Prayer to the Nation

Oh! Gurudev, you prayed for the nation

Where one can be with the mind without fear.

Here is a common man’s lament

Please hear and if you may shed a tear.

Seventy plus three years of independence gone by

When can one be free of hunger that still lingers?

Free of disease and squalor, in death masses holler.

My future decided by the caste, I was born into

I am condemned to the sewer, forever I am forlorn.

Even when we qualify and settle off shore

Hounding our birth, our karma, does it underscore.

Ishwar, Allah, I am told are one and the same

When will the nation walk the talk?

Otherwise it is such a shame.

When will we be free of the religious bigotry?

Once in for all get rid of the communal killing spree.

Clap we can, lamp we can light

We need employment, isn’t that our birth right?

How can we feel one with the nation?

If we merely survive on state doling out the ration.

Does the God reside in the temple alone?

Does he know we poor have a heart for HIM?

Oh! Gurudev, please awaken HIM

We will together sing a hymn for HIM.