Control

“Is it a-Madurai or a-Chidambaram, at your home?”

It is a very polite way of asking a very blunt-question, to ask somebody who is close enough..
The answer decides the level of freedom the asker has, as a possible-guest... (These towns-names used to at once remind others, of the deities of the famous temples which made the towns famous for it... and the stories around the deities seemed to talk more about 'control' on people and things around, and therefore the 'natural-choice' of using these names ! Now, 'nature' is obviously not under anyone's control :)...)

“Try to have some control over your life!” , is another piece of advice, which seems to leave the choice of how-to-do-it, to the listener.. ...

Controller of examinations (even senior students might find it difficult to explain this concept, except that they might give details of the functional aspect, which is too-visible, not the underlying theme!)

Chief controller of trains... (I had a 'distant' relative of mine, who retired even before I got to meet him as a kid, and hence never did I discover as to how he managed this-control!... But he never seemed like a person who like to control even his own kids!)

I keep wondering about the 'need to control' anything at all!

If everybody decides to adhere to 'nature', why would there be a need to control at all?... Only humans look at this aspect of controlling... The vast universe works so-flawlessly on its own!

We exercise a 'choice' in a particular way, and then we find that choice to be flawed, needing a control. When the flaw takes too long a time to be discovered, the control gains its urgency, and now a control-over-control finds its birth place! The 'control' over the Judiciary is sought to be retained into the hands of erstwhile judges themselves, while the executive seeks to take over the controls (obviously, the control is effective only with the control over appointment of Judges themselves!... The net result would be an effective control over judgements, and therefore the 'Justice' sought to be dispensed .... with or thereof, ..... we don't know !).

The control over gadgets, vehicles etc gets complicated as these things get sophisticated, and remote-controlled!

Whichever way, the people try to group themselves, by whatever name, its concept, purpose etc... control becomes inevitable. (Media controls the minds, its way of thinking, while media is controlled by financial giants... countries which control their economy well, prosper, and then find their well-being controlled by poor countries, whose poverty becomes a threat to the prosperous ones, and therefore the doles, not out of any sympathy, kindness etc!.. At places of rampant corruption, like offices of government departments, police, road transport, etc... which are 'given the controls over people's freedom... the controller is bribe power, and only courageous ones manage to declare their honesty... ). And while 'grouping' together(trade unions, consumer associations, tax-payers associations, pensioner's associations... etc) seems to offer a solace from individual controls by vested-authorities, .... over a period of time, they find themselves ending up into yet another form of control...

The modern man finds himself surrounded by 'controls' of several kinds, and now the innocent traffic signal when it turns red, seems to 'control' his freedom-of-movement, instead of that reassurance of a safe travel on the road, for which it was supposed to be installed! Obviously the absence of a policeman in-sight, tempts him to regain his lost-freedom, and he jumps-signals! A jump, even when it is figurative, leads into a leap... and a leap is usually something out-of-control... from a frying pan into the fire!... CCTV's are in place to control the situation, when the pair of eyes of a policeman cannot manage to record jumps too-well :)

The mind, when it is surrounded by so many controls from all around, skips the 'possibility-even', about a control on itself!... And thus, we find psychosomatic disorders to be 'quite-natural', now-a-days!

That leaves me to wonder and also to figure out, how the ancients managed to control the urge for a technological-advancement, despite having evolved intellectually to amazing/stupefying/whatever levels! Probably they understood better, about what “choices-really-are”... not bothering about what are-the-choices!... Their sense of choosing started with good-controls, and that must/might be clue about minimum controls around them, their society etc... Even the “religion” did not find a 'need', when individuals found their controls into safe hands of their very source of being!

That, reminded me of ... what I was asked to take control over ... by my teacher with-whom/into-whom, I had entrusted my controls... He had asked me to attempt a control over my praana (the “life” itself, ticking 'live' within me!)... and therefore my Praanayams! And what was amazing about it was, all other controls do not control me thereafter... it is just my mind and the body, that can be controlled, if at all...

Mind being a little subtler, doesn't yield to controls, once the 'life' , or the 'being' takes over! That meant to be 'freedom'... not the laws that controls others, in the name of offering 'freedoms', nor the constitution, its draft... which binds-together, a free-democracy through its control over freedom!(I met a girl of about 13 yrs of age, who found herself controlled by the need to inject herself with insulin, at least twice a day!... Her parents could not find a way to offer any consolation, when other kids were not controlled-thus... I told her, “Imagine, a girl from a distant planet visiting us, and commenting, 'oh! You earthlings need to breath some few times every minute?... So, the air, its oxygen controls your life?... Poor things... your freedom is only-a-dream'... That idea cheered her... she smiled... the parents experienced their girl-child,s freedom ! I felt rather controlled that, I could not find her 'grown-up' enough to grasp those spiritual tools where the unique secretion from pituitary glands would end the control of oxygen-via-air that we breathe to live!... That's where I felt the 'remote' control to be still with air!... Yes it was 'still' too!)

Freely yours,

psn(18th October, 2015)

Situation Management

While most of us keep struggling throughout our lives, to just manage the situation “delivered” before us (like a baby 'delivered' from a mother's womb, and then the kid becomes an unmanageable situation often!)...

I came across the video clip of a person who 'delivers' himself, into a tiny 'situation' and the eyes of the audience pops out! (link of video clip got removed)

This is what impressed me, (what was said about him): “For over four decades he continues to teach yoga to encourage awareness of how powerful our minds can be over our bodies by using techniques that will lead to long term health and mastery of self.”
http://www.annoyatorium.com/tm.aspx?m=195507

Not all of us need to get into such 'gimmicks' to be able to assign a meaning to our lives!

Nor do we need-to-end-up (while thinking about 'what we did with our lives this far', at our final episodes of the serial-of-life), discovering that ...... all we did was just trying to manage an 'outside-situation' (and obviously, we do know-well, we could have always done better !)....

Situation management,

if it 'betters' on the outside,

as a consequence of our better-management of our-own-inside,

leaves us with an immense sense of 'satisfaction' to the extent that.....

it 'now-does-not-matter' when we go! (yes, towards the inner management, we do need to also-manage ourselves in good health too... good health , mental and physical, are our only-means of connectivity with the outside, .... until... or till,... we manage the merger of inside and outside to a point of 'unity', an unification... in that 'spiritual-sense').

This is what has been the pursuit of ancients throughout their lives, as we can see 'how they lived', from what we get to see out of the residual records of their lives! It is for us to sift what they demonstrated on the outside situation (usually the siddhis), to be able to rivet our focus on the higher-thing, greater-priority.... that of managing the inside-situation... !

Mind happens to be the main fulcrum of whatever else we do about our inside! (....”continues to teach yoga to encourage awareness of how powerful our minds can be”.....)....

And when it is 'about-our-mind'... why are we looking at any kind of deformities, limitations, scope, etc ? :) ... Do we not see of an 'unlimited' choice?

Situationally yours,

psn (11th October, 2015)

Social isolation

The cultural 'unison' (not an 'unity' via a concerted effort,... to form a union-like or so...)...

that was there in ancient times.... had one amazing tool....

'isolating' a wrong-doer from the social-cambric (the inter-weave) of the society (society includes all classes of that society 4-varnas)...

this tool was used with utmost sense of discretion, by people well-known for their potential at discerning judiciously ! (usually ... a group of 'elders'! Elder by wisdom, not necessarily by age!)

The purpose was simple.... (for deploying this 'tool')..
Laws are of two kinds, broadly (while law itself is for 'some-kind-of' social order.. when people live as-a-society.. hence , spiritual seekers relocate to a recluse, to keep others insulated from their own 'inadvertent-non-adherence' to these laws!... as one of the objectives of such solitude-dwelling)..

Codified laws, where implementation can be by reference to a clear , unambiguous codes, written down, after a 'general-consensus'...

Non-codified laws, which are 'moral/ethical' by nature, usually, and which are of greater importance than the codified ones, when mutual-trust is 'really' a priority for that society :)

Now, implementation of non-codified laws would be a great task, and formidable one too...
apart from the complexity of its 'justification' since each situation needs a fresh-perspective too!

So, the way-out was... just-isolate the 'fellow' who in the opinion of 'group-of-elders' who enjoy the unquestioned-trust of that-society, has caused a social harm due to an act of commission/omission, consciously!

Today, we find
corruption,

scams,

rape,

abuse (of child, women, etc)...

violence (including fanaticism fanned by religious sentiments)
and all such acts...

going 'scott-free' (it is the honest-idiot who feels isolated :-)) instead of a wrong-doer)

only due to absence of a tool of a social boycott !

Yet 'nature' takes its own course...
when a religious sect fails to isolate its own wrong-doers, the other around (even globally), start isolating that very-sect/community, even without a concerted-unification-program or so...

nations sponsoring violence are slowly 'sought-to-be' isolated, with huge diplomatic efforts...
Yes, the phenomenon is painfully-slow, when allowed to take its-natural-course, but when it snowballs, the impact is beyond anyone's imagination... it takes proportions of a natural-calamity..!

During ancient days, spiritual concepts could be 'interwoven' so effortlessly into the way-of-life, when this tool of isolation was 'in-place' .... Yet the very same 'weave' became the main factor of eroding this very tool, when experience failed to impress a blind-adherence to spiritual-oriented prescriptions, being inter-woven into routine life! (so called 'religious-rituals' are just that !!!)

exclusively yours,

psn (9th October, 2015)

Global warming

Oh!
So-sorry...!
I am not even competent to talk 'sensibly' about the factors causing global-warming (other than what I as a lay person happen to gather out of tons-of-Jargon that our scientists say, and then politicians 'pick' to publicize what suits them out of it...)...

There is a whole-world happening right within us!
In fact, the whole universe is happening right within us.... !

So why not think of a 'global-sized' warming within us ? I felt... :)

We face contradictions.. When actually, there are none! (everything is a process of cause and effect, in a perfect unison, as far as its 'phenomenon' is concerned)... We look at it as 'contradictions', when it happens contrary to our expectations, and therefore a 'conflict' within us , with an image we see on the outside too!

I noticed a 'warming' up effect, as we grow into adulthood...
The 'graph' of our 'show of happiness' slides downward... Kids are joyous for 'no-apparent-reason'.. while elders are brooding-type, again... for no-apparent reason!

In large cities, people come out for a 'morning' walk... That's when we can really-expect a little cheer in their faces (a good night's sleep, and body a little refreshed... enough to feel cheerful for a while at least!)... But in direct proportion to age, the long faces walk alongside them ... The face carries a 'worry' along with it.. The subtle smile is missing... If it is a 'routine' face that they meet, even the 'good-morning' is heavily coated with the same worry...

It is the accumulated heat of contradictions that we faced all along , thus-far.. which seems to hang around our mind... and occupies the next layer of attitude towards the 'outside' all the time.. The thin layer barely manages to give 'appropriate' responses to the outside...
Yes, when a situation on the outside gets a little intense, it does pierce this 'next' layer and finds the depth of our emotions 'invoked' accordingly... Be it a great joke, a sudden sad-event, a surprise, ... why even a 'wonder'... But after a while, the skin closes in... and we are back to that 'burdensome worry-layer'...

It is this 'layer' of worry, that causes a 'warming' like the one that affects our ecology, environment etc, adversely!...
When there is nothing else around to cause an immediate-anxiety or a joy... this layer even surfaces a little...

By itself, this layer of 'worries' seems quite harmless...
But 'effectively'... it is like a piece of ammunition just waiting for a muzzle to be loaded into, for a direction and then the trigger-effect to jettison-off!

In a subtle way,

when we try to become a little focused, we also become a little intense....

and when intense.. this layer seeks a 'resolve' by surfacing along the subject we tried to focus..

now the focus becomes blurred!

We find it so-convenient to blame everything for the blur, except our root-cause, which is that layer/crust of non-directional-worries...

To make it a little clear...

when the mind was

quite intense... yet very-relaxed...

the gravity-effect was grasped when the apple fell...

the loco-power was grasped, when the steam blew up the lid of the tea-kettle...

the principles of relative density got revealed when water in the bath tub got displaced by 'Eureka-scientist'

:)

A striking contrast: An expert pickpocket is a good student of psychology too, when he can make out the 'worried face' on a salary-day, in the crowded bus/train, and know that this 'victim' is a sitting duck with his alertness subdued abnormally-enough... to miss sensing a 'touch' on his purse! (it is a 'eureka' too, but only for the thief!!)... The salary-cash in the pocket... brings to the surface a cloud-burst of worries hanging at the next-layer of the mind (budget allocation to each worry-some expense is a huge mismatch!... but a very wrong place to offer such 'vulnerability' of reduced-alertness).

That 'relaxed' mind is a bit elusive, even when we are physically at leisure...

We cannot lay a finger on a particular bit, causing that 'global-warming-like' effect on our mind, when the accumulation is so-voluminous, and we don't have a proper 'indexing' too, to retrieve each file-of-it!

Some of it turns into 'non-verbal' thought form even... when the text fades out like our thermal-paper print out slips that our ATM's cough out :)

warmly yours,

psn (6th October, 2015)

Cushion time

We know how good our Shri Sachin is, when it comes to facing the best of bowlers. They don't bowl to 'oblige' him...! And he manages to do 'what-he-likes' with that ball (that's what makes the best bowlers say, 'We bowl, also-hoping to impress him, not just to get him out, as-soon-as-possible)....

Sachin manages to 'find' a cushion time, the few micro-milli-seconds, after the ball has left the hands of that fast+spin-bowler, and it reaches the three menacing sticks, loving to get blown away, with its micro-audio sensors amplifying the hit too-loudly! (I am not qualified enough to give details of how and what he does, to find that 'cushion-time').

We ordinary people squander the 'cushion-time' available in abundance around us... Very rarely do we find a 'genuine-exigency'... So, instead, we try and convert every small thing, event, need, etc into an exigency, and then, impress people around, making a big-drama about-it/over-it :)

A young techie, who 'happened' to appreciate that 'cushion' time a little excessively, miss to take note of 'unspoken-communication' from his boss about 'reverse-concept of that 'cushion' time .. Not his fault... He was new to the work-atmosphere of that 'industry' though abundantly qualified for the job :)

He misunderstood the 'communication'...

His boss told him... “The dead line (not life-line!), for this project is 7 days from today” (Later, the boss explained to this youngster --- as an exception---that, he usually quotes the real intended/planned deadline after subtracting some 4 days!... He 'knows'... these techies never do things in-time!).
Why he explained, as an exception was.... what happened ..
The techie took the dead line literally... He assumed that the 'boss' was honest (meaning, the dead line did not include a hidden cushion time, reversed!)..
the techie, in all innocence, deployed what was 'his-quality'... He created a cushion time, by telling himself, “now for me... the dead line is 4 days!... I must make it fast!!!”
This techie spent 2 nights and three full days, pounding the keyboard with 'dual-monitor'...
Fourth(day's) morning... the boss said, “Looking at your unchanged T-shirt, I can guess that you didn't sleep at all for last two nights... now, please 'oblige' me , by telling me as to what-I-can-do, to ensure that you sleep for at least next 4 to 5 hours!” (I guess, this 'dialogue' doesn't need too much elaboration, about the true-emotions implied... I keep the name and details of this techie a little hidden, for two reasons... I hold great value for this kid, not many around of his cambric. Second, this kid might happen to read this, and would feel a little embarrassed, when 'thoroughly-exposed-thus' :) But, this was a true incident, and the techie has only improved upon his 'weakness' aggravating it, not renouncing it :).... )

Traditionally, (I guess from what I read about ancients)... the cushion period for a spiritual journey is at its brim, till the age of 7... It lasts, at a diminishing rate till 15 years of age... (some say it is 16)... And till 25 years of age, 'creating' a cushion period is possible, by compressing the 'irrelevant' other activities of life... after that the gross body doesn't oblige with the 'so-called' cushion period at all... And unfortunately, the mind becomes too-engaged to afford it's own 'subtle-body' to oblige us :)
(I find it relevant with a look-at my own life-experience... )

Yes, ... wherever we find 'exceptions' to this, we need to examine a little-more-closely, and we may stumble upon other 'relevant-facts' where the cushion-period was redundant, and the 'subject' needed only a 'spark', a push, a nudge, a-whatever... to get into the track called spirituality(the preparation is 'said' to have been done abundantly in some far-distant-past!)...

Now, what to do, if we happen to 'agree' that we kept ourselves busy with everything else except what is relevant to this very-human-form that we were endowed with? It is for 'teachers' to suggest... I ain't-no-teacher of any sort, ever!

Cushioningly yours,

psn(4th of October, 2015)

Entangle

The admiration that I had for this term grew manifold, when I heard it being 'entangled' with quantum, to make it a 'quantum entanglement theory' , without even the conventional tools so clearly visible otherwise! (when most youngsters that I 'try' with, seem to acquire that look-of-confusion even at the 'dropping' of this term (quantum-entanglement) in their presence, makes me wonder... tempts me to think... 'could it be because they failed to appreciate-adequately, the term entangle-itself, at its primitive sense!... dunno!')

My 'affair' with this 'entangle' concept got really deepened at the very kid age, not when I saw the ball of knitting thread of a sweater gets entangled (mom used to wriggle at both, with equal misery, ..... the knitting itself, where the tightening of weave used to either make the fabric crammed up, or it becomes too loose, but seldom right.... or when the shop-wound thread found its natural flow into an entangled-ball, when it received lesser attention! The attention got entangled into the right-tightening of the knit!)... So, not when I saw the sweater thread, or the likes, but when I walked my way to school across a railway yard, where I noticed very regularly, some worker stayed 'tense' between two Rail-wagons, to hook on the one on to the other, and then turn a knob-held lever to thread its way nearer to the lock mechanism... I was so fascinated by the visuals of this technology, that it never failed to enthrall me afresh each-time! Now, anybody who can 'afford' to observe me standing with my gaze riveted thus, ought to very-reasonably yell, “Hey, what are you looking/staring at? Get lost!”... But, here the small group usually gets absorbed into the 'possibility and its avoidance consciously' of a near-collision, so much that... they seldom feel even-my-presence! That afforded me to get entangled into their every cell, deep enough to vicariously get a feel of every thought process of theirs, during those tense moments! A wagon loaded with inflamable material like petroleum used to just-multiply their anxiety a little more! For a lesser-observant person, this group provided ample hints, in their very next-activity---either a cup of tea/a tea-break, or at least a beedi-smoke-break...

When it is a chance for me to travel in a train, almost the entire co-passengers , elder ones... used to 'await' for that 'jerk-and-halt' when a train stops for-a-halt at a station... The engine driver used to even relish the devilish-pleasure of a 'series-of-jerks' during midnight, maybe the thought that 'why should I alone suffer the lack of sleep, when I can give a jerk-jolt technically, and escape a blame-game?'... This 'empowerment'(of giving jerk-jolt deliberately)... got dissolved when the entanglement of one coach with the other became sophisticated!... I found the 'application' of this concept... of dissolving the jerk-jolt-induced by outside-factors, affecting adversely a married couple, when their mutual entanglement was similarly sophisticated (with ample cushioning-effects, two way-shockabsorbers, not affecting the tug/tag-along , to ensure fuel-efficiency!).. But it was quite rare to get to see this application deployed properly!

The next level... obviously the subtle levels too... of a life-form's entanglement into a gross structure a body... its subtlety going into super-sophistication-levels, when it is about a human form... caught my attention! And when it did, it caught me too into its 'entanglement'...! Now it was a 'dual-entanglement' (for me!). To undertand the one, to reach into the other, or to reach into the other, and understand the 'one' as a consequence! The path was one , and the 'reach' the other!

(Not without side-effects/benefits... untying/unentangling those created-bonds became clear and a bit simple too!)

Entangled, yours,

psn (1st october, 2015)  

Blabber

It is not entirely a futile thing to do!

Quite a few depend on it to understand a dry text, when the grasp of it is going to save their 'neck'...
They read it quite a few times...


When this reading(blabber),  is outwardly-silent... the label does not get stuck to this person (but when dementia sets in at old age, this blabber becomes a bit-pronounced, quite inevitably)..

Blabber is not something indispensable... in fact it is a deterrent to the spiritual progress!!!

Some people need to read something aloud, a few times, to grasp what is written...

Few others yet... need somebody to read it aloud to them a few times , to grasp... (tuition master makes a living :)

The grasp, out of this blabber is usually made up of ....
a fuzzy sense of what gets-made-out-of... a group of words that makes a complete sense (Grammar calls it a sentence)... and we use usually, the 'most' popular sense of the word... (evidence is abundant when we seem to have lost the conceptual sense of even a few common words, when we find 'Xerox' to be much-more-meaningful than 'photocopying'... We can now proudly declare 'Xeroxing'...

People love to talk to a computer monitor...
plug earphones of a handset, and cheerfully blabber to yourself (no scope for any misunderstanding, by an onlooker!)...

A sample blabber of mine...

Somebody answered a query about 'purpose' of a group (when people were an assorted type)...
and somebody answered: “Like minded people's to get the Hindu Nationalist news to update and discussion. ..”

This answer gave scope for my blabber! :)
I reeled out:
“"to get the Hindu Nationalist"

this is what the mind likes to say, as a 'natural form of expression'.... (what seems closest to our 'feelings' about our togetherness as a 'culture' which inherited a rich heritage!)...

The word 'Hindu' comes quite close to 'Nationalism', quite effortlessly!

(Yes, and this very word evokes a 'religious-polarisation' to quite a few, whether they like to 'express it openly or not'...

Somewhere, the 'popular sense' of the word.. due to the way it is used ... overtakes our ability to reach deeper that what it means due to its use (Xerox reaches faster than a photocopy, though Xerox is a company that produces/produced photocopying machines!)

The "problem" with those who belong to the "ism" called 'Hinduism'... was two-fold!

1) They never needed a name for the mere 'way of life' that they adopted, and only when other 'isms' entered this land, a few centuries ago, they needed to distinguish 'themselves-from-us', and so they 'had-to' call us by 'some-name'.... The 'people on the other side of river-Indus, ... indu's or H-indus... ' (how the name came about is not so important as.... whether we ourselves had given ourselves 'a' name... )...

Does it not feel so amazing, that we never thought of a 'name' on 'religious-lines' to ourselves, even though we had a very wide spectrum of cultural-varieties in our life-style?(Life styles were broadly based on rituals and traditions that suited the inner growth, and were also dependent on external support!!!)... When one culture of one-area found it easy to 'look-at' why the neighbouring culture is a little different that themselves,... the 'religions' that entered/invaded us did not pose any problem of 'acceptance' (we looked at it as 'yet-another-culture' and maybe they looked at us as yet-another-religion , which perhaps, "also-explains" why it was 'they' who had to name-us ... as Hindus!)....

We used to refer to people as 'northerners/southerners' or... even pardesi(the desh which is 'different' from ours).... Even today, it is very common to notice people around Kerala referring to people as 'southerners' of Kerala (thekkan), while the whole of Kerala is a tiny strip of land!...

2)The spirit of 'nationalism'.... Even this aspect is a bit 'unique' to ancient people, when they never attempted to even 'conceptualise' a 'nation'... What we find as the binding factor amongst us (despite heavy cultural differences , even 'right-within' the Hindus-ourselves), ... is elusive for our own grasp!!! I 'tried' ... or rather... attempted to ... come close to this 'elusive' binding factor...

Let me use an example which is 'just-an-indicative-one'... to point a finger at: Suppose the crowd of some 40 people are allowed to enter a hall where railway-tickets are reserved at some 3 counters... Every pair of eyes of these 40 would take a look at these 3 counters, and 'look' for a 'human' being at these counters... only one person is at one of the counters.... the whole 40 would rush to 'queue' in front of that counter... We notice a 'unity' in the 'decision' to stand at that counter.. But the logic is so-simple, that we fail to 'notice' the unity or 'unison' in their behaviour pattern (which is ....'choosing' to stand only-in-front' of that-counter, where there is a person ready-to-issue-tickets)...

Now , extending this 'sensibility'.... if we can look at ancient people (who were yet-without the name, 'Hindus'... ), we can also see why they chose 'individually' to stand in the 'same queue' of 'way of life!... Tantric style of worship suited the people of Kerala, while Mantric style suited yet others... The whole of Kerala did not resort to 'tonsure' in the ancient days, while the 'rest-of-India' found it useful to have a 'tonsure' on certain occasions!... It is despite these sharp-differences that we found a 'unifying factor'... (the unifying factor was... evolve into the highest potential of being 'a-human'!)....

All this is my own 'ideas'... perception... or whatever...

I found it so 'obvious' that the 'expression'..... "Hindu-Nationalist" seemed quite 'natural' due to the very nature of what remains as a 'residue-yet' within us....

Now, it is a matter of choice, whether we do-like or not... to firstly 'examine-thoroughly' and then ... if found-sensible... pursue further, with or without changes/alterations, to this concept!

(For me, ... as-of-now... this is an ongoing process of understanding my own roots, with a preparedness to re-examine my own-premises(basis), also on an on-going basis!

”

......

Unquote:

Now,

the “queue” that I had referred to in the 'sample-blabber' of mine...
was an indicative one...

Yes, ancients too seemed to be in a 'virtual-queue'....
today... Hindus themselves(leaving out the exceptions!)... do not know why-at-all this queue is there?

At some government premises, a very long queue is seen... Fresh citizens take a look... and even as the 'thought' comes like this “what is this queue about?”... they find the queue swelling by another 20 feet (about 40 people added)... Now what?... First scramble to stand in the queue... so that what ever the 'hell-it-is/was'.... we don't miss it due merely-to being tail-enders! Now ask, the next bloke “hey what is it about?”... He says, “dunno.... even I stood merely because it is a queue!!! Not all are fools :)...” he declares proudly!

The queue that ancients decided to stand into (not physically though)... may have been that of 'spiritual-path'!!! :))... :)

And 'religions'... only happen to provide ... that spiritual evolvement as quite-an-incidental benefit, while the purpose of 'grouping' was more for a social order where ethics relating to a humane-orderliness could not be codified into a 'general-law'!!!

Spirituality is a subject matter of solicitation (like insurance)... Now, trying to use that ancient way-of-life, very much like a 'religion' (for whatever reasons), is for sure going to present numerable problems...
One such popular problem is... “Hey, why is it so hard to demolish this religion(Hinduism), when even its own-followers are not sincere about it?”... (this time, even the mere queuing-up does bestow subtle benefits... can't be really helped!... But not 'entirely' without problems! Somebody asks, “Hey what kind of Gods do you worship?.. The dad chops the head of his son, copy-pastes the head of an elephant when the mom laments too-loudly... and all these three are 'Gods' for you?”... The symbolism is not yet within the grasp of the followers, what then to speak about askers!... We love a 'pencil's story-autobiography', but can't grasp that-of-a stone-idols... Obviously!!!. .. A pencil can be used, and felt so-grossly... where as that stone-idol is a mute spectator, so unresponsive at our sensory-levels :)).... )...

......

about “Blabber”....
the tool of 'chanting' ... the way it was undertaken in the ancient days... is often misconstrued and likened with 'blabber-tool' of the present day....
This, despite the ample hint “Shraddhavaam labhatey gyanam...” by our 'Krish' of epic stories!... A contrast-quote was provided by yet another giant, later on, (though to stress the very same concept, but emphasizing the defects of a 'blabber'...) with the words... “nahi nahi rakshati dukrnj karane.... Bhaja govindam....” (blabber-style doesn't help)...
Patanjali asks too briefly : are you free from helplessly-blabbering?... then , please leave this place.. this book is not for you! (Chitta vritti nirodhah)...

Blabberingly yours,

psn (26th September, 2015)

Unison

Decades ago,
somebody trying to understand this word, can see its manifest form and yet not miss an wholesome entertainment... A visit to that Samadhi of the saint Tyagaraja at Tiruvayaru on an occasion which is annual there..

That seems to heavily symbolise something unique about ancient culture...

To a large extent, I feel inclined to adhere with this unique feature, out of my own 'living' experience too!

Perhaps, a slight possible discomfiture is possible, for only those who are too particular to ensure that such a life-style does not beget any ill-fame, which accrues out of a continuous criticism...

To me, even that did not matter much!

What I noticed was... the bulk of the scriptures were addressed to an 'individual'...

So, anybody (even a group of people over centuries), who adhere to this style of address, ought to have also thought of the possibility of such a life-style (way of living), to be independent of what others choose to do with their own lives!

The mystic factor (yes for quite some time, it did appear to be mystic to me), was... there was an Unison despite such abundance in non-dependence on others around!...
And still more amazing thing was, this unison, over a period of time 'acquired' an appearance of a forged-unity...
Perhaps, this misconception of what appears (and we not bothering to delve beyond its appearance), is what is sought to be preserved... namely that illusion of a 'forged-unity'....
No wonder if such illusion (assuming I am right, ofcourse), is sought to be fiercely preserved, the outcome would only be an utter-confusion, dwindling 'faith'... conflict-of-interests, resulting into a perpetual fight for things that are not even basic-for-life!!!

(Somebody really keen might be able to see a small-logic in these assumptions, if we take enough trouble to focus ourselves to keenly co-relate the bits and pieces of our observation into what remains as 'residue' of the ancient way-of-life!)....

Unifyingly yours,

psn(21st of September, 2015)

Freedom of speech

“Silence”... I read it for a second time, and found an image of a beautiful lady, placing her forefinger vertically across her lips! (Kid age... my first thought was “what is a teacher doing here?... it is a doctor's place! Oops, these two villains-of-a-kid have teamed up or what?”... Too risky to seek clarification... “silence” is good enough a warning when there is a demo-image too )...

Somewhere half-way from tiny kid age, I wondered, whether I should learn “how to give a speech” first, before trying out that freedom-of-speech! Gettysburg speech was really-something, when a battlefield became like a graveyard (at graveyards, people hardly insist on this freedom-of-speech! Death speaks too loudly there!)

The most violent form of asserting the 'freedom of speech'... I noticed ... was usually the unsaid form... 'right to be heard'... it is obligatory for people to listen!!! (Very fortunately, the 'learned' Judiciary-wala's were judicious about framing 'rules' ... an interesting deployment of discretion, when they allowed that 'freedom of speech' only through a-proper-channel, called the vakil! It is very rare that 'others' muffle that freedom for decades together, as in the case of Shri Godse, despite the 'evidence' that he wasn't even an habitual-offender at such or even-other crimes!)... 

Some amazing cultures introduced a safety-pin (like the ones on hand grenades), called 'Irshaad' and now the explosive couplet can be rendered to a willing audience who loved their hearts to get pierced !!!

At the market place, we find kids deployed to do that shouting ... attracting people into the shops where they stand...

At homes, the freedom of speech takes all possible varied forms! The most fascinating one that I found was, elders speak-to-themselves! The freedom-of-speech at my home, my spouse complains that... “you have bugs inside your brain... it asks irritating questions, when I freely use my freedom-of-speech!” But, as-per-latest-technology... bugs are the birth right of any good programmer! It provides better-employment for benching-staff, when they get busy at Q.A....!!!

When computers stepped in, at Banks (where I too 'sat' for work).. ...it did solve the problem for elderly-staff.. they could 'now' speak so-freely to the (not... with the) monitors, when the next fellow is so-overburdened due to staff-reduction :)

Critics and scholars are a bit clever... They use it to embellish the 'ability-of-masses'..... to 'fall-for' any misinterpretation... This device of 'being heard' when camouflaged properly, skillfully and cleverly.... under that... 'freedom of speech' ... it can reduce even great scriptures to a naught :)

It seems, the Japanese are even today, not too keen to assert that 'freedom of speech'... May be their concerns are 'meaningful' living, and more productively! :))

Elite, literate ......   indulge into forwarding almost any stuff... on 'media platforms'... as long as it has 'apparent appeal'... and those who are too anxious 'not-to-be-left-out' of such social circles, are in a yet-greater-hurry to further-forward it! They overtake even mass-media people who try to verify the authenticity of such 'news' for commercial-survival reasons!

There are people with ulterior motive too... usually they en-cash religious sentiments, and communalise people, dividing them with 'clearly' controversial statements, and clothing it with 'their freedom of speech'... asking others to use their own freedom-to-disagree (when those who disagree voice it meekly, sitting inside their toilet, a place of assured-solitude!)... I merely name one such fellow, and I am assured of freedom-from-life-itself (supaari ... they say :)... in slang-lingo).

Unless the concepts of 'freedom' is understood, everything that comes for-free is going to be grossly-abused... Nature has invested heavily in our 'freedom'... it is a reciprocal arrangement as per cosmic laws...

Freely yours,

psn (11th September, 2015)

Misinterpretation

It can be anybody's privilege, I thought,

.... only that when I declare about my intention to indulge into it... now it's a safe and good-entertainment value for others (no hard feelings)!

We tried to look at mom-hood... (maybe an ideal mom...).. it involves lots of circus to become a 'good-mom'.... those unrealistic rules of being too-unconditional, ever-sacrificing etc....!

Then what about a born-bad mom? Her very basic nature is bad, United Nations has declared her to be an offender, to be executed at very-sight?

(too risky to even 'misinterpret' a present 'figure'... even mutual consent about misinterpretation is not well-insured! So, try it with an epic story :)

A lady called Hidimbi....
Her birth is into a demon-class... cannibal-type of beings... They relish gobbling humans 'raw' :)

She knew 'clearly'... more the brute force, more the pride... (one can afford a pride with power)..

Somewhere her UKG teacher, (also of the same class-of-people), taught a few basics of maths, in a very crude way too!...
She (I misinterpret... remember :)...), said : “See, our people do not need any maths, actually.. we never even count our victims, when we eat them in large numbers at one-go... but still, school-is-school... and I teach what I learnt, right or wrong...

“Ego and pride is directly proportional to brute strength... example abound in our class.. you can see samples in few humans that we eat, after a hunt, when they are little powerful... those fools brag with pride, and we need not really hunt now... they shriek and shout , waste their energy :)

Others who are weak go into a hiding straight-away... that's the nano-technology!

But somewhere it is written that there is another maths-wala—rule of inversely proportional... Even I didn't quite understand it 'properly'... so just remember it's mention... It is out-of-portion for your exam , so no worries :)

School over...

It so happened, that when this Hidimbi ( a youth now...) saw our hero Bhima... He looked a little formidable... So, not taking any chances, she decided to look for his 'exploitable-weaknesses'... But he did not seem to show-off any!...
Then she 'noticed'... this guy, Bhim, despite such heavy built, superb agility etc... did have a weakness... He is too gentle!
Something amazed her! “Hey”, she felt “... it breaks all my knowledge!!!... Strength and pride go together... Gentlenesss is usually due to cowardice!...
Wait a minute! That 'inversely-proportinal wala rule'!!!! This guy seems a rare example!”...

Thinking thus, she forgot her original+natural instinct to eat him up...
She was tempted to get a feel of how it would be to gentle too!!!
She proposed to him...
When somebody proposes with that equipoise of emotions, invoked due to the element of wonder, a 'knower' is persuaded to share it!
Thus came about the Gandharva style of marriage between them!

When it is an 'agreed-misinterpretation'... why stop at short-distance?... extend it!

She felt tremendous gratitude for that feel of 'what being a little gentle can be' inspite of that heavy burden of a brute strength on one's shoulders!

Now Bhim isn't looking forward for any gratitude or any show-of-it, via presents... He walks off...

She decides... do something about the surge of gratitude...
Why not gift the very thing received 'because' of him?

His kid by her?

Done!

The wait was not too long... A raakshasaa kid grows at geometric rate of progression...
The kid naturally trusted his mom...

she said, “Look kid... there are a few problems we need to sort out, before you decide to fulfil my desire...
You inherited this demonic structure due to your-own-past... You cannot change it now.. your spares-godown is too far away for a full journey to 're-invent yourself'....
Right now you can only destroy others... not do any 'constructive-work'.. so forget doing good...

With whatever bad we have, I like to convert it into a 'resultant-good' ... See I learnt that theory-class-rule of 'inversely-proportional' , practically too!

So, if the bad is deployed against a bad... the good is automatically benefited! That's all we bad-bloods can hope to do at best, right now... these people call it Karmic-limitations.. now whatever... don't bother about details...
But this side is a bit weaker.. you need to deploy all your deception tricks... you would fail, and die too... but that's my idea of a gift!...
Kid ......think you can do me a favor?” .. asked the mom...

Kid Gatotkacha... said, “hey mom,... be cool... I can do it... anyway, I ain't too glad with what our-people do... my blood is corrupted with that ... something you call 'gentleness'... it is full of bugs.. So why not do a use-of-body.. my body.... like for web based 'one-time-pin' OTP ...
and when it is for my-mom... I can ignore that gentleness-bugs etc... just go full-throttle.. full-blast... go for the kill!”

And he did it!... The whole world acclaimed that kid's sacrifice...
The mom was not 'qualified' for a gold-medal, as per society's rules...
Maybe, she was compensated at heaven.. dunno...

story-over...
so also the misinterpretations... (that, a bad mom too,... can do good)!

A misinterpretation of, yours

psn (9th September, 2015)

Clarity..

It took some time for me to regain my 'previous' clarity about clarity, when the visual clarity dominated due to the exact/accurate power of the transparent lens that perched upon my nose-bridge for the very first time, some 5 decades ago!

Suddenly the whole-world became so-clear... “Yesss! This is indeed that clarity!” , I thought so....

But the mind wouldn't leave this clarity alone!

It came back with its own doubts!

A 6-by-6 vision does help a lot in clarity... And we have to get-that-clarity right, so as to remember the distinction between a binoculars, which-also brings a clarity about what is 'vague' due to distance....

We often tend to dismiss that 'memory' as a gift to chosen few... Where as, some part of that “memory” is very much within our control too...

I 'remember'... an old movie “Grihasthi”... (Hindi, with Ashok Kumar as Hero... Nirupa Roy, an expert at getting tears, lamenting etc)...
A Jethaani (eldest lady) of a joint family headed the task of ensuring snacks for the whole family, (some 2 dozen members), who decided to do justice to the classification of this movie as 'family-movie' (not too much of running around a tree by young couple, much to the embarrassment of elders who come along!)...
She prepares 'fresh' and 'mini' samosaas... A movie was no less than a 'pilgrimage' in those days, since a 'togetherness' for a movie was quite rare... The whole family would attend a Bhajan, a feast, a wedding, almost every week, but a movie was perhaps, once in 2 years (together)... And that decided the importance of making those samosaas quite perfect!
Now having taken 'so-much' trouble to make it, isn't it reasonable to ensure that PDS system works well? She starts fishing it out of the large package, and whispering to the 'next' person “pass it on till the end.....” thus starts the endless game of passing the buck(samosa)...

Now the 'Nirupa Roy' madam's 'endless' retakes to get that emotion-expression perfect (crying at both the extreme situations, and yet 'managing' a subtle but 'perfect' distinction , goes a total waste... the whole gang is busy passing/munching those samosas during those crucial scenes!... ) . Nirupa Roy felt sad at being let down by her husband when she 'discovers' his 'extra-wife'.... later she feels sad, at discovering that this extra-wife is her own sister, and this extra-attachment was an imposition by their own dad or so... An unfortunate woman... when discoveries 'eureka' evokes a thrill, emotional-discoveries saddens in 'different-ways'... (A loner in an obscure corner would 'remember' each little gesture of those actors on the screen!)...

Recalling depends upon a proper filing of papers... Just punch holes, and file it into the nearest available folder , is what we do with 'seemingly-insignificant' events...
Wrong folder names keeps reminding us the significance of the papers within it in a wrong-way... Ain't that a wrong filing too? (A non-filing may be a better excuse for poor recall, called memory!)...

Shraddha is the tool to imbibe wisdom, said a cowherd of ancient times... (Was he actually referring to proper filing system? Dunno!)

clearly yours,

psn (8th september, 2015)

Right kind of Noises!

An amazing concept!

It bridges people despite almost any kind of mismatches!

So it works! (But when it works, nothing else works!)....

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa made wrong kinds of noises.. If the stories are true, they say, he sang aloud at mid night on the street, and people felt so-irritated at such loud singing, when a good sleep was their priority :)
He found Narendranath, who knew the art of making right kind of noises! It worked! It made even Ramakrishna 'known' to all... But it perhaps failed to produce another Vivekananda out of a Narendranath! (dunno really!)...

I too was keen on trying it out... the wrong kind of noises... I failed quite miserably... Monumental failures to my 'credit'!

But, when I did that noisiness with one person to a dangerous proportion, I was rewarded in a very humble way, one-notch-up, for that person... That person got engrooved into meditativeness... Statistically, it is a ridiculously-stinking rate. But historically, a stupendous one.. ! The details are too personal (though not secret, confidential or even-private), because of reasons of sanctity!

I had to learn both... Right and wrong noises , since I was cursed with lack of a 'melody' :)

At work place, I made all-wrong noises with customers ! It worked! (My colleagues struggled at perfecting their right-noises!)... customers usually come to get their business done.. When people come with such single-pointed focus, they are a little extra sensible (their sensitivity is a little sharper, they need not even be aware of it... A hungry dog sniffs its food faster!)...
A visiting dignitary(higher officials, auditors, etc), poses like a guest instead... he forgets, that his bread comes out of the same oven! He looks out for right-noises... I supply it abundantly...

But yes, the opposite kinds of people too , come, as customers, and as higher-officials! Then I do the other thing, respectively... The customer gets 'pleased' (to hell with his-business!). The official bows, much to the stupefied gaping of 'lesser' officials (Hey this guy talks so rough, and this big-man feels humbled!)... But such occasions were too rare...

Symbolic stories too were there!... Parvati felt that Siva was not being 'kind' to a devotee... Siva tried to convince her... But she wouldn't listen... She kept arguing... she said, “No, he can smell right noises!”... Siva had no other option but to demonstrate! He placed a pot of gold quite near the door steps to the temple... That fool, coming out of the temple, started 'thinking', about blind people, and liked to have a feel of it too! He closed his eyes, walked a few steps, exclaimed “Oh , it is really cruel, to be sightless”... Meanwhile, he had passed that pot, and Parvati stood gaping a Siva!
The problem is, stink gets noticed too well! Even in a crowded train, people do identify “Bandra”, when visibility is hardly possible over a tight-packed crowd at peak hours! :))
It needs sharper senses to feel that subtle whiff of a passing-by-fragrance... its 'noise' is too subtle!

I was there at three groups...
One relative, another, forced-relatives, and the third one, relatively related!

My wrong noises stifled, and choked others ...
One group bounced into action, the moment I became silent... it is busy with a chorus of right-noises... Even my absence is inconspicuous!
The next one is a forced one... makes right noises during my temporary absence...
The third one, had to be reminded of their birth-right, democracy, fundamental right, and yes, their potential to chase 'knowledge' too!
Knowledge... it affords a 'feel-good' factor... it has two advantages... One, it gives us a tremendous satisfaction of gained so-much... it keeps us going when we 'see' so-much more is to be gained! (Some smart ones interpret it as even 'humility' when they chant about 'so-much' yet to be gained!). Two, the circle is so large , one never feels the 'mind-fatigue'! It feels like a circumnavigation of this large earth, or even a trip to moon, Mars, (why, the whole universe is patiently waiting, to be explored!)... It is the basics, the too-small-a-circle... that really irritates, when it is so obvious, within simple/silly-reach of visibility! And if such stupid basics keeps us going in circles, we feel too-depressed, and too soon!

Chorus reminds me... Decades ago, at that Tiruvayaaru, the chorus felt like 'Unity' (despite the poor audio, of the primitive radio broadcasts)... But today, things are quite different... Video of HD is there... and yet the big 'bonus' is that one never feels sorry to miss that live-telecast... they understood too well, what a chorus 'ought-to-be'... it is a group-singing... why look out for that stupid 'unity-factor', when a group-effect is so good for right-noises wala concept :)

Oh! This Maya Madam, she is insistent that I do not go so-scot-free... For a few days at least one singular person is chasing me right now, and asking for that 'wrong-noises' only! It is that person's problem now, a 'make-it' or a break-it !!!

This blog's spot... (the blogspot), is almost like talking to a wall! Noises don't matter! Right or wrong! It works even for people with psychosomatic disorders, when they are counseled to talk to a 'wall' ! Who knows, some wrong guy might stumble upon this, and smile quite-silently within! For others, they have their choices... If they 'accidentally' downloaded it, they have a private dust bin.. Otherwise, they can always say, “a” Bandra, and the journey continues... Usually, people carry that body-spray, mouth freshener etc... It is available off-the-shelf :)

Silently yours (now),

psn 5th September, 2015

Overdose

“But I don't like the very same paayasam(sweet porridge of South India), when it is excessively sweetened”... declared that young girl...


We were discussing our aptitude for the varieties of dishes churned out of a typically-traditional kitchen of South India...

Very clearly, she is indicating what is an 'overdose' for her... :)

Not too surprising when I can see, that these kids are so over-fatigued with acute levels of overdose of 'preachy-stuff' :)
(and now the race is on WhatsApp... as if the 'new platform' of a media is going to change the taste! Bah! These Multinationals who lend just their brand-name, do this gimmick all the time, changing the packaging to keep the attention of a 'casual-pick-up' mind attracted all the time, at the Malls!)..

I tried to explain...
“Please see, our mind tries to quantify a food stuff first, to decide its liking for a food stuff” ( I did not have to elaborate on the flab/s that shows so visibly around, in the youth of the present day, when they indulge in overdoses of Junk-food, least bothered about the over-time that the digestive system does at the cost of keeping-pending, its far-more important tasks!)...

I continued, “Here, it is the standard-yard-stick, that the ancients decided about that dish, that goes to qualify its goodness... and in this case the Jaggery and ghee has to be saturated to its brim, into the rice, which slogs to absorb it deep within... and the measure then, becomes the cohesiveness sought to be infused, into an exquisite balance of these two tasty ingredients, when it permeates evenly with its 'base' the rice, which again is quite sweet in itself, if grown organically!”

With spirituality, there is no such thing as super-saturation!...
And, obviously, there 'ought-to-be' also no such thing as an 'overdose'!...
It expands our very ''being' as it permeates into us, so as to contain the whole cosmos! (then, what is it left, that is going to now-saturate-us, with? :)

An overdose , yours,

psn(3rd september, 2015)

Imagination

And when it is exclusively invoked, it manages to run amuck!
It has then, the potential to even delude us into believing at we are now-at-our very best of our creative skills/intuitiveness... (whatever :)... )

Well, I too have my-own-democratic right to imagine what I like to :)

And that includes even abstract concepts too!

But, let me imagine a funny situation here...

A kid wonders !
(Yep! We can't even imagine as to what a kid might wonder about!)...
He asks: “Dad what are they going to teach me at school today?” (somebody told him, they 'teach' at school, and it's his very first day at school!)

Now the adult imagines ... what to say (Yep! It is so easy to predict, when it is about a 'well-educated' one!.. The urge to make his expertise at 'education' known to everybody around is so well-known!)..
Unfortunately for the kid, that adult was educated only with a native-medium (of instruction!)...
And that adult felt, 'good enough to impress a kid!'... he forgot that his over-enthusiasm was about “why not an English medium”?... so many have sprung up all around... licenced and without 'approval' ones... !
He chooses an abstract concept... He tells the kid, “they would teach you vowels!” (His experience , of course!)...

The kid is now 'armed' with a clarity about what to expect!

As ill-luck would have it... the teacher happened to 'remark'.. “Good , you have come to learn!”...
and the kid, to make sure that the teacher doesn't waver from her duty (like the mom who dilly-dallies, when he asks for pizza, chocolates and such junk items)...

the kid is emphatic: “I have come to learn THE vowels!!!”

The teacher gapes, wide eyed!
Hey... all I can hope to manage is a couple of 'alpha-beta' (not even the conceptual form of alpha-beta but the slang ... alphabets!)... and here is this 'hero' proclaiming, 'nothing short of vowels for me'!!!
The teacher quizzes herself, “Hey even I wasn't told of something like Vowels, at this LKG age,... nor was I taught the vowels in English the first day!... What a 'transformation'... Kids are latest brains of 5th generation computers!”... her new look of 'reverence' towards that kid amply reassures him, “All is going to be well with this vamp now” :)
......

An adult-kid asks, “how can we be sure, if that 'soul' will really-come, ... when that priest chants some mumbo-jumbo... and we repeat only the droppings out of his loose-tongue, which misspells every alternate word of that Sanskrit chant... and above-all-that, what if that soul has marked an attendence register inside some other womb at Honulullu/Jhumritalaiyaa?”....

The easiest answer is an “I don't know”... (but ego doesn't permit it)..
A reasonable one is “Hey, one can only start a journey from where one is right now!.. you ain't so familiar with 'death', 'soul' rebirth... etc.. these are hearsay stories... mind your feet, where it is parked right now!” (but that hurts the 'other's' ego :)... risky bij-ness...

A via media... safe answer ... to keep the relationship in-tact: “please see, even I never died hitherto, and so, I have no 'actual' experience about how I can get invoked, etc... Even I am just-as-bad-as you are, right now.. sailing the same titanic!”

Imaginative answer: “(quote those texts)... (the more terse it is, it terrorizes the other more)” Here the imagination-skill is with reference to what we pick out of our copy-paste-data bank (nothing to do with memory!)....

a posh answer would be: “Well it is a matter of firm belief in our ancient practices... see, after all, so many generations couldn't have been so-totally-wrong!” (it is like a top spin... the ball just turns around on oneself, instead of reaching the other's court !)...

“Known to unknown”... is a really irritating answer, if a path is suggested on those lines. Observing moon's phases (when there is a credible evidence at mental health home, especially on full-moon-nights)... co-relating it with 'normally-abnormal' mind (that of an aaam-aadmi), the flight of mind even while we are housed in a body (and the teacher says, “Hey Be Here!!! where are you?” to an inattentive kid in a class)...
and if the asker gets really intense and serious, genuinely interested... 'Enter the dragon' waala process, spiritual-practices!

.....
Imaginatively yours,

psn (1st of September, 2015)

Mind's choices

Quick judgement waala option!

It likes to keep jumping over, from one thing to the other.. a steady focus is not in its very nature... We have to evolve into it very consciously! (while reading a text, the eye jumps from one set of alphabets to the next.... Not that the eye was designed to view 'only-that-way'... it can do a streaming too... but it takes a while , to be at it )...

When 'jumping' seems a trait (acceptable as something that we get to see often)... are we not going to 'jump into conclusions'? (And we say, 'there's more than what meets the eye!') ...

I was engrossed into a discussion , and I suddenly was reminded of my domestic routine, manual washing of clothes...

I announced, “time to oblige my kidneys, (sweating session, washing clothes)”....

The popular fashion of a mind is to jump ... something like “Oh! There he is bragging.. but making the right-kind-of-noises, to escape a social stigma, staying within socially acceptable norms! But is he not 'very-indirectly' hinting at ...'you aren't doing so' and a nasty smile... a holier-than-thou wala attitude!”

This option obviates the need to dwell any further.. Summary disposal of the case. No files pending... Just a reminder, not to 'mind' this bloke's self-praise yet again!

A bit different choice..
“Oh! It does sound true! After all, sweating is a natural phenomenon, not his discovery-channel!.. And it goes without saying, that at least the water is pumped out, if not the exactly-same-chemicals that a kidney filters! But for sure, the skin level dirt below the skin, would 'plough-back' its profits, the filth and force feed the distribution-system, and reach the kidneys anyway!

Right now, I can't replicate this bloke! Agility problems! But at least, it does not hurt me to look at that day-laborer on the rail-road tracks, sweating heavily, and telling myself, 'yet another xerox copy of that idiot'.. and smile! The despise at them gets toned down! The ugly-visuals of a sweating labor would tone down my aversion a little!... Hopefully, my positive vibes might hit that innocent labor, and he doesn't know what-hit-him, but suddenly finds the work to be a little-lighter!..”

side-benefit.. A contribution towards 'swatcha Bharat'!

Sweat cleanses... kidney does the job a little longer, that cleaning... Brain gets cleaner inflow, for a while.. now, the brighter brain affords positive visuals as inputs... there is a chain reaction! (charity begins at home!)

At this age, what else can I hope to do... blabber a while, and pray (like the farmer does, after ploughing and seeding, 'may it rain'!).. But, instead of rains, if it drains... no-probs! Go at it again! I am loving it!

Sweatingly yours,

psn(19th august, 2015)

cleanliness

Is next to Godliness...

Fine! It does have an appeal too (minimising that heavy-lean on a blind faith).. Even athesits do not contest the 'goodness' in cleanliness..!

But where I hail from, they have also a view that “Lotus blooms in slush” (more the slush, better the bloom!)...

My kid age problems, these contradictions were...

I looked around....

Elders, I found.... are simply not bothered about 'rules'! They carry a 'foot' ball all over the playground... If needed, they just bribe the 'middleman' who calls himself an 'Umpire'!

Even today, they feel they have a 'democratic right' to elect 'whomsoever' they wish to... (doesn't matter even if it ends up inot 'life-time-prepaid-Scams'... or if washes out an entire parliament session @ 63+ crores of rupees each day! Right is right, when it is democratic!

But ancients couldn't be wrong...
Nor those who said, 'very-next' to Godliness!
I am indeed missing something crucial!
Let me be a little 'undemocratic' unto myself (yep/yes, silently, clandestinely, etc...). Let me play by the rules, even if it means losing out to a lot of my comfort-zones!

That kalai-wala, (one who gives a While-lead coating to brass vessals. During my kid age, it is the brass-vessals that count for dowry-weightage)... he cleanses the vessals far-better than the maid who does the same job to those vessels after cooking is over... He scrubs harder... In fact, he even removes the surface of earlier handiwork of coating (he is a humble fellow, I can dare to ask him, unlike my 'educated-elders'.. .. he explains, different levels of cleansing/cleaning, according to goal/purpose.. A guru for me, who planted a 'concept' in all-innocence, which would bloom when I reach that-station/platform on rail-journey of spirituality!)..

The daaktar, cleanses the wounds... not that it is going to become 'clean' like an AfterShaveLotion... .. in fact the picture is uglier, with open visible piece of flesh, the underrskin, when blood is swept off!... Surgeries ensure cleansing + cleanliness +hygiene (wah!)...

The maid cleans the place, sweeping the dust right under the carpet! (democracy, rights, etc!)...

Oops! 'Purity' crept in afresh, as a problem (not quite clean!).. But democracy and rights come to our rescue, and we scuttle the whole issue (for a better muhurat), and proceed to pursue our own sweet-agenda!

Yes, in the ancient days, cleanliness of energy-channels was besought, using breath-technique, and it lasted at least 2 years ... but that's for those who are willing to play by the rules, not those who are stubborn about carrying the foot-ball into their hands... (at least on the ground use the feet! After the game, take that foot ball right in our palms, on a world-trip, who cares!)

But what about Lotus? The slush! (I dunno! Search me!.. I too am familiar with 'democracy'/demography, etc.. :) ... )

Slushily yours,

psn( 14th aug, 2015)

Being reminded of ...

“The trouble with narrating a good wit is that it reminds the other fellow of a dull one”!

A hurtful one... (maybe that is why it isn't invoked too often, though reasonably popular!)

But 'being reminded of' is an excellent capability in itself....

The teacher gives a hint, in solving geometry riders, 'extend that a-b to a point c, beyond the line x-y.. and see if you are reminded of that converse-theorem!'

Some are good at telling their sub-conscious, 'please wake me at 4 am tomorrow'... and when the mind is dreaming, the 'sub-mind' does the subordinate-function, to nudge the hormones, which in turn coveys to the neurons, and a sensation shifts the bio-rhythm enough to wake that person!

I noticed that even not-so-literate blue-collared workers 'manage' to be reminded of the concepts of physics, while handling even menial jobs like laying a stone-ware pipe leading to a septic tank.. These pipes are not 'sawing-friendly' (saw blades don't make a dent on that 'glaze' on mud-pipes... they hold it at a particular angle and just make a 'tear' at the skin.. Now, they fill the pipe with wet sand, and then give a gentle tap along that tear.. “concepts of physics”... and the pipe yields with a neat & clean cut, to fit into that partial-gap into the 'collar' placed reversed into that tank (we ease , so easily, and never think of that technology that has gone into those leak-proof pipes!)

“Oh! it is similar to a cornea-transplant!” I would imagine, an eye surgeon to be exclaiming when he 'happens' to notice that the floating skin of the milk can be placed over a steaming dish, which needs to retain its subtle flavour, and gently merge with the floating mass of spices blended chemically, to give that tinge of flavor!

A good teacher presents a lesson, hoping that the kids are reminded of earlier concepts taught...

A pessimist can get reminded only-of own failures, and that of others....

A spiritual teacher, if also dexterous at deployment of technology, can activate 'jammers' , like those near a 'politician's residence' , which keep frustrating techies who depend on mobiles to communicate even within the same-building! (it is a curse, if software companies are located very close to a chief-minister's residence! )...

I was bull-headed...
So like bulls, cows and buffaloes, I had to ruminate what I perceived and heard, in order to be 'reminded' of related concepts, stories, incidents, and then re-assimilate the fresh inputs , stack them afresh at a different memory location, and so on....
It came handy, when I was a toy at the spiritual teacher's hands... He switched off the jammers... We still communicated! That's the joke! (When a mind is jammed, communication is effective!).

Otherwise, we do it the hard way... Learn to switch-off being reminded so-randomly.. irrelevantly, interrupting-ly... etc...
Now, whether we undertake a 'chanting' (which includes this jamming as one of its on-line functionalities, among other major ones too), or we just set-the-conditions, to allow a mind to turn itself into a sleep mode is purely a private-affair, a very personal-choice....

Ruminatively yours,

psn(9th Aug, 2015)

Catalyst

“Bahut badaa aadmi hai wo... Mera Guru”(a great man, he is, my guru)... his eyes said it too well, the kind of reverence that he had for 'who-ever' that was... ...

That 'Guru' obviously was practising 'catalysm' (if we are allowed to make it into an 'ism'... If this ancient heritage can be reduced to an 'ism' , then why not the role of a 'catalyst'?)...

That youngster further offered, “aap ko agar interest hai tou mil-wavoonga” (if you are keen, I can see to it ... that you get to meet him)...

I did not appear to have impressed him 'enough'.. He displayed a kind of fatigue, at having failed to impress me... So, to cheer him up, I asked “Kya naam hai wo guru ka?” (what is his name, that guru)...


Now he brightened again, and said, “Mr. X”.. (since I knew the place about which this youngster was speaking about, and since that surname 'x' rhymed with someone I knew... It was now my turn, to show-some-interest... I asked “is it Mr. AAA(first name)... BBB(middle name), and X(surname)?”

“Yesss!” he beamed... and widened his eyes at a pleasant surprise... “Surprising, that you know his full name!” (only close family people bother to ask the first name, in the north... surnames suffice, to draw attention!)..

Now, I had to handle this very carefully... (else, I would be asking for trouble!)... I suggested: “Well long ago, he tried with me too... and he was an utter failure... But, it looks like I succeeded! See, I got off the hooks!... And he is stuck with his 'disciples' now!... Oh yes!... If you are keen, try reminding him 'do you remember this fool--(my name suffixed gently)?'.... if I am lucky, he may remember...”


It was very unlikely that I would meet this youngster again (it was a very casual and a chance-meeting at a common-friend's place)...

And it would not matter, if that 'guru' does say something about me...

But, this Mr.X, had spent some 6 hours a day, for 3 long years, with me, when I was good-for-nothing after office hours..
He had come to get a little bit of 'English' (fair working knowledge, enough to say, “I know English too, and can understand what is spoken”...)...
but, it so turned out that we worked into the very fundamentals of 'life'.... and that 'English' had anyway happened on-the-way... he could even speak, cohesively, for full 300 seconds to his top-boss, whose jaw-dropped, unable to grasp the entirety of so many sentences , when a confrontation became inevitable, to assert his(Mr.X's) rights to appear for some departmental exam, and the hall-tickets did not arrive...

After we parted (my transfer to south), that Mr.X too got transferred to a semi-urban area, where he decided to teach what he benefited-from as a 'clear-experience'... He did not venture too deep... He just taught a few postures which are known to have come down from ancient times, as tools to evolve spiritually (the yog-aasanaas)... And it did benefit his students, (as I could see from that youngster, who did give little more details... That X, hired a large wedding hall for a whole year, at a bargained rate, stating a charitable 'cause'.... and during wedding seasons, the '3-hours of morning sessions' would be suspended... some 3 batches were taught, of 60 people each! Good job!.. )...

'Oh!' I told myself... 'Even to 'know' that my humble attempt of a trial-role at “catalysm” had really worked reasonably, it took some 40+ years ... a chance meeting!' (But it did not really matter... I was only keen to know my own-effectiveness at communication skills, while what happened with Mr.X , for me , was quite incidental!)...

Too hectic, I thought... 6 hours a day, just with one person.... arey! Wi-fi ka zamaana hai... kuch meetha ho jaay!

Catalystically yours,

psn (3rd Aug, 2015)

May the Name of the Lord be praised!

I liked this expression...
To me, it brings out the distinction between a 'praise' and an 'appreciation' to the extent that it seems to even hint towards an evolvement to become eligible to really praise!

Appreciation seems easier...
If we do not 'appreciate' the value of

a) rubber hand gloves while handling uninsulated electric wire, a shock ensures that we learn to appreciate...

b) helmet while driving a two wheeler on Indian roads, pot holes are good-enough to teach us, not even that rough and negligent 'co-wheeler' who doesn't even appreciate the need of obeying lane-discipline, etc...

It does not matter if we do not appreciate honesty, bribery is rampant, and we can sail smooth...

If we do not appreciate life?... or a 'human-mind'... well purity-standards would take care of it :)

Oh! I managed to even appreciate that 'silence' at least to some extent, for I can see... it makes my post-retirement life jolly-good! (proof of the pudding, eating... aisa kuch hai wo old adage!)

appreciably yours,

psn (3rd Aug, 2014)