Logical purity for a commercial Badmaashi(trick)

“Come just 2 or 3 days before that '180 day's-period' is over,.... and you can 'claim' a re-polish, since you would be within that 6 months guarantee period”... said the salesperson, and my wife was so-thoroughly impressed with his 'goodness' (what ever it means!).

Now, it is not within the parameters of a 'social-common-sense' to argue with a lady on such 'Final judgements' of theirs, be it a wife or any other close relative—even!!

But, I could see... cleverly worded it was!... the guarantee is for 6 months... but 180 days is always less than 6 months!

And that re-polish is never going to be like the 'original' polish (I tell myself, 'mind you... here 'original' is a very-very relative term... nothing is original about the product we are using it only-as-an example, ha-ha-ha! It is about 'covering-gold'/rolled-gold...!)...

So, (commercially) the repolish has to be with minimal investment ... (Bah... competition even-within 'fake-gold' waalas has 'necessitated' this purity-in-dealing! )...

So, it makes sense to ask a 'lady' to wait for that 177th day... Most likely, those 3-days, she would 'due to because of, since, etc'...and for several variety of such reasons, .... not be able to... make it to the shop to 'claim'... (paisa wasool!)...

Side benefit: The shop wala has 'pronounced' it so openly, so he can as well economise on that first+original-polish.. it need-not/should-not last beyond 177 days (what happens to that imaginary 6 months of 183/182 days!)...

That , for me, (not the readers necessarily), looks like logical purity, to attract customers (again, for me, it is warding-off these customers from other-competitors, .... not 'exactly-attracting' them!)...

This purity!

It plays tricks even with such 'precious' and pious metals!

Then what about humans? (dunno!)...

As a kid, I was fortunate to see a whole family, 'live'.... who decided without even a 'mutual' consensus, without an 'all-party-meeting', a common-minimum-program, etc..

to live honestly! (that's Amazing!!!)...
They do quarrel, argue, mix, combine, cooperate, non-cooperate, fight, join, .. and even separate, ... etc... but somehow, they are honest!
So, I did not have to doubt the purity of the milk that they sell! (they had cows and buffaloes in the backyard...)

one day, I heard, the elder son tell his mom, “Mom, you milk this lady... (a buffalo), all she yields to me is her kicks, not milk!”...
Now I got curious! I was a small kid...
Twice they milk...
Evening hours, was my play-time... the younger ones of that lady were my play-partners..
So, I had to wake up at 3.45 am... 4 am is the time, when that milking starts... some 9 animals, cows and buffaloes... so I didn't like to miss that 'surgical-operation' at least once!
When it came to the cows, I noticed that quality of inflow 'looked like' a little impure!
I asked, “Oh! Does that mixing-of-water (adulteration ) happen right within her?”

The grand lady smiled, and said, “Son... it is not like that... its the very 'nature' of a cow-milk, it is a little thin (the viscosity).. and it is easy on digestion... one of the reasons, why small kids like you are given a 'cow's' milk, when it is possible to 'choose', instead of a buffalo's milk”! (Oh! Then the very tone of some-of-the-elders is just rough, they are not 'really-angry'... I corrected myself).

Early lessons for me, to look deeper, when purity at sensory levels are evasive/deceptive!

It is a very wrong place, to ask a gourmet-official, during office hours, right across his table, a question like “what is honesty, what is a non-corrupt-person?”

But, once somebody gets enlisted for a spiritual program, it is like a phoren-roller-coaster-ride... seat-belts fastened, and machine set rolling.. it can't afford a “I want to off-board/alight, half way!”...
And maybe that is why, our teacher did ask, “what is a pure being?”....
A good many of participants focused on tightening their lips! (only a few ventured, to guess!)

Arey, ... I thought... “aaj kal pure-milk kahin milta hai kya?(do we get anything called a 'pure-milk'?)... Even to 'look-at'?”.. Then why that hesistation to 'merely-know' what it is 'all-about'?
But no! Here, the mind triggers a 'simultaenous' search operation... Unless there is a loop hole in the law (exempting politicians), they wouldn't allow a bill to get enacted in a parliament!!!

Mind is the politician, (we can't help voting for 'similar' politicians)... It exempts itself firstly, and only then it allows a deeper concept (especially spiritual ones!) to percolate beyond it!

Impurely yours,

psn (27th July, 2015)

Rituals

“Theen hi tou pankhe hai naa saab?... Number kya dena? Aap ghar mei roz doe bachhon ko ginn kar sote hain kya?”(All together, there are just 3 fans... what for, do we need to number them?.. do you count your two kids everyday, before going to sleep?)

Asked that daftary(a person elevated/designated to do voucher-binding work at banks, in India), to the auditor, in all innocence!

The auditor conceded... he paced a tick mark at that check list about inventory management of furniture and fixtures!

I was there...
That was the problem !

I called that daftary aside, and we went out for a cup of tea ...

I told him: 'Don't gloat over a seemingly-victory... '

He retorted, “then you better explain!”

I asked him “which of those three were purchased first, and the next one after how many years ?”

“Dunno! I came a little late into this job!.. but I can look at the vouchers and give the dates, but the 'make/brand being the same, I feel it is difficult !”

I had nailed him so easily (I thought he would look at the unique id, the aadhaar number given to each piece, which is mentioned on those bills, if not the vouchers!)

“Now,” I sent a guided missile, “when we are going to dispose the earliest purchased one, how do we decide?... or even for a zero-depreciation beyond a point of time, how do we decide?”

“Yeh sab tou maine socha hi nahi thaa!” ('I never had thought of all this stuff/implications !), he conceded...
But he did ask, “then why did the auditor get quietened?”....

To which all I could console him with was... “Hey, promotions are on seniority, remember!”, and I added “what I pointed out, is not his-headache anyway... it is for a future manager”...

Before he could get out of that 'nascent' stage of a fresh dawn of mini-wisdom, I had my own hidden agenda...
I added, “So, .. the same way... do not forsake that 'ritual' that your forefathers had been doing for generations, on the phase of that moon, when your dad departed... and don't make it an English date, just because you find it easy to 'tick' mark, like we do at office calendar...
Just as those at our systems&Management dept at Head office had thought of several aspects when fans had to be numbered, and mentioned in that F&F register (furniture/fixture), our ancestors had devised these functions, which look like a stupid ritual to you right now, with great significance for our life, and also after-life!”
“Let me pay for the tea”... was all that he could afford now! Anyway, we share that 'single-tea' which was just INR 0.35 (those days!)...

While walking back to our desks, I quipped, “And remember, there was always a cost-effective short cut, in our rituals, and so don't end up paying exhorbitant fee to that priest too... He too is like our auditor, flexible for fee!.. You may end up losing the value-addition!”

audi-ably yours,

psn (21st July, 2015)

Sleep

I ain't no sleep-snatcher now...!!!

It ain't about sleep either ! (Anyway, we can't make it happen! It happens by itself! Otherwise, why should patients say 'sleeping pills don't work anymore with me?')

We have a very small group .
I tried to suggest.... “Try to make a note of that exact moment, when we get into sleep”....
I even clarified, “no need to note down the 'time' by the clock... Just good enough if we can say, 'Yep! I noticed'... Nothing more... When milk rises, being kept on a burning flame of a stove, we notice... it is only thereafter, we decide, whether to remove the milk, or switch off the stove, or to leave it as it is with a 'mujhe-kya, mera-kya' etc...”

Simpal/simple...
but peepal/people here 'shell-shocked' me (an outdated expression, perhaps, since shells are primitive with WMD, etc!)...
We turned into a “patent-examiner” with this suggestion (note the moment of sleep)...!!!

Okay, with me...
But,
I would have been so-happy if those patent-examining-minds would have asked, “Hey, did you work on sample basis, those 'trials' with animals?”

(why I would have been 'haappy' eeej/is... they are already 'at-it'!!!... Why, and how, figure it out yourself pleej/please! All I know, from what I saw, is that animals wake up instantly, when there is some warning around... some even 'stand+sleep' :)--its a smiley... No wonder very few 'casualties' during those 'natural-calamities' like an earthquake, tsunami etc...

I now wonder...
what was the big-risk, in what I said?
Only two possibilities... 1) we missed it yaar! 2) I noticed it yaar ...
The second choice waalas... (I wouldn't elaborate... neither would they would like-me-to... :)/smiley again!

The one I suggested, (I guess) , was far more easier than 'breath-watching'... For, when this one is suggested, most of us end up as 'teachers', and would try to teach our own-dear-body, how-to-breath!... With sleep, no such risks! (other risks, if any, I am yet to learn/+, ready-to-learn!)

Sleepily yours,

psn (20th July, 2015)

Post script: Oh yes! It wasn't my idea... (the experimentation of it).. my teacher's! When I did it, like an idiot(simply doing, not asking any queries)... it seemed like it didn't work at all!.. Only the clock told me, I slept too long (slept, because, none of the sensory perceptions worked while I was 'at-it'... As simple as that! :) smiley...)

A Defect, defective, and Defector!

In all probability, it is my 'own-defect' that persuaded me to write about a defect!

The earliest of my memory reminds me that a 'defect' is usually about some malfunction in something that hinder's the 'expected' functionality....

But later, I encountered more instances of 'defect' being referred to, in isolation/exclusivity!!!
I wondered, “how can something be a 'defect' ... all-by-itself?”...

I kept the question alive... In the meanwhile, I preferred to that 'hindrance-to-expected-functionality-wala' version of it ... It worked fine with me!

Somewhere in 1971, I happened to listen to a lecture by Swami Chinmayananda... (I was interested in spiritual talks)...
Somebody asked, “Sir, are there ghosts?”....
He smiled....
And a 'wizard' that he was with words, ideas, presentation, communication.... he did not miss the chance to convey what 'he' had as his agenda!
“I can only say my experience... the nearest 'encounter' I had with what we think to be a ghost... I was trapped in a desolate forest-like place once... it was dark, and I was tired... I found an abandoned hut like structure, with no windows or doors ... it was wide open... long disuse...

I spread out a cloth and slept on it.. somewhere at midnight I heard a noise, 'chhaarrr... chhaarrr...' some screeching, dragging like sound... I woke... it stopped... after a while, it came again, the noise... I had to check it out, 'who could it be at this hour, at this place!!!'.. It came at intervals... Now, I stepped outside that hut, and tried to look around... When the noise came again, I caught the culprit! A low hanging branch was brushing on the tiled roof, when there was a breeze!.. I went inside and slept more-peacefully!... Now the noise 'chhaarr... chhaarr..' means.. more breeze!”

The story went right into me!.... I found that the 'concept' not only rhymes well with my-own-guess-work, but it teaches me even further! I now started looking for some utilitarian-functionality, of something which all others hurry-up to label/brand as 'defect'! (Like for example, I had alike-looking twins as my class mates, and while others struggled to identify each, I found ingenious ways to look out for typical-oddities in them, which occurs 'by-default'... I was thus a 'defector' from the bulk of the people around who take pride in pointing-out-defects of others with a glee!).

At work place, I found that 'systems-people' too, did make use of 'defects'... While others could not 'explain' to themselves, as to why this 'silly-rule' is there, that a cashier should keep his rubber-stamp(seal of acknowledging receipt of cash), under protective lock and key overnight... I could 'figure it out' by myself, and even explained to those who would care-to-listen, that rubber stamps acquire a few defects due to use, over a period of time, and some cuts, blisters, along the margin, makes it distinct, and thus identify easily, if some 'counterfoil' is faked and produced as evidence later on!

We do see people 'differently' abled, are able to perform feats that even 'abled' ones cannot!

Yours defectively,

psn(15th July, 2015)

spontaneity

I guess, the dictionary may not venture to bring out the 'finer' qualities of this amazing word... (it might embarrass the 'lot' who find that cozy comfort in adhering to 'mere-socially-acceptable' norms, and not bothering about anything qualitative about 'life' itself!!

Yet, I was on the look out for a word that might come close to a 'response' that envisages 'least possible interference of the mind, especially its memory!

Oh! I was referring to 'spontaneity in reply/response, to another's communications, whether gesticulations or mere articulations!

A very amazing person said this about me, a while ago.. “you do not seem too keen to exchange.”

(The 'why' he is amazing to me, is a very long story... too many not-so-common qualities... Here the relevant quality is, he effortlessly transcends being 'subjective' about a person's mannerism, and straight-away proceeds to the 'stuff' in what is said... something very invaluable for a researcher!)

And, my usual 'spontaneous' self, ... as usual... just-proceeded to look within, and 'see'.. if it were so! Yes! Indeed, it was! But it was only about blogs... I am a full-fledged-chatter-box with a 'selective-few' on that whatsApp!

Two observations, I made....! (may be right or wrong!)...

Spontaneity enhances the possibility of capturing into words, (whether to utter these words or not, is a choice too!), those non-verbal thoughts, which snowballed out of pristine perceptions! Call it 'gut-feeling', a 'brain-wave', clairvoyance, intuition, ... whatever!
Some people are fortunate to guess, where their spontaneity emanates from... Others merely depend on luck to find if their utterances find 'predictability' or a mere bounce-back of brickbats!

Spontaneity enhances alertness, paving way for nurturing that elusive 'awareness'!

Now, when I choose to 'respond' (though spontaneously even)... I do require to take a look at the 'mind' that makes a communication towards me.. .. (it is about responding/replying to comments on blogs)... This takes away the focus of my own perception to a certain direction, which does not really support that 'enhanced' levels of perception! Meditative people 'tend' to speak less, but they do 'respond'! A simple non-reply-mode of silence is a response too :)

But I did not really 'plan' to withdraw like a tortoise.. Situation 'told' me to do so... Yes, the side-benefits were quite immense... Especially with/at this age of mine! (Oh! There are indeed, several modes of 'communication'... but that is a choice confined to those on spiritual quest!).

Spontaneously yours,

psn (6th July, 2015)

Media vindicated uniquely!

I was quite new to this 'social-networking-modes'....

The smart-phone hastened my learning...

It took me almost a day, to discover as to why my palm and fingers feel a little rigid, and aching!

I got it all wrong... 'a hand held device' ... yes! But it does not cry, all-of-a-sudden, if placed on a table, stool etc, like that 'pampered baby' who cries when placed down from mom's lap! In my eagerness to learn too-quickly, I forgot that I was taxing my fingers and palm too much (service-tax!).. And the mind was kept engaged, to avoid spider-leg like touches on touch-screen!

Then came the thrill of 'connectivity'... The bulk of youngsters remain glued to 'whatsApp'... so the reach is through-whatsApp (decades ago it was through their stomach... 'uncles' offer toffees, chocolates, etc to gain entry into a kid's heart!)....


When we run out of 'own' messages , there is always the 'forwards'!... (We are reassuring ourselves, that it's okay to remain a little 'backward', as long as we keep 'forwarding' stupidities forwarded to us!)....

And the most comforting thing is, 'anybody sends to anybody'... so there is no 'blamegame' if any forward is a 'fake'/hoax! Nice idea!
Media cannot afford this 'game' for too long! And so the 'blog title'!


I wondered! How did the 'society' come up, so soon.... with such a concept, which gives that symptomatic relief, (though never a 'cure'), for psychosomatic problems like 'loneliness', left-out-ness, singled-out-ness, etc!!!

Oh! Not really a 'new concept'...
We are so good at 'distorting' even the most precious of concepts, adages, etc emanating from most powerful scriptures!

“Matru devo Bhava”... (that 'maatru' is replaced twice, with Pitru, and then aacharya... and repeated till third time)....

Without the help of any gadget, the recent few generations have very successfully crushed its essence like they do with huge monster devices to old vehicles!

I was no exception, when I tried out this 'fake' interpretation, very sincerely too! But whatever I do, it leaves a wide-gap, with my reach no where near even the 'start-line' of that success-race!

Then somebody gave a hint... Like that hero of “36th chamber of shaolin did to a laborer”, saying, “Use the other end of the sledge-hammer”... And it became 'too-clear'...

A kid would simply gape at the interpretation 'treat mom/dad/teacher like a God/demi-God'! (the term 'guru' is rarely used instead of 'aacharya'... Nice..! When stupidity intensifies, stupidity-within-stupidity eludes, and truth retains a camouflaged glimmer!).

I tried with:
What if a kid does not have/know a dad/mom?
What if a kid is never sent to a teacher (school or an informal source even)?

On the other hand, logic does support , with the 'inadvertent-retention' of the suffix “Bhava”... Even TV serials borrow “Aayushmaan Bhava”... (may it 'happen-thus', or Bhava... that you be-long-lifer)...

Now, a mom can be told “may it happen that you seem like a Goddess!”
a dad too... “May it happen that you feel like a 'God”
an aachaarya ... “May you be looked upon like a 'God'...!”
This was not-even-a dictum! Just a profound-wish! (Yep/yes... there was a culture, when somebody 'really-elder' makes a wish, it becomes like a 'dictum' to the other, and he/she strives for it... not like the Gourmet's wish 'May you give up LPG subsidy', and the gourmet itself doubles the salary+Perks of its own legislators!)...

Now, applying this 'guess'... it does look feasible... All the three are full-grown-adults... They 'know' the concept of 'God' far better than an LKG kid... They can 'try-it-out' with a kid... Being God-like... loving unconditionally, totally, sincerely, without any expectation, etc...!


Yours,

quixotic-Bhaavaami,
psn(5th July, 2015)

LKG same-to-same

Oh Yes!

At LKG (lower Kinder-Garten)... level, I found the similarity in English Medium LKG class and Spiritual LKG classes!

“Finger on your lips” says the teacher-nee (in Hindi, it is safer to add 'ni' to ensure freedom from gender related issues! I am no 'Chair-Man' like Mao-jee)..
And then the 'alpha-beta' like things percolate in its hierarchy... (yes, they do everything to kaan-fuse/confuse us, unlike Indian languages where soft-vowels are a preemptive strike on our grey-matter, as a surgical-strike by army!)...

“Finger on your noses” says the teacher Jee (no gender issues with this 'being' :)... he is both, by choice)...
And then, the other lessons percolate deeper!

Both the teachers, never thereafter insist on fingers be kept at lips/noses... But the process continues, even without those fingers!

The breath has-to-be balanced without the use of fingers (it can be looked at as a concession too! Only those who did not 'sincerely' do that 'finger on nose' properly, struggle later without its use :)

At Schools, not much to describe... mostly it is copy-paste... if from memory (hard disk), an assured 'wah-wah'... but if from the next kid, a pun-ish-ment!

At the other school, I dunno.. I just came out of LKG, and then I am too busy, to even find out as to 'which-class-room' I got pushed into! It is too fuzzy here!

(oh yes... aaj kal/now-a-days... the format is all 'crumpled-up'... late entrants, so lateral entry direct degree!.. In ancient days, finger-on-noses was for 2 full years!)

Nosily yours,

psn(1st July, 2015)

International Yoga day!

These people celebrated the 'Yoga day' a little ahead of time....

not their fault...

Nature couldn't wait for 21st June...

The essential ingredient of "Yoga" is about giving one's 100% into whatever we do!

They are 'just-into-it'

I received these images on WhatsApp, with the message "Sikhs serving langar food to stranded passengers at Dadar yesterday (19th June, 2015, when rains flooded the place, Mumbai). Salute the Sardars"  The details in bracket/braces, by me...

Maybe such news is not commercially viable for media!

But it does work to inspire us into Yoga!

psn

Concepts classified!

Oops!

Well, despite my 'oops' .. there is really nothing that I can do much about it...
“Classified”... you know!

I was amazed to look at a very few teachers randomly scattered, who do take own 'risk and responsibility' to advocate the 'concept' of something that they teach... It is easier to understand 'concepts', when it is about 'the' concepts related to an operation used as a tool in mathematical measurements (multiplication, division, algebraic terms...etc).. The concepts about languages are a bit hazy... fewer teachers really 'dare to indulge'...

What is quite difficult to 'digest' is that, in the ancient days, the teachers liberally focused on evolving students into developing 'an ear for concepts'! That, I found it quite exciting+amazing!

I seldom talk about it... And even now it is a status quo!

And yet, may I try to present a proposal: 'What if the very classification itself was based on 'concepts' potential , when it came to classifying humans?' Does it not rhyme with the eccentricities that we 'feel-so' with a present-day-mind?... the finer the classified-group, the tougher the grasp about their life-styles!!! Well , no point talking further.. ... In Hindi there is a protective gear, “samajhdaar ko ishaara kaafi hai” (for the wise one, a hint is but quite sufficient!)...

Now, when our teacher asked a very simple, basic and fundamental question, “what is the difference between humans and other living beings?” (yes, the animal kingdom)...
Participants tried-out with several 'aspects'... but none had managed to even touch-upon the 'difference' the distinct factor!

The teacher quietly said, (the style of dialogue delivery was like that of a hefty, stout comedian of black and white movie era, who heavily depends on dialogue-delivery, rather than gesticulations).. he said, “well, if we don't know the difference, then ... .. there is no difference!”

I committed a blunder. I laughed out loud. And all heads turned towards me with the curiosity of witnessing a rare species mating. ( I too, hold back the 'difference' for the same 'obvious' reason: No point, yelling it :) telling it out)...

But, quite a few are blooming out, recently (may be 'of-late' suits better)...! So, a hint.. be it so, I thought! (A few years ago, a small news item did raise my eyebrows: Some where in west, recruiters were trying to look at DNA pattern as a potential for hiring 'good' ones! Nothing 'reached' me further, nor did I 'try' to reach it!... Here I had better things to do with what I had within me!

Conceptually yours,

psn(9th June, 2015)

Offering trust

“Actually... tell me... (...)”

Says my friend....

Now, he is my friend.. I ought to know...

His use of “actually” has no relevance what so ever, to the actuality that we people refer to, when some of us do use it a bit consciously, and so 'actually' his use of 'actually' is quite 'inactual' except that it turns out be a 'dos-command' to which his own memory bank gets invoked in a bit cohesive manner! (Yes, he fumbles for the right word, as I discovered, when he tried to oblige me , by trying to talk without the pre-fix of 'actually')... In a way, I also discovered that I have afforded him the 'trust' that I would never 'actually-mistake' his 'actually' :)

What he asked once after one of those 'actually/ies' was... “tell me... why the hell did this joint family system vanish?”

Two things I had to reconcile myself...

He assumes the right to use me like that hand held gadget to which we can even bark “ok google” and ask any stupid question... 'A dedicated' gadget! That's what I turned out to be, when emotions defied logic, and I decided to be 'his' :)

He also assumes (the second bout of reconciliation-statement), that I ought-to-know answers to all his queries!

This time, I thought let me try something easy for him to remember (so that understanding can take time!)...
I said, “Imagine, if that 'news hour debate' at the prime time 9 pm, where everybody shouts-out the rest, and barks, happens around you on a '24 X 7' basis?... May be that's one of the reasons, why joint-families broke off.. Bickerings too often over trivial matters!... And I thought at least some of the kids might feel-initiated into that 'gibberish-meditation'!! (smiley-icon)...”

“Well, I said, ... I ain't too sure... but do carry a small glimpse of that amazing coordination like the modern noise-less engines of the luxury cars, where a lot happens under the hood, but doesn't let out any noise! A swarm of ladies used to move around the kitchen, and only when we hear the 'scratching' sound of that half-shell of a cocoanut struggling to survive the chipping off, when forced on the sharp teeth of that scraper... that we kids hustle around for a share of the scoop that the lady hands into each of our eagerly cupped hands.. ... It took some time (years) for me to 'actually' realise that these ladies, do the real-meaningful scraping only after our quota (we the kids).. And some elder would try to solve his morning-puzzle, by listening keenly to that noise, and trying to guess, the vegetable that 'deserves' the gently-scraped 'flower-petals-like' peels of cocoanut kernel for its garnishing! (If the scraping is for further-processing, ... between two stones, pasted, blended by grinding, the scraping is at a pace of 'get-over-with-it' quickly)....”

He just gaped at me..

And I was wondering... if he was trapped inside the scraped cocoanut? Or was he locked inside the visuals of a traditional dish?.. or was he lucky, 'not-to-be-carried' away, and noticed the 'peak-noise-maker' of a healthy joint-family?

Somewhere, that 'offer of trust' ... over a period of time, tends to silence-a-bit, the other person! (Yes, I can vouch for this, when a 'regular-customer' at my work place, waits silently and even with a smile, when I look up to clear my own doubt about 'do I not owe to explain, why I am taking so much time to attend to him?'

Actually yours,

psn(8th June, 2015)

Have an ear for...

“an ear for music”... mystified me, when I heard it for the first time... I raced my memory, to 'google' in my brain's hard-disk... to look-to-see, if there was any un-labelled image somewhere, with an extra-ear in a person.... or even an ear, “earmarked' for music-only, and being stone-deaf for everything else!!

Oh! It was a mere reference to 'receptivity' within, irrespective of whether the 'input-device' is working or not!!! (a word renowned musician was really deaf!)

So, it became too clear... receptivity is exclusive of recepticle, its attachments!

It was only at the 'next-stage' in the same track of looking-further that I discovered that 'ear for concepts' in me!!!

And it does look like, for spirituality to step in... the ear for concepts has to refine towards subtlety!

(as a side-effect, the ear-for-other concepts becomes a little effortless! Just 'look' and the concepts speak by themselves!)

At schools, the kids 'get' classified in yet another distinct way(no yardsticks in place , as yet), when only some of them manage to grow that 'ear for concepts'... The rest of them keep 'scoring' by boring/mugging/rigging/etc., till time catches up with them some/sum-time or other! :)

conceptually yours,

psn(29 May, 2015)

To deserve

I found that... “The being-within, does 'deserve' to be dealt with 'being-true-to-oneself' always!” ...

Though I did practice this in crude and primitive ways, out of total ignorance, right from my kid days, it was only later on, that I discovered (I may be wrong, but it works for me!), the multi-dimensional aspects of this, in a bit 'programmed' way...). I would not go into details of something that I am not too sure of, as to whether it would work similarly for others, when it has worked for me... But I did feel like making a 'mention' to quell the doubts about 'why now, ... this?' .... kind of doubts in a reader.. ...

I had to look at the 'deserve' aspect, yet again when the temptation was too strong to yield to some temptation!

I could see, it was not about meriting something... not in the sense of eligibility, qualification-for-it, or even that capability.. It was about 'de-serve' (“ < Old French deservir, Latin dēservīre to serve zealously” )...

A chance 'encounter' with kid age friends, who also happened to be classmates for the entire schooling days, and that too after a gap of some 44+ years...

We did not feel quite contended with mere 'chat' on a virtual platform... The feel, when it was face-to-face, was the highest possibility we knew of(right now! We do not know anyone who is spiritually so-evolved, as to bypass such constraints!), that can give that joy of togetherness..

And so, a travel for a fellow who is located far away from the bulk of them, became a must! It is here, that the 'mismatches' started surfacing.. We call those mismatches as 'situational constraints'!

For instance, when the body of a very close person is suspected to be floating somewhere in the mid-ocean, post-disaster of an airplane, we just 'drop-everything' on hand (see... we do 'match'!.. the plane dropped down, and here we drop our tasks), and then rush to 'see' if that floating mass of half-decomposed body is/was that of our dear one! But not when we are invited for a social gathering! We have a whole-set of 'valid' excuses, which we 'religiously' practised, tested and it worked while at work place, having 'submitted-humbly', those excuses to our bosses, for not having done something duty-bound by us! (Yep! Salary is already 'bound'.. so the action is merely 'duty-bound' in an exclusive sense!)..

For me this 'travel' boiled down to choosing an expensive way.. a flight! What I had saved out of my 'humble' work-profile was merely like a check-dam, which can get emptied too soon, and not like those huge reservoirs of 'hydro-electric generation dams', the water stored being the meager savings.. Yes, the routine at home will get dislocated a little... the old-age home that it is now, will get reduced to a single inmate during the period-of-absence... a thing that weighs more-heavily, when age, by itself, tends to increase the gravity of everything, every situation, making it 'grave'!

I had to thus... turn towards the concept of 'deserving', deserved-ness... to see, if that criteria helps me to make a fair-judgement! (the decision is based on judgement!.. yet another irony!)

I looked back a little...

I had faced similar situation quite early too....

Many of the simple things did look like a 'huge luxury item' for me, in those kid days too! (when milk goes bad, we kids have a 'treat' with its 'spoils'... it is turned into a sweet dish at home, treated with liberal dose of sugar particles... Yes.. ration sugar comes in tiny-particles, and doesn't 'deserve' its conventional name!)...

At work place, I simply never opted to travel by the class that I was 'eligible' for... The lowest class suited me too well!.. I could afford to spend the journey with those who were more closer to “life”.. the upper-class-travelers were busy with 'swallowing' the comforts of the materials that contributed to the cost of that class!

I even asked my Manager, 'Sir, can I not travel by 3rd class? The cost on our organisation would be ridiculously low that way!”... But he said, “No... you are on an 'official-duty', though it is for a 'training-program'... and you also carry-along the 'image' of our institution! It is not good to tarnish it, by the vulnerability of somebody trying to guess that we are an impoverished organisation!” Fair enough, I thought.. .. I would go by the diktat now... I was deprived of my 'luxury' of being with 'more-live' co-travelers!

Somewhere, I was perhaps misled by 'need-based' perception, when it came to the 'need' to decide between choices! (That need-based approach kept me too busy, to even find time to 'serve' the latent desires, wants.. and other 'likes'!!).

And let me confess... I did not have those 'standard' prescribed patterns of 'visions' about 'humility'.. I never made any conscious effort at humility, or 'trying to me More-humble than before'... such conscious effort seemed like a stupidity for me... Humility, practised as a bare virtue, seemed too burdensome... I looked at the word 'humble' as some kind of attribute, that 'serves' to describe the trait of a person, when he deals with choices... than some kind of an attribute “deserved”!.. A person labelled as 'humble' seldom gets 'served'.. rather, he gets 'exploited' more often !

I try to make wild guesses, when I try to describe my way of looking at 'deserve'.. A captain of a sinking-ship does not 'deserve' to preserve/save his own life, till the last 'soul' remains to be rescued (that is the 'prescription')... where as, he 'deserves' to be the highest decision-making person, so that he 'serves'/saves the lives of travelers, sailors, and his staff... Almost like, we are constrained to allot a single-exclusive seat to that humble-driver, even when the whole bus is jam-packed, and in our own interest, and therefore he 'deserves' to be served by our act of 'giving up our free space' in his favour!

Do I deserve to pluck a flower, unless I am competent to further energise it, with energies of my own, or with the expertise of drawing energy from a 'consecrated' store-house that people call as a 'deity'.. that carved stone?... (Oh! I do not interfere with anyone else plucking a flower, except when it is out of my own back yard... so such quixotic-criterion about 'deserve' need not trouble a casual reader, please...).

Some how, that 'reverence' culture which is believed to have been the befriending trait of ancient Indians, (as distinguished from the 'freedom-culture' of the west), seems to have also looked at this 'deserving' aspect, and left it to 'individuals' to decide and 'deserve' its merits for oneself !(the whole of the bulk of scriptures are addressed to 'individuals' and seldom to a group or a society! Perhaps that 'explains' the persistent diversity in the 'applied' format of those scriptures!)...

Deserving-ly yours,

psn (28th May, 2015)

Experience of kid-age Afresh!

While most of us remember, recollect and perhaps struggle to re-live those childhood memories, school days....

I was in for a surprise!

I was jolted by a chance meeting of a kid, with whom I traveled from LKG to plus 2, at school!

He somehow managed to keep well-packed, those kid-age emotional-feel of each other ... And he opened that pack yet again, (and perhaps, just for me last evening!)...

I suddenly 'became' a kid, experientially! All my experience of life, after leaving the school, just stood a little away from me, and the mind felt like that kid, once more! The mind did not even think of looking at the dear kid-age-friend using references like his cultural background, family roots, traditional life-style etc... He felt just a kid, nothing more!

This experience, did allow my perception to review, what we did with ourselves during the kid age... (yes, my attempt is to look through a-child-like-mind... so, logic might be missing a little, when it is about pristine emotions!)

We just found yet another co-traveler in the other, ready to face those uncertainties, ahead of us, as ourselves! We are keen to observe the other, as he-is, not as we like him to be... (we have no idea even.... about 'how to design our-own-likings' !).. And so, each unique feature in the other seemed an amazing, awesome and attractive thing!

I could see myself into a busy-schedule of trying not-to-miss anything happening around me! And that teacher was struggling to divide her efforts between drawing our attention towards her on the one hand, and trying to make-us-learn those chants from text book, to be repeated like a parrot! Oh! The better parrot happened to get better scores, but when it came to rank, the numerals were too small, not a double-digit-inflation-like!

The 'session' by one teacher was over too soon, even before we started to get a feel-of-what she was like, and only to be replaced by yet another one, entirely distinct from the previous one! We struggled to match the teacher's 'requirements' of us, when no pattern really suited all of them alike! Yes, we found a flaw in the teacher... she struggled to find out where exactly she had left-it, when she used to have a brief chat with the teacher of nearby class... and there would always be one of us to 'prompt' her with the last-repeated-chant... these 'lessons' meant nothing more than an imposed chant, to be 'religiously' adhered to, including the tone, texture and accent which seemed to please that teacher more than the accurate-match with text material!

Somewhere, the teacher rushes to one of the rear benches, and shows the 'cane' a bit menacingly! We the front-benchers are more curious to know what it was about, which infuriated the teacher? And there was a conspicuous absence of 'action-replay' to enlighten us about the 'unpardonable' act of the rear-seated kid... It did not even occur to ask the kid who sat next to that kid... and that kid would invariably remain 'dumb' like when we ask 'what did you do?' (the look on his face, at times seem to offer a clue like, 'what did “I” do?... oh! Nothing... I was just 'fully-myself'.. just that the teacher found my being 'my-own-self' to be a nuisance to her!)...

And therefore, the one teacher who did 'use' the cane too often became an object of 'our common dislike' (we did not think of 'pooling-in' our common-liking, for other teachers who were more kind... The 'like' for a teacher felt like , our 'like-for-a-chocolate'... we experienced it by ourselves, in exclusivity!)....

Thus, I was looking into myself, through my own kid-mind, and enjoyed the experience of that innocence, which I did miss, at that age!

It almost feels like, we might be able to re-stitch the days together and weave the diary of our kid-days!

When I came out of that kid-mind, I could now see clearly, I am a bit obstinate about refusing to view a stranger in my life now, without pasting 'as many labels as possible' on his image-inside-me, .. and most of those labels are out of my memory of 'similar' looking people of the past, their background, culture, manners, religions, social status, financial status ... what not!

Oh! The mind goes through a huge exercise of wading through a very large data base, and in the meanwhile, I miss most of 'what that person is right now!'... The only consolation/solace being, he is no different about the 'mind-pattern'... It is almost like a 'virtual-meeting' despite being 'live, and face-to-face'! (Oh! .. Oops! Was that the reason why the 'virtual' meeting via these gadgets , manages to bring us closer to each other now? Dunno!)

child-like, yours,

psn(25th May-be, 2015)

Mind's speedbreakers

Two incidents....

It seems, a mad elephant was 'instigated' to rush at Gautama Buddha, by his rivals...
It simply sat down calmly, when it neared the 'enlightened one'

Just a story, for us... May or may not have really 'happened'..!

Does the 'concept' really work?... That is something worth exploring... But, only if there is 'something' credible or seemingly-plausible to get started with!

We are trying to look at 'mind', when it is about our getting mad, and trying to bull-doze somebody...
Madness of mind need not be always a case which 'now fit to be referred to a psychiatrist'!

A judgemental mind, a hurried conclusion, .....an abrupt copy paste from memory, a wrong label.... all these are 'indicative' of a state of mild and socially acceptable levels of mind's madness!

“Mad” is a very impolite term, I fully agree. But if we are trying to safeguard our own selves, from 'mind's accidents' , I guess, it is worth looking at it for-a-while, as some kind of madness!

Second incident is what happened to me!

“Didn't I give you a refill just yesterday morning?” barked the officer who decided to 'control' the stationery-items, as an attempt to initiate 'economy-drive' in our work place, to cut operating costs!

I just looked at him, with a 'blank' stare... (I allowed the reasonable time, ... maybe, he may like to 'reconsider' his outburst!)... But he saw it as my 'conceding' of grave-misconduct, an intentional-act of subverting his noble-mission at stationery-conservation-program! He increased the crescendo of reprimanding....

I moved away, much to the annoyance of my colleague-subordinates, who later on said “we felt that chilli's hot-burn at very wrong places too!... Watching his outburst, while your meek silence did annoy us additionally”...

I asked help of these 'friendly' subordinates to collect all those huge ledgers, where my ball-pen's refill had travelled since that 'yesterday-morning'... we placed page-marker flaps (at north India the colloquial term is 'kaapli'... kaapna=scissor/cut, in marathi, and the kaap-li makes it 'that which is cut'... they cut long strips of thin waste boards, which serves to reach the 'exact' location in a thick book).

They gaped at me, a bit questioningly, when the books piled up,.... a little 'cumbersome' in size... And I said, 'don't bother... don't pay attention to what ever he says... just place the pile on his table'... They 'got-it', ... what I was driving at!

I flipped the pages, counted the pages that I inked the previous evening (sitting late, while he had left-early!)... and ensured that I came close to his ears, chanted the numerals slowly, surely and with clarity (numerals are never an 'abusive' word... and I am merely 'producing' evidence to vindicate my 'stand' when an oral 'charge-sheet' is 'deemed' to have been issued against me!)...

The 'dramatised' effect of my actions did have a 'telling-effect', not only on the 'concerned-one' but to a large extent, on others around....

He had to quietly 'suffer' (suhaana-safar), the travel through the pages I had imposed on his eyes..

Then, I said, “Sir, I would like to learn, if you can manage to write something more with a similar refill!..Just once, so that I can do it for the rest of my life, not just service period... because, conservation of resources is a precious lesson!”

It was now his turn to return the 'blank stare' (except that , it also could not hide his helplessness for digging out a reply).

The Manager said to that officer, “please meet me after lunch, for a few minutes” (the staff around understood, what the manager was proposing to say).

Effectively, the officer 'had-to' devise his own speedbreaker, while dealing with us thereafter!Yes... I always respected the 'chair' that a person occupied, and just ensured that his weight on that chair did not feel heavy for 'our respect' towards it!

But, when it comes to a spiritual journey, the teacher (if we like to have such-a-one), does manage his own mystic tools, and later his support to refine the prescribed practices that he initiates us into, to even 'slow' down our minds (speed breakers are usually too bumpy for a rider of mind!)...

That is something really difficult to comprehend (how can it be done?)....

The spacecraft when in its space-orbit, its speed cannot be possibly arrested by a 'speed breaker' {the very concept of a 'speedbreaker' is relevant only in conjugation with concepts of gravity, resistance, friction, action-reaction, and several other earthly-phenomenon! Here, it is an annoying term... 'conjugation' , but I am fond of 'speed-breakers' you see :)..... }.

And it is therefore that... the 'conditions' to be set, prior to an attempt at meditation, becomes so crucial to the very success towards its purpose itself!

Speed-broker, yours,

psn(24th May, 2015)

Spiritual Rennaisance!

Early signs of it....

I see it , though a mere guess-work of mine... when I keep listening to the speeches, talks of Mr.Modi, the present prime minister of our country, Bharat!

Yes, undoubtedly, his focus is on 'development'.... The policies, schemes, strategies, actions etc are also towards a 'material-focus', nothing to do with spirituality!

But, the 'unseen' vacancy... the space, the vacuum... the chair of a spiritual leader at 'national' level... seems to be 'bestowed'.... not 'occupied', taken up, or usurped.... when we look at the bulk of the 'present day youth' hovering around, and keenly following his speeches, imbibing 'values' that go into developing a strong character, and more than anything else 'a positive approach, hope, etc' where none seems to be 'visible' in the situation!

As if to vouch for this 'guess'... we get to see an unprecedented 'chant' of a chorus, “M-o-d-i, M-o-d-i....” where ever he goes!

In a field of sports, when somebody performs in an outstanding manner, along with a 'hero-worship' there comes a herd, yearning to also 'become' something similar... This psychological pattern has been well-recognised... (When there is a world-cup-like match some where at the other end of the globe, kids play street-cricket, in a crude and primitive way, at odd-hours too!)
Just that, we didn't hitherto-see ...... a politician-sportsman for a long time, who smashes sixers!

Now, when a Prime minister of China arranges for 'his-kids' at Universities to listen to a lecture from this inspiring persona... who is going to 'arrange' for our youth at Universities?... It is only during 'routine' events like some convocation etc... where the 'schedule' of a busy PM suits to accomodate a little time, and also he gets invited (being in town, quite-incidentally), that the talk-to-youth happens...

Yes, media as an advanced technological tool, does the work silently!

The snow-balling effect is seen ... rather a little sooner than I even expected!

He quotes precious qualities like 'Vishwaas', 'promises' , global-family-hood, etc.. a little more often! He addresses the 'citizens collectively' as 'God', and their dreams and desires as 'God's will'! Something that even atheists would find it too difficult to 'oppose' , though they may negate! (Even transgenders, not merely atheists, are included into 'citizens'...!!!) It is not everyday that we find a prime-leader who looks at the whole lot of citizens as his-God, and reveres them so, day-in and day-out!

Transparency promotes trust.... trust when invoked, nurtures reverence.... And, if historians happen to be correct about the worth of 'ancient Indian Culture, spiritual values, etc...'... We are a 'reverence-culture'!

I am not trying to promote somebody, or canvass for somebody... Just that, the very spiritual path that I 'trudged'... nudged me to pay a look at 'this-aspect' which did draw my attention! Because, I could clearly see the unwritten rule : Politics is the field to be 'used' to gather lots and lots of power, which also ensures a control over unlimited wealth , and perhaps therefore the 'adage' that 'Power corrupts!'... This Modi-Ji, seems to be re-writing this rule, defying even the adage, using the spiritual tools to insulate himself, (reportedly acquired by him during his early days) from its clutches!

I used to hardly take notice of any politician hither to! (Anyway, they are more known for blocking-'traffic', often!... In the computing world, 'traffic-rate' is the most sought after data to decide 'investments'!).

It does not matter, whether he delivers or even what he delivers, at some future date..
The choice of words, the contents, the theme, its values... was not really-expected from 'present-lot' of politicians!

Diplomatically yours,

psn(19th May, 2015)

Transparency, a bitter pill for trust-deficiency

My guess is, 'Trust' can only be invoked, and not practised...

Transparency, can be practised, and the product (like butter/ghee out of churning curds), would be trust..

The nations like Pakistan and India, when they look at mutual relationship, do talk of that 'trust-deficiency' (the hesitation to act sternly against wrong doers, so called 'non-stage-actors' , etc stems out of lack, or inadequacy of transparency, ... for whatever reasons!)... Then what about the 'iron-curtain' wala nation :)

At our levels, perhaps.... mutual trust decides the quality of relationship...

Trust with and within self... significant, but only for those to whom spiritual pursuit does matter :)

Practice of transparency, might promote and help 'invoking' that trust....

(There is a 'catch'!... If that transparency is one-way-traffic... then trust is possible only from the 'wrong-side' :) towards the person offering that transparency !)

The 'how to'... about it, everybody else is smarter than me, so I would not dare to suggest it :)

I can only hope to try it , the crude way, ... so quixotic that I am!

( I wonder, if that 'emotional-transparency' is a little more tougher than the logical-materialistic-transparency!)

Transparently yours,

psn(18th May, 2015)

Boring dream?

Even as a kid, we did experience, what it feels like, to be 'bored' for some 3 hours at a stretch!

Mass-boredom, was what all of us kids agreed upon when we could not let go as a waste, a movie for which we paid a 'premium'... The extra price was to go into 'Building Fund' of our school.....

Yes I too shared the 'sentiments' of my classmates when I felt it difficult to keep myself focused on the screen (I guess it was 'Baazi' or so... and even songs were badly choreographed)...

Soon after we came out of the movie, my mind.... a quixotic one, even then... churned out a Big-Doubt!!! ... .... ... “What if this movie runs yet again, in my dream?... Hey, ....then I can declare and even “claim” to have been the first idiot, to have witnessed a 'Boring dream'!!!

Some 'first' at least, to my credit, since I knew, I was good-for-nothing! Here the advantage was, the movie is already agreed upon, to be a 'boring-one'... So I don't have to prove yet again, that the dream was a 'boring-one'... all I needed to say was, the 'movie was fully screened in my dream too, with no censorShip-even!'

But it remained a 'dream'...

So I guess, having waited for so long, for a boring dream, it is time to 'spill the beans' to know if somebody around was more fortunate than me!

Yes, we have good, bad, scary, pleasant, sad... etc....and ofcourse “sweet” dreams..

Dreamily yours,

psn(15th May, 2015)

Reverential Attentiveness

“Keep an eye on him always, he will be doing some simple job at the kitchen”, said the Zen Master to the inmates of his Spiritual hermitage, while introducing a new inmate who wasn't a fresher. On the other hand, this inmate was very close to 'making it' any time now!

I can imagine the plight of the other inmates, who have to maintain a heightened level of attentiveness, having no support from the situation outside, to fuel their reverence-potential towards an ear-marked candidate, because, this new one was not going to 'demonstrate' anything in a visible way!

I was yet again amused to view an interesting video clip, where the task of 'training' kids into attentiveness was outsourced to a structure and its ambiance rather than the designated teachers!

https://www.ted.com/talks/takaharu_tezuka_the_best_kindergarten_you_ve_ever_seen

Toddlers can't even be reached....

This kindergarten-age was looked at as a crucial stage, hoping to retain the innate attentiveness, to a maximum possible level, and perhaps, hoping thereby to develop a sense of reverence, towards 'deserving' things/persons/whatever...

Yes, as a kid, I too faced the problem of according respect towards elders, 'just for the sake of it'! I could clearly see too often, that their grasp of the situation doesn't deserve the 'prescribed' levels of respect that is mandated.

It is here that I confronted two abstract concepts which looked like overlapping each other... Respect and reverence...

As adults we find it quite easy, to 'respect' a chair/position/title/etc... where as reverence is something quite personal, and doesn't warrant an exhibition always. When we only fear, we use gloves to handle an un-insulated wire, supposed to be carrying an electric current.. But it is that sensible-caution, which perhaps does invoke a subtle 'reverence' which might persuade us to look at the intrinsic worth of that wire, to see if it really deserves a 'gloved' handshake, and then extend our palm towards it!

When it comes to spiritual-related 'stuff' that comes down to us over generations (Our very genes might be 'stuffed' :) ..., or we might be thrust upon with stuff, which is situation-based, like the society where we are born, its traditions, rituals, scriptures, etc... ), the reverence part becomes the most difficult thing for us to invoke, and without it, the bare-respect part becomes too burdensome!

My admiration for the ancients of Indian spirituality comes out of a discovery of 'how they even managed to ensure' that some-reverence manages to creep in, (not just that they also-looked-at, the difficulty about reverence-without-experience!... One mild-electric shock, and the kid 'can' now remember to be cautious with that plug-socket/wire, etc...!) .... they managed to ensure that some reverence does creep in, even when the badly-mangled/deformed/diluted version of the rituals/traditions/culture reaches down the later generations!

I was a little fortunate... Quite a number of incidents did help me to 'distinguish' the places where respect was not mandated, and yet the reverence was richly deserved!

A real life example: At the very second day of my reporting for work (yes, the job where I retired), I happened to ask of a subordinate staff (the lowest level designation at the workplace), to fetch a book of entry, and its related papers... I was 'supposed' to utilize these services of that person, and he was supposed to comply with my request (yes, it was a polite request, not the 'usual-ordering' which was also 'quite-in-order' :) ...). He did comply, and very gracefully too... He looked aged, almost about to retire, but that did not matter, as long as the 'uniform' that he wore, spoke for him. But, to my utter surprise, the chief representative of the 'staff-union' met me later and insisted that I 'apologise' to him, for having told a 'work' to be done to that sub-staff! I was a 'kid', and did not waste time to argue or even-learn from 'heavy-weights' from 'union'... I simply blurted out those magical words which bought me the freedom-from-trouble, and everybody around nodded a look of approval, almost saying, 'good for you, that you learn so well, and so quickly!'...

I did not have to wait for too long... (but I did 'resolve' to wait sufficiently long enough to ask that person-himself, since he did not quite approve of such 'apology', but none would hear him!).. He, the sub-staff, took me aside, and said, 'Don't take it to heart, ... that forced-apology... I hereby make a 'return-apology' to you on their behalf... these people, they make a mountain out of a mole-hill... I just do my duty, to whatever extent I can”.

After some two days, another colleague, who was a bit amazed at my calm (not quite easy to gulp-down a forced-apology!), explained, “See, all the staff members have decided, that nobody shall ever “tell-him” what he needs to do... he already does a lot more than what can be expected normally from anybody in that job... and over the years, he earned a 'respect' thus!... you were new, and did not know about this 'background'... and the 'union' did not like to perpetuate a bad-precedent, so the leader was in a great hurry, to put-down any dis-respect to that man!”...

I found a clear indication, that I was to 'keep an eye' on that person doing a humble/menial job!

To this day even, I look at the 'act' of that union leader with a lot of 'reverence' (and quite-possibly, even he was oblivious of the spiritual-benefit of his own act...!!!). And I found 'this-reverence' to be a clue, which I use for my own 'camouflage and concealment'... yes, as a converse-theorem of it!... In army, when they teach 'camouflage and concealment' they first teach 'why things are visible to us'.. I learnt it quite well, when they linked it as 6 S(sisters), and 1 M(mother).. the 'M' stands for 'movement'... Figure out the 6 S's for yourselves!

Respectfully yours,

psn(14th May, 2015)

Fuel Efficiency

Perhaps, never before in the history of mankind did the “bulk” of the people, become so much aware about the concept of 'fuel efficiency'....

What ever the reasons/compulsions-of-situation etc... (Let us not waste our fuel thinking/exploring 'that' right now..!)

While we are at it... when that 'concept' is floating at the surface of our lives....

May be it is useful to 'get-across' something through, into us, ... which otherwise doesn't make a dent-even at the surface! (In that movie, “Independence Day”, the earth-men-made missiles do not even dent the protective shield of alien's spacecraft... until some virus gets uploaded and affords a 1 minute window or so! Here, this 'window' of awareness-about-fuel-efficiency!)...

We have made a very good progress about "fuel efficiency".....

Not just the researchers, scientists, politicians, etc....

Common man, Aam/mango Aadmi has become a little aware!

LED.. Bulbs, monitor,

Average per liter vehicles....

What about human Fuel-efficiency?

Where do we " expend" most.... Our own mental energy?

Ancients started with "own" fuel efficiency! (Farak zaroor pendaa hai!)

Well, what I 'saw' ...

During spiritual programs (the names were simplistic, like art of living, effortless living, etc..)...

The teacher ensured that the 'fuel-efficiency' of about 99% of the participants goes up during the one-to-two weeks of that program....

The sharing/feedback, etc at the tail end of the program substantiates in their own words...

Then the drop out rate... it is almost close to the same percentage... 95%... The 5% manage to stay-on just for a few more years... Less than 1% remain en-grooved....!

One 'common' factor I found was, ...

those who 'happened' to stay-on, also 'happened' to find their own internal devices of that...

'fuel-efficiency' being improved a little!

For spirituality to make a dent... fuel efficiency is a must!

Efficiently yours,

psn(7th May, 2015)

Instinctive Perception

After a very long time, I did struggle to think of a suitable title to a blog of mine....!

Even now, I ain't/am not, quite sure! (whether it is 'the' apt one'!)...

Well, (or ...While) we all know, most varieties of life forms learn instinctively (or, let us say, for the sake of.... our couch-potato-convenience, 'they have it in-built' in them!)....

Kids of monkeys just know how to climb... Kids of fishes know how to swim... Kids of lions tigers, etc know how to hunt their food.. Also, the mom's of these kids do not get admitted into maternity-ward, nor do they take the kids to a doctor to find out 'what ails them'...

While we all know... (what I said above), what baffled me was... these life-forms/species, even know what to do when there is a natural calamity like an earthquake/tsunami etc... Some 7 or 10 generations prior to that would not have seen such a calamity, in those small creatures!

Okay... doesn't matter to us (only some botanist/biologist... 'needs' to know these things, to 'somehow' get his doctorate, etc... and our food is linked with the salary that comes with an assured job that we have already with us !)...

Now, when our memory doesn't suffice as a point of reference... 'google it'... It is so comforting!

Are we humans, really stripped off, of 'such' perceptions? Some few people , at times turn out to be right, when they blurt out their 'gut-feelings'... instinctive-feelings... whatever (Hey....!!... the use of 'feelings' ... only confuses us further! Feelings seem to relate with 'emotions' apart from the feel of heat, taste, smell, pain, etc... because... it is a 'feel' of that 'gut' an abstract thing, .... when we already don't feel anything-more, about what passes down the throat!!!)....

When somebody exclaimed “eureka”... was it a result of a 'thought-process'?... the abrupt 'discovery'? (The deer clearly 'discovers' whether the tiger/lion.. prowling within its striking-range is hungry-enough or not.. and that-decides... whether to run away to safety or not... Unlike most of us who run away from a cockroach/home-spider/chipkali-lizard/etc...! Now, keep debating whether that deer 'refers' to its data-base server, the memory, or the brain's processor/whatever, before deciding!)...

The learning-curve... We know, kids have it more!

So, there is a 'chance' that their instinctive-receptivity is slightly better, since the data-base has more of 'free-memory' than occupied bites! (Oh! I bungled... the base where the data is stored, not the base-of-data-bulk!)....
Big-people (scientists, who had nothing better to do, when their credentials reached far higher than that of anybody around them, to 'now-ask'.... what are you doing?), tried observing 'babies' to learning to swim (they dropped the babies into large tubs of clean water), tried observing babies discover the typewriter keys, when only one of them was kept unlocked and the rest cannot be depressed, and a key 'a' corresponds to mention of/hearing-of a 'sound' designated to it... They say, the learning is faster (and without much of adult-intervention!... School teachers are said to 'interfere', rather than intervene... and it is psychology which says so, about our education system!)

The question that I see before me was therefore... 'are we humans endowed/equipped with lesser instinctive-receptivity, than other species?'... or “is it that we somehow ended up allowing a continuous interference of memory-reference, which effectively blocked this instinct-receptivity?...

When a mosquito bites, the cells around that place 'fight back' and we feel the swelling, itch etc... The instinctive response is still available... When medicines are unavailable, we still get-well, but with a slight delay... meaning, medicines are right within us too!...

Somewhere, I started suspecting the word 'intellect' to be linked with instinctive perception (while the mind, with its memory 'looks' for something that is already pre-supposed! At banks, people search for a 'difference' in the books of accounts... and just-keep-searching.... Elderly people 'look' for the specs, and kids remind, “grandpa' it is right on the top of your head”... These are examples of memory-driven-searches, where our sensory tools are directed by thought to focus, not allowing inputs, as they are on the outside!... The 'difference' , the culprit was right under their 'noses' with several 'ticks' against it, but the discovery happens later when looking at it with a 'blank-mind')...

Another interesting thing is, we easily spot a stone, but tend to overlook a snake coiled nearby it!

What happens, when we happen to preserve this 'instinctive' learning, via observations not dominated by mind, its memory etc?

What happens, when our 'safety-concerns' keeps tagging us along all the while, quite needlessly too.. and thus-perhaps, blocking that instinctive urge to observe+learn?... I don't know! I can clearly mention my own experience, for instance... I did 'expect', that my colleagues around 'may' feel persuaded to observe, why I 'happened' to be doing things a little faster, and with far-better accuracy too? It is about 'data-entry'... a very safe example, when odds are against me... The learning of 'how to key-in', was only when the gadget is/was available, and that happened when the proverbial-learning-curve was supposed to have faded out, with age... I happened to do it more than twice as faster than 'average' people around! It got 'noticed'... The monitor, monitored by eyes at far-off-place echoed having noticed it.. People around 'sensed' a threat... the bosses might ask, “Can't you too do something closer to it?”... And ironically, the 'bosses' ended up imagining my 'limits' to be beyond their imagination-too!,... Actually, they did not allow their own equipoise to function, logically-atleast... They scrambled to throttle me, probably driven by their target-chase, to somehow-get-things-done, rather than expanding their potential to reach untapped resources in 'resources of other humans' around!.. Well, my senses were 'normal'... I could see, the situation was not going to be any different, even if re-located (as offered to me later during an exit-interview)... Like any rubber-band, there was indeed a limit, up to which I could be stretched, and beyond it, it was just going to be 'stress' and not stretch!... I quit!... But that is not the point... Two divergent ways of deploying 'observations' neither of them accompanied by “instinctive-intellect”, or rather, an observation not driven by memory-oriented-concerns! For me, it was almost like an animal which moved out of the 'danger-zone' a little ahead of humans... (Yep/yes... several others 'dropped-out' prematurely, even without the gold of the 'golden-handshake', but not without significant damage to their nerves!)... If somebody were to ask me (and they did too), 'why quit so early?'... like a dumb animal, say a donkey, I too gaped at them, fumbling for words to be superimposed on my gut-feeling the sensation that 'when going gets tough, the tough get going-out'!

This 'repulsive' response is not something new for me... What was new was the 'deep-instinctive' communication that seemed to 'seal' the bond of a perpetual relationship, between two pairs of eyes, that of mine, and the teacher, when they met for the very first time, ahead of any known form of conventional communication!... Almost like a humble timid and tiny creature like me sensing the imminent, obvious and irreversible spiritual-gulp from a giant-predator, right in front, reassuring so mightily, that any escape from it is now... out of question! (Oh! Only a mind can question! Animals don't question us, ever!)

Yours (whatever in me that persuaded a blog of this kind),

psn (28th of April, 2015)