Reflections on a few lines from Harivansharai Bachchan’s ‘Madhushala’

मदिरालय जाने को घर से चलता है पीनेवला,
‘किस पथ से जाऊँ?’ असमंजस में है वह भोलाभाला,
अलग-अलग पथ बतलाते सब, पर मैं यह बतलाता हूँ –
‘राह पकड़ तू एक चला चल, पा जाएगा मधुशाला।’

 हरिवंशराय बच्चन

‘मधुशाला’

Free rendering in English prose:

He starts from his house in search of a place where he can enjoy his drinks (a pub or a bar). The innocent man is confused and wondering which path he should take to reach his destination. The poet states that while others tell the seeker about multiple paths, the poet merely advises him – ‘Choose one path and follow your chosen path. You will reach your destination.’

The lines quoted above are an extract from Shri Harivansharai Bachchan’s remarkable and enduring Hindi composition titled ‘Madhushala’ (‘मधुशाला’). Madhushala is a piece of poetry replete with metaphors and touches upon wide-ranging issues from the meaning of life to communal harmony.

In this specific quatrain or rubaai (verse of four lines), Bachchan saheb,  probably alludes to a fundamental principle that is intrinsic to Indian thought and is stated in the Vedas.

There is only one truth and only one god. However, there are multiple paths to reach that one truth and one god and receive enlightenment. Learned human beings refer to that one truth and one god and hence, those multiple paths by different names. Many of our disputes stem because we are traversing different paths. If we step back and recognise the unity of the destination, then the apparent differences of our chosen paths and their concomitant disputes become inconsequential.

एकं सद् विप्र बहुधा वदन्ति| – ऋग्वेद  (1.164.46)
ekam sat viprā bahudhā vadanti – Rig Veda (1.164.46)
Free Rendering:
There is only One God. The learned call that One God by many names.