Yoga - The science of union

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are simply amazing. I have no other words. It is not a philosophy but a science. The word yoga means union.  It is a science of union. Achieved through discipline.  The best discourse on the yoga sutras I have come across is by Osho. This was Osho at his peak, his finest.

All the discourses in audio files are available here:
http://www.oshoworld.com/discourses/audio_eng.asp?cat=Y

I am saddened with what has become of Yoga in the western world. It is not a power workout of postures and enjoying the fact you just sweated a bucket.  Now you can drink that almond kale smoothie next and say namaste to good health. And yoga might seem like its only concerned with body postures - the asanas.  But the path of yoga - starts with the outer, the body. Adds a discipline through the postures before you go higher to the inner, the mind.  And finally to the union.

There are eight limbs of Yoga, or eight steps to achieve union, the Samadhi. Patanjali's yoga sutras state:  Yam, Niyam, Asan, Pranayam, Pratyahar, Dharana, Dhyan and Samadhi

Yama - Self-restraint. Live consciously; related with people consciously. 

Niyama - Fixed-observance. Life with regularity. Life with discipline. 

Asana -  Relaxed posture. Body in rest.

Pranayam - Breath regulation. Breathing techniques. Discover breathing rhythm.

Pratyahara - Sense withdrawal. Turning inward. Taking a break from sensory inputs.

Dharana - Focused concentration. Fix consciousness on a point.

Dhyan -  Dropping the object of meditation.  Pure contemplation. Meditative absorption

Samadhi - Union. Enlightenment.

Osho explains very beautifully:  Yam is the bridge between you and others - live consciously; relate with people consciously. Then the second two, Niyam and Asan - they are concerned with your body. Third, Pranayam is again a bridge. As the first, Yam, is a bridge between you and others, the second two are a preparation for another bridge - your body is made ready through Niyam and Asan -- then Pranayam is the bridge between the body and the mind. Then Pratyahar and Dharana are the preparation of the mind. Dhyan again, is a bridge between the mind and the soul. And Samadhi is the attainment. They are interlinked, a chain; and this is your whole life.

My master adds that these eight steps do not have to be rungs of ladder, they are can be done simultaneously.  And one waits for the eighth. But performs the seven other to create the conditions for the eighth.

From intellect to action.  From knowledge to experience. And finally from learning to unlearning. Back to the beginning. Back to the union.

Not the body, not the mind, simply consciousness - the purusha.

The path of a Yogi.  Om.

Who are you?

Identifying as ourselves

An illusion appears,

It traps one in, 

Through desires and fears

Observing who we are

The witness appears

It sets one free

And the path becomes clear

- Sid (Sept 10, 2018)

In my little garden

He is here, in this little garden
So alive, green in this grass
He is here, amongst these flowers
In all its glory, all its powers.

I kept searching, kept searching
Through the rivers of fear and desire
In this little garden, I felt your presence
It simply is, see for yourself, the essence

- Sid 09/27/2015

Watch the Doer

Meditation is a very simple phenomenon.

You are not the doer. You are the watcher

Thats the whole secret of meditation. You can do all the small, big things.

Only one thing is not allowed - your centering should not be lost.

That awareness, that watchfulness should remain absolutely unclouded, undisturbed

- Osho

Prayer

~~

May this practice lead me to see things the way they are.

May this practice help me lead others to the path.

May all of us get the strength and courage to traverse the path towards enlightenment.

May peace be on all of us.

Om mani padme hum
Om shanti shanti shanti

~~

 Where does this journey take me ?

See

Its enough now.

Direct cognition.

Non-Influenced. Neither agreeing nor disagreeing, can you see ? See the world.

Unlearning, dropping all conditioning, notions, judgement, convictions, knowledge.

Start fresh. 

See.

See things the way they are.

Desire and Fear

Its been a while.

Watching the pendulum swing between desire and fear.

Pretty much everything we do, the undercurrents are these two.

The craving for desire and avoiding fear are two sides of the same coin.

Neither run away neither run towards - what would life be like ?

No chains and maybe truly free.

Desire is needed. Fear is needed. Life may become dull and careless without them.

But maybe if you are aware, you may be able to steer your little boat through these two river streams without falling into it.

Shanti

“All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”


- Blaise Pascal

The witness just watches.

I'm simply saying that there is a way to be sane. I'm saying that you can get rid of all this insanity created by the past in you.

Just by being a simple witness of your thought processes.

It is simply sitting silently, witnessing the thoughts, passing before you. Just witnessing, not interfering not even judging, because the moment you judge you have lost the pure witness.

The moment you say “this is good, this is bad,” you have already jumped onto the thought process.

It takes a little time to create a gap between the witness and the mind. Once the gap is there, you are in for a great suprise, that you are not the mind, that you are the witness, A watcher.

And this process of watching is the very alchemy of real religion. Because as you become more and more deeply rooted in witnessing, thoughts start disappearing. You are, but the mind is utterly empty.

That’s the moment of enlightenment. That is the moment that you become for the first time an unconditioned, sane, really free human being.

— Osho

Muses from my Teacher

On Religions:

Don't dwell on religions. Learn all of them.
Don't dissect religion and fight trying to be convinced,
Or be skeptical of every practice and belief.
Take what works for you. Leave the rest.
With awareness.

To every person his own religion.
No preaching, no forcing on anyone else.


On Enlightenment:

What is the purpose ?
Conservation of energy.
Save ones energy.
Increasing ones personal power.

All a living organism can do is conserve its energy.
Fate & Effort interplay. Build ones personal power.
Then one can face anything with his personal power.
If something beyond the personal power then leave or let it be.

At every step, every moment, conserve energy. Save it.
Anger, Frustration, anxiety, worry, fear and rest all contribute to energy loss.
Even exercise in a way leads to conservation of energy, since you are servicing the body.
The body performs better with less effort if more fit.

One can renounce everything, material possession, emotional possessions.
Give anything away generously, but be a miser when it comes to personal power or energy.
And path to enlightenment starts with becoming more aware.


Always a pleasure, discussions with him.

Essence of Awareness

Sometime ago someone asked me, why awareness ?
Or sometimes I have to keep reminding myself, why this path ?
Envisioning freedom, yet enslaved to our habits, the only way out is continual, non- judgmental awareness. The essence of awareness is caught in this beautiful poem by Portia Nelson.
Wonderful. Simply Wonderful.

" Autobiography in Five short chapters- Porita Nelson "

Chapter I
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in. I am lost. I am helpless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

Chapter II
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it. I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in the same place.
But it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter III
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there. I still fall in. It's a habit.
My eyes are open. I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

Chapter IV
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

Chapter V
I walk down another street.

I hope I practice what I blog.

Patanjali's Yoga Sutras - What is Yoga ?

atha yogā 'nuśāsanaṃ
yogaś citta vṛtti nirodhah
tadā draṣṭuḥ svarūpe 'vasthānaṃ
vṛtti sārūpyam itaratra


Now, the discipline of Yoga.
Yoga is cessation of the mind.
Then the witness is established in itself.
In other states, there is identification with the modifications of the mind.

The Crown Jewels

He will keep these close to his heart and guard it with his spirit.
The fantastic few, in the shine of their compassion and wisdom, lead him to the path.


I am in awe. And full of gratitude.

Carlos Casteneda's dwellings

I read this today when I was going through a website. Few more of Carlos's quotes.

" If a warrior is to succeed at anything, the success must come gently, with a great deal of effort but with no stress or obsession. "

" We talk to ourselves incessantly about our world. In fact we maintain our world with our internal talk. And whenever we finish talking to ourselves about ourselves and our world, the world is always as it should be. We renew it, we rekindle it with life, we uphold it with our internal talk. Not only that, but we also choose our paths as we talk to ourselves. Thus we repeat the same choices over and over until the day we die, because we keep on repeating the same internal talk over and over until the day we die. A warrior is aware of this and strives to stop his internal talk. "

" When a warrior learns to stop the internal dialogue, everything becomes possible; the most far-fetched schemes become attainable. "

The ends that meet

Like a pendulum, it goes
For the ends, it swings
Realizing the depth at the mean
Everything, been done now, is.

Then one waits. Patiently.

Journey to Ixtlan

- Whenever a warrior decides to do something, he must go all the way, but he must take responsibility for what he does. No matter what he does, he must know first why he is doing it, and then he must proceed with his actions without having doubts or remorse about them.

- A warrior doesn't know remorse for anything he has done, because to isolate one's acts as being mean, or ugly, or evil is to place an unwarranted importance on the self.

- A warrior must learn to make every act count, since he is going to be here in this world for only a short while, in fact, too short for witnessing all the marvels of it.

- The hardest thing in the world is to assume the mood of a warrior. It is of no use to be sad and complain and feel justified in doing so, believing that someone is always doing something it us. Nobody is doing anything to anybody, much less to a warrior.

- In a world where death is the hunter, my friend, there is no time for regrets or doubts. There is only time for decisions.

- Death is our eternal companion. It is always to our left, an arm's length behind us. Death is the only wise adviser that a warrior has. Whenever he feels that everything is going wrong and he's about to be annihilated, he can turn to his death and ask if that is so. His death will tell him that he is wrong, that nothing really matters outside its touch. His death will tell him, I haven't touched you yet.

- For a warrior, to be inaccessible means that he touches the world around him sparingly. And above all, he deliberately avoids exhausting himself and others. He doesn't use and squeeze people until they have shriveled to nothing, especially the people he loves.

- Personal history must be constantly renewed by telling parents, relatives, and friends everything one does. On the other hand, for the warrior who has no personal history, no explanations are needed; nobody is angry or disillusioned with his acts. And above all, no one pins him down with their thoughts and their expectations.

- We hardly ever realize that we can cut anything out of our lives, anytime, in the blink of an eye.

- Because the art of being a warrior is to balance the terror of being a man with the wonder of being a man.

Its all good. Is it not ?

You know a thing is good for you,
When you are good without it.

- Sid

Motion

Very slowly, he went lightning fast.

Perception of reality - Role of judgement.

The age old question. What is reality ?
Science, Philosophy and Religion have their own perceptions about notions of reality.

It is real since I can feel it. It exists, because all logical and experimental data point to its existence.

Anyway the role of an observer in reality is an amazing subject all together and Quantum mechanics provides some interesting answers.

But for now I am assuming the existence of a separate physical reality. An independent reality that does not depend on observer and I shall call this absolute reality

In this note, we shall take the example of sight.
The experience of an mass, an object as perceived by our sensory organs gives the notion of its existence, its realness.

Experiment conducted in this field show parts of brain light up when asked to focus on a object, or to feel it via our sensory organs for e.g the sight of an object. The same parts of the brain light up when asked to close the eyes and imagine the object.

Hence the question is who sees ? The eyes or the brain ? Is reality what we see with our eyes, or with our brain. You can say, seeing is a combination of information caught via the sensory organ, the eye and the making sense of it via the processing engine the brain, causing the notion of sight and so, reality.

Hence in a way, we can see it as eyes being the lens, but the magnetic tape on which events are stored is at the back of the brain, the part called the visual cortex.

Scientists say the brain gets 4 hundred billion bits of information per second. Out of it, we are aware of about 2000 bits of information. The information is likely filtered, dropped and the bits that reach our 'consciousness' are the bits that most likely to be self serving.

The brain is presented with 4 billion bits of information, about reality (absolute reality) but reality we are aware of is, the limited to the subset that we process (perceived reality).

Brain in absolute terms can see everything the eyes provide. But this deviation of our perceived reality from absolute reality, is ignorance, unawareness.

Subjectivity and judgment play a vital role in perceived reality.

Subjectivity is a part of human consciousness, no two people may have the exact same experience. Beyond a limit no too much we can do about it.

Judgment on the other hand is like a colored lens, and the reality perceived may be long way off the true one due to it. And there is much we can do about it.

Easier said than done though.

Give me a piece of you.

Sentences in midst of conversations held this month.

" Its just that, you are the real deal Sid. " - T

" I dont care what you think, I think the best thing I like about you are your hands. " - A

" Gosh, did you just say 'chewing gum' ? Honey, its words like those that might make you look like a FOB. We say bubble gum here in America. " - R

" Guys, rule of thumb is your backlog of cases at work should be lower than your age. " - S

" Maybe your mom should have considered that " - B
To a drunk guy who was arguing extremely loudly in a quiet restaurant about how abortion sux at dinner disturbing everyone around.

" Sometimes in the winds of change, we find our true direction. " - B

" I m getting engaged on 11 april to ... from Pune " - AD
A typical one line email to notify the friends.

" Too good is boring. You have to be a little bad, thats hot. " - R

" West side ( with fingers making a W ) " - E

" I did talk about you once with my therapist. I need to do this. I need to do this for me. " - K

" And so, you just left the car in the private parking lot for another 6 months huh ? " - Po

" Just go to Texas, find a good desi girl and settle down. " - M

" Oh no no no, long dark curly hair is good. Trust me " - A

" Oh, you. You are trouble. " - U

How much ?

The question is not whether one should or should not.
The question is ' how much ? '

How much can be anything. How much can be nothing.
How much can be 'Always', 'Never' or ' Sometimes'.

The answer to how much is given by awareness.

And it might lead to the middle path.

The weather outside is lovely today.

Conversations in the car driving one morning.

S: The weather right now, this morning is lovely.
B: You must be feeling good today.
S: Interesting, why do you say that ?
B: Have you not noticed? The type of weather outside depends on how you feel inside.
S: (Smiles).
B: The weather outside is always lovely, if you are cheerful inside, and always nasty, if there is turmoil inside.
S: You know, thats a great thought or should I say awesome observation.
B: Rainy days are lovely in a good spirit, annoying in a irritated spirit, gloomy in a depressed spirit.
S: Reflections. Outside is refection of the inside. Inside is a reflection of the outside. Maybe.

Mu

MU

Dhyan

Not going, not coming
Rooted, deep and still
Not reaching out, nor reaching in
Simply resting, at the center
A single jewel, the flawless crystal drop
In the blaze of its brilliance
The way beyond

- Shih Te ( c. 730 )

Strings

Swallows fly in the sky,
The water reflects their image
The Swallows leave no traces,
Nor does the water retain their image.

- From the Zenrin Kushu
(compiled 1429 - 1504)

The Pretty Polite but Single girl

Her phone rang and she scrambled for her phone only to look at the number and then neatly put the phone back into her bag. She wondered if she should have picked it up, but she shrugged off the thought and sighed feeling slightly pleased at the ringing phone, but knowing the person calling was not quite the one she would have liked to talk, at that hour, a little afraid she might send the wrong signals. She knew she would call him back later, the next day and ask how he was and why she could not answer the phone. She would then ask if he wanted to meet up on a weekend, the one she did not have any plans made for. And she knew she liked his company. She really did.

She was always so conscious and deliberate about drawing the boundaries. Men she thought were always prey to attraction. Just friends - was a thing they could never fully understand even though they always confessed they did. Their ego she thought, was this fragile piece of crystal that needed to be handled with extreme care and she was very careful about this with her dealings with men. After all, rejection for men was a ego crash, nothing else. She was pretty and guys liked her. And she always felt close to guys, than girls. Her girl friends, she needed them too but then then it was so easy with guys, no competition.

She knew she was pretty and intelligent and well yes maybe her body was little too fuller than she would have liked, but getting up early to workout and come home make a breakfast and scramble off to catch the bus to work in the heart of the bustling city showed her commitment after all to her self. Her desire to be desirable. But she wanted to think about it as she was doing it for herself and not for anyone else, it made her feel good about herself. Though she knew that a part about feeling good about herself was being told how good they felt about her.

So the pretty polite girl was always nice and honest with her guys. She made it a point to explain her point of view and tried to make them understand the intricacies between the relationship between a guy and a girl. Beauty comes at a price she thought.

But here she was, a pretty single girl, a little scared being alone out there in the unfriendly city. So she sat down and started typing this email to this guy she felt she was attracted to and had also conveyed this, but now filled with doubts about whether dating him was the right thing. But then she also liked his company, well she might even need someone to hang out with on one of those lonely weekends. So she started writing, taking care of his ego, trying to redefine the boundaries and also let him know that she needed him - as a friend.

The snow outside was piling up on her car parked below as she peered out of the window momentarily. A small kid was offering his jacket to a little girl with red cheeks freezing, as they walked on the frozen sidewalk below.

It felt really cold.

Shlokas from Rigveda ( Discovery of India title song )

I came across this the other day and I remember as a child many years back being mesmerized by this, the title song of the tv show Bharat Ek Khoj - The discovery of India.


The starting song consists of sanskrit shloka from Nasadeeya Sukta which is part of Rigveda.


नासदासीन्नोसदासीत्तादानीं नासीद्रजो नो व्योमापरो यत |
किमावरीव: कुहकस्यशर्मन्नम्भ: किमासीद्गहनं गभीरं ||

nāsadāsīn no sadāsīt tadānīṃ nāsīd rajo no vyomāparo yat |
kimāvarīvaḥ kuha kasya śarmannambhaḥ kimāsīd ghahanaṃ ghabhīram

Srishtee se pehle sat nahin thaa, asat bhi nahin
(Before creation there was no truth, or untruth)
Antariksh bhi nahin, akash bhin nahin thaa
(no universe, not even the sky)
chhipaa thaa kyaa kahaan, kisne dhakaa thaa
(Where was it hidden, who hid it ?)
us pal to agam, atal jal bhi kahaan thaa
(At that time there was no water)

Srishtee kaa kaun hai kartaa
(who is he creator ?)
Kartaa hai vaa akartaa

Oonche aakash mein rahtaa
(Who stays up there in the sky )
Sada adhyaksh banaa rahtaa
(who is in charge)
Wahin sachmuch mein jaantaa..Yaa nahin bhi jaanataa
(He truly must know everything, and maybe not!)
Hai kisi ko nahin pataa, nahin pataa,
(no one knows..no one knows)
Nahin hai pataa, nahin hai pataa


The ending track is first shloka from Hiranyagarbha sooktam which is also a part of Rigveda.

हिरण्यगर्भः समवर्तताग्रे भूतस्य जातः पतिरेकासीत ।
स दाधार पृथ्वीं ध्यामुतेमां कस्मै देवायहविषा विधेम ॥

Weh tha hiranyagarbh srishti se pehle vidyamaan
(he was born out of the depths..before creation)
Wahi to saare bhoot jaat ka swami mahaan
(he is the lord of all life)
jo hai astitvamaana dharti aasmaan dhaaran kar
(the one who is there over land and sky)
Aise kis devta ki upasana karein hum avi dekar
(who is this god who we pray to ?)

Jis ke bal par tejomay hai ambar
(He whose strength the sky is held up with)
Prithvi hari bhari sthapit sthir
(and the earth lies green and stable)
Swarg aur sooraj bhi sthir
(the heavens and the sun stay stable)
Aise kis devta ki upasana karein hum avi dekar
(who is this god who we pray to ?)
Garbh mein apne agni dhaaran kar paida kar
(In whose womb lies fire)
Vyapa tha jal idhar udhar neeche upar
(who controls here, there and everywhere)
Jagaa chuke vo ka ekameva pran banker
(who gives rise to life)
Aise kis devta ki upasana karein hum avi dekar
(who is this god who we pray to ?)

Om ! Srishti nirmata swarg rachiyata purvaj raksha kar
(creator of creation, the heavens and who looked after our ancestors)
Satya dharma palak atul jal niyamak raksha kar
(who keeps the truth, justice and the essence of life)
Phaili hain dishayen bahu jaisi uski sab mein sab par
(whose hands seem to stretch over all there is )
Aise hi devta ki upasana kare hum avi dekar
(this is the god who we pray to)
Aise hi devta ki upasana kare hum avi dekar
(this is the god who we pray to)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vBbSbCczYeM
http://youtube.com/watch?v=VIoOiT6u320

Complete:
http://www.cds.caltech.edu/~nair/BharatEkKhoj.mp3

The giver should be thankful

While Seisetsu was the master of Engaku in Kamakura he required larger quarters, since those in which he was teaching were overcrowded.

Umezu Seibei, a merchant of Edo, decided to donate five hundred pieces of gold called ryo toward the construction of a more commodious school. This money he brought to the teacher.

Seisetsu said: "All right. I will take it."
Umezu gave Seisetsu the sack of gold, but he was dissatisfied with the attitude of the teacher. One might live a whole year on three ryo, and the merchant had not even been thanked for five hundred.

"In that sack are five hundred ryo," hinted Umezu.
"You told me that before," replied Seisetsu.

"Even if I am a wealthy merchant, five hundred ryo is a lot of money," said Umezu.
"Do you want me to thank you for it?" asked Seisetsu.

"You ought to," replied Uzemu.
"Why should I?" inquired Seisetsu. "The giver should be thankful."


Do you give expecting something in return ?
Why do you give ?
Why should the giver be thankful?
Because the other could have refused.

Oh yes

There are worse things than
being alone
but it often takes decades
to realize this
and most often
when you do
it's too late
and there's nothing worse
than
too late.

- Charles Bukowski

Mirrors, one here, the other on other side of the planet.

There is some truth to gene pools and their effects. He did share quite a bit of it with another one. And they acted and reacted in such a similar manner to external stimuli that the internal reactions were carbon copies of each other. And when they both found out, it was scary and funny both.

So next time when he blamed himself or wondered about the way he is, he did breathe easy that he shared it with someone. And the intricacy and the labyrinth, it exists in another head across on the other side of the world. How curiously interesting !

Well his experience and catharsis of the parallel lines going across to find out the source where they meet and delicately separate them did lead to surprise answers. Since the other one on the other side of the planet was bound to go through the same reactions, he wondered if he could share it and see if it helps him.

Or learn his catharsis and learn something new himself.

Just another example of things not affected by time and space.
The connection is dependent on neither of the above.

How interesting. And helpful in a way...

A thought went up..

A thought went up my mind today
That I have had before,
But did not finish some way back,
I could not fix the year.

Nor where it went, nor why it came
The second time to me,
Nor definitely what it was,
Have I the art to say.

But somewhere in my soul, I know
I've met the thing before;
It just reminded me 't was all
And came my way no more.

- Emily Dickinson

Basho Revisited

Sitting silently doing nothing, spring comes and grass grows by itself.
- Basho

Water heats gradually, boils suddenly.

Careful with that mind Eugene..

A little streak of misdoings
Unlocks a lot of cries
For a frantic mind leaping ahead
Fuels on it as it flies

You know it. So what can you do about it ?

Of people and places

People define places.
Coming from a place relatively unknown but significant, people there transformed it into something that had a special place in his mind. And here he is, now, in a relatively significant place with unknown people..
And well, the thrill is gone.

8.0 Richter Scale.

He waited for it, for a long time. It eluded him, so he wanted it.
The more he tried the more disappointed he became. And then everything was centered around it. He assumed it to be the source of it all. And he looked forward to it. Kept him on his toes.

Assumptions became opinions that evolved to judgments which altered perspectives and shaped habits. He had forgotten what he had wrote down few years ago...it said :
" The circle starts the moment you expect or assume. "
He had peeled off the first..and it did change him..and it was a good change.

It might be that he was a reflection of the society around him and when his surroundings changed, so did the reflection. Or he evolved differently without it in his life. But it was not just about simply having it. He craved to branded as different and that was very important to him. Power never allured him..however individualism did.

Standing in his own shadow always groping for the light.

And one day when it happened. He got what he was waiting for.
But the coin flipped. Amazingly it landed on the other side and he was completely bewildered.

He might have forced himself to it. He had wanted it so intensely and it was there right in front of him. So he grabbed it without awareness. It burned him. His own mind did. The colors changed so instantly it made him anxious and nervous. He became confused and sadness crept in. Everything for this, all the effort and its there but its not right. He suddenly became aware of his habits and wondered where they stemmed from. Suddenly for one instant he felt as if all there was to it, was already there.

Needs and desires. Need is need. Desire is a bottomless pit.
It was time to turn back. Time for awareness. He wondered if he could.
But he knew very if he did not he would never be the same again.
The road would simply end ahead.

But what does he look forward to now ?

What next?

A glimpse under this blanket of unease
Reveals not knowing, what after it next
These changing colors of motive
Another shade, unaware mindset

The way

I found on a piece of paper tucked in my closet somewhere, something I had printed off few years back when I was in India. For some reason I carried this piece of paper and when I shifted to my new place here in Wichita, I found it again. Funny thing is when I found it, it answered the question I was carrying in my head for a while.


If you are not happy right here right now, you never will be.

Not coming, Not going.
Not reaching out, Not reaching in.
Just resting, at the center.
A single jewel, the flawless crystal pearl.
In the blaze of its brilliance,
The way beyond.

Ripples

Is that so?
Be humble.
Do not judge.
With awareness.
Never be a pretender.
Dont repress. Observe.
Get power, use it wisely.
Believe in impermanence.
The giver should be thankful.
Listen, its telling you something.
Money is not the aim, its the outcome.
One with the self. One with the non-self.
Enjoy the play, dont ask who pulls the strings.
Be happy right here, right now, or you never will be.

Nostalgia

I like it here. I really do. But I miss those years when all of us were together, when all of us were young, wishful and filled with big dreams. Part of it is coming true right in front of my eyes.

We seldom stay in touch. And you complain I never do. But staying in touch regularly was never the remedy to keep the strings together. I can pick up the phone and start right where we left off few months ago or maybe years. Thats the beauty of it. Reminded I am, by this song by Simon & Garfunkel.

Old friends,
Memory brushes the same years
Silently sharing the same fear...

Time it was, and what a time it was, it was
A time of innocence, a time of confidences
Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph
Preserve your memories; they're all that's left you

I want to go home now. And re-live it all for a while.
Even if I cant in my mind, all of you are always there. Always.

Boastful Secularism

India. A country with mind boggling diversity with 18 official languages spoken. ' The Indian subcontinent ' as it is geographically mentioned, has a culture that changes along the landscape from the high mountains of the north to the beautiful beaches in south, from the deserts in the west to the rainy tea plantations in the east.

The 21st century, dominated by western influence in terms of economic and military might, pervading media and lifestyle, is a time marked by violence, religious extremism, and radicalism. So how does a country of 1.1 billion religiously diverse people living in multi-ethnic society evolve around the seeds of polarisation, demanding religious unification as opposed to Nationalism ?

President Bush had asked the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Washington, just how it was that in a country with 130 million Muslims, not one could be linked to the Al Qaida. What did India have, he wanted to know, that other countries didn't? How did India manage to save its people from the seeds of radicalism spreading in the rest of the world ?

India is a secular country. The word secular was inserted into the Preamble by the 42nd amendment act of 1976. It implies equality of all religions and religious tolerance. India, therefore does not have an official state religion.

Curiously enough, India does not have Common Civil Code. Constitution of India lays down the administration of a uniform civil code for its citizens as a Directive Principle, but has not been implemented till now. In India, there exists a peculiar situation where the opponents of the secular law are called "Secularists" while those in favour of a secular law are termed "communalists" or even "fascists".

Somehow, the diversity in the country became a way of life and acceptance became rooted in the values of society. Polarisation however, showed its ugly head in numerous incidences where ' vote bank politics ' took over and a dangerous precedent was set where in a diverse democracy, one simply makes himself leader of a majority of people by dividing them on communal lines.

No country can distance itself from what happens in the rest of the word. The tensions that spark go beyond the physical boundaries and no society in any part of the world can be nonchalant to it. In a emerging economy like India, it is extremely important to not be boastful about its secularism without being progressive in its democratic structure.

Otherwise, it will just get swept away in a wild storm that grew right under its nose. A monster eating away fruits of the struggle the country had to endure, to reach where it is today, on the brink of greatness in the coming century.

A Door Just Opened on a Street

A door just opened on a street,
I, lost, was passing by..
An instant's width of warmth disclosed
And wealth, and company.

The door as sudden shut, and I,
I, lost, was passing by..
Lost doubly, but by contrast most,
Enlightening misery.

- Emily Dickinson

Summer

This summer I met someone fantastic. Never thought I would meet someone like her in a place like this because being brown has its effects around here. But well, world is a funny place and courtesy her, this summer was amazing. And now she's across at the other end of the globe.

Then again, these days I simply treat relationships differently.

To be honest 'I' don't.
My actions are mere reflections of the picture mind carves out.

Oh, and a couple of weeks back, someone so dear to me baked me chocolate cookies. I called them the cookies of joy.

CBS- 60 Minutes

He's the son of a blacksmith; was a commando during the Iran-Iraq war; has a Ph.D. in civil engineering, and became president a year ago by running as a populist man of the people. He rarely gives interviews to American journalists. His last U.S. newspaper interview was six months ago in USA Today.

Meet Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

On another side, this man has been a 60 minutes correspondent since its premiere on Sept. 24, 1968. His professional honors include 19 Emmy Awards, three Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards, Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in the international broadcast category and many more. In September 2003, he received a Lifetime Achievement Emmy, marking his 20th Emmy.

Meet Mike Wallace, senior correspondent CBS.

I watched this interview on CBS 60 minutes with a lot of curiosity as I tried to understand what goes on in the mind of the president, a man embroiled in controversy for his views, speeches and actions as he leads a nation standing at the crossroads, and a path decided not only by his actions, but maybe also by those leading the interviewers government.

What struck me in the interview was the qualities of this man quite sharp and unarguably a leader, and like all leaders do, the ability to convince and influence minds, of an ideology, a perspective and proving one's case effectively. That does not mean he was correct, though. But who am I to judge.

What also struck me is the callous attitude, often condscending, of a senior journalist in dealing with a man who is the head of the state, with a closed mind that in the end paled what could have been a rare opportunity for the rest of the world, to get a glimpse inside the head of this man.

Complete interview is can be found here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/09/60minutes/main1879867.shtml

In the morning

" Funny how my favourite shirt smells more like you than me... "
- In the mornin, Norah Jones.

Tainted Window

How can I drive between the streets,
So full of pride in my Mercedes.
When if I just lower my tainted window,
Glimpse of my true country, starts to show.

Money.
Feels awkward to have it.
When not everyone else does.
Equal amount.
Idealistic.
Maybe yes.

Or going up the ladder.
Getting the abundance.
With understanding.
Like earning money.

That spending money, an art.

Basho's Haikus

Haiku : This Japanese form of poetry with deep spiritual overtones,
beautiful description and analogy derived from everyday life is simply amazing.

Haiku is a traditional Japanese verse form, notable for its compression and suggestiveness. A great haiku presents, through imagery drawn from intensely careful observation, a web of associated ideas. The form emerged during the 16th century and was developed by the poet Basho (1644-1694) into a refined medium of Buddhist and Taoist symbolism.

Traditionally and ideally, a haiku presents a pair of contrasting images, one suggestive of time and place, the other a vivid but fleeting observation. Working together, they evoke mood and emotion. The poet does not comment on the connection but leaves the synthesis of the two images for the reader to perceive. Here are few of his Haikus that I like.

Now the swinging bridge

Is quieted with creepers
Like our tendrilled life

Seas slowly darken
And the wild duck's plaintive cry
Grows faintly white

Summer grasses:
All that remains of great soldiers'
Imperial dreams

Come out to view
The truth of flowers blooming
In poverty

Seen in plain daylight
The firefly's nothing but
An insect

Lonely silence,
A single cicada's cry
Sinking into stone

Ungraciously, under
A great soldier's empty helmet,
A cricket sings

Sick on my journey,
Only my dreams will wander
These desolate moors

- Basho

Search

What is there is there.
You waste your hours,
Scanning the cosmos
He is here in this little body
He is here in this little vessel
The god of the gods
The king of the kings
The beloved.
See yourself.

Love

I came across this story one day and it made me think. Think hard. As I read the moral of the story, it hit me like a whiplash. Then I just laughed, at my own self, on my problems.

" There lived a little boy in a village far away from the city. The family had just moved there a few months ago. Small village that it was, the little kid had no friends. His dad brought him a pet turtle to play with. Soon the turtle became his best friend and soul mate. The turtle was his playmate and it meant a whole world to him.

One cold morning he noticed that the turtle was not moving. The turtle had his head recoiled in his shell. Whole day passed away but the turtle showed no signs of life. Father thought the unthinkable, maybe it was dead. The boy was devastated and was totally in shambles. Small kid, how can you explain the secrets of life and death?

Father could not bear to see his little boy suffer. So he devised a plan to divert his attention. Father told the son to arrange a big funeral for his turtle. Bring flowers, set up a small stage, make arrangements and invite all the neighbours. C'mon start to work said father. The boy set about in the arrangements totally focused to have the best funeral possible for his turtle.

The boy had worked very hard for the funeral. He was so excited about it. So many people to invite, so many things to do. Come evening and everyone had gathered for the funeral of the little boy's turtle. A small stage was made which was decorated by flowers. The little boy was excited.

Suddenly in the middle of the ceremony the turtle popped his head out! He wasn't dead afer all! The little boy stopped in his tracks. He looked at all the arrangements done and people gathered. And suddenly the turtle is moving about on the stage. Dismayed he looked at his father and said,
Papa.. " Can we kill it? "

" Do I love you, or is it the joy I get from loving you. "


Think over this and watch your answers change.

Roots

Felt like celebrating my stay of quarter of an century, on this beautiful planet.

Amidst the puppets in the play, watching the show again and again.
But that's the beauty. Does not stop me from making mistakes.
Just helps me laugh it over.

Along the daily life, similar situations, similar judgment?
What changes ? Gathering realizations along the way helps.

Few things linger though. Ignoring just hides them.
Experiences start the processes. Again.
They lie at the conclusion of the process.
Thats what brings them forth. Again.

What are you longing for, intensely, right now.
Does it stay or fall prey to time ?
You really want it, do you ?
Do you allow your dreams to come true ?
If they do where do you go?
What is the source of happiness ? Self ? Non-Self ?
What is it one should live for ?

Maybe awareness can be ignored.
Maybe you can ignore with awareness.
I do not know yet.

" Born some years ago, he led a good life.
A prosperous life with a lovely family.
Culturally enriched, Socially respected.
Spiritually developed, Religiously free.
Now he is no more. But he was a good guy. "

Is that all there is ?
I wonder.

Pink Haze

Can't get enough of Pink Floyd.
This avid music junkie, the gemini longing for change, whose compilation CD's play songs from Nirvana to B.B King, Black eyed peas to Norah Jones, the restless soul wasting time in his car searching for the right radio station that plays his songs, just gets stuck in the labyrinths of these haunting Floyd tunes.

" Overhead the albatross hangs motionless upon the air
And deep beneath the rolling waves in labyrinths of coral caves
The echo of a distant tide, comes willowing across the sand
And everything is green and submarine ....

Strangers passing in the street
By chance two separate glances meet
And I am you and what I see is me ..... "

Echoes - Pink Floyd