by Baba Amte

I emptied my heavy eyelids swollen with tears… Behind the veil of Darkness.
Oppressive chains shackled my feet
Even so, a hopeful song rose to my lips.
This was no time to wallow in sorrow!

Many doors were slammed in my face
And I was surrounded by misery and shame
My ominous shadow filled me with fear…
But this was no time to wallow in sorrow!

From deep within, an animal-like survival instinct took over,
And I put my begging bowl forward:
They tossed pieces of bread from a distance
They were afraid to catch my disease.
But this was no time to wallow in sorrow!

I was ready to fight with my last drop of blood…
Then I saw up ahead, a fork in the road.
And in the middle of the pitch black night
All the lonely souls had come together.

We started marching together through a dark forest
To our promised land.
We encountered wild animals
Lame as we were, we faced steep cliffs -
After all, we were outcast people on outcast land.

After the dark forest of Pain came Joy with a loud roar:
The seasons brought good fortune in their wake
And every cell in my body pulsated with life.
A strange romance had begun between our tears
And the sweat running down our cheeks
This was no time to wallow in sorrow!

The storm trapped inside of me,
Has been released like a dammed river...
And I know that the road to the future will begin here:
On this soil, humanity will learn to hold the weak in her embrace
And from this soil will spring the sacred river of creativity.

So plow these fields and sow the seeds of hope;
Because these are the fields of dreams.
Tomorrow, our harvest will be bountiful...
This is no time to wallow in sorrow!

Our Sweat is also Knowledge,
And this Knowledge isthe womb for tomorrow’s leaders.
I have given myself completely to realizing this dream…
So take these offerings: my wealth, my possessions, and my sweat.
This is no time to wallow in sorrow!
__________________
Baba Amte was a great social activist who from young age worked with the lepers, the greatest outcastes of the world, and made them his own. The poem above is about his journey with the lepers. Born in December 1914 to wealthy high-caste Brahmin parents in a village in Central India, Murlidhar Devidas Amte is known to millions of Indians as Baba Amte - "Father" Amte. Like Gandhi, Baba Amte trained as a lawyer and was involved in the Indian freedom struggle against the British empire. He spent time at Mahatma Gandhi's ashram in Sevagram and was also influenced by Acharya Vinoba Bhave, Gurdev Rabindranath Tagore, and Sane Guruji - other important freedom fighters. Baba Amte's story is a fascinating one -- one man's colourful odyssey to conquer his own fears and expand the notion of justice and peace through innovative experiments. Baba's most famous experiment is Anandwan [The Forest of Joy] which His Holiness, the Dalai Lama described as "practical compassion, real transformation; the proper way to develop India." Baba Amte is also known for his advocacy work including his many peace and justice marches across the length and breadth of India, his solidarity with the aborigine tribes of India, and his opposition to the Sardar Sarovar Dam, a controversial and colossal "super-dam" project across one of India's largest rivers. Baba has been awarded the U.N. Human Rights Prize, the Magsaysay award, the Templeton Prize, the Gandhi Peace Prize, and many other humanitarian and environmental prizes. But many people still don't know much about this charismatic and unique human being. The book, "Wisdom Song: a Life of Baba Amte" is an attempt to share Baba Amte's life, legacy, and wisdom with the world.

Copyright Baba Amte, "Shrunkhala Payi Asu De." Translated into English by Dr. Vijaya Bapat and Neesha Mirchandani in 2005.