Helping others;helping yourself: same same

Two monks, one young and the other old, were crossing a stream. A beautiful woman was also standing on the bank. Lines of worry on her beautiful face. Her mind calculating the risk. The steam appeared daunting to her elegant, feminine self.

The old monk looked at her. He understood that she needed help to cross the stream. His training to be kind brought the idea of helping her in his mind. But the mere thought of touching a woman shook him up. He got goose-bumps. His rules of celibacy forbade him from touching a woman. So chanting mantras to clear his mind he moved onto cross the stream.

Reaching the other end he was horrified to see the spectacle behind him. The young monk was crossing the stream. The woman was sitting on his shoulders. The older monk was gripped by scores of emotions. He felt jealous of the younger monk. For taking the initiative basically. Of becoming someone he always wanting to but denied himself from being. He then forced his jealousy into anger for breaking the code of monastic conduct. He was seething with helpless anger. The thought of touching a beautiful woman was gnawing at his heart. He was again denying some basic instinct like he had throughout his life.

The younger monk helped the woman down. She thanked and smiled. He bowed and followed his religiosity to the extent of keeping a straight face and moved away peacefully. They monks moved towards their hermitage.

They had been walking for hours. It was evening when they neared their place of penance. The check-dam of old man’s thoughts broke. Finally he burst out.

“You touched a woman. You have broken the code of conduct. I will complain against you once we reach,” he was still wondering whether he was jealous of the young monk or was it plain anger over the rules book.

The young monk smiled. He put a comforting hand on the old man’s shoulder.

“I left her on the river bank itself after helping her. You are still carrying her in your mind,” he said politely.

The older monk was ashamed. He tried to put her out of mind as they walked. The younger monk meanwhile walked with a rested mind, appreciating the marvels of nature in the forest.

The message is clear. The things that ought to simply be done, should just be done. Otherwise their shadows linger in the mind. They grow heavier with the passage of time. This invisible weight is heavier than the stones we see around. Simple, harmless acts of appreciation, of enjoyment, of helping somebody cross a stream are better done and closed with a full stop. It’s better for a healthy mind.

A missed chance of being good will definitely cast a shadow on your mind. A forced or even missed chance to be bad, on the other hand, will hardly leave an imprint on your conscience for later reflections. Only goodness has a legacy and a future. Badness is just a bad example and repentance sometime. To do good is instinctive for a human being, another matter that we stifle the urge most of the time. To do bad, on the other hand, is not instinctive. It is wrongly reflective, a miscalculation, a tragic bypass of the instinct of goodness.

Pegs in brains, ropes around soul

The night was falling. A camel caravan was passing through a desert. The caravan-head decided to spend the night at a serai. There were hundred camels and the store wagon had pegs and ropes for each one of them to keep them safely tied though the night. Ninety-nine camels had been safely tethered in front of the inn. But they had lost one pair of rope and peg.

The caravan-head was much worried. If the camel was left untied it will run away and claim its freedom. He asked the inn-keeper for a rope and a peg. The old man had none. But he had a solution in his experienced mind. He asked the traveler to playact the whole process of setting the peg and tying the rope in the dark to the camel. The middle aged weather-beaten, tough traveler laughed at the joke. Still he decided to take it as a comedy even at the cost of losing a camel.

They made a false show of the process. Made sounds of hammering a peg into the ground. Then one of them fiddled around the camel’s neck, making it feel that it is being tied with a rope. Much to everyone’s relief the camel was found sitting comfortably next morning. It was almost a miracle. The camel had allowed himself to be tied to a non-existing peg with the invisible rope.

The caravan prepared to leave. They untied the ninety-nine camels and they got up to move onto the journey. Thinking that the hundredth camel will also get up to join the rest because it was already free, they didn’t approach it. The camels moved. The hundredth camel didn’t. The kicked it to get up but it won’t move. Much worried the caravan leader went to the old man and told him about the camel.

“What have you done to it. I know you performed a magic but please now set it free. We have to move. We are getting late,” he was almost folding his hands before the old serai-keeper.

The old man smiled. “You had tied him in the dark. Now you have to untie him in the light. Do you think pegs and ropes exist only in reality? They exist in minds as well. And the latter are stronger,” the old man chuckled.

The caravan-head understood. Thanking the old man he asked his men to playact the whole process of taking out the peg and untying the rope. They did it and the camel, taking it to be free to move, got up and joined others waiting to move.

Pegs and ropes exist in minds also. What else are our false assumptions, fears, anxieties and worries? They tame and condition the mind to a basic level, a very small level given the unlimited potential of the human brain. They literally make one human almost a carbon copy of others in settling for smallness, in being labeled like any other, like they do in factories, just labeling for small, convenient sameness.

It is very convenient for the religio-political ruling class to tame the minds with pegs and ropes of fear, ignorance, assumptions and apprehensions. Brahamanical Hinduism does the same. It is an elaborate system of putting the peg and tying the rope in the form of rituals, taboos, do’s and don’ts. The priestly class was ever apprehensive of the capacity of free minds. A huge effort was run over centuries to instill fear in minds, to cut them to smallness, to be less daring, more obedient, less creative. It was a systematic effort to create meek followers and stifle any trait of confidence and leadership. The Brahamanical orthodoxy hammered down pegs and tied ropes around meekly accepting necks.  

Religiosity was kept limited to the skin of mankind. A check-dam created to tame the free flow of the rivers of human spirit. No inward looking and self-realization to reach the light of an enlightened, aware soul. Elaborate system of pegs and ropes. So you just get conditioned to your inherited miseries, your caste status, your untouchability, your bad karma and the mirage of getting better luck in future births through meek following of the skin-deep religiosity. So that you just keep sitting, accepting your fate, like the camel with a false peg and rope. So that you don’t look deep into you and beyond the narrow confines of your outer world. So that your spirit doesn’t roam free, breaking the barriers of false fears and exploiting rituals.

We had a chance of practicing mindfulness, of breaking the shackles, of melting the fears, of realizing the potential, of being the leaders. It was Buddhism. Buddha taught nothing but mindfulness so that you become aware of your potential irrespective of your low caste. When you go beyond mere rituals and meditate, most of the false ropes and pegs burn away. You roam free as per the limits of your free-roaming and liberated mind.            

Unfortunately Buddhism was bundled out from the land of its origin. The shrewd Brahamanical connivance packed it off to faraway lands. It thrives in East Asian countries. You can very well compare the chained and liberated minds. Buddhism cuts the chains through training the mind. Brahamanical Hinduism chains the mind through fatal conditioning with the help of fear and meek acceptance.

Look at Japan! Such a small country. Look at their technological excellence. It is nothing but the fruits of centuries of avenues of setting the mind free, through training the brain. Meditation helps you reach the top of awareness, to know more, to dissipate ignorance, to be more of a human being, to become different and daring. Blind rituals are just the first step leading to the endless flight of stairs to evolution and freedom. Unfortunately Brahamanical  Hinduism just kept the people grounded at the first level. To keep them the prisoners of minds. Their selves chained to false pegs and ropes of fears and taboos.

Happy Holi!!

Happy Holi. Celebration of colors. Nothing symbolizes colors more than love. So if you want to move beyond the celebrations literally, take one more step towards celebrating it in spirit. Sprinkle the colors on your spirit. The colors of love, care, kindness, sympathy, empathy, compassion, forgiveness and understanding. A human soul needs these colors as much as our skins pine for gulal on Holi. Involve your soul in celebrations also. Drive out the black color of hate and imbue yourself with vibrant colors of humanity and tolerance.

It may take some effort to better your worldly conditions, your profession, your job and your business. But it is really simple and easy to turn for the better as a human being. It doesn’t carry any cost. It comes free. It doesn’t even need time and drill of effort. Just aim the pichkari at your soul. Let out a spurt of colors. Only this much. Job is done. It will drive out the shades of dark and gray. Smile more. Smile over someone’s luck even if you are still waiting for your own. It will arrive shortly, changing your smile to laughter. Forgive your enemies. Look at them with a smile. They will be shamefaced of their dark thoughts about you. Feel happy just to be alive and healthy. The problems of life will seem just routine investments of effort as much as you invest in climbing a flight of stairs.

Religious hatred has killed more people than the number of souls who have received real peace from religion. Religious divides keep on killing like in medieval times. So where is the advancement? The only way left out for humanity is inter-religious harmony. Festivals are the bridges. Abandon your hate and allow the colors to reach the other side as well. Put the festivals out of the barricade. Let it be for everybody.

During Mughal period, Muslim emperors and courtiers sprinkled abeer and gulal. It fell on people of all faiths. Colored waters of tesu flowers sprinkled spring-time festivity on mundane clothes of a common humanity. It was Holi as well as Gulabi Eid. Festivities merged.

Wishing everybody a very happy Holi! When you take a bath after the celebrations, please ensure you retain the colors of a better human being on your spirit. 

Traps of self-annihilation

You must be really happy. You take pride in the fact that you don’t smoke, don’t drink, exercise daily and keep up a best diet plan. So everything is supposed to be OK on the health front. O wait. You may still be ingesting toxins into your body. Slow poisoning stretched over a period of years.

Long after the symptoms become visible, quite ironically, the thing responsible might still stand unaccused, putting blame on more tangible things like lifestyle, diet, pollution, biological accident, etc., etc. It’s better to know this unseen source of suffering. It’s the uncontrolled mind. It’s as potent a risk factor as any other visible agent of ill health like smoking, drinking, imbalanced lifestyle, or accidents.

The consequences of an uncontrolled mind are no accident. This self-destruction takes a long and winding route to its destination. The spin-outs of an uncontrolled mind—hate, anger, greed, jealousy, impulsiveness, anxiety, worries, illusions and false assumptions—are as bad for our body as they are for the social life we lead. It’s even better to be an alcoholic or smoker than having an untamed mind. An unkempt mind fluxes toxins into our blood stream, corroding the basic principles of self-preservation. It’s unnatural.

What is mind? It’s just the operational aspect of our brain. Put up the operations in order. The brain will save yourself from becoming a self-destroyer. Long before there is any outside enemy, we have to spot the enemy inside, the trait of being utterly irresponsible towards our mind. That is the real enemy. Put it in order. The outer world is a mere reflection of the invisible world inside. Hold the reins of your mind firmly and you become the master of your destiny.

The challenge lies not in trying to control the external environment. The real task lies in managing the mind. Isn’t it mere folly that the thing that keeps the potential to limitless happiness is allowed to go out of loop and spin into a chaotic trajectory where it releases poison into our organs?

We spend literally 24 hours to control the external things in life and hardly anyone tries to control the ticking time bomb of our doom inside. The fire that is supposed to power us to excellence is hardly managed. No wonder it becomes the pyre of self-annihilation. You fight so hard to manage the worldly affairs. And you hardly care about the management of the world inside you. The guiding flicker of life, the patronizing beam having limitless potential to infinite happiness, goes out of control and becomes a wild fire. A fire out of control is destructive. It’s useful as long as it’s managed. The mind is like that fire. Tend it. Manage it. Keep an eye on it. And you will have its life-giving warmth and path-showing light for you.

It doesn’t take too much of an effort. It’s nothing in comparison to the huge effort you put in managing the world outside. It doesn’t need your sweat and blood of worldly battles. It just needs half an hour of quiet contemplation, the time even less than you might just spend in thinking about your enemy and visualize doom and destruction to him.

All it needs you is to stop running, close eyes, put up a smile on your lips, look inwards, feel your breathing and walk silently to your real self. The closer you reach that core, the foundation of your real self, healthier you become in mind and body. The better the inner world, the better still will be the external circumstances related to you.

Inhale peace and tranquility. Douse the ravaging fire. Turn it into a soulful bonfire and you like a fatigued traveler basking in healing and peace by its side while the snowy blizzards hit around. Dive deep. Leave the turbulent and disturbed surface and move towards the unmoving bottom. You will discover the futility of just wasting life on the storms on the surface.

Once you come out on the surface after the deep contemplative dive, the world outside will not be the scary choppy sea. It will be a playground of excitement. Life will be fun. Struggles will become just a game to be enjoyed. Turn life into an enjoyable game. Don’t allow it to turn into an agonizing struggle.

All it needs is just a daily dose for the mind. Some quiet moments when you leave the visible and go into the embrace of the invisible. When you go into the source of your creation and emerge almost reborn.

Are God and Satan the same under democracy?

Democracy, by modern day consensus, is the best—among others—form of governance. With some skepticism, it is agreed that it is best among the worst. It even appears so. But that doesn’t mean all is well with democracy. No system is perfect. Perfection is just a mirage. But like all political systems democracy also can be better.

My main issue with democracy is with the same voting weight carried by all individuals as voters. The best and the worst carry the same political weight, at least as voters, when it comes to contributing to the process of selecting the most suitable representatives and hence the best government. Isn’t it ironical that the people who have been fatal for society carry the same political weight as the ones who have been of real help to the society as voters? Shouldn’t the weight of votes vary as per the contribution or potential of individual voters?

Under the present system of voting Hitler, Stalin and Edi Amin, responsible for the deaths of millions of innocent lives, carry the same vote weight as the healers of humanity like Gandhi, Bose, Buddha, Jesus and Mohammad. Shouldn’t the people with proven records of being better human beings, having better understanding of the issues of common interests, have more voting power than the criminals, social degenerates and blood-shedders.

Common people, busy in the small domain of life to survive, carrying the good and bad in them, can have the value of one to their vote. The criminals, terrorists, law breakers and hate-mongers can have fraction of one in proportion to their crimes. And achievers and contributors in academics, sports, arts, science and culture can have the multiple of one to their vote. The latter with their better selves, more awareness and more constructive nature will turn the game of democracy far more dynamic and vibrant than it is now.

Since the best and the worst just occupy the minority edges of society in terms of numbers, it will not shake the present system’s foundations immediately. But it will act as a system of reward and punishment for the majority to maintain and improve their political ratings. Who doesn’t want to grow? And certifiedly more so. A better political rating on the basis of standing and achievement in life will look good on anybody’s CV. It will be as good holding doctorate degrees, gold medals and mushy citations. A cut in the voting right, and rating coming to a fraction of one, will add to scores of other deterrents that stop a person from going the wrong side to be lesser of a human being in all its forms.

A voting right cannot be static. It cannot be frozen for all times irrespective of best and the worst deeds of the holders. In case a person comes out worst, it should be abrogated altogether. In case of glorious achievement, the person should have multiple of one. It is a suitable political reward. It’s better to have a Hitler without any voting right. Still more suitable to have Mother Teresa with multiple of one voting right.

The Election Commission has to turn the voting right a bit dynamic with the possibilities of upgrade and degrade and even outright abrogation. It will save democracy from being the puppet of poor choices where masses, hardly knowing what they are voting for, hardly knowing the issues involves, get swayed by selfish rhetoric and emotional rabble rousing to elect pitiable leaders to power.

The differential voting rights will carry the democracy to the next stage. The elected representatives will be better and people will have one more push to be better.