In Conversation with Author: Soumya Vilekar
INTERVIEWED BY: Literary Editor, Mr. S. Scott
Soumya Vilekar is seeking the 'Suroor of the Soul'
Late summer still burns in the Eastern corridor of the United States. And a tropical storm or two. This weekend we welcome Indian author and blogger, Soumya Vilekar.
Name: Soumya Vilekar
Pen Name: SoumyaV
Most recent title published: “Suroor of the Soul”
Where do you write? On my blogs at Wordpress and Blogger
You can also find me on my facebook page called “ Poems of Life”.
I am also on Destiny poets , UK poetry Library, Writeforpassion and several other sites as a guest author!
What kind of poetic tradition do you see yourself coming from?
(lyric, surrealism, realism, etc) Surrealism with tint of Divinity and spiritualism.
The contemporary American "form" is elegy. How do you see your work fitting into that "tradition"?
I am a person of hope and faith. The ray of hope gleams in my poems and I am far away from the elegy!
What are your rituals with regards to writing (ex: Must have tea, a cat on the lap, etc)?
Of Course a pen and paper, if not my desktop! Rest ,the lines just flow with the thoughtful emotions.
What themes did you explore in this new collection? What was challenging about culling poems together?
The book “ Suroor of the Soul” is a phenomenon in itself. A process which involved my deepest of thoughts and took the shape of verses, inspired by the Divine . The inspiration though in human form came in art of a mystical painting, done by my co author Shaheen!
It was a huge task in the beginning to think and compile, as the poems that I had selected for the book, reflected different phases and moods of life. Gradually the picture became clear and I could visualize the path of a soul who traverses on his journey to seek the ultimate happiness and this became the main theme of the whole book.
What's your personal favorite from the collection? Why?
A very difficult question, indeed! To choose a favorite amongst all is a huge task, but still the one closer to my heart is “Divine drops”. Divine drops is a poem which expresses the importance of the presence of the spiritual awakening in a soul. It says, “without the shower of Divine grace, the soul is just a barren land .”
The ultimate bliss of having the Divinity within, can be felt through this poem which yearns to get drenched in the drops of Divine blessings. The poem instills the seed of faith within the unsowed land of our heart .
What do you when you begin to revise? What's the first thing you do during that process?
My poems are usually spontaneous and that is the way I post them on my sites, as the rawness and the natural tone of the thought brings out the real freshness while reading the verse and the reader can feel the same while going through it.
But when I have to submit it for any anthology or for any other site, I try to edit the unnecessary lines first, those which break the flow and the imagination.
When revising, how many drafts do you go through before you feel comfortable with the final product?
In general, if a revised draft is needed, as in the case of a book, I may edit it once or even upto 5 times until I get the true feel of the verse. The final product should touch my heart instantly and should not give neither any false or wrong statement or information nor convey any such idea or thought. What I approve and like, is the ingenuity and the truth of the thought expressed!
What poets are you "borrowing" from, or riffing from these days? Do you hear these "voices" as you revise or write?
I have read quite a few poets and authors, but frankly speaking, I do not like to borrow nor copy from any of the authors, even though they are great legends. Their work impresses me and I adore their way of style and writing, but being myself is my nature and I love having a distinct personality in work or in real.
Where does your inspiration come from (music, film, other books)?
Any kind of soothing music, a touching and a sensitive film, a powerful and thoughtful line from any book ,anything can inspire me to write. But its the nature that gives me the sense very clearly and beautifully. The eternal nature always remains my favourite inspiration.
Explain how your local and regional environment influences your writing, your process, and your product (in other words, how does your reality intersect with the worlds that you create?):
“Inspiration, I feel is a zest which gets birthed within when we come across the real truth of life, not living.”
When we talk of living, the fight for survival and the extreme ends of other social stigmas get attached to it! The portrayal of truth of today’s world has a very sensitive and ugly face, which can bog down minds, instigate conflicts within and outside. It is a world of chaos, where everyone is running without any proper destination.
The word Humanity has been almost wiped out and the realization of being human is dying forever every minute.
It is not the awareness of this social condition which is needed in the society, as people are already aware of the happenings around the world.
It is the awareness of one’s soul, one’s conscience which is needed to be able to create difference in this world through efforts of changing self.
The attitude, behavior, the perspective of every person now needs the insight and depth.
Being an optimistic person and an equally spiritual one, I like to look towards the light which shines on everyone without any discrimination and hence I write on lines which motivate, inspire and add a sense of enthusiasm to life, rather than presenting a true sad picture of the society.
Life has something different to offer at every instance. The universal creation of nature around us is in which we bask every moment has millions of beautiful inspirations to offer.It has the beauty of a child which touches the heart by an innocent smile. The blooming swaying flower, a beautiful bird soaring in the sky, a candle burning with elegance, or a wave touching the bare feet… the drizzle which wets our mind and heart, the music which makes us cry and dance, the tender touch of a lover, or the helplessness of being away from him forever.
Anything that touches the core of my heart inspires me to write.
What's your literary guilty pleasure (sci-fi, 50 Shades, westerns, etc)?
Spiritual and Philosophical
You have to invite three authors to dinner, who are they? Why?
Rabindranath Tagore, Paulo Coelho,William Wordsworth.
The imagination and the devotion of Rabindranath Tagore can be seen in his works, which ranged from stories and novels of social condition of that time with a tinge of modern thoughts assimilate din the characters.
His poems and stories always lead a sense of importance of freedom, whether of people or of thoughts. And finally when his imagery touched the sky,it created a wonderful rainbow of verses. The flow, the language and the deep sense of insightfulness revealed in his novels.
Paulo Coelho is yet another favorite of mine, neither because he writes about anything related to spiritualism or spiritual practices of other genre nor because of his philosophical based events that are included in his novels.
But because I find his work to be of genuine character, those which he has seen or experienced in life.
The ever learning process is reflected in his works, when we read his books we find they vary in depth and intensity, providing us a deep insight into human nature. A person who transforms himself while on the path of his journey, experiences and cherishes several moments and learns from such rare encounters, a learner of a kind, his works show evolution of the human soul and mind.
Favorite title (you wish you had come up with):
The endless world of dreams and the ceaseless imaginations shall provide me with a title which I would love to come up with..For now It’s the “Suroor of the Soul” . Literally speaking, this is the title of the painting of Shaheen, my co author in this book and this is one title which has touched the heart!
Line you wish you wrote:
I respect ingenuity and hence will surely create a line of myself!
Book you did not read in high school but now have read and have an appreciation for:
And why:
During my school days, I almost read all the classic literature of those times ,which included works of Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Alexandar Dumas, Leo Tolstoy. Every phase of my life surfaced a different façade to my nature and hence a new author and a new genre of books got in then as favourites.
Favorite words: Divine, invisible bond, love, eternal, path.
Least favorite words: asylum,cruel,hypocrisy,hate,jealousy
Advice you would like to pass on to other writers:
Fiction sells, to follow the ongoing trends is fine, but the most essential thing is to present the truth with subtleness and humility.
Beatles or the Stones? Elvis or Cash? Neither
What you would discuss with your pet if your pet could talk:
While I was young, I had a cat ,infact she was kitten when she first came to our house.
The most sensible and beautiful cat , I had ever seen,white in colour,with a black spot on her forehead. The time I have spent with her during my childhood, made me a very different kind of person.
If she had been here today alive with me, I would have told her, “See, this is what I learnt from you. To be patient in life, to be protective for your children, to live life in a happy and cheerful way and to surrender totally to our eternal protector, Thee, without fearing about anything, like you laid your head on my feet to be caressed, irrespective and oblivious of any fear.“
By S.Scott: Literary Review Editor for the Broadkill Review. He reviews mostly poetry and general fiction, a member of the NBCC & Educationist (teacher).
Eastern Shore, VA, United States
http://fieldrecord.blogspot.ca/
******************************************************************************************
Soumya Vilekar is seeking the 'Suroor of the Soul'
Late summer still burns in the Eastern corridor of the United States. And a tropical storm or two. This weekend we welcome Indian author and blogger, Soumya Vilekar.
Name: Soumya Vilekar
Pen Name: SoumyaV
Most recent title published: “Suroor of the Soul”
Where do you write? On my blogs at Wordpress and Blogger
You can also find me on my facebook page called “ Poems of Life”.
I am also on Destiny poets , UK poetry Library, Writeforpassion and several other sites as a guest author!
What kind of poetic tradition do you see yourself coming from?
(lyric, surrealism, realism, etc) Surrealism with tint of Divinity and spiritualism.
The contemporary American "form" is elegy. How do you see your work fitting into that "tradition"?
I am a person of hope and faith. The ray of hope gleams in my poems and I am far away from the elegy!
What are your rituals with regards to writing (ex: Must have tea, a cat on the lap, etc)?
Of Course a pen and paper, if not my desktop! Rest ,the lines just flow with the thoughtful emotions.
What themes did you explore in this new collection? What was challenging about culling poems together?
The book “ Suroor of the Soul” is a phenomenon in itself. A process which involved my deepest of thoughts and took the shape of verses, inspired by the Divine . The inspiration though in human form came in art of a mystical painting, done by my co author Shaheen!
It was a huge task in the beginning to think and compile, as the poems that I had selected for the book, reflected different phases and moods of life. Gradually the picture became clear and I could visualize the path of a soul who traverses on his journey to seek the ultimate happiness and this became the main theme of the whole book.
What's your personal favorite from the collection? Why?
A very difficult question, indeed! To choose a favorite amongst all is a huge task, but still the one closer to my heart is “Divine drops”. Divine drops is a poem which expresses the importance of the presence of the spiritual awakening in a soul. It says, “without the shower of Divine grace, the soul is just a barren land .”
The ultimate bliss of having the Divinity within, can be felt through this poem which yearns to get drenched in the drops of Divine blessings. The poem instills the seed of faith within the unsowed land of our heart .
What do you when you begin to revise? What's the first thing you do during that process?
My poems are usually spontaneous and that is the way I post them on my sites, as the rawness and the natural tone of the thought brings out the real freshness while reading the verse and the reader can feel the same while going through it.
But when I have to submit it for any anthology or for any other site, I try to edit the unnecessary lines first, those which break the flow and the imagination.
When revising, how many drafts do you go through before you feel comfortable with the final product?
In general, if a revised draft is needed, as in the case of a book, I may edit it once or even upto 5 times until I get the true feel of the verse. The final product should touch my heart instantly and should not give neither any false or wrong statement or information nor convey any such idea or thought. What I approve and like, is the ingenuity and the truth of the thought expressed!
What poets are you "borrowing" from, or riffing from these days? Do you hear these "voices" as you revise or write?
I have read quite a few poets and authors, but frankly speaking, I do not like to borrow nor copy from any of the authors, even though they are great legends. Their work impresses me and I adore their way of style and writing, but being myself is my nature and I love having a distinct personality in work or in real.
Where does your inspiration come from (music, film, other books)?
Any kind of soothing music, a touching and a sensitive film, a powerful and thoughtful line from any book ,anything can inspire me to write. But its the nature that gives me the sense very clearly and beautifully. The eternal nature always remains my favourite inspiration.
Explain how your local and regional environment influences your writing, your process, and your product (in other words, how does your reality intersect with the worlds that you create?):
“Inspiration, I feel is a zest which gets birthed within when we come across the real truth of life, not living.”
When we talk of living, the fight for survival and the extreme ends of other social stigmas get attached to it! The portrayal of truth of today’s world has a very sensitive and ugly face, which can bog down minds, instigate conflicts within and outside. It is a world of chaos, where everyone is running without any proper destination.
The word Humanity has been almost wiped out and the realization of being human is dying forever every minute.
It is not the awareness of this social condition which is needed in the society, as people are already aware of the happenings around the world.
It is the awareness of one’s soul, one’s conscience which is needed to be able to create difference in this world through efforts of changing self.
The attitude, behavior, the perspective of every person now needs the insight and depth.
Being an optimistic person and an equally spiritual one, I like to look towards the light which shines on everyone without any discrimination and hence I write on lines which motivate, inspire and add a sense of enthusiasm to life, rather than presenting a true sad picture of the society.
Life has something different to offer at every instance. The universal creation of nature around us is in which we bask every moment has millions of beautiful inspirations to offer.It has the beauty of a child which touches the heart by an innocent smile. The blooming swaying flower, a beautiful bird soaring in the sky, a candle burning with elegance, or a wave touching the bare feet… the drizzle which wets our mind and heart, the music which makes us cry and dance, the tender touch of a lover, or the helplessness of being away from him forever.
Anything that touches the core of my heart inspires me to write.
What's your literary guilty pleasure (sci-fi, 50 Shades, westerns, etc)?
Spiritual and Philosophical
You have to invite three authors to dinner, who are they? Why?
Rabindranath Tagore, Paulo Coelho,William Wordsworth.
The imagination and the devotion of Rabindranath Tagore can be seen in his works, which ranged from stories and novels of social condition of that time with a tinge of modern thoughts assimilate din the characters.
His poems and stories always lead a sense of importance of freedom, whether of people or of thoughts. And finally when his imagery touched the sky,it created a wonderful rainbow of verses. The flow, the language and the deep sense of insightfulness revealed in his novels.
Paulo Coelho is yet another favorite of mine, neither because he writes about anything related to spiritualism or spiritual practices of other genre nor because of his philosophical based events that are included in his novels.
But because I find his work to be of genuine character, those which he has seen or experienced in life.
The ever learning process is reflected in his works, when we read his books we find they vary in depth and intensity, providing us a deep insight into human nature. A person who transforms himself while on the path of his journey, experiences and cherishes several moments and learns from such rare encounters, a learner of a kind, his works show evolution of the human soul and mind.
Favorite title (you wish you had come up with):
The endless world of dreams and the ceaseless imaginations shall provide me with a title which I would love to come up with..For now It’s the “Suroor of the Soul” . Literally speaking, this is the title of the painting of Shaheen, my co author in this book and this is one title which has touched the heart!
Line you wish you wrote:
I respect ingenuity and hence will surely create a line of myself!
Book you did not read in high school but now have read and have an appreciation for:
And why:
During my school days, I almost read all the classic literature of those times ,which included works of Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Alexandar Dumas, Leo Tolstoy. Every phase of my life surfaced a different façade to my nature and hence a new author and a new genre of books got in then as favourites.
Favorite words: Divine, invisible bond, love, eternal, path.
Least favorite words: asylum,cruel,hypocrisy,hate,jealousy
Advice you would like to pass on to other writers:
Fiction sells, to follow the ongoing trends is fine, but the most essential thing is to present the truth with subtleness and humility.
Beatles or the Stones? Elvis or Cash? Neither
What you would discuss with your pet if your pet could talk:
While I was young, I had a cat ,infact she was kitten when she first came to our house.
The most sensible and beautiful cat , I had ever seen,white in colour,with a black spot on her forehead. The time I have spent with her during my childhood, made me a very different kind of person.
If she had been here today alive with me, I would have told her, “See, this is what I learnt from you. To be patient in life, to be protective for your children, to live life in a happy and cheerful way and to surrender totally to our eternal protector, Thee, without fearing about anything, like you laid your head on my feet to be caressed, irrespective and oblivious of any fear.“
By S.Scott: Literary Review Editor for the Broadkill Review. He reviews mostly poetry and general fiction, a member of the NBCC & Educationist (teacher).
Eastern Shore, VA, United States
http://fieldrecord.blogspot.ca/
******************************************************************************************
INTERVIEWED BY: Uzoma Okoroafor with Soumya Vilekar
(A few days ago, Soumya Vilekar agreed to give an interview about “Suroor of the Soul” and here is how it went — very interesting I must say). - Uzoma
SOUMYA VILEKAR - INTERVIEW:
In some of your poems, you acknowledged God as the most Supreme Being, the Maker of all things. Do you believe in life after death? If so, can you paint a picture of this new journey?
SV: First of all, Thanks to you, Uzo, for lending me a platform to express my views and have a word with all of you!
Life is a beautiful journey which has different contours throughout its path and is varicolored. Each one of us have experienced its different façade of joy, sorrow, sadness, grief, misery and the virtual happiness at some moment or other in life. What we see or acknowledge here on Earth as human form is just a part of a wonderful enchanting journey. Life beyond death is another comprehension and very few or rarely anyone believes or tries to have any thought about it. As in school, the way we pass out and get promoted to the above grade or level, thus is the examination of life, where we get onto the next level after we overcome the obstacles or hurdles laid in our life in form of small shortcomings and troubles. The promotion here is unseen and not visible to the naked eye of man and hence less believed.The stratum of our existence keeps on changing every birth and even after our death. As we all know according to Newton’s third law of motion, “For any action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Hence for all the actions of our life done knowingly or unknowingly, there exists a reaction, i.e. an outcome of all the deeds, known better as Karma. We are all bound by the strings of the strong hold of this karma and hence we are bound to equate that equation before our existence is nulled …either in this birth or in the subsequent ones. Such is the journey of our soul, even after death that it traverses through the infinite, trying to touch the ultimate goal of its birth ,yet is unable to do so and for this shortcoming, it rebirths on earth. The journey of a soul after death is not always beautiful, but it solely depends on the disposition it had towards its fellow beings on earth. Even though it is able to overview the mistake of its behavior and nature of its life on earth, still the soul needs to get through the cycle once again to eradicate the negativities unless what is left is just a pure entity. Until all the equations get equaled, nothing in this life or nature ends or finishes. The cycle is endless and ceaseless, unless the soul finally assimilates with the Supreme.
UO: Can metaphysics and devotion to metaphysical research bring about the healing of the mind?
SV: A very beautiful and interesting question!
For me, it’s all there in the mind. The words we utter, the thoughts that are generated, the feelings we experience, nothing comes from beyond or outside. Similarly the pains, aches and illnesses of our body too are born from within, from our own thoughts. Energy which exists in various forms is the sole unit of such trillions of thoughts. Energy always remains invisible, still we can see its resultant in the form of electrical, mechanical, kinetic energy etc. But the real energy is never seen, we can feel the force and power of the waves but our eyes do not possess the power to perceive the infinite. Similarly the energy of our mind generates unlimited ocean of thoughts and the resultant of which energy is produced, either positive or negative in nature. Positivism obviously has more good to offer and affect rather than the negative forces which lead to more troubles for the person first physically, then psychologically. The negative forces often tend to create small aches in the body initially and then subsequently transform into major pains and illnesses, hitting the most vulnerable part and the weakest part of the body. The reflexes and the nervous system connected to that part is hit first by the negative forces ,which requires the same amount of positive force to overcome the malady, else it falls into the dark crevice of some acute illness. This positive energy required to cure can either be received directly from people who themselves are actively spiritual and enlightening. Else, as this is very rare nowadays, the best way is to connect to the inner self and reanalyze the situation which brought out the negative thought to finally erase and delete it from our mind. “The practice of self introspection helps if done neutrally without any influence of the outside world. “Thirdly, such forces can be eliminated ,when being in the free state, that is in the subconscious state of mind, when the body sleeps and the mind is readily active , with an urge to end the wrong vibrations going within and communicating the same to the unseen ,invisible energy form. The energy dissipated then is the maximum and when directed in a positive way, always leads to better results.
UO: Do you agree with this statement: “In Western philosophy, metaphysics has become the study of the fundamental nature of all reality — what is it, why is it, and how are we can understand it. Some treat metaphysics as the study of “higher” reality or the “invisible” nature behind everything, but that isn't true. It is, instead, the study of all of reality, visible and invisible; and what constitutes reality, natural and supernatural.”
SV: Absolutely, I agree. What we have known is a just a part of this universe and the whole creation is still beyond our comprehension, it is in fact the reality of creation which we are yet unaware of. For, it is unseen and not visible with the naked eye nor works with the logic of our explanations, we have let it aside and termed it as something abnormal or supernatural. Do we really think, what we know is natural? It is the definition given by us and we are just a tiny part of this creation. So our terminology isn't the real truth .It is merely a hypothesis. What is seen is known to us, what is left unseen or unnoticed, or invisible, still exists, and we are yet to discover this truth. Without mentioning any religion known to man, what is your concept of true religion? No religion is neither true nor false. My concept says- Religion, is in total, the way of living life of each individual respecting the mankind with humanity. A path which every individual chooses for himself to be disciplined upon without force and which never allows a person to hurt another soul ,either by words, weapons, discrimination, jealousy, behavior, disposition and hatred. If every human tends to follow such a religion binding himself to his conscience, the world will be a better and beautiful place to live in. There would never be any war for rights and injustice, and conflicts of power, money, or religion would diminish and vanish away. For every individual would then remain busy in improving his self and being like a person who follows his own true religion, rather than scrutinizing and criticizing others.
UO: Because of the wonderful and profound meanings I find in ”The Lost Fawn” and “Suroor of the Soul,” can you tell us about the source(s) of inspiration for these poems?
SV: “The lost fawn” is a journey about every individual that I came across in life, who is constantly running in a race to reach the end, without knowing his destination is actually the place where he has started from, i.e. his core. What we search for outside is a mere mirage of our desires and ambitions, for the moment we try to touch them, they vanish. In life I have seen people running after fulfilling their endless desires to quench their thirst for happiness, without realizing that the fame and the riches won’t buy them the real joy. The real essence of happiness, is when we are happy with our surroundings our existence, mainly with ourselves. Being in a desert, or at a five star hotel, in a garden or beside a stream will give us the real happiness only when, we notice the beauty of that moment in the air. Acquiring palaces and hoarding money can never give the heart or mind a rest of peace even for a day, but a moment of peace within shall give us the most treasurable and cherished time. I am always fascinated by little fawns, their innocence sparkles through their eyes and I perceived this thought through their vision. “Suroor of the Soul” has a beautiful and interesting story behind its creation. My friend and co-author, Shaheen, whom everyone at WordPress knows as the Blood ink diary once gifted me with a beautiful mystical painting which was called “Suroor”. The painting now adorns as the book cover of our book. Well, when for the first time I laid my eyes on this unique piece of art, my thoughts instigated me to write at least five verses in sync with the condition of a soul in life and its struggle. I felt the urge to write about the sufferings of a soul which goes astray. A wonderful musician, Shaheen is a sitar player and the verses of Suroor struck my chord, as if the vibrations that came where from the music of Divine. I could feel the vibrant energy and the tranquil calmness of these notes through my imagination. Somehow I remembered, “Music travels through your spine into every part of your vein, when the Master touches you with his divine note.” The words of this verse, got inspired by the colours of the painting, the lines got their rhythm by the different scales of sitar and the thoughts by the ever existing seeking of the “I” on the Universal path.
UO: Thank you, Soumya Vilekar, for the detailed response. I wish you and Shaheen a successful sale and pray that the book attracts a wide audience.
By: Uzoma Okoroafor - Writer, Artist, Industrial Chemist
Nigeria
http://85degrees.wordpress.com/2013/09/27/an-interview-with-soumya-vilekar/
Mr. Okoroafor resides in Nigeria.
**********************************************************************************************
SOUMYA VILEKAR - INTERVIEW:
In some of your poems, you acknowledged God as the most Supreme Being, the Maker of all things. Do you believe in life after death? If so, can you paint a picture of this new journey?
SV: First of all, Thanks to you, Uzo, for lending me a platform to express my views and have a word with all of you!
Life is a beautiful journey which has different contours throughout its path and is varicolored. Each one of us have experienced its different façade of joy, sorrow, sadness, grief, misery and the virtual happiness at some moment or other in life. What we see or acknowledge here on Earth as human form is just a part of a wonderful enchanting journey. Life beyond death is another comprehension and very few or rarely anyone believes or tries to have any thought about it. As in school, the way we pass out and get promoted to the above grade or level, thus is the examination of life, where we get onto the next level after we overcome the obstacles or hurdles laid in our life in form of small shortcomings and troubles. The promotion here is unseen and not visible to the naked eye of man and hence less believed.The stratum of our existence keeps on changing every birth and even after our death. As we all know according to Newton’s third law of motion, “For any action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Hence for all the actions of our life done knowingly or unknowingly, there exists a reaction, i.e. an outcome of all the deeds, known better as Karma. We are all bound by the strings of the strong hold of this karma and hence we are bound to equate that equation before our existence is nulled …either in this birth or in the subsequent ones. Such is the journey of our soul, even after death that it traverses through the infinite, trying to touch the ultimate goal of its birth ,yet is unable to do so and for this shortcoming, it rebirths on earth. The journey of a soul after death is not always beautiful, but it solely depends on the disposition it had towards its fellow beings on earth. Even though it is able to overview the mistake of its behavior and nature of its life on earth, still the soul needs to get through the cycle once again to eradicate the negativities unless what is left is just a pure entity. Until all the equations get equaled, nothing in this life or nature ends or finishes. The cycle is endless and ceaseless, unless the soul finally assimilates with the Supreme.
UO: Can metaphysics and devotion to metaphysical research bring about the healing of the mind?
SV: A very beautiful and interesting question!
For me, it’s all there in the mind. The words we utter, the thoughts that are generated, the feelings we experience, nothing comes from beyond or outside. Similarly the pains, aches and illnesses of our body too are born from within, from our own thoughts. Energy which exists in various forms is the sole unit of such trillions of thoughts. Energy always remains invisible, still we can see its resultant in the form of electrical, mechanical, kinetic energy etc. But the real energy is never seen, we can feel the force and power of the waves but our eyes do not possess the power to perceive the infinite. Similarly the energy of our mind generates unlimited ocean of thoughts and the resultant of which energy is produced, either positive or negative in nature. Positivism obviously has more good to offer and affect rather than the negative forces which lead to more troubles for the person first physically, then psychologically. The negative forces often tend to create small aches in the body initially and then subsequently transform into major pains and illnesses, hitting the most vulnerable part and the weakest part of the body. The reflexes and the nervous system connected to that part is hit first by the negative forces ,which requires the same amount of positive force to overcome the malady, else it falls into the dark crevice of some acute illness. This positive energy required to cure can either be received directly from people who themselves are actively spiritual and enlightening. Else, as this is very rare nowadays, the best way is to connect to the inner self and reanalyze the situation which brought out the negative thought to finally erase and delete it from our mind. “The practice of self introspection helps if done neutrally without any influence of the outside world. “Thirdly, such forces can be eliminated ,when being in the free state, that is in the subconscious state of mind, when the body sleeps and the mind is readily active , with an urge to end the wrong vibrations going within and communicating the same to the unseen ,invisible energy form. The energy dissipated then is the maximum and when directed in a positive way, always leads to better results.
UO: Do you agree with this statement: “In Western philosophy, metaphysics has become the study of the fundamental nature of all reality — what is it, why is it, and how are we can understand it. Some treat metaphysics as the study of “higher” reality or the “invisible” nature behind everything, but that isn't true. It is, instead, the study of all of reality, visible and invisible; and what constitutes reality, natural and supernatural.”
SV: Absolutely, I agree. What we have known is a just a part of this universe and the whole creation is still beyond our comprehension, it is in fact the reality of creation which we are yet unaware of. For, it is unseen and not visible with the naked eye nor works with the logic of our explanations, we have let it aside and termed it as something abnormal or supernatural. Do we really think, what we know is natural? It is the definition given by us and we are just a tiny part of this creation. So our terminology isn't the real truth .It is merely a hypothesis. What is seen is known to us, what is left unseen or unnoticed, or invisible, still exists, and we are yet to discover this truth. Without mentioning any religion known to man, what is your concept of true religion? No religion is neither true nor false. My concept says- Religion, is in total, the way of living life of each individual respecting the mankind with humanity. A path which every individual chooses for himself to be disciplined upon without force and which never allows a person to hurt another soul ,either by words, weapons, discrimination, jealousy, behavior, disposition and hatred. If every human tends to follow such a religion binding himself to his conscience, the world will be a better and beautiful place to live in. There would never be any war for rights and injustice, and conflicts of power, money, or religion would diminish and vanish away. For every individual would then remain busy in improving his self and being like a person who follows his own true religion, rather than scrutinizing and criticizing others.
UO: Because of the wonderful and profound meanings I find in ”The Lost Fawn” and “Suroor of the Soul,” can you tell us about the source(s) of inspiration for these poems?
SV: “The lost fawn” is a journey about every individual that I came across in life, who is constantly running in a race to reach the end, without knowing his destination is actually the place where he has started from, i.e. his core. What we search for outside is a mere mirage of our desires and ambitions, for the moment we try to touch them, they vanish. In life I have seen people running after fulfilling their endless desires to quench their thirst for happiness, without realizing that the fame and the riches won’t buy them the real joy. The real essence of happiness, is when we are happy with our surroundings our existence, mainly with ourselves. Being in a desert, or at a five star hotel, in a garden or beside a stream will give us the real happiness only when, we notice the beauty of that moment in the air. Acquiring palaces and hoarding money can never give the heart or mind a rest of peace even for a day, but a moment of peace within shall give us the most treasurable and cherished time. I am always fascinated by little fawns, their innocence sparkles through their eyes and I perceived this thought through their vision. “Suroor of the Soul” has a beautiful and interesting story behind its creation. My friend and co-author, Shaheen, whom everyone at WordPress knows as the Blood ink diary once gifted me with a beautiful mystical painting which was called “Suroor”. The painting now adorns as the book cover of our book. Well, when for the first time I laid my eyes on this unique piece of art, my thoughts instigated me to write at least five verses in sync with the condition of a soul in life and its struggle. I felt the urge to write about the sufferings of a soul which goes astray. A wonderful musician, Shaheen is a sitar player and the verses of Suroor struck my chord, as if the vibrations that came where from the music of Divine. I could feel the vibrant energy and the tranquil calmness of these notes through my imagination. Somehow I remembered, “Music travels through your spine into every part of your vein, when the Master touches you with his divine note.” The words of this verse, got inspired by the colours of the painting, the lines got their rhythm by the different scales of sitar and the thoughts by the ever existing seeking of the “I” on the Universal path.
UO: Thank you, Soumya Vilekar, for the detailed response. I wish you and Shaheen a successful sale and pray that the book attracts a wide audience.
By: Uzoma Okoroafor - Writer, Artist, Industrial Chemist
Nigeria
http://85degrees.wordpress.com/2013/09/27/an-interview-with-soumya-vilekar/
Mr. Okoroafor resides in Nigeria.
**********************************************************************************************
Author Michael Brookes in Conversation with Soumya Vilekar:
In today's interview we welcome poet Soumya Vilekar, you can read what she has to say below:
Michael Brookes: Please introduce yourself, who are you and what do you do?
SV: I am Soumya Vilekar,at present a housewife,a mother of two kids and a blogger. I am from the field of powder metallurgy and have joint patent in the same. I assist in projects relating to metal powders.
MB: What first inspired you to start writing?
I was in my late teens when I started writing. An entry into a spot poem competition gave me an opportunity to think of my creative side,which was till then neglected.
MB: What is it about poetry that attracts you?
SV: Poetry for me is a form of expression.The beauty lies in how exquisitely and simply you express and touch the heart of the reader.The efficiency of wrapping a whole tale, thought,emotion ,incident or an imagery in few simple words woven with intricacy attracts my soul to poetry.
MB: Which author do you admire most and why?
SV: There have been many favourite authors since childhood,Dickens,Wordsworth,Jane Austen,Rabindrananth Tagore,Keats.P.G.Woodehouse and now Paulo Coelho.Every phase of life brought a fascination for a different genre.
As for now,I dont have any favourite author,for I sometimes read teachings and philosophy of Ramakrsihna Paramhansa,Paramhansa Yogananda and Aurobindo Ghosh.
MB: Where is your happy place?
SV: My sweet home wherever it is on earth.
MB: What is your favourite song lyric?
SV: It is a very old Indian song.I would translate it for you here .
"In the dark night of sadness ,dont anguish your heart my dear,a dawn will have ray of hope,wait for the beautiful morning."
MB: Where do your best ideas come from?
SV: From the aspects of nature. Anything can inspire me to write about it,a scenery ,a touching scene,gentle affection,saddened state of mind,spiritual thinking or any line or phrase form a book or a movie.A thought which is touching gives me idea to write.
MB: What are you working on at the moment?
SV: My 4th poetry book is due to be out in the market by next month.I am currently working on the same ,which going through the proof stage now.It is a poetic journey of a soul on earth which goe s through inner conflicts while striving for survival and seeking for the real happiness.
MB: Tell us about your latest work and how we can find out more.
You can find out more on the present work of mine here on two links below.My poems are also due on two latest anthologies,one of romantic poems and other of social issues.
By Michael Brookes: Author of Prisons without Walls, The Tapestry, Ghost in the Cloud, In the Depths, Not Welcome at the Gate. Game Producer by day.
Mr. Brookes resides in United Kingdom.
http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/guest-author-interview-soumya-vilekar.html
********************************************************************************************
©The material on this site is copyright of Suroor of the Soul © and may not be republished without permission. No material on this site shall be altered, transformed, and/or used for commercial purpose.
Copyright © 2013 -2014.