Conditions 'apply'!

“Only we-two-of-us know, that there is not (isn't) any bullet in this gun!” Said the hero to the girl who deceived him by tricking him into a hotel room, surrounded by a posse of policemen to nab him! And very smartly, she found a chance to empty the cylinder of his gun, just in case... (I saw just one version of the movie 'Don'.. it was the Amitabh Bachhan of first few minutes, who was averse to Banarasi paan.. (Hmm... yet another conditioning!).

But, that hero's brains could not be emptied by that girl! And being trained to 'survive' against odds, most of his waking+sleeping hours, the resources of response to life-threat was far more deepened than that, in we-the-common-people. Now this 'deepening of resources' also involved taking a look at the 'conditioning' of his 'usual-adversaries'... the police, and his own competitors, and the spies of these two who upset all conditions of implied-trust that he invests in 'seemingly-loyal' close ones!

During the early days of my struggle to deepen the response to spiritual potential latent in me, I did find a lot of 'conditioning/s' right within me, to be the foremost thing to be tackled, and that too, all-by-myself-only... if I were to counter this 'conditions-apply' clauses,.... that deterred my spiritual progress!

The food! The body was 'conditioned' by the food I take, and a little later on, the food that I can take in, becomes the 'only-food' that I can take.. a typical case of 'reverse-conditions-apply'... reciprocity of conditions! (The mom 'trains' a child, for example... not to 'trust' anybody around... do not take eatables from 'total-strangers', don't tell 'all' the facts to strangers etc.. The kid initially wonders 'where does this list of items under 'total' and 'all' really end, so as to decide who is to be excluded from 'strangers'?... The kid grows, and then 'decides', ... “may be 'this-mom' deserves to be included in a list of 'partial-stranger' when she does not even 'know' my likes/dislikes, why-I-like/like-not..certain things!”.. And as with total-strangers, proportionate distrust with partial-strangers! Mom-included! Hey, I strayed a bit... back to my food!)..

So, I decided to try with food, the way 'nature' has designed me to eat it... All other life forms are so comfortable with 'natural form of food'.. Those with shearing teeth, tear the flesh, pop it in, and the smaller digestive canal throws out the waste soon-enough before that raw meat stinks inside the warmer-than-room temperature of its body.. Those with masticating teeth, go for slightly higher quality food, vegetables, fruits etc, where the life-energy is not 'second-hand', but single-owner vehicle..

Perhaps, I was tempted to try with 'food' more because, the other places of 'conditions-apply' seemed too elaborate (Patanjali's formulas were expounded too elaborately, while ancient scriptures, traditions, rituals looked too difficult to 'fit-into' present day life-style)... 'Let us see', I said to myself, 'if this one 'removal' of 'conditions-apply-clause' goes well with my body, and it becomes a little more receptive to all these 'elaborate' routes through some short-cut (like , some air-routes are far shorter, even-distance-wise, than the related road-routes, which circles around god-made-mountains, or man-made round-about-routes)'.

The second or third of this food-experiment, envisaged newer 'conditions-to-be-applied' with the boss of the kitchen.. I thought out of the briefest possible 'text' that might include most vital details (not necessarily the 'important' ones, though! Vital is often not going to look important, that is the problem with nature! Ecology, is an outside example, and liver is an ''inside' example... Howizzz-life?, and we say 'depends on the liver'.. Life liver, and kidney's neighbour-hood-liver behave alike here!).. The very exercise of 'trying out' for a brief-text, taught me to admire the 'Yoga-sutras' a little better... Of course, Gita had always been beyond my reach, for its encryption-features!... And the text was... 'Nothing placed on a stove' will land on my meals-plate... When something is said very briefly, most people tend to 'agree' (falling for its superficial simplicity).. The boss of my kitchen was no exception! 'Good,' was the first-response, and added, 'that makes my life-span better used, .. a little more of it outside the kitchen'.. I remained as stoic-as-possible, while my joy within knew no-bounds!... It was much later that the con-sequence was I 'looked' skin-&-bones within a month or so! The physical-exercise part of intensifying the aasanas (postures), and a few pranayams drained the flab at an incredible speed.. The movement around seemed like the smooth flow of a river, or the light feel which the driver of a 'volvo' bus gets when he drives the empty bus to the garage for those few kilometeres from the last-stop... The needs of the body to carry itself around felt lesser and lesser with each day of these practices! Within me, I did regret, that simple logic did not occur to me all along!

After a few months, I discovered so many of the 'conditions-apply' clauses collapsing within me, which had all along put hurdles to my perception-levels, in the name of 'putting conditions' and 'getting-conditioned' to the 'life-style' approved by sheer majority-numbers, and sheer-length-of-time for which it was perpetuated by generations who refused stubbornly to 'look' deep-enough! And for the same reason, I saw wisdom in 'trying' not-to-share my deeper experiences (conditions-apply, works too well, for others, against me!)..

The exuberance of this exhilarating experience, of playing with body, now made me turn my attention towards another subtle body of mine... THE mind! (but that is quite another fascinating story... the diet for mind, cooked and uncooked, has lots of complexities... even the pressure of the pressure-cooker is amazingly unique... )..

Yours, (unconditionally-conditioned),

psn(21st May, 2014)

Spurious Emotions!

Even the best speeches by any politician is today, looked at with a suspicison of, that of a one, intended to stoke the emotions of the audience to be turned towards one's own advantage...

With the bulk of the politicians doing the same or similar thing, the safe option 'seems' to be to distrust everyone, indiscriminately... obviating even the need to know, if one of them 'happens' to be a genuine one! And so, we look at these speeches as 'spurious emotions'...

Now, who are the losers, if one of such speeches were really 'genuine', even if the person making such a speech was not genuine or sincere about it? This(theme of the question), at once takes us to the very common question about a 'genuine guru' , when there are too many fakes around!

If the seeker is genuine, he feels the 'need' to know the distinction. I see no other option available.. though, 'outsourcing' the consequences of such a 'subtle or future-need' can actually precede the rising even, of such a need, or the realisation of such a need/want... (This aspect of 'outsourcing' was dealt-with so amazingly, by the ancients, when they made it into a tradition where the parents ensure a good tutelage for the child, either by themselves, or by initiating the child at the hands of a trust-worthy guru/teacher etc.)

We have cases like that of a 'padma-paada' where the deliverer of a 'worthy' message himself lacked adequate faith in it..

We have a joke-story, where a miserably-failed businessman, heavily debt ridden, decides to end himself, but accidentally meets a total stranger who gives him a bearer cheque for one million dollars, 'just-like-that'... and this businessman finds a new hope and inspiration, takes that cheque, and manages to come out of the troubles, but strangely enough without ever encashing that cheque. He now looks out for the person who gave him that cheque, and after haunting that very same place (where he met that benefactor) for few days, does meet him one day, but as he was about to return that un-encashed cheque 'with-thanks', finds a few white-uniformed people 'collecting' this benefactor, and they also asked this businessman, 'Did he give you a cheque for a million dollars?.. well he does that often, whenever he escapes from the mental asylum hoodwinking us!'

Now, the businessman gapes! Who was the 'real-source' of his inspiration?

As I listened to the speech by Shri Narendra Modi addressed to nation, through the audience at Ahmedabad at about 9 pm on 16th May, 2014 soon after the 'victory'... I found a lot of hints in it that a person can make use of, for one's own evolvement, whether a person seeks to be a leader, whether a person seeks to evolve oneself materially, or even whether a person seeks to evolve spiritually! These hints are not direct derivations out of the words spoken, but instead out of my own 'look out to learn something out of anything and everything'.. It is not often that I get to learn a lot from so little! And this at once amused me when I also knew there are bound to be hard-critics all over whose own-suspicions would prevent them from taking/receiving a 'clue' for their own betterment! (We have a sufficiently 'magnified' example, when share market 'attained' a volatility, attributed to the victory of this new-leader for the nation!.. But then, houseflies do get attracted towards carelessly strewn sweets, sugar, blood-stained materials, or at unflushed toilets even... And these flies do not oblige the people around with anything else other than contagious diseases... Perhaps, it is better to keep the place clean than keep-blaming those poor flies! I wonder who created this share-market itself, in the first place? Concept of 'shares' was okay, and very good.. trading too was very good, but over-speculation?)... That is where 'choices' made, often leads a person into a kind of helpless-choicelessness eventually. And we call it fate, destiny, etc!

'Spuriously' yours,

psn(17th May, 2014)

Decision Making (body)!

The moment I became acquainted with the existence of abstract-concepts, this was perhaps the most intriguing question for me, when I was a kid!

The kid seldom 'gets' to make any decision at all... even about oneself!

The elders simply 'assume' the powers to decide anything and everything about a kid!

The joy of having a large place all to oneself gives a strange kind of feeling of freedom to a kid, and they simply find a joy overflowing out of them... A large hall, a vast seashore, a wide playground, etc..! Somewhere, the 'choice' about 'do what you like' here seems to open up a bit wide!

(When the kid realises that his 'decision-making' is usurped, he very consciously evolves into making attempts to make and enforce his own-decisions, and this is seen as 'stubborn-ness' or obstinacy, by the elders around).

With legal entities, we humans call it a 'body' that makes a decision... The committee is the decision-making-body...

When we look at stories, the source of 'decision making' seems to give us precious lessons.. One kid-story that did make an impact on me was about... a mother bird leaving the nest early asking the kids to listen to what the farmer says, about harvesting, since the very life-span of their home, the nest... depended on the harvesting of paddy, in that rice-field.... The farmer says, 'tomorrow, I shall ask my relatives to help me'.. nothing happens. Next day, he says, 'I shall ask friends to help me'... still nothing happens.. next day, 'I shall ask my neighbours to help'... then the next day, 'I shall ask my children to help...'... The mother bird keeps track of it each evening after returning to the nest with food-for-kids. Then the farmer was heard saying, 'tomorrow, I shall start the harvest all-by-myself, not waiting for anybody'... and the mother bird also says, 'Kids... time to leave now!'

When we look at movies... Sholay steals the show! Somebody tells that sober friend, 'Hey, you friend is saying he would jump off that tall water tank!' and this sober friend says, 'Don't worry, when the drink in him wears off, he would climb down!' (He is so sure of the 'decision-making' pattern of his friend!)...

'Did I say too much?' asks the drunkard, and the sober one says, 'Having said it, let us face it together now!' (when the former makes a tall-claim about taking on all the 'enemies' at once!)...

The psychological impact on the audience climaxes, when this friend discovers that decisions were 'decisive' only by his sober friend, whose love was used by this drunkard as 'trust' .. The decisions were adequate to even insure the friend's life!.. the toss of coin was redundant, when both sides of this freak-coin were the same—heads!

Another movie is famous for its punch line, 'Once I make a decision, I never listen even to myself later on!' (the audience is thrilled, but very few give a thought about, 'why ain't I like that?')

This body, is itself a result of some decision-making about what we propose to do with this life time! Once this is made-aware-to-ourselves, the rest of the decisions become so 'clear'!

The spiritual Master 'likes-to-know' ... the 'source' of decision of a disciple, to enable this master to decide upon accepting the role of a teacher for that disciple!

What in us decides, as to whom for we are going cast our vote ? Do we vote in favour of our cravings(physical or mental), our knowledge potential, our common-sense, our emotions, our trust-potential, our 'energies'... and so on! And then, the next few decisions get out-sourced to that 'source in us'!

With that 'Don' in the movie 'Godfather' the style was 'I made a proposal which the other could not refuse'! ( a decisive proposal indeed!).. And when I tried to admire this 'punch-line'.. I at once realised that there were quite a few 'beings' hovering over my head, who decided to just keep chasing me, whatever happens! And the best advantage about them was, perhaps, time was/has-been... always on their-side! And now I could decide about my kid-old puzzle, 'who decided my spiritual quest'...!

Decidedly yours,

psn(11th May, 2014)

Put on Notice!

It was a very casual chat... Most of them were youngsters.. Only two were 'oldies'... Me and an elderly lady, much more senior to me.. We were almost trying to 'kill' the time! It was a gathering of close relatives, to formalise an alliance with a ritualistic ceremony, followed by some sundry events, and the intervening time gap had to be somehow spent.

The topic came up about 'causes' of diabetes... The youngsters felt cheerful to talk about it.. As it turned out at once, this lady was the only one to 'face the music'... She embarked on negating all the causes one-by-one, when these youngsters suggested..

'eating erratically—No!' ,

'Worrying—No!'..

'lack of exercise—No!'

“Angry-often?--NO!”

“Then, depression/stress/etc---No-no I am a mere house-wife all along!”.....

etc...

I was just observing silently... the youngsters had almost exhausted all known 'causes/reasons' and this lady could manage with a 'no' to all of those.. But the fact remained that she did depend on those medicines for 'sugar-problem' , and her consolation was 'at this age, it is okay now!'

There was a weakening of pressure on her.. Like those police people using water-cannons on a mob, and when water gets exhausted, the slogan-shouting becomes a little vigorous (shouting against a spray of water is cumbersome, we know!)...

I should have continued to keep quiet... But I didn't... I said gently/slowly, 'Maybe telling lies is the cause of diabetes!' (“झूट बोलने से शायद डाईबेटिस होता है " Actually, I had said it in Hindi!)

There was a sudden burst of laughter from all the youngsters! The moment became intensely 'dramatic'.. The laughter of the youngsters was at the 'stupidity' and contrast of the arguement.. when all 'sensible' causes failed, ... then ... why not this 'unconventional' cause of 'telling lies?'.. It amused them (the sense of timing was the 'chief-element' that evoked that burst of laughter... !)

But, that lady at once became a bit 'too-serious'... While the youngsters got lost into their own laughter, I took notice of this 'grim-faced-expression' and knew at once... that I had stepped on a painful-nerve.. (Something they say in hindi close to this... “दुखती राग पर हाथ रखना )...

Obviously, the literal sense of it was not what 'disturbed' her... In fact she was quite insistent about being uprighteous about things... And she had a reputation accruing to her, in the family circle for this quality... She did not mind being a little unpopular among those who were a little factitious/pretentious/etc...

I too was a little taken-aback, and quite unprepared to see, when my 'casual' remark found its mark deep within her! She was having a great struggle, holding on to these 'values' which are cherished traditionally... And it was this 'struggle' that raised a 'big' doubt, as to whether it really ended up into some kind of self-deception? Other wise, why was there such a struggle about it? Must be a very very subtle kind of self deception! The mention of 'lies' seemed to put-her-on-notice, and she was such a generous lady, her entire 'seriousness'/red-faced expression... etc was entirely at her-own-self, and not me, the culprit, who 'put her on-notice'...!

I did regret that inadvertant slip! I knew the vulnerability of certain expressions of mine, especially when the situation was 'just-right' ... but I gave in to the temptation of the 'thought' that these youngsters are 'going-to-laugh' at it... (I had to find an equipoise, within myself, between the joyousness of spurring a laughter in those youngsters, and at the same time, of having stirred a deep painful truth in somebody else...).. While others almost forgot he whole thing, the lady did take notice of it, and I could not keep track of what might have happened thereafter with her, due to this!

...

We often keep avoiding to be 'put on notice' of something that might not leave us thereafter!

Impersonal allegations are so comfortable to deal with!

'Being put-on-notice' is something that the 'escapists' are ever afraid of!... But, when some weakness of our get pointed out so bluntly, there is an 'after-effect'. We suddenly turn into an 'hitherto-escapist' A yet-another & a painful discovery!

Meditative practices often encounters the problem of 'being put on notice' .. deep within, while on the other hand... we keep wondering as to why we do not evolve 'any-further'.. or why this meditative state refuses to deepen within us!

The teacher of the present day, often has to 'struggle' to make this 'putting on notice' to feel as comfortable as possible, to the seeker-disciple.. or else, the latter would simbly/simply drop off..

Acceptance, at its deepest levels, comes at a price, that everyone has to eventually pay-up, but few can really afford! (Even the 'constructive-notice' served is so painful!)

Noticing-ly yours,

psn(2nd May(be), 2014

Brahma-Raakshas

The name itself might raise the eye-brows, in those who are a little familiar 'about me' (though not 'with-me'...!)

Even I did not 'think-of' letting this loose, in the form a blog when I wrote it down, and so I had only shot-it, in the 'email-form', hoping that it would be so convenient to 'invite trouble' from only known adversaries!

But, looking at the poor response from a 'selective-group' of say... some two dozens, I am now tempted to keep the window open, a little wider...

It is the concept, 'built' around the term, that I am interested into more than the 'gimmicks' that ensures its popularity !

I hope readers would enjoy this in equal measure too..

psn(28th April, 2014)

quote:

Somewhere I came across a theory which may have only some conceptual relevance.

The dramatized version seems to contribute more towards reducing the credibility of stories, whereby the concept gets diluted or even goes un-noticed! Logic does demand a price!

A leisurely visit to ancient temples of Kerala, would familiarize a person with a place, built with low elevation, appearing like a single large room unfinished during construction, and stopped at plinth level, with that sand filling.

Devotees take a walk around it, with devotion, and a few pick up a pinch of that mud from the elevated place.

The name given to this sacrosanct place is 'BrahmaRakshas'.

Some Brahmins are of the opinion that Brahmins do not 'bow' to this place!

There is a belief that persons who acquired great knowledge, and yet refused to part with it, become such BrahmaRakshas! An abode or resting place is given to them thus! They appear or become perceivable to those vulnerable people who are prone to run into demons or Rakshasas, only during the early morning hours of Brahma-Muhurtham, and are quite harmless!

There is even a joke: It seems a young housewife was decorating the front yard with that 'Rangoli' (the traditional 'KOLAM'), and suddenly felt some presence behind her. Taking a look, she remarked very casually, "Oh! It is only you, a BrahmaRakshas, and I thought it to be my 'Naathanar' (sister-in-law)!". It is a custom to decorate the front yard with that Rangoli during very early hours, and the BrahmaRakshas would have come to 'verify' whether the design of Rangoli was as per prescriptions, free from 'bugs'! There is (or at least used to be) an entire science regarding this Rangoli, which serves among many other purposes, also that of an almanac or calendar!

They (BrahmaRakshas), it seems happen to realize a bit late (after having lost access to the gross body), that distributing knowledge to worthy disciples constitutes to be an integral part of spiritual evolvement. So, they stagnate at a point, and wander aimlessly! Basically they are supposed to be good souls; just that they discovered a bit late that spiritual knowledge is to be treated as 'open-source', 'free-ware' etc, and not to be jealously guarded, at least from non-hackers!

That reminds me, pilferage of knowledge (hacking) is not something new! It seems the Devas requested Kacha, the son of Brihaspati, the preceptor of Devas, to infiltrate into school of the of preceptor of Asuras(Main Server), through online-net-chatting on the 'web' access, with a damsel called Devayani (the daughter of asura-preceptor, Sukracharya). The soft ware to be hacked was known "Sanjivani'! The fall out was interesting.

The story does not seem important. The concept is. The spiritual experience gained by visiting a holy place is to be shared, and not withheld, and this place for "BrahmaRakshas" could serve as a mild reminder towards that responsibility (response-ability!).

Since all this is hearsay stories, I would gratefully acknowledge any additions, corrections to the theory of BrahmaRakshas.

Psn (17^th May, 2008)

Trust deployment

“Please continue to enjoy trusting my integrity if you wish, but do not extend it to my accuracy!.. I am not infallible, though better than aam-aadmi at counting currency notes, by virtue of my job...”

I used to say often...

(The moment they are able to trust me, their polarisation towards their comfort-zone seeks to invoke their laziness to speed ahead towards it, like we step on the accelerator on a smooth, vast, straight and lonely highway!... This is a 'trait' we find too often when we misconstrue 'reliability' as a 'dependability'.....)

And the other person ... unable to match this 'style of argument' for the time being at least (he is having more important things 'ready-at-hand' than trying to even grasp what I said, only then to conjure a counter-argument!)... he helplessly goes through the motions of 'confirming' my cohesiveness of my mind and fingers, when they matched the target of 99+1 (we cashiers, have a style, of 'claiming' that we count only up to 99... the 100th one is 'there, glaring at me' already! A Sadistic sense of achievement at a 'stupid-dexterity'!)...

The disclaimer on the note-slip, that forms a label of that 100-pieces-packet says, 'Satisfy yourself, that it is okay in every manner... later on don't haggle... no blame game' (effectively, this is what is says, in more-polite words).. The main worry is, about who is the 'holder-in-due-course' of a fake note... more than the loss of money, the 'running around' by that Uniformed personnel, who might have run-out-of pocket money that has to come from 'other sources' , not just-salary... might accelarate that 'needless run for money', sponsored by fake-money, for a change!..

How to deploy trust? (Already it is in short supply within us , right now!)

I guess, that it is this capability to 'deploy' trust is the fulcrum on which the edifice of interpersonal skill rests!

Testily yours,

psn(22 April, 2014)

Impersonal Allegations!

Dosti mei gustaqui karenge hum sirf ek baar....

dost sab paidal chalenge, aur hum janaazey pe sawaar...!

I was reminded of this 'gustaaqui' yet again, when I looked at what I churned out as an 'uninvited' response to a comment made by 'x' at a blog of 'y' (where as, I am not even an 'a/b/c' in the queue!)..

And the response I gave, ....

when I myself tried to look at it ,...

seemed like a 'same side goal'....!

(I am almost a critic of my own very 'religion'!... What a situation!)

this is what I wrote!

Quote:

“"why didn't Krishna told Gita to everyone present on the battlefield?" (the reference portion, used for my response...)

Maybe, they are in the queue!... At the railway enquiry counter, we often find the counter-clerk showing that 'fatigue' (of having answered the same question over and over ,) so visibly.. when the next fellow asks it yet again! Especially the "late running trains, and its 'expected' time of arrival"... People can even read it on a scribbled white/black board nearby, or even that digital scroll (now-a-days), but still 'like to make it doubly-sure' ! 
Why do we "get" a question like, "is it ....'really'... applicable to others too?"... (Now, using the same 'railway counter' as an example... suppose that counter clerk got a 'news' that this 'delayed train' has met with some 'derailment'... details awaited... even that news was a 'spill-over'.. some unconfirmed reports... the scene changes! That 'next to the next' fellow leaning over 2-3 shoulders, would not 're-frame' the question, plus , he would now multiply his 'anxiety' about his family that was 'supposed' to arrive by that-same-train! He does not wait to see, if this information (leak news) really was 'addressed to him'! (Please try to see this 'simplistic' or 'silly-looking' example in the back drop of the entire 'so called religion.... Hinduism' .. it does not even 'compel' a temple visit... it is a 'take-it-or-leave-it' basis! The choices of temples vary (no-two are 'very- alike!.. The deities are same, not the temples! The 'message' almost seems to 'mock-at-my' ... common-sense... almost ridicules with an unsaid punch-dialogue "Hey! You mango-man/aam-aadmi... here are ... so many deities... different 'kinds' of consecration for each of these deities... now, ... you spend a life-time, choosing the 'right one' suited for you! You wouldn't have even visited all the temples available (even, after the quite a few ones that got demolished/etc)... Nor can you 'finish' reading even the bulk of scriptures in one life time... Nor can you grasp the 'full-significance' of even a couple of lines of 'one of those declaratory' verses... Nor can you finish learning all those awkward postures in one life time (number of Yog-aasana are too many).. nor can you 'fully grasp' even one aasana in one life time (Shri BKS Iyengar would vouch this... and he is 'fairly' reliable person... he has nothing to gain 'now' by telling an 'untruth' about something he loves more than his own-life, Yog-aasnas!)... "
Then what is the whole point?
dunno!
psn

भ्रष्ट आचार (corrupt conduct)

“I shall do my very best(at all times)...

I shall not seek any personal gain...

I shall not have any ulterior motive...”

I heard it said today... Somebody 'declared' a committment towards this....

(The best part was, this declaration preceded with a 'exclusivity-clause' that these three are said in the 'individual capacity'!... If somebody is interested to look 'positively', then, the obvious derivative 'may be'...

“Let others follow suit...”

and not.. that...

“it does not apply for others too”...!!!

...

It felt so nice to even 'get to hear such things'.. ..

(I was even tempted to 'cross-check' it within me... has it found applicability when I lived this far?.. Is is going to guide me/lead-me hereafter?_)...

Good enough, to make a humble beginning...

right 'within', first...

and only then to try to 'clean' the outside...

“Fight against corruption” has to be with oneself, first!

My intention of quoting this set of first three sentences of blog was to remind myself of its 'spiritual significance' though the declaration was in a 'political-context'... and so, I may not be able to respond 'satisfactorily' to any criticisms, about the politics involved around the quote!

psn (7th April, 2014)

(I can 'reasonably' trust the person who can declare thus, to absolve me from any 'copy-rights' issue of quoting that person... The implied meaning of what was said is itself a 'guarantee', this time!)

Assessment Tools

“Devi, Tum hans rahee ho?... Maa bankar dekho,...” The heroine in Mother India tells the idol, which seems to smile 'mockingly' at her, when she is torn apart mentally, between a compromise of starving her kids to death, or to lose her chastity to a greedy financier....

The scene impressed me very much... I was a kid, and the hand-painted posters used to weave 'dreams about that movie' everytime I passed by that road-side-advertisement-poster.. When the movie itself turns far better than that dream-about-movie that I weave within, my mind tells me 'good movie' other wise, it is just a so-so.. etc..

We can assess something, only by using some kind of a 'tool', often resembling a yardstick or a measurement scale, however fuzzy it is...

When it comes to emotions, there is a slight problem! We ourselves become the tool..! Or, is it possible staying out of it, and then measuring?... dunno! Why do people say, 'you won't understand...' to certain actions about which we try to ask, why did-you-do?... Is it that they 'know' ....that I am not going to become-a-tool, adequately enough,.... to understand the emotional reason for it?

Babies... emotion is all that they have!... They simply turn receptive to what ever predominates the ambiance just-outside-of-them! Their inside, at least physiologically is 'least-corrupted' from that emotion-receptivity point of view (though biologically that baby might have inherited even an HIV virus from the mom!)... Now, that baby might not respond/manifest, if the health problem is a 'retardation'... but for sure, the emotions are all that the baby is having, and capable of receiving right now! (it laughs and cries too intensely.. even funny sounds makes the child 'burst-itself' through a laughter!)...

Spirituality... Even to get into it... what kinds of tools are they, that are going to 'allow' us to gain some-kind-of-entry into that 'pathless-path'? Unless the 'mind' says 'go-for-it'... no point in trying it even... like we try out to watch-and-enjoy... an emotion-filled movie or so! Reading a stuff with 'spiritual' related content... or 'reproducing' it from some 'popular source'.. .. is almost like trying out a costly dress at a shop's dressing room!

(I wonder... if that pseudo-theism... plays a trick on our own selves... when it fakes an assessment-tool, that seems to be an emotional appreciation/evaluation, when it uses the feigned-emotions, the way those movie-stars do, when they work in shifts between shifted-roles for different movies!)...

Are logical tools going to work, to 'assess' spirituality?

Are emotional tools going to be 'used' like we use a fishing rod, sitting on a river bank, avoiding to get ourselves wet?

If.... it is so.....at all... that emotions “do matter”, for spirituality/theism... what level of emotions? (for sure, we need not 'count' the negative emotions, and add to the confusion...).

Is it the 'assessment-tools' itself... of a person.. that gets assessed by that 'job-giver' in an employment interview?

(Even for some new technology.. like... when 'brains are churning out new concepts of 'cloud-computing'... some other lab-workers are creating 'testing-tools' and asking these very cloudy-people to 'assess' those tools! Now, that does speak about a certain kind of 'trust'... when big money is spent into conferences, where the cloud-makers, and its tool-makers meet regularly!.. I have only spiritual-practices, to think about, when I try to assess as an idler-now... and that tempts me to wonder... how these Masters happen to exchange “even assessment tools” through their own unique 'blue-tooth' technology! When it is Spiritual Masters, the same 'dialogue'... 'Do whatever it takes' ... takes cosmic proportions! Size matters!)..

Are we serious about even taking a look at the kind of 'assessment-tools' that we use, when our mind 'incessantly' churns out conclusions, confusions, in the name of statements/observations, which are actually/effectively, judgements? Dunno!

When it is about blogs... it is so safe to copy-paste! Own stuff, renders our own assessment-tools, vulnerable to its inadequacies getting 'exposed'... But then, how to manage comments/responses? Dunno!

psn (5th April, 2014)

Praayaschittaartham, parihaaraha

“Abey... Mundee neechey kar”...

I was not quite familiar with this 'mundee' ... when that 'elder' next to me thundered thus, clenching his teeth, to keep the decibels low, but the 'thrust' of voice quite hitting me through his 'severe' glare!

Then he placed his palm on the back of my head, and forced me to crouch at the bench... and added, “aisey!”.... Now, I got it! Mundee is nothing but my 'quixotic' brain, and its casing, the skull!

I looked sideways, (which constitutes to be a 'sly-look' for others... usually I turn my whole head, to keep the dual-eyed-focus straight... Single-eye vision did not seem to afford the 'depth' of the object viewed!)...

Now I got the 'why' of my mundee, being grounded to the bench!... He had to look over at the answer sheet of the 'elder' next to me, on the 'other side' (I was 'flanked by elders' on both sides, left and right ...).

That was the “seating pattern” devised by our school, to prevent 'copying' in our 'weekly tests' which was then-the-name, for today's mid-term examinations at school... I was just in 6th... the junior most in the high-school section, and therefore was quite 'new' to the 'traditions' established by elders! I never created further problems to any of my elders! (Anyway, I wasn't in that rat-race for marks/ranks... at home, I had got my instructions clear “fail in a class means, education-stop” .. My dad and his uncles had failed quite a number of times, in each class, and I was 'expected' to be a slight improvement over it,... nothing more! That gave me the freedom to 'crouch' as and when required by the elders... all I was racing-against was just 'pass-marks' plus, an insurance of little more... nothing more-than-that.. 'non-crouched' time-space was more than enough to get-thro'..)...

It was only the 'maths' egjaam which tempted me beyond my self-restraint.. and I conveniently mis-interpreted the word 'choice' to suit my craze... 5 out of ten 'sums' was the warning... I found even the time ample for 10 out of ten, because, somehow, that maths-sums sounded quite 'eejee' to me!...(anything, to sound 'easy' had to translate into a job done 'quickly'—those were the parameters taught to us at school, then! And at home, I was 'wondering' why that 'stone-picking' from ration-rice--- chaawal se kankar chunn-na--- did not sound the opposite of 'easy' when it require a labor-intensive and time intensive task! Too many family members, and finances were less, so cleaning that 'ration-rice' needed help from kids in the family... for elder males, it was a 'below-dignity' job, belonging only to women folk!... No 'sin' involved in punishing kids, who were not yet adults! 'Ration rice', to me was easily identifiable, when 'lot' of pebbles/stones, white ones, were 'found' in a rice!).... And when the maths teacher (a wizard from M.A.--maths-teachership), chided me... I stuck to the prescribed choices ('correction' was needlessly stretched, with my answer-paper... and therefore the warning!).

A little later, it dawned that I too, was a 'party' to the unethical conspiracy of these elders... but I could do nothing 'about it'... Figuratively and literally, my head was at stake!

That led me to take a look at 'sin' aspect a little closely... Three 'big' doubts 'came', into my tiny mind... 1) Atonement... 2) rectification, and then 3)forgiving ...

I kept the search on... for the equivalent of that 'forgive' in desi languages... While many 'adaptations' were force-matched to suit the convenience of unhindered 'flow' of conversations, it(the available substitutes... like kshama, etc.. 'maaf' seemed better!) really failed to convince me!

The prime-doubt was... did the ancients 'realise' that any 'error' was 'entirely' related to the doer, and the recipient of any hurt/injury/etc of any wrong-doing had no subjective-oriented act towards oneself, to be even looked into, save... any remedial measure?... The ancient theory of punishments too seemed to subscribe to this 'theory'! Maybe, it was due to a deep grasp about 'mind-related-residues', that the residue acruing to any erroneous act of the other, would be a sheer stupidity, if it creates a 'residue' in the recipient! The whole of scriptures was addressed to 'individuals' and did not warrant any 'receptivity' of residues from any act of the other... Residues are a result of one's own reactions, not pertaining to any source-of-outside-situation! That makes any forgivance by the other, for our actions, to be 'redundant'!!! The symbolisms, indicated through varied texts, seemed to make a very strong suggestion to this concept (or-else, ...or otherwise, .... I got it all 'wrong'! So, readers are to 'exercise their own prudence' while even 'trying' to subscribe to this theory!)

And then, the first two, atonement, and rectification did have its equivalent... 'Praayaschit' and 'parihaar'.. but even the colloquial equivalents in native languages somehow managed to allow a free use of these two, quite inter-changeably!

Parihaar was often used in astrology, when the dosh (error) was attributed to some far off planet, afflicting the native's birth chart... So, parihaar was not always a response to any sin, by me or even others... it is merely 're-aligning' of something that is not 'quite-in-conformity' with natural order of things... in tune with nature's design... or even the cosmic laws (as per perception of an individual!).. Setting things in order!

Praayaschit.. was 'noticeable' only when it accompanied a 'rectification-process' to what ever possible extent!

My quixotic mind, now tries to look at it as....

All parihaars need not be 'praayaschit-oriented' or praaschit-triggered...

Where as a Praayaschit need not always impose any parihaar (in some cases, the scope is extinguished even!)

I have a dictionary with malayalam script, which translates sanskrit words into malayalam language for giving 'some idea of its meaning' (The compiler obviously knew the 'worth' of sanskrit language, and was conscious of limitations while giving a translation of it, and calling it a dictionary!)...

This is what I found... so a quote, interpreted with my limitations:

Parihaar: 1)Tyaag (sacrifice)... 2)render something free of its defect... 3)revere/respect (aadar karna)

Praayaschit: “The prescribed actions, in accordance with the principles enshrined in the science of 'Dharma' to exterminate a 'sin'...

unquote;

Now, parihaar looks far more 'innocent' than the praayaschit, in spiritual terms!

Dharma is usually interpreted as 'religion' while .. the ancients who coined this term might have looked at it as 'righteousness' (the meaning implied in that urdu sher--- “khudi ko kar buland itna”

the rest of it ... 'ke har tehreer ke pehle khudaa khud pooche .. bataa teri razaa kya hai”... what ever we do do become 'buland' is righteousness... no actions prescribed... actions being situation-dependent!)

Sin, is perhaps, what ever does not fit to be a righteous act... act of thought, word or physical-action...

Since it is the residue of the actions, that we accumulate often... the freedom lies in exterminating the residue... and till then, this residue is in 'conformity' to the concepts of what can-constitute-to-be ... also... the equivalent of a 'sin' (here, in spiritual terms, the 'social norms' of what a sin is , is not a quite 'exhaustive' list.. the society-prescribed list is 'worldly'... loukik.. and is basically 'intended' for a smooth social order... it does not 'encroach' into spiritual-sense-of-sin... simply because, this whole 'business' of spirituality was considered to be 'purely a matter of personal choice'... And “perhaps” it is... 'therefore'... that a seeker is puzzled, when the 'progress' on a spiritual path is attributed to 'strange-looking' and 'new-new' lists.. of 'defects'/hurdles... and confusing us calling 'even-that' and 'this' as “a-sin”... Arey? Yeh sab bhi galat maana jaata hai kya?... Baap-re-baap... kathin-pari-sthitee hai yahaan tou!... Na jaane hum aam aadmi ka kab bedaa paar hoga!

'Debugging' seems to suit that 'parihaar' in the e-world.. and if debugging is too difficult to be an 'original', copy-paste of somebody's codes!.. if copy paste is not readily available, re-route the very loop, clandestinely ... to appear as if that function was dealt with (data availability takes time, to find the ineffectiveness of debugging.. by then, we are on a different project.. or.. hopefully, a group-leader/project-leader/'Manager'/etc!)... As yet, computer world deals with 'sins', in only one way.. 'benching'!... But we have that android-mobile etc (what ever it is!)...

psn (29th March, 2014)

Being Unavailable!

It works often!

Place the mobile on a 'silent' mode, switch it off.. etc..

'Chor-Police' ! A game that I had learnt from seniors at school... The phase was about 5 years, and lasted only till we reached 9th class, where the turn of teens drew its attention, for many of my friends, into more of 'dress' consciousness (suddenly they became too particular about narrow bottom, then 'bell-bottom' pants, the collar style was usually decided either by the ruling movie-star or that high-scoring test-cricketer... till then the ferociousness of our games took a toll on the shirt and knicker and its life too!)... For a while I felt 'left out' when this dress consciousness failed to impress me, but it did afford the attention being drawn a little deeper within (an incidental gift due to the situation... when all others looked into palm-held tiny mirrors, I learned to sit and stare into a blank empty space ahead of me, simply because, it provided the scope to 'look on and on'!)..

The concept of 'being unavailable' was getting crystallized during this immediate after-phase!... But the 'how'.... of the concept of 'being-unavailable' crept in, was perhaps.... due to the help of the game at school.

That game of 'chor-police' was a bit sacred one! There was no 'chori' (theft involved)!.. And we never gave a thought to it... when we did not 'steal' anything, why is the other kid who is chased, called a thief?... But then, why at all should he try and become 'unavailable' during the count of 1 to 50?... The thrill of the game never gave enough time to think of such logical questions! One fellow places his palms on both eyes, keeps his forehead touching a corner of a wall, and chants aloud his UKG arithmetic 'portion' of quarterly-exam... (the 'chanting' of the numerals, from 1 to 50).. Those kids...whose tongues can churn out the numbers faster will be required to chant up to 75 .. the other kids hide.. The first one to be discovered becomes the 'chanting priest' of the next round! (The worst part of it was, the kid who manages to hide at a good place, has to bear the brunt of loneliness, isolation, etc for a longer time, with the anxiety too, that the Second-bell after interval may not be audible.. The place of hiding is kept a secret, and periodical peeping out might add the vulnerability of being spotted by the next 'police-kid'... But that was the thrill...!!!)...

The need to find 'newer places to hide'... to become 'unavailable'... led me to take a look at our school's earliest water tank which provided drinking water!..

The water tank stood on a platform of about 2.5 to 3 feet, so as to enable tiny size taps all around its base, for kids to use it for drinking the water... the spill-water flows along a narrow canal 6 inches wide below this tap, all around the tank... The tank was located at the end of an open-corridor. Along the open corridor, soon after this tank (lengthwise), was the Chapel, then the 'office-room' which had a window that remains 'open' only for certain hours, more for 'fee'-flow than for the air-flow, inwards for ventilation!.. The next was the Principal's office (out of bounds for kids, except when summoned!)..

The corridor had a roof with a drop on the open side to shield from slant rain-shower... This 'drop' wall narrowed the space between the water tank's upper portion to just about 9 inches for a height of 3 feet! Where as, the other side of the lengthwise portion of the tank grew along the wall with a gap of 1 feet, so that kids can squeeze in that space, stand in front of the tap, and sip from the drool of that tiny tap (kids desisted from that 'side-length' of taps, just because their 'bottom' gets a pat from the wall, when they suddenly couch to reach the tap!).. The height of the water tank was kept almost touching the roof, short of height by just 6 or 8 inches!...

The 'search' for a new hiding place tempted me to climb on to that canal-railing, and reach for the roof of that tank, and pry into it, to 'see' if I can somehow squeeze in, to hide somewhere along the elbow of that tank's top portion where the drop began.... I was surprised when I managed to take a look at the water in the tank from its top... the head had to be twisted sideways, to reach inside the tank, to take a look, but the wall of the tank was a bit thicker than the length of my neck, and hence could not 'straighten' my head after that side-twist to push the head in! A compromise was the 'sly' look side-ways (the way we try when copying from the answer-sheet of the next kid during an examination/test-process!)... The dim lighting took a while to clear the visibility ... And the 'visuals' left me stupefied! I was looking at an 'ocean bed' like scene with lot of greenery at the base, (and was at once reminded of the 'explanation' of the puzzle, when I found tiny bits of green substances which occasionally landed on to our tiny palm while cupping the palm upturned, beneath the tiny tap to sip the water!)... There was nothing more to 'gain' from the visuals, and I struggled my way back, to the firm ground! (It was much later that I could 'guess' the reasons for this poor-design of this tank, which made any-cleaning almost impossible after it was erected... it also explained why this water caused a sore-throat occasionally when my throat was ..... 1) pre-ruptured due to shouting hard during our lunch-interval-game, and 2)also dust-coated by the playground mud, hanging in air... all over the place, suspended to a height of 5 feet for that 45 minute duration of interval..

Otherwise, this water never mattered (in terms of lack of cleaning the tank periodically... this was true for almost all of us kids.. that carrying of a 'water bottle' was unheard of during 1956 to 1970 at least!)... From my memory as an adult, the only explanation I found was that the body as a kid was good enough to expel almost all of the substances that got-in... like that water of school-tank's .. or.. 'that' which was not needed as a 'food' by the body!

At work place, the skill of becoming 'unavailable' had to turn a little more subtle... And here, I was only interested to learn it by observation, and never felt persuaded to 'practice it' (the whole idea of the terms of contract of employment was to be 'available' during the whole of working-hours, and any 'idea' of being unavailable meant a proportionately 'unearned wages'!... That was something not so compatible with my-frame-of-mind, ever!)...

At home, this un-availability takes dubious variations, mostly because we are 'relatively-related to the close-relatives of ours)...

With spiritual pursuit, the physical 'availability' turned to be inversely proportional to spirit's availability, for evolvement into spirituality! (Even to discover this, it took a pretty long time, for many of us, and therefore the 'sinking' in of the tools and techniques was groping for a slot through which to sink in, it also kept its search on at just the surface levels, leaving even the surface-benefits, popularly known as the 'incidental-health-benefits' to a chance-happening,... when the subtlety of 'resistance-within' itself was an inconspicuous hurdle!)....

Mind. It alone seems to decide the level and extent of our 'availability' within and out of physical realms! (When the being within.... gains a 'decisive ability', and decides to 'avail' the mind, its availability becomes a little flexible, with 'flexi-timings' ... the latest catch-word of techies of today!)

Availingly yours,

psn ( 26th March, 2014)

Wishing Wants!

“If you don't study well, you will not get a 'good' job when you grow up!.. You will struggle like that rickshaw-puller on the road, and yet the income will leave you and your family hungry”...!!!

That is what the school-teacher used to tell us ... trying to inspire us, to work 'hard'...!

(Even right then, I had 'quixotic' doubts cropping up .. like, 'who then would pull the rickshaws, do the menial jobs, for others at 'good-jobs' to enjoy life 'smoothly'?.. but a very wrong place and time to ask... the cane was 'well within easy reach' of that teacher .. plus... irreversible consequences of 'reporting' to higher-authorities.. of such un-healthy traits... parents would never forgive!.. Principal find it good 'bijness', when replacement-kids would fetch fresh 'donations'!!!!)

Hardly the age to become 'hard' at 'hard-work'! The whole life was about going easy at it! But, that frequent warning coming from 'well-meaning-elders' kept nagging us the whole time! And then a few confusing dictums (not just proverbs!)... “play while you play, work while you work.... the only way to be healthy, wealthy and gay!” (at that age, 'gay' had only one meaning, for us... only now it seems to confuse us! But the consolation is, it was used just to rhyme with 'play'.. no-hard-'feelings'...!!!).

“What will you be, when you grow up?”... kids used to ask each other (though at that age, it simply meant a choice between maths and biology, at the time of 'entering' the 9th class..! And I used to say, “I want to be 'normal'... just normal”.. Most of my classmates used to gape at this reply, but some of them not knowing the value even of their own words, used to say “But for that you need not do anything at all? You are already that! You do seem 'normal'”.. I used to leave it there! If only those kids (now as old as me), would remember.... quite a few of them might be struggling to be 'kid like normal' that they already were,.... then!

So, it was all about what we 'want'.. and then 'wish' for it!

I looked at the wish-list of a few giants in history....

A small spelling mistake, and 'nir-devatwam' became 'nidre-wa-twam' (Kumbhakarna, who had wished for years to eliminate their natural enemy, the Devas, erred while presenting the wish, and the 'grants-commission' hurried to say, 'So be it'... and he became a good 'sleeper-cell' for terrorism-activities!).

Somebody could not even chant properly 'Rama-Rama'... he was advised, to try “Mara-mara” and the phonetic-sequence got transformed into the right version 'Rama-Rama' over a period of time... !!! So, it was not 'exactly' about actions, but the intent behind it... And, there was indeed some design, a clandestine one, that took care of the co-hesiveness of the individual wishes, to remain aligned with the 'cosmic-wish' and effected necessary corrections, when the imbalance was likely to undergo an intolerable-tilt!

It was time to take a look at what yet-another-science tells about the effectiveness of our own 'choices-of-wishes'!.. And some of the wishes 'take-shape' only during the next time, meaning, the whole structure undergoes a change at its very 'base-form' to actualise the wish!

Yes, astrology, with all its unreliability, inevitability, doubts, confusions, and above all, the proverbial-unpredictability!

Wish for lot of power around you--- and we get re-located near a thermal-power station, or still worse, near those huge massive transformers, as a humble watchman with a 12-hour-duty (for 'want' of a reliever often, but ... nature ordained that 'may your wish be granted')... Now, any neurological problem is 'Brother, you asked for it!!'

Wish for lots of cash in our hands, and we end up as a Bank-cashier! Keep counting till you retire, and before leaving, liquidate the debts with terminal benefits!

But, now...

did we 'exactly' wish for 'Mobile-phones'?...

Somebody ... say an alien watching us from the sky above, may feel tempted to conclude... that

no matter what level of poverty/wants/hurdles of life... mobile connectivity, tele-density was high on the wish list of these humans!... Shops at vintage points quietly 'make-way' for mobile-shops.. and people wouldn't even remember 'what was there earlier?'.. At trains and buses, the brief intervals when they are not 'talking' with the mobile, they are plugging wires into their ears, listening to it, all the time! Obviously, talk time and stand-by time of these gadgets enter our wish lists!... (Some where deep within, the 'being' is silently and patiently waiting for the 'listen-time' and stand-up time of our alertness and awareness!... But, this 'being' simply does not know how to market its 'wish-want' list to us... All it can do is simply wait!... Till our own wishes are granted, grants feel fulfilled, fulfillment yields contentment, and contentment seals further-wishes!...)

By the way, the bulk of us now seem to be 'wishing' for that cherished 'good-governance'.... A wish almost thrust upon us...... as a 'shifting-pain' from ....corruption-governance to good governance.....! Are we really ready for good governance, the torture due to it--- entailing adherence to all kinds of strict rules like honest tax-payment, no favoritism, no jumping-of-queues,... etc.?....or, ... is it that a good governance is a consequence, an obvious one out of what we are and not a thing to be wished, or a want to be granted!

Wishfully yours,

psn (17th March, 2014)

Mind and Schizophrenia

We are familiar with mind related ailments..

An expert of that field wrote a three-part-blog, and I tried to comment in one of them, with a spiritual-oriented-thrust...

May be it is of interest to you!

http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/wellness/schizophrenia-causes-and-symptoms-part-1

http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/wellness/schizophrenia-part-two

http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/wellness/schizophrenia-concluding-part

My comment:

All the three articles make an interesting and informative reading...

While providing amazing clues to even a non-affected person, it does not try to 'impose' any information on the reader, and that is a wonderful aspect of the articles!

...

I find a certain depth of 'patience' in the author! (Usually, patience is misconstrued in a great hurry, and often misconstrued to be merely the waiting period of the mind to boil out--into thoughts, words or actions--and dismissed as 'nothing more than that'.. which is perhaps not so true! It is the inner-stability too, and perhaps a little more than that... and that is what I find in the choice of words of the author while responding so gracefully to the comments!)...

...

Now, I am a non-expert, unqualified, and therefore incompetent person to comment on a professional-article by a qualified person. And.... above that, my unconventional and unorthodox style of approach, perhaps, might make it all the more illegitimate (in the ethical sense), to try to make any 'comment'...! So I shall try my best to make it sound like a mere humble response only!

...

I had my share of experience with volunteering for those aspirants who sought to deepen their own spiritual pursuits...

Some of them, came for merely a little more of 'peace of mind'.. such people found instant and amazing results from the spiritual-oriented programs, where I too offered the 'volunteering'...

Some of them found a yet better reason to stay on to the practices, if it would offer something more... such people found their 'patience' wearing off, and most of them dropped off over a period of time, but very slowly and very gently, ... and gracefully attributing the dropping off, to their own lack of tenacity-of-purpose!

Very few decided to stay on! They had that inner urge, to goad them a little further! And not without 'any' rewards... Also, not without 'side-effects' too (mind game!)...

...

The spiritual practices makes an impression about some kind of 'deeper' understanding of our inner design, which is purely experiential... The 'explanation' of what is 'actually happening' within is quite elusive, for want of that audio-visual help we get usually, when we attempt to understand the external objects and the experiments we try with them...

And now my guess work. It is, for me,... only a guess work, because, the understanding of it is without the technical details of the inner design.. but otherwise, the experience seems to be quite firm (so far, this far.. at least :) ....).

The brain, along with its nerves, neurological design, etc is powered by a certain kind of energy, the life energy, in its various forms, various patterns of storage-systems etc.. And the very same energy, when it manifests in a subtle form, gathering the past impressions, and also retains its own unique 'creativity' (unique to humans, human-form, human-design) becomes what we try to call it as a 'mind'... Without that self-awareness, 'the' mind, which we attribute to a human being, a normal human-form, is not present in other life form to that extent, and therefore we do not expect a similar 'processing' functionality out of their 'awareness/alertness'... Interestingly, the level of this awareness (not self-awareness), in other life forms is also in distinct varieties.. Apes and monkeys come amazingly close to our kind of mind! (that is where the researches attempt to juxtapose the findings, and then to arrive at an argument concerning similarity!)..

Now, since I am a non-expert, let me use a very crude and simplistic but 'only-an-indicative' example to tell what I look at it as.....

We have seen varieties of blinking lights connected as series, to give us that decorative lighting effect flashing different designs, patterns, when they flash on-and-off, alternatively... If the power is correctly connected, and the flow of energy is to the very right-kind-of volume and velocity, the design produces the visuals of the exact kind sought of from it... What if one of the bulbs mal-functions? What if the power-flow gets reduced between two 'resistance' modes?... Possibilities are numerous, in the distorted visuals that we get to see! The energy that powers the mind to do its own functions depends on physically-manifested intermediaries of the human body, the entire network of nerves, neurological responses, the perception and processing at the brain-level, and then the 'data-delivery' to the mind! When it comes to the mind-level, the entire power-management itself becomes heavily complex-ed! Its own creative power (this is the mystic part which eludes even the medical sciences), functions and mal-functions according to the power-management ability... And this is where the 'study' branches out from physiology and gains a certain unique kind of 'independence' while studying the mind itself (the name is psychology, .... psychiatry, perhaps the application or applied-functionality of this study...) The bulk of relief sought to be given to person whose design-of-mind malfunctions (here 'malfunctions' is a term to be looked at as more-of-convenience, rather than its 'appropriateness' .. if we seek to be judicious in our study and claims... we often encounter cases where deeper perceptions are also-misconstrued as 'malfunction' due to undue-haste! )...

Now, let me try and make it a little more complicated, not too much :)

Going back to that example of series of lights and bulbs,.....what if the wire itself, the bulbs itself, improve their capability to sustain and also enhance their ability to 'display'/manifest the transformed light-form of that power?... The gauge(thickness)and quality of wire decides the volume of power it can transfer... we have superiority of copper over steel/aluminium wires, and also other mediums for super-conductors... We have certain freak-bulbs which illuminate a little above average due to some filament becoming better-functional than the contemplated-design... It is here that our ancient science of 'mind' seeks to explore deeper.. it seeks to improve the network of physical nervous system, the 'clean' physiology, the enhanced functionality of human frame, the peak-performance levels of brain endeavoring to further deepen its receptivity plus processing capability.. in two ways... improving the power-receptivity-capability, and sharpening the processing-capability... and second, to create that 'space' the potential, to become receptive, to enhance that receptivity of subtle forms of energy (not within its range of perception in its natural/inherited form of design 'by-birth'... in some cases, the 'mind' manages to manipulate even the potential 'during-birth' itself, that is where we find the child-prodigies!)... The purpose all this, to ultimately merge with the universal source of power, the creator itself!...

As a by-product, we have the 'findings' from deeper experiences to be useful to afford a little relief, a little cure even (that is where the study through sensory level perceptions finds its limitations to afford calling it 'a cure'...!), to a few of our own fellow-beings... where it is found that the 'situation allows it so'!

...

I guess, it is already rendered quite long, for an eager and curious person to take a look at it, and then to 'assess' if it makes any sense!.. But, I thoroughly enjoyed this response, even when I attempted to verbalise it! For me, it feels to be already a thoroughly rewarding experience... And now, I patiently shall wait for any 'bonuses' in the form of brickbats even!

..

Thanks and regards,

psn