Prayer

Right from early childhood, elders around me attempted to teach me to pray (worship was a monopoly of designated priests, who worship, and then make it easier for us to pray/ask). They even told me what to ask for, when praying to the various Gods in the temples around. The funny mind that I carried, I seldom failed to ask the name of the deity in each temple, and the volley of questions included what type of prayers we could offer to that particular deity. My humble idea was that in case that deity did not specialize in the thing that I asked for, that God or Goddess would be needlessly embarrassed (so I thought!). It could also be that there would be a mutual memorandum of Understanding that they would not encroach into each other’s portfolio.

As I grew a bit more, it then occurred to me that all these Gods had a ‘complete’ data base of events that had occurred and was yet to happen. Then, what is the point in my asking for something? More importantly I liked to know, whether these Gods really require to be ‘told’ what we needed? Because it conflicted with our understanding that Gods are omniscient, in addition to being omnipotent and omnipresent.

The stories of faulty prayers scared me. Some body mis-pronounced ‘Nir-deva-twam’ (‘let there be no competition’ from lower powers), while asking for a boon, to the highest One, and in a hurry asked for ‘Nidrey-va-twam’ (sleepiness). It was granted instantly. The asker of this prayer had to compromise with 6 months of deep sleep every year! I now thought of a bug-free prayer, and chose to accept traditional forms. Even they were in large variety.

The best one seemed to be in a story where a begger turns a negotiator, and makes a proposal that the Other One could not refuse (God-Father movie style)! He told (not asked), “O’ God, by myself, I do not covet for any thing, but let not people call me, your best devotee, a person who is in ‘want’ all the time”. This seemed like a life-time tax payment. No hassles thereafter. Now, it is the botheration of the Other One to worry eternally to keep us above wants. But then, later, it occurred to me ‘What if the Great One feels insulted that we had to ask Him, what we need, for him to really gain knowledge about it?” This is something that He would never disclose to the ‘concerned’ person. One has to be fortunate to deduce from experience that we just never happen to get what we ask, and instead, we get what we did not bargain for. A very inconvenient thing…..

Trust had to step in now. All we can do is to go to him (when we feel a bit run out of battery, not for anything else), and stand before Him. Hand over ourselves completely (any way, that is our ‘status’ even otherwise, at all times). If possible, listen with rapt attention, alertness, awareness, and an empty mind. If there is any communication that is worth while, it has to be only from Him, not from us to Him. If we are eligible, we may get to hear or feel it. Otherwise, out of trust, quietly leave the place, with the confidence that only some benefit could have accrued, which we are yet to know about.

Some how, I feel quite contended with this position, even if the bulk of the people around insist on a loud ‘presentation’ of their charter of demands. Clearly, I am not in their way. Trust works for me. And when I could later see that most of the enlightenments happened in places other than places of worship (not just prayer/asking places), it seemed to embolden my inclination to avoid adding to the crowd at ‘popular’ shrines.

Please tell me if I have been on the negative side of the ‘growth’ with these flawed concept, or is it that I am ‘grooved’ into being ‘pray full’, instead of a concerted effort at a prayer .
Regards,
Psn (27th February, 2010)

Intimidation

The great scientist Dr. Albert Einstein, is reported to have said this : “It [atomic energy] may intimidate the human race into bringing order into its international affairs" (Albert Einstein).

And even in law, the theory of punishments includes one type of punishment as a “deterrent”, only with this hope of intimidating the onlookers.

What is wrong, in exploiting this vulnerability of being prone to intimidation, when we ourselves are ready to be subjected to intimidation day-in-and-out, in all our activities?

“Everybody” is a gentleman, when there is a policeman around the corner”.

People who genuinely tried “Gandhi-giri” in their real life failed, only because they did not notice the element of ‘intimidation’ by the “media effect” in the examples that the movie ‘Lage-Raho-Munnabhai” had depicted.

The fear of death intimidates us, and we die many times before it really happens.

The ‘vacuum’ after retirement, intimidates people who are otherwise clearly convinced that voluntary retirement is the best option when the work place no more supports sincerity, and when financial considerations are no more valid.

We do many things, opt for many things, merely because we feel intimidated of being left out, singled out, etc.

Oh! Even I seem to be indulging in that needless intimidation, reminding ourselves of the situations that trigger intimidation.

I am tempted to look at “expectation”, as, perhaps the root cause of this intimidation.

We expect that we are allowed to live a little longer, and therefore death finds scope to intimidate us.

We ‘expect’ lots of respect from others, all the time, and therefore that forced ‘ethical’ behaviour intimidates a visible adherence from us all the while.

Try to intimidate a three month old baby with anything, anyways, anyhow…. In all probability, at best, it may find your gesticulations/articulations quite an entertaining amusement!

We settle the score with that child, as soon as it acquires a little bit of ‘self-awareness’ and now starts to choose, relinquishing that priceless ‘choicelessness’ that it had enjoyed as nature’s best benediction for that brief, blissful, baby-period. Now, we recklessly intimidate that child, be it our ‘own’ even, with all samples of direct and indirect intimidations, till the child grows up to repay us in our ‘own’ coin!

That is why perhaps, these wandering mendicants choose to beg just one thing, their food, and declare their “abound” nature by choosing “choicelessness” quite consciously, to be least available to intimidation of any sort for the rest of their lives! They choose the ‘death’ even, in evolved cases/instances.

We can try out in small measures, to test its efficacy, if that intimidation and ‘expectation’ are really related.

Regards,Psn(22nd February, 2010)

Ethics Oversimplified

Ethics is prescribed quite often. But its true intrinsic meaning seems quite elusive. Not because it is complex by itself. We make it complicated, by attaching ‘strings’. Why we do it is, simply because, our mind refuses ‘one-way-traffic’. We expect some kind of reciprocal ethics from the ‘beneficiary’ of our ethics.
Even corporate level institutions have tried out that ‘business-ethics’. It does not seem to work. We have been very clever to trade our carbon emission entitlements, refusing to be truly ethical.
Perhaps that is why a question came up, looking out for non-traditional, unconventional, unique definition of ethics. The real search is to find out what would really work.
I somehow found myself oblivious of the concept of ethics for quite a long time. But, having attempted to look at spirituality, quite intensely too, from that ‘ridiculously-early’ age, I was tempted to offer an ‘own’ definition. The global tender allows such kind of a free-bid. The best part is that there is no ‘third’ umpire, to pass a judgement. But if somebody is really interested, and finds it worth trying out, the results are truly rewarding, obviating any need for external recognition, appreciation, acknowledgement, etc.
Regards,
Psn (22 February, 2010)

The question:

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100221091942AAlsTcW
What is your own definition of ethics?
When I mean ethics I mean doing the ethical thing or not (doing the good or bad thing)

My answer:
"Own" definition is ridiculously simple.

When the finger on our left hand is injured, the fingers of the right hand do not need any ethics to extend help, nor do they complain that this left-hand-finger is unduly 'pampered' with good bandage, complete rest (as if it works hitherto!), etc. Science tells us that there is "cellular level intelligence" functioning a bit independently (that is why it fights back to survive when an insect bites, without waiting for our 'moral-sanction', even if we were on hunger-strike-unto-death).

By the same analogy, what ever rules we voluntarily adhere to, visualising this one-ness with people, and living/nonliving things around, it can be called ethics.

When we make a humble beginning to visualise, with some trust in nature, we would be blessed with the 'experience' that we were not really limited within our-OWN-body, all the time, but really we were all one and part of the universe. Once this experience dawns, no more ethics are needed. Till then, any "similar" rule with a hidden agenda is self-deceit, in the name of "ethics"

"Own"-Err-Ship

Quite often I used to wonder, about the nature of this ‘owner-ship’. When I happened to take up the study of law, I found that I really do not own my own house property for which I paid adequate consideration ‘ in full ‘ and final settlement. The document is registered, and everybody is ready to call me ‘owner’ of this piece of property. And yet, in India, a democratic country, the President of the country is the true owner of the entire country! We are allowed to hold that property only ‘during the pleasure of the President’. Of course, basically, this law intends to facilitate ‘acquisitions’ for public purpose. And if necessary, to oust or outlaw an undesirable citizen, stripping him or her of all the titles to these properties.

Even before that, I found people find it difficult to ‘own’ moral response-abilities for many simple miss-haps that occur in normal routine life. And yet, they find ‘own’ brother, sister, relative, etc being the root cause of their misery in life. They struggle to retain that ownership helplessly. We retain ‘ownership’ to ‘apart-ments’ , though in the very same building.

How to really own something, is in-deed a confusing question.

Some asker finds it amusing to tickle the most intimate relationship of ‘spouse’ with this ‘ownership’ issue, and further nudges it with the child-ownership.

Why not answer it, even if only to further confuse, is what I felt. But the benefit is that some re-look at the concept happens, what ever it ‘takes’.

When we find that we err in ownership-related-issues, we do not find enough time to look at it in detail. Children start disowning their parents when they step into teenage. That is the price the elders end up paying, when they try to exclusively try to own their children, refusing to own up the responsibilities for their own inadequacies in bringing them up.

Welcome to take a look at the question now, if you happen to own a little bit of ‘nerve’ having read this far.

And, no strings attached, for I quite understand how economical and viable it is, to own a stoic silence, instead of venturing comments/view/opinions etc, eitherways!
Regards,
Psn (22nd February, 2010)

The question:

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100221152415AAgIOVh
Are you the owner of your body or the one who you married to? if both own each other then what they fight for?
in this world every body just says that o my husband/wife owns my body and we can not do without each other. BUT when the child arrives the owners starts showing the rights and duties to each other. why ?and time comes when go for separation or devours.ha ha ha .SO WHO OWNS WHO?

My answer:
Until a few decades ago, the small islands of Andaman and Nicobar were used for punishing the freedom fighters. "Kaala Paani ki Sazaa" was the term used. People were tied by chains to their hands and feet, whipped with sharp whips, and dirty water poured over the blisters, so that the tiny wounds and blisters become pus-wounds, and a very slow torturous painful death is caused. The people who were thus chained, seemed to 'enjoy' it, and even mocked at the punishers saying, "we will take birth yet another hundred times, and be ready for similar death. How are you going to make sure to come to do it again to me?"....
Today, many of the tourists report having 'experienced' a strange high-energy in those condemned cells, when they visit those ancient jails.

The punishers physically tried to claim the ownership of those living 'bodies' of the prisoners.

The prisoners declared their freedom for the next hundred similar-torturous-births.

The results are seen today by the fortunate few tourists who are alert, awake, and aware.
..
We own those for whom we are ready to give up ourselves unconditionally. (ourselves too, included).

Rebellion

Most parents of the present day seem to have had the ‘bitter’ taste of this, around the same time, the time when their children clock between 15 and 20 of age. And then it ‘settles’ down (either ways)!

I was wondering whether the question would help us re-looking at things that do matter, even in the midst of our busy-packed-life.

I quote two of the interesting questions. Both these are of wide applicability, and so please do not look at the persons asking. It is the questions representing most common minds.

Regards,
Psn(15th Feb, 2010)

Defiance
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AupoERbf7b7kVlJgVF7OSbqQHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20100213230957AAw6nDp&show=7#profile-info-ed3c4bcf8ff77a0a7f9283f0d3068a39aa
I am father of two kids, girl aged 15 and son 12. we are from a middle class joint family.?
both my kids are good in studies. Off late i have see that my daughter has started answering back and seems to have become defiant. she is still good in studies and when reprimanded about her behaviour even feels sorry but it seems that she wants to defy authority. what seems to be the problem



Contrast
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100213033827AAxqITF&r=w#NbUvWzq9WThW9GWqYeRc
Do you think Logic has no place for Emotions?
Are they poles apart?Thank you.~Smile :)

Hierarchy of Relationships.

Once we settle down into our allotted seats in a train for a long journey, we look around to see what kind of people we are going to put up with, for the rest of our journey. Our mind starts calculating, tabulating the ‘type’ of people, as they appear to be when we just look at them. Now if somebody smiles lavishly at us, just at the first sight, our mind races to find out whether they are going to ask us to exchange for a more comfortable berth, move away our luggage to some other inconvenient corner etc. Some of us even try to restrict our ‘return’ smile within a safe limit. Later on things may change.
Now if the very same person comes to our workplace, where we are playing the role of a receptionist, we offer the first smile, and they return it with a casual acknowledgement, and both know, that there is no big risk involved in this smile.
These are small examples of the beginning of a relationship. At work place, a new comer, a new recruit, finds it the first concern to decide the hierarchy of relationship before even settling down into the job. People who attend to calls during a emergency(fire, earthquake, inundation etc), do not get this chance to pick and choose, and have to rush to save any person they come into contact first, and then look at salvaging the material things, and the building itself at last.

What kind of concepts we hold, in deciding our own private list of hierarchy of relationships would eventually decide the very quality of life! That is why, perhaps, the concept of ‘arranged’ marriages is not able to hold in the present day life. The support of large families to give ‘structural’ corrections when needed, to the ‘smooth’ flow of this relationship is absent, and there is not much scope for amicable adjustments. Or is it that the present ‘pattern’ of nurturing the relationship creeps into the ‘way of choosing’ a life partner?

Then, when a child is born, how does the child begin relating to us. No smile, no language, no self awareness for a while etc. We think we are ready for a healthy relationship. But if the child itself is not quite healthy, then how does this relationship take shape? What about the next child? What about the grand-parent’s view towards the child? How does a kindergarten teacher begin relating with the fresh batch of tiny tots? A nurse had to re-arrange the hierarchy of patients according to the rate of recovery, intensity of ailment, vulnerability of relapse etc (in an ideal situation, if it is an ideal nurse).

Then the social relationships. A friend’s friend remains a friend only till the friend remains a friend, in the normal course. This pattern is common even in case of relatives through ‘family’ relationships (in-laws, cousins, likely-claimants-of-share-in-property, ‘non-performing-assets’, etc).
When we suddenly find an insect taking a casual stroll over our body, the first thing that occurs to us is whether it is going to cause any harm, injury, hazard etc. Our mind looks at our ‘established’ list of relationships we have stored in our memory to ‘judge’ how fast we are going to react (in fortunate cases, act).

Technically, the meaning of ‘hierarchy’ runs as …… (the dictionary meaning):
“A hierarchy is an arrangement of objects, people, elements, values, grades, orders, classes, etc., in a ranked or graduated series.”

My point here is, are we aware, what is happening within us, when we lay down a ‘procedure’, a structure, and, do we re-assess’ our concepts, to evolve as a better human being, in the process of re-aligning our relationships, its hierarchy, with people and things around?
Regards,
Psn (13th February, 2010)

Are we an " ATM " for tolerance?

Very recently, I got into an argument with a lady who works as a cashier at a Bank.
Calling this conversation as an ‘argument’ , I am aware, is a bit of an unjustified allegation on this lady, since we both know very well that she holds me in great esteem, and would hardly think of proceeding beyond a ‘strong protest’, whenever I try to ‘suggest’ some changes in the ‘way of looking at things’.

This time, the discussion was about a very practical problem, which does not seem to have any real solution. The timings for making cash payments were from 10 am to 4 pm. Once the payments are ‘authorized’ on the computer system for payments, it is expected that a cashier should find ‘no reason’ to effect the cash disbursements. But when internal vouchers for sundry payments are kept pending, and released at the very last minute or even a few minutes after that, it amounts to almost a ‘blackmail’ on the cashier (“try and refuse it, and face the consequences” is the subtle message). Whenever a cashier attempts to protest this needless delay, the tactical use of power, the superiority, the linking up of ‘other instances where the cashier would need / depends on ‘sympathy’ of that superior, etc, comes into play! Now even if this cashier approaches a higher authority, this immediate ‘boss’ would whisper “Sir, there was a request from our valuable customer, not to close the cash till they come for an urgent ‘late-payment’, and so I had to use these internal vouchers to hold the cashier back from closing the cash”. It is altogether a different issue as to for whom this customer is really valuable (we know, Diwali comes every year!). There are however, genuine situations, where it is quite reasonable to allow an occasional late payment if somebody’s life, which is indeed universally valuable, is to be saved, with timely purchase of medicines, hospital expenses, with the money withdrawn. Any cashier would readily and proudly respond to such ‘genuine emergencies’. But commercially, this ‘late payment’ tendency is nothing new. It is a kind of sadism. When the accounting was manual, the timings were 10 am to 1 pm, then it was 2 pm, and after the back-office functions got automated, the timings were upto 3 pm, and later upto 4 pm. But irrespective of the closing times, the tendency was to ‘request’ for late payment after the ‘closing hour’, whatever the time be. What would they do, if it is made 24 X 7, to satiate this sadism, I wonder.

My part of the argument arose only after this lady happened to mention about a colleague of hers, who ‘ensured’ that when he was at this payments counter, the internal vouchers came well before noon! And seldom the habitual late coming customers thought of ‘not taking a risk’ with this cashier, and made it well ahead of last quarter of the closing hour! The lady could not become so strict like this colleague of hers, and yet she could not afford her own lenience simply because she could clearly see that her ‘accommodative nature’ was mostly misused or abused.
That is exactly where I had something to say. When we are “indecisive” even about the reason for which we happen to tolerate something, it really adds up to lots of stress, tension, and all that unwanted medical residues in our body over a period of time. The bulk of today’s health problems are owing to the present day situations where fail to cope with our indecisiveness. Please look at the situations…
The bus/train is getting late, and we have to choose between a costlier mode of transport and risk waiting for that regular bus (the auto, taxi fellow knows, with longer delay, he can quote a premium rate!).
The wife brings breakfast only at the last minute, and the spouse ‘utilizes’ the time to wear the shoes even, ties the lace, and reluctantly compromises ‘dry-cleaning’ the eating-hand wiping it hard on a nearby cloth, whether it be his own pant/trousers, before eating (instead of that comforting clean hand wash), before nibbling at that ‘quick’ breakfast (‘quick’ is a generous word to replace that ‘delayed-hence-brief’ breakfast. But the real test is when the breakfast comes in bits and pieces ………. One chappati/dosa after the other, from the tawa…. With that irritating ‘just a minute…’ dialogue with each refill (the hubby is indecisive, choice between getting late, and fighting early hunger. She has her own reasons … ‘did I not put up with your idiosyncrasies, when you chose to invite your friends for a late dinner, when there was a list of groceries yet to be bought since a week ago? The left over vegetables are stale and unfit for guests to be fed.'…

The teenager does not bother to inform when he/she is going to be late reaching home, and the tension is mounting with all the wild imaginations (what could have happened to her/him!)…

The other way, we happen to reach a bit late while visiting an old couple (a courtesy call to that elderly relatives), and the only stupid thing we did is that we informed them of our likely hour of visit. They now ‘use’ it as a weapon, saying “I was WAITING for you right since ‘X’ (so-and-so hour) today …”. Our ‘second track within’ echoes…. “Even otherwise, you were not so preoccupied with anything at this age, so there was no tangible loss, due to your stupid ‘WAITING’…till we came.”

Time is not the only thing that tests our patience. Space also. The person seated next, in a bus, keeps pushing us beyond the seat even, or leans on our shoulder to have a quick nap. Worst is while standing in a local train/bus, … invariably it is the other fellows elbow that finds its sure target our back of the head with that unexpected ‘knock’ (anything else would not have provoked our abrupt outburst, which even we regret, very painfully, later!). In a tight squeezed office, the next-seat-colleague, seems to enjoy nudging the chair, making his way past us from our ‘behind’ , and we end up spoiling that document with an ugly stroke of pen across, due to the unexpected jerk(by that fellow ‘THE jerk’).

Apart from time and space, there is another category which comes under an abstract concept ‘habitual offenders’.. We are tired of helping regular ‘borrowers’(whether it is cash or in kind), who lean heavily upon social norms like close relatives, friends, colleagues etc. They too test our tolerance levels. Once their ‘crisis’ situation is over, they are back to their basic tendencies /pattern /inclination /weaknesses/etc, to yet again create the same/similar crisis, to ‘invoke’ our ‘take-it-for-granted’ type of help. We succumb usually, unwilling to be ‘branded’ as an un-helping/miserly fellow.

There is a long list(we all are reminded of our own unique stock of ‘pet-peeves’).

The point is, how to manage the mounting tension, the accumulated stress/strain, due to countless ‘tolerances’ we are forced into, day in and out, throughout the life?

Not everybody is ‘abled’ to communicate dexterously, to counter the other fellow successfully. So, the ability to put up has to come from within, and end within us, and it has to be quite practical….. Self-deceit would not work. We need ‘strong’ reasons, to be able to put up with such situations. When the reasons are unshakeable, our indecisiveness gets drastically reduced, and adverse consequences on health are far reduced. Our mind would subdue considerably, and not force us to visit a psychiatrist. (The suggestion I offered to that lady constituted a bit elaborate narrative, but it sounded quite convincing to her. I am simply unable to think of attempting here, since it would only end up in testing the tolerance level of your patience yet again!).

I wonder, if that great preceptor “Patanjali” had also thought of this aspect, when he chose to begin that great monumental work “Yoga Sutras” with a strange opening sentence, which means, when translated in English as, “And now Yoga….” (Nothing else seems to work in life……. is the implied meaning!!!).
Regards,

Psn(11th February, 2010)

Working woman

The style of the question, the choice of words is what persuaded me to attempt an answer.

Whether it is happening or not, whether it is practicable in present day situation or not, at least in India, for thousands of years woman has been placed at the highest pedestal and they richly deserved it too. Nature has designed a woman to be emotionally more capable, and perhaps, the ancient Masters, realizing their worth, had assigned them certain way of life (the traditions, rituals, customs etc). The women did perform well. They were the lamp/light/torch bearers of the family in particular, and society at large.
When this is not happening now at that level, for whatever reason, it looks reasonable that why not at least let them enjoy an ‘equal’ footing with her counterpart, by becoming capable to ‘earn’ money? To most people, a working woman seems a win-win situation. I was amazed to find a question which emitted a different kind of fragrance! The asker presupposes that it is only about disadvantages, and seeks to know how bad the situation would become.

Unless somebody seeks to delve deeper, I found it reasonable to just give a passing reference to deeper aspects, than elaborate on concepts that ought to be “a subject matter of solicitation”
Regards,
Psn
The question
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100204043100AA1hO91&r=w#NbUvWzq9WThW9GWqYeRc

Disadvantages of working woman?
what are the disadvantages of a working woman for her family..

My answer:
More than a good answer, it requires a broad perspective to appreciate it.

The simple reason is, the question seeks an answer that can form a bridge between logic and emotion.

Please see, a woman works for income, whether she is going to be the sole bread-winner or to supplement the income of another person in the family, so that the standards of living can be better.

A woman who has to remain as a "home-maker" (whether by some compulsion or choice), has to shoulder the responsibility of nurturing emotional bonds within the family members (by sacrificing herself as a giant shock-absorber of all kinds of adverse situations the family has to face outside and even within the family, due to present day life-style, etc).
We are not trying to look at how far a woman is going to be successful. The question is how to "measure" the worth of both these, and strike a balance. The yardsticks for commercial contracts and emotional bonds are entirely different.

And that is why, the disadvantages need not be there at all, or it could be full of disadvantages only. Emotional bonds are entirely trust based. Commercial commitments are performance based. Each family member has to realise this in depth, if the family has to encourage a woman to work. In fact in an ideal situation, every human being, every citizen should work productively, so that nation prospers. May be we need not insist for 'payment' or compensation for what we work for. But in practical life we see, even families expect a 'milking-cow' (milch animal) as a prospective bride. That is why, it needs a large heart to appreciate the depth of the question.

The question deserves appreciation for its innocence (the question implies "how badly is my family going to miss my love and affection, when I stay away during the working hours")

Mirror Neurons

The inclination and intensity of the thought-process contributes to attitude formation, and it largely gives a strong sense of direction, even bye-passing the ‘indicative’ destiny/destination, I would dare to say.
My answer to a question about the possibility of a ‘mirror neurons’ phenomenon seeks to look at a deeper aspect, leaning upon the popular acceptance that philosophy is obviously much deeper than what the eye can behold! Irrespective of whether my answer finds patrons or not, it is an opportunity that I would never like to skip, to indicate something that cannot be put into words, especially when the situation allows me to assume a position of ‘you asked for it’!
psn


http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100202031320AAIXBc4
The question:
What is this sudden fascination in philosophy and the meaning of life?
The last 5 years or so I would say that I am quite unmotivated to do much of anything besides being extremely persistent in pursuing the knowledge of truth. I've noticed a sudden trend forming within the last year or two which is only speeding and multiplying rapidly thanks to the discovery of our 'mirror neurons'. I see it coming from everywhere and I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of you reading this are going through the same thing or something similar?

My answer:
Ah! Two things.It looks sudden. But though logically difficult to accept, experience (when perception deepens beyond sensory levels), would reassure that it took quite long enough to 'develop' such inclinations. Yet, if the logic within is restless to 'know', please look at a wider cross-section, and we would notice people slipping too often into short term priorities, and even getting stuck inextricably. A logic of negation ("not this, not thus", and therefore something else) would show the pointer to this truth.Second, the majority is only amongst those who read. We have that 'inbuilt' perception to just look for what we really want to find, and we happen to feel that there is a lot of it around. It is more of a psychological phenomenon. Look for white shirts on a street, and we might get to see a lot of it. Try for blue instead, and we would be seeing lots of it. We get polarised to 'like-minded' when we are intense enough. It is an entire phenomenon by itself. Elaboration takes us across a wide range of deep subjects with tremendous relevance too. But what is happening is quite significant, and 'noticing' it speaks of yet greater significant aspect , "the awareness". Good going.Best wishes.

Shiva Temples

By myself, I would feel persuaded to keep away from answering questions that are likely to end up into controversies instead of stimulating interest to know further.
But somehow, I yielded to submitting an answer for this one. The innocence of the asker could be the provoking element.
I only hope that the readers would first feel generous enough to pardon me, if it seems to ‘touch’ their sentiments, and then think of looking at the validity of the answer. The intentions are to inspire a person to open up for a possible experience, and not to thrust yet another idea or story, to be blindly believed upon.
Regards,
Psn(22nd January, 2010)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=As.DzgGLte7KRl2.cMLwlquQHQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20100121093129AA3WxbX
The question:
All the other hindu temples are closed and why Lord shiva temples are not closed during solar eclipses?

My Answer:
The reasons if given may not appeal to logic, reasoning etc for want of some experience about the 'nature' of energies created around such temples. The form of idol, etc have a lot of bearing upon the energies that are intended to be preserved. Some gadgets are required to be stored away from high magnetic fields as a safety. Even those audio tapes lose the quality of recording, to affect the reproduction of sound when kept very close to magnetic field. If this is acceptable, then we can use it as an 'indicative' pointer to look at the difference in types of energies that are radiated from different deities. There is a presumption that a life 'energy' is incorporated into those stone idols, after which even the sculptor is not allowed to touch it. This tradition was valid for centuries, until recently, when 'majority opinion' started dominating and prevailed over subtle values. Unless understood with a scientific mind and temper, explanations are likely to end up into needless controversies, defeating the very purpose of the inquisitive mind.The Vishnu group of temples represent 'maintenance' or 'preservation' aspect. Shiva is symbolically known as a destroyer. If we try to visualise these aspects in the types of energies too, then it could also suggest that the kind of energies that needs to be protected, and those that need to be kept available for use would differ. Eminent scientists in Astro physics have agreed that Sun (the star), Jupiter (a planet), and moon (the satellite planet) do exert some influence on earth during a cosmic phenomenon like solar eclipse. If interested, please also look at other traditions around a Shiva temple, like, not bowing to that Nandi, after having a glimpse at the main diety, (another tradition which was once very valid is almost forgotten--that ladies used to visit a Shiva temple only after the 6th day, where as for other temples, it was okay after 4th day of their periods--for want of tangible evidence, this tradition has lost validity, where as to an open minded person, it would occur to look for 'experience' beyond sensory perception level ),etc. The ancient people were fortunate to experience, and therefore they did not need any logical explanation or tangible proof. Now we are helplessly forced to pray at all structures which even remotely resemble a 'temple' out of sheer faith and belief, rather than that deep experience of energies. Consecration of the temple is yet again another significant tradition, where the storage levels of energies are maintained. Could it be a sheer coincidence that there were no 'hundi's'(coin collecting containers--the reverse of ATM's!) that were supposed to be built along with those ancient temples? Most of the hundis we find today look quite recent. Such doubts could trigger yet another spate of doubts.(If it is not likely to hurt any personal sentiments, I admire the wonderful 'coincidence' that the avatar's nick name 'ravan' also belongs to the greatest of Shiva's devotees as per ancient Epics!)

Team Spirit

Most people fail to quite understand what that ‘team spirit’ is. Just avoiding mutual quarrels? Adjust together as a group in an insufficient space? Is it to postpone the outburst till the event is over, and then we are left to ourselves to settle the scores? Some people even try to over do it, by keeping their own work pending, and earn a name of ‘good-cooperation’ by sharing somebody’s work (which actually is quite interesting to our fellow). Ultimately this ‘kept-pending-bit’ will have to be re-allotted to yet another scapegoat. To most people, this team spirit gets squeezed out of us, like that joke where a person, who was appreciated by the whole village of by-standers when he happened to save a drowning person from turbulent waters, exclaimed “To hell with your appreciation, but first tell me who pushed me into the water?”

Quite recently a working woman happened to return home from work a bit late, carrying a large package, gift wrapped. Not even waiting to be asked the two urgent questions (why so late? And What is this gift for?), the lady was all the more eager to vomit out the puzzle that caused lots of indigestion within her! It seems, during the last working hour, the Manager announced that there was going to be a brief meeting with two dignitaries visiting this office to honour the occasion. All the staff was puzzled. It so happened that this manager was asked ‘at the last minute’ to take up a business target of a tie-up, for the controlling office to complete the short fall. This manager managed to do it in just one day, by requesting a ‘big’ somebody of a large client. The head of tie-up partners decided to celebrate this unexpected windfall of touching the target, after having slogged for a couple of months. They lectured in detail, showering lavish praises on the team spirit displayed by all the staff, ‘without which, the goal was unreachable’ they pronounced. This gift-wrapped item was a token of that appreciation. Right from the next person after the manager, down to the twentieth and last of the staff, they had to wait till the next day to find out what fault they committed to become co-conspirators of this ‘team-spirit’. And the manager perhaps chose to leave out the innermost of his own thoughts unsaid (“my dears, the team spirit works too well by itself, when you are kept ignorant of any urgent work, and I am left alone to handle it by myself”).

It was the question that prompted me to also narrate this funny incident. But the answer itself grew too lengthy, and so I chose to ‘axe’ my own readers here with the other half of it. (As a consolation, let me share on a ‘quiet-note’ that, our Master insisted upon ‘experiencing’ this team spirit at cellular level, when he imposed the uttering of an incantation deep enough to sustain a fusion of body-mind-and-breath coordination during some of our rigorous spiritual practices! It does open us up to newer dimensions. But that is quite another story, not at all funny to be told here.)

Regards,
Psn(20th January, 2010)

The question:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100119161147AAh92WC&r=w#NbUvWzq9WThW9GWqYeRc
In work environment, What is that we call "team spirit" ?
I work in a team of 20 and I don't know what really is team spirit is... do u know then share with me

My answer:
Our attitude undergoes a subtle change when we look at everything placing the priorities of others above our own. It is that 'subtle' shift that constitutes the bulk of team spirit.That is why those HR people devise 'rigid' tests to assess the team spirit, while recruiting from candidates applying for a job.

Quite often, when we do our own allotted share of job well, the team spirit gets taken care of by itself, even without our knowing it. And we just give a blank stare when somebody appreciates us for 'good-team-spirit', when we know that all we did was to do our job well, out of our own concern about our well being, our job security, our sense of dedication, our ethical outlook etc.

The team spirit is invoked most when the situation changes very rapidly, and vulnerability of failure/success hangs precariously on that 'flexibility' to give up one's own priorities with a preparedness to sensitize ourselves deep enough and subtle enough to obviate even verbal communication. To give a typical example, in an English movie, a team of soldiers go on a mission into enemy territory. When very close to the 'action' area, the threat of their presence getting is obviously more. One of the soldiers becomes sick, and gets frequent coughs. Now, this noise of coughing would reveal their position, and all of them would get killed. Above that, the whole army is waiting for the success of this mission. Realizing all this, this soldier with all his might suppresses his cough, and when the suppressed cough gets stronger (quite naturally so), he even closes his nose to suppress breathing, to avoid a burst of exhalation with noise. The mission succeeds, and only then the leader notices that this poor fellow died of suffocation. It is a dramatized version to invoke deep emotions from the audience. But effective enough to highlight the 'spirit' of team-work. If that soldier does not die, there is no 'noteworthy point at all' is what our mind would say. But when a life is sacrificed, his contribution towards 'team-spirit' looks as best! The movie gets applause. The truth is every link in the chain is vital link to make it a full chain. All we can do is to refuse, continuously, at all times, at any time to become the weakest link of the chain!(There was a joke, early computers were open, and mechanical. A pencil got dropped accidentally and repairs to machine costed much. The boss fired the erring worker, who once again dropped the pencil right into it saying 'ah! now I don't need this pencil anymore!)

Well knit families are the best training grounds to nurture this spirit of teaming up to the best possible extent.

How bad are 'People'?

It so happened once, that I had a pus formation just below the big toe of my right leg, and the wound had grown too big, needing even a minor surgery, & some filling of medicated piece of surgical cotton, to prevent further complication. I could see what the doctor was doing to my foot. It is just the memory. I was in my 3rd standard (about 9 years old, then). It so happened that during the breaking open of the wound with that surgical knife, I jerked my foot a bit violently due to unexpected pain. The pus and blood splashed all over the brand new shirt of the doctor. It was a plain, shiny, cream-colour terrylene neatly tucked in, and made the doctor’s appearance quite posh, stylish and impressive. Even he was using the ‘terrylene’ fibre for the first time. We were seeing it for the first time.
My father felt thoroughly embarrassed, and mumbled helplessly ineffective apologies. The doctor was quite unperturbed, and cheerfully completed the operation quite unmindful of the blood-spots that might get embedded inextricably as a discoloration. I was lost in admiration for him, and instantly forgot all about my leg for the rest of the ‘history’ of that wound! The pain part of it vanished. I could never forget the body language, the non-verbal communication of that doctor.

He was well known to my father right from his third year of medical student days. In fact father used to suggest this doctor to his friends and acquaintances. The doctor too, never failed to acknowledge the support to get established very quickly, since every doctor was a ‘family’ doctor, in those days, and new doctors required lot of time to get patients.

This doctor had a wonderful reputation amidst his patients. I loved to linger around the ‘dispensary’ as long as possible, and took all the care to ensure that I don’t end up as a reason to hasten to home, as usual (‘Oh! Now this fellow has become restless, and before he causes some mischief, I must take him back home early’ was a common reason to my father). I got immersed in the ‘out-of-normal’ way of this doctor dealing with his patients, and I became so much of a non-entity that my father almost forgot my presence even, chatting with the doctor for long durations. Patients used to be attended to simultaneously. When I look back, I wonder whether this method of ‘examining’ the patients was a plus point, or a minus point! But the number of patients grew too fast.

I must mention one more observation of mine. The society was undergoing a phase of shift from traditional dependence on unqualified native village-doctors to qualified doctors. The elders then used to comment “we did not have to undergo such rigid diet restrictions that the present day ‘learned doctors’ prescribe. We too had our share of ailments, and were comfortable with simple economical herbal medicines, which were mostly from kitchen shelves, and at times, prepared by the native doctor, from roots and herbs”. The young people of those times (my father’s generation), were forced to reconsider several times, whether it was really wise to shift from traditional medicines to allopathic. The allopathic gave quick results, and a person could go back to work soon. The cost was the only side effect ‘experienced’ more severely. The pace of life was gradually shifting into higher gears, we could feel it clearly.

This doctor used to dilute the diet restrictions liberally, but gently added at the end that the cure would get delayed accordingly with the added risk of a relapse. Medicines were ‘compounded’ by a ‘compounder-uncle’, there itself, taking a frequent a grim look at the doctor’s ‘chit’ (prescription). The doctor could afford to ‘degrade’ his own ‘mixture’, calling it as “ADT-mixture” (it took time to get him to explain that “ADT” was an acronym for ‘Any Damn Thing’!) That made him distinctly popular from others who indulged in rigid-faced-instructions about diet restrictions. This doctor was more popular for his humorous approach and known more as a ‘jolly’ doctor, though his diagnosis was exceptionally good, and deserved much higher degree of popularity, as I could see from my sustained observation. Patients invariably accepted the dietary restrictions, more as a voluntary and willingly self-imposed restriction, and never felt the burden of compulsions. I got started there with my first lessons of communication skills!

Looking at others even, as our toys, our robots, in all innocence and ignorance is what occurred to me, when I looked at this question. There is that fragrance of innocent annoyance displayed by the question (that is what I felt).

Sorry, I seemed to have ‘toyed’ enough with your patience. With the little of it left, if any, I apologetically take you to the question, and with my child-like answer that might amuse you.
Regards,
Psn(19th January, 2010)

The question:

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100118204144AAYCSq2
How do u convence urself that people are not bad.?
when u hear them back-bitching about u or they leave u when u need them the most...or anything ...how can u still be good to them..

My answer:
Is there any problem to convince our-self about a baby when it becomes adamant about an object that is snatched away from that baby? It starts crying loudly, non-stop, and becomes quite inconsolable at times. Everybody can easily agree that the baby is not bad. Just that the baby is yet to learn that the object we snatched was for its own safety. The knife which the baby thought that it was a 'toy' could have injured the baby too. So, we do not react, and instead, we also do not fail to act, quite convinced that the baby is not bad, but a bit ignorant..

The problem with adults is that their toys have also become big now. Some of 'their' toys are intangible, and some of them are necessities for others. It takes a lot more effort to 'snatch' it away. Law is there, social norms are there. Democracy is there. Human rights protects the people who indulge in violence, and they convince us that they do it for 'ultimate' peace. Something like violence is peace-in-great-hurry! In the process, we too fail to remember that we are also yet another version of the same grown up babies, getting stuck to similar toys. Now we are busy to set right the other toys(those bad people), the way we want them to 'play' with us!

Observation

Train journey itself was a thrill during my kid-days. It was usually very long, taking 3 days and nights. No reservation of seat (3rd class of those years somewhere upto 1960’s). Entry was usually through a window (no grills then) and the exit through the door. Fully crowded were the compartments. There was a picture of a burning kerosene stove with a big X mark in red right across it, to remind that it was okay to use a stove a bit carefully (as I understood, looking at the passengers, who used it quite liberally in the walking-space near the doorways.) Somehow this practice got stopped without the need of any intervention by authorities, just as IT flourished in Bangalore, quietly, and the government came to know a bit late! There were “meals” stations, where the trains used to halt for passengers to have meals in refreshment rooms. Delays of trains were looked upon as ‘acts of God’ (resembling the exclusion clause of Insurance policies). The only occasion when they touched the ‘on time’ was when it was 24 hours late. And I could not understand why there was a practice of intimating ‘telegraphically’ about the date of reaching to the host-relatives. Usually, we would be there at the destination, when the telegram gets delivered. After paying a tip for the ‘prompt’ service to the ‘telegram’ postman, this hand-written transcript of the ‘dots and dashes’ message was passed around all the members of the family by the sender-cum-recipient, and the same was carefully read by all as if it contained some ancient veiled message, of mystic contents. Basically, some piece of paper with hard impressions of metallic-stamps from any government department did have an ‘air of authority’ and were handled respectfully, and carefully preserved in a wall-fixed slot-shelf or so. The elders used to repeat the very same words of ‘enquiries of well being’ during every visit, and it never tired either party.

The concept of ‘observation’ (or rather the ‘fine-tuning’ of it), came into my focus during one of such journeys. Till then, I was content of my better ability compared to a baby who could not even focus the doll being taken away from its very sight with a ‘swish’, and that needless reassuring comment ‘crow took it away’ uttering a ‘kooooosshhhhhh’. Sitting at the window seat was the sole item in the list of preferences during a train journey. Usually even strangers offered that window place despite that crowd occupying the bench tight-squeezed, probably because they preferred to avoid the tiny particles of coal dust from the steam engine, and also since kids needed just a few inches to park their tiny bottom, and the arms placed on each other close to the chest rested upon the open window offered the chin a cushioned resting place for long duration of continuous watching the sceneries fly past the speeding train. I could not get any glimpse of plants, flowers that were very close to the track. And those at a distance passed by slower enough to observe them well, but the ‘zoom-in’ was not available. I now insisted upon attempting to watch at least a couple of objects within every furlong. To do this, I had to stare out of the window, turning the head towards the train’s direction, fix the gaze on just one thing, and follow its rapid pace of flying past by, turning the head to the other side till it went out of sight. This new found ‘reach’ gave an immense sense of satisfaction. Back at school ground, I was tempted to reverse the process. Fix the gaze on one visual (a virtual one), despite several distractions appearing before the eye. Lots of children pass by criss-cross, and the imaginary visual within me remained focused even with my eyes open. It seemed like a game, which required no partner, no umpire, no scores etc. It worked well and offered lots of fun and proved to be a good pastime.

Some youngster happened to protest, saying that at times, some of my blogs required more than a passing glance, and it seemed to demand a steady, slower and focused reading that they were not used to. I was tempted to ask him what if he were required to fly a supersonic aircraft carrying precious lives of eminent people as passengers. He would have to alternate pretty fast between fast flying-by view and the several similar looking tiny dials in the cockpit, with utmost focus, not risking a passing glance at either! These dials represent entirely different values with the same digital forms of display. Failure to take adequate notice of even a small abnormality in these dials would prove disastrous.

Anyway, the observation is what requires a deeper look at before we can think of a deeper perception about what we observe. The mind seems to present the real hurdle with our capability of observation from evolving. When we are anxiously seeking someone in a large crowd, we search on a ‘scan’ mode pretty efficiently, and are able to focus rapidly on our ‘target’ without even ‘feeling’ the animated gestures of the people in the crowd which is enough to confuse that steady focus. But when it comes to searching for a simple thing like a comb, a kitchen knife, etc, amidst inanimate objects, we fail to observe the object looked for, over which our eyes would have crossed over several times during the search.

What seemed okay with a train journey seems to have caught up with our life style itself. Everything is now fast paced. Even movies have to match that speed. Slow movies of yester years seem intolerably dull. It doesn’t matter if it costs our observation capability getting stunted. Converting anything and everything into a ‘routine’ seems to take care of that lack of observation. We prefer a tight packed sight-seeing to cover as many places as possible in one go. There is always that digi-cam if anybody cares to challenge if we really did visit all those places. That too is just aim and shoot, auto focus, no need to spend time to focus meaningfully with our eyes.

I was wondering if there could be some conscious effort to inculcate that focused observation, as a technique that can be invoked at will, into the children so that they feel those ‘too many’ text books/variety-subjects, to be less burdensome.

(Over the years, I still seem to prefer a walk, or even a slow ride on the bike, to be able to observe as much as possible en-route.)
psn(18th January, 2010)

True Dreams!

To most people, somebody who can ‘predict’ or foresee things is a ‘great’ being. This is similar like, giving too much credit to somebody who can tell exactly what program is going to be aired on the TV. The comparison sounds ridiculous. Yes. And so is the way we have been doing things. We are ‘proud’ of our technological advancements, shifting from wires to wireless, mechanical calculators to electronic, mechanical typewriters to electronic, those celluloid films to digital, virtual images etc. And we ended up with lots of unwanted garbage all around the place. We littered the whole planet literally. With all this, we have just been replicating our own capabilities right within, with all the materials around us. All we do is to take up the mineral resources, remodel them with all the possible complexities, and gloat over it with a glee.
Even this was predicted long ago.
The best possible manipulations are already incorporated into our own system. The human body. The gadgets are already there. Just that the user-manuals are not visible. The user manuals too were handed down by word of mouth, to avoid spilling garbage of paper work all over. The words were most scientifically advanced. Anyway, we will not be able to hold our patience any longer with more elaboration.
We know now that we have optic fibres. Some light is said to pass through these, which is converted to become data, which is yet again converted into ‘visible’ form of light on a monitor. What if our nervous system had such subtle capabilities, to carry such ‘data’ in much more subtle forms? We have already heard of ‘naadi’s. There were astrologers, who predicted using ‘naadi’ system. A whole system of medical science too, had evolved using the naadi science. These naadi’s are subtle pipelines within body, along the nervous system. Naadi’s are energy channels with some seven significant junctions where major channels cross over. We are familiar with the loving touch, care, the feel, etc. Our body ‘shudders’ to think of some of things that we do not like. We get goose pimples, hearing a few words of emotional contents. At times, some of us even ‘feel’ the presence of some people we know. Some of the ancient rituals and practices are ‘supposed’ to make available the ‘presence’ of some beings. There are suggestive examples to support the theory. Like these optic fibres which can carry different wavelengths of light simultaneously, our energy channels too can carry many more forms of energy. Right now we are aware of the gross, tangible functions of our nervous system. Psychiatry is just attempting to explore. The mind is the virtual system, with a virtual monitor, which can form images with those energies converted into data, and images formed. When we have the ‘remote’ control in our hands, we see only what we choose to see. Most of the times, we are busy with our favourite games on the TV screen, struggling to reach a higher score while the data of all those ‘live’ programs reach right up to the TV set, through the antenna, the set-top-box, waiting to be viewed. We do have a glimpse of that ‘gut-feeling’ intuition, etc at times, which came true also. Please see, those are our alert moments when the mind was not in the ‘judgemental’ mode for a few fractions of a second.
The health consciousness even today, does not adequately focus on the nervous system, not to speak of the energy channels. And we try to support the ‘clinical’ body with medicines, life support systems, when sick, ignorant of the life energy that really matters to decide the ‘life’. Doctors are able to declare only the ‘clinical death’, and are baffled when a person revives due to the abundant life energy that is able to manifest and resurface again. The doctors can feel the pulse but not the ‘naadi’ the life-energy channels. The eastern skills in combat capabilities focus on the nervous system rather than the muscular system. Such skills last longer with advancement of age. Wrestlers and boxers manage to retain the skills for a lesser period. Judo, karate and such skills last a bit longer. And they focus on mind-skills too, using meditative practices. The diet is much simple, and toning up of nervous system is given more importance. The Ayurvedic system of medicine too was basically about ‘life’. And ‘life’ is the quality of energies that we carry around, not the gross physical strength of the body-system that we develop. These herbs tone up the nerves, its receptivity in particular. Those frail looking physical frames of ancient Masters had tremendous energy capabilities. They hardly needed these modern gadgets to do the very same things we do now. Transportation, communication, etc was subtle. For a long time, we refused to believe because we ‘see’ and then accept. But science is steadily advancing in the very same direction. I am reminded of what I heard about the famous scientist Dr. Albert Einstein, when he seemed to make a ‘statement about his life’ towards the end of his days, wishing, “if” there was a rebirth, he would like to be a farmer the next time. He came closest to the evasive theory of ‘relativity’. Perhaps, he just summed up very briefly, sensing the futility of ‘explaining’ that he now chose to re-do the scientific discoveries from within and into ‘within’ itself, the next time.
There was a question, about dreams that came true, a bit more often, to be brushed aside as a ‘coincidence’. I merely tried to look at it.
Regards,
Psn(15th January, 2010)

The queston:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Av2qEH63OPyNSBpwaCCKLX.oZn1G;_ylv=3?qid=20100114164742AAArYzw
What does this mean, my dreams keep coming true?
For the last while I have had many times (approximately 10, maybe more) where I have a dream once(or twice) and it ends up coming true. Exactly. And I'm not sure why. Also, on a daily basis, I will think of something random, a phrase, anything. And something about it soon happens. A few examples, often I will randomly think of one certain episode on tv, and I will go to watch it and its that episode, at the bus stop for some reason randomly i came up what 'what if someone asked me for a quarter and i didnt even know them'? then minutes later on the bus someone was talking about how this random chick came up and asked her for a quarter. I know those could just be coincidences, but it happens to me basically every day. It may be nothing, but do you know what this means? Either the dreams or the second part I talked about?


My answer:
Though a bit rare, this is quite a possibility.A person is in the middle of a lake, with still water surface. A stone is dropped, it creates ripples. This person can see those ripples earlier than a person who stands at the edge of the lake. Now this person takes a mobile, calls the person at the edge of lake, says, 'watch out, in a couple of moments a ripple will reach you'.....The events around us are much more complex and affected by multiple factors, making such predictions near impossible. But the 'human' mind too, is no less complex. In most people this complex capability gets underutilised due to predominance of their own desires, expectations etc, which takes up the 'cache memory', and engages the 'processor' all the time. During sleep states, a relatively less engaged mind is left to itself to compute, and it can predict. Your wakeful states too speak of bus-stop, where the mind is almost blank, waiting for the bus, and thus can 'see' a few stray incidents by those complex predictions. Ancient Masters, have evolved techniques to consciously get to reach at this ability, and have managed a fair grasp too. But then, a few amongst them have realised the futility of such exercise, and managed to resist the temptation, to evolve further, to reach the ultimate possibility. When this capability comes by luck, it can as well go away the same way one day.

Senses, sensitivity and 'the' sense beyond!

I don’t know if I am going to be ‘branded’ as a dumb fellow who hits a ‘same-side-goal’, but the highest of spiritual practices help us discover the subtle feminine grace within us, which reveals the truth that it really does not matter after a point of time, whether our physical features have any relevance at all! There is a whole tradition to ‘back’ this theory. It is the re-marriage with the spouse, with the deeper understanding of ‘life’ and the mutual consent to enjoy the togetherness, this time, with the least of interdependence even (of course at physical levels), as a matter of choice, not the way it began, which was a compulsion to feel it at sensory levels to make an humble beginning! The unmarried ones were fortunate to use a bye-pass high way to this level, in full awareness, with utterly conscious choice, and not as an act of ‘escapism’.

Then why is it that women were not really encouraged to take up this path (the bye-pass-road) is the logical doubt. The answers are a bit mystic looking. Two instances would give a subtle hint about it. The bulk of the ‘gopis’ in such large numbers running after the ‘nithya-brahmachari’ Krishna, all the time, is one such. And the other one, when Meerabai conveyed her surprise, (saying, “Oh! I thought there was only one ‘male’ in this entire Universe, Him!)to a yogi who claimed that he was so much of a male, to have resolved to forbid any female into his hermitage. Both these instances are a bit illogical. Even the worst of violent forms of womanizers cannot possibly enjoy the company of thousands of women, as this Krishna was famed to be so. So also, the declaration of ‘there is only one male in this Universe’. In Meerabai’s case, when his disciple conveyed this message from her to the Yogi, the truth dawned upon him, and it was his turn now, to hurry after her, to submit himself at her feet to seek pardon for his folly, and request her tutelage. So, women are already supposed to be on the track. It is the men who have to make a conscious effort to invoke the feminine grace within them, and with or without the support of a woman, is a matter of conscious choice again.

This question seemed to invoke a glimpse at the subtle aspect, and I seem to get into the ‘process’ yet again!

Regards,
Psn(12th January, 2010)


http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100111042254AAeYkRC
The question:
If Love escapes the five senses......then how will you find love?

My answer:
Yes, that is why, men find that the wife is no more loving like it used to be, and wife finds the husband silly to be still stuck to the five senses through which the story began. Usually it is women who would be the first to 'feel' after some time, that now the five senses (the body) is more of a limitation which restricts the love that seems to expand beyond and looks towards the life-partner to reciprocate similarly. The communication skills unless exceptional fail to convey this, and her life partner notices only the drop at physical level but fails to notice the increase at subtle levels! Such people form an informal association to declare that "it is difficult to understand a woman"!It is to create this higher possibility that the tradition of chastity evolved, and not to convince others or create an image of 'holier than thou' etc.

Charity, is it right?

A very interesting question, which attempted to demonstrate a logical fallacy, tempted me to mention something of great antique value! A lost tradition it is. This question seemed to accept nothing less than a time tested concept.
The benefits of adherence to this ‘concept’(not even literally enacting the same ritual) is so immense, and so logic-defying, that I did not muster courage to elaborate in the answer. Nor do I intend to do it here.
It is a charity showered on me, if it happens to even stay within the reader’s attention during a casual glance.
Regards,
Psn(11th January, 2010)

The question:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/answer;_ylt=AtPUI.4IaGvPqpQ2KsEj44uDHQx.;_ylv=3

Are their degrees of "right"?
Consider these questions:
Is it right to pay your taxes?
Is it right to contribute to a charity?
If yes to both, is it more "right" to contribute to charities than just paying your taxes?
Is it possible to say something is more right? Or simply, right is right?
If it is right to contribute to a charity, what if you contribute more money to that charity?
Is that "more right" than contributing less to a charity?
If it is right to contribute to charities, does not contributing make it not right? ethically?
If something is expected, such as paying taxes, does that disqualify it from being right?
What about holding the door for a woman (in places or circumstances - or eras - where it is/was expected)?Does not doing that make it not right? an ethical mishap?I apologize for any repetition or syntax oddities, but I think it is an interesting concept to think about.


My answer:
Oh! It is not just about an 'interesting' concept.This concept was understood too well, and quite deeply in ancient India.There was a whole class of people who lived entirely on food received as charity. The parents of a bride felt it their fortune to give away their daughter as a 'charity' to such a person who has vowed to live only with food received as charity. Such a stupid looking vow led to tremendous potentials. This person did not have to follow too many ethics. He held the priorities of society higher than his own (no wealth problem, so no taxes to comply with!). He was the most learned person by virtue of the birth in that class, which had prohibited encroaching any other profession or trade, except teaching, which was without any fee. The unmarried males, the bachelors were allowed to receive cooked food as charity, while the married males were allowed to receive only raw grains, which should be just enough to last not more than a day! This tradition existed for thousands of years.Now, to cite a small bye-product or a fall out of such a vow, another class of people who were traders or businessmen, complemented with another vow, that is , they do not eat till their family-folk, the wife in particular did not offer food to that wandering mendicant, who vowed to live on charity-food!When I looked at this question, all seems to become only too clear to me. This charity is not only right, not only more right than the taxes, but conceptually so valid that it stood the test of time for about 5000 years! There was no authority to monitor adherence to this rule! It was entirely on a voluntary, self-imposed basis! Even the way of life (given a name as a religion since 16th century AD), has no leader, authority, or religious head in common. The religious aspects are not relevant to this question. But perhaps, the way charity was looked at by the most ancient civilization is worth mentioning.

Satisfaction

I feel quite satisfied when I just answer the question, and yet again afresh, when I
Quote it here.
Any elaboration would needlessly stir the doubt of dissatisfaction!
Regards,
Psn(10th January, 2010)

Quote:

The question:

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100110004323AArqIiU
When a person can be satisfied?
now-days all are running behind money,love etc..... everyone has greed of getting things as per their thinking. so help me in this question.

My answer:
We are looking at the 'announcement' from a person that he/she is satisfied, to conclude that satisfaction has been reached. There are many things which satisfy a person but mostly remains grossly unnoticed, just because there are a few unfulfilled desires looming large over the mind.A stomach-full meal gives satisfaction. So does the emptying of bowels. A deep inhalation of fresh air, a deep sleep, recognition of a loved person afresh, yet again, each day, and many other wonderful things give utmost satisfaction. But we recognise these things only when an acute shortage occurs.If a person can just restrict to that mind's reference to 'pending' items, only when some action (planning too is an action, though not physical), is needed, then 'satisfaction' is a very commonly noticeable feature. If an entire society 'cultivates' this as an attitude, peace, happiness and joy will spread all around, and life itself would seem 'satisfactory' beyond words! We also call it contentment. But contentment is widely understood with the 'dis-satisfied' attitude, and hence may sound like 'helplessly' restricting joy or satisfaction with what we have. In a subtle way, we also needlessly become conscious of what we also 'ought to have' (as per our list of desires), and this brings a contradicting negativity that snatches the wonderful belch of satisfaction!

Institutionalized!

When we have no idea about how to ‘break the ice’, to get rid of that stoic silence in a group, we look for harmless topics to be floated, where there is not undesirable back-lashes. The topics like today’s weather, climate etc seem ‘below’ standard for that group.
Then we ‘use’ a topic from that list which seems to have a common pattern of ‘footprints’ even in the vast data full of random variables.

Please see how liberally we can discuss these ‘ideas’ without any need to even come to any conclusion, leave alone ‘think’ of reforming the ‘social’ malady.
Global warming.
Recession
Price rise
Violence
Women’s liberation
Child abuse
Depletion of natural resources (even those not yet affecting environment, like say precious minerals)

There are yet other items which directly speak about deteriorated human values.
Corruption of all kinds, among Politicians, leaders, businessmen, etc.
Increasing rate of divorces
Commercialization of social concepts like education, health care, religion etc.
The need for leaning at the lowest level of ‘human consideration’ like ‘Home for aged’
And such others.

Nobody seems to be able to do much about any of the problems like those in either of the samples narrated above.

There is term floated as ‘social awareness’, which seems to offer some solution. And yet we somehow feel that even this is not really within a ‘tangible’ reach.

When a question came up about ‘institutionalization’, I felt that it has reached its limits. Even the term has become confusing now!

When ever somebody is ‘assigned’ a task that seems a bit risky, the very first thing that occurs to the mind is to ‘form’ a team/group, irrespective of whether there is a need at all for such a team effort. We feel better insulated, if something goes wrong.

But even when there was no ‘team’ at all, we have started using the ‘concept’ of team accountability so well that, we seem to have reached the ultimate capability at ‘escapism’! For instance, when a well to do son abandons an elderly parent, we quite comfortably refer to it as ‘now-a-days it is so common, we really can’t blame that youngster, it is a social compulsion’ (it now looks like, if somebody is insistent upon forsaking his own priorities to take care of his elders, he would be looked at, as an idiot!).
Allowing a parent to select a bride is already looked at as a sign of ‘weak’ mind by the HR people, who look for ‘leadership’ qualities in the candidates during ‘head-hunting’.
The elders have come to be looked at as ‘non-biodegradable’ garbage and hence a social problem, which has to be somehow endured, since there is no cure. So the concessions for senior citizens, home for aged, etc have a ‘social’ status of ‘unavoidable-tax’. (But if a retired fellow is a nuisance at home, persuade him to take up some social work, it is almost like the ‘Insurance’ concept, where the society shares the risk through premium)

I thought it would be better to start with the root of this ‘concept formation’.
If we understand this phenomenon very clearly, we also learn the trick to ‘institutionalize’ almost any problem now!

So best wishes to the learning process of ‘art of institutionalization’. It is a quick fix, when the art of effortless living seems beyond reach, and the problems of life immobilize us with its shackles.(No Wonder, "JK" resisted 'institutionalization' of his effort to 'awaken' people!)
Institutionally yours,
Psn(9th January,2010)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100108163711AAhOe5U
The question
How would you define institutionalized?
I looked it up and some words are explained in a way like... "listening to someone speak chinese". You're left more confused than when you went in.

My answer:
Soon after Industrial revolution, there was a boom in the way a group of people started making huge profits, by teaming together. Government had to give birth to a concept called legal entity (a person 'living' in the eyes of law), in order to tackle social problems affecting by the 'team' or on the team, etc. Therefore, this 'legal' entity got a unique position as exclusive from any and all of the 'owners' of the activity (company, firm, incorporated-under-law-entity etc).The idea is, this institution can have its own corporate policy, which need not even be acceptable to any of the members, stake holders etc.When any effort or cause which is basically supposed to be 'individual' oriented, takes the shape of 'nobody's' responsibility, but a 'vague' accountability of a group effort, we look at the concept of that 'imaginary' living person, but a valid legal entity like that institution, and use the attribute to describe the characteristic of 'nobody's responsibility in particular' and call it 'institutionalized'.
For example, if one person takes care of some ten destitute children, and even if one of those goes hungry on a day, this person feels 'totally' responsible (what ever the situation). If a group volunteers, without any one in this group feeling individually responsible for any act of commission or omission by this group, and the accountability is passed on to the 'group-effort', we can say, this destitute-care has become 'institutionalized'!

Indecisiveness!

How to tackle, is a question that can arise only after we resolve our indecisiveness about whether we are indecisive at all!
It may sound funny, but we are so well trained in ‘masking’ ourselves, that it is quite possible, that we may use all ‘substitutes’ to avoid the direct tackling of it. That is how we have ended up evaluating anything and everything, including our deep emotions, bonds etc.
I happened to ask a queer question to a young girl who had recently got married. Both the spouses are well educated, well placed etc. The boy’s parents too are well educated, healthy and reasonably well off. The family of three (boy & parents) amicably welcomed the fourth one and have a smooth sailing.
What I asked was just this: Suppose this girl hailed from a labour-class, doing domestic-help as a servant maid for a living, with her parents, and gets married to a boy from similar family, and after marriage, happens to continue the same job (necessity of the their social level of subsistence). Instead of mother, the mother-in-law decides the houses to be ‘covered’ for washing dishes. Perhaps, this mother-in-law picks just the ground-floor flats, to avoid climbing, now that the daughter-in-law is there! By trying to visualize both the situations, which of the husbands is a “more husband” than the other? The question isolates from all other easily comparable parameters, and narrows down exclusively to the quality of bond. Even educational qualification does not have much of a role to decide the quality of relationship.

Well, this quiz has nothing much to do with the question of indecisiveness, but was used to merely invoke the quizzical aspect of our mind.
Regards,
Psn(7th January, 2010)

Quote:

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100107051920AAhPyfr

The question:
How to tackle "indecisiveness".........?
Im a 22 year old . I think at least hundred times before and after taking any decision , even small daily life....how to tackle this mind's attitude.help me..........? and i regret infinite times.huh..?

My answer:
Great! Already proved to be very very 'decisive' than most average people around, about one thing (that is to be indecisive about even small things, most of the things)!!
All that is required is to just reverse this. Once we are very indecisive about 'being indecisive', the decision about all other things would simply flow forth out of us!
True, it sounds nice as a play of words, and very difficult to actually try it out. The problem is that indecisiveness itself is an 'abstract' concept, and loosely lying somewhere within us, evasive and elusive. All we have to do is to try a little bit of circumspection about the root of this indecisiveness. Has it got something to do with our 'sense of discretion' or even the lack of it? Is it just that we are a bit reluctant to 'exercise' that discretion, ( sort of a refusal to 'deploy' the software called 'sense of discretion')? Or is it as plain as a constant conflict between our desire of what should happen in the outside situation, and our own 'practical logical assessment' of what is more likely to happen?
This indecisiveness is something that happens to everyone. Just that some are smart and perhaps lucky, like those trapeze artists who invariably have a strong safety net far below, and yet are successful in drawing the awed admiration of audiences!

Unquote:
Tailpiece:
And now it is out an ‘indecisiveness’ that I add a question which I feel has some indication of an example of “indecisiveness”, and if ‘yes’ then it is worth referring to it.
So, I make it brief, with just a comment, that when it comes to a ‘life-time’ decision, what kind of a spouse to choose, a question of this type seems relevant.
I end up with just the hyper-link, to leave you with a ‘taste’ of indecisiveness as to whether to click on the link or not ?? !!
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ak2VSiiOvV9OHu0o7SULLSJ2HQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20100106091012AAhieX0
psn

Sense of discretion.

The ‘Speculative’ sense within me tries to warn that by the time they reach the end of this blog, the few of those who have some trust left in them about me, would be rid of it.
It is in their sense of discretion, to refrain from any kind of response, that seems to tempt me into that ‘sense of indulgence’, which in turn, ‘funds’ the motivation to venture thus.

Most children grow up amidst all kinds of ‘hero-worship-spells’. This is not really a time-tested maxim, though quite valid in its applicability in the present day context! In olden times, the son of a potter, carpenter, farmer, cobbler, black/gold smith becomes yet another one, more out of compulsions of situation rather than that fall out of a ‘hero worship’. Not so, today. The nearest, that I came to the phase of hero-worship was, when I heard of a driver of a double-decker bus, called ‘Robert’ who was famed to handle the bus ‘hands-free’ for the entire strip of that straight road ‘tank-bund’ along a large lake, broad, almost desolate then, to further make his ‘feat’ noticeable by lighting up a cigarette, and finishing it to the very last puff! That huge bus was a live monster, which drove all other vehicles to a safe halt towards road side (that was how I looked at the bus), and he was a hero to be able to tame it and even handle it ‘hands-free’!
Somehow, I happened to pick the hub of the activity when kids around me were passing through such spell, and therefore, I just had to watch others, when they were at it. The family had a lot of bearing on what kind hero-worship a kid would try to indulge in. This phase does leave a ‘residue’ which would affect the basic trait and the attitude in a very subtle way for the rest of their lives, though there may be no ‘superficial’ trace of any imprint left.
That ‘watching-phase’ of mine, was not entirely without any kind of residue. Rather, it left behind, a serious problem that manifests itself at all levels of perception (tangible, intangible, conscious, unconscious etc). There started my unending duel with this ‘sense of discretion’. For instance, when it came to my query about ‘what is right, what is wrong, correct/incorrect, good/bad, ethical/unethical, etc’, I received an advice to be ‘also’ guided by a thumb rule, “Time and situation would decide what is correct/right and what is wrong”. So, my attempt to evolve into a better ability to judge got punctuated by this shifting goal-post!
While I was wondering if that supreme resolve of supreme self-sacrifice was the ‘ultimate’ in hero-worship-ism, there came a small proverb “Discretion is the better part of valour”. So, the mere control over fear of death, the laying down of one’s life for a great cause, the ability to stun the adversary by that logic-defying-feat of attempting the ‘mission-impossible’ , etc, by itself does not glorify a being beyond a point. Such bravery is accorded the highest of civilian honours, and yet it is an appreciation of a quality in its isolation, simple because it is a rare occurrence. It also highlights the fact that, in ancient times, when it comes to appreciation, the highest power of the land limits oneself to this quality of overcoming fear(the toughest of negative emotions, and the last to leave us), but when a person evolves even beyond that, this highest ‘authority’ merely submits himself, bowing down, with deep respect, instead of assuming the ‘power to confer appreciation’. There was a story that a legendary of recent times Mr.G.D.Naidu, got a wonderful ‘occasion’ to gently remind a University it own limitations, when he very politely requested to know as to who is going to ‘confer’ the honorary ‘Doctorate’ on him, when such proposal was floated, and a ‘feeler’ was ‘discreetly’ sent to him, through a very trusted emissary! The University, this time, realizing the true hidden worth of unanimity, decided to unanimously drop the proposal (not just that they decided ‘unanimously’ also, to drop the proposal!). Worth mentioning here, that mere literary expertise does not necessarily bestow the best of senses, the sense of discretion, On the other hand, the unlettered ones seem more comfortable in handling it where common sense matters. The discretion to confer appreciation runs into trouble at times, and only then, the need for a ‘judicious’ application seems to arise. The ancient Kings knew too well, their limitations, when it comes to trying to appreciate an evolved person like a sage/hermit etc! I am simply amazed observing that they even knew the ironical descending order of ‘conferring honors, appreciating honorably, acknowledging the honor, and meekly recognizing the honor, when it came to honoring a ‘realized soul’ when in they meekly submitted to the act of recognition, that too, when another similar soul happened to mention it, because, in their view, this non-materialistic subject-matter was a one of a ‘mutually exclusive’ matter between two of the same ranks!

As it is, this ‘discretion’ was good enough to maintain my confusion about it. Now this ‘judicious’ exercise of discretion, simply seems to compound the confusion! I don’t know if I have understood the concept right, if I tend to look at ‘discrete mathematics’ to be more finite than the abstract-ness of the word (discretion) itself in isolation (or am I a bit ‘indiscriminate’?).

There is no dearth of real life situations, where we confront the problem of right sense of applicability of this term, its concept. Only that, we are well insulated by the equal sense of confusion that exists in the other person, if at all there is any threat perception about criticism. It is here that I wonder how these professional-journalism-critics escape the scrutiny from ‘proper’ exercise of discretion when they end up as ‘king-makers’ through ‘virtual’ means and media!

Perhaps, a light reference to few situations would help restoring those ‘normal’ levels of discretion for those who might be pleading for a ‘status-quo’…..
1) Euthanasia is still debatable, while amputation is a settled issue. Judicious enough? Good discretion?
2) Only either of them can be saved, mother or the child, during child delivery-operation
3) Uphold justice by ‘exposing’ a person holding high office, or save the nation’s pride by hushing up the matter.
4) Remain famished with hunger or settle for that junk food which is prone to lead to health problems.
Oh! I hardly need to go any further. Our mind races to quote the very best hand picked situations from our own ‘private’ collections in our memory. And some of the yet to be decided issues too!

As for me, I am somewhat vaguely aware of the root cause of my own problem, when I looked at what ‘age or years of discretion’ means (quote: the age at which a person is considered to be able to manage his own affairs). Like a cashew-nut, it might be that my mind popped out a bit early not waiting for the fruit of ‘age’ to encase me!
Regards,
Psn(6th January, 2009)

Over-Involvement!

When we willingly get involved into doing something, we feel the effort, strain, drudgery etc to be far less than when our involvement is forced upon us. When I look back at my childhood questions, I am reminded of how I tried to deal with ‘over-doing’…..! I do not propose to interrupt myself with adjudication-breaks (like those commercial-breaks), while I re-wind the ‘thought-process’ of childhood innocence!

“Don’t over do it”, was the piece of advice given by ‘wiser’ ones around. That was a period when everybody felt it convenient to pass on any advice that occurs to them, because I was a sitting duck, quite receptive, wide-eyed to listen intensely to anything that was ‘conveyed’ to me. An ever-intense-listener usually ends up as a sitting duck, for somebody to fire his ideas at!

Then what is that ‘over doing’ something? It took some time for me to get some idea of ‘over-doing’. Unfortunately, the ‘trial-implementation-area’ of this precaution of avoiding ‘over-doing’ was applied at a very wrong place. Caught up into the ‘convention’ of studying only on the eve of test-examinations, early preparation or deep study was never in the agenda. Somehow finish the homework, and be done with it. So, I tried this ‘don’t overdo, when I was required to do something very ‘intensely’. Here again, I had to first ‘feel’ the intensity, to then avoid ‘over-doing’ it! In all innocence, ‘intensity’ got ‘hooked’ to the concept of ‘tolerance-difficulty’. That is how it boiled down to looking at that ‘examination-eve’. The convention ensured that there is ‘over-load’ on the exam eve, to study well, to even pass! The time available, to even somehow commit to memory, the ‘portions’ of ‘marked’ areas of the text book, was less. Any unwarranted reference or glance at the unmarked areas was deemed to be ‘heights-of-stupidity’ on an examination-day-eve! What a crude way to get a feel of the concept of ‘involvement’! As a child, I never could ‘feel’ it when I was really involved, but had to wait for the ‘strain’ of “getting” involved to have the feel of what ‘involvement’ was like. So here was the solitary occasion to feel the strain of getting involved to know how it feels like when we are involved! Wait, till the time constraint makes the task almost impossible, and then ‘try’ to get involved intensely, in vain, and then feel the strain. This feel of ‘strain’ gave me a chance to implement that ‘don’t over-do’ piece of advice. The stray incidents of somebody getting mentally ill ‘due-to-studying-too-much’ came in handy to support my resolve to implement this not-over-doing, for a ‘noble cause’, ‘with good intentions’, etc. There was no ‘structure’ in place, to voice our opinion to elders and get our theories ‘verified’. And so it seemed to work well. Grasp of the academic lessons became the prey! Fortunately for me, the ‘subtle’ unnoticeable ‘involvement’ during the class took care of ‘minimum’ knowledge to sustain the demands of ‘average’ level of school-education.

I am yet to talk about ‘over-involvement’, the caption of this narrative.

So, let us get back to present. Even in our dreams, not just in wake-state-situations, we desist from extending intense situations. We apply brakes! We get annoyed when somebody shakes us to wake up, when that dream was a smooth ride! But when the dream sounds horrible, we shake up ourselves, in a jerk, sip a little water, go back to bed with a ‘cautious’ mind, to avoid getting back into the same dream-story! Please see, it is only in a “very good movie” we do not mind the hero going through all that life-torture till the end! Our own ‘vision’ of a ‘good-smooth-comfortable’ life would ensure a 100% ‘flop’ movie-story! Are we not getting ‘enslaved’ to that basic instinct of self-preservation, a bit too much? That seeking of ‘sense of security’, are we not trying to do it too much? Could this be called ‘over-doing’? Our focus of involvement gets shifted too much, and quite unnecessarily towards ensuring self preservation, extending it too much towards that extra-comfort-zone. We get involved into ‘seeking’ insurance beyond our needs. Here comes the ‘over-involvement’ factor. We tend to become unmindful of the other person’s need,(lack of fellow consideration, lack of empathy, etc). We tend to become unmindful of even preserving the planet! We try to ensure least effort for the comforts, so ‘use and throw’ almost anything (even human emotions)! Please look at the fiery, charged speeches of politicians, they ‘use’ our emotions to get votes, and then dump us later! Like we litter the whole planet with non-biodegradable garbage! It is very difficult to ‘market’ any ‘comfort-oriented-item’ to a person who voluntarily adapts to simple life-style. It is our ‘over-involvement’ towards seeking the ‘items’ of insurance for self-preservation, that gets us enslaved in many ways, with things, situation, people, emotions, and what not!
When we are intensely involved, we become less conscious of that ‘basic instinct of self preservation’. Children at play become more prone to injury. They even tend to forget ‘themselves’. We have to ensure that their games and toys are ‘risk-free’. As adults, our main activity is around making life more comfortable than ever, not just risk-free. There is a distinct shift in our very attitude.
Suppose a classical singer during performance, avoids the ‘risk-prone-area’ of variations of tempo, rhythm, etc, how does the rendition look like? It takes a very keen, sharp, alert and focused mind, to keep that subtle theme of ‘raga’ of a song intact, while demonstrating the expertise, versatility-capability of straying into vast areas of variations, like ‘aalaap’, ‘mano-dharma-swaram’ prefixes and suffixes of ‘swaras’ , deliberate omissions, timings, tempo etc! Maybe, this is why we had the culture of teaching a little bit of singing to children. Then, as a student at academics, they have an ‘embedded’ software of not losing the main purpose or theme of the subject. The girl children especially, were insisted upon to learn singing, perhaps due to the far-sightedness that they would eventually become multi-taskers (prone to go astray from the theme-raaga! That movie-example, ‘Sankarabharanam’, the hero’s daughter loses track of the main raga, when asked to sing during that ‘girl-seeing’ ritual for matrimonial alliance).
Spirituality does not find any place when ‘self-preservation’ is the primary need, yet to be fulfilled (Religion cannot be taught to a person on an empty stomach, was the message given by Swami Vivekananda). But when this primary need is stretched to become the only main activity of the mind, beyond the need of a physical activity even, then the same rule continues to apply for spirituality! We need a de-addiction-program, now, to get us into the groove of the main raaga of life(unless, we ‘refuse’ to look at life as anything other than just eating, sleeping and procreating in the most sophisticated way than ever)!
The ‘freebie’ is the incidental benefit that the very process of inward journey makes the handling of outside situation far easier, effortless, and comfortable (not just comfort-seeking!).
With fully involved regards,
Psn(3rd January, 2010)

A tail-piece—Now we can guess, why our family-folks ensure that we do not get toooo much involved (“over-involved”) into ‘Yoha’/spirituality/etc! (I call it ‘family’ folk, to avoid getting caught into ‘gender’ issues!). Even the word ‘Yoga’ is perhaps deliberately referred to mean as ‘aerobic-exercises/health-maintenance/stress-releasing/pastime’ and such other ‘less-harmful’, less risk-prone things (See, even more of alcohol-contents in most of those medicines, tonics never led to any kind of drinks-addiction, despite regular use!). Any significant dent into a spiritual path can happen, only when we remove the ‘safety’ nets below those circus-trapeze-artists!

Be Serious!

At school, our teachers used to often ‘remind’ us to be serious, at least in the class. Take studies seriously, otherwise you will ‘fail’ they warn us! At that innocent age, all I could manage to do is to become ‘stiff’ within myself, till I can feel the stiffness all around myself, in every nerve, muscle and sinews! I could not hold it thus for too long! Somehow, it seemed too difficult. I was not that lucky, then, at that age, to judge that it was silly too!
It is the ‘casual’ approach that invokes the seriousness of that ‘being serious’. A relaxed mind need not be casual at all! Even animals are normally relaxed. They tense up only when there is a survival threat! And we humans are normally tensed up! The whole ability for seriousness is ‘eaten-up’ by our tension, stress, strain etc, leaving very little to be serious about our job!
Very fortunately, the thing that I liked to do most, remained subtle and innocently hidden for too long a time, from that ‘public-domain’ and it got saved from becoming too-serious too! That way, the intensity was well maintained, nurtured and nourished! It got ‘formally’ announced to others around only when it was ripe, mature and reached a point of no-return. Now, when people ‘poke’ at its ‘seriousness’ its fire burns only more intensely! I feel all the more grateful!

Somebody who did not relish being poked at the seriousness came up with a question. Instead of ‘how to deal with others who poke’ the question was how to get rid of seriousness (good that my school teachers might not be able to hear this person!).

With a serious new year greetings,

Regards,
Psn(1st Jan, 2010)

Quote:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091231161726AAMlWDK
How do I stop taking everything so seriously?
yea... I taking everything very seriously. Like a joke that my friend might make, I might take offense to it. I just want to take it easy, but am not sure how...

My answer:
Serious and casual, both are 'problem' creating things. Only that the problem shifts from others to ourselves. A very rich person, taking everything very casually is 'excellent' for the friends (till the money is exhausted!). Take things intensely, even life intensely, but not seriously. Both look alike, but there is a vast difference! An intense person loves to do what ever he has to do (as decided by the situation), and quite unmindful of the results (there are no 'expectations') and loves more intensely to repeat anything that does not yield results the first time! It is the 'expectations' that makes us serious.