Automation

A magical word indeed !

And its magic works so well, that it never runs short of a 'majority' , as its devotees!

In the name of security, cleanliness and orderliness, some temple has automated the cracking of cocoanuts (or was it 'breaking', of nuts ? )... and the 'make up' of that machine is of some deity...

Somebody sent me a 'forward' of a video clip via whatsApp... it showed a 240 year old robot which can write flawlessly, that 'manu-script' style... a sophisticated piece of machinery, and a 'miracle' when it is so-old!!!

Generally, repetitive jobs are sought to be automated... (that is what.... I thought)..

But a startling aspect dawned when I saw a very famous global company automating a 'letter' to those who declined its 'job-offers' :)

Such automation is 'safe' only as long as humans do automate their adoration too, for automation :) But, if somebody 'looks' at it, and 'observes' consciously, will it not 'show' that the number of 'job-offer-declines' are so high, that even that had to be automated?

My head started spinning...

Cocoanut 'offer' when automated, loses its intrinsic values, which is right now not-within-our range of perception... the 'deity' to which this is outsourced, can it be 'consecrated'?

Writing a book, was assigned to a deity, who was 'supposed' to be not just brilliant... but an expert at removing hurdles (if we look at those epic stories of (Lord) Ganesha taking a 'dictation' as a scribe, from a composer of that Mahabharata, the sage Vyasa... (Now what 'else' can a robot write?, just the garbage-in/garbage-out... in a computer language... )

How many of us are 'really' relishing that automated voice response, when we dial the phone number of some utility services? (In India, when that call gets transferred to a human operator, he does a better job at such 'automated' responses, which only aggravates the frustration of a complainant!)...

Now, that brings up yet another question in my mind... Have we ended up 'automating' the 'meanings' that we assigned to the words that we used?... Or do we take a 'flash-glance' at the concepts embedded in those words?

A flood of examples pours into me... those 'remixes' of songs... a devotional song is remixed into some joke, advertisement, etc... (when a kid, I overheard a casual remark, “Hey, the overdose of repetitive listening to that advertisement for 'Afghan-Snow' has rendered me so-useless, that I can no more appreciate the beauty of the snow-capped mountains, when I spend hundreds of rupees to visit them on a picnic, because.... I am 'only-reminded' of that stupid snow-bottle, and the product-name :-( Now, a kid at school says, opposite of the word 'original' is 'china' :-)) ... we are 'evolving'!....)

What would happen to those chants then?...
The precious word forms.... some of which were called Mantra? ( I got answers too soon, when most people couldn't 'see', why the famous Gayatri-chant ... when it was also designated as 'mother-of-chandass'... should not be degraded, by calling it a 'mere-mantra'... though basically, it is indeed a mantra!!!)...

The multiplication tables were 'chanted' by kids ... (that was decades ago)... today, it is outsourced to computing technology... (the 'unfortunate' few, who are destined to reach a research-level at computing... only they would 'discover' what they missed, when the deeper-concepts of mathematics sprouted from-within, only when the non-automated-chants were 'imposed' on a kid at the very “primary” stage, ... rightly named as 'primary-school'.... :-))

Automatically yours,

psn 29th March, 2016

Complacency in complaisance :)

As commoners... we seldom find it worthwhile to go too deep into the implied meanings of words...

But, as life experience deepens... those simple adages we heard during childhood suddenly seem to make 'More-sense' now, than it ever made... They seem to become 'live', and even mock at us!

During my kid days, the only instance/occasion, where I noticed my elders getting too-focused for the right choice of words was, when they tried to send a telegram :)
The reasons were too obvious...
Cost of 'number of words'... length of a single word did not increase its cost, ... hunt for a single word that 'carries' the meaning of more words...

Uniqueness of words... even if misspelt, the receiver should manage to decipher its original word :)

Shelf-life of message: Telegrams at times reach a little late (usually, it is about those which says, “I am coming there”... I reach well in time, to receive the telegram :)

Etc...  

But today, merely because it-costs-just-peanuts... we became 'complacent' about the contents of what we say, copy-paste and forward to yet-others :)

When I came to spiritual business... I was dumbfounded at once... the very choice of words, adhere to the concept of 'unambiguity' even at basic levels.... Be it about describing a physical practice, or whether it is about 'identifying' the phenomenon within, which indicates a spiritual-experience !
The worst part was... these spiritual masters ... were in 'unison' .. they refused to compromise on unambiguity, even at the cost of mystifying a fresher!

For instance, that verse in Hindi, “Bura Jo Dekhan Main Chala, Bura Naa Milya Koye Jo Munn Khoja Apnaa, To Mujhse Bura Naa Koye” ... it roughly translates as, “I searched for the crooked, met not a single one When searched myself, "I" found the crooked one”.. A logical mind would meet a dead-end too soon, when it attempts to grasp the deeper-sense of it... where as, when the perception deepens enough to transcend the mind, the 'judgemental-nature of mind' gets revealed :))

The strangest thing is... once the meaning becomes clear, our own mind does a 'same-side-goal'... preserve the mysticism in it... says the mind, and let the freshers work their way towards it, even as I did!

But, when I tried to look at that word, 'complacency'.. ... something that the extremists in violence seek in others, to get away unnoticed, and inflict a damage by surprise...
I was in for yet another surprise!...
“You are okay, then I am okay” started its game as a malignant growth within, deterring spiritual growth in us, with that innocent looking thing called, “complaisance”... turning into a 'complacency' in us :)

For reference, I looked at “the free dictionary dot com”

About complacency: A feeling of contentment or self-satisfaction, especially when coupled with an unawareness of danger, trouble, or controversy.

About complaisance: deference to the wishes of others; willing compliance

Ah, ... when it comes to our-own-selves... beware of that 'like for yourself, what you like for others!'(I told myself)... A tricky game !

So, whether I happen to note and remember that subtle difference between 'complacency and complaisance' or not... it is vital that the subtlety doesn't translate into 'actuality' in me :)

complacently yours,

psn (20th March, 2016)

Driver's seat

Oh...

The seat itself sounds so vulnerable, when the prefix 'driver' alerts us about the dynamism expected out of the person seated on it...!

Large vehicles require the assistance of either another person or the 'dependable' gadgets which takes care of the view of otherwise-obscure sides of that monster-sized vehicles..

A good driver, is one, who looks out for the earliest signs of a vehicle going off-track.. ...

Not bothering about the wheels or its air-pressure isn't really a comforting thought when it is a 'Pilot' on the driver's seat ... He takes a look at many more dials each minute! His working hours per week, per month are perhaps the lowest among drivers of all kinds...

How many of us drive a vehicle well, I wondered.... One vehicle that we cannot ever engage an other person as its driver seems to be our own body (more so... not just even-when.... when this whole vehicle, the body of ours, is placed in another vehicle which has a full-fledged-driver... That's when we 'fly' !... The longer the 'flying' , more the care this body-vehicle needs from its own exclusive-driver... ).

Body wakes up each day, and only then the driver is woken up by this vehicle...

The body 'reports'... sense of touch 'okay'.. hearing is 'okay'... a few organs in the lower abdomen needs an urgent cleaning, etc..

But does this vehicle body, 'sleep' at all?... The engine keeps running on an 'idling' and yet, the repair job takes place at an hectic pace (doctors tell nurses in the ICU, “Don't bother to wake up the patient, to give his hourly doses of medicines... we are yet to find a medicine that replaces sleep!)..

The 'mind' is usually the one that distracts us (our attention), from driving this body-vehicle, the way it ought to be driven... Even re-fueling is dictated by the mind, according to its whims, when we know well, that it is the eccentricities of the mind that leads to the vehicles unladen-weight becoming unruly :))

As long as the body is in our custody... no matter whether it is in 'running' condition or not... working condition or not... differently-abled or not... it is the driver's expertise in us that decides about the journey we undertake with this body... And if this body leaves us in mid-ocean, and quits, the drift of the waves becomes the driver+vehicle... (Ocean, a symbolism of karmic residues :))...).

A reasonably silent mind allows the driver's seat to function more effectively...

Spiritual Masters, ensured that the 'driver' never at all goes to sleep... Maybe, they happened to really appreciate the 'worth' of this sophisticated vehicle, the human-body! It sounds quite reasonable... the horn need not blare , the lights can be dimmed, and the gears disengaged, when the engine is just-idling... (Oh! At once, I am reminded of that huge vehicle, which does a bore-well digging, while the vehicle itself is “firmly” footed at a place... it doesn't even engage its hand-brakes!.. It is during deep sleep states, that the driver's alertness is at its peak levels, and the digging reaches the core of our being!) ...

a driver, at your service,

psn (6th March, 2016)

Dependability

Whose “ability” is it , that I am looking at?.. (depend----> (on) Ability)...
I kept wondering...

My ability to assess the other's dependability,...... or the dependability of the other which itself makes-redundant, my ability to even-assess the other properly ...

When we look at a nation's progress... I guess, this 'dependability' factor plays quite an important role and a significant one too... The recent joke, sent as a forward... is perhaps good-enough to substantiate, that the 'nations-name' gets labelled (A kid wrote the opposites for given-words... Light—darkness, white—black... etc, and for “original”, he turned 'dependability' towards 'popular-meaning' and said “china” as the 'more-plausible' answer )...

Telegrams were not so-dependable, when I found my uncles arriving at the door a bit earlier to receive their own sent-telegrams, to announce their visit :))

Only as long as ...type-set-composing was a strenuous task,.... the 'printed' matter was fairly dependable... Now, even printed currencies ... Oh!.. We are asked to write the 'serial numbers' of higher denomination currencies on the 'back-side' (not the reverse side... 'back' seems 'more-dependable as a word, when the grammatically-accurate one “reverse” seems irreversible!...), of the 'challan' while paying cash at gourmet/government counters... (cashiers—gourment-appointed/pubic-servants.... are not even 'expected' to improve their own dependence-ability at guessing correctly the fake counterfeits-from-genuine-counterfeits/or whatever... See, I don't exactly depend on my own vocabulary :)).....)

Dual SIM cards... a demonstrable example of dependence on tower-connectivity?

Suddenly, our effort to insulate ourselves against 'providence' ... the provident-fund is 'axed' (oops! It should be 'Taxed'... budget proposals)...

Yes... the VVIP's are very dependable on one thing.. they are late for the 'public-address' by a minimum of 60 minutes.. ... (incidental benefit is... the 'timers' set to eliminate them, if at all they remain dependable, go off a bit too-early... the 1998 serial blast of coimbatore upset the cart of dependability, when 'usual' late-coming was not properly 'computed' :))... ).

The highest authority, meant to safeguard the country... are making a U-turn, on their earlier pronouncements made under 'pressure' of the-then-rulers... The intelligence of Bureau(ib) is no more-dependable :)).... when it comes to an aam-aadmi trying to assess a desh-bhakt..!!

The race is now, about assessing the non-dependability accurately, rather than the potentials, skills, etc while hiring! ( I was reminded of a 'short-cut' that a few of my bosses tried to lean-upon, when they said, “I trust you, so I will not check, but sign blindly, your clerical calculations!”.. and I reminded them “But sir... you are not paid to 'trust-my-accuracy', despite my integrity... and so pleez don't depend on the dependability on my accuracy at maths :))...” }

That leaves me confused...

When I 'talk' of independence... am I declaring my 'freedom' from dependability on others?

Dunno!

Oh!

Spirituality doesn't depend even on ..... dependability... not in the least, on that of others!

But that makes it komplicated/complicated... We are so used to playing only 'dependable-games' :)

In-dependently, yours

psn(3rd March, 2016)