Drawing Attention

“I like to 'draw' your 'kind' attention....” is the most familiar form of its use....

A 'cat-walk' seeks to draw 'special' attention! ('Head-over-heels' is no less a competitor to 'high-heels' when it comes to drawing attention!)

'Contrast-matching' works at both levels, trying to 'draw' attention towards the match-maker, as well as the ironical contradiction it (other-wise)implies!

Breath-watching, as a spiritual technique, seeks to 'draw' attention towards the 'life' happening within, at yet deeper levels!

Ambiguity is what deters attention usually... And therefore, 'to draw' the attention!

It at once implies the possibility of a 'disambiguation' (due to a possible lack of attention,.... 'attention-deficit', like our dear 'trust-deficit'!), that is very likely, in the situation contemplated of, while trying to familiarize the other person, with some abstract idea, concept, or even just the visuals of something that needs strong focus, for lack of direct sensory perception!

Spiritual concepts are highly elusive... (like, when so many people very casually claim, that they 'do Yoga r-e-g-u-l-a-r-l-y'... they just mean those postures which are expected to keep their physicality a little bit 'in-shape', while the goal has nothing to do whatsoever about 'attentiveness'!.. Attentiveness, if at all it gets enhanced, is an inadvertent consequence, though beneficial!... Even the acquisition leaves no trace of its entry! The prime goal is to 'get-attention', and subordinate goal to keep fit.. that is all!)

Then, how did the ancient Masters manage to 'draw' attention of the 'readers' of what they left off, in just a few words? (I used to wonder)! I recall our family visit to the famous Konarak Temple, where, we landed on a 'listless' day... The 'guides' outnumbered the visitors, who were even 'locals' on that fateful day (meaning, only foreigners are looked at as 'visitors'... Indians are looked 'down' upon by those guides, maybe for the simple reason that we convert value addition, to our local rupees, where as phoren-visitors are busy converting their own currencies into rupees, leaving their own 'look-out' for value addition to 'a matter of chance'!... Very clearly, they know, they cannot 'expect' much out of 'left overs' of such a rich heritage that India was once!)... The 'nagging' even, therefore by those guides was 'extra-irritable' in their tone itself... I had to now 'draw' their attention to a 'possibility' that some idiots like me can perhaps do without a guide to get myself, or my attention drawn, towards the ancient monument, and what it was supposed to convey... I did this, after a brief 'organising' (like in that movie Pakeeza where the hero Rajkumar says to the heroine, 'Please wait aside for a while, while I 'present-my-credentials' to this fellow'.. .. the 'fellow' had just beckoned a 'random-wandering-boy' nearby, to tell the hero 'who he was', just to impress the hero that the 'fellow' was no small-fellow, but a local 'dada' whom the whole place knew, and therefore the 'any-wandering-boy' was good enough to present his own 'debentials' (please look at this word 'debentials' as opposite of 'credentials... debit-credit-concept!)...

I asked the guide, 'Sir, do we not see, even a stupid toothpaste is given a disproportionate magnitude of wide, long, broad, tall publicity, just to ensure that people do not 'miss' their(own) attention? And do you think, those who constructed such a huge temple, would not have thought of 'drawing' attention of visitors to its beauty, its intricacies, its symbolisms, etc, and merely depend on the uncertainties of future guides?'... He was not to be put off... I then pointed a few aspects of 'on-line' features that were ingrained into those base-structures of that giant wheel's peripherals nearby, as a sample, which I happened to notice... He admitted his ignorance. I then softened his dejection by suggesting that he now updates the trainers at a future 'refresher-course' for those guides, and allow the 'department' (archaeology/tourism), to decide its worth for themselves!

I must add a 'true' incident... A desi techie (computer-science), happened to land at phoren University to pursue MS in that very subject... By chance, he knew how to revamp the internal email system, to 'customize' it or make it 'tailored' to suit the administrators... The boss liked the design, the format, etc, and asked that kid to 'present' it to an august audience (some directors, vice-presidents, and the likes)... He was given the gadgets of 'audio-visuals' to assist the presentation. That too found a great appreciation of the boss.. The boss now asked, 'Do you have a suit?'.. Dumbfounded, the kid said, 'No sir, I just go about in T-shirt, and Jeans', explaining the humble background of the banker-provided-by-nature, that funded his 'higher' education... The boss did feel a little sympathy, but voiced an embarrassment, 'But, it may look odd, when the whole audience is in formal dress, suit, tie, etc, and you like a street-urchin!'.. The kid took courage seeing the glimpse/trace of sympathy, and reassured, 'Sir, my humble dress will matter only for the first two minutes!' and waited. It did take 2 minutes for that 'boss' to grasp the implication of those words, and then he nodded... The presentation got an applause, and even a 'gesture' when 'funding' for 6 months came from that boss, who was not 'exactly' the usual fund-manager to dole out grants to a student 'directly'!

Two aspects, can affect attention-drawing... The perception, its ability, and also the 'presentation'...

Here on our spiritual forum, both have to get due 'attention', drawn from the very same 're-sources' within!

(Some time ago, I had tried to draw your 'kind-attention' towards the 'perception'--Inattentional blindness-- factor through two earlier blogs, 'Attentiveness' and 'Attentiveness, Alertness, Acceptance and Awareness'... sans-recourse, of course!).

Strangely enough, even computer experts recognise this 'attention-risk-factor' when they devised this: “Ctrl+Alt+Del for Windows NT-based systems (called Secure Attention Sequence)... and..... secure attention key (SAK) ”
So, lest we too become a 'ctrl+Alt+Del' (needlessly-too-often)...in the hands of Maya-Madam!

Drawn-and-yours,

psn(29th September, 2013)

The Fox who lost his tail!

It was in our school lesson... (Must be 'Aesop's fables')..

I have to be very brief with the story (it is too famous, already)...

A fox lost its tail, when it tried to come out of a trap... It saw its own reflection on the still surface of a pool of water and felt ashamed... It cannot appear before other foxes, in an 'as is where is basis'... It called for a Annual General Meeting of all the 'tail-holders' among foxes (like the share-holder's/stake-holder's meeting we have...).. It explained that this tail is a useless burden to carry, especially in the present day 'race' where we have to run away fast from all problems of life, and our speed is not even enough, when problems even overtake us, and wait ahead to pounce on us all-at-a-time, etc... Dump the tail... you will feel free... 'see I have a personal experience too!'

It appealed to young ones who constituted the 'majority-stake-holders' (the tail is that 'stake'!)...

Some where from a corner, an old fox, chose that appropriate pause in the speech, and said, 'Hey, that is because you already lost your tail!... come out and show your true colors, your inner peace-of-mind, after having lost the tail, and let people decide!' And then the other foxes got the message... The resolution failed.. AGM over... Tails saved... Tale served even!

But the foxes are 'original' in their cunningness!

We are only trying to 'copy-paste' their cunningness!... It works, but not for too long!

I saw a few elders around me even at home, criticising 'traditional' rituals as 'out-dated', useless, waste of time, meaningless, blind-faith, false-sentiment etc... And yet, almost a few among them, insisting that I follow some of the 'family-rituals', like mumble a prayer before that photo of the God, but only after lighting the oil-lamp (God-ji is electric-bulb-blind... like we are 'color blind' ... even rich people who could afford those colorful 'series-bulb-decoration' did not do-away with oil lamp!).... Temples in Kerala prohibit electric bulb inside sanctum, but it is okay outside it... Those were childhood memories...

Those who criticised, usually happened to be from 'that lot' who really never tried to experiment with these rituals rigorously (it was a part-time affair for them like some hobby, when there is nothing better to do, try out these rituals.. as a precautionary measure to create a 'case-history')...

That spouse of my neighbourhood uncle... brilliantly justified, “What to do?.. cost of living is spiraling so high! Tomatoes is now 2 annas per seer, last week it was just one and a half anna!.. I personally do not approve my husband accepting bribe, and I have 'very clearly' told him so... Our scriptures have said, we have to one day pay for our sins! But, when somebody 'voluntarily gives a little money, how could he say no?.. And, having accepted that money, how can he delay the 'giver's papers'? ... We have the spiraling cost of living, and we have to save something for kids, education, marriage, etc' ... The next door lady just listens... No harm in 'just-listening'! (The bribe-taker has lost his tail... he is creating a majority!... Very soon, bribe can even be legalised!).

...

As I grew up... I felt, something is not okay with those who complain about our own culture... There are too many contradictions! How did these scriptures stand the test of time? Is it possible that the whole population was totally stupid for 5000 years? Then what happened to that proverb, 'All men cannot be fooled for all the time'? And yet, nothing was tangible like those school's chemistry lab experiment... 'blue litmus turns red'! Even small thing which looked like miracles seemed within the range of explanation! That paper placed on a tumbler full of water, carefully inverted, and the hand gently removed, the water does not fall (the physics teacher did not even sound excited while 'explaining' this miracle!.... My excitement seemed stupid, when the 'learned' teacher delivered this lesson, so casually like the bus-conductor issuing proper ticket, not even looking at the face of the passenger!)

It was then, I decided, best way is to find out for myself, if these ancient rituals, practices, traditions, and scriptures were worth it, or were bogus!

None of these rituals yielded any 'tangible' experience... clipping the nose, mumbling some chant brought no chemical or physical change, between before and after!

The 'nature of declarations' of the scriptures did not seek any kind of patronage, sponsorship, acceptance, adherence or following... they simply declared it in the tone, as we would say 'Sun rises in the East'!.. If the interpretation of its meaning is 'blind' then we are in deep trouble, in finding out which is east, when we are 3 lakhs miles away from earth, and the Sun is still visible clearly!... It may not 'rise' at all, forget 'east'... It has to 'set' first of all, in order to 'rise'! And most of the things that they 'declared' are not easy to understand, feel, see or perceive!

I wished, if only that 'fox story was the other way'! (right now the bulk of present day crowd is already the other way! They have dumped not just one, several of their tails!.. and they are busy, persuading other foxes.. Somebody's girl ran away on the eve of wedding, and now they 'approve' freedom to run away (not using exact words, 'to run away'... but in a polished, diplomatic way, ... even a girl must have freedom to do what they like!.. True! When everybody, right from politicians who play with scams, adults who give and accept bribe, the passers-by ignore an accident victim, the police play the other-role often, why not this girl or boy, do what-they-like? All have the freedom to get their tails removed-for-good!)... During August, 1970 , I had a wonderful experience... the Higher secondary exams got delayed due to 'Telangana-Agitation' and the atmosphere was 'charged'... Mass copying was 'unofficially-official' and allowed... the invigilator's life was more precious than implementing 'no-copying allowed' so strictly! Everybody in that hall where I wrote, cheerfully got their tails cut off... I was the only idiot who did not feel like doing it... And, the only way that poor invigilator found, to very-safely appreciate me was, by bringing the 'extra' answer sheets, and the small piece of thread ('tag' they call it, used to tie up the loose answer sheets), right up to my seat, and perhaps praying silently that nobody notices it.. I too, would not have noticed (the heat was double in my head, trying to compete with a handicap!), had he not brought it unasked, by just noticing that I reached the last line of the paper (anyway, he had nothing better to do, since 'invigilation' now amounted to only claiming an amount stipulated for the day's work!)... I could not convince or explain my close friends with any 'good' reason for my stupidity! (And, at that age, I lacked the courage to spell out my hidden agenda! Spiritual seeking did not need any qualification... just two-times-meals.. for which, at least in those days, a +2 pass was not so essential!)... The small marks did surprise me, it was far more than I expected, because, there was a rumour that evaluation was going to be tough! Now, when I look back, Maya-Madam must have given me 'secret-marks' for my stupid-honesty too!

I could see it clearly... Spirituality is a personal affair, no point in looking at other's tail, whether it is missing or not! Strangely enough... I now seem to be able to 'guess' why those ancient masters just 'declared' and left it! What they said, the contents, the worth of it, does not seem to anyway depend on anybody to sustain!... We can just 'be-with-it'.. we cannot 'depend' on it even, the way we depend on our 'bank-balance' to just 'show-off' and impress an onlooker!.. That 'be with it' is at very deep level! The medical science is unable to define death, beyond 'clinical-death'! Maybe, it has not yet understood 'life' properly!... Good enough reason for me to go within and find out for myself!... (Here I must say, I found the 'genuine' researchers in the scientific-community, slightly better than 'aam aadmi', maybe out of sheer practical experience of years, when they are able to effortlessly curb their 'tendency' to 'justify' their theory in a great hurry!... They have been a great source of inspiration for me, when I read their personal life in renowned magazines like Readers' Digest, etc, where they are 'open-minded' on an on going basis... and not in a hurry to suggest to others to chop of their tails too!)

Somewhere, there was a very strong-structure in place!... Embedded systems... when the intensity of search got heated up sufficiently, the hidden switches got lighted up, and it illuminate a little bit, showing a small path through that dark tunnel, where hither to it looked only like a dead end, in that pitch dark!... Now, it is fun, watching both the sides, 'like that cat on a wall', but with slight difference... ensure that we fall only on to the other side, not this side again, whether it is by accident, we slip, we get pushed, we fall, or even the wall collapses! While on the wall, it is easier to look and be seen too, for yet others who like to 'hear' about what is on the other side.. and then it is for them to take it or leave it... the other side of it was never dependent on 'opposition's outside-support'!!!

psn (24th Sept, 2013)

Confusing Trust!

I am so sorry!

The title itself... or.. 'Even the title'.... suggests, that what follows is likely to be untrustworthy!

So, let us just have a 'relaxed' look at it... Let us decide to just entertain ourselves, taking care, not to get stuck too much into it, such that it does not confuse us at all!

So, does it now seem, this time, that my disclaimer, my suggestion, looks like : We can trust the 'confusion-about-trust?'... (some of us are so sure, by now, they would agree, thus: “I fully trust, that there is bound to be a confusion now, in the offing!”... Hey, to get rid of confusions, out of our life, which way is it going to work?.. Avoiding confusions? Or getting rid of confusions? But how?.. meeting the very source of 'our-confusions', up rooting it for good, once for all... etc! Not running away from 'talk-about-confusions'... but meeting it head-on, tenaciously!)

When ever somebody says, 'Trust me'... is it not going to 'firstly' cause a mild confusion... only when... the doubts-created-by-such-confusion, does not find a 'reasonable answer'... suspicion creeps in!

The lady of the house decides to drive a car... (it is almost a fashion in the west, not to 'trust-her-driving-pattern'... at least the several jokes we get to hear, seem to suggest.. statistically, it may not be too scary.... Hey, why am I substantiating such a mild statement? It is about confusions-of-trust, not about trustworthy-trust!)

The King loved the monkey, and (therefore, perhaps) the king trusted the monkey... The King was fast asleep... a fly landed on King's nose... the King stirred... the monkey noticed it... The monkey decided, to 'guard' the sleeping-king, from fly-menace (it did not find any scope to even 'consider a possible-monkey-menace').. it tried to ward off that fly... the fly persisted, shifting just the landing ground (neck, chest, arms, nose, forehead, etc of that king!)... Anger crept into the monkey (but the source of anger was... 'Love for king' so says the story... but from monkey's perception, it may just be a 'sense-of-loyalty' at best, or at worst... 'insurance-policy' for the bananas provided by the king, when it has 'noticed' the King ordering “Mere bandar ke liye, Best-tasty, fresh, latest banana lao!' )...

the fly by now, was not just a 'fly-by-night' affair... it has come to stay, flying (like FDI in aviation!).. the monkey got 'wild' by now! (wild is its 'home' any way!... and when it is 'at home' of its own, trust shifts into its own 'home-grown-traits'!)... It picked up the sword, and aimed at the fly, now sitting near the neck... Swishhh! The fly escaped, and the King now 'slept-off' for good!

So, some antidotes that are likely to be effective ... (use logic... what else can we hope to have!)

List it out:

1)Integrity trust (not, accuracy-trust-- count the cash even from a trusted-cashier)

2)Garbage trust (computers, maintain very high level of integrity, when we consciously maintain awareness that it is 'virtual-garbage'... looking thus, we are warned of sleeping virus, latent bugs, memory-location-fallibility, data-packet-erosion, ... why, even the .... sleep-quota-deficiency of 'system-Admin-Sir'

3)Accuracy trust ('Bait-money'... offered by police, crime-investigators, Anti-bribe squad etc... they make no mistake, listing out every bit of details so well, that even the victims manage to guess, “hey! This looks too good to be real enough to quietly loot!”)

4)Inaccuracy trust (Some people are famous to do it only the 'other way'.. so tell them the opposite of what is needed by them... I don't know, here I am confused, whether to call it opposite-trust or negative-trust!)

5)Time trust (time takes care of all problems! We even mistrust those bhoot-bangla... but never heard of a 2500 year old ghost!.. these ghostly people re-surface, waiting only up to say 4 generations, 'max'... Maybe the ghostly-aspects might wear off, or rot, by then!... does it mean, even ghosts are time-bound?... I am confused... Some ghosts maintain punctuality about appearance, but their 'shelf-life'? Use-up before 4 generations? Maybe, other ghosts 'eat-them-up'.. scrambled/boiled!

6)Atheist trust-- This is a very controversial kind of trust... Can we trust an atheist?... 'Hey, atheism itself is about 'mistrust'... or its negative-varieties... sorry, positive varieties (negative for trust.. not mistrust.. minus-into-minus is plus, in maths, but trust?(dunno!)...

7)Dowry trust -- (better divide trust into installments! Sorry, the 'trust-money'... lest it ends up as 'ali-mony'!)

8)Blog trust --- Take a few 'too-good-to-be-original' sentences, the key words, and 'google' it... Not a very good 'insurance', if a person is good at 'goofing up the text-words' without mutilating the meaning... but... hey!.. that means (does it not?), that he is damn good at the concept, and has grasped it... trust his brains, not the intention to get a prize, somehow!

9)Perception trust--- No way to even trust it, till we have a few notches up, ourselves, into that perception! (otherwise, it is just monkey-business!)

10)Blind trust-- babies 'seem' to trust us blindly!... Infatuated-emotions seek to trust blindly (fake-lovers are the beneficiaries).. Computer-illiterate feel better to trust the fallibility of an emotion-less machine, rather than the motionless-bureaucrat, hence e-governance!

11)Sentiment/Superstition trust --- (eleven is an auspicious number.. no other reason for me to reach only this far!)... Trust-not-me... but beware of my superstitious nature, when that takes over, I am worse than a maniac! (we hear about psycho-killers, whose pattern is to be trusted first, in order to 'guess' that next likely victim, and then to nab.... we have 'shifting-superstitions' with gadgets getting outdated too fast!)...

If the list doesn't seem to grow, then something else is growing within us, subtly, clandestinely... let us call it 'unconditional-trust'!

Unconditionally-conditioned,

yours,

psn(22nd September, 2013)

Converging Conversation!

Convergence can be very fruitful, even if we are going to be very careful, to avoid a conversion!

A blog is a conversation, and so also are the responses to it, whether in the form of replies, or its other variations...

Now, conversation, by itself, or when looked at in isolation, presents unique and distinct possibilities...

For instance this link presents about 56 variations.... ( http://www.thefreedictionary.com/conversation )

The entire text would be cumbersome to read here... but a few samples might make it tempting enough to lead a person to look-for-more of it!

Quote:

Conversation

1. Conversation … was like trying to communicate with a ship sinking in mid-Atlantic when you’re on shore —William Mcllvanney
   47. Talking to him was like playing upon an exquisite violin. He answered to every touch and thrill of the bow —Oscar Wilde

50. Talking to you is like sending out your laundry, you don’t know what the hell is coming back —Neil Simon

Unquote:

The word 'converse' also connotes exchange of ideas, while its other meaning indicates a complete 'reversal' , as its concept... (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/converse)

“Conversion”.... involves a change, a shift (of some essential form or nature)....

Convergence is just about reaching a point where we 'meet' to agree or disagree even, with a sense of clarity!

It is this clarity, that goes to serve the purpose of a conversation, and keeps option all its options of future conversations!

So, if we are “aware' that our efforts are going to be to arrive at some kind of convergence (irrespective of whether such a convergence happens in one instance or not...!), each such effort does enhance our “ability to converge”..!!! Now please see, is not that convergence, in a very deep sense, in a directional-sense too, towards a 'spiritual-goal'?... We converge into our spirit, taking along, the things that help us, leaving aside the things that deter us, and therefore the very effort towards “a convergence” evolves itself into a wonderful tool! This can happen, at least at the mind-level, initially, and when the mind calms down a little, it can happen at our spirit-levels too!

Those who might feel fatigued a little-too-soon, seeming to be... 'reaching-nowhere'.. or even 'going-towards-nowhere' , might find this concept ........ about 'conversing, converse, conversion and then the elaborate possibilities through conversation, ...... worth looking into a bit deeper! Who knows, we might grow and evolve, in spite of others too!

Even conversely,

yours,

psn (17th September, 2013)

Being Practical!

“You will now have 'Practicals' this year!”

It was the teacher's clarity voice, giving the clarion call! (Chemistry teacher)...

Now, we were already 'practical' to some extent, so we knew, ... it means 'eshtra-note-book' (that is how quite a number of my class mates used to address the 'extra'... Very reasonable, since the word itself indicates, it is something 'extra' for them, so yet again 'being practical'..

We marched into the Lab... test tube breakages will be charged 10 paise... (but the lab assistant decided, anyway these kid are 'going to break it' so he announced, 'everybody cough up 10 paise per head next time you entarr here!

The spatula is never properly cleaned.. the chemicals are corrupt... results do not match theory! Early lessons in... effects of 'corruption'...! The teacharr says, 'never mind, write the practical note books, with a rough calculation, of 'what would have been the practical results'!

....

“Be practical Dad!” said a kid to his grey-haired dad, in the crowded train! (There was an arguement about when the train is likely to reach the destination, day-after-tomorrow!)... I was curious to know, as to how that 'Dad' ji is going to be now 'practical' about a 'theoretical-arguement'!

“He is a very practical man”... said a spouse... and clarified, “'he never argues unnecessarily”.. So, in this case... I concluded... being practical begins and ends with the non-argumentative-characteristic of the spouse-Madam!

....

And then I could see....

Merely being 'practical' may not give quality results (It is not usually the fisher folks who reach the swimming events in Olympics... theory is a must!.. And theory-based-training too!)

Mere theory did not also work (All new recruits who were 'just-marks-based' were 'practically' christened as 'You-are-being-impossible'... by the boss! (what better judgement can there be about it!)...

...

The 'practicals' with spirituality is too subtle... beyond physicality... (I was going to learn this a bit late, after years of slogging, with 'practice-practicals'... !!!)...

And then, the theory of spirituality should never be neglected.... here too 'Olympics-quality' or its just-nothing... (not yet 'nothingness')!!!

...

I am being very very practical now... at least here... Theory should be brief... (this blog, is by no measure, 'a practicals' !)...

Am I not...?

Practically yours,

psn (15th September, 2013)

Confusing Addictions!

Please!

It is not about 'confusion' at all....

It is about addictions...

And only then, about the confusion too, that we try to 'get-addicted' to!

Getting into groove.. is a sacred concept, when we allow it to retain its sanctity...

Once we get engrooved, if we seek to 'sleep' on the upper berth, drawing comfort from the 'thought' that this 'groovy-train' is going to take us 'all-by-itself' to our destination... no matter even if we sleep beyond 'our satation' (station)... then we get stationed into yet another addiction! Nothing more!

I read 'good-spiritual-blogs'... d-a-i-l-y... (“I got into the right groove”... now it is the job of those stupid blogs to do something... I cannot be bogged down into 'maintaining-awareness' about it.. that is the 'stand' taken while deciding to sleep on the upper berth of the spiritual train... 'good-masters' is that upper-cozy-berth! Now, even that TTE is a dis-turbance... 'turbulance-like'! Only until he perhaps announces, 'saab aap galat tarrain mei chad gaye ho!' Wrong train? “Oh! I forgot, both the trains meet at either side of this stupid plaform at this station... at the same time!... train is right... only the direction is wrong... No problem! Next birth.. err... next berth... oh! Kan-fused!”

I can only wish... but no stature to ask... Mr.Krishna tried his best to first announce in the preamble of each chapter, or at least at its end.. what it was supposed to 'contain'... People expected each verse to 'convey' (while the verse can only contain)... the truth!

(How can I find fault?... Already it is 18 chapters long... listening to a lecture so long, just standing, donning that 'heavy-metallic-armour' is no joke!... If He were to convey what it contains, it might easily require 18 lakh-crores of 'something' (See, I am even addicted to talking in terms of 'scam-scores'... lakh crores... not just 'karod', corrodes... etc..!... Companies need to run! Big stake... so no chances.. 'explanatory notes are going to 'convey'... what the legal text is 'only allowed to contain' in its 'Notice for AGM'.... not really practical on a war-field, with a Gita-text!... Recently, I saw and even 'felt' the pain! It was the momentous-moment!... The bride awaits... the groom just 'waits'... the priest has to lead the chants... the groom will just manage to groom-past what he manages to hear..(like we run the comb to groom the hair)... and the tie the knot! But 'addiction' took over! This priest-ji had recently decided to get 'en-grooved' into restoring the past glory of Hindu culture! No better occasion he said (he decides, he is law-unto-himself, on priestly-matters!), no better occasion, he said to himself, 'Everybody HAS to look at me.. I am the Zubin-Mehta for once, here..' and thus thinking, he paused to give a lecture about the sanctity of the knot! Nobody dare 'cross' him... (even other wise, others are able to see the bottom of it... only that the “it” here is the horde of photo-insensitive-team, the video, still people who 'covered' literally too, the whole event !)... But there is a 'mike' who does the job.. So the herd is 'aebal-to-heard' through loudly-espeekar... ! (Those who are not-unable-to-heard-due-to-because-of-since-they-are-unable-to-hear-even.... deaf... are perhaps the only fortunate ones!)... The sermon caught up...!

It so happened, this bride is 'well-built'... might be 80+ (metric-system).. and the dad, on whose laps she is ritualistically supposed to be parked, is a frail old man, manages to hold on to that shaky folding-chair (photo-logistics... the camera man decided the least-visible-equipment)... But one good thing... it is now beyond the dad to shake her off that easily... she is 'engrooved' into awaiting, and the body is just parked like the vacant bogies on a railway siding! )... As if my prayer on behalf of that en-burdened dad got 'heard', somebody whistled... shrill note it was... the priest saar diplomatically melted into a closing chant which rhymes with an end not of 'Jai'.. and the knotty-knot happened soon!

We get 'addicted' to being jostled into crowds each day!... Somebody tried to 'addict-fy' even the resilience of Mumbaikars, when life-happened-as-usual, the next day after a blast, and a few of them revolted!.... (I remember, I asked a commuter of Mumbai local train, 'How do you manage this travel in such a crowded train every day?' ... He smiled philosophically, and said, 'Aadat ho jaata hai .. sab-kuch'... No scope for me to talk about the 'subtle' magic of Maya-Madam, where addiction comes camouflaged, and he is 'engrooved' for ages to come, to allow Maya-Madam, to take up more important things! Now that we are addicted to scam-news... exploitation-news... and mega-addictions.. Maya madam has submitted an application for a long-vacation-leave from her 24 X 7 duties... This time she did not even suggest a 'reliever-substitute'... Addiction is the automated robotic-intelligence-software instead!

( I am perhaps relevant... only as long as I wear 'confusion'... when it is worn too often, and then gets worn off, I too get weary, and then it is time to get engrooved else where!... confusion, evades addiction... so I try to guess... even in movies, the hero's intoxicant-effect seems to evaporate when 'confusion' confronts him!)

Addictively yours,

psn (13th September, 2013)

Well Set!

When we remain for too long in that 'state of being', may be it becomes 'well-settled' meaning, it is too difficult to 'up-set' such a person!

A 'well set' physiology is perhaps on the way to becoming/being 'well settled' .. such a person is an asset as a pillion-rider, for a 'stable ride' on a two wheeler...!!!

I was normal, until some that I read about 'why get upset' turned me upside down (now, that might be my own 'up set' I don't know for sure! ... I had a teacher, who assured us, he would never allow us to settle down well ... “For that is how', he also 'assured' us,.. “you would grow on a spiritual path!”

Just is 'settling' down is often misconstrued as the 'key' to contentment, and happiness... And it often works ... others pamper us, with a frequent observation 'He is not to be 'moved' by small disturbances!' (Well it rhymes too well, with that visuals of a extra-well-set person seated comfortably ... the vehicle in turn , finds itself 'well-managed' when running on a bumpy road!)..

I even tried to look at poetic expressions coming out of a terribly upset person! (I presume “up” is towards anger, and 'down-set' is towards depression, sadness, etc... though 'down-set' is not a phrase in use... may be because it really doesnt settle-when-down.. it keeps sinking further!!!)... Poetry seldom can come out when a person is 'visibly angry'...

A poem can be 'angry' , not the poet... a poem can provoke anger... Krodh-ras (anger-juice!... As a kid, when my Hindi teacher explained, that poems are of Love-juice, embellishment-juice, humor-juice etc... Prem-ras, Shringaar-ras, Haasya-ras... etc..) I tried to visualise that Anger-juice, or Krodh-ras to be something to do with a very heavily concentrated mixture of essence of chillies and pepper mixed together... but then, it only 'burns; the tongue, not the mind! When the mind gets 'burning'... chillie may not even feel hot!.. I was confused! No wonder.. that teacher was trying with a very wrong person, who has nothing to even remotely resemble any thing rhyming in him(me, that is)... and poetry is all about rhyming too well!

People who can be easily 'upset'... are for sure going to be upside down, for a while.. where as 'spiritual' path is on the look out for people who are 'well-set' and who can be 'un-set'... and remain balanced thus! (A person 'set' or settled'.. whichever way it is... is not good(enough) for cricket, since the 'response-time' for meeting the ball .. whether is with a bat ..... or a gloved/ungloved pair of hands for catching it, is going to be 'late'! Very similar is the situation with spiritual path... a person who is 'un-set' remains fairly better-responsive, and here the time-relativity is supposed to be too stringent at even its extremes!)

Get set, go... is what I took some training at, when somebody tried hard to pull out a sprinter out of me... But nature had perhaps other plans and designs about 'what to do with my stamina-potential'..!!!

(I often find people surprised when they exclaim, 'Hey! It is so difficult to see you-and-spirituality together at once!'... and when they fail to 'explain'.. I try to guess... may be their way of looking at 'well-set' perhaps, rhymes with that 'concrete', setting after a day, when 'laid' to set, with Iron, sand, cement and metal in that ratio...!!!... I do not set ever, like that concrete, for I am 'discrete' about it!)

So, that it... set for now!

Unsettlingly yours,

psn (11th September, 2013)

Disconnected Detachment!

Spirituality insists, that we 'experience' the difference between the two...

Otherwise, in the name of detachment, we might end up into a waking, walking, and talking coma-state!

I do not feel that this warrants a very lengthy narrative!

We are very familiar with electric wires..

We disconnect them, when they cannot be used at all .... (with life, it is 'suicidal'... only the levels differ!)

We insulate them, (or, where that is not possible/feasible... insulate ourselves, like we do with a nagging spouse!), so that we do not 'encounter' problems related to 'indispensability coupled with non-maneuverability!

Spiritual path is perhaps, in its own fascinating and mystic ways, so unique, when it affords 'un-insulated detachment', and therefore makes life 'worth' living! (The lotus leaf, and its flower symbolically represent such a state, where the insulations are too subtle and almost imperceptible!)

detachedly attached, yours,

psn (6th September, 2013)

A 'Personal' journey!

I found this quote: “The spiritual journey is individual, highly personal. It can't be organized or regulated. It isn't true that everyone should follow one path. Listen to your own truth.”

Source: http://www.speakingtree.in/public/speakingtree/spiritual-thought/ram-dass_20060

What I liked was, the mention of “highly-personal”....!!

That finds a co-relation with 'Listen to your own truth'...

This sentence (listen to your own truth), evades an easy grasp...

The word 'listen', might remind us that we are a bit 'hard of hearing' ... not exactly the auditory function at physiological levels, but the attention span which reduces the congnitive function of the processor within!

If listening happens to get refined or fine-tuned to be able to “listen” to communication beyond sensory levels, the next part becomes relevant... which is 'own truth'!

This 'own-truth' is indicatively referred to as, the 'karma' ( a very general term, with diverse specific contextual references, each of which are valid, when it comes to 'own-truth'... )... and then when this Karma is dissolved, only the universal truth remains ( no more problems with 'own truth'!)...

'Karma' presents several 'acceptance-related' problems!... Whether it is to be believed upon... at all?

In simple terms, if we can believe that we 'exist' (we almost agree... though not mature enough to 'accept' ...!!!), this 'belief' brings into its fold, quite a number of those 'variables' or variations of karma! If it sounds a little ridiculous, about the 'need to believe'... we can look at two things... One, the base of the entire edifice of 'objectivism' is on the acceptance of the axiom, 'existence exists'... Two, while in our dream, we believe that dream to be 'real'... and only upon 'waking' out of that dream, do we realise that it wasn't real... ( ironically, the visions of those dreams may have lot of relations to what happens around our -real life--)... Now, if we stretch that 'dream-logic', we don't know if 'this-real' is yet another dream! So, the need to 'believe'!

There are ways and means of resolving the 'doubts' related to belief, reality, dream, vision, hallucination, etc... but that involves a 'journey'...

A visit to a psychiatrist, would tell us, our visits are a bit personal... and the treatment is individualistic, though the symptoms might be a little common! The purpose of visit, is to 'become normal' ! With spiritual seekers, the purpose is a bit more intense! They want to become 'extra-ordinarily-normal'! (Like that “extra-Chutney” and 'extra-saambar' that we request for when we order for a plate of Idly or Dosa, ... as long as these extra are not charged-for!)...

Why is there a need to look at 'spiritual seeking' as a personal journey? The attitude towards this journey might perhaps get a better clarity, and in turn accelerate the journey better (qualitatively and quantitatively... quality is the power-pack,, and quantity is the pace...)

That energy, which sustains our life, is the 'spirit' ( a name to 'that something' which becomes so dilute in its 'presence' that.. our Doctor-Sir writes out a death-certificate calling our physical body as 'clinically-dead')... This energy keeps focusing all the time... through something, and at something.. just as all other known 'forms of energy'!... All we are doing is to firstly, 'get-into-touch' with our very source of our own 'known-form-of-existence'... it is usually the physical and tangible form where we can start our journey from!... Even at body level, that 'subtle energy' manifests in different ways (mathematically, we can express it as 'permutation and combination of so many available outlets'...! Somebody is good at 'deep thinking'... somebody is good at physical strength/performance.... yet another is just dexterous, and maneuvers the skills in a way that we call as art!... )... So the reach to the source becomes highly 'individual' .. quite obviously.... just as we chase the source of a light, only by looking at its path, and traveling in the opposite direction along its path!

A guide, helper or a teacher, is a bit more familiar with a 'pattern' of these individualistic complexities, having experienced this ever-shifting paths of this energy even within oneself, and the several times that it did over several 'manifestation-occasions' (be it this very life-span or several others)!

The tools and techniques, obviously become better when they are 'customized' on the way!

My opinion, my guess-work, my assumptions!

Personally yours,

psn (2nd Sept., 2013)