December dose

 Dear friends, if life isn't making much of a sense then give an ear to the Voice Inside. Forget about the hoot and holler emanating from the world outside. It simply adds to the confusion. Give an ear to the soft and murmurous cooings emanating from the soul. It has a soft and sympathetic message for you only, your most personal message, meant only for you. Listen to these delicate chimes. It’ll help you in finding peace in chaos. In getting a foothold in the stampede. In feeling rest, repose and respite in the face of constant buffeting by the world around. It’ll help you in breaking the hardest of superficial layers, which suffocate and limit your identity. And put you face to face with your true self, your real worth.

Listen to it, close your eyes and pay attention with all your heart. Just for a change, don’t look far, look closest at yourself. It’ll be as uneventful as looking at a dust particle around your feet. But it changes the universe for you. You will have the biggest message in the softest of whispering phrases! It’ll help you in finding yourself. Happy self-seeking! God bless us all!

**

Reading Ruskin Bond by the Ganges is as good as meditation. He simplifies the complexities of life with his simple, lucid sentences.

**

I had just walloped in Ma Ganga like a farmer's dirty calf after reading these lines by Ruskin Bond:

"I feel drawn to little temples on lonely hilltops. With the mist swirling around them, and the wind humming in the stunted pines, they absorb some of the magic mystery of their surroundings and transmit it to the questing pilgrim."

Biniya is a little girl of 7 who sells flowers on the banks of Ganga Ma. She is into side business also. She charges me ten rupees to click my photos on my mobile. I had started this. Instead of buying her flowers, I asked her once to click my pic and gave her a salary of ten rupees for the job. After that she has taken her job too seriously. Whenever she sees me on the banks of Ganges she offers her photographic skills instead of flowers. "Uncle photo khichva lo!" she says pretty adamantly. She calls me 'photo wale uncle' as her mother informed me. Today as I was wallowing in Ma Ganga's cold waters, she stood on the steps and waited for me to come out. "Go and sell your flowers. You are losing business," I try to shoo her away. But she has better ideas. "Uncle today you have to get a photo. You have got your beard and hair cut so it will be a nice photo," she has her argument in support of her side business. I am helpless. She clicks another assignment. Hands me the phone and asks a review of the photo. "See uncle, I have made you look like a hero." Buttering, eh. And her so called hero type photo has bigger charges. She is an experienced photographer now and charges more. "Uncle 100 rupees for this hero type photo," she demands. I am initially at loss of words. There is an argument and then I save 50 rupees by standing my ground pretty soundly. Now the assignment charge has gone to 50 rupees, so tomorrow onwards I won't take my phone with me and buy her flowers instead. Her little leaf bowl of flowers costs just 10 rupees. That would help both parties. But there was a nice take away from today's shooting. I am actually looking at a nice little temple on a little hill as Biniya does her job. I remember Bond sahab's lines. I too have a fondness for small temples on lonely hills. And there I went to soak a few hours of magic and mystery.

**

Why does truth pinch most of the time? Simple! Because it is no chocolate, sugar candy or mellowable sweetie-pie lump of ice cream. It is hard, sour, iron ball guys. It has pinching rough stony edges to its surface. Come into contact with them and they will take a few flakes from your skin leaving a red or purple bruise depending on the intensity of truth contained in it. Now the question arises, 'Why does it almost always leave a grimace on our face instead of a smile?' The simple fact that all of us almost always rub cold shoulders against this ironed ball having thorns for our soft skin, proves on fact: that we are not subjectively inclined to accept the objective reality as it stands in abstract. But does not that mean that we have moved poles apart from truth and its manifestations while going on the path of individual and collective improvisations at the subjective level. May be the reason for our success in emerging at the top of food chain in the game of 'survival of the fittest' is that we have institutionalized ourselves to negate and defy, and do without, certain basic truths that form the core of creation and nature. Nothing wrong with that! It, however, is paradoxical that most of these scions of truth--against which we have always been taking cudgels--form the core of our moral, humanistic, religious, spiritual and aesthetic vision enshrined in preach books. Strange!

**

Look far away into the mists...but always watch your next step also... take a step...take a pause then and look into the distances before the next step...and go slow....it allows a healthy balance of sight, observation, dreams and imagination. You enjoy the journey and don't bother about destination. Most importantly, moving on from the past is usually a far better journey than you ever imagined!

**

Some moments by the Ganges. Light and dark rippling in the lap of holy fluidity. Soft emotions surface as the soul's tears of joy! O divine mother, my main identity is that of being your son. I feel disburdened of some heaviness. I find the unnecessary extras of life just a dark, blank spot where the face of my ego plays a little, funny, worldly game.

**

The beautiful bunch of roses drizzles its petals on the ground after the heartiest of blooming. Joyful dissolution of the self! A flower blooms up fully. Opens its heart to the elements around. Draws every ounce from its potential to smiles and fragrance. Opens up completely. And then painless dissolve! This dissolution is further expansion only. Now the petals fly around in a broader dimension. Beautiful, self-surrendered parts of its previous existence now lie scattered as pious homage to mother earth. That is the purpose of life. We have to give back something better than what we took. That is evolution, expansion. Like this flower offers fragrance and smiles to mother earth in return for the sunshine, soil and moisture. The sole purpose of our existence is to be a better version of ourselves.

**

A hybrid rose can have nice colour and exquisite design. But it lacks the basic essence of a flower, fragrance. The beauty is skin deep, a mere cosmetic effort at the surface. It's haughty and arrogant, a kind of constriction within itself, an insecurity, a fear, an aloofness, a seperation. The soul is missing. They seem too self-absorbed. Like so many apparently classy, well polished gentry. They stand with touch-me-not attitude. And the bees and butterflies stay away. They find it totally unapproachable. The marigolds, on the other hand, are little humble, down to earth flowers. They aren't showy. They are common looking. But they have a soul, a depth, a delicate fragrance. Most importantly, they have nectar to offer to the butterflies and bees. With their openness and genteel receptivity, they are buzzing with little winged insects. They have broader connection to life and living. I can feel their soul through their soft fragrance as I sit by them. They exist in a dimension where they touch many chords in my heart. The smelless roses are as distant and soulless as a beautiful pic of them or even well designed plastic flowers.

**

It happened 12 years back in Delhi. The moment still stands out somehow. Some brief moments carry far more significance than months and sometimes even years. Hazy darkness outside the railway station. A friar approached me with mystical pride and spiritual pomp. He asked for alms (which can be money only given the times we are living in). I found myself offering him Rs. 10. A Gentleman verbally poked me for my meekness and abetment of begging. The friar shot back, ‘Do you think it's only about money. If you think so, take this!’ He proffered a Rs. 100 note. The gentleman had to beat a retreat. The friar smiled at me and melted into the crowd after blessing me.

**

If you have time and softness to plant flowers, take some time to appreciate their beauty once they blossom up. Needless to say, always spare time for your children once you have taken time to produce them.

**

If you are hurrying and a tree's branch braces against your head or face, don't get irritated. It's merely a soft greeting asking you to be restful. Accept it. You can run fast and still be at rest within. What else is meditation? It's the ability to be still within even while you are walking or dispensing what life needs you to do in order to survive.

**

Most of the time we are self-charged on the grand mission of aggravating our own miseries. We are suitably helped all along by our ability to hold onto the master illusion that others are responsible for all the shit flying around in our lives.

A cosmetic smile Vs a soulful one

 A hybrid rose can have nice colour and exquisite design. But it lacks the basic essence of a flower, fragrance. The beauty is skin deep, a mere cosmetic effort at the surface. It's haughty and arrogant, a kind of constriction within itself, an insecurity, a fear, an aloofness, a seperation. The soul is missing. They seem too self-absorbed. Like so many apparently classy, well polished gentry. They stand with touch-me-not attitude. And the bees and butterflies stay away. They find it totally unapproachable. The marigolds, on the other hand, are little humble, down to earth flowers. They aren't showy. They are common looking. But they have a soul, a depth, a delicate fragrance. Most importantly, they have nectar to offer to the butterflies and bees. With their openness and genteel receptivity, they are buzzing with little winged insects. They have broader connection to life and living. I can feel their soul through their soft fragrance as I sit by them. They exist in a dimension where they touch many chords in my heart. The smelless roses are as distant and soulless as a beautiful pic of them or even well designed plastic flowers.

Open up...and spread out...

 Joyful dissolution of the self! A flower blooms up fully. Opens its heart to the elements around. Draws every ounce from its potential to smiles and fragrance. Opens up completely. And then painless dissolve! This dissolution is further expansion only. Now the petals fly around in a broader dimension. Beautiful, self-surrendered parts of its previous existence now lie scattered as pious homage to mother earth. That is the purpose of life. We have to give back something better than what we took. That is evolution, expansion. Like this flower offers fragrance and smiles to mother earth in return for the sunshine, soil and moisture. The sole purpose of our existence is to be a better version of ourselves.

Some bright thoughts on a gloomy smoggy day

 Feeling the heat? Don't worry, cool winds will pick up soon. Feeling cold? Worry not, the sun is just about to shine from the cloud's corner. Getting hunted? Don't worry there never is a prey who isn't a hunter itself. As the proverb goes, when it floods, the fish eat the ants. And as the waters recede and leave the ground dry, the ants eat the fish. The circumstantial winds are equally for and against all of us. So just dance to the tunes of life. Like grass does. Like flexible plants do. They dance and enjoy the most, open to the winds from all directions. No point in having a tiff with life. We may not have too much control over the music of life that beats around us. But we can surely take a jig and go for dancing the steps of our choice. Or even hop like a frog if you are dance-challenged like me. Hopping around is no less fun. Telling from personal experience.

**

Guys, individual freedom has always remained a fundamental ideal since historical times. However, it is not to be achieved by casting off all society and civilization or by going back to a so-called 'natural state'. The perfection of man, his freedom, his liberty, his happiness, and the growing mastery of his own destiny, all are dependent upon a clear understanding of certain laws of nature and society. We have to accept that both nature and society have worked according to these laws to enable us to get the idea of this so called 'freedom'. So the pursuit of the interest of the baby should not turn us blind to the interests of the mother.

**

Many a thing changed over the centuries. In fact almost everything changed to take a completely different shape and connotation. But the religious differences are the same. They seem beyond the pale of time. Blood-shedding and hate in the name of religion is the same. Is not it high time that the world community starts dismantling the hold of exclusivist religious principles on people and states? It is the time for an all-inclusive world religion, the religion of all humanity, humanism. It can have Allah, Jesus, Buddha, Hindu and other major Gods and deities of other sects in its fold. The main issue is how do we convince the beholders of Puritanism in various religions, particularly the fundamentalist Islamists, to see beyond the rigid confines of their unchanging tradition. Most of the religions are melting under the warm sun of internationalism. But the medieval icy blocks in the stream of Islam are holding their archaic laws and principles solidly crystallized like the polar snows. The question is, will Islam ever be lenient to the non-Muslims? Modern Islamists will have to dismantle the institutionalized psyche among the Muslim masses against the kafirs and welcome non-discriminatory universal brotherhood as His Holiness Prophet Mohammad envisioned. World peace and harmony depends on this question. If internationalism succeeds to liberate humanism buried under religious fanaticism, we can expect to have a peaceful world following the religion of humanism. In any case, religion has to be systematically dismantled to lay the foundation of a common world. China will attempt to do it with its atheist state policy. But that will turn this world a big jail. Better that it’s done under democratic principles.

**

Pick up a dry leaf and take out the carpenter ant that has got into the toilet seat. I sometimes rescue even house flies and mosquitoes. They will be a nuisance, one may say. But the chance to be a savior is too big a reward for such deterrent considerations. I try to keep my foot on a hold as a beetle crosses, or a skink crawls away, or a frog hops away. I know a tread of caution is for my own benefit. It will save me from a fall sometime in future. If you learn to not walk ove insects and beetles on the way, you will surely escape the thorns and potholes of life that come your way. If you can rescue an insect or bug of your dislike from a basket, basin or drain, you are prepared to forgive people. These tiny acts of salvage hone the spirit of sympathy, love and care in you. They blunt the edge of apathy and neglect that sees us turning a blind eye to so many unbecoming things around us, where we can bring a positive change without creating too much turbulence in our lives. It’s better to have a little bit of time to stop and take out a drowning beetle. If not for this, you will hardly try to save a drowning man in future. Goodness is a habit. It can be practiced. The vast workshop of life has so many tiny tables for us to carry out our little experiments. To me rescuing an elephant and saving an ant is more or less the same. That particular savior emotion is the main thing. So watch your step and avoid crushing insects unnecessarily. You gain a lot from it. You learn to be careful and responsible. Most of the times when we think we are helping others, we are in fact helping our own selves.

**

The first half of November is supposed to be the best. The winter is opening like a soft bud. The birds sing at their best. It proves it’s the best part of season. A beautiful, fluid mix of balmy cold and warmth. But we have turned it the worst. The metallic haze and toxic smog grips the skies like the steely talons of an eagle strung over the soft fur of a rabbit. The eyes burn. Throats ache. The sip of life, the air, turns a slow dose of death. The north Indian planes look like a huge prison. The sun looks pale and sick-faced as it peeks weakly over the polluted planet. But then even on such a sickly gloomy morning there are thousands of swallows flying in the sky. So many of them! With so many birds, it seems as if everything will be all right. The sky seems to bless the earth through these freely flying birds. It’s the time to plant more trees and flowers. It’s the time to walk a bit slower and do something that will leave the planet worth staying for the coming generation.

**

Most of the time our hate for someone is merely an instrument to undo and hide our own guilt about the incidents and happenings which took us to a point of unbridgeable differences with that person. Hate is a very convenient tool. It’s fuelled by anger. With the tools of hate and anger, it’s very easy to put all the blame on someone else for the fallouts. In our own court, the hammer of hate and anger sets our conscience free while holding the other party culpable for all the wrongs that have befallen.

**

All of us want to leave a mark on the running water and blowing air. And all of us fail. Only this unquenchable urge wins. But then maybe a bit of laziness is what we need after all this burnout. Slowing down helps avoid the explosion, both individual and collective. We have run too blindly and now stare at the edge of a blind drop. Treading carefully will save us. Walk slow and with poise.

**

A little ant is dragging the huge carcass of a carpenter ant. Hasn't creation got an instinct for carrying burden ingrained very deeply in its fabric? There is an everlasting pull for expansion and more complexity. How can we avoid complexity of life then? Going against the primal instinct is a sort of reverse engineering. This is the evolutionary challenge. A kind of lavitation instead of gravitation. Fording the river. The ultimate salvation. The cessation of the urge to pull the burden and still be joyful. A state where every burden transforms into bliss. Pull your burden little lady. But don't forget to rest under the shade of the fragrant roses on the way. They are as meaningful as the weight you pull. And the journey turns joyful if you pause and greet the flowers on the way. And don't forget to acknowledge the presence of thorns on the path as well. Just be careful of them as they have their meaning also. They are there to help you watch your step and avoid a fatal fall. A bit of pinch now and then serves it purpose because it maybe avoids a fatal fall in the long run.

**

A powder blue beauty is seen in the washbasin. A woodlouse, a dweller of old, rotten woods. Maybe it got its adventure too far and landed into the basin. Now it's a fun game, go up and slump down again. Maybe they take their struggles as easily as feasting and fun. So here it goes with its business. I take a pic and since it's a patient model for the shoot, it gets its reward. It gets rescued on a dry leaf and I leave it near a pile of dead wood. It's a very interesting little bug. Look at the range of its names: Granny grey in Wales, boat-builder in Newfoundland, Butcher boy in Australia, Carpenter in Labrador, Charlie pig in Norfolk, Cheesy Lou, Cheesy papa, Cheesy pig, Daddy grampher, Dandy postman, Fat pigs, Grumper pig, Granny grunter and scores of more interesting names. In every English county it has a different name. It can be a good pet for buggy parents. And is, most importantly, harmless for humans as it doesn't spread diseases. So raise a brood and give them as many names as your funny creativity allows you because they take name-calling very easily and in good spirits.

**

The hare may have its huffing and puffing competitiveness. But it lives very anxiously. A tortoise, on the other hand, goes on its journey that isn't defined in terms of mileage and distances. It's both joy and motion at the same time. Welcome to the snaily pace of the tortoise world! Here you acknowledge the smile of a wayside wild flower and greet the lone beetle on its journey.

**

And now dear earthlings, the winter softly coos: 'Dear, I'll cool down the burning hot field of realities that tortures your soft feet!' Open up to the invitation. Give mother nature a helping hand. She will put our house in order far too soon than we believe. But we have to do our bit first. Please resolve to plant a few trees and see them grow up strong with mandatory post-plantation care.

**

A bit of chik-chik in the lung-busting smog

 Isn’t life all about taking smart, clever as well as wise short-cuts to beat the puzzling array of the problems randomly cropping around us? The cosmic life is an expansion for more sophistication. And our individual entity as a part of the whole is an expression of that expansion. As the newest of patterns—which look like problems to us—pop up around us, the sole purpose of a meaningful life is to keep the inherent simplicity that forms the foundation of all the lateral sprouts and shoots in the game of creation. So be the solution provider. It’s the hallmark of a life well lived. Behind the most complex of a phenomenon there is an amazing simplicity. Read that. Those cute fundamentals will tell you that every situation is a living being and we are a cute aide-de-camp to the bigger game around. So don’t lose heart as the sandstorms hit. Keep walking. Always there are the easiest of routes to the toughest of destinations. Every hard situation has the softest of a solution. So there is no hard problem in the real sense. Our solutions make them so. When in the face of a tough situation blame your solution not the situation. Situations stand neutral like the fundamental laws of science and nature. Play your game well. Let it be a fine innings before being recalled to the pavilion. Most importantly, the meaning of ‘universe’ is ‘one unified song’. Listen to the symphony. It has a soft and sympathetic message for you only. Listen to these delicate murmurs and it will help you in breaking the hardest of superficial, outer cores. And as you dive deeper, the surface turbulence is left behind leaving you in the pools of peace. Dive well!

**

Usually weaknesses and inhibitions end up being taken as goodness. Most of the people never had the opportunity to misuse their endowments and power—which makes us qualify people as mean or bad—thus ending up as nice fellows. Empower the people economically, or any other means qualifying as empowerment, and then wait and watch. I think, most of the people whom we count as good fellows are simply helpless. I have seen a few really good fellows who are empowered at many levels and still count a human as a human irrespective of caste, class or creed.

**

Taiwan of course will be part of China one day in future. But it will be the mainland going with the island not vice-versa. The model of monopoly and autocracy is inherently weak. It is bound to collapse. The only matter is about time. Of course we will have a democratic, unified China one day. But a sinking ship sucks in a lot of water. The communists will, no doubt, breed a lot of mischief before that. Its repercussions will reach far ends of mother earth.

**

Hinduism is the primal faith on mother earth. It has the deepest roots as far as faith is concerned. Brahmanism is far smaller as a philosophy. It’s merely a particular approach to the socio-political and economic domain of our society followed by a group of Hindus. Brahmanism, I would say, doesn’t constitute even 10% of Hinduism. It’s a very small cult to assert socio-political and economic hegemony of a small section of Hindus. No problem with that. It’s always about dominance by one group or the other. The problem arises when these adherents of only 10% of Hinduism hold the rest by neck and try to portray Brahmanism as the entire Sanatan Dharma. Brahmanism is lucrative and swashbuckling to influence shallow minds to gain parochial advantage. I don’t have any problem even with it. The only issue is, please don’t tell me that Brahmanism is Hinduism. It’s attractive I know because there is a great show and turbulence on the surface. But Brahmanism is merely little pieces of foam among the waves in the universal sea of Hinduism.