Reading Scriptures
By Ishwar Gupta
Translated By Arvind Krishna Mehrotra & Rosinka Chaudhuri
Pore over scriptures as much as you want,
become chief of pundits,
but without Ishwar in your heart
what you read, what you listen to, comes to naught.
Translated from the Bengali
Notes:
“Ishwar” means “god” in Bengali as well as in most North Indian languages. Here he is punning on his name
Read the note on this poem by Rosinka Chaudhuri and Arvind Krishna Mehrotra.
Source: Poetry (May 2022)