Decriminalising

It was amazing to look at the concept of 'decriminalising'...!

I was staring at a caption in the news paper (http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/128295/The-New-Indian-Express-Coimbatore/24062013#page/3/2 )

I was reminded of 'jurisprudence' a subject in which I happened to score good marks, and needlessly became a 'criminal' in the view of my fellow classmates, while 'doing' my law! My classmates were keen to become professionals, while I was just having fun, learning law!

The concept of equity, must have occurred to those who decided to relook at:

Indian Lunacy act, 1912

Mental health act 1987 and 1997....

They had sought to broaden the perspective when the Mental health care bill was under consideration!

Sec 309 of IPC was sought to be disengaged from its applicability, while rewiring the connectivity to mental health care!...

What was intriguing was, ECT (electro convulsive therapy) was being re-considered with an anesthesia! Or.. some drugs that treat schizophrenia and depression! This, despite the fact that during the last 10 years, anesthesia was not used (not even adequate number of specialists available, may be that is why)... that shock treatment without it!

...

For spiritual discussion, it is interesting to look at the concepts of Jurisprudence involved....

Whether the psychiatrists are available to equip themselves with principles of equity, consequences of commission-omission, contributory negligence, and ... if it is not too much to ask for, the ancient karma theory!

....

I was fascinated by the concept of “decriminalising”.... At home, office, where interpersonal relationships are based on 'renewable-judgment-scheme' also... and more so within ourselves, though a bit rare.... are we available to 'decriminalising' our labels of branding a few attitudes, of ours and our close ones, akin to criminal-like-outlooks? Only then, can we deepen our acceptance way beyond tolerance, forbearance etc!!! That humble story of a saintly person who explained as to why he was insisting on saving a scorpion from getting drowned again and again, when it stung his palm each time, 'It is the nature of a scorpion to sting, and so also, it is in my nature to save it!'

psn (25^th June, 2013)

More or less!

We hear this phrase quite often... 'More or less' satisfied with something!....

A fuzzy logic!

I had heard that when Japanese people attempted to further innovate 'accurate' washing of clothes with the automatic washing machine, they deployed a new concept of 'fuzzy-logic'..! Thus the machines started washing clothes a bit more 'thoroughly'!!!

Our mind is sometimes caught in a fix... Whether to settle for contentment, or to strive for more!

This Japanese washing machine seemed to be better than me... it rinses the cloth which is unusually soiled, but does not overdo it so as to tear off or weaken the fibre too badly as to render it useless to wear! So, I am humiliated by that stupid washing machine, when it comes to using a via-media fuzzy logic even! How sad, I thought of myself for a while !

And, when it comes to 'doing something' worth while... ('Naam roshan karo', in Hindi... become an achiever).. there is another competitor... “accomplished person”...!!! Some people do not excel in skills, but manage to do a lot for others, and become 'great', not as an exceptionally skilled person, qualified person or a wise/intelligent person, but just as a humble benefactor of several others, and thus earn a lasting reputation! Some others, excel professionally, intellectually, etc and reach peaks of glory, but they are different from that social-worker-type of great persons... they are great scientists, or business empire-builders, statesmen, politicians, painter, musicians-par-excellence, etc!

A person with great potential, consciously chooses to lead a simple life like a non-entity too... The confusion happens when an eminent scientist like Shri Albert Einstein let out a dialogue during his last days, summing up his life experience, something like this: “If there is a re-birth, as they say,.. I would wish to be born as a humble farmer”!!!

It is indeed a debatable question, and there are no specific right answers too!

I did not quite “expect” that my answer would be picked!

More or less yours,

psn (21^st June, 2013)

The details:

(quote)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130620022913AAmMiBs

Question:

One should be satisfied with what they have or they should always want and strive for something more?

Answer:

Both!
Our personal needs are simple, and we can be easily satisfied...
But our capability is more, to produce enough for a family (that is what a father of a family does!)...
That gives others a little more freedom to pursue arts, innovation, exploration etc...
The striving is for more out of natural resources, so that more people can spend time doing something more than for just livelihood!

Unquote:

(A remark, after having chosen the answer, which is more remarkable than my answer!)

quote:

“Like universe, human mind is also programmed to fill the void. Smart and relevant questions create void that is required to be fulfilled. So, fulfillment of necessities are must, but greed must be avoided. One should be satisfied with what he has and strive for betterment with right conduct.”

The problem of being exploited!

This is a very commonly faced, everyday problem!

The solution is almost situation based. No prescriptions are universal!

For a “typical” example, some nation has chosen to say in its web site itself, to the visa applicants, something to this effect: 'Dear applicants, if we say no to you, please do not even bother to find out what was wrong with the documents you brought for the visa interview... Probably your supporting documents may be flawless! We even happen to say no, even without any apparent reason!' (Here the maxim, 'beggars can't be choosers' seems to apply. The other way of looking at it is, the vulnerability of being exploited with any liberal view while granting a visa is likely to be exploited ruthlessly, and hence the apprehension-based-attitude of 'summary-disposal'!!!

Under such a back-drop a question seems very pertinent, when the asker seeks a 'hint' of how to deal with exploitation! It is not just about preventing exploitation... The precaution renders a person unkind, over a period of time! And then the price is spiritual progress!!!

The question, I suppose is quite simple to understand....

It was:

quote:

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130619225253AA1vqiF

Yo need atleast some attittude when dealing with people, otherwise they will exploit you?

Jesus says peace, Gandhi says love,Buddha says be patient untill you get the nibbana.But when you think about the practicality, i cant get it.I have been frank and nice to everyone i met and i have to say, sadly they took that for granted.So i have to ask you all of us need some attittude?we cant live without it?the feeling of self importance?

Unquote:

There is a subtle appeal in the question, when the reference is sought to quote spiritual giants like Jesus and Buddha.. (may be the name of Gandhi-ji was added to insulate the probable challenge, 'Did you see... can you prove... that the other two did exist? It was too long ago!!).. Anyway, we are looking at the concept, whether exploitation is going to be a problem if we 'keep' the honesty, outspokeness, frankness, compassion, kindness, peacefulness, love, helping nature etc., as our friend!

I know it is difficult to answer it.... There are bound to be practical difficulties, with situations from ground-realities being quoted pertinently, though it is possible to pary them with 'philosophical discussion purpose only' as the argument... But that doesn't help... I think I managed to keep the suggestion a bit 'open-ended' and directing the pointers only inwards, which is reasonable enough,... if spiritual growth it too big a price to pay, to insulate from being exploited!

My answer was:

Both, Jesus and Buddha (I suppose Buddha too said about Nibbana, Gandhiji's non-violence was political, not spiritual), had addressed people around them, but did not address global audience (even in those days, there were soldiers of the King/Kingdom, etc!
Today, we are far better insulated against such forced and barbaric exploitation... we have democracy, and freedom to choose, to deal with those whom we trust, products that we like to trust, doctors whom we like to trust, cab-drivers who seem trustworthy to us, etc... All we need is the intelligence to guess and judge bogus-advertisements, false pretenses etc... We can be far more peaceful, non-violent than those who lived in those times! ( I too have been exploited by people who dont know me, when I buy certain branded items with fake labels... but I keep learning... it does not deter me from pursuing a peaceful life!)

Explicitly-exploitedly yours,

psn (21st June, 2013)

What is your Nemesis?

Something very basic, if we are to recognise the hurdles that impede our progress on our path.

And when the path is already popular as a 'pathless-path', it is all the more pertinent, all the more relevant, to familarise onself,... and only then..... to proceed to do 'something' about it!

Therefore, when this question caught my attention, I could see a reflection of my own 'concern' in the other's mind...

When the answer found an appeal, my joy knew no bounds!

So here's my answer:

“Thought process!
The day it can be consciously switched off at will, there will be no scope for yet another nemesis even!”

If it finds an appeal in us too.... only then the next question about “How to proceed to do 'something' about it!”... And to that, all I can say is a 'welcome' into spiritual path!... There are far better capable people to guide further!

Your-Nemesis-ly yours, (you can't beat me from being 'yours'!)

psn (21st June, 2013)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130619105518AAj7tnR

Why is life so bad for me?

“life is a mandatory attendance futility awareness seminar . no one gets out alive .”

Wonderful sense of humor!!!

This was in answer to a question: Why is life so bad for me?

( http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130619222346AAg99tl )

My answer:

Was it bad right from day one?
At some point of time, it started turning bad... !
When we were a baby, a kid, pint sized... the bulk of the people around us used to draw inspiration looking at us, to find their own happiness, find a reason to cheer up, find a reason to be joyous... the bulk of the people could not hold back their smile, as a response to their own 'looking-at-us' (we were often oblivious to their stare... not now... some one gives an innocent stare even, our BP shoots up!)
Those who manage that childhood innocence (not to many big demands from life), manage to find life too good!

Unquote;

I was amused by the humor filled answer so much that I found this blog as an excuse to reach it to the readers.

My answer had to be a bit simple, short and practical... People are so tired of 'rant' !

Psn (20th June, 2013)

“Good health” a lay person's perspective!

I was very fortunate to come across a wonderful blog by a person of great eminence in the medical world. His blog about good health is almost like a presentation, 'cutting across party-lines'... and therefore, it is only reasonable that readers here will not try to deliberately point any accusing arguement at that benevolent person whose compassion is spiritually-oriented towards his fellow beings, and it is this inclination that would have persuaded him to share the technicalities, in a lucid and 'easy to understand' manner!

It is obvious, that as a humble seeker, I too felt encouraged to respond with my own perspective of 'good health' to that blogger, as a token of gratitude... I felt overwhelmed when he generously showered his encouragement towards my point of view! So now, I felt that, perhaps.... a few of us would find it easy to take a look at a lay-person's view point first, and then if the opinion manages to nudge the inquisitiveness of our mind, the more technically relevant one, the more 'how-to-do-it' one might find a way into our mind's grasp.... the other person's blog is what I meant here!

My response was thus:

(quote)

It is very rare to find a 'doctor' describing, explaining and substantiating the subtle meaning of 'health'! Medical students seldom get a chance to focus on 'health' in as much detail as they look at dis-ease, and disease too, only in the reverse direction, looking out for symptom, attempting symptomatic relief first, and going to the root only if needed! The medicines usually wipe out the symptoms, and act as dis-ease relievers, rather than curbing the root cause of ailment... The human physiology does the job as a 'self-repair' and so this gap goes un-noticed, till it is some chronic ailment which also becomes acute ( the BP seldom gets cured, and over a period of time, ensures that several organs joins its list of 'affected' areas! Sugar problem includes sweets of all kinds, when it is a diabetes-case! Even fruits are prohibited, except pappaya and its likes! I am no expert on anatomy, but the restrictions baffle me, always! I did try to make an exception where I have ample leg-room, for instance, a very close person, a chronic and acute asthmatic since 9 years of age, cheerfully eats half a dozen bananas each day, if needed... that person used to be like 'any-other-chronic asthmatic who does not 'touch' a banana! Now, even the symptom is not so unbearable, though the puff-inhaler, salbutamol, etc is a must).
....
My own experience of health is when I find my body improving its responses/receptivity to the outside world, when it finds its own freedom to look after itself well, when it is able to 'decide' what to accept, and what to expel, effortlessly and efficiently, and then offer the body to the spirit to manifest itself in an enhanced form!... Now the spirit is able to find its stability within, is able to vibrate through deep emotions, listen to every vibration as a response from its other-forms outside, and thoroughly rejoice its oneness even through that 'virtual-duality'! On certain days, I simply enjoy going without food, and or without sleep/rest etc even! The respective responses of hunger, tiredness, fatigue etc do happen, but only in its respective pockets, not disturbing the spirit in anyway (thanks to certain spiritual practices which afford an experience where even a full bladder, urgently waiting to empty itself, is being looked-at as a mere psychological barrier rather than an experiential physiological reality!!!... Something, I know, so difficult to look at, leave alone accepting! For example, certain meditative practices, while learning are to be rigidly encased in pre-conditions, like empty stomach, somewhat tired, eyes closed, etc... But when the body is taught and trained to become more amenable, we almost request the stomach, "Hey, dear stomach, I forgot to meditate, so please press your 'pause-button' for a while, and 'resume' after I finish the meditation... hey eyes, please do not look, for a while, go blank... while I mediate clandestinely!... It seems Buddha used to sleep eyes open, sitting, and staring blank!)....

A spiritual forum... and that must have led to make me turn 'topsy-turvy' in my comment, when people are expected to share their ailment-reliefs due to spiritual practices!
A wonderful blog... a rare treat!
psn

(unquote)

The link to that blog:

http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/wellness/spiritualitythe-secret-of-well-being-and-good-health

Healthily yours,

psn (19^th June, 2013)

Blog Fixing!

Please make no mistake... I do mean something like that cricket-match-Fixing!

.....

A couple of weeks it is, by now..... the news does not spare even non-viewers of TV news channel... Big money, so it pays good dividends for media to cover it (up) too!

Today, suddenly I thought of that Umpire... One who is supposed to “stand on his own legs” and therefore perhaps the en-titlement to be known as 'Leg-Umpire'... The other umpire must be the one who enjoys better freedom to raise his hands 'at will' and so needs no special mention as a 'hand-umpire'.... We know the monitoring by monitor-umpire, who is suppose to have a third eye, and thus the third-umpire...!

Only the fourth umpire has clandestinely switched places with that match-fixing-procedure... Now the media-charm of that ad-sponsored-4^th-Umpire has lost its charm!

The umpire, by whatever prefix of name.... is the unsung hero of this match fixing episode... At least, I did not get to hear about how would/might feel when he comes to know that he was riveting his eyes painstakingly at the ball's course, the bowlers holy-feet (when he has to say a no-ball), etc... for an already fixed match!!!

I turned to my blogs! A recent criticism of the very title cleared my name of any possible blog-fixing! The readers are valid umpires, not just name-sake, when they care to tell me that the title of my blog is as foolish as I can be! (that 'dis-eased' title... of mine!) ...

Now, this blog is not about fixing other blog-fixers... so I will be quite helplessly disappointing a few readers of mine, when I end this theme abruptly here (they might have been looking forward to get to read a few gimmicks of mine about the 'art-of-blog-fixing'!... But Sirs, and Mad·e·moi·selles... I ain't no good at blog-fixing, you see!!!)

Fixedly,

psn( 10^th June, 2013)

addition: 12th June, 2013)

With deep gratitude to all those who noticed this wonderful comment, and those who made it noticeable with 'like-clicks'..  ...   I request better attention to it than to the blog itself! (I was waiting to say this, and place this here:

"never forget that, u r bought by whatever u buy ! u r taken by whatever u take ! ;-))"

Thank you Shri Aditya Ji ( http://www.speakingtree.in/public/aditya.choudhary )

(Tho ugh the comment is far more precious than the blog, its theme, ...  it is very much responsive too, to the theme of the blog  itself!)

source:http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/science-of-spirituality/blog-fixing

The Disease of Spirituality

Spirituality is a communicable dis-ease too!

The lady-receptionist within us has to be a bit gracefully peaceful....

And the 'carrier-courier' out there... has to be well-balanced at ease!

And then, it is just off-the-shelf .... right within! It is not for nothing that the nothingness pervades all over, and therefore all it takes is ...... just 'nothing' ... again, into our within!

There is a little bit of evidence too! The widely popular, erratically accepted, and rarely occurring phenomenon, ....

when ...

“that dark coloured one,

wielding just a harmonic bamboo reed,

rendered me into

loss of 'presence of mind' ....

and I lost all my ease and peace”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yEkdt2WpO8

unceasingly yours,

psn (7^th June, 2013)

A Learner's Experience!

See! The title... is in itself .... a disclaimer!

...

A child, was afflicted by a feeling of drudgery, when a primitive exercise was inflicted on her by the maths-tuition-master... That child was to step into 'tenth' class... the parents were visibly anxious... maths is the scoring subject... and so, the tuition master has to be a person who can 'deliver the goods'... the best scores!... And therefore the primitive exercise, he chose to 'inflict'! ...

The child had decided to 'go through it'... The problem was my abrupt presence! I happened to notice her undergoing the inflicted-process... She was writing down the tables of 16 X 20 =320 several times! She was thoroughly embarrassed! To add to her troubles, I suddenly asked her “what is 3 + 4=?”... ... “12” she said inadvertently, and then corrected, “no... no... Oh! ... it is just 7..!!!”

When a bout of emotions get vomited, there is a certain calm.... To me, that seemed precious... I intervened into that significant calm space... the right opportune moment to drive in a concept!!!

'You did so excellently!' I exclaimed... 'both are the right 'kind' of responses from a student! 12 and the 7... !!!.. Only that the answer 7 is correct, just because, the 'sign/symbol' that I had placed between 3 and 4 decided the correct answer, between the two numbers!'

I continued... “please see... you did not actually calculate.... when you uttered 12 or the 7... You were into the 'into-sign' deep enough with those multiplication tables, .... so it took a moment to get into an additional sign of 'addition'... but the mind hurried with the answer in the meanwhile, and the previous program had run the data, inadvertently, and churned out its own answer...

It is the 'functionality of such mind's program' that we seek to refine, when we decide to familiarize ourselves with certain concepts which are acceptable as basics and fundamentals!... And there fore the indispensable process of getting-by-heart of these multiplication tables too!” (Now she seemed to find an increased inquisitiveness in herself!)...

I continued... “Please try to look back... when you were a kid... just in the first standard... the same 3 + 4 is to be calculated each time... I I I (fingers) plus I I I I (fingers of the other hand!)... and the kid starts with 1,2,3.. proceeds... 4,5,6,7... and pauses (did I leave out any upright finger?), and hesitantly announces 7 (the teachers anxiety is ... by the time the answer of the mind '7' reaches the slate/paper, it should not climb on to the '8' that she is so-used-to in the LKG/Oo-KG classes!)...”

“The next stage as a kid is going to be a little smart one.. 3 +4 is handled as ... 3 + IIII .. the counting starts thus... three is already there... now we count.. 4,5,6,7.. a little smarter kids, decide that 4 is already there.... the smaller one is III... so count it as 5,6,7”

“Very soon, we get so familiar with the 81 sets and just 'read-off' the answers! No more arduous counting, or the cal-cu-la-tion.... “

“The multiplication table entails a bit of 'next-level-abstraction'... 'repeated additions' and so, your mind did not manage to master the 'just-read-off' functionality as a 'default-ability' unconsciously... and so the 'now-a-conscious' effort! The infliction on you by that maths teacher!...

....

There was a giggle, from another corner of that drawing room... The elder sister of this tenth-class-child... She was half way through B.E. Engr.. of a circuit branch (a prized possession, if the college is famous for 'good' placement results!).... I turned to that girl... “You are no way better 'placed'...”... I said.... “if auto-placement what you are hoping for... there are very similar 'read-off' set of highly communicative words, phrases, set-of-choiced words that you need to familiarise yourself thoroughly ... such that the 'interview phase' does not present a problem, soon after the written test... for that .... you need to 'read-off' the minds of those who lecture at the “PPT” (Pre-Placement-Talks)... usually, the HR people blurt out the 'mind-and-theme' of the corporate heads, by sheer reason of 'heavy-dose-of-meetings' aimed at refreshing the team-spirit often!,,, Reading-off those abstract 'corporate philosophies'.. and dishing-out a matching 'reading-off' ... of the quick responses, from our own mind-memory's 'go/down' (ware-house... a unique soft-ware-housing!)... constitutes the job-oriented-communication skills”.... The giggle evaporated! I decided to soften a bit... “Okay.. start with sets of 'deep-meaning' words, with positive impact... and then the idioms and phrases... and make it into a 'default availability' like those 81-sets-of-additions, of single digit combinations, to be just 'read off'... and then have good mock-sessions.... if you mean to deploy your engineering skills, at the right kind of ambiance, by ensuring a good employer to pick you!!!”

...

The elder girl was not really wise enough to just nod, and leave it at that!

She asked for trouble, when she mumbled,... out of a new-found-admiration, “Uncle.. how did you... think of ... such concept-connectivity....? (the rest of it could not find an articulation..)”

“Spirituality is an uncompromising discipline, which insists on several such mystic concepts to be just 'read off' ... from the 'being' directly... since it strives towards a perception beyond the sensory levels!.... I too am a student, struggling at the mystic-tables of 'karmic-multiplications' lying dormant since... I don't know how long... ! Only that, here the 'reading-off', entails a Dissolution, instead of the conventional 'Solution' that a discipline like maths seeks out of us!”

(She is not going to appear anywhere around where I am ... for quite some time... !!! The heavy academics, leaves them no such luxuries to be easily 'affordable'!!!)

learner-in-due-course,

psn (5^th June, 2013)

“Vain efforts!” ... Whines the veins of brains!

Shall we... or Shall we not... try?

Most possibilities get still born, right within the mind, due to indecisiveness...

When it comes to a spiritual pursuit, the 'dissuading kind of information' is in abundance! Any mild flicker of interest within is abruptly blown out, when we get to hear that a spiritual path is 'a pathless path!'. And then the very basic problems, like finding an 'authentic' source of a teacher, a Guru, a guide at least (a dumb book form..... like ... 'Spirituality-for-dummies!'... Oh! But the writer is not going to be so dumb!!!... the 'awareness' of just this factor can scare the dumb! ).

Even in our routine lives, we confront 'not-possible' situations, 'efforts are likely to be in vain' situations, and yet something pushes us into the situation, and we are a hero-by-accident!

A fellow was drowning in a turbulent river... The whole village was watching... suddenly a fellow was seen jumping into the water, and he happened to save the drowning chap too... The whole crowed applauded the saviour, and echoed a chorus ' Wah! Wah!, Hero...' etc... That frustrated chap yelled, 'To Hell with your appreciation.. But first, somebody please tell me... who pushed me into the river???'

And then, even when there is no turbulent situation... just a dull drudgery job, a dull one waiting, it happens thus: (http://www.businessballs.com/inspirational_motivational_quotes.htm#everybody_somebody_anybody_nobody_poem )

This is a story about four people: Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.
There was an important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it.
Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.
Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did.
Somebody got angry (about that) because it was Everybody's job.
Everybody knew that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realised that Somebody wouldn't do it.
And (/It ended up that) Everybody blamed Somebody because (/when) Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

Alternative last line:

And (/It ended up that) Everybody blamed Somebody because Nobody actually asked Anybody.

(The alternative last line is more appropriate for illustrating principles of responsibility and delegation, whereas the one above it is more appropriate for principles of individuals taking personal responsibility, irrespective of delegation)

.......

Even when we become “achievers” with great efforts....

there is a concept which runs thus:

*in most of the cases ........*

* *'First Class'* students gets technical seats, some becomes Doctors and
some Engineers

* The *'Second Class'* passed, after passing MBA / CA / IAS, becomes
Administrators and controls the *'First Class'*

* The *'Third Class'* passed, enters politics, becomes Ministers and
controls *both*

* Last but not the least, The '*Failures'* joins the underworld and
controls *all* the above.

How�s that ???

....

To do or not to do.. is thus a perenial question!

(It is under this back-drop that I attempted a vain answer to a whine-like question.... )

Yours nobody,

psn (4th June, 2013)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130603200129AA7h7f8

(The question:)

Should we make an effort even though knowing that our efforts and trials will be in vain?

My answer:

Wonderful question!
Such a question occurs only when there is an inner conflict between logic and reasoning...
Logic says, 'efforts will be vain'
Reasoning says, 'How can you be so sure?... Some luck? Some miscalculation in logic?..' etc...

In that movie, "Terminator, the Judgement day!"... a Robot with Perfect logic says, 'no way' to save the hero's mother... but the hero kid says, 'doesn't matter... obey me!' and then the logic defying factors make the 'vain' as possible, but paying a very heavy price!... It is only a movie... Logic is a robot, with not negative emotions (no emotions in fact!), so ... pushing down the logic aside for a while was easy, and above that , logic(the robot itself) was able to do its very best, despite disagreement about viability of the project!... In our real life, our own logic is "also-fuzzy'!!!

We too ought to expand our 'knowing that efforts and trials will be vain' to
a)recheck if we left out some trustworthy outside help,
b) re-check our own data base of information
c) re-check if we tried all analysis of 'application of our internal resources' (Oh I did not think of that! ... we often discover... example, we are stuck with a tight screw, on a highway, and the vehicle is stranded, till we open that screw... we do not have a screw driver... we did not 'think' that a coin in the purse can act like the blade of a screw driver!)
d) Our trust in people
e) our own intelligence, which might function better only under stress-conditions... when we are lazy, it 'usually' dissuades us from taking strenuous jobs, with a lame excuse that 'efforts will be vain!'
f) and so on..

Inflow of Influence!

Interdependence engages influence... perhaps ...... to makes its presence 'felt'!

The earliest recognition of this aspect dates back, maybe just around middle of the 18^th century, when the influence of stars was believed to be cause for an affliction, a viral one, affecting masses at a time, to beget yet another name for itself, 'Influenza'....

What perhaps started as a word to denote a mass affect on people, by a large mass of a body at a far off place... stayed back to connote the 'star' effect of an individual, when we chose to say, “A very highly influential person”!!!

A diluted form of confession finds an expression thus: “Please forgive me, but I was under the influence of alcohol, when I said those things” (perhaps, a sutble influence of escapism, in fact when we blame the poor achohol, which would not have found its way into us, without our influence on it!... Only that we patronise the best brewers, by way of outsourcing our efforts towards 'influencing'... Thus we aggregately constitute a confluence of influences!

With all these influences, incessantly working on us, I wonder, as to how we are going to re-influence our spirit through a highly influential spiritual quest, on that 'difficult-to-influence pathless path of spirituality, so as to remain 'detached' from all influences!!!

Unless we master the influence, influence of Masters is bound to keep us under the spell of influence, at least here on spiritual forum!

Influentially yours,

psn (2^nd June, 2013)

Best Suicide!

Bhishma is perhaps holding a record about that!

....

The first time, when I heard the great epic of Mahabharata, I was an idiotic and ignorant kid... so that childhood 'innocence' was in 'good-stead' with me....

It is so obvious, when the first idea that stuck to me, when I was told that Bhishma had been given the chance to choose his death... was... “Hey, he is destined to die ONLY BY SUICIDE!!!”!!!

...

(It took a whole spiritual journey to inform me that any evolved person can choose to walk out of the body at will, not needing to mutilate it in anyway, like the kids smash the toys, when they do not find the 'switch-off-button' and the noise of that toy irritates them! We adults treat this body as 'OUR OWN TOY' perhaps, when we mishandle it, abuse it, each day, to our own fanciful desire-fulfilling-uses!)...

...

This Bhishma ji (my childhood way of looking at it)... demanded 'special quality water' even when he had decided to quit shortly... it was the first ever 'mineral water' mined by a drilling master none-less-than Arjun-ji!!! He asked for special pillows... creating records of sorts! ( I did not muster enough courage to interrupt the story narrator... my feeble great-grand-father's youngest brother, who never assumed any knowledge other than 'factual reporting' like our junior-most journalists!... he would simply turn to other side and slip off into sleep at such nasty questions, about Bhishma's character!)_

...

Now, years later, I was reminded of my child-hood-mind's those quixotic thoughts, when I saw a unique query about “Best suicide”!

...

I would not really 'persuade' somebody to read about suicidal ways! Reading my blogs might already constitute one such!... so, I just mention it as a quote, below the closing 'psn'...

yours dyingly,

psn

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130527233048AAd0zWs

The question:

Best ways to commit suicide?

i was a high school student and yesterday my result came...i got 80% and the marks are okay with me, even good....but my parents are not satisfied...my dad said to me all sorts of things which hurt me very bad...also i had four close friends and i always there for them leaving everything else behind...now the result came all of them have awesome marks except me....though i love them a lot and don't wanna do it but i keep resenting them...it hurts me....i am a disappointment to everyone....i'm just tired of hurting my parents, my friends.....whats the best way to commit suicide....????

Additional Details

first of all thanks for your answer....it is really appreciated....but i don't know if i can stand it anymore.....i just i feel so alone....i have lots of friends and i'm mostly there for them...but when i need them none of them takes my call....i grew amid much criticism n have a fragile self esteem....i don't have any confidense in muself...n only thing i love avout muself is my poetry but no one else like it...i have been daydreaming since i was in 2nd standard and now i want to quit but cant...my condition is so worse that i get surprised even at ordinary things like sunrise n sunset cause live in my imaginary world....i don't recognize my face my smile...i've lost myself....i love my friends but at times i feel i'm too clingy and annoy them n that i'm a burden....i'm a diaster at everything....i don't know why should i live.....

My answer:

I appreciate the 'spirit of competition there too!!!'
The seeking is .... about "Best ways!!!' not the "easy-ways" ...!!!
...
Well the 'Best' way is to keep doing 'our best in life' always, all-ways....
That way, the way to become best is already cleared... When we do our best, at all times, we improve at an incredible speed over a period of time!...
Nature adores those who strive to be best!... Nature will make our death too "THE BEST"...
Please see, when "best" people die, naturally,... people around always say... "HE LEFT US SO SOON, too soon... etc " (as if he had a hand in his death!... so the best suicide!)
Best ... wishes,

Hidden Fear!

“When I decided not to carry my sword anymore....

I did not know that even the sight of an empty scabbard with the other might scare me!”

(The embellishment in that quote is mine... the concept, from among many possible sources, probably my own genes even!)

Hidden fear.... (not the 'latent' fear, is why I was trying to speak of, among so many forms of fear, manifest, and unmanifested ones!)...

Hidden by us, for us, and of us.... We are aware, we have hidden the fear of the possibility of....

our likelihood of confronting somebody, when we try to counter somebody, consciously...

Encounters are another inevitable possibility....

Not to speak of our own episodes of 'fake-encounters' that we indulge into, with our own spouse, by a prior-mutual-consent, when the mutual agreement with the spouse is about the kid, who is all 'fear' only right now, and cannot sustain our scoldings directed straight towards them, and yet the need to deter them from doing something is too urgent (either we have no time to 'educate'... or the kid is too young to know our language.... I do not discount the intelligence of a kid any time, ever!). Please see, this domestic fake-encounter too, is due to a unique kind of fear... the emotional apprehension of losing the emotional trust of that kid into us, 'yet again'!!!

...

Was it the hidden fear, in me, which held me back at times, from countering an arguement presented by others?... Did I fear that person, or just 'for-that-person'?... Or was it sheer fatigue (an age related problem usually), when the mind is tired of having countered for so many years, for right reasons and wrong ones too? The mind feels tired perhaps? The energy spent for countering somebody, though a thought process, drains the energy a lot more times than when dealing with a receptive mind, which agrees to walk-together, not necessarily agreeing with everything and anything, but willing to see together, with an open mind, saying 'maybe... let me see'!

Spirituality ki shuruvaat-ne-hi... nikkamma banaa diya hai psn,

Varnaa hum bhi kabhi thae aadmi, ladaakhu janwar jaise .... !!!

( a couplet, crudely adapted from the famous one... “Ishk ne nikkamma kar diya hai Galib...”)

psn(27^th May, 2013)

Refusing Ignorance!

I had chanced upon going through an interesting discussion....

Some where in between, an assertion about 'I know' turned into “there is nothing more to know in it!”.... (I got 'scared' about that assertion, for that assertive mind which declares thus, though not in so many words, but much more vehemently, through subtle-message, to mean thus!!... 'Scared' is a popular word, to convey the sense of 'concern' for a fellow being, out of that compassion that occurs as an incidental by-product when we strive towards 'all-inclusiveness'... the striving for all-inclusiveness, yet again the road paved by the desire/thirst to delve deeper into the 'sense of interdependence with everything/everyone around!)...

...

I had read some where...

quote:

“He who knows not and knows not he knows not: he is a fool - shun him.

He who knows not and knows he knows not: he is simple - teach him.

He who knows and knows not he knows: he is asleep - wake him.

He who knows and knows he knows: he is wise - follow him.”

unquote

The first category:

one who knows not that he knows not...

Here we have two sub categories!

2a. The plain fellow, whose door is yet to be opened, since he is sleeping... knock his door, he wakes, and then 'knows that he knows not'...

2b. The fellow who is eyes-wide-open... but refuses to 'see' that the door is closed, and insists that the door is 'as-open-as' his eyes! .... very difficult to help him...!!!

When we keep learning... we might stagnate inadvertently, due to an illusion that 'Now we know all'.... it is then, that the vulnerability occurs.....of falling into that “2b.” (Saawan hi aag lagaaye tho kaun bujhaaye!)... To my knowledge, maintaining that 'awareness' at its deepest possible levels is the only available insurance, (other than the grace of the Master, Teacher, Guru, Guide, etc or ..... the Great Beings who are all-in-one!... 'all in one' in both the senses!)

May we be protected from the illusion that 'now, we know it all!'

psn(27^th May, 2013)

a post script:

(At our work place, we had a colleague, who often used to say, “I know.... I know...”

Over a period of time most of the people got tired of hearing this too often, the “I know...”!!! However, there was a chupa Rustom, a poet, who churned out a humorous one, instead of venting his frustration at hearing this 'I know'... I hope the original author will forgive me for copy-pasting it here... If he happens to read this blog, I can only 'hope' for his ratification by according approval of copying 'as of that date'... as we say often in our late vouchers of missed-out transactions in the books of accounts—belated entries!)

quote:

THUS SPAKE MR.KNOW ALL

I know, I know, but I do not know

What I do not know and I know.

What I do know, you do not know,

Yet what you know, I always know.

Alas what all I know

I do not know

But what I should know I do not know.

Now I know what I do not know

And what you do not know I never know.

Should you ever know whatever I know

I know all that you ever know.

Should you know what I do not know

You should well know what I know.

If I do not know what you know

You should first know what I know.

(Even if I say: I know, I know,

you should know that I do not know)

So I’ve decided not to know

What you and I should know

But never really know

Hence I am called

the very Reverend KNOW ALL

By all those knowers

Of Men and Matters All.

Be always a know all

Even if you know

Nothing and Nobody

In the world AT ALL.

(Chorus)

I know, I know,

But I do now know

What I do not know,

And already know.

Attention Span!

I have to be brief. It is about attention span (of the mind)! If I do not manage to get attention even about this, what is the point?...!!!

The eyes, while reading. Most of us agree, it jumps over from visual to next one (now, the contents, of this 'visual' may differ from person to person!... one person may read word-by-word... some, in groups of words at a glance, and an LKG kid, alphabet by alphabet). When it comes to pictures, the pixels are too many, and we miss most of them (we seem to 'see' the entire picture, but we only look at an outline, and refer to memory to name it quickly, and chuckle, 'I have seen it all!'... When it comes to that splash of paint using an uneven brush, which we call as modern painting, the eye searches for the 'caption' ... which is usually below the painting, maybe, for clandestine reasons, be-longing only to the painter-and-artist!

Some birds only hop... Some walk, one leg at a time... High flying birds usually hop... and we are envious that they soar so high, while they might be envious that we walk, crawl, slither, snake, and what not!

The mind...?

Does it hop, from thought to thought, or does it walk over, glide over, slip over, crawl over? (It is for each of us to decide for ourselves)...

But, if the mind instead of jumping along with the eye, from a group of words to the next one, while reading, chooses to go to the inner library, insist on searching for that badly-misplaced earlier thought-book, .... the eyes might still continue to jump on to the next few words, and keep proceeding.... (that is when we say, I went 'through-it'... and very diplomatically, omit to mention that 'sadly, it did not go through me!)...

I jump back to the title... attention span!

This time, I respect the reader's rationed quota(of attention span, of course!)

(for my usual itch, I can switch ... to comments box!)

psn(25^th May, 2013)

Relevant Love?

Is my love relevant?

A 'form' of the same question, that appeals most to logical mind, and yet belongs to the emotional mind!

The mind that asks such a question, is not even ready to compromise, to allow variations/types/kinds/likes/etc, in the love... !!! (It could have been about 'affection' that feels more comfortable, with all others, where 'love', when 'typed'(typecast), looks a bit inappropriate!... The interchangeability of 'affection' with 'love' was carefully omitted by the questioner!)

Instead, the question attempts to have grades of the very same love, looking at highest levels of love... !

That was what appealed to me, about the mind that asked this question! (It is the purity of love that affords us to distance ourselves from any negative emotions that might dilute the depth of love, the quality of love, the deep experience of love... So, the query was to find the touchstone that helps us to separate the forms of love that merely look like it, but are not it!!)

Yes, some example is needed to disallow any ambiguity about the query... They why look at embarrassment? Maybe shyness, a graceful response of reverential love could be allowed, but when it is about a question, even fear has to be set aside, with courage!

Let us see, if the answer could also 'look' relevant! (I suppose, it is the manifestation and its form that goes to create the doubts about the relevancy of it, where as, love as a quality of the very 'being' becomes relevant wherever it manifests, by sheer reason of its purity itself!!!)

Yours relevantly,

psn (17th May, 2013)

http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130512063102AAQW6hI

Often we say I love my mom, and I love my Gf. Does the use of word Love is relevant for both mom and Gf?

Love with Mom is attachment/respect and love with Gf is infatuation/lust. How we can use the word love in both the cases. Are we right?

My answer:

Agreed...
We should not use the word 'love' indiscriminately...
But do we have the courage to tell the Gf, 'look, it is mere lust towards you, and not the (respect)love that I have for my mom'!... We are lust-full even towards the word 'love' and therefore we do not mind disrespecting the word 'love', and we render it 'lust-filled' too! When dust and lust replaces the sanctity of love, true love becomes elusive... And then, the loving mom is sent to home-for-aged! Love becomes a relic!
...
We have to evolve, not the attributes of the word alone for us... to be able to 'feel' it...
That baby-kid, yet to learn alphabets, is full of love (I find it so difficult to look elsewhere, after my eyes meet that innocent face of the baby!)... But yes, that kid is not so self-aware as we adults.
..
Very valid and live question!

Conflicting contrasts, contradictions, confusions, concerns...!

I happened to blurt out thus, in one of my 'comments'... “the desire and the labour involved... actualising it... was a "conflicting contrast!"... a spiritually significant phase, that even we undergo too often and hence the 'doubts' perhaps!)”

...

And then on, the 'issues' of conflicts started pouring in!

I thought I might as well share it, so that some conflicts are/get comfortably cushioned within, consciously...

Contrasts are usually wonderful, appealing, and a bit 'easy-on-the mind' to look at... (we find some fonts merging with the background color, and we miss it... A wonderful lesson in 'camouflage and concealment' for army people!...)...

Now, if abstract concepts become a contrast, the problems can be 'other(is)wise(r)!

We say, 'contradictions cannot co-exist'...

There is a popular verse by a learned saint who wrote in tamil, “those who did not listen to a baby's babble, might say that a flute, or another instrument 'yaal' in tamil, is sweet to hear'....

Like wise, those who did not 'see' a few Indian couples managing to co-exist with day-to-day contradictions between them might say, 'contradictions cannot co-exist'... may we say so!

...

The confusions contradicting... we have all seen it on the KBC... when the choice becomes difficult... losing the 12+ lakhs, answering a question wrongly, or risking that 'nearly-well-known' answer and doubling the stake of win... each of the individual choices 'houses' a host of confusions, and ... some of those confusions are going to conflict with other confusions of the same house, or the house of another-choice!

...

Concerns... A kid wants to go to better school/college... Keeping the kid riveted to 'our-nearby-place' entails a bleak future (knowledge, exposure, and right up to job-placement)... Allowing a re-location to a distant place, might spoil the picture due to 'over-exposure', and the con-sequences might blind us totally in a near-future-itself (contrast to a distant future)... That kid might even re-locate the heart to some other out-source...

Scientists are deeply aware of these problems of conflicting concerns, when plagued with intriguing possibilities... They too, feel only a bit 'mellowed-down' and quite inadvertently misconstrue this logical composure to be some sort of 'humility' having crept in, and start bragging within... as a 'minimum-common-program' (on the look out for similar-egoistic-scientist!!!)...

...

(As long as I do not mention name-tags... their tags are my insulation.. what a contrast... and for a change, a comforting contrast!)

...

Contrastingly yours,

psn(16^th May, 2013)

That is all we know!

Wonderful thought-process....

And,

of all the people, our computer God saying it...!!!

“Just Google it”... is what we say, instead of dunno!

When 'saawan hi aag lagaye, usey kaun bujhaye”...

...

I got this message...

quote:

502. That’s an error.

The server encountered a temporary error and could not complete your request.

Please try again in 30 seconds. That’s all we know.

Unquote:

Teachers at a school, should continue to learn to say this afresh, each time “that is all we know”..

Good scientists keep saying it...

Receptionists (by what ever name, trying to help people at public-counters) should use this, instead of abrupt foreclosure with that too-unhelpful...'I don't know'

...

For the time being, 'that is all we know'

it opens up a possibility to 'Let us... know”

psn(13^th May, 2013)

The Dawn of a spiritual quest!

When "fear" in ALL ITS FORMS gets recognised from within... AS AN OBSTRUCTION... spiritual quest begins... when any quest is spiritual.... only the 'true' path appeals to the being... the mind finds an adversary too big to deal with!
Psn

This was my response to this blog....

http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/god-and-i/how-will-you-know-that-you-are-on-the-right-path

also a

Recommended reading ...

http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/masters/faith-and-rituals/tolerance-isnt-good-enough-the-need-for-mutual-respect

My response to this one:

My response to this blog is....
'reverence'....
way beyond.... respect...
the word... 'tolerance' utterly redundant/superfluous!!!
...
The key to spirituality is to be able to 'adequately respect' a sense of deep recognition of our interdependence with everything and everyone around us...
Then, (if this concept of 'adequate respect' finds any appeal..), then, tolerance-as-a-word, has a very restricted use. Least of all, for multiple paths (also known as 'various-religions')...
...
The theme of the blog is well contained, also in this statement... quote"by respect I mean acknowledging them as legitimate religions and equally valid paths to God"? She replied that this was "an important question," one that she had been "thinking about," but that there are "no easy answers.""...
...
Sir, most people just manage to 'tolerate' those modern paintings... few appreciate it... and those who are unable to appreciate it deep within, spell out superfluous appreciations the most!
....
The... mere 'getting over' of the... climbing over of the... 'tolerance-bondage', in itself, is a very significant step on the path of spirituality!
...
(We were fortunate to have a very 'intense' experience... when, mosquitoes are abundant in our part of the dwelling... no amount of smoke-repellents are adequate... when we squat for a meditative session, the bite of that insect is 'intolerable'... We had a teacher who asked us to manage a little bit of tolerance initially, and then become accommodative ... Only a fortunate few of us managed to find the 'injection' by its poking barely noticeable, when the dropping-of-resistance happened consciously, through conscious relaxation at physical levels too!... Then, I learnt how to relax, when the nurse pokes the injection needle to infuse the medicine intra-muscular-dose..!!!)
...
A very significant contribution, and very very very relevant to the very purpose of this forum!
Thanks and regards,
psn

unquote:

These two blogs, and the response it evoked within me, refreshed my own efforts on spiritual path!

psn(11^th May, 2013)

Though, I am not a Kaafir!

The word 'though' is a bit subtle, when it is said with a 'tho' in Hindi/urdu...

That song...

Main kaafir tho naheen... Magar aye haseen.... (after I 'knew' you..), I understood what Bangagi is!

It was 1973, and when this line struck me like a bolt, I was found guilty of misinterpreting a wonderful romantic song into a spiritual one! I heard this song incidentally, through the DD's Rangoli, and I went back into the memories of that allegation!... I could not counter the allegations then, and tried to look within, if there was something really wrong with me! Everybody around of that age, where insanity is of a unique kind, and there I was prematurely old!

Today, even the other stanzas seem wonderfully spiritual!..

I am not an 'enemy-by-default'... (says one couplet in that song)... but now I know what 'friendship' means! (reference to 'unconditional love' which becomes even a 'friendship', if the outside situation requires us to wear that kind of a garment/role!!!

I thank that poet of the movie, Bobby, for the wonderful theme... It does not matter that somebody fits that song into the story, to suit it “somehow”...

...

Kaafir, I suppose is a non-believer, or at best an athiest... but rigid religious viewpoints tend to look at them as 'natural-enemies' of 'that' religion! ...

'Ibaadat' is incidental to Bandagi, but not a pre-requisite at all!

Now, a blind-believer, who refuses to make use of,..... the unique gift of self-awareness, coupled with the sense of discretion, .... and gloats about that blind-belief as a capability (though knowing too well, deep within... that it was a matter of 'convenience' or giving in to laziness, rather than a sacrifice, or trust)... such a person, in spiritual terms, .... is he ever going to taste “Bandagi” in “real terms” (taste, I said, not even just 'experience'... there is a song “pibarey Raama Rasam, rasaney...” to glorify that sense of taste, when it comes to a Bandagi towards the personified form that we refer to as Shri 'Ram'.... )...

...

(Nothing hampered me, or dampened my spirits from 'also' enjoying the romance in that movie, then... despite this peaceful coexistence of spiritual thirst within me!)

...

Bandish-ly yours,

psn (28^th April, 2013)