Our values & Set theory

Set theory 

Leaving aside the jargon, we can use the most simple samples to understand

How our values that we hold on to, presents a problem in our interaction with others.

2  circles on the extreme left & right are used to represent "values" held by two people "A" & "B" .

Destiny decided that they need to co-exist. May be as spouses, friends, close relatives, neighbours, or as enemies 😜

They have a set of values they hold on to, while going through "life" as it happens with them. The circles represent their values respectively. The circle in the middle with a question mark, is the area of uncertainties ( of values), during the interaction of A & B with each other. 

Taking a live example,

In the year 2011( census year) tamilnadu had some 60,000 ration cards of "no commodities"( these card holders do not want any subsidy on any consumable, from the tax-payer's money. Simple. Zero freebies. They refuse to be social PARASITES... This number dropped dramatically during 2019 or so to just 41,106 such non-parasitical card holders( with a family in each card). Percentage wise,, these 41000 odd cardholders constitute a tiny number among 1,96,00,000 total  ( https://www.tncsc.tn.gov.in/en/PDS.html       for exact numbers)

Those who "hold on" to the values called "zero freebies" are becoming extinct...😜🙏🙏

If a person from "freebie lovers" is going to become a co-dweller with "zero freebie" fellow, the "zero freebie" value-holder is destined to live MISERABLY 😜  ( CLASHES, conflicts, quarrels, emotional tantrums etc are going to be perpetual.  )

Suppose 2 people have total mismatch of values? And these mismatches are in direct-conflict? ( I wont take bribe-----versus------i shall live by bribery).... ill-fated minority-fellow who says " no bribes"....

We inherit values from 

own far-past( karma)

Our ancestors,

Our society of upbringing.

And then, we do our own concoction of permutation and combination.

Our emotions play a vital role, in deciding our mutual "tolerance" levels😜🙏🙏🙏

Ancient Bharat  transcended these problems associated with set-theory. They simply decided to turn reverential.  Inner evolvement was smooth, fast and with a fair degree of certainty. That's why, Bharat  used to be the spiritual destination.  

Ironically, the most advanced tech-city, Bengaluru, faces highest rate of divorces. Courts have to conduct "evening"sessions to manage conflicts of sets-of-values.

Just yours,

psn (2 sept, 2024)

 

Getting Noticed

 Getting Noticed

I detested limelight even as a kid. I got into trouble, whenever I got-noticed for something “good” in me!

The problem arose, only when a conflicting desire arose in me :((

I liked others to “notice” something of value to them as-well. And when I had to convey it, it had to accompany credibility. For credibility, it need an authenticity of my personal experience, and that …..involved allowing myself to be noticed. Sad thing for me!

Well, the track record was like this ……

As a kid, I made sure that I remained a mediocre in eggJams/exams. Average kids are ignored!

I discovered a “concept” 

There are teachers( of all 6 kinds—-1. The teacher who gives you information is called: Adhyapak.

2. The one who imparts knowledge combined with information is called: Upadhyaya.

3. The one who imparts skills is called: Acharya.

4. The one who is able to give a deep insight into a subject is called: Pandit.

5. The one who has a visionary view on a subject and teaches you to think in that manner is called: Dhrishta.

6. The one who is able to awaken the wisdom in you, leading you from darkness to light, is called: Guru.

Sanskrit is perhaps the only language that has such a refined vocabulary to distinguish the different kinds of teachers.)

…… there are teachers of all kinds, among whom….

……there are those…..who matter, and those who don't!. 

I discovered….

that….

I couldn't  EVER escape the notice of those who mattered :))

School….. a teacher/male_Sir, noticed me, and nicknamed me “genius”( much to my embarrassment. CR_sir.  

Another, gave me  “good” in my homework book saying “1st time, I am giving a good” ( I considered it as a PhD 🙏, since he was mathematics, every cell of his being😰)

At college, a prof declined to take a “new” chapter, if I was absent. He later became a VC, at Nagpur univ. ( princi noticed that this-prof said a pre-empting “good_morning"to me first, ….while he merely nodded to greetings of others. A distinction-of-sorts ….

At law  college, a legendary practicing advocate gave me an unprecedented privilege, causing a huge revolt among students union etc, but “of no avail”.... 

At workplace too, a few did-notice….but they were helpless in elevating me since the institution was a govt_undertaking where “merit had zero value” 😜 ( I remained a clerk, effortlessly).

A dean of dept of neurological sciences, at an Australian university of medical sciences, “noticed” me SIGNIFICANTLY, when he remarked at the end of a 4 hour chat “India is perhaps the only-place, where people like you are ALLOWED to maintain a low-profile!” 

Paradox :

Gurus, ensured that they NEVER-MISS-TO-NOTICE a potential candidate for spiritual evolvement ….

I failed here…. 🙏…. I invariably bumped-into too many of them.

Spirituality, being a “mystic-bijness” by its_very_nature, wasn't going to oblige me from escaping un-noticed .    it dawned on me much later, that I was almost being-chased ….by unearthly-beings 😜…

And, the tragedy was, …quite unwittingly……I ended up into a FIRM RESOLVE…in my teens saying unto myself “no point searching-for-a-Guru….just keep refining myself incessantly, such that, I dont escape their notice!”( I still don't know……which one worked…..my efforts or their range-of-vision!)

Anticlimax (😜)

A road sweeper, old, decrepit,  ugly looking, aged, hunchbacked,  was “noticed” by me ! ( his eyes pleaded “please, 🙏….don't  reveal me”... and I used my eyes to say a “okay, yes/done!”...). But, I had the freedom to tell my sister to “keep an eye on him” when that group was dusting the road in front of my home….  He responded to my sister's stare, quietly blessed her and walked off, hunchbacked…. That evening my sister just asked “hey! How did you know, ( that he is an evolved being?)????”( I celebrated my sister's choice… it was not “was he worth looking at?”... instead, she acknowledged my visibility, and merely asked “how is-it-done”?)

That was about getting noticed 🙏

IMPERCEPTIBLY yours,

psn (1st sept., 2024)

PostScript: all those names of those who noticed me ….are all dead, including my sister . So no “issues” of infringement-rights, copyrights, patent rights, etc ….. from them 😜😜😜

Play of words

 Play of words....

😂

When I try it, despite my sincerity, I end up collecting rebukes 😭🙏

Just look at what krishna told Yashoda : " mom, had you been my real-mother, you wouldn't have scolded me thus 😰😭"( and she melts....😂.

Yashodha says "you didn't eat the butter( stolen &eaten)"

Play of words....

( by Krish, with a sacred purpose 🙏)

Mai nahi maakhan khayo( I didn't eat that butter) 

Allegation was " you stole the butter to eat it"

Same words .....to accept the "blame" when yashoda grasped the deep lessons in emotional stability, from krish, a Yogi by birth  : mai ne hi maakhan khayo ( it was *_i alone_* who ate that butter)

Mysticism in this episode is.... krish was 100% true, in both his statements as per cosmic laws( sanathanaDharma).... I wont elaborate those "mystic" details here.... but for those with an "itch" to know, please hunt for the story, where the spouse was instructed to "learn" the secret of "how can krish be a NithyaBrahmachari?"... and durvasa, having gobbled a multi-layered tiffin carrier brought by spouse of krish, says " just as, i am a NithyaUpavaasi"( fellow fasting daily😜.... just now he ate 7 cans of food).

Narmada river parts way for spouse to walk across when she asks :" o river, if this is true that krish, my hubby is a daily-brahmachari, please allow me to walk across"( turbulent river, boatman refused to ferry across😂) ...and the other way,  return-ticket, she repeated "o river, if this is true that durvasa, my guru  is a daily-fasting ascetic, please allow me to walk across"( and it parted)😜

Playfully yours,

psn ( 11th Aug 2024)

Web of excuses

 A famous quote : “ Nature abounds in qualities we SEEK in ourselves”

My take 🙏

We obviated that-seeking🤣

Instead we did too well in weaving a “www(dot)excuses”

World Wide Web of foolproof Excuses…..

techies did a good jab(job?) at it!

Like a spider we are trapped into our own web, world wide ofcoarse(of course)

Excusably yours,

PSN (10 August,  2024)

Spiritual reverence

 😰

The kind of reverence envisaged for a spiritual growth, isn't available for a conspicuous viewing in our social fabric .

( if you disagree, matter ends there. Whereas, for a “lemme see” kind of attitude, a long re-search awaits. 😜)

Blankly yours,

psn (10 August 2024)

Constricted Relationships

 Constricted Relationships

I am no exception to the ‘web’ called relationship. Even the web I managed to weave entraps me like a spider caught in its own web :)

it is the level of relationships that decides its kind (no need to debate it. It is as obvious as broad daylight, and can be ‘seen’ and verified).

a)physicality is the first level (and the manifestation is sexuality, etc)

b)logical is the next level (and its manifestation is ‘companionship’ ....  friendship, etc)

c)emotional is the next level (and its manifestation is ‘love’ that we tend-to-call as ‘unconditional’ though,  often it is conditional at its deep levels :)), but least understood, prone to emotional-blackmailing 😜)

d)energy-levels (a very rare kind, and it eludes a verbal description, and has the choice of adopting any of the 3 previous levels, at-will...  " soul-mates' is a crude description though it suffices for an id-proof 🤣)

if we observe keenly, there is a unique kind of hierarchy in these 4,  namely, the next one can include the previous ones,  by choice.

I was awed by yet another kind of ‘relationship’ that Bharat can be proud of.  (proud because, this type was a ‘social norm’ till some 500 years ago) 

Reverential relationship.   This, used to obviate the need to seek any kind of freedom, from the person we are ‘related to’ .  This, transcends the basic requirements of getting into a ‘conventional form’ of requirement to get into those 4 types of relationships. Usually, the stronger and more-visible form of this type of relationship is seen between a Guru & disciple ( in ancient days, even a parent used to fill-in into the role of a ‘Guru, a role which is the toughest among 6 types of teachers”.  :)) Other cultures aren’t aware of these distinct types)  

A distinct feature of this reverence is, it obviates the need of ‘looking’ towards any kind of ‘freedom’ from the reverential person, or the person we decide to have-reverence for ....  (when ‘reverence’ used to be a ‘social norm’, the pace of evolving into the highest-human-possibility was at its peak, and seemingly-natural, and not a conscious effort.   Thus, Bharat use-to-be a ‘reverential-culture’.  We are today ‘into’ the inferior one called freedom culture. Freedom culture is just half-way up the ladder of human evolvement :((  Freedom, necessitates the dependence on ensuring-independance :))  .  Once we are into ensuring-independence,  security-seeking in all its known & possible forms becomes an indispensable requirement. Laws, rules, and agencies to ensure this, like army, police , judiciary etc become a ‘necessity’. insulating-insurance, etc  compensates partially when laws, judiciary and enforcement-agencies fail.  Ancient Bharat managed to obviate these clumsy, unproductive & parasitical professions due to ‘reverential-culture’ that it was !!!

reverential relationships have occured almost everywhere, but only by-chance, not as a way-of-life!

It is easier to synchronise with cosmic laws (called “Dharma”, using reverence.  To be able-to-use Dharma, one needs to ‘become-Dhaarmic’. A classic example of simple is not always easy!! )

dependently yours,

psn (2nd august, 2024)

Off the shelf

 Off the shelf

Am I being paradoxical? ( making this concept readily available for lazy minds?... maybe not!  Making a fellow aware of one's own mind-games is almost as arduous a task as, a doctor's misplaced-kindness prompting him to convince a mental patient that he is a mentally-ill guy 😜)

Anyway,

All life forms, other than human beings are getting their food “off-the-shelf” ..  a few creatures need to pick the right shelf, and maybe run after that mobile-shelf, like a tiger chashing its food, which is a “running hare, deer, antelope etc”...

Whereas.....

Humans ought to have evolved.  Science has evolved, not humans🙏😰😭

If we had evolved, we would have arranged these “shelves” with items which don't……

a)litter the planet

b) don't pile up non-biogegradable, non-eco-friendly waste ( just 2 glasses of water, we gulp it in 2 minutes, and throw it  out after an hour, in 3 minutes. But that plastic bottle stays for 25 years on the ¼ precious-surface of earth, our cities!

c)spoil our basic and fundamental functionalities of our physiology ( gadgets made us lazy, and we allowed horizontal-growth, to catch up and take over before our vertical growth stopped 😜)

d) freeze the basic functions of our brain…. Gadgets which allow us to outsource our most-precious-skills, …….. i)like unraveling the secrets of numbers via learning of the language of  maths! “Pure maths” became obsolete at graduate/post-graduate levels, when computing technology demolished that distinction. ii)discrimination has become irrelevant, when parenting has become a task of skillful entertainment.  We keep the kids in good-humour, to avoid wasting time with their eccentricities at eating, defecating, bathing, clothing, cleaning etc… of late, even entertaining a kid is done by TV or smartphone. Kids “google” instead of solving a puzzle  using brains! iii)long list---mind has turned linear( and countless examples are their as “admissible evidence”😜

Our off-the-shelf items are growing in a life-negative direction.  ( even to demolish this statement….a few readers might try to seek “off the shelf “ answers on Google or meta-A.I. ask-anything fool).

Spiritual bijness is unfortunately an item that can never-be-shelved 🙏😜😜( only then….can a fake- Godman make it off-the-shelf commodity). The path-less path doesn't even leave readable footprints of successful travelers through it…. Each journey is afresh, through the maze of jungle 🤣

Well,

I am (off away-from the shelf), of yours,

psn(4th of july--usa's independence day…2024)

Specialized rituals in Hinduism

 Specialized rituals in Hinduism

My mind is freshly soaked into one such ritual which seeks to propitiate the noble souls of women folk of a particular lineage, who were highly evolved to “bless”( not to be confused with benediction) the living women folk of the same lineage.

The name of this ritual is more popular in the south ( the north has a very different “version” of this same concept, and difficult for average minds to correlate it ) known as “prayer to departed non-widowed-married-women”.

The origin of this southern version of ritual is a bit unknown. Scriptures are conspicuously silent. And it is therefore…..that  the details vary a lot between each household. The daughter-in-law is supposed to adapt herself to the version of her hubby's house, but today's “madams” try to impose their mom's  version and the purpose gets defeated, oblivious to the performers.

The unique feature of this ritual is, the whole process is a sharp contrast to all other rituals, marked by the absence of chants( mantras), sacrificial-fire and the exclusivity of male members. The “results” pose a serious challenge to the males, whose mastery in invoking, propitiation of gods, demigods, departed souls of both types, evolved and stuck souls, is challenged. Perhaps the origin itself is owed to the deterioration of quality in male dominated rituals ( something like, tuition & coaching centers becoming the solemeans of fetching rank-holders in matric, & plus-two exams….whereby, regular schools, who charge exorbitant fees are shamed 😜).

I was naturally pushed to a meditative state, due to the deep impact of decades of intense spiritual practices that I was involved into. Probably this “mind-set” ( of a meditative fellow) triggered an observation which was a bit unique and uncommon. The most significant of the observations were….

a).there may not be a direct synchronicity between the benedictions  sought and the blessings-granted by the invoked+propitiated evolved souls, simply because of the difference  in the “nature” of states these 2 sets of women folk are…..   Departed ones have no sense of earthly “time” and the situation. They do have a slight awareness about the location, owing to the strong-vibes emanating from  the  “process”.

b).the women folk of past centuries were better aware of the mismatch of situation between the seekers and the sought. Therefore, they “devised” a structure plus design ( akin to excellent softwares by today's computer programmers), to institute a powerful & functional interface in place to bridge the gap between blessings offered & benedictions sought.  ( though I cannot “claim” any proficiency or mastery at weaving a seamless interface, I do try to devise one, to the best of my abilities, subject to certain level of freedom allowed to me by those around🙏).

c).trust is still a significant factor in preservation of this powerful ritual ( a tuition center remains dependent on the individual dedication and expertise of the faculty, when it does-not-follow any of the protocols of a regular school 😜)

d).interpretation of certain subtle hints, that are available only to the keen eyes of the observers, among participants and witnesses to the ritual, is crucial to the propagation & preservation of this ritual ( here i must mention that, I transcended the limitations of traditional protocols that reached my generation down the memory lane of  several generations, and with mentionworthy success. I am indebted to my own dear women-folk on my family for having placed a deep trust in me and my eccentricities, in re-shaping this ritual to reach newer types of households! 

Femininely yours,

psn ( 24 june 2024)

Demonetisation Versus Civic-sense

 Yes! 😂

Looks odd isn't it?

Demonstration of 86% of total currency in a society( India that is Bharat)?

It shouldn't have succeeded when the “civic sense” is worst, in India, going by the known-modern Parameters/yardsticks of “civic sense” ?????

May I attempt to suggest something more bizarre?

Bharat never had a structured design to teach “civic sense” for thousands of years, though we had a civilization which produced maximum enlightened beings on this globe( something like : 42% of Nobel laureates  hailed from just one tiny community called jews😜👍)

Civic sense was an indispensable “topic” needed to be taught, when there was something basically-deficient in the very fundamentals of a culture. 

Try and teach “independence, liberty & freedom” to a society, and they naturally look towards preservation of these values! Once you think of preserving something, “defense” is an inalienable component😜. How else  do you propose to defend your freedom, liberty and independence, without using rights( and laws to enforce them)?

Bharat thought of delving deep into the purpose of human life! 

This became a “purpose” merely because desi ancients used their sense of discrimination at its best possible levels. Discretion was an inevitable outcome.  Judiciousness in the excercise-of-discretion, was a consequence of deeper perceptional grasp when discrimination became a prioritized functionality of human mind ! ( nature supported, when natural vegetation obviated the need to “toil + struggle” for food-for-survival. ( desert cultures had to struggle to survive,  and resorted to slaughter of moving life forms, when vegetation was absent)

Deep recognition of interdependence with everything & everyone around, must have engrooved the minds into an evolvement in  reverence for these qualities in everything & everyone around, which sustained a quality-life in the humans with volitional consciousness ! ( this volitional consciousness is proportional to the depth of self-awareness that a person seeks in oneself!  Obviously an enlightened being has a peak level of awareness 😜👍)

When there are several people who are spiritually evolved, with a good number of enlightened ones among them, will they need a separate tuition in civic sense? Does not the “sense of inclusiveness” generate enough common sense to be civilised-also?

Well, our genetic memory got shaken up when “demonetisation” snatched our purchasing power overnight!.  And we revived our trust for others, in a big  way, though for a very limited period.  Reverence is not going to exist in exclusivity of trust( test this!).  And therefore, the “brilliant economists” who aren't quite familiar with this kind of trust are splitting their hair, being unable to find out how India “survived” demonetisation by PM modi?  ( Gurumurthy, an advisor to Modi, during demonetisation,  lectured abundantly about the rustic trust in Indians which helped tide over shortage of currency during demonetisation!)  Haven't we proved our civic-sense, during extreme shortage of medium of exchange called currency, due to demonetisation? 

Civically yours,

psn (21 june, 2024)

Interpreration of statutes

 interpretation of statutes

You care a damn about it ....

Why?

It doesn't constitute to be,

your bread & butter... damn simple!

Now, what if......

the underlying principle is common to interpretation of all other concepts, ( at least those which decide the course of your life )... coarse-or-smooth 🤔  ? The journey?

Unfortunately,  we don't have a software that can decrypt the concise form of life-affecting VALUES !

a classic example is the verses of Gita.  Its worth is evidenced by the interest evinced by the intellectuals globally, since millenuims!  Without needing to be goaded, persuaded or so like other religions, this irreligious piece of literature at once appeals to the intellect. Intellect takes care of the deficiency of a structured design in our society to ensure a correct interpretation, after decryption of these compressed concept filled verses!

Why did the ancients commit this omission? A "key" to decrypt plus interpret wisdom of sages meant to last as long as human format lasts as a life-form?

Well, they found it redundant. The syllabus in schools then was more than adequate to ensure a correct decoding ( decryption & interpretation) plus...an accurate plus customized functional format being FORMULATED future generations, to suit the ever-changing life situations. I am both, a witness & a conjurer of the process of translating the ancient concepts into a tailorised functional form! 

Functionally yours,

psn (19th June, 2024)

Customisation as a concept

 I was mentioning a joke of my kid age.

We were allowed to wield a fountain pen when we reached 6th class.

A good number of my friends hailed from "urdu" speaking families. When a kid from urdu-family borrows my pen, I warn him " don't write urdu with my pen and spoil my nib 😡..." he laughs heartily ( urdu is written from right to left, unlike other languages.

The reference to "nib"  poked into my untapped memory cell 🤣

It is obsolete now, but a good joke at least.

In 6th, we were allowed "fountain pens" ( ball point was prohibited.  But it was like prohibiting "vodka" in chittur thekke-gramam... any way, ball point was rare😰🙏)

The nibs were cheap and therefore rough. If we write too fast, nib might tear the paper  ( only costly nibs were "tipped" to write smooth)...

Kids....that we were....

some of us grip the neck as if trying to hold a hen which might fly away if held loosely.

This tight grip aches a few palms. Another fallout was, nibs get twisted soon. 

This twisting, if it goes beyond a certain angle, the split at nib widens, and flow of ink floods🤣.... 

We had a "variety of casualities" due to wrong use of weapon called ink-pen/fountain pen.

My "observation" helped me, to help them....

They just give their pen and say " ps....please make my pen write smooth. " a day later I take back my pen, and they check if...I made it smooth! Only in a few cases, I need to bend the nib gently to adjust to that kids way of holding the pen ( little did i know at that age....😰🙏🙏🙏.... I was learning the _*basics of customizing gadgets*_ a concept 💡)....  this concept of customizing it to fit somebody like a tailor-made garment.... helped me to do far better as a volunteer in spiritual programs, for some 6 plus years. I could devise ways to make freshers adapt faster to certain subtle processes and turn their attention inwards to experience some vibes, flutters, movements inside them😜... the usual 5 sense organs aren't going to help, to experience your inside. These 5 sensory tools open outwards only😜🙏🤣🤣

Thought......you might find it tolerable to read!

Adaptably yours,

PSN (16 june 2024)

Dealing with concepts

 Dealing with concepts

What kind of concepts?

Well, the problem starts here itself 😰

We have concepts related to material life, and those which aren't related to material life !

The second one is what our friends who declare atheism, are negating its very existence 😜

Okay, whichever concepts we are okay-with, ( for whatever reason) …how do we deal with it?

Only humans face this “project” of dealing with concepts ( not even A.I. enabled robotic machines 🤣…. They are just embedded software designed by us, just as all other life forms have an embedded software designed by nature!)

So, our design ( again by nature) is going to decide as to how we “look” at all our concepts ! 

This “looking” itself depends on our 4 tools ( how we learn, perceive, emote and discriminate whatever comes into our eyes & minds vision )

Typically, today's scientifically evolved brains, are excellent at designing a functional version of any concept.  ( a mech-expert designs a nuclear power plant and “purifies” uranium rods using rings of the same material.  A techie, designs an interactive networking system which learns and restructures itself to suit the ever-varying situation in the network of interlinked artificial brains 😜🙏).

What about the  concepts related to our lives itself?  ( the problem starts with identification of the subtle energy called “life” which keeps ticking in us 😜.) Modern Medical science has, through an unspoken mutual understanding,  confined its learning to the physicality of life's functional design, which has a gross form and is within the sensory level of perception. Whereas, ancient medical science, being primarily spearheaded by spiritual giants( rishis, saints or any other name by which they were known) happened to “design” the concepts in an inalienable manner from concepts related that evasive/elusive “life” energy 🤣. The evidence for this preceding sentence is seen in the diverse approach to the very basics of these sciences, and the mutual “untouchability” practiced by the experts in these respective sciences😜

If the foregoing has not yet induced any boredom, mind-fatigue etc up-till this point,

Then….. a question.  “ any concept, we like to “deal”... needs to be understood, primarily, isn't it? And only thereafter, the designing of its “functional” structure to be conceived? “

Next question : “ the concepts related to materialistic aspects need not be understood by the designer of its functional structure, though not an ideal thing,  whereas, the concepts related to non-materialistic aspects, cannot function at all, unless its concepts are grasped😜. Even ready-made structures like meditation, elude its grasp, and evade its results, as per my observations of 5000 plus seekers for whom I happened to volunteer over 7 years as a part of backup-support team 🙏….

Those who never had to deal with perplexing concepts, will bother to learn only few “life-saving” and absolutely essential concepts like laws of gravity, and that too, when they slip too often by stepping on a banana-peel 😉 

Rudimentarily yours,

psn ( 9th June, 2024)

Off-track Thanks!

 Off track “thanks”

I recall a typical scene.

My dad was poised to punish me with a  cane…. And, suddenly there appeared a guest at our door. 😜

It was customary to instantly_show a surprise overflowing with smile & happiness ( otherwise,  that fellow starts thinking ‘twice’ from next time, whether to visit us.). That is when….I feel a very different kind of “thanks” to that guest, who might be a total stranger to me ,  and….if he thrusts a small sugar candy wrapped in a cheap plastic paper, that is a bonus, and I magnify my thanks with articulation( he might even misconstrue my over-exaggerated ‘thanks’ to be a subtle taunt at the inexpensive sweet which he sheepishly thrusts into my tiny palm.

I escaped a severe caning, thanks to that guest.

Alfred Nobel has a similar “uncommon” reason to thank two nations at war. He sells dynamite to both. The Nobel prize is funded by such wealth 😜🙏

At this age, I thank rains for a very-different reason. The small overhead tank upstairs, has a rimmed lid, which collects an inch of rainwater in its 9 square feet area, and when it spills over, the water finds its way into-the tank through a quarter inch perimeter left uncovered by the rid.

This rainwater, was about 100 liters due to a downpour yesterday afternoon. Mixed with the tap water, it came via tap into the washroom, where I was manually washing clothes. The white towel turned unusually bright-white. That-is-when I remembered my kid age at village pond in kerala. Soon after rains, elders would enjoy washing their white dhoties using lesser soap. The rain water floating on the pond, whitens the clothes uniquely-bright!  ( I belong to a city dwellers tribe, where I miss the gift of rain water to brighten my clothes. This accidental percolating of rainwater turned me into that kid age fellow who thanked the guest for a reason, about which the recipient himself id destined to remain ignorant😜😜🙏🙏

Spiritual people feel that “thanks” to hurdles in life, where commoners lament “why me?”, to the gawd/Godji.  जैसे जिसकी सोच! 

खैर, yours

psn ( 19 may 2024)

Retired life

 At some point of time, we all retire.

Most of us retire from physical & professional activities, either by some man-made rule, or nature's rules…

Premature retirements abound.

Those who happen to be healthy, have a choice of how-best to utilize their retirement.

Psychiatrists prescribe only-what-they-were-taught. ( most of their suggestions hover around mind games, and as a consequence, its positive effects on aging physical frame).

Desi way of looking at withdrawal from “routine” life, coincides only at one point with modern minds. That age-of-retirement 😜 ( how to handle ‘post retirement’,  differs almost diametrically 🙏) which is agreed as 60.

Ancients said “it is   middle age, 120 is a cycle...... Now pursue spirituality,  and seek the purpose of life, your birth and reach moksha( salvation, liberation, ultimate freedom)".  Forest was an ideal place for mature and wise ones at their middle age🙏…. ( today, we relocate closer to a multispeciality-hospital, with 24/7 facilities.  This decides the “direction” of our mind. Zero scope for deep abstract truths, related to “basics of life itself”. Anyway,  no point extolling the “merits” of modern lifestyle. I was intending to share my experience and the perspective thereof🙏)

By 60, when the very(ancient) design-of-lifestyle 

would-have ensured a minimum-basic-level of spiritual wisdom ……

60 is a ripe stage to explore deeper into past 60 years & farther past,  using super-scientific techniques like “synthesis”( a very poor substitute for sanskrit term samyama)... 

This exploration process, if performed under certain controlled conditions of a mind, can afford a deeper level of virtual-reality, by which the strong kaarmic-residues of past & far past, can be conclusively-dissolved. 

That conditioning of “mind” being very crucial, the ancients decided upon vanaprastha as a most-feasible option 🙏….

Away from routine( civilized society), so easier to break stubborn addictions to some routine! Alertness is ensured by the very ambiance of a forest (😜)

Equipoise of mind, is ensured by vulnerability of mind being consciously tamed, after realizing the fact that other fierce life forms( in that dense forest) react violently to a disturbed/turbulent/prejudiced mind😜… Yes… even a street dog “looks” , reads and decides how-to-react…. )

Thus, a reasonable ‘silence' descends into a person and unresolved past resurfaces by itself 🙏….

The mind, with an emotional equipoise…… carefully +responsibly uses the available “sense of discrimination” at a “never-before-level” of depth and clarity!  ( first 60 years of stringent disciplined adherence to that “Hindu way of life” would have polished the rarest-tool called ‘sense of discrimination’. Once the body gets abandoned, this discrimination-ability is unavailable 😔😰…

Hopefully, a person who makes use of all the 4 stages of life to its fullest extent ( vanaprastha being the 4th & final,) gets liberated 🙏…. Obsequies weren't possible for a forest dweller(😜…. A question, that doesn't-even-occur to “modern- sanatanis” 😳🙏🙏) …. Anyway, forest-dwelling wasn't  a thoughtless stupidity🙏…. I just wanted the minds to consider this!

( my previous blog, “life, as it happened”..... happened to have its consequences on my own psychology 😜…. Undigested memories lying as stinking residues started resurfacing a bit leisurely…. And I could “deal with it” being-now-armed better with ripened maturity of a mind trapped into an aging body! I couldn't hold-back my experience…. If for no other reason, I avoid ending up as a BRAHMARAAKSHAS! 🤣😜🙏🙏)

re-tyred (for) yours,

psn (6 May, 2024)

life, as it happened

 I was reviewing my own desire, intensity and involvement in being useful to others around.

Professionally,  as a clerk....I gave my-best....regardless of rate of return in all forms.

As a person, a civilian, it was on situational-basis.... situation decides, how much I can contribute. Mostly it was physical labour, since a clerk can't grow rich😜

1992 became a significant turning point in my spiritual pursuit. I found that abstractions were getting crystallized and an opportunity seemed to arise, to be able to share my experience & mainly, the age-old time tested practices in a structured way. Thus "volunteering"  opened up as a major utilized of my time & energy resources... it peaked for about 8 years.

Situation pushed me out of the physical aspect of volunteering. 

Sharing my experience through writings, replaced the physicality of activity. This, I knew, wasn't going to "produce" much tangible results. But nature surprised me a few times😜.... "mere typed words"( as a seeker had put it) did some subtle magic 🙂....as if trying to spur my desire to express,.

1992...

I was literally "running" alongside a few health-conscious middle aged people who were doing "slow running" in circles along the outer edge of a large sports stadium.  They pause for breath. That's when I speak "sir, there is a program that can enhance the results of your running-for-health phenomenally 🙏... I invite you for the "free talk" of first day of the 13-day program.... if convinced, you can pay 250 for next 13 days! I speak from experience 🙏 "( my son, about 8 then, was eager to sprint alongside me, more out of curiosity to learn "how dad handles his life?" Kids learn from live-examples, not lectures 😜).

Now,

I am naturally getting dissuaded from all kinds of activities involving any kind of interference into the lives of others 😀... ( I think the tradition of forest-dwelling/vanaprastha, was a facilitator to promote this natural tendency. Since going to any forest isn't too practical today, I need a hard-way to replicate it! Confinement, in a subtle way. The diminishing attention span of present day minds supports me a lot, I remaining inconspicuous in the middle of a crowd😜

There is a price to pay, for substitutes and alternatives to "natural" choices🙏.... I am paying that price in deffered installments.

Life is beautiful ( Don corleone said in Mario-Puzo's story "Godfather" , just before he fell dead quietly!)

Just yours,

psn ( 5 may,  2024)