Neena Verma > Neena's Quotes

“There are words like ‘orphan’, ‘widow’ and ‘widower’ in all languages. But there is no word in any language to describe a parent who loses a child. How does one describe the pain of ‘ultimate bereavement’! (Page 50)”
― Neena Verma, A Mother's Cry... A Mother's Celebration

“Twilight, the only time of the day when the light and dark meet and become one. The bright powerful light of the day, calmly surrenders before the engulfing duskiness of the night. And the dense whelming darkness of the night yields before the surreal dawning saffron of the morning. The only two moments of the day that absolve the difference between ‘dark and light’. (Page 71)”
― Neena Verma, A Mother's Cry... A Mother's Celebration

“The morning’s splendour is conceived in the dark womb of night. A truth … we all know and believe. Yet a truth, that is most difficult to live and endure when one is in that dark womb. Alive and breathing … but inert, vulnerable, and ‘in waiting’. Witnessing but not conscious, wakeful but not awake. (Page 2)”
― Neena Verma, A Mother's Cry... A Mother's Celebration

“Grace – the humble, gentle, calm and acceptant human spirit that helps us affirm the dark, and inspires us to seek the light.”
― Neena Verma, GRIEF GROWTH GRACE: A SACRED PILGRIMAGE

“Bereavement, despair, ache, yearning happen to all. We all bear the pain of grief. We all take them in our own ways. And we are all blessed with the grace to transcend. (Page xii)”
― Neena Verma, A Mother's Cry... A Mother's Celebration

“Nature does not abandon us. Rather, it helps us in accepting our loss, grief and pain. It stays with us, even cries with us. It gifts us openings, may be more than once, to heal, transcend and re-emerge. (Page xii)”
― Neena Verma, A Mother's Cry... A Mother's Celebration

“Death
It does not happen to the dead alone
Those left behind, die too
In parts that would never heal and come back to life
(Page 14)”
― Neena Verma, A Mother's Cry... A Mother's Celebration

“One is in 'Waiting'
Even after it's over
Grief comes to stay
Never up for closure
...
There is no escape ever
One is always yearning
Grief envelops those
Left behind in 'waiting'
...
‘Staying stuck’ in pain
Hiding deep in the heart
'Let go' ! Yes, but how
To make a new start
...
One has to live in the
Dark blind ‘Black-hole’
Until Light would grace
Rekindling a 'Whole'
(Page 49)”
― Neena Verma, A Mother's Cry... A Mother's Celebration

“The dawn broke, but the Sun did not rise that morning. It was a morning of ‘mourning’. (Page 24)”
― Neena Verma, A Mother's Cry... A Mother's Celebration

“Cold, still and merciless
Death comes visiting
With absolute finality
(Page 24)”
― Neena Verma, A Mother's Cry... A Mother's Celebration

“Parent
Nothing … No One
Prepares a parent to raise the child
Nothing … No One
Can ever prepare a parent to bear the loss of child”
― Neena Verma, A Mother's Cry... A Mother's Celebration

“We are generally not programmed to imagine death, to handle death, to absorb grief, at least not in the immediacy of things, definitely not when the ‘thing’ has happened to another person.”
― Neena Verma, A Mother's Cry... A Mother's Celebration

“The crumbling under the ‘cold corpse’
The deadness of ‘mortal separation’
The moaning wails of ‘mourning’
The push to ‘perform rituals’
The spectacle of ‘sorrow’
The goriness of ‘grief’
And
The ‘mercilessness’ of the ‘merciful’

Who knows … ‘what’ and ‘why’
Who would ever want to know
(Page 34)”
― Neena Verma, A Mother's Cry... A Mother's Celebration

“Grief
You plunge one in many emotions
Betrayal, Despair, Depression, Fear, Anger
Grief
You are more difficult to face than Death
Grief
Please let my faith stay stronger than you
Grief
I so wish you eventually lose out to love
(Page 58)”
― Neena Verma, A Mother's Cry... A Mother's Celebration

“Twilight ...
Say, who you are !!
The dusk before the night
Or the dawn before the light
(Page 73)”
― Neena Verma, A Mother's Cry... A Mother's Celebration

“Twilight …
Not just a metaphor
The metaphor of the ‘spirit’
The confluence of life and death
The celestial dance of existential and essential
(Page 75)”
― Neena Verma, A Mother's Cry... A Mother's Celebration

“Letting myself fall wasn't easy. It wasn't hard either. It was a calling that I had to honour. I did honour. I took a plunge into my dark abyss. I faced my grief, my fear, my sadness, my loneliness, my anguish, myself. (Page 78)”
― Neena Verma, A Mother's Cry... A Mother's Celebration

“Lament invoked love.
Woe invoked wonder.
Grief invoked grace.
Cry invoked celebration.
(Page 80)”
― Neena Verma, A Mother's Cry... A Mother's Celebration

“The Source …
Who are You
Where lay your path
Why be on your journey
...
The Source …
Your marvel amazes
Your mystique invokes
Your magnificence entrances
(Page 88)”
― Neena Verma, A Mother's Cry... A Mother's Celebration

“Forgetting is not forgetting
Forgetting is ‘Letting things pass’

When Existence opens up to Essence
And rises above and beyond
The path of Transcendence opens

Love goes beyond Death
The body disappears
The person lives
In Love

And in this Love
Remembrance is born
(Page 91)”
― Neena Verma, A Mother's Cry... A Mother's Celebration

“I came to understand the most intriguing irony of life, that the most intimate partner of life is death.
(Page 94)”
― Neena Verma, A Mother's Cry... A Mother's Celebration

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
― Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

“You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police ... yet in their hearts there is unspoken fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts: words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home -- all the more powerful because forbidden -- terrify them. A little mouse of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic.”
― Winston S. Churchill, Blood, Sweat and Tears

“Rabbit's clever," said Pooh thoughtfully.
"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit's clever."
"And he has Brain."
"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit has Brain."
There was a long silence.
"I suppose," said Pooh, "that that's why he never understands anything.”
― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

“Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind.
"Pooh!" he whispered.
"Yes, Piglet?"
"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw. "I just wanted to be sure of you.”
― A.A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner

“How do you spell 'love'?" - Piglet
"You don't spell it...you feel it." - Pooh”
― A.A. Milne

“What day is it?” asked Pooh.
“It’s today,” squeaked Piglet.
“My favorite day,” said Pooh.”
― A.A. Milne

“When I wake up I go through an abbreviated process of mourning all over again. Plainly, there’s something within me that’s ready to believe in life after death. And it’s not the least bit interested in whether there’s any sober evidence for it.”
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

“A NATION'S GREATNESS DEPENDS ON ITS LEADER

To vastly improve your country and truly make it great again, start by choosing a better leader. Do not let the media or the establishment make you pick from the people they choose, but instead choose from those they do not pick. Pick a leader from among the people who is heart-driven, one who identifies with the common man on the street and understands what the country needs on every level. Do not pick a leader who is only money-driven and does not understand or identify with the common man, but only what corporations need on every level.

Pick a peacemaker. One who unites, not divides. A cultured leader who supports the arts and true freedom of speech, not censorship. Pick a leader who will not only bail out banks and airlines, but also families from losing their homes -- or jobs due to their companies moving to other countries. Pick a leader who will fund schools, not limit spending on education and allow libraries to close. Pick a leader who chooses diplomacy over war. An honest broker in foreign relations. A leader with integrity, one who says what they mean, keeps their word and does not lie to their people. Pick a leader who is strong and confident, yet humble. Intelligent, but not sly. A leader who encourages diversity, not racism. One who understands the needs of the farmer, the teacher, the doctor, and the environmentalist -- not only the banker, the oil tycoon, the weapons developer, or the insurance and pharmaceutical lobbyist.

Pick a leader who will keep jobs in your country by offering companies incentives to hire only within their borders, not one who allows corporations to outsource jobs for cheaper labor when there is a national employment crisis. Choose a leader who will invest in building bridges, not walls. Books, not weapons. Morality, not corruption. Intellectualism and wisdom, not ignorance. Stability, not fear and terror. Peace, not chaos. Love, not hate. Convergence, not segregation. Tolerance, not discrimination. Fairness, not hypocrisy. Substance, not superficiality. Character, not immaturity. Transparency, not secrecy. Justice, not lawlessness. Environmental improvement and preservation, not destruction. Truth, not lies.

Most importantly, a great leader must serve the best interests of the people first, not those of multinational corporations. Human life should never be sacrificed for monetary profit. There are no exceptions. In addition, a leader should always be open to criticism, not silencing dissent. Any leader who does not tolerate criticism from the public is afraid of their dirty hands to be revealed under heavy light. And such a leader is dangerous, because they only feel secure in the darkness. Only a leader who is free from corruption welcomes scrutiny; for scrutiny allows a good leader to be an even greater leader.

And lastly, pick a leader who will make their citizens proud. One who will stir the hearts of the people, so that the sons and daughters of a given nation strive to emulate their leader's greatness. Only then will a nation be truly great, when a leader inspires and produces citizens worthy of becoming future leaders, honorable decision makers and peacemakers. And in these times, a great leader must be extremely brave. Their leadership must be steered only by their conscience, not a bribe.”
― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

“I sit beside the fire and think
Of all that I have seen
Of meadow flowers and butterflies
In summers that have been

Of yellow leaves and gossamer
In autumns that there were
With morning mist and silver sun
And wind upon my hair

I sit beside the fire and think
Of how the world will be
When winter comes without a spring
That I shall ever see

For still there are so many things
That I have never seen
In every wood in every spring
There is a different green

I sit beside the fire and think
Of people long ago
And people that will see a world
That I shall never know

But all the while I sit and think
Of times there were before
I listen for returning feet
And voices at the door”
― J.R.R. Tolkien