209. That silent knowledge of the whole tree!

Then one of the judges of the city stood forth and said, "Speak to us of Crime and Punishment."

And he answered saying:
It is when your spirit goes wandering upon the wind,
That you, alone and unguarded, commit a wrong unto others and therefore unto yourself.
And for that wrong committed must you knock and wait a while unheeded at the gate of the blessed.

Like the ocean is your god-self;
It remains for ever undefiled.
And like the ether it lifts but the winged.

Even like the sun is your god-self;
It knows not the ways of the mole nor seeks it the holes of the serpent.
But your god-self does not dwell alone in your being.

Much in you is still man, and much in you is not yet man,
But a shapeless pigmy that walks asleep in the mist searching for its own awakening.
And of the man in you would I now speak.

For it is he and not your god-self nor the pigmy in the mist, that knows crime and the punishment of crime.

Oftentimes have I heard you speak of one who commits a wrong as though he were not one of you, but a stranger unto you and an intruder upon your world.

But I say that even as the holy and the righteous cannot rise beyond the highest which is in each one of you,
So the wicked and the weak cannot fall lower than the lowest which is in you also.
And as a single leaf turns not yellow but with the silent knowledge of the whole tree,

So the wrong-doer cannot do wrong without the hidden will of you all.
Like a procession you walk together towards your god-self.
You are the way and the wayfarers.

And when one of you falls down he falls for those behind him, a caution against the stumbling stone.
Ay, and he falls for those ahead of him, who though faster and surer of foot, yet removed not the stumbling stone.


And this also, though the word lie heavy upon your hearts:
The murdered is not unaccountable for his own murder,
And the robbed is not blameless in being robbed.
The righteous is not innocent of the deeds of the wicked,
And the white-handed is not clean in the doings of the felon.

Yea, the guilty is oftentimes the victim of the injured,
And still more often the condemned is the burden-bearer for the guiltless and unblamed.

You cannot separate the just from the unjust and the good from the wicked;
For they stand together before the face of the sun even as the black thread and the white are woven together.

And when the black thread breaks, the weaver shall look into the whole cloth, and he shall examine the loom also.


If any of you would bring judgment the unfaithful wife,
Let him also weight the heart of her husband in scales, and measure his soul with measurements.

And let him who would lash the offender look unto the spirit of the offended.

And if any of you would punish in the name of righteousness and lay the axe unto the evil tree, let him see to its roots;

And verily he will find the roots of the good and the bad, the fruitful and the fruitless, all entwined together in the silent heart of the earth.

And you judges who would be just,
What judgment pronounce you upon him who though honest in the flesh yet is a thief in spirit?
What penalty lay you upon him who slays in the flesh yet is himself slain in the spirit?
And how prosecute you him who in action is a deceiver and an oppressor,

Yet who also is aggrieved and outraged?

And how shall you punish those whose remorse is already greater than their misdeeds?

Is not remorse the justice which is administered by that very law which you would fain serve?
Yet you cannot lay remorse upon the innocent nor lift it from the heart of the guilty.

Unbidden shall it call in the night, that men may wake and gaze upon themselves.

And you who would understand justice, how shall you unless you look upon all deeds in the fullness of light?


Only then shall you know that the erect and the fallen are but one man standing in twilight between the night of his pigmy-self and the day of his god-self,
And that the corner-stone of the temple is not higher than the lowest stone in its foundation.

-

-Ch. 11. Crime & Punishment

from The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

கலீல் கிப்ரான் சென்ற நூற்றாண்டின் ஜீனியஸ்களில் மிகவும் முக்கியமானவர். லெபனானில் பிறந்து அமெரிக்காவில் குடியேறிய இவரின் லெகஸி ஒரு பதிவுக்குள் அடக்கமுடியாதது. இவரைப் பற்றி மேலும் அறிந்துகொள்ள இங்கே போங்க.

14 Comments:

  1. Anand V said...

    ???? what is this all about /
    ??


  2. Anonymous said...

    //That you, alone and unguarded, commit a wrong unto others and therefore unto yourself.
    //Oftentimes have I heard you speak of one who commits a wrong as though he were not one of you, but a stranger unto you and an intruder upon your world
    //And when one of you falls down he falls for those behind him, a caution against the stumbling stone.....The murdered is not unaccountable for his own murder,
    தல டைமிங் பஞ்ச்! ரூம் போட்டு படிச்சீங்களா?
    //And you who would understand justice, how shall you unless you look upon all deeds in the fullness of light?
    இது!
    //Only then shall you know that the erect and the fallen are but one man standing in twilight between the night of his pigmy-self and the day of his god-self,
    இல்லியே, அஞ்சு ஆளாமில்ல! I just love the last line:
    //And that the corner-stone of the temple is not higher than the lowest stone in its foundation.
    டாங்ஸுபா!


  3. இலவசக்கொத்தனார் said...

    என்னம்மா ஒரே இங்கிலிபீசா இருக்கு?! நான் இந்தப் பதிவை சாய்ஸில் விட்டாச்சு.


  4. Geetha Sambasivam said...

    என்னவோ "பீட்டர்" விட்டிருக்கீங்கனு தெரியுது. நமக்குப் புரியாத விஷயம். :)))) அப்பாலிக்கா வரேன்.


  5. துளசி கோபால் said...

    why PETER?


  6. rv said...

    ஆனந்த்,
    நீங்க தெரியாமதான் கேக்குறீங்கனு எனக்குத்தெரியும்.. ஆனா மத்தவங்களுக்கு???? :)))


  7. rv said...

    அனானி,
    நன்னி.. பேரப்போட்டே சொல்லிருக்கலாமே...


  8. rv said...

    கொத்ஸு, சாய்ஸே கிடையாது.. நீர் போன பதிவில் கேட்ட சம்பந்தத்தின் எதிரொலிதான் இது.. ஆனா இங்க மட்டும் எஸ்கேப் ஆனா எப்படி?


  9. rv said...

    கீதாக்கா,
    பீட்டர் பீட்டர் பீட்டர்.. பீட்டர் சொன்னா என்ன பீர் முகமது சொன்னா என்ன.. நல்லது சொல்லிருக்காக..

    பொலிடிகல்னு கொஞ்சம் வாசனை வந்தாலும் விழுந்தடிச்சுட்டு ஓடிட்டா அப்புறம் சங்கத்தின் மகளிரணித் தலைவியா எப்படி காலம் தள்ளுறது?:)))

    கொஞ்சம் அப்பாலிக்கா வந்து படிச்சு கருத்துசொல்லித்தான் பாக்குறது? :))))


  10. rv said...

    அக்கா,
    நீங்களுமா? :((((((

    எல்லாரும் பீட்டர்னு காரணம் சொல்லி எஸ்கேப்புறீங்க.. ஹூம்..


  11. rv said...

    இங்கன ஏதும் பாசறை திறக்க ஆளிருக்காங்களான்னு பார்க்கவே இந்த பி.க


  12. G.Ragavan said...

    இங்கீலீசாட்டம் இருக்குதே! நமக்குத்தான் டச்சு தவிர வேறெதும் படிக்க வராதே!!!!!


  13. G.Ragavan said...

    இங்கீலீசாட்டம் இருக்குதே! நமக்குத்தான் டச்சு தவிர வேறெதும் படிக்க வராதே!!!!!


  14. rv said...

    வாங்க ஜிரா வான் ஆம்ஸ்டல்,
    அதுக்குள்ள ஆங்கிலம் மறந்து டச்சு மட்டுமே ஆயிடுச்சா????

    மயிலார் ஆங்கிலக்கடலைக்கு வழியில்லேன்னோன டச்சுக்கு மாறிட்டாரா???

    --
    அப்புறம் ஆம்ஸ்டல்னு பேரு போட்டது ஆம்ஸ்டல் நதிய வச்சு மட்டுந்தான்னு சத்தியமா சொல்றேன்! :)


 

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