A Beautiful Pain

By Maharaj Kaul

In the varied concatenation of life’s experiences lies its essence–a journey full of joy and pain. Man comes with pristine qualities of truthfulness, simplicity, and the wonder of nature. In his birth lies his religion. It is his passage through the world that is often full of struggle; in response, he looks for a God to help him.

A Beautiful Pain presents a collection of poems ruminating on joy, beauty, and the wonder of life. Meditating on life’s meaning, it explores the range of human emotions, from the pain of first heartbreak to a study of the quintessence of inner luminosity. Poet Maharaj Kaul searches for the truth of life in this collection, which like life itself is multi-faceted and has a few grand themes running through it.

There is a road in front of us smoother than any highway we have seen,
There is music beckoning us more rapturous than we have ever heard,
There is faith in us stronger than a million facts we have known,
There is a light within us more luminous than the thousand exploding suns,
We were born with a spirit thirsting for the infinite.
 —from “Quintessence of Inner Luminosity”

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: May 24, 2012
• ISBN: 9781475922639

Maharaj Kaul

Maharaj Kaul was born in Kashmir, India, where he spent his childhood and boyhood. He graduated from Banaras University, in India, in electrical engineering and went on to Polytechnic Institute Of New York for the master's degree. He worked as an engineer for 40 years, out of which the last 30 years with American Cyanamid (which later became Wyeth, and then Pfizer). All his life he has been interested in the foundations of the human mind in the areas of science, religion, and art. In recent years he has been involved in the study of the impact of technology on human values and happiness. Out of that immersion have come out eight books, including the present one, which includes 60 poems. He lives in Suffern, New York, USA

Book preview

A Beautiful Pain

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Near the end of the journey

I feel like a boy playing at the seashore of time.

Surf high and strong stroking me,

Misty breeze caressing in a mischievous play,

Grayish silver sand clinging softly,

Thin line of horizon beckoning to the unknown.

But in the throes of the world my soul squirmed endlessly,

Its ways and logic twisted my grace,

Inner music choked through the sharp sieve of survival,

I could understand a system for all,

But the rules were crude and the justice was flawed.

God made a human in his image:

Pregnant with a spark, infinite in potential,

Fair and strong,

But the world molested him deep,

Turning his passage through it into

A beautiful pain.

A Moment In Time

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The evening unfolded in resplendent lights and colors:

Beautiful women with charming dresses

Draped the gathering in mirth and grace.

The new Kaul house opened up at the first sighting

Like a ravishing new sculpture by a still-pure new artist:

Spaces melting into each other, blending form with function.

The smell of the new furniture mixed with the aroma of the food waiting to be eaten.

The occasion to celebrate Shiva and Druva’s yagneopavit

Lifted the mood of the party to a delicious lightness.

The superior cup of kheva at the outset further loosened the social inhibitions:

People become less self-conscious and more giving to the moment.

Rajni’s cooking was authentic Kashmiri – several notches higher than the usual.

Her ever-present friendly smile made the place comfortable the moment you entered it.

Rabinder’s calm demeanor and his pious aura made some nervous

But he balanced it by offering the mood elevating drinks in a low-key self-serve way to the surprise of the many.

The after-dinner soiree of the Kashmiri music by its priest, Rakesh Kaul,

Transported people to the old Kashmir that is no more.

It was a smoothly elegant celebration even without the participation of the main celebrants – Shiva and Dhruva.

Departing the house I felt that the new house will provide Kauls with many pearls of happiness.

Where Two Rivers Converge

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Rahul and Anjali were born and lived in two different worlds:

One in San Francisco and the other in Miami.

Though progeny of the same Kashmiri Pandit community

They grew up like plants in two different nurseries.

It is not important to know how and where they met

But we know that at some point a spark was produced between them

That has lit up their universes.

What is love? We do not know what it is

But we know it is among the most sublime of experiences.

It makes us larger than life, it makes us see things in a different light;

It makes us know the special nature of human life,

It brings us closer to God.

There are dreams hanging in the skies,

There is a music lying deep in the recesses of human heart.

We see and hear them often but ignore them

Due to the strident sounds of the world that surround us.

It is in the nature of nature to have a man and a woman

Bond to produce love, family, and society,

To give the journey of a man and a woman in the human phase

Substance, order, and meaning.

Every time a man falls in love with a woman

A miracle takes place.

Somewhere deep within them an emotion arises seeking each other:

That is elemental, transcendental, and inscrutable.

But beyond that we know that love is an expansion of mind,

Enlargement of heart, and deepening of compassion.

Any new marriage between a man and a woman

Is a testimony that God has not yet lost faith in human beings,

That He wants the human race to continue.

We live in the times of crass individualism where some of the

Cherished human values and visions have been trampled at the altar of self.

Rahul and Anjali are two birds flying out yonder in the deep open skies,

Following each other without reason, without a goal.

It is a bond beyond worldly logic, beyond morality,

It is a connection forged in heavens for cosmos to absorb.

Rahul was a carefree boy never tiring playing with his buddies,

Anjali was a sweet girl forever lost in her toys.

Both grew up to be ambitious and free human beings

But today they are forsaking their personal freedoms

To gain a larger freedom – to touch the shores of eternity.

The story of every man is a little tale etched on a stretch of sand,

The life of