Though, I am not a Kaafir!

The word 'though' is a bit subtle, when it is said with a 'tho' in Hindi/urdu...

That song...

Main kaafir tho naheen... Magar aye haseen.... (after I 'knew' you..), I understood what Bangagi is!

It was 1973, and when this line struck me like a bolt, I was found guilty of misinterpreting a wonderful romantic song into a spiritual one! I heard this song incidentally, through the DD's Rangoli, and I went back into the memories of that allegation!... I could not counter the allegations then, and tried to look within, if there was something really wrong with me! Everybody around of that age, where insanity is of a unique kind, and there I was prematurely old!

Today, even the other stanzas seem wonderfully spiritual!..

I am not an 'enemy-by-default'... (says one couplet in that song)... but now I know what 'friendship' means! (reference to 'unconditional love' which becomes even a 'friendship', if the outside situation requires us to wear that kind of a garment/role!!!

I thank that poet of the movie, Bobby, for the wonderful theme... It does not matter that somebody fits that song into the story, to suit it “somehow”...

...

Kaafir, I suppose is a non-believer, or at best an athiest... but rigid religious viewpoints tend to look at them as 'natural-enemies' of 'that' religion! ...

'Ibaadat' is incidental to Bandagi, but not a pre-requisite at all!

Now, a blind-believer, who refuses to make use of,..... the unique gift of self-awareness, coupled with the sense of discretion, .... and gloats about that blind-belief as a capability (though knowing too well, deep within... that it was a matter of 'convenience' or giving in to laziness, rather than a sacrifice, or trust)... such a person, in spiritual terms, .... is he ever going to taste “Bandagi” in “real terms” (taste, I said, not even just 'experience'... there is a song “pibarey Raama Rasam, rasaney...” to glorify that sense of taste, when it comes to a Bandagi towards the personified form that we refer to as Shri 'Ram'.... )...

...

(Nothing hampered me, or dampened my spirits from 'also' enjoying the romance in that movie, then... despite this peaceful coexistence of spiritual thirst within me!)

...

Bandish-ly yours,

psn (28^th April, 2013)

Non Pretentious Pretense!

The credit and the debit of this blog accrues to a very unique kind of 'seeker', whose open-ness outbeats all sorts of 'usual' short-comings and conservative-nessess that bogs down an aam aadmi normally from a spiritual pursuit...

He pretended to over look that, I had copy-pasted somebody's profile, and asked about my being an actor.... So far it was okay... What intrigued me was when he nudged me about a 'pretense'... !!!

Why not? I thought! That sent me 'pretending' to be a blogger about pretense... or 'pre-tense'... that pretense about which we are not aware most of the times!

Long ago, a teacher told us a simple example... An actor did that Hanuman role, with that mace on the shoulder too well... The audience applauded him, saying, 'Hey it is difficult to believe that you are not a Hanuman!'... That got into his head... The drama over, but, he simply would not put down that mace! (Anyway, it was a card-board one, thanks to craftmanship of decorator/stage-creator/s skills)... He simply walked down the stage, and walked past the audience to a loud cheer and acknowledgment... They felt grateful that he walked amidst them... Not it stayed into his head... On the road, he was too busy to notice public looking slyly, squealing at his comical attire... But at home, his pitiable family had to bear the brunt of his nonpretentious pretense!

(The ancients say... “We got identified with that which we are not!”... they said it in so many ways, several times, and through several means!.... We just put down 'our-own-dear' pretenses for a while, and the rest is His-story, instead of an auto-bio-graph-y)

It is that kind of pretenses, which we think to be our 'original-me' .... which is of great concern to our genuine teacher/Guru... Now, if that Guru is going to ampute that pretense, and if it pains a little, is it wise, running out of that operation-theatre half way? At least allow the surgeon to sew us up properly! Self-operation is not totally impossible... it is almost improbable... We need the ability to Knead ourselves, we need a well polished mirror, we need a vision that can re-reverse the reverse image of a mirror, and we need a polishing stone, a touch-stone, beside us, besides other well polished, time-tested spiritual tools, for a 'do-it-by-yourself' operative session... and for a post-operative care? (Another pretentious pretense?) Dunno!

non-Pretentiously yours,

psn(25^th April, 2013)

Assumptions!

There was an interesting news....

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/f-s-news-anchor-begins-career-by-swearing-during-bulletin/387191-77.html

quote: “"We train our reporters to always assume that any microphone is live at any time. Unfortunately, that was not enough in this case. We can't take back what was said," she said.”

unquote:

The significant part, that I found was... “always assume that any microphone is live at any time.”...

But, that is exactly what had been told ever since ancient times!

In a language that is 'understood' even by 'nature'! (The only language said to be a 'discovered' one... which is in conformity with quantum laws... and therefore, I was tempted to say, 'understood by nature'!)...

...

At my work place, I found one advise given to executive.. “The memo/charge-sheet/'asking-for-explanation'... etc in contemplation of a subsequent disciplinary action therefore, .... has to be “In a language understood by the employee”!

...

As a kid, I used to be more interested to 'see' what others are doing... rather than minding 'my own business'... So, I saw that, while people used to pray , they do so with their 'own tongue', and I used to wonder if that deity understood all the languages ! What if the deity misconstrues any rare language and gives a boon which is just opposite of what is asked?... (Already, there are clever Gods, who twist the tongue, to force the devotee to mis-spell, and then land themselves in a “spell”.... yes, “Nidrevatwam” (sleep), instead of “Nirdevatwam” (deva-less-ness)... Devas were natural hinderance to Asuras, but this asura went into a spell of sleep, and was called Kumbha-Karna...!

...

So, wrong words can cause problems...

...

But, what if emotions are strong enough, to reduce the impact of any words to a naught?

Dunno!... “Assumptions” are advocated, to afford us to err on the safe side!.. When clarity occurs, problems dissolve, conclusively too!

..

Silently yours,

psn(24^th April, 2013)

Complication

For a change, this blog is to seek help... only...!

(Other blogs are about sharing experience, ideas etc... leaving it to the readers to 'take it or leave it'..)

...

My doubt is about complexity and complication, and the vulnerability of its relativity to confusion, whether such confusion is a cause or a consequence or both!

...

I have to use a few examples...

...

Kids are very simple in their thinking... their mischiefs might seem complicated to elders (bad luck!)... Kids are at once attracted towards any thing that looks complex... be it a complex operation..... like a car mechanic unscrewing the minute components of the carburettor and refitting them carefully, tighting the screws carefully to the right extent, to keep the vents optimally open, etc... Kids watch it with rapt attention... As a contrast, elders just get repelled from that scene... they look at it as 'complicated' (needing special skill, training..), instead of simply looking at it as complex mechanism... So, I hope we can agree that all complexities are not necessarily complicated, and hence not confusion-causing at all!

...

A Master of the house, gives instructions to a junior-most servant of the large houshold... usually that servant is told 'what-to-do' by a much junior in that house... Now, the servant is asked to repeat that simple instruction to ensure that he got it right... That timid fellow, puts back the words in a very complex way, to make it look so complicated that... the elder, the master is confused (whether to continue to rely on this timid fellow to get the job done?)... The master now beckons a senior, and tells him the problem.. that senior chuckles mildly, and politely tells the Master 'Sir, why did you take the trouble with such minor details... any one of us would have instructed that servant well!,,, .. Now, please watch... he calls another junior's junior... 'Hey! Ask that servant to do this..'... and that sub-junior, simply shouts first at the servant (the master is baffled, thinks...'that shouting was needless'.... keeps the thought pending for verification)... the sub-junior now gives a very crisp, brief, to-the-point instruction, and that fellow find it easy and quite routine to 'follow' or comply with!

...

Even movies did not miss the opportunity to highlight the tendency of an 'Aam-Aadmi' in trying to complicate things....

please try this video clip (hindi)..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7dfspqXKQo

Shri Asit Sen complains of ... an-other complication in his health... 'Shifting pain'!!!

...

It was a Yoga program...

(This story is real please... I was a witness and a volunteer, with participants... )

The teacher asked the participants to “close your eyes... “

“You there...” the teacher points out to a person in the fourth row... “Please close your eyes”... and... and.. that person is turning back to find out ... as to whom the teacher is addressing as “you there..”!!! (Complication?... No confusion what so ever! That person is so sure, that it is “anybody-else” but not him.... !!!)

...

I remember another movie scene... where a person tries to appreciate

the 'simplicity' of a south Indian... He says most politely “I like YOUR simplicity very much”.. That south Indian belonged to Madras... He got visibly annoyed, especially about 'your' city.. He retorted: “So.... you like only SIMPLY-CITY..???... You don't like MY Madras-CITY???...”.. “Whaaaat sir... ???”.. “Okay.. what can I do... if you do not like Madras-city, but like only simbly-city!”

...

Now, my doubt is...

is this complexity of things confusing us ab-initio... and it repels us, where as it attracts the innocent-kids always?

Is it that we adults understand things only when they are adequately complicated (simple things simply escapes our 'kind-attention'!???

...

Why I ask thus:

The scriptures have tried to speak only from “spiritual” point of view...

The ancients were well aware that religions can be only time-relevant... whereas, the concepts within the religion (under Ideal situation ) are of eternal value, and hence they have to “contain” an element of flexibility to make the rituals and traditions adaptable to the situation... (for instance, in Hindu-way-of-life, having a bath with water is prescribed before certain ritualistic ceremonies, propitiations etc... But, when water is scarce, there are chants that can allow a 'deemed-bath' (like our deemed Universities, whose degrees are of value, though not exactly like original Universities)...

The complication, the confusion, etc related to religious prescriptions, interpretations etc can arise out of the nature of our mind, that tends to make complex things as well as simple things,..... complicated enough ..... to confuse anybody!

...

So, if we are a bit clear about our complex complications, confounded confusions, .... may be, spiritual simplicity might appeal to us... and might even persuade our 'lesser-believing' friends, motiviating them, inspiring them thus : “hey, if this idiot can evolve, even this much.... why not me.. and much more than him?” (I am that lone person being pointed out, as an example!)

...

simply yours,

psn(19^th April, 2013)

Remorse!

I would say it is fortunate, if people find themselves struggling to forget some bad past that belongs to them! Now, when we say fortunate, it is not about a 'feel-good-factor' like having won some lottery ticket, or having received some appreciation, tags or so... The suffering is now 'felt' quite intensely, and even a help or consolation seems to be a hinderance or even a humiliation, at times!

...

The fortunate part turns really-fortunate very soon, only if such a person gets the right kind of support... from outside at least, if the inside is not that stable to balance by itself!...

Our ancient culture used to patronise certain type of people who specialise in just this... to give the right kind of support, and with which, the spiritual growth is phenomenal (as a contrast to the slow, steady and structured growth!)... The story of 'angulimal' from epics is a typical example... He was a dacoit who prided in wearing the chopped thumbs of his innocent victims as a 'garland'(and hence the name!)..

...

Anyway, an asker appealed to me when I felt the 'genuine seeking'...

Why not try to give some practical support I thought ....

And then, why not find out if my words do carry any sense of appeal?

This forum is the touchstone for me!

(Please see, it is the needless and excessive overtones of that guilt, which peg down a person into the abyss of negative emotions, quite needlessly!... Nothing prevents us from turning even that initial sense of guilt into a blessing-in-disguise... After all, we have ample evidences where 'curses' are invoked to suit us in times of distress as a blessing! (Arjuna invoked the curse to turn into a 'female' when it suited him best, to remain incognito!)

psn(18^th April, 2013)

quote:

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130417234131AASsILe

How do i forget past things?

I have lived a life of bad problems. My mom was an alcoholic and as i was growing up was, i was the only one who was physically abused. i was the middle child. when i was 13 i was put in a situation where me and my older brother had to kill two people. out of self defense. although it was ruled as self defense at 19 i still have nightmares about it. i watched the life leave someones eyes. ive done some "bad:" things since and never felt guulty about doing it until recently. im full of inarticulate rage. but a newly and rarely a sense of guilt. i have become jaded and emotionless. i have morals and have never hurt my family and have been nothing but good to them. ive never hurt a woman. i broke up with my gf 3 months ago and i feel that emotional numbness coming back. and that urge to beat people up i think "deserve" it. i dont like it or the way i feel. i know it wrong. i just cant feel its wrong. how do i fix this???? please help....anyone who can understand.....

My suggestion (answer)

We have done only those things that a man is capable of doing!
It is just that it takes a little more to not to do these things...
It takes much more to do things, which are good for others, but very few attempt those!
...
We have sort of become a 'guru' for ourselves, having done these negative things... Now somebody who demonstrates doing things, has taken a little extra trouble to show it 'live', in a way that is not easily forgettable! So, it is good to feel grateful to such a person.. Here it is 'we' ourselves! So, why forget? Instead, remember it as a reminder, a lesson for ourselves, by ourselves, and ourselves, with a sense of gratitude towards ourselves! This 'sense of gratitude' if felt and nurtured a bit genuinely, then... it cannot... it will not... stop just within... we grow into gratitude towards nature, and all those around, who did something for us (that great noble soul who built that massive bridge over which we travel to and from umpteen number of times... if he did not build it, we would struggle to reach across... That person who invented the shirt buttons! Or else, we would be trying thread/cord across our chest, with flaps over each other like those Roman king times!)...
Slowly the memory becomes a useful reference for us.... and someday, we would start narrating it to other youngsters, to tell them, that they need not go through the same stupidity again, when they listen 'live' from a person like us!

Nothing in a Name!

There is indeed nothing in a name, or even the person who hangs on to that name, as if it was earlier than him!

But, till that nothing gets revealed in that spiritual form, in that mystic form... where the choice now rests with the owner of that name, to be in touch with one's own nothingness within, very consciously, at will, and in full awareness.... the name is going to do its own job, .... whatever!

The question was not new, ... the mind that asked it was trying to look at it afresh... and therefore that made the answering a bit thrilling too!

psn(7th April, 2013)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130406084524AAoxmcr

If there is nothing in name than why people prefer and tend to adopt the old/original/local name?

One of the most famous quote of Shakespeare is "What is in name? A rose by any other name would have the same beauty and fragrance". But in reality the human nature is in total contrast to what this English writer said. Almost all African countries have adopted their original old names. In Asia also Sri Lanka, Myanmar, China and several other countries have adopted their original names. If there is nothing in name then why there is such tendency to adopt the old/original name?

My Answer:

The label was missing...
Therefore the name was also not there...
That youngster thought that the contents are sugar, and used a spoonful to sweeten the 'heath-drink'...
If the health drink manufacturers had not made it too aromatic, perhaps, that powder which was not sugar but just some 'cleaning powder' would have revealed its true identity!
(This is a real story... That kid shared it to an audience with all humility to impress the benefits of certain spiritual program where the "practices" prepares the body so well that what is not needed is expelled by the body, and if fortunate the life is saved, though with a little adverse side-effects! This kid recovered too soon, to even make his mom feel less guilty, for, it was she who placed that cleaning-powder-bottle at a very wrong place!)...
...
In ancient India, the name had lot of significance, because the names were in a discovered language... not a man-made language... The discovery of this language also happened to reveal its subtlety to the-then-ancients about its great aspect of "conformity" to quantum laws... form-sound-vibration... and now it made sense to assign appropriate names to individuals looking at their karmic-resultant-birth-form during the present visit to this planet!

Human potential in 'Abstraction and Variable' functionality of the Mind!

The sense of discretion, when it is bonded well with self-awareness, enhances the capabilities of abstraction as also the variability (vary-ability... ability to vary!)...

Recently, I met a retired teacher of English literature, who still manages to give lectures by choice, for a token amount as compensation... Very eager to extract the essence of life experience of a person who dedicated to propagate the skills of verbal communication, focusing on the dexterity of words itself, and in doing so, this person, the teacher must have crossed over that breaking point of mental fatigue, when the job-requirement compels a person to cross-over the repetitive fatigue-causing, vision-narrowing logical aspect of the mind!...I liked to ask her something!

All I asked was a simple query, to comprehensively cover all these aspects...

I asked “Madam, do you find yourself being able to agree that the ability of 'abstraction' as a concept is an indispensible component of a student who is keen to excel in study of literature, beyond a basic level?”....

Her eyes widened visibly enough to radiate the bewildered joy, when she could at once recognise the implications of such a query, and yet she lost no time in bringing the breath from the very bottom of her stomach to effectively utter and emphatic “Yes!” ... ( the exhalation happened through that 'yes' to make it look like that full lunged exhalation of some Yoga program!)...

I felt grateful to that dedicated teacher... (I silently also thanked my spouse, who was the best-friend of that teacher, and therefore the opportunity/privilege for me to ask such twisted-query)...

....

About the variable vary-ability, there was no such dramatized incident in the recent past...!

Like any body else, I too was sailing in the same logical boat to cross over the ocean of problems...

And yet, I find that the mathematical concept of that variable finds its fuzzy application right into our mind, when we are able to 'free' ourselves of bonds of all kinds, and become a variable to be able to fit into any kind of role that a situation requires us to do!

(This, should suffice the elaboration needed to have a grasp on that varying variable in us!)

yours 'X'-heeding-ly,

psn(5^th April, 2013)

Conditioned Air!

I received a useful mail forward....

quote:

“PLEASE FORWARD TO FAMLILY AND FRIENDS !

Car Air Con and CANCER

Now this is very interesting! Car manuals states to roll down the windows to let out all the hot air before turning on the A/C. WHY ?

No wonder more folks are dying from cancer than ever before. We wonder where this stuff comes from but here is an example that explains a lot of the cancer causing incidents.

Many people are in their cars the first thing in the morning, and the last thing at night, 7 days a week.

As I read this, it makes me feel guilty and ill. Please pass this on to as many people as possible. Guess it’s not too late to make some changes

Car A/C (Air Conditioning) MUST READ!!! Please do NOT turn on A/C as soon as you enter the car.

Open the windows after you enter your car, and then turn ON the AC after a couple of minutes.

Here's why: According to research, the car's dashboard, seats, a/c ducts in fact ALL of the plastic objects in your vehicle, emit Benzene, a Cancer causing toxin. A BIG CARCINOGEN. Take the time to observe the smell of heated plastic in your car, when you open it, and BEFORE you start it up. In addition to causing cancer, Benzene poisons your bones, causes
anemia and reduces white blood cells. Prolonged exposure will cause
Leukemia and increases the risk of some cancers. It can also cause miscarriages in pregnant females.

Acceptable Benzene level indoors is: 50mg per sq.ft.
A car parked indoors, with windows closed, will contain 400-800 mg of Benzene.

If parked outdoors, under the sun, at a temperature above 60 degrees F,
the Benzene level goes up to 2000-4000 mg, 40 times the acceptable level. People who get into the car, keeping the windows closed, will inevitably
inhale, in quick succession, excessive amounts of the BENZENE toxin.

Benzene is a toxin that affects your kidneys and liver. What's worse, it is extremely difficult for your body to expel this toxic stuff from your body.

So friends, please open the windows and door of your car - give it some time
for the interior to air out -(dispel the deadly stuff) - before you enter the vehicle.

Thought: 'When someone shares something of value with you and you
benefit from it, you have a moral obligation to share it with others.'.....”

unquote:

I too forwarded it to a few more people..... after adding a little of my own 'masala'! I thought some of us might enjoy reading it for fun!

Quote:

I too feel guilty reading this , but for entirely different reason! I have never tasted A/c on an on-going basis, regularly! Whatever little A/c that I got myself subjected to, was at wok place, and thanks to heavy power failures, it was never a 'regular-A/c'

...

Two wheeler was what I had... (it worked on DC battery, not A/c...)

That leaves me with only one kind of "air conditioning" the one within me, as an embedded system! It has not suffered power-failure or even water insufficiency (it recycles the water with utmost care and meticulousness.... my merciful kidneys!)... And when my internal A/c is "on"... (it is here that I thank the almighty!)..... something amazing happens, about that 'environment' that people say... My body does throw out the dirt within along with the expulsion of the waste due to the A/c but while doing so, it does not pollute the atmosphere in anyway... Instead, it leaves the inside of me clean and fragrant, a fragrance that this body is originally designed to relish...!!! (That inner 'air-conditioning' and its technical know how came to me direct from my grandmother, skipping the intermediaries! Just a coincidence, that, which even is rare today!)

psn (1^st April, 2013)

(About the title: We do say... “it was all in the air....” the “conditioning” which tends to tell us/remind-us... 'hey! This conditioning of your mind, which you pick up from the very air that you breathe in... is what becomes your 'destiny'... and my destination”)