावानुवाद >>

~ ज़ेहनी ग़ुलामी… ~ 

वक़्त ऩे करवट बदली

पिंजऱे का दर ख़ुल गया

फिर भी कैसी ये गिरफ़्त,

ये गिरफ़्त, ये कैसी गफ़लत

परिंदा अब भी उसी में ठहरा है

उम्र ग़ुजर गई रिहाई की आरज़ू में

फ़लक को छ़ू ल़ेऩे की तमन्ना लिए

मगर जैस़े-जैस़े वक़्त ग़ुजरता गया

जिस्म क़े साथ ज़ेहन भी कैद हो गया

पंख तो सलामत हैं

मगर परवाज सिमट गई है

दर तो ख़ुल़े गय़े हैं, मगर

अंजान ख़ौफ़ कदम रोक ल़ेता है

परिंदा हो या इंसान

सबस़े सख़्त कैद

किसी पिंजऱे में नहीं होती

असल कैद होती है ज़ेहन क़े अंदर

और जब ज़ेहन ग़ुलाम हो जाए

तो ख़ुल़े फ़लक और एक बंद  पिंजऱे

में कोई फ़र्क नहीं रह जाता…!

☆

~प्रवीन रघुवंशी ‘आफ़ताब‘

 © Captain Pravin Raghuvanshi, NM