That salesman at the door,
now-a-days finds it a 'marketing-strategy' to talk about freebies at
first! “Madam/Sir,” he begins, as soon as we open the door to see
'who it is'... and says, “This encyclopedia is 'free' ... for
you”....!
Now, we are interested to
'find out a little more'..! Very soon, (but not until he has firmly
'guessed' that you are 'really interested' to get that 'free'
large-sized-book,... ) he would slowly hight light the fine-print,
“Only when you buy a set of those 3 books, which I offer for
Rs.269/- each costing Rs.100/-”... We 'see' that this encyclopedia
itself is worth Rs.500/- plus!... A good bargain! Anyway, those 3
book are not of 'much-use'... but even there there is a 'bargain'...
Rs.100/- X 3=Rs.300/- and he charges only Rs.269/- (Ek rupya chutta
nahi hai, and practically, he takes Rs.270/-..!)
We buy those stupid 3
books, but at first, spend time to take a look at the 'free' one ...
The very size is so big... after some half an hour, we look at the
date stamp, to realise that it is an outdated-edition! (All that the
salesman manages is to encash our 'weakness' for some material
thing... he has no time-even, to find a way to invoke
our-trust-in-him!... So, we started an endless game, of
outwitting/trying-to-outwit/etc.. each other!.. Anybody who is not
so-good at this game is an 'idiot' who does not know, 'how to
survive'.. This 'how to survive' can only aim at extending life, not
deepening the 'experience of life'... because, this game engages our
mind totally, not leaving any scope for 'awareness' of life... The
only possible argument here is, life happens in this very moment
-only... where as, the mind is always 'about-some-past', though it
can even think of a 'future' too!... And it is sheer 'awareness',
without the mind's interference that can deepen
'any-experience-at-all' of 'life'... What we 'think-of', as life
experience is, right now, what the mind-dictates to us, as
its-own-story!... When we feel that our-mind is not so-smart... we
take a fancy to listen to another better-story-telling-mind! The
paradox is, the reach right now.. is only through a mind, to somehow
convince it, “please ... stay aside for a while.. while I try to
'experience' life”... Our mind does not find 'us'
trustworthy-enough, to be 'on our own', even for a while, a
moment-even!!!.. The spirit/life/energy/whatever, within us... has
dubious ways of ensuring its own 'rest and recuperation or
restoration'.. it just ensures to 'silence' us forcibly.. but that
is when/what we call it as 'deep-sleep'. This human frame was a
'design' by the life/spirit, to make an experience of life possible
for itself, using mind too, as a tool.. where as, our 'game-rules'
about handling 'trust' does not accommodate that 'life' within to
participate at all, nor even to 'witness', and mind takes over the
entire 'show'!... Whatever we do, we end up into a
'test-of-strength' between ...'us' and our own minds... instead of
that 'togetherness' of deepening the 'life-experience'! )
Slowly, some of us 'learn'
to be careful with anything that comes 'free'! ('Free-door-delivery'
, despite a heavy discount! Now our mind is engaged, into “where
the hell is the 'catch'?..”...
With such a kind of a mind
(whose very nature is shaped by 'market-conditions'... nothing to do
with 'living a life meaningfully'), we try to approach things like
spirituality, devotion, religion, culture&traditions branded as
'religion' (Hindu- “ism”)... etc... We are into 'finding-out'
the trustworthiness of each and everything around, each person we
'deal' with on the outside world, and then, reaching home, we
inadvertently end up 'testing' our own dear ones, inadvertently!
There is a price to pay, when we expend the bulk of our 'attention'
into testing the 'trustworthiness' during most of our waking hours!
We have no time even, to think of 'why at all, do we need to offer
our own trust?'
“Do you find anything
else to be 'ever diluting its offer of trust' , anywhere in nature?”
, I asked an youngster, (taking advantage of the popular
misconception that we human beings do not form a part of the nature!
Other wise, I would have had to add, 'except us, humans'!).
“Even a murderer by
profession, sows grains... and the seeds sprout... depending only
on its own potential to respond to availability of nutients needed”
(the youngster was 'reasonably' good at logic, and I could obviate
the need to elaborate too much about absence of water/manure, etc
being a 'possible cause' of the seed's failure to grow into a healthy
plant).
The deer does not carry
any negative 'residue' after a 'chase-in-vain' by a tiger, whose food
this deer is.. It does trust the tiger, at a future date, that when
it 'looks well fed', it is quite safe to 'even-stay' withing its
'grab-reach'... and the chase would be only when the tiger is
'hungry-for-food'! (I did not embarrass that kid, reminding him, with
“Where as, we humans would eat that pizza, even when not hungry on
the next day, just-because, we did not get it yesterday”)..
“Now,” I continued,
“are we not ignoring the bulk of 'trust' that has been demonstrated
in a big way, everywhere around us, by nature, when we declare too
often 'where is that trust now-a-days'?”...
Yes, ... We can afford to
ignore what is 'by-default' when our need is to engage with those who
never/seldom offer trust... and therefore we 'strive' to
somehow-succeed in life, despite odds... ignoring the fact that we
create our own 'mutual hurdles' in this vicious-cycle we have set up
for ourselves. The 'rules of the game' of life, when it is turned
thus into a life-negative manner, our potential to explore into
highest human possibilities gets stagnated.
Perhaps, (if those stories
are to be believed, even as an indicative symbolism), the setting up
of a place by Aadi Shankara, as a 'even a museum' (if it is too
difficult to look at it as something 'spiritual'), the place itself,
seems to support us to recall and remember (like the 'reminder-alarm'
that we set-up on gadgets, when we are so-sure-to-forget something!),
... to remind ourselves that we are having the 'potential' to offer
trust a little more 'unconditionally', thereby, living up to the very
design of our own nature... 'the human form'!.. The story says
that, a snake was found to be sheltering with its hood a frog (which
was about to lay its eggs), from a torrential downpour, while the
design of nature was that, 'frog was to be gobbled' as-and-when
sighted, by a snake!... Some bird like a vulture was protecting its
food-creature ('prey')... Aadi Shankara was surprised to 'sight' 3
of such 'rare' happenings, on the banks of a river, and he
felt..'this place must be so energetic, spiritually, that.... even
these creatures are able to transcend their basic nature ! Then, it
must be able to also support human beings, who might spend spend a
while here! The very place 'might' obviate the need to
'firstly-convince' that it is 'okay' to offer trust, and thereby ...
come closer into invoking the highest human possibility, ... of
evolving into spirituality... and then, enjoying the 'deep'
experience of ' a human life'.. irrespective of what happens around
us'... Maybe that is how a humble hermitage sprung up at the
foothills of Sringa-Giri mountains! It is so difficult to 'explain'
in words, the experience within, that the place offers, when we visit
there, just the banks of that river, not even trying to step inside
the structure that was 'supposed to have been consecrated' to
enhance/amplify the 'unique energy' of that place (this word 'energy'
is a very loose term... to be understood, with an indicative example,
when we find those warnings on certain gadgets 'please make sure that
this device is not place too close to any place with a
powerful-magnetic-field, or else, the data maybe lost, apart from any
possible mal-functioning of this device, due to the effect of such
magnetic-field)...
The practical side of
life!... We are driven by goals in our lives... The least of
them, being 'somehow' manage to keep this body and soul (life
within), together for its full-intended span.. The highest goal
being, ... breaking all previous records of others (that is all ..
that it sums up into... in a nutshell)! For other life forms, their
life happens within 'set-parameters'.. For human beings, our
potential (when invoked, our ability too), to transcend our own
'natural parameters' is a possibility... When we allow the decision
to be outsourced to others... about our 'success-rate'... we are
into their game, by the rules set by them! Oddly enough, when it is
about them, it is 'we' who turn into that 'others' for them!... If
this is clear, then the 'trust' factor becomes a little easier to
understand! If that roadside vegetable vendor decides, not to give
the goods till we pay, and we too decide, not to pay till we receive
the goods into our hands, we need a 'middleman/person' who also
decides not to expend his 'while' without a 'worth'!... We co-exist
with other life forms... We continue to compete with our
'non-compromising-on-trust' games! The spirits keep
hunting/haunting/whatever, its own share of 'deep life-experience'..
The eternity keeps waiting, with its infinite potential to wait!
Testily yours,
psn(16th November, 2014)
