Mind's choices

Quick judgement waala option!

It likes to keep jumping over, from one thing to the other.. a steady focus is not in its very nature... We have to evolve into it very consciously! (while reading a text, the eye jumps from one set of alphabets to the next.... Not that the eye was designed to view 'only-that-way'... it can do a streaming too... but it takes a while , to be at it )...

When 'jumping' seems a trait (acceptable as something that we get to see often)... are we not going to 'jump into conclusions'? (And we say, 'there's more than what meets the eye!') ...

I was engrossed into a discussion , and I suddenly was reminded of my domestic routine, manual washing of clothes...

I announced, “time to oblige my kidneys, (sweating session, washing clothes)”....

The popular fashion of a mind is to jump ... something like “Oh! There he is bragging.. but making the right-kind-of-noises, to escape a social stigma, staying within socially acceptable norms! But is he not 'very-indirectly' hinting at ...'you aren't doing so' and a nasty smile... a holier-than-thou wala attitude!”

This option obviates the need to dwell any further.. Summary disposal of the case. No files pending... Just a reminder, not to 'mind' this bloke's self-praise yet again!

A bit different choice..
“Oh! It does sound true! After all, sweating is a natural phenomenon, not his discovery-channel!.. And it goes without saying, that at least the water is pumped out, if not the exactly-same-chemicals that a kidney filters! But for sure, the skin level dirt below the skin, would 'plough-back' its profits, the filth and force feed the distribution-system, and reach the kidneys anyway!

Right now, I can't replicate this bloke! Agility problems! But at least, it does not hurt me to look at that day-laborer on the rail-road tracks, sweating heavily, and telling myself, 'yet another xerox copy of that idiot'.. and smile! The despise at them gets toned down! The ugly-visuals of a sweating labor would tone down my aversion a little!... Hopefully, my positive vibes might hit that innocent labor, and he doesn't know what-hit-him, but suddenly finds the work to be a little-lighter!..”

side-benefit.. A contribution towards 'swatcha Bharat'!

Sweat cleanses... kidney does the job a little longer, that cleaning... Brain gets cleaner inflow, for a while.. now, the brighter brain affords positive visuals as inputs... there is a chain reaction! (charity begins at home!)

At this age, what else can I hope to do... blabber a while, and pray (like the farmer does, after ploughing and seeding, 'may it rain'!).. But, instead of rains, if it drains... no-probs! Go at it again! I am loving it!

Sweatingly yours,

psn(19th august, 2015)

cleanliness

Is next to Godliness...

Fine! It does have an appeal too (minimising that heavy-lean on a blind faith).. Even athesits do not contest the 'goodness' in cleanliness..!

But where I hail from, they have also a view that “Lotus blooms in slush” (more the slush, better the bloom!)...

My kid age problems, these contradictions were...

I looked around....

Elders, I found.... are simply not bothered about 'rules'! They carry a 'foot' ball all over the playground... If needed, they just bribe the 'middleman' who calls himself an 'Umpire'!

Even today, they feel they have a 'democratic right' to elect 'whomsoever' they wish to... (doesn't matter even if it ends up inot 'life-time-prepaid-Scams'... or if washes out an entire parliament session @ 63+ crores of rupees each day! Right is right, when it is democratic!

But ancients couldn't be wrong...
Nor those who said, 'very-next' to Godliness!
I am indeed missing something crucial!
Let me be a little 'undemocratic' unto myself (yep/yes, silently, clandestinely, etc...). Let me play by the rules, even if it means losing out to a lot of my comfort-zones!

That kalai-wala, (one who gives a While-lead coating to brass vessals. During my kid age, it is the brass-vessals that count for dowry-weightage)... he cleanses the vessals far-better than the maid who does the same job to those vessels after cooking is over... He scrubs harder... In fact, he even removes the surface of earlier handiwork of coating (he is a humble fellow, I can dare to ask him, unlike my 'educated-elders'.. .. he explains, different levels of cleansing/cleaning, according to goal/purpose.. A guru for me, who planted a 'concept' in all-innocence, which would bloom when I reach that-station/platform on rail-journey of spirituality!)..

The daaktar, cleanses the wounds... not that it is going to become 'clean' like an AfterShaveLotion... .. in fact the picture is uglier, with open visible piece of flesh, the underrskin, when blood is swept off!... Surgeries ensure cleansing + cleanliness +hygiene (wah!)...

The maid cleans the place, sweeping the dust right under the carpet! (democracy, rights, etc!)...

Oops! 'Purity' crept in afresh, as a problem (not quite clean!).. But democracy and rights come to our rescue, and we scuttle the whole issue (for a better muhurat), and proceed to pursue our own sweet-agenda!

Yes, in the ancient days, cleanliness of energy-channels was besought, using breath-technique, and it lasted at least 2 years ... but that's for those who are willing to play by the rules, not those who are stubborn about carrying the foot-ball into their hands... (at least on the ground use the feet! After the game, take that foot ball right in our palms, on a world-trip, who cares!)

But what about Lotus? The slush! (I dunno! Search me!.. I too am familiar with 'democracy'/demography, etc.. :) ... )

Slushily yours,

psn( 14th aug, 2015)

Being reminded of ...

“The trouble with narrating a good wit is that it reminds the other fellow of a dull one”!

A hurtful one... (maybe that is why it isn't invoked too often, though reasonably popular!)

But 'being reminded of' is an excellent capability in itself....

The teacher gives a hint, in solving geometry riders, 'extend that a-b to a point c, beyond the line x-y.. and see if you are reminded of that converse-theorem!'

Some are good at telling their sub-conscious, 'please wake me at 4 am tomorrow'... and when the mind is dreaming, the 'sub-mind' does the subordinate-function, to nudge the hormones, which in turn coveys to the neurons, and a sensation shifts the bio-rhythm enough to wake that person!

I noticed that even not-so-literate blue-collared workers 'manage' to be reminded of the concepts of physics, while handling even menial jobs like laying a stone-ware pipe leading to a septic tank.. These pipes are not 'sawing-friendly' (saw blades don't make a dent on that 'glaze' on mud-pipes... they hold it at a particular angle and just make a 'tear' at the skin.. Now, they fill the pipe with wet sand, and then give a gentle tap along that tear.. “concepts of physics”... and the pipe yields with a neat & clean cut, to fit into that partial-gap into the 'collar' placed reversed into that tank (we ease , so easily, and never think of that technology that has gone into those leak-proof pipes!)

“Oh! it is similar to a cornea-transplant!” I would imagine, an eye surgeon to be exclaiming when he 'happens' to notice that the floating skin of the milk can be placed over a steaming dish, which needs to retain its subtle flavour, and gently merge with the floating mass of spices blended chemically, to give that tinge of flavor!

A good teacher presents a lesson, hoping that the kids are reminded of earlier concepts taught...

A pessimist can get reminded only-of own failures, and that of others....

A spiritual teacher, if also dexterous at deployment of technology, can activate 'jammers' , like those near a 'politician's residence' , which keep frustrating techies who depend on mobiles to communicate even within the same-building! (it is a curse, if software companies are located very close to a chief-minister's residence! )...

I was bull-headed...
So like bulls, cows and buffaloes, I had to ruminate what I perceived and heard, in order to be 'reminded' of related concepts, stories, incidents, and then re-assimilate the fresh inputs , stack them afresh at a different memory location, and so on....
It came handy, when I was a toy at the spiritual teacher's hands... He switched off the jammers... We still communicated! That's the joke! (When a mind is jammed, communication is effective!).

Otherwise, we do it the hard way... Learn to switch-off being reminded so-randomly.. irrelevantly, interrupting-ly... etc...
Now, whether we undertake a 'chanting' (which includes this jamming as one of its on-line functionalities, among other major ones too), or we just set-the-conditions, to allow a mind to turn itself into a sleep mode is purely a private-affair, a very personal-choice....

Ruminatively yours,

psn(9th Aug, 2015)

Catalyst

“Bahut badaa aadmi hai wo... Mera Guru”(a great man, he is, my guru)... his eyes said it too well, the kind of reverence that he had for 'who-ever' that was... ...

That 'Guru' obviously was practising 'catalysm' (if we are allowed to make it into an 'ism'... If this ancient heritage can be reduced to an 'ism' , then why not the role of a 'catalyst'?)...

That youngster further offered, “aap ko agar interest hai tou mil-wavoonga” (if you are keen, I can see to it ... that you get to meet him)...

I did not appear to have impressed him 'enough'.. He displayed a kind of fatigue, at having failed to impress me... So, to cheer him up, I asked “Kya naam hai wo guru ka?” (what is his name, that guru)...


Now he brightened again, and said, “Mr. X”.. (since I knew the place about which this youngster was speaking about, and since that surname 'x' rhymed with someone I knew... It was now my turn, to show-some-interest... I asked “is it Mr. AAA(first name)... BBB(middle name), and X(surname)?”

“Yesss!” he beamed... and widened his eyes at a pleasant surprise... “Surprising, that you know his full name!” (only close family people bother to ask the first name, in the north... surnames suffice, to draw attention!)..

Now, I had to handle this very carefully... (else, I would be asking for trouble!)... I suggested: “Well long ago, he tried with me too... and he was an utter failure... But, it looks like I succeeded! See, I got off the hooks!... And he is stuck with his 'disciples' now!... Oh yes!... If you are keen, try reminding him 'do you remember this fool--(my name suffixed gently)?'.... if I am lucky, he may remember...”


It was very unlikely that I would meet this youngster again (it was a very casual and a chance-meeting at a common-friend's place)...

And it would not matter, if that 'guru' does say something about me...

But, this Mr.X, had spent some 6 hours a day, for 3 long years, with me, when I was good-for-nothing after office hours..
He had come to get a little bit of 'English' (fair working knowledge, enough to say, “I know English too, and can understand what is spoken”...)...
but, it so turned out that we worked into the very fundamentals of 'life'.... and that 'English' had anyway happened on-the-way... he could even speak, cohesively, for full 300 seconds to his top-boss, whose jaw-dropped, unable to grasp the entirety of so many sentences , when a confrontation became inevitable, to assert his(Mr.X's) rights to appear for some departmental exam, and the hall-tickets did not arrive...

After we parted (my transfer to south), that Mr.X too got transferred to a semi-urban area, where he decided to teach what he benefited-from as a 'clear-experience'... He did not venture too deep... He just taught a few postures which are known to have come down from ancient times, as tools to evolve spiritually (the yog-aasanaas)... And it did benefit his students, (as I could see from that youngster, who did give little more details... That X, hired a large wedding hall for a whole year, at a bargained rate, stating a charitable 'cause'.... and during wedding seasons, the '3-hours of morning sessions' would be suspended... some 3 batches were taught, of 60 people each! Good job!.. )...

'Oh!' I told myself... 'Even to 'know' that my humble attempt of a trial-role at “catalysm” had really worked reasonably, it took some 40+ years ... a chance meeting!' (But it did not really matter... I was only keen to know my own-effectiveness at communication skills, while what happened with Mr.X , for me , was quite incidental!)...

Too hectic, I thought... 6 hours a day, just with one person.... arey! Wi-fi ka zamaana hai... kuch meetha ho jaay!

Catalystically yours,

psn (3rd Aug, 2015)

May the Name of the Lord be praised!

I liked this expression...
To me, it brings out the distinction between a 'praise' and an 'appreciation' to the extent that it seems to even hint towards an evolvement to become eligible to really praise!

Appreciation seems easier...
If we do not 'appreciate' the value of

a) rubber hand gloves while handling uninsulated electric wire, a shock ensures that we learn to appreciate...

b) helmet while driving a two wheeler on Indian roads, pot holes are good-enough to teach us, not even that rough and negligent 'co-wheeler' who doesn't even appreciate the need of obeying lane-discipline, etc...

It does not matter if we do not appreciate honesty, bribery is rampant, and we can sail smooth...

If we do not appreciate life?... or a 'human-mind'... well purity-standards would take care of it :)

Oh! I managed to even appreciate that 'silence' at least to some extent, for I can see... it makes my post-retirement life jolly-good! (proof of the pudding, eating... aisa kuch hai wo old adage!)

appreciably yours,

psn (3rd Aug, 2014)