Stream Lining!

An amazing word! (I felt)...

'Now all we gonna do is to 'stream-line' things here'... announces a leader, when the 'set-up' is up-set at a place.

A (water)stream, runs the way it finds a slope... Armed with this 'knowledge', as a kid (school-days), I barely managed to decipher the togetherness-wala-meaning of stream, and lining it up! But the quest did not go a waste!... I had my play-partners, at the native village, where my cousins were 'destined' to end up as farmers, when the stock-in-trade of that family was cultivable lands at the very backyard. Then, it was a 'two-in-one' for them... Lining the stream was a game + help to elders... And for me, it was a 'strictly-prohibited' area of no entry... Summer months were the holidays there, and water was a little scarce... These cousin-play-mates used to take that mud-scraper (the desi-version of a spade), and 'line-the-stream' of water to reach the farthest of trees, plants and fields to quench the thirst of 'awaiting' live things, we call as 'greenery' ...

It was then... I noticed, the line of stream.. was deliberately made crooked! (Like in algebra, we manipulate equations, to easily 'solve' them later, with things like 'dividing throughout by 'x'', adding some-nonsense to 'both the sides' etc...).... The crookedness was to match the eccentricity of a small shrub, a tiny plant, (often of high medicinal value), which is adamant about 'surviving a transplantation'(very much like a few 'modern' bride who resists 'relocation', unlike old times, where a baalika-vadhu hardly would notice the difference)! The tiny shrub was 'pampered' with deviated 'stream-lining'! Something that a very dexterous Guru would do to 'oblige' a high-potential-filled disciple, when he scales down his own 'sense of discipline' which, otherwise seems a 'rigor' to that 'rouge-within-the-otherwise-innocent/ignorant-disciple'!!!

Armed with these 'quixotic-ideas' of mine-alone... ( I felt too embarrassed to 'share' it even, with other kids... they might 'find' yet another scope, to mock-at-me, for my 'out-of-this-world' and needless, stupid, philosophies!).. so, armed with these 'ideas', I felt... time to try out 'stream-lining' my own routine, as an experiment...

Very soon, I discovered... the 'mind' is what needed to be stream-lined.... cohesively, so as to stay riveted into/onto ... a task, that is sought to be stream-lined. The best of advantages came out in the form of an 'inspiration' when I saw that any stream-lined repetitive task became effort+time-efficient! (It is only later that Ifelt, this word 'inspiration' was a thorough over valuation of such benefits... the word 'inspiration' deserves a better candidate to confer itself as an attribute, instead of these worldly-side-benefits!).

Stream-lining the spiritual concepts, when it is sought to be reached, through arduous looking tools and techniques, became a real task, a real challenge! In essence, it was initially about 'stream-lining' the very 'thought-stream' (vichaar pravaah), into a manageable thought-trickle (vichaar-dhaara)... the way the medicinal oil is to trickle at the top of the head of the patient, when he is subjected to the conceptual-essence of 'life-sciences' that we know as 'Ayur-veda'!

Streamed, but not-yet lined-up, yours,

psn(8th July, 2014)

Scars!

“क्षतचिह्न"

The attempt to translate it had to be from the 'meaning' rather than the word itself...!

Hindi speaking people from Hind-us-thaan (or India that is Bhaarat), may not have bothered too much about 'scars' in the ancient days! Dunno! But... again, interestingly, the ancients were not 'entirely' unconcerned about 'scars'... I did feel 'intrigued' when they called that 'turmeric-stained rice grains' used for blessing, with a symbolic gesture ... as 'A-kshatah' ... a 'non-scarred one'...!!! It 'seems', the husk was carefully peeled without letting the grain to 'even-know' that it was being stripped of its clothing! Perhaps, they 'knew' the worth of 'seeding', while we have mutilated-in-practice/application-part, the significance of what we call a few gathering/s as 'seminars', instead of 'conference'/meeting/etc. Today, the 'disposable' kind of rice (usually, rationed-rice at fair-price-shop, is the 'chosen' one to be turmeric stained, and thrown on the 'well-dyed' heads of 'beneficiaries'! Anyway, it is not 'that-fit' for consumption... throw it, litter it, spill it... in a 'religious-way'!).

'Daag' has a different connotation. While on clothes, it is not without a solution (though the stain might be insoluble in cleansing chemicals), but at subtle levels, this 'stain' connotes what our 'status' holds for others... scar is slightly different... we carry it upon-ourselves!

Women(at least some of them), are 'more worried' about a scar, than the injury itself, that had caused it!... (A lady colleague of mine, once suffered skin abrasions, when the pressure cooker chose to intimate a bit loudly that she, the working-cooker, had forgotten to 'water the plant' ... the cooker's inside-base with those two crucial cups of water, before placing the 'priority-dish' with its own cooking-water!... Out of the 'stream' of visitors to the hospital ward, the voiced-concern of her close lady-colleagues was.... 'is the scar going to be permanent?'... and I was all attention to 'see' what the face-expression is going to say, while the words would lean towards 'only an appropriate' reply ... 'our courtesy' levels demand that such 'ex-gratia' acts are received with 'strict-adherance' to 'appropriate-replies' rather than factual-based experiences. This lady chose to be uninsured, and said 'I really don't know'.. She was good-looking despite that scar already, and this, might have irritated a few others around! ).

Only after I 'grew' up beyond the physical growth even, did I notice that scars came to be 'sought-after-thing' for some youngsters... But they liked it only on their clothes... the Jeans-pant! The cow-boy-movie-heroes with torn-and-stitched pants with those patches became a 'rage'... I tried to look-out for something similar in girls, but only 'rare-ones' (In all probability, they might be 'trial' sessions, out of 'borrowed-garments-never-fit-well' wala scheme!).

Villains have a scar as a 'make-up' in movies... it is a show-of-sustenance levels (not exactly a 'tolerance' level)!

I was in for a surprise, when that spiritual pursuit tried to reveal the mind-related problems presenting a hurdle into deepening of perception beyond sensory levels! That is when this scar's scary business got itself into a 'limelight' in my view/vision! The solace, initially, ..... and the solution, later on... dawned with the 'reassurance' in the words 'Api chaydasi paapebhyaha... vrijinam sam-tarishyasee' (Gita, the song-divine)... And what better place to place it than a war-field where scar-wounds abound!

As a society, or as a nation... tainted-politicians respond to 'public-exposure' a lot-differently today. (And we take after them, often. Maybe it is thus... that... the phrase 'innocent-divorcee' got coined to signify, that the 'so-called-scar' is not really 'that-deep', while the surface scar of 'divorce' itself is no-more a 'scar-like' at all, but the in-thing, or the 'fashion-of-the-day' itself!). 'They' say , in places like Japan, a small scar as a 'taint' even, is good-enough for a politician to step-down at once, and then scurry into oblivion, while we find it adorable! My teacher at college said 'the founder of this charitable educational institution was declared insolvent some 32 times!' (and left it to us, to guess... whether to adore it or to despise it!... The subtle message was the 'reasons', the parameters, to decide either ways, had to be reconstructed afresh, ab-initio!).

Scar-edly yours,

psn(8th July, 2014)

ps: (“Scar-edly”... was, not exactly 'scaredy' ... for, that was 'found to be' thus: “a scaredy-cat (informal)

someone who is frightened when there is no reason to be

Usage notes: This phrase is used especially by children.)

Being country-Good

We do talk of things like “Vasudaiva Kutumbakam”(Global 'family'), “Loka Samasthaa sukhino Bhavantu” (Global prosperity) , etc...

We also admire 'good' songs..... 'Apne liye, jiye tou kya jiye...'

Quite a few people try to do 'good' for others, when they feel, they owe their life to what supports this very life on this planet (deep interdependence on everything and everyone).

Individually, we are usually constrained or confined to the proximity of those around us, and hence the 'good' that we 'try' to do would reach or benefit only those close by...

As a nation... as a country... which one is 'good' to the rest of the world? I came across an interesting video talk,

http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_anholt_which_country_does_the_most_good_for_the_world?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2014-07-05&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_content=talk_of_the_week_button

The transcript of that talk:

http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_anholt_which_country_does_the_most_good_for_the_world/transcript

The web page of organisation that collects data and analysis a 'good' country:

http://www.goodcountry.org/

It is interesting to note that the 'good' country also happens to be the one that is said to have gone bankrupt as a nation/country, during the recent economic depression!

Now it is our choice to find out if... India ever ranked as the most-good country by these parameters, since ancient times.. If yes... then why and how?... Has it got to do something with spirituality?.. Spiritual people, or those who walk the spiritual path.. do they 'fit-in' into these parameters of 'being-good'? (interestingly, the speaker of that TED talk uses the term 'good' with a unique style of comparative degrees.. good-gooder-goodest... instead of good/better/best..!! That changes the base of its very concept!)

Not-yet...Good-enough... Yours,

psn(6th July, 2014)

Messy Mess-up

I did enjoy reading one of meanings each, of these two words, 'messy' and 'mess-up'.....

Messy = Unpleasantly difficult to settle or resolve

Mess-up = something badly botched or muddled

I had looked it up at 'thefreedictionary dot com ....

I felt a deep compassion towards some of my fellow seekers(during my days of 'volunteering' while I was engaged with ancient spiritual practices, modified to suit the present-day-mind, and thus evolved into newer-form-of-techniques), ... when I saw that they were struggling to get into a groove, to get a feel , a glimpse... of that 'meditative state' after which the very practice turns into an abundant source of inspiration!

Only then on, I paid adequate attention to people around me who frequently used to utter certain 'standard-phrases' in certain situations, where their desire for a 'positive-result' turns into a sort-of-anxiety (the 'mind' even thinks of this as a very-positive-anxiety... A few modern-Mom's provide themselves of such 'commendable/appreciable anxiety' when they try to 'bring-up' their children 'well'...!! And the kid wonders, 'am I going to have a stunted growth, especially that vertical-growth... if not for my 'mom's anxiety-syndrome' that puts me off so badly, so often?')...

“ Oh! I must succeed “... (still-worse: “ I must somehow succeed”... here the anxiety level is breaking the check-dams!)

“I must not 'mess-up' this event , and so, I must keep my 'sporadic-anger' in a check! (still worse: “ I must not become 'over-anxious' about the 'smooth' conduct of this event.. Little realising, that this “I must not become 'over-anxious'.. this 'over anxiety' is sought-to-be curbed 'only-with' an 'over-dose' of further over-anxiety!

Exam-scores-chasing-kids, would keep chanting, 'I must do well in the exam'... 'I must remember this chapter/key-words/ to 'somehow' impress the evaluator of the exam paper that 'I-do-now' this concept quite well'... (here the 'chant' ... effectively.... interrupts the 'committing-to-memory' that jargon, that un-understood, and 'yet-important' .. 'portion'.. the tick-mark, the underlining mark, the inverted commas.. is all that they manage to remember at the exam-hall, not the contents!)...

I wonder, how this 'pre-emptive-strike' by this 'positive-anxiety' is going to be countered, especially when it is about the other-person's anxiety, which is now-my-anxiety!!! All I end up doing is ... further messing-up the already-mess-up ... messy-mess-up of that other messy person!!! (It took a very long time to even understand/grasp the 'oddity' of the strange, and seemingly-untimely-comment of the teacher, when he suddenly/abruptly walked out of a meditative session , saying “Sometimes, my very presence would feel oppressive to you... so I leave this place 'physically' for a while now”...!!! I could not 'feel' the absence even!...

For us commoners, that implicit trust is a simple, handy and easy tool, to get started with, to handle this 'positive-anxiety-syndrome' (my guess!).. But again, this trust itself is an 'already-messed-up' concept, to-our/in-our understanding!!!

Under-standing-ly yours,

psn(4th July, 2014)

post script: I am a 'tube-light' perhaps! I realised a bit late, the 'deeper implication' (that positive-anxiety-syndrome's concept), though , right in my school, my English teacher quoted a saying “ I spoiled my own health, drinking to 'other's health' too often”!! There is a tradition of drinking a 'toast' with 'cheers' ... ( I was busy thinking about 'bread-toast' perhaps! English-teacher, grammar-classes, nounform, verb form mix-up/mess-up!).