पुस्तक समीक्षा - राधा (कृष्ण धरावासी)

कृष्ण धराबासीको मैले पढेको पहिलो किताव। एकजना सहकर्मी बहिनीले सिफारिस गरेर पढेको थिएँ । हुन त यो पुस्तकको चर्चा धेरै सुनेको भएपनि पढ्ने मौका मिलेको थिएन । 

पौराणिक पात्र राधाको परिचय कृष्णकी प्रेमिकाको रूपमा चीरकालदेखि स्थापित छ । बैबाहिक सम्बन्धको औपचारिकतामा नपरेको भएपनि ती दुईको प्रेम आत्मिक र दिव्य रहेको मानिन्छ । आधुनिक कालमा त राधालाई कृष्ण बराबरकै दैवी शक्तिको रूपमा पनि कतिले स्विकार गरेका छन् । कृष्ण प्रणामी लगायतका सम्प्रदायले मूल रूपमा नै राधाको उपासना गरेको पाइन्छ । 

तर कृष्णको जीवनगाथा र चरित्र बर्णन गर्ने श्रीमद्भागवत र महाभारतमा उनका अन्य रानीहरूको जति पनि राधाको बारेमा चित्रण गरिएको पाइदैन । त्यसको वावजुद पनि जब कृष्णको नाम आउँछ, राधाको पनि संगसंगै आउँछ । यस त‍थ्यले पनि राधाको चरित्र र व्यक्तित्वलाई थप रहस्यमय बनाइदिएको छ । 

यही पृष्ठभूमिमा नेपाली भाषाका प्रखर आख्यानकार कृष्ण धराबासीले राधा उपन्यासको रचना गर्नुभएको रहेछ । नाटकीय रुपमा पूर्वी नेपालको पुरातात्विक स्थलमा प्राप्त रहस्यमय भाषाको लेखोट र चिरञ्चजीवि अश्वत्थामालाई उक्त लेखोट पढ्ने रहस्यमय योगीको रूपमा जोडेर धराबासीले राधाको छुट्टै बिन्यास सहितको कथा वर्णित गरेका छन् । 

पौराणिक र साम्प्रदायिक रूपमा असिमित दैवी शक्तियुक्त र संसारका भारहर्ता मानिएका कृष्णलाई विशेष परिस्थितिले घेरिएका सामान्य मानवको रूपमा चित्रित गर्दै लेखकले राधालाई उनकी बालसखी र प्रेमिकाको रूपमा पेस गरेका छन् । बालसखी र मानिएकी प्रेमिका भएपनि कृष्णले राधालाई सांसारिक रूपमा आफ्नी अर्धांगिनी बनाउदैनन् । तैपनि उनि राधा प्रति आफ्नो प्रेम सर्वोच्च रहेको पटक पटक दोहोर्‍याउँछन् । उनको यो भनाई र एकपछि अर्को गरी धेरै पत्नी भित्र्याउने व्यवहारमा मेल खाँदैन । यसले राधाको मनमा कृष्ण प्रति उपेक्षाभाव र आक्रोश पनि उत्पन्न गर्छ । तथापि उनको प्रेम आत्मिक रहेकोले उनी कृष्णबाहेक अन्य कसैलाई अपनाउन पनि सक्दिनन् । 

एउटी इमान्दार प्रेमिका र उनको छली स्वभावको प्रेमीको लामो जीवनयात्राका आरोह अवरोहहरू चित्रित गरिएको यस उपन्यासले राधालाई एक छुट्टै जीवन्तता दिएको छ । एक पुरुष भएपनि लेखकले नारी मनोभावलाई प्रतिनिधित्व गर्न निकै प्रयास गरेका छन् ।  

पुराणहरूबाट पाईने कथावस्तु र उपन्यासको कथावस्तुमा धेरै पृथकता भएपनि पढुञ्जेल यस उपन्यासले पाठकलाई त्यो कालखण्ड र त्यसबेलाको जनजीवनको नजीक लैजान सफल हुन्छ । शायद यही मौलिकता बोकेको र सहज भाषा प्रवाहमा लेखिएकोले यस कृतिले देशको सर्वाधिक प्रतिष्ठित मदन पुरस्कार प्राप्त गर्न सफल भएको हुनुपर्छ । 

अन्त्यमा, आफूलाई स्वाभीमानी, आत्मनिर्भर र गौरवशाली जीवन दिन खोज्ने युवतीहरूले एकपटक पढ्नुपर्छ जस्तो लाग्छ । साथै पुरुषहरूले पनि यस उपन्यासबाट नारीलाई सम्मान गर्नुपर्ने सन्देश पाउँछन् भन्ने मेरो विश्वास छ । 

शुक्रबार ११ आषाढ २०७८ (२५ जून २०२१)

Book Review - Top Five Regrets of The Dying by Bronnie Ware

 This book was referred to me by my talented colleague and a voracious reader Mr. Ajay Kadel. He has a knack of locating spiritually inclined books. 

"The Top Five Regrets of the Dying" by Bronnie Ware is a summarization of her experiences with terminally ill dying people at various palliative care centers, nursing homes and even personal homes of the the dying. While weaving a nice prose regarding the mental disposition and principle regrets of the dying, she also weaves a beautiful story of her own life. Her rebellious spirit, a nomadic life, carefree attitude and a predisposition to not get attached to anyone found solace in the caring for the dying and learning from them. 

Her unique experience of both men and women of various ages (mostly old or middle aged) at the twilight of their lives gave her a unique and highly spiritual perspective of human life. The dreams, aspirations and turmoil of life usually make people forget what really matters in life - living for yourself and others in pursuit of mutual and pervasive happiness. 

According to Bronnie's experiences with the dying, the top five regrets of dying people can be enumerated as follows:

1. People wish they had the courage to live a life true to themselves. People normally end up guiding their own lives through the perspective of others and what others think of them. However, in the end they wish they had been able to live life on their own terms not worrying about others. 

2. They wish they hadn't worked as hard as they did. People often end up working too hard, to pursue their own insatiable ambition and also to make sure other have a great opinion of them. While doing this, they rarely give themselves time to unwind and contemplate their life from a perspective of peace, happiness and spiritual awakening. This is a principle regret for people at the end of their journey. 

3. We generally think twice before expressing our feelings. For fear of losing our pedestal of ego and self-righteousness. Also for fear of what others might think of us. We end of stifling our feelings also for fear of disappointing our loved ones, for the hope of sustaining toxic relationships or for the sake of nurturing our selfish aspiration. However, according to Ware's experiences, the dying people wish they had the courage to express their true feelings irrespective of the consequences and circumstances. 

4. Friendship is one of the most uplifting relationships a human can cultivate. True friends are both for happy and sad times. They are there to share our success and failures. They are there to motivate and uplift us in our dark times. They are there to be nudged and pushed by us when they are low. But we usually move on in life without continuing our cherished friendships. We think that moving on is part of life. But the dying people wish they had more in touch of their friends, especially those from their early years. 

5. The dying also wish they had let themselves be happier. People often overlook the fact that happiness is a matter of choice. They end up looking causes of happiness in wealth, success, relationships and other aspects rather than trying to be unconditionally happy in their own current situation. They forget that happiness is 'now' or this particular moment. If able to life each moment as it is with  a positive outlook, people can find happiness. But this is a choice they have to make - whether to be miserable about what they do not have or be happy about what they have. It is a mindset and many people end up cultivating it in a wrong way. 

Bronnie also had her own ups and downs. After years in care of the dying, she had a dark bout of depression and almost ended her own life. But her positivity finally prevailed and she started afresh. She got into a good relationship, published a bestselling and became a mother at her mid-forties. Along with her book and the ideas she learned from the dying, her own life can be an inspiration for making human life more meaningful, happy and fulfilling irrespective of the circumstances. 

10:36 AM Sunday 13 June 2021 

आइतबार ३० जेष्ठ २०७८