Indian Education System

No other country in the world would be making as many blunders as the Indian education system makes.We still follow the British system.The British have left but our minds are still chained to the inferiority that they cultivated in us.Vedas should be taught in Indian schools.Vedic mathematics,astronomy,science and philosophy should be included in the syllabus along with the western invasions.I have added three videos about the vedas which show the superiority of the knowledge we possessed in the past.The Aryan theory of invasion was also devised to prove that Indians were fools.But even the Pythagoras theorem was discovered in India 300 years before Pythagoras was born.He came down to ganges and learnt it.All the famous theoritical physicists like Heisenberg and others have been influenced by Advaita Vedanta.The principle of uncertainity can be easily derived from Advaita Vedanta.I once heard that Kautilya's Arthasastra is being used at Harvard.Kamasutra is the only one which gets the popularity.But there are various other sutras which have lot of knowledge hidden in them.
Its high time the world gives back the dignity of innovation which they took away from India some centuries ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY4Q2xx7BTc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2vhCPBjqcA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMlisMg4VPo&feature=related

When the lake speaks to you

I had attended the vipassana meditation course at Kaufman Texas.It was a beautiful experience.There is so much of information available on the technique online ,that even if I mention a single word suggesting how it works,its a waste of space and time.There is so much of intellectual information which gets processed daily.Its so strange when a real situation arises when you have to apply all the elegant theories you have learnt ...the mind does not listen.It just goes on and on with some tangent and produces a trail of bad emotions.I suffered the first two days in the same way trying to grab and control my unstable mind.I offered it my intellectual solace,the teachers kind words ,my anger,my love...everything ..but nothing happened...I gave up.I decided that controlling is not meditation.Domination is not meditation.Its self hypnosis.On the third day I sat during the lunch break near a beautiful lake for a long time.Everything was silent.There was no sound,no movement ,perfectly still..I could look at the surface and see how everything was quiet and beautiful and that instant I knew how to meditate.Its so strange I went to vipassana course to calm my mind using their technique and nature intervenes and teaches me the "zen" way or the "lake" way

What is compassion

Buddha was the most compassionate being that the earth could produce.One of the stories which gives us a glimpse of his nature is given below:
Once there was a man who came and spat on Buddha.His disciples were angered at this behaviour.Buddha wiped his face and said to the man,"Thank you sir.You created a context in which I could see whether I can still be angry or not.And I am not and I am tremendously happy.And you created a context for Ananda to see his anger.Many thanks,we are so grateful.Once in while please,you are invited to come.Whenever you have an urge to spit you can do it on us.

The man was shocked, he could not sleep whole night.He felt the way Buddha was grateful.The "Thank you" came from his heart directly it was not a formality.The next day he went to Buddha to ask for forgiveness.Buddha was seated near the Ganges.He showed the man the river how everything was flowing.Twenty four hours you are carrying it.Forget all about it.I cannot forgive you because I was not angry with you.If I was angry I would have forgiven.Go fall on the feet of Ananda he will be happy.

Our reactions to a particular action is the measure of our compassion.

U.G.Krishnamurti Quotes

A messiah is the one who leaves a mess behind him in this world.

Religions have promised roses but you end up with only thorns.

Going to the pub or the temple is exactly the same; it is quick fix.

The body has no independent existence. You are a squatter there.

God and sex go together. If God goes sex goes, too.

All experiences however extraordinary they may be are in the area of sensuality.

Man cannot be anything other than what he is. Whatever he is, he will create a society that mirrors him.

Love and hate are not opposite ends of the same spectrum; they are one and the same thing. They are much closer than kissing cousins.

Gurus play a social role, so do prostitutes.

By using the models of Jesus, Buddha, or Krishna we have destroyed the possibility of nature throwing up unique individuals.

It would be more interesting to learn from children, than try to teach them how to behave, how to live and how to function.

All I can guarantee you is that as long as you are searching for happiness, you will remain unhappy.

You eat not food but ideas. What you wear are not clothes, but labels and names.

The plain fact is that if you don’t have a problem, you create one. If you don’t have a problem you don’t feel that you are living.

That messy thing called ‘mind’ has created many destructive things. By far the most destructive of them all is God.

Atmospheric pollution is most harmless when compared to the spiritual and religious pollution that have plagued the world.

Nature is busy creating absolutely unique individuals, where as culture has invented a single mold to which all must conform. It is grotesque.

Useful links for Advaita Vedanta

1.Advaita Vedanta Library
http://www.geocities.com/advaitavedant/index.htm

2.Sankaracharya page
http://www.sankaracharya.org/index.php
This site has also works of Ramana Maharishi and Nisaragadatta Maharaj.

3.Realization
http://www.realization.org/

4.http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/avhp/one-many.html

5.One of the best sites...from modern writers of Advaita
http://www.advaita.org.uk/

6.Vedanta for Beginners
http://www.geocities.com/neovedanta/index.html

7.This site has Sanskrit verses of Sankara
http://www.shaivam.org/ssdashashloki.htm

8.http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/

Illuminating Tribal India

I came across this article which talks about other natural forms of energy.As a electrical engineer,solar energy has always been my main interest.
So nice to know there are good people like Prof.Shrinivasa who work for the "poorest of the poor".

http://goodnewsindia.com/index.php/Magazine/story/biodiesel-chalbardi

I love trees

I was 8 years old and I remember the day, when one of the oldest trees near my house was cut down, to build a house.I shed silent tears for my forgotten friend.Sometimes I felt that I suffer from a mental delusion or I am too Over- Sensitive towards living beings.I have spent countless hours on the terrace...alone...gazing at stars, moon and infinity.Learnt a lot about life from the silent green beings which surrounded my house.

I am quite grateful to my parents that they never pushed me into any extra curricular activities.I was left on my own to explore.I feel as a kid when we explore the world on our own ,nature gives us the best gift.
Creativity!!!

The silence of the heavenly bodies taught me music.Silence is the most important aspect of music.Years later when I took piano classes to study Beethoven and Mozart..I was amazed at the similarities.

Observing nature is so important in painting.I used to always feel that I am reproducing nature in my paintings.But now I realize that I reproduce what I absorb.Its a honor to imitate nature in its splendid glory.

We create reality every instant.Words are just a small percent of reality we absorb.
Silence is again fundamental to words.If we don't have a period of silence in a day we ruin the mind with too many thoughts.Most of our words are repetitions of everyday incidents.We ask everyday the same questions.How are you,How are you doing,what happened, joys , sorrows,limitations...These words take away chunks of our time...We never dive deep into ourselves because all day long we are telling each other how we are doing.Few of the courtesy calls cannot be avoided,they come with our jobs.But when it comes to our personal space we can transform it into a knowledgeable experience.Once the words stop we realize the power of words.The external world then slowly crawls into the internal self and hopefully we find a calm/peaceful mind.

Useful Links !!!

Ngo/Social Entrepreneurship

1.NGO post
http://ngopost.org/
This site gives the various ngo activities in India.

2.India Together
http://www.indiatogether.org/
A good list of articles for anyone worried about social/economic issues in India.

3.TED
One of the best sites I have come across!!!

www.ted.com
Few of my recent favs...
The myth of violence
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/163

Working of the mind by neurologist Vilayanur Ramachandran
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/184

Habit of Happiness by Matthieu Ricard(Buddhist monk)
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/191

There are other beautiful speeches which are present in the archives...

Spirituality

1.Sanskrit movie on Adi Sankaracharya

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=
1047087149251803384&q=adi+sankaracharya+movie&total=12&start=0&
num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1

2.I am that

http://www.sankaracharya.org/i_am_that.php

The transformation

The hardest part for any person trying to contemplate the truth is that they have to shift from the state of meditation to the state of reality.For people who have reached truth have no problems.Every moment for them is the one moment of truth.But if we have to function as mortals in the world it is so hard to shift.The calmness which we reach when we let go and the next moment when we have to drive our self into work to meet a deadline seem contradictory.May be this is one of the reasons that isolation has been the first medicine given to a patient when they are going crazy.Getting used to silence is quite difficult but after you discover silence ...the noise becomes unbearable.In essence it should not disturb us because we hear noise because we have experienced silence.Buddha used to say if their was no illusion then there would be no enlightenment.So its a reverse process we should get used to.First accept silence and then accept noise.If you say one does not exist or you won't surrender to it,then we are not growing,we are not transforming.

Courage

I feel meditation is looked upon as some great halo generating process which tells you to be silent and then generate loads of peace..
Every person who is developing awareness will frankly say "No"
Meditation leads you,its a journey but it requires lots of courage.The lies you tell yourself and others start pricking you.Many people leave you as they get scared of your insistence for knowing the truth. But if you are creating awareness for yourself it does not matter.You realize that everything has to die.You don't argue for what you feel is right because everyone is right in their own way.But the best thing which I feel awareness teaches you is "not being desperate"for anything.
Money,success,love or other things which you are supposed to pray and hope for does not trouble you.
Personally I feel the honesty which comes up can be quite painful if we don't check our standards.Judgments and identity are the root cause of all pain.

Break!!!

I am taking a break from blogging ..I dont know when I will return to blog world...

Marraige...........

Is marriage really the end of love?
By Swami Chaitanya Keerthi


Socrates had a quarrelsome wife but when disciples asked him whether they should marry, he always advised them to. "If you are fortunate you'll get a good wife. If you get a wife like mine, you'll still be fortunate as she will help you become Socrates!"

But people like Socrates are rare. Most men cannot handle the misery, and either escape or get frustrated. The same goes for women as well. In her marriage, a woman may find the most terrible person who makes life hell for her. In fact, in most Indian marriages, women suffer more than men. What is the way out of this misery?

German politician Gabriele Pauli recently proposed that marriage contracts should be valid for seven years; after that couples who didn't feel the proverbial itch could renew them, else walk away. This may sound radical but it isn't.

People are divorcing faster today and most of the marriages in the so-called first world don't last more than three years. Those that last have little life in them.

Love is like a real flower. It doesn't live longer than it's meant to. But when love is converted into marriage, it starts to lose its tenderness. It acquires a plastic nature; plastic lives for as long as you wish it to but doesn't pulsate with life.

Love, like life, is always insecure. It cannot promise to be forever. That's why it is really very precious. One moment of real love is more valuable than an eternity of plastic life. But most people with deep insecurities go for a plastic marriage rather than wait for the real throbbing life of love, for they are scared to live alone.

Osho calls marriage the ‘coffin of love'. He says: "They all say that love is eternal, never dies. Absolutely wrong. Real love dies sooner than unreal love. Unreal love can live long; it is unreal, how can it die? If you are pretending, you can pretend as long as you want to."

Osho also tells us: "Love needs only one thing, and that is courage. Courage to die into the other, to drop your own identity, your ego. Millions have decided not to love, but then life is misery, life is hell."

"If one really wants to live, one must be ready for insecurity, and love brings the greatest insecurity in the world because love cannot promise tomorrow. Love is of the moment, for the moment, in the moment. Love can only speak for this moment, not for the next; the next remains open, vulnerable, insecure." "Love may be, may not be. Love has no guarantee whatsoever. Which is why people choose marriage over love. Marriage is secure and safe, guaranteed by the law and the government and the society and the church-something they can depend upon. But in that very choice they commit suicide for they will never really live."

"Life itself is insecure. Life knows nothing of security. Death is very secure, so those who are cowardly choose death instead of life. They choose the false and the plastic instead of the real. And those who are courageous, they choose the real. They go with it, wherever it may lead. They surrender to it. They are ready to go into the uncharted and the unknown and the unseen." And they truly live...

WORDS OF WISDOM

"Happy marriages begin when we marry the ones we love, and they blossom when we love the ones we marry." - Tom Mullen, author.

"Marriage is the alliance of two people, one of whom never remembers birthdays and the other who never forgets." - Ogden Nash, author & poet.

Ignorant minds

In India most of the people want to be fair.Let me be "advertising-ly" correct..Fair and Lovely...
But in USA there is the reverse problem.Most of the Americans want to be tanned.Most of the Indians torture a dark skinned female...The same woman in USA is actually the most popular.I once saw a episode of DR.Phil (show) in which an American girl was on the verge of getting skin cancer because she was using all the harmful techniques of tanning.(chemical and other poisonous ones)
In normal discussions with my friend's I start blaming the celebrities who endorse such product and ruin millions of lives.Then I blame the government for actually allowing such ads to be run on television.Its partly their fault.Mostly it's the fault of the ignorant minds.Most of the educated people are also so unconscious to their own needs.
They believe ads and adjust their life style according to that.Wearing branded clothes is seen as a status issue.I have met so many people who think buying clothes from a smaller shop/mall/sales is beneath their dignity.
They forget that the Mahatma Gandhi,Mother Teresa ,Rabindranath Tagore became famous not because of their specific clothing brand.The outer self is just an appearance.The skin colour cannot be changed.You can lighten it...but if the person does not like you (for what you are)then its better to be yourself and find someone else.Wearing good clothes does not alter your inner self.Good looking people have specific advantages.Studies have showed that taller boys are preferred by most of the girls in the world.Beautiful girls are preferred by most of the boys in the world.But there are other things by which a person is also judged and chosen.By showing good looking(smiling and happy) people endorsing the product does not mean that a person who is not attractive will suddenly become very charming.It just a marketing strategy.I hope people realize and spend money on products bit more carefully!!!


other articles on Fair culture in India.
http://vsequeira.blogspot.com/2005/07/fair-lovely.html
http://dcubed.blogspot.com/2005/07/fair-empowered.html
http://diproject.squarespace.com/weblog/2005/8/19/are-you-white-or-wheatish.html

Situation in Vidarbha/Suicides

This is one of the documentary which tells about the suicides of Vidarbha.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/shows/vidarbha/index.html

A story about non violence

How my father taught me non violence

By Arun Gandhi

I was 16 years old and living with my parents at the institute my grandfather had founded 18 miles outside of Durban, South Africa, in the middle of the sugar plantations. We were deep in the country and had no neighbors, so my two sisters and I would always look forward to going to town to visit friends or go to the movies.

One day, my father asked me to drive him to town for an all-day conference, and I jumped at the chance. Since I was going to town, my mother gave me a list of groceries she needed and, since I had all day in town, my father ask me to take care of several pending chores, such as getting the car serviced. When I dropped my father off that morning, he said, 'I will meet you here at 5:00 p.m., and we will go home together.'

After hurriedly completing my chores, I went straight to the nearest movie theatre. I got so engrossed in a John Wayne double-feature that I forgot the time. It was 5:30 before I remembered. By the time I ran to the garage and got the car and hurried to where my father was waiting for me, it was almost 6:00. He anxiously asked me, 'Why were you late?' I was so ashamed of telling him I was watching a John Wayne western movie that I said, 'The car wasn't ready, so I had to wait,' not realizing that he had already called the garage. When he caught me in the lie, he said: 'There's something wrong in the way I brought you up that didn't give you the confidence to tell me the truth. In order to figure out where I went wrong with you, I'm going to walk home 18 miles and think about it.'

So, dressed in his suit and dress shoes, he began to walk home in the dark on mostly unpaved, unlit roads. I couldn't leave him, so for five-and-a-half hours I drove behind him, watching my father go through this agony for a stupid lie that I uttered.

I decided then and there that I was never going to lie again. I often think about that episode and wonder, if he had punished me the way we punish our children, whether I would have learned a lesson at all. I don't think so. I would have suffered the punishment and gone on doing the same thing. But this single non-violent action was so powerful that it is still as if it happened yesterday. That is the power of non-violence.

Words

I feel we live in the culture of words.Everywhere we are demonstrating our love/hate through quotations and expressions.I don't react to compliments or insults.Because both cause us grief in different ways.We someone says us something we mix it up with our own insight and then examine it.We all are the masters of our own selves.We can easily know what our negative and positive points are.Many people feel an extreme need to praise others because they are dependent on the person.When we are in a bad mood we insult others vehemently.All judgments also come from lack of self esteem/self confidence.All labels which cause so much hurt also come from people who are not comfortable in their own skin.

Most important use of words is to ask relevant questions.This questioning ability which was the most important thing in Indian culture has been lost.To analyze ourselves rationally and to realize the truth ...which is the corner stone of spirituality.Most people go to temples,follow blind rituals without questioning the reason behind it.They bribe lord to get what they want.

One of the books which talks about the relation between Self and the God is "When bad things happen to good people".It is written by a Jewish Rabbi Harold Kushner.He explains that Nature and God are two separate entities.What we should not ask is "Why did God do this to me"...Because according to him nature has its randomness which causes misery.But he goes further and explains that God gives us strength and courage to withstand the assaults of nature.

Silence is the only solution to knowing the effects of words.When we gradually become silent for particular periods of time we realize what our words mean to us.How important are useless chats ???
The impulses of anger and misery.... and also our own voice which gets lost sometimes.

Nature and Spirutuality

A spiritual seeker becomes naturally conscious of nature and its effects.Our external environment becomes our first teacher.Most of the complaints we have are the ways in which people behave.
Trees gives shade to everyone.
Flowers impart perfume to everyone.
There is no partiality towards anyone.We expect a lot from everyone around us.But we forget that all of us reflect our inborn nature.The inborn nature is sometimes hidden against other qualities.When some person is rude to us and we know that essentially that person has a bad attitude towards everyone ...we don't take it personally.
Every living thing has the same amount of truth as us.

Nature is sometimes merciful towards us...sometimes it ruins us with floods,earthquakes,volcanoes...Our lives are bounded by the same parameters..To find something in us which never changes is the only guard against anything.

To err is human...

The price we pay of being a human is sometimes we make mistakes...Some so huge ..that it ruins our life,some are so small that we forget minutes after we have committed it.Most of the mistakes which we have committed in our childhood turns into neurosis.This happens only when the adult punishes the child without making the kid understand what went wrong.Hatred towards animals,eatables,public speaking,communication,anxiety are all the gifts of the negligence committed when we were young.Everything is not doomed and I strongly believe that each habit can be re-learned.Most of them help us learn more about life and become channels for self growth.Parents make mistakes with their children and other than forgiving them we cannot have any other good option.

As adults we make loads of mistakes.The basic attitude which we should assume is
"You are not a mistake"
You are a human and Human makes a mistake...
We fail but we are not Losers..

Irrelevant Question

I had gone to one of the best hospitals in Hyderabad(Kims- Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences).
On one of the forms they had mandatory question?

Religion-

Why does the doctor needs a religion to cure me..I am surprised that instead of asking me my previous medical history they asked me my religion...

WHERE IS GOD!!!

Where is God?



A couple had two little boys, ages 8 and 10, who were excessively mischievous. They were always getting into trouble and their parents knew that, if any mischief occurred in their town, their sons were probably involved.

The boys' mother heard that a clergyman in town had been successful in disciplining children, so she asked if he would speak with her boys. The clergyman agreed, but asked to see them individually. So the mother sent her 8-year-old first, in the morning, with the older boy to see the clergyman in the afternoon.

The clergyman, a huge man with a booming voice, sat the younger boy down and asked him sternly, "Where is God?".

The boy's mouth dropped open, but he made no response, sitting there with his mouth hanging open, wide-eyed. So the clergyman repeated the question in an even sterner tone, "Where is God!!?" Again the boy made no attempt to answer. So the clergyman raised his voice even more and shook his finger in the boy's face and bellowed, "WHERE IS GOD!?"

The boy screamed and bolted from the room, ran directly home and dove into his closet, slamming the door behind him. When his older brother found him in the closet, he asked, "What happened?"

The younger brother, gasping for breath, replied, "We are in BIG trouble this time, dude. God is missing - and they think WE did it!"

Taken from Intentblog.com

PAIN

What is pain?

The book "The Prophet" explains it well

And a woman spoke, saying, "Tell us of Pain."
And he said:
Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.
Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.
And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy;
And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields.
And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief.
Much of your pain is self-chosen.
It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self.
Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquillity:
For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen,
And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which the Potter has moistened with His own sacred tears.

Dont fight...

Taken from books of Osho
The topic of conflict in the mind is discussed below

Each fragment of your mind wants to become the most powerful one. There is constant inner politics. You cannot find bliss in this constant inner war.

If you repress sex you will be in a constant war, and you can never win. Failure is absolutely certain because the more you fight with sex, the more you give energy to it. The same is the case with anger, jealousy, greed. Fighting is not the way of wisdom; it is the fool's path. The stupid and the mediocre fight. The intelligent ones transform; they absorb.

Deep down you are one person, pretending on the surface to be somebody else. There is a constant conflict between the real and the false. The false is appreciated by society, valued, respected, and the real is condemned. You have to learn ways to be two persons; you have to be constantly on guard. That creates hypocrisy, and you cannot forgive yourself; you feel guilty.

The mind is a chooser – it always chooses something against something else. It creates opposition, it creates contradiction in life. It creates extremes, and through extremes there is a constant inner war, a civil war. Don't choose, remain choiceless.It is man's freedom to choose. We can live an integrated life, we can become an organic unity – that's the whole purpose of meditation.

Why is the world not falling apart !!!

All the stereotypes are produced by a fantasy.A illusion that somewhere far far away there exists a ideal world where only good prevails.Personally I believe in a kind of dualism which equates the good to the evil.I have seen lots of good going on in the world.There are lot more NGO's working for the deprived.Most of the countries have governments run by people.We have the freedom of speech and right to information.These things were something which our ansestors could never dream of.When it comes to evils of the society they can only be wiped out when we take responsibility.Villagers are treated like handicapped people.(without a brain)Everything gets blamed on the government which is run by people like us.We vote and then we blame.We live in space age where our appetites for fast results have seeped in.We don't want five years plan of improvement but we want five minute results.

So coming to the title "Why is the world not falling apart"
because there are people and good stuff happening which helps our lives.We don't know the ways in which gifts are handed to us .Our lives don't tumble down because there are lot of people (invisible)working to make it better.They are not famous because they are not in the movie business.When we search for goodness we end up finding it everywhere.

Law of Nature

If I have a pet fish and I have named it Joe.Now everyday I feed Joe and admire the fish for its greatness.I place the fish in a fancy bowl and show it to everybody.But one day the bowl breaks and to save the fish I had to place it in a tank with other large fish.I go to the market to fetch a new bowl for Joe.By the time I come back Joe is not there in the tank.He was eaten by the large fish.I feel very sad for Joe and think life is unfair.


This story explains our own lives and the attachments we develop.If something goes wrong we curse Mother Nature.But actually she was just doing her duty.

Paraphrased and taken from the book "I am that"

The best poem ...

This is one of the poems received from a forward mail.This mail made my day:)

TO MY CHILD

Just for this morning, I am going to
smile when I see your face and laugh
when I feel like crying.
Just for this morning, I will let you
choose what you want to wear,
and smile and say how perfect it is.
Just for this morning, I am going to step
over the laundry and pick you up and take you to
the park to play.
Just for this morning, I will leave the
dishes in the sink, and let you teach me how to put
that puzzle of yours together.
Just for this afternoon, I will unplug
the telephone and keep the computer off, and sit with
you in the backyard and blow bubbles.
Just for this afternoon, I will not yell
once, not even a tiny grumble when you scream and
whine for the ice cream truck, and I will buy you one
if he comes by.
Just for this afternoon, I won't worry
about what you are going to be when you grow up, or
second guess every decision I have made where you are concerned.
Just for this afternoon, I will let you
help me bake cookies, and I won't stand over you trying to fix them.
Just for this afternoon, I will take us
to McDonald's and buy us both a Happy Meal so you can have both toys.
Just for this evening, I will hold you in
my arms and tell you a story about how you were
born and how much I love you.
Just for this evening, I will let you
splash in the tub and not get angry.
Just for this evening, I will let you
stay up late while we sit on the porch and count all the stars.
Just for this evening, I will snuggle beside you for hours, and miss my favourite TV shows.
Just for this evening when I run my
finger through your hair as you pray, I will simply be
grateful that God has given me the greatest gift ever given.
I will think about the mothers and fathers who are searching for their missing children, the mothers and fathers who are visiting their children's graves instead of their bedrooms.
The mothers and fathers who are in hospital rooms watching their children suffer senselessly and screaming inside that little body.
And when I kiss you goodnight I will hold you a little tighter, a little longer. It is then,that I will thank God for you, and ask him for nothing,
except one more day.............

Truth about justice - part 2

I was asked by one of the commentators (the prophet of frivolity)whether "justice waits".The story which is in the previous post was told by one of my friends and accordingly explained that what we judge is done through our senses and mind.We perceive things through our own narrow boundaries and wish everything to dance through our tunes.What we need with justice is mercy.Mercy is more important than judgement.

In the movie Schindlers List,
There was a conversation between the German general and Oskar Schindler.In which Schindler tells the general that the power to rule and punish is not the highest power but the power to forgive is the greater power.

How to treat others

Generally as a rule I feel debates don't lead to anything.Change comes through from our inner self.The self teaches us a lot more than what any person or book can teach.But accidentally when I do land up in a debate which is a total antithesis of my very belief there is a time when I try so hard to keep my defense.
As a general rule all our spiritual practices are told to be kept a secret.What we do only we understand and as long as we fulfill our moral commitments to humanity we are left to explore the hidden crevices of our heart and soul.

The following is taken from www.adyashanti.org
I thought it was relevant to the post.

Spiritual people often want unconditional support and understanding from their friends, family, and mates, but all too often seem blind to their own shortcomings when it comes to the amount of unconditional support and understanding that they give to others. I have seen many spiritual people become obsessed with how unspiritual others are and assume an arrogant and superior attitude while completely missing the fact that they themselves are not nearly as spiritually enlightened as they would like to think that they are.

As long as you perceive that anyone is holding you back you have not taken full responsibility for your own liberation. Liberation means that you stand free of making demands on others and life to make you happy.

The biggest challenge for most spiritual seekers is to surrender their self importance, and see the emptiness of their own personal story. It is your personal story that you need to awaken from in order to be free.

To give up being either ignorant or enlightened is the mark of liberation and allows you to treat others as your Self. What I am describing is the birth of true Love.

Truth about justice

A saint was seated deep in meditation.He has been deeply immersed in his penance when God appeared before him.God told him that she was happy with his determination towards the truth and she can help him solve life's mysteries.The saint wanted to know whether justice was served in the world.The next moment the stone on which the saint was sitting was on his head.He was on the ground.

Compromise

Most of the ills of the society are formed by the bounds of compromise.I think we all deserve the best and there should be no compromise.Most of us end up picking up careers which don't satisfy us fully,life partners who are miserable and friends who just torture us with their horrible remarks.Most of the revolutions in the world were started because people did not want to compromise to the authoritarian rule of the world.Most of us are caught up with the insecurity that if we are not happy with what we get then, may be the next time around it will be more miserable.

But we need to throw away things which destruct us.Habits which drive us crazy has to be given up to make space for new habits.Friends who waste our time with their sarcasm have to given up so that, new people who can respect us may enter.The same goes with our careers and all the other people we are going to be associated with.When we start having respect for what we truly deserve then we start changing things within us and outside us.We start taking responsibility and work towards a better world.We don't blame the government but take initiatives to make our country better.We fight corruption and poverty because we feel that we deserve a country which has equal rights and equal opportunities.

Spirutuality and dependence

If I want to give up everything and leave
Will I still have regrets???

This question was one of the questions circling my mind even when I was a teenager,when I felt an immense attraction towards saintly(monk)existence.I am alone but still I have so many identities.I belong to a nation,to a family,born into a religion,belong to my beliefs,and I belong to this planet.Where ever I run I wont cease belonging.It is conditioned from when I am born to stick to various identities.When we develop a strong identity and develop a belief system towards we give rise to conflict.It is near to impossible not to feel bad when our own belief system is questioned.The unheard truths prick more than lies.Even if I live in a forest I may start forming a identity based on my existence and then feel bad when loggers destroy every inch of my forest.
Meditation sometimes help us look at our identities in a deep way and come close to the truths about our own beliefs.

Human and God.

Human proposes and God disposes.


One of the quotations used by my mother when ever things go wrong(or things don't happen as we planned).She used to use "man" ..I am trying to be politically correct and I am using "human".

The best things which ever happen to us is that it does not happen as we plan.I hate when people ask me what are my plans for the day.I feel spontaneous-ness of our life is lost when we plan everything.But then wont life be a chaos if we miss trying to get everything done in the world in 24 hours.Even fun things get planned and get executed as if the world will get doomed if we dont have fun in the exact time.We all need a purpose to live.The purpose is defined by our principles and our beliefs.

A resolution itself gives rise to the agony of breaking the resolution(Osho)

We need adequate planning when we are getting ourselves organized with others.We also need some outlines when we need to reach a destination.

I am not against planning.I am against life which is planned

post 15

Death is like a mirror in which the true meaning of life is reflected.

The biggest problem for humanity, not only on a global level, but even for individuals, is misunderstanding.

Sogyal Rinpoche

post 15

The ink of the scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr.

The strong man is not the good wrestler; the strong man is only the one who controls himself when he is angry.

Do not consider any act of kindness insignificant, even meeting your brother with a cheerful face.

A man's true wealth here after is the good he does in this world to his fellow man.

Muhammad

post 14

One hour's meditation on the work of the Creator is better than seventy years of prayer.
Muhammad

post 13

The most exquisite paradox… as soon as you give it all up, you can have it all. As long as you want power, you can't have it. The minute you don't want power, you'll have more than you ever dreamed possible.
Ram Dass

Post 12

Sometimes it can seem that every corner of our media-drenched society is sending an unmistakable message to our children and us: shed your dignity, exploit yourself and others, and you'll be on the path to glory.
Shmuley BoTeach

post 11

Love is as strong as death, as hard as hell...

Mesiter eckhart

Post no 10

To seek God by rituals is to get the ritual and lose God in the process, for he hides behind it.
Meister Eckhart

Post no 9

The spiritual life does not remove us from the world but leads us deeper into it.
Henri J. M. Nouwen

Post 8

The three creations.

According to many philosophers God was a human creation so as to rule over the world.
Religion was also made to continue the order established by the God.Throw in a hell and torture,peace ,love and heaven and we have created all the world religions.Lets add to this mixture some objections to women and now its perfect.As men rule woman get tortured.
The third worst creation which humans created is time.Once it is created its like a sin we can never repent over.We have opened the channels of anxiety,punctuality and worry.Past and future torture us for ever.

Post 7

When I was young I thought I could attain any thing
Everything was there and impossible it never seemed
I was like a king without an empire
Now that I am old
I am chained to my very illusion
That everything is out of my reach
And my empire has no king

Post 6

My loneliness is the only thing I own.
It costs me nothing
But takes away everything

Post 5

Body has always been something which we should be disgusted of.Most of the religions propagate this idea.There are also strict laws which say that a woman is a unholy body which should be kept away.Our body is the temple of the soul.Our identification based on various things assocaited with how better we are (or worser we are ) can give rise to a problem.The body itself is a wonderful machine and if taken care of can only make our lives better.

Post 4

The very fact that our own morals values makes us superior may be the cause for all the discrimination.

3 rd post

One of the most important things to do when you are trying to solve poverty is - not become a part of it.
Become the solution not the problem itself.

2nd post

In India people believe in the theory of Karma.We deserve what we truly get.On one side there is a rosy picture which gives a image of doing good deeds and enjoying the good fruits in the future.Doing bad deeds and suffer for eternity.This is not very different to the western philosophy of heaven and hell.Torture and worship somehow went hand in hand.

1post ..

What is the use of charity?
If everyone took responsiblity for their own actions then will charity exist...

Money is used as a big motivation for everything.Every thing around the world seems to revolve around that.Even charity seems to revolve around that.Money is a shortform for the service and the goods we offer the society..There are no free lunches..Why should I give away what I earned ???

The mind-soul connection

May be during some calamity or under some joyous occasion we feel so connected with our inner self.We feel one with pain/happiness that we live in the moment.But in everyday life this is very difficult to achieve until we put some effort in that direction.One of the easiest ways to achieve it is through silence.To make ourselves still is very difficult.Speaking from my personal experience as a music addict, I felt it very difficult to survive without music.
But after few days of silence,your mind accepts it ...No complaints !!!

One of the reasons for me to ban music for some time was each song with words and meanings gives rise to a emotion deep within me.This emotion got through music changes the emotions which we have without the stimulation.The same goes for movies and people who can destroy your inner stillness.I don't say that we start differentiating and go and live in an island.But when we cultivate silence for some time external factors wont affect you.You become immune.But as long as you are cultivating it sometimes it is of great help to reduce the noise in our lives.

Blogging for Charity...

This is the second year I am going to blog for charity.I have to blog a whole day ...48 posts ..one post every half an hour..The menu is going to be spirutual and philosophical posts ..
[which can induce sleep to anyone who is not interested :)]

Donations can be done through this link...
http://www.blogathon.org/list.php

From the list ..select the "hturt" blog and pledge the money which has to be donated.If I successfully blog for 24 hours on July 28 then the money should be paid directly to the charity "Freedom From Hunger" for which I am blogging.
All currencies and cash are accepted.

I hope I can make a difference...

Our own intentions

Where does kindness come from?

From our hearts or from our egoic self centeredness.Many people get into all kind of charity acts or kindness acts so that they can feel good about themselves.When we work from the egoic self our act of kindness is a selfish act which gives it an air of superiority.I have seen people do that ...at the end they become more proud instead of kind.

Lets be more cautious when we work with people who are suffering more than us.Help should come out because we are equal and there is a common divinity which flows through all of us.

Kindness gets transformed into humility through which life gives us more chances to serve and help.

The path of illusion

Once when Buddha was resting and one of his followers came to him with a clay bowl.They told him that there was a saint who could levitate the bowl.They have seen with their own eyes that the saint could keep the bowl flying in the air.Buddha took the bowl and crashed it to the ground and told them never to believe in illusion.

Follow the truth and not the illusion.

Influences

Caution
This is my personal view on movies/life.My view has been fromed by the countless number of people I have come across in Hyderabad for the 22 years of my life.The people described here are the common people you come across in Hyderabad.This post is not for the so called intellectuals who can form their own attitudes and behaviour.This post is to show the average-ness and simplistic thinking which grips the Indian society.
This is not to offend anyone ...but it is portray the society values in general.

Most of the newspapers in the world survive on page 3 and media gossip.So there is a huge chunk of people who want to know.They don't want to know the latest scientific discoveries,the good/bad things in the world...they just want to know what the actor/actress have been doing.I feel it is a kind of escapism.We want to escape our lives and live in the virtual world of stars because we think they have what we don't have.I am particularly amazed at how people form their basic belief systems from movies.There are few movies which are really admirable.Other than that most of the media portray mediocre/Average-ness

The role of women in cinema (Indian movies)is so miserable.Many(girls)form their ambitions/life goals from watching crap movies.Their personality traits ..such as voice,behaviour,attitude is defined by some movie.As I have lived in Hyderabad all my life I have seen how telugu movies effect the girls.Most of them have childish voices and they try to behave like baby-adults.I had to coin up a word because there is no word in dictionary other than mentally retarded.I don't want to insult mentally retarded people because they make more sense.(personal decision)Most of the guys use temple as a factor for impressing a girl.They may commit any number of sins...but once they go to temple (or take the girl there) all the sins are washed away.(another sequence stolen from popular telugu movies)The boy talks to the girl not in a mature way but in his talk he uses adjectives which we may use for a 3 year old baby.Innocence,childishness,fairness,and good dressing sense are the only compliments you may ever receive if you are a girl in Hyderabad.

You will rarely find girl's who actively participate in other creative pursuits.As a music addict in my 4 year's of engineering career ...lets make it 5 years(with my masters career too).I have yet to find one girl who is interested in pursuit of music through creative urge.The same thing holds good even in the fields of literature,art,history and other (unknown fields)like astronomy and astrophysics,anthropology,hiking,water rafting and so on...

I was termed as crazy by most of the people for the pursuit of my creative interest's.But after lot of talks with my Friends/classmates/city folks they told me that they never thought extra curricular activities were important(decision reached through movies).It shocks me and my heart is heavy with sadness because most of them live a virtual life guided only with movies.

The most sad incident which I can remember is this:

When one boy sexually assaulted a girl...the girl thought that ... the only necessary action she should take against such things is to scold him and make him feel guilty.He was never held accountable for his act.The boy cried ...
Many months later it was known that this guy has done to the same thing to many other girls.
So after questioning the girl for the absurd reaction to the incident she told that " Most of the movies portray that the actress should scold the villain".

Paradox

jab mein tha to hari nahi
ab hari hain to mein nahi
sab andhiyaraa mit gayaa
jab deepak dekhya mahi

- Kabir

When you exist ..God does not exist
When God exist's ..You dont exist at all...
When there is light
The darkness disappears

Even though Kabir would have never read a book on quantum physics.He arrived at the most important theory of quantum mechanics long back.

Heinsenberg theory states that velocity and position of an electron cannot be found out at the same time.

Humble-ness

Humility is defined as the absence of false pride.Personally I find it so difficult to practice it.

I am proud (false pride)of everything ...
from my uniqueness ,country,family,talents,education and the list goes on.On one side there is a struggle to become humble.This does not even come close to humility because it is a struggle and not the real deal.Forcing yourself is no more than putting a gun to your head and acting in that desperate moment.There is also a sense of how did this happen.How did I develop into a humble-less being.All my life I have been rewarded to compete,prove my superiority and be unique individual.But at fleeting moments I do realize the foolishness of my attitude.

One of the main ways in which we can actually proceed on the ways of humility is by being an instrument of service.We are just instruments through which the divine music plays.We are not the musicians.This thought process when it gets processed and etched in our very being then all our pride reduces to dust.All beings are instruments and we all have greatness in us.

I remember a story which actually portrays greatness through humility...

There was once a man who through his goodness earned a wish from an angel.But the man was scared that if he asks a huge wish then he may become arrogant and it would divert his way from the divine path.So he told the angel about his confusion.In return the angel granted him a wish...

The man's shadow can cure the ill's and diseases of the worldly people.But the man will never know about it.

To say the truth always

In Buddhism right speech was considered as one of the paths of attaining nirvana.I have always suffered in the hands of lies.I lie when it comes to assertiveness.I cannot say "no" to people when they approach me for help.If it is within the boundaries of my principles and beliefs then I help them at an expense of my time.If I have other plans then I lie to get out of the situation.I shrink away from "no".But I have realised that telling the truth frees you from acting/wearing a mask.Once we accept that we are not perfect then slowly we start telling the truth.The consequences of telling the truth is not always rosy and nice.I have at times got into more trouble telling the truth.If the other person is not honest enough and does not respect the truth it is not our problem..it is their problem.But telling the truth does not mean passing cruel judgements against people.Truth should be relative to our life and existence.I personally try to avoid discussing "truth's" about others.

Pleasure and its limits

Life is pleasure !!!

That's what most of the advertisements in the television and newspapers tell you.Few of the ways in which a customer is enticed is ridiculous.The fact is that they want a individual to buy new pair of shoes when the individual has already 5-6 pairs rotting around in the house.Satisfaction and pleasure are two different concepts.The opposite of pleasure is pain.Even after purchasing the pair of shoes after the initial euphoria has died down the individual reaches the same emptiness stage.Then may be the chances are that he/she may run behind someone else for love/friendship,will get scared of silence,go shop for other items or indulge in mindless hobbies which keeps the reality far away.The age we live in can be described as the age of marketing ...through which things can be bought to temporary fill in the void which exists.

This does not mean that we leave this world and start existing in a forest.Even then this attachment may take another level.We may depend too much on sticks and leaves and may be turn the forest into a desert.Satisfaction lies in the fact that we use what we need.We survive with minimum attachments and dependency.A miser is not a satisfied individual.A miser has the same attachment as a shopaholic.When our outer needs decrease and become more simplistic and profound we are surely progressing on the inner journey.

The existence of grace

Grace in western terms and consciousness in eastern terms is the guiding force of our life.It is said in most of the religious books that a human beings life is said to be a waste if it is not utilised to achieve the highest level i.e God -hood/Brahman/Atman/samadhi and to glimpse the ever present infinity within us.Why people run back of money and fame rather than finding their true selves.This state of grace can never be achieved by running back of it or by training for it.It is a gift.When we receive it we become humbled.

This is one of the biggest contradictions of life.The ultimate aim of human is to become God .All of us have equal opportunity to become God.The sinner and the saint have equal opportunity.

There was once a conversation between U.G.Krishnamurthy and Ramana Maharishi...

UG went to Ramana Maharishi and asked him

Whether he can give what he has?

In reply Maharishi replied..

Can you take it?

This is the problem with the whole world ...I guess.We are not ready to take it.Grace gives us a lot of things and when we receive it we are so overpowered by humbleness because our ego has no share in it.There is no victory.But a total surrender and total defeat which ultimately leads to realization.

The existence of hate

There is a very thin line between dislike and hate.I was having a small debate with one of my friend's and I suddenly discovered that what I thought was dislike towards a particular kind of person/culture was actually hate.Owing to my honesty and straight forwardness I continued with the argument supporting my dislike.I could have switched sides or may be left the conversation half way,but did not do it.Our ego's act in a strange way.When we start arguing we always want to win.I always felt that I was right.But the fact is that the other person also considered themselves as right.Logic gets mixed up with personal agenda.Our experiences combine with our statistics to form a good counter response.A mind fighting against the mind.But mind's beliefs are not permanent.Belief structures are so fragile.Until the illusions are existant and the truth is not viewed our minds control our being.Our win is also a loss because we have acted from the base of an egoic response.The truth which is actually a private endeavour can be realized by the individual themselves.Most of the discussions which are done to prove something right has something wrong built into it ...

It is duality.It exists everywhere.

May be next time we gear up to give a sound opinion lets try to find something good in the other person so that the ego does not obstruct our heart from loving.
The easiest way to win anything is to use love...not hate...

Birthday Wishes...

Every year I receive lot of wishes for my birthday. It is always the same conveying happiness and success. But this year when one of the professors came to know that it was my birthday he told me that I should be happy that I had lived one more year. I was so happy and humbled by his talk. Most of the time we take life for granted and plan of doing everything in the future. The present is the all powerful and is one of the channels for our awakening. Death is a constant reminder of the illusion we live in. Birthdays are constant reminder that the illusion is continuing.

Humans and Spirutuality

WE ARE NOT HUMAN BEINGS GOING THROUGH A
TEMPORARY SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE.

WE ARE SPIRITUAL BEINGS GOING THROUGH A TEMPORARY HUMAN EXPERIENCE.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.

Unity in Diversity

Our awakening lies in the truth of oneness.The path to realization is the most difficult path which we as humans can ever take.It is not required that we isolate ourselves from the world or meditate day and night.We can do all spiritual practices perfectly and never attain enlightment.There are few basic questions which awaken us.The questions are based on self introspection of our basic identity.As the identifications reduce we start seeing a new self which does not depend on beliefs or thoughts.The mind can ramble but the truth will set us free.We all are already enlightened.We all are pure.Then
Why the journey?
Why the awakening?
Why the dream?
Why the illusions?
May be there is no answer because when we know it there is no need for answers.

Good references on this subject are www.adyashanti.org

The Pursuit of Adventure

We all want to do adventurous things which shoots up the adrenaline in our bodies. I also thirst for adventure and the love of nature makes it more interesting. But I sometimes wonder why is that we have to go to a far off jungle to experience this amazement. One reason is that cities are populated and natural resources are being depleted. The most obvious reason stated by Eckhart Tolle is fear of death. I fully agree with the fear of death theory. Most of the roller coasters also simulate this experience. But this experience also puts us into the present moment. Most of the time when you are on a roller coaster or doing a free fall from 100 feet your mind stops. There is complete attention to the present moment. Most of the time the past and the future dissolves. This moment which is a highly profound spiritual experience can help us look at life in a better way. But continued exposure to the same environment dulls the experience and we are again left with boredom. It is not necessary that we have to take risks in our life or climb the highest mountain to experience the power of the present moment. Once we reduce the number of identifications we use in our life and once we accept the past most of our every day moments will surely become adventurous and pleasurable.

Fear

The preconceived thought process stops us from attaining what we truly deserve to get.This thought process is called as FEAR.We suffer and we torture ourselves with hundreds of possible outcomes for a single obstacle we come across.Even a super computer cannot claculate the abrupt posssiblities we think of.But the mind is nothing but a logical device and the thought is nothing but the output we obtain.The concept of fearlessness in certain situations is quite possible.Fear can be destroyed by using few simple techniques.First we have to understand the limitness of our physical existence.In our own finiteness the fear looks even more small and ignorable.But our deep seated insecurities of life like trust,security,loyality and love can only be erased when we unconditionally give this to everyone.

Enviornment and its conditions

Are we subjected to conditioning everyday. Many will agree that the reason we behave and act in a certain way is because of conditions based on “n” number of environmental factors. Starting from the country we are born into, the parents we are born to, our educational pursuits, our freinds,our enemies,our careers,the money we have, and the list can go on forver.We never trust other people because someone cheated us.We dont share our happiness because in the past we got only pain.We hurt ourselves because we feel we don’t deserve good things in life.We sacrifice for foolish reasons.

I truly beleive that saints are not born in luxury.There is this false assumption in us that we cannot escape our own conditions.But if we study the past and trace all the greatness which was born out of suffering we will be amazed.Life has a meaning even though we suffer.The tragedies don't stop us from realizing who we are.We in our minds and hearts make up obsatcles which stop us.Victor Frankyl,Nelson Mandela,Mother teresa and many more people can be taken as examples in this regard.

If God can be found in the houses of the poorest of the poor .
If prisons and concentration camps can give you hope to live till you are 100 .
I don't know why psychologists and philosophers waste their time making theories about conditioning and impulses.

Is silence the best answer

Most of the difficult questions dont have a answer.

Why does this happen and why does'nt that happen?
Why is the world this way and not better?
Why are people so selfish?
Why do I always think about myself?
Does my life have a meaning?

So many questions and one beautiful answer silence.

Its so scary to be silent because may be you realize that answers don't matter.

Hope and Prayer

Two of the guys in my university drowned in the pool near my apartments.They were totally drunk.They were college going kids(hardly 23 yrs old).They were international students doing their masters in engineering and management.

I was shocked to hear the news.One of them is my classmate.Drinking in many of the universities is considered to be a very casual thing.No one is serious about the consquences.Sometimes small mistakes have huge consquences.I pray for their families in India and may god give them the courage and hope to withstand the pain.

Be careful when you drink.

Sometimes a drink here and a drink there can cost a life.

Lets their souls rest in peace!!!

Also posted on
http://www.helpothers.org/my/story.php?op=view&sid=1245

Aloneness is the first lesson of Love

I found this article..Felt it resonates with what I feel as one of the biggest problems of our time..


Without the other we don't know who we are, we lose our identity. The other becomes a mirror and we can see our faces in it. Without the other we are suddenly thrown to ourselves.We are greatly inconvenienced because we don't know who we are when we are alone. With the other, things are clear, defined. We know the name, we know the form, we know the person — Hindu, Christian, Indian, American — there are some ways to define the other How to define yourself?

Deep down there is an abyss... undefinable emptiness. You start merging into that. It creates fear. You become frightened. You want to rush towards the other. The other helps you to remain out. When there is nobody you are simply left with your emptiness.Nobody wants to be alone. The greatest fear in the world is to be left alone. People do a thousand and one things just not to be left alone.You imitate your neighbours so you are just like them.

You lose your individuality, you lose your uniqueness, you just become imitators, because otherwise, you will be left alone. You become part of a crowd, a church, an organisation. Somehow you want to merge with a crowd where you can feel at ease, so that you are not alone.To be alone is really the greatest miracle. That means now you don't belong to any church or organisation, you don't belong to any theology or ideology — socialist, communist, fascist, Hindu, Christian, Jain, Buddhist — you don't belong, you simply are.

And you have learnt how to love your indefinable, ineffable reality. You have come to know how to be with yourself.

Loneliness is absence of the other

Loneliness is absence of the other. Aloneness is the presence of oneself. Aloneness is very positive. It is an overflowing presence.You are so full of presence that you can fill the whole universe with your presence and there is no need for anybody.If the whole world disappears this zen master will not miss anything; he will be as happy as ever. He will love that tremendous emptiness, this pure infinity.He will not miss anything because he has arrived home. He knows that he himself is enough unto himself.

This does not mean that a man who has become enlightened and has come home does not live with others. In fact, only he is capable of being with others.Because he is capable of being with himself he becomes capable of being with others. If you are not capable of being with yourself, how can you be capable of being with others?A man who loves his aloneness is capable of love, and a man who feels loneliness is incapable of love. A man who is happy with himself is full of love, flowing.

He does not need anybody's love, hence he can give. When you are in need how can you give? You are a beggar. And when you can give, much love comes towards you.It is a natural response. The first lesson of love is to learn how to be alone. Try it, to have the feel. Just sit alone sometimes. That's what meditation is all about — just sitting alone, doing nothing.

If you start feeling lonely then there is something missing in your being, then you have not been able yet to understand who you are.Then go deeper into this loneliness until you come to a layer when suddenly loneliness transforms itself into aloneness. Loneliness is the negative aspect of aloneness.If you go deeper into it one moment is bound to come when suddenly you will start feeling the positive aspect of it. Because both aspects are always together.

Excerpted from The Discipline of Transcendence, courtesy Osho International Foundation. www.osho.com

Obstacles in Action

What happens when we become more aware of our actions.When we realize the result of our actions and try to see that we don't go against our own convictions.We begin a new battle.The battle is with our inner obstacles.The whole world gets turned inward and we realize everything we saw outside also exists in us.
I don't believe that anything can be done with hatred.To hate and to rebel it may never lead anyone towards liberation.Only acceptance may do that.Detachment may get us closer to the required result.

It took me a thousand steps to reach the cliff
I saw the peak and was scared
My own ignorance made me slip a million steps
But I did not give up
I was patient
Then one day I was there...
I was standing on the highest point ..
Then my eyes went above me
I saw a series of cliffs higher than mine
I started climbing ....

Obstacles in Realization

As always the obstacle to realization is desire.We all have desires and it may be sometimes very difficult to renounce them.The test for desire lies in permanence.Many times we desire things/goals which are impermanent. Our being can't understand the reason for this attraction,but we are attached to it.The easiest way to realize our true selves is acceptance.The acceptance of desire.This in turn reduces the amount of fuel put into the attachment and we can continue to desire things which are impermanent by nature.

Karma/service

I take a drop of water
I let it flow into the ocean
I walk towards the light
The traveller fills his sack with water
As hours passs by ,I reach for the shade
I ask the traveller for water
The drops of water runs down my throat...

Life is a paradox...

When I need it I dont get it
When I am happy without it
I get showered with it..
When I love it I dont get it
When I am bored by it it sits by my feet
When I struggle everyday to live
I dont see how precious it is
When I about to die I struggle to hold it
When I need acceptance from everyone
I never get it
When I dont give a damn what others think
They realize that I make sense
When I need someone
I am lonely
When I am happy alone
Everyone wants to be with me!!!

Play of power

Are all beings equal...
I dont know..
I keep wondering whether it is possible to exist as equals .
No hierarchy,no supremacy,no submission..
But the world I think exists only in fantasies , it is never possible .Each one of us has a ego centric self which wants importance.Its impossible to find a person without an ego .If a person can reach a state of pure consciousness and continously revel in it then everyday life would be a torture.The pain of existing in this superficial world would be next to impossible.I have myself observed in countless occasions my own drive for domination in any argument.
We continoulsy change from one moment to another..
Our emotions change,the self changes...
But when we reach a state where we can accept our own imperfections and faults we reach a higher state of realization.The love we have for ourselves and acceptance will surely get reflected towards others.The relationship we have with others will attain a value of kindness and understanding rather than the "play of power".But arguments are never wrong and I feel everyone should learn and love to disagree but respect and tolerance sholuld always be the basis for our being.
The concept of ego is so difficult to understand and it constantly varies between fact and fiction.But I dont think when we enter into the realm of spiritulaity we look for absolutes.We just look for questions and search for a valid reason.

Ego is like darkness.It is a fantasy.But if you ask yourself whether it exists then it is very good question because it shows your awareness.Ego is like darkness.You cannot remove darkness from a room.Instead of that bring a lamp it will bring light and remove darkeness.A lamp of realization will let you surrender.

Swami Nithyananda

Aimless

You walk during the day
You are lost in the night
You wonder why there exists a strange emptiness
You run because you get late
You dont know, when you are going to reach
You still continue
The journey is beautiful
The destination will surely come...

Wealth

There are three major kinds of wealth which humans generally pursue.
1.Material
2.Physical
3.Spirutual

Material wealth is highly regarded by many people.It gives identity to people and also makes them feel very good.It boosts the confidence and shoots you up on the popularity scale.You can have anything you want.Even a partner for life is selected based on this factor.If you are stink-ingly rich you wont have any problems finding million people running back of you to marry you.We spend mostly ..lets consider minimum 21 years of education so that we can have material riches for the rest of our life.They are exceptions who work ,because their job is their passion.But we are drawing a general tangent of how mostly the society thinks and behaves.Considering the various advantages there is no wonder that most of the people slog like slaves sometimes doing the work they hate so that they become rich and ignore their health.
But this wealth has the biggest disadvantage :It is temporary.Once we attain the goals set on the basis of materialism we become accustomed to the luxury.Then it is no longer a asset it becomes our basic lifestyle.Our lives become shallow..

Physical wealth is given lot of importance in this world.Our lives somehow are defined by our physical appearance.Looking through all the matrimonial advertisements in the leading Indian newspapers gives us a general idea of how much our society is run on "Fairness" and "Slimness".To add more misery,there are "Fair and Handsome"advertisements which run through our televisions.I hope atleast one human right activist watches these advertisements and start a movement which can wipe out the bias in humans which springs up due to the colour of the skin.Most of the activists are worried about skimpy clothes in movies.I dont know why they dont want to fight for the common soul on roads who get stares and comments because they are dark.I always hoped to see dark actress in movies ..but I dont think whether in my life time I can see that happen.But physical fitness is important for our life.I do believe that if we dont take care of our body,our body does not take care of us.
The mind body connection is very important.But a good body with a impure mind is of no use.

Spirutual wealth is the highest form of wealth a human can achieve.This wealth is only acquired when we give away things.We should learn to give love,kindness,compassion and forgiveness so that these qualities become our very nature.The obsctacles to our achievement of this wealth is our illusions.Our reality when it gets defined by external factors we fail to achieve this wealth.Most of the people dont think this wealth is important.Because firstly it includes suffering because we need our unhealthy old habits to die and cultivate new positive habits.
Death always causes misery because we are uncomfortable with our new self.Lets again consider the matrimonail advertisements again..They are no mention of values like honesty,integrity and kindness.Hardwork and sincerity are also left out.Our job resumes will atleast contain more data about our personality.But when it comes to choosing someone to spend our life we use money,caste and status.This is a sad reality which exists.One of my friends once saw me reading the Bhagavad Gita and she told me how her parents and her family elders have warned her and told her that this holy book should never be read.To add to the contradiction her family is very religious and they visit lot of temples.The spirtual path is the most painful journey of our life but without walking along this path we fail to do justice to life.

If

One of the best poems I have ever read..

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master,
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

Everything is as it should be

The hands of time have never stopped moving forward
The planets have never stopped revolving
The buds still blossom even though you dont notice
The great trees which stood centuries still fall
Noise made by the great fall is never heard
The bells still toll when you make a mistake
A thousand things done right wont vanish the guilt
The silent world events happen when you dont notice
A shadow is creeping behind you as you read this
There is always a observer
You may sometimes deny that
But life works in that way
Everything is as it should be
The rivers will never wash away the dirt
The marks are always left behind
When you dont hear or notice the shadow creeps inside
The pain and screams never stop
The silence which you have may last for a minute
The illusions which you have built will collapse
In your pride you may dissolve
Nothing can change ..
and last forever

The Art of Happiness.

This post is actually about a book called "The Art of Happiness".This book is actually a conversation between the Dalai Lama and the psychologist Howard .C.Cutler.
I was a bit hesitant at first to start of with the book, because deep down inside I did not want my difficulties to be wiped away by some rituals.Faith for me is a very difficult thing to understand.I can have faith on people,myself and everything which exists.But to have faith on mythological beings is difficult …sometimes impossible.Sometimes I am also envious of people who have this deep hidden faith which tells them that "going to this place/religious "all problems will be cured.I do believe in evolving as a human and realizing the true self through contemplative practices.
But the book turned out to be a eye opener.The book gives you hope, not that it promises you some quick fix techniques which can solve most of the terrifying problems but it gives you principles of compassion.
Kindness and Compassion are the two concepts which gives us inner strength.I have heard many people say that in this competitive world there is no place for compassion. People would take revenge and satisfy their ego rather than try to break the cycle of hatred.

Midnight Blues

This world runs on preconceived assumptions which have no logic or reason.Most of the famous painters and poets in the world were potrayed as mad people.Most of the people who made great changes happen in our world were shot dead.The revolutionaries were always hanged or burned alive. The credit were never flooded on their feet.They could never see the dawn after the misery.
All they wanted was to belong to this world ...
All they needed was a little recognition...
Its not that I want the world to change
Not that the minds of the society is run by intelligence
The world has always been a fools paradise
Freedom has been compromised everytime
Its one question which bothers me always
Am I the sane in the insane world
The crazy among the average
The world has always been a mystery
Dreams have always been my place!!!

Alone-ness

There is this strange alone-ness which each of us possess .Our deepest self knows that.We suffer so much trying to connect to others .But the world does not understand..The world does not perceive..


The silence in the continuous melody
The moment of failure
The ectasy of joy
The instrument can never play the music
It watches as the sound flows...
This moment defines your life your the observer ...
You make illusions ...
You create ..
You forget..
You weep at fate
But you are the one who made this eternal world..
The voice never dies..
You are here and will always exist...

Oh lordy, trouble so hard
Oh lordy, trouble so hard
Don't nobody know my troubles but God
Don't nobody know my troubles but God
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivtKcM1DGeY

Part 2 :The Others

This post is mostly concerned about others..literally..I have been cheated so many times .....I had to think why this was happening to me again and again...My friends for whom I wasted my time,energy and above all my trust and love have given me only grief ,sadness and suffering.Few of them have even cheated of the little money I had earned staying on my own.

For example:

The laptop I had bought ,was sold to me by one of my friends.(for 800$) Few months later I found out that even that was stolen from a shop.There were many other instances which happened which kept my mind busy and no day went without someone or other troubling the hell out of me.The most difficult part for me to understand that I never cheated them..I was always careful that I don't do something which may hurt anyone or do something which will kill my conscience and I lose sleep in the nights.Last one year was a major year for me because I realised that it was my own fault that I could never make good decisions.I could never analyse a person(only analyse not judge).Everyone I used to meet I used to colour them according to what I feel the person should be.If they were educated or knowledgeable I used to feel that they had impeccable character and high values.I was so caught up in my own imaginations about the goodness of everyone that when ever I used to see a tiny fault I used to just sweep it away.I never thought about it .Never questioned it. The imagination of building up a person in my mind clouded their real self .The "other" in this case is the imagination of a being who doesn't exist.This projection of mind distorted the reality of existence.

Creating a vaccum

Is it difficult to live your life expecting nothing???

When ever we have a difficult time with work or in general our life we tend to analyse it.We interrogate ourselves until we have worn ourselves out.People will tell you to take some time off.We leave the place.Place a identity of a tourist on yourself,barge your self into new place, new roads,new destination.But it is the same you.Sometimes we feel that only we when we give up the relentless need for knowing definite answers we reach a conclusion.The feelings,the emotions still exist.You cannot forget the past .You feel if only you had a pill like in matrix to know whether we exist like nameless numbers without any sense of existence.Can we erase some parts of us.We leave old habits and then we form new habits.Does nothing exist?
But I have always found that when we feel out of control and you feel helpless and when you can only control your response that is the real test of life.You don't wait and plan for tomorrow.You live in a vaccum where even your body does not give you company.Your mind is tired,body is stressed with anxiety and pain then you can clearly feel a part of you still is residing which does exist.The despair or total happiness in any situation shows you a part which does not belong to your identity as a machine with a mind and body.These moments are valuable and when life pushes this on everyone we need to just wait and listen .

Noise

Is it possible to reduce the disturbance in our heads..
Does silence exist for ever...
Even the most enlightened beings would tell you that it is impossible to exist in bliss forever.Even if you leave all attachments and leave to Himalayas...
You will have noise...You struggles will come from within you..the external ones have disappeared....the internal struggle will start....
But how long do we continue this process of learning .
Is there a end??
Is death the end??
May be the answer lies in realization of the fact that disturbance is the natural state.Hunger,suffering,disease,doubts are common in this world..we can never escape them..We can always scale them down.Instead of suffering for mundane issues of life(like not having the latest brands of clothes) we suffer for humanity.We suffer when we see thousands die in useless wars ..we suffer when our neighbours die in hunger and in our minds we are happy...This suffering teaches us that we belong to bigger family.It allows us to take action, manifest our greatness and realize our own divinity.

Enlightement is the falling of the leaf
It happens for a second
You weep for the silence
Your heart drowns in joy
But it is gone
Just as it came
For a second lasts for an eternity
And infinity cannot be measured by a second...

Self and Society..

The conception of self and society

All my life I have been mesmerized by western music.I have lived in the traditional joint family for all my life.Only a year back I separated and started living on my own.The western music symbolized rebellion and individual expression. To me the self was sacred, the expression of it my birth right.
In a family which has(too many people)your self is a mixture of many souls. You get connected to this large unit where there are collective goals and collective laws. Let me draw a analogy and say something in terms to the country or state. As a single entity you are taught from a young age to think about your own ideas and goals. Our school system sees that we develop a plan for the future. We struggle to stand on our own feet in this process we topple many of the others down through the process of competition. Darwin would have winked and told you that this is the proof for "survival of the fittest" theory. Once we develop this selfishess..self -enlightment techniques we soak ourselves in our own greatness.This is a important transition phase for human beings.Because without developing a proper identity and definition for our own selves we suffer in constant confusion .The realm of higher consciousness kicks in when we realize the uncertainty associated with our lives.As humans our family becomes an integral part and we take it for granted.Our leap into the pool of enlightment comes in when we learn that we are a part of the whole.To become one we need to expand our family.Then the patriotism and jingoism/fundamentalism of religion and country sets in.Starting from the usual screams that we use to boo down opponent countries in sports to the hatred we show towards other religions and races it is a higher plane ...but not that tall that it teaches us compassion.The German holocaust is a clear example this kind of evolution.
To really understand the meaning of society we need to have humanitarian intellect which is lacked by many in the world. The reason for wars in most of the countries is a clear signal for this kind of deficiency. To me society encompasses all living beings. We need to develop compassion and respect to all the living creatures in this world. Humans are a speck in this humungous universe/multiverse.....The speck is noticeable but still it is only a speck..

Glimpses of Paradise

These are the pictures taken in Kolkatta,at the Parivaar Ashram.It was a beautiful morning,6AM ...The rays entering through the leaves...

A note from the past

I found one of own old journals lying in the corner of my room.I write a journal to vent my feelings out.I write because at that moment my mind flows out all the words in a flow that I immerse myself in my being..

20-6-2003

In the 20 years of life I have lived,I have filled up the pages of too many journals.The moment I turned 20 I started having serious thoughts about my life and I wanted to live my life the way I always dream't of.The pain and sorrow is worth it because of the insight it brought into the life.I will try to appreciate and be happy with what I have been provided with.My life has taught me to be tolerant towards others .Change is the only thing which teaches us everything.Sometimes I used to feel that life has nothing more to offer and that was the time when life gave me infinite possblities.It is when we limit our lives from doing things and trying to break boundaries which we shouldn't have in the first place , life turns into something else.The code for the diary is to write from the heart and have no preconcieved notions of life.Experiences written here should be honest so that they can help me in the future (if I ever turn back and read it).I wish this diary could be a journey into a life and lead to self discovery and to attain a more spirutual insight into my life.

Surface of dust...

This was one of the funny incidents which happened few months back in the astronomy lab .(where I teach)
The labs I have to teach are always in the night(8PM-11PM).So as I was setting up the telescope for the day's observations, the students were just overwhelmed by the feeling of handling the telescope.There were nervous gossips ,biographical instances which were passed along,a laugh ,a complaint ...chaos..simple chaos..
The beautiful solitude under the stars have turned into a discordant noise.I was losing my patience,the nerves on my forehead were throbbing with irritation and I was not able to concentrate on setting up the focus for observing the peaks on the moon.I saw a cracked surface and sighed a heavy sense of relief.The students started looking at the object with constant suprise and awe.There was this boy who kept a intriguing look and told me that what I have focussed on is not the moon.It may be a crack at the eye piece.I got angry at my fault and at the same time I laughed at my foolishness.


What is an eye piece?
An eyepiece brings all the light rays gathered by the telescope into sharp focus. The eyepiece determines the magnification of the image as well as its brightness and contrast
There are various sizes which are used..25mm,12.5mm,40mm,7mm..

It happens so many times in our life.. due to the confusion and suffering that life offers we see,everything through a sense of negative ideaology.We feel there is no hope in the world.The world wants us to be punished and we burden ourselves with guilt.Only if we could look through with the eyes of hope and self belief we see the beautiful dreams ,the various sparks of divinity we are blessed with.

The other

Caution:This article mostly deals with the Indian life.The thoughts are motivated solely on my experience of life

"The other"

I had found this metaphor in Paul Coelho's book.(By the river Piedra I sat and wept)

It gave rise to an interesting analysis of what people normally do to fulfill society needs.

Most of the time .Many of us take up stable professions (engineer/doctor)because we are told by someone or other that it can provide you a comfortable job to push on with life.Many couples have kids because they are fulfilling the scheme given by their parents .Many more get married because the society feels that you need a companion to take care of your needs.(mostly in old age or if you stricken with some terrifying disease)

If you are a girl it becomes mandatory that you get married ,as you are a helpless individual who cannot live by society standards.

But I shake in terror for those people who fulfill these roles and start acting in this play and realize half way that they can change their life.That they can have other professions and may have other goals that they want to strive for.
Life becomes a curse...for them.Sex(addiction),drugs and alcohol become their support system.

I have found so many roles that I personally played and I may be still playing ...and I am yet to get of this trap and start to focus on a life which is more complete and which is totally ...Mine...

The other is the curse of fame
Ideas which are generated in them
Which get injected into me
I can never walk alone
Because of this constant nosie everywhere around me
I wish I could disappear from this constant commotion
But it exists deep within me
I need to kill a part of me
I need not cry for its death
My tears become my repentance..
The strings which hold me
I hope to strangle the other with them
The birth of hate within me
I am turning into them....

Higher goals of love

I have never seen a flower which stopped blooming because no one looked at it.
I never saw the sunset not revealing its beauty because there was no one to soak up its glamour.
The clouds and the winds give me their gifts everyday ..sometimes I forget to take a look at them..But next day they are again on my way giving me comapany...
Our natural state of existence is of joy and love.We were created in the same way flowers,clouds and other magnificent things of nature.Then why did we not learn this basic fundamental truth about love .The highs and lows of passion are the illusions created by our fickle mind.There is only a constant compassion which can exist in our heart towards whom we love or hate.

When the Buddha teaches others
he does so out of compassion,
because the Tathagata is wholly freed
from both favour and aversion.

The day I was truly happy...

Can you just smile and be happy ...try to be happy ...the words echoed through my head..two hours of meditation and 1 hour of intense yoga...the speaker gave us our daily homework....
Smile and be happy for a whole day.If you cannot be happy at this moment and where you are ,you can relocate where ever you want and do everything you always wanted ..but still ,your happiness will be drifting away.Happiness lies in this moment.Enjoy it ...before it passes away...
I try to smile ..I try to be happy ...I could manage it for a couple of hours and then I got irritated ..I felt as if the world was conspiring against my failing moods...
A week passes by...My eyes wander through the victorian buildings,I see sweet shops and fish everywhere,I see huge buildings and slums all over the place.I pass through narrow lanes and reach Bonogram.I see the moonlight shine through the darker waters.

I try to make sense of the complimentary existence of poverty and spirutuality.
As the day dawns, I see couple of 6 year olds trying to enter my room.The puzzled faces are amusing to look at ..I smile...

I see a small baby running by ..the only 1 year old in the premises...she turns and starts telling me the only bangla word she knows..I offer her a biscut she smiles ..I smile...

I see a flood of small kids running towards me ...they start kissing and hugging me ..I smile and I laugh...

The kids go to school...The sun shines at me...I visit the play ground where the younger kids were playing ...they start speaking bangla and I am confused ...I tell them I know only Hindi ..They laugh...I smile..

I try to eat lunch with all the kids ..they start discussing about me with everyone ...They smile ...and I smile..

In the evening few of the kids organize a performance for me...They sing Rabindra -sangeet and dance for the popular Bangla songs...I clap ...I smile...

As night dawns I play with kids and we have dinner...We share our joys...I smile...

As I bid goodbye to the City Of Joy ..It gives me the biggest gift ...It taught me to be happy ...

The organisation I had visited in Kolkata was Parivaar.(www.parivaar.org)
The kids taught me one of the most important lesson in life .These kids are rejected by society.At parivaar they are given a new home and a new life. The kids in Parivaar stand as a testimonial...for the human soul which has overcome so many obstacles.

The gradual shift..

I was blinded with glowing light pushing me towards a self which was new.I resisted the urge which was increasing in my heart.I never wanted to experience anything new.I thought I could live for ever.But all of us die so many deaths in our life time.It is always so difficult to move on from childhood to adolscence and from teen years to mature adults.If it is not enough that we resist our own natural development the people around us also don't understand the importance of growing up.Many adults who in their 30's are still clutched around by their mothers who still treat them like helpless infants.The evolution of the self is never given the highest priority.The growth initially lands us in depression as we still long for the familiar old self.True maturity lies when we take the suffering but still long for new expereinces and new dreams.