What a wonderful world - Update

Was discussing on instant messenger about a previous post of mine, with the same title, with a friend. Felt that some snippets of the conversation are worthy enough to be posted here!

I had said, 'Why whine? Why cry? What a wonderful world!'
The reason why I said this and why I liked this so much is (from the chat, mildly edited for the sake of coherence)

We are totally identified with our mind and so we constantly worry about our happiness / sadness, which are nothing but arbitrary neural states in the mind. We worry about them as we are identified with them. So we resist what is. What is, is this wonderful world. When we start to disidentify with the mind, we learn to accept the What is. Only then, we will see the wonderful world and stop whining and crying.

Of course all this commentary is not needed if we can enjoy the wonderful world and this song instead of whining and crying. In some circumstances, all the words of masters like Osho and JK stand so ridiculously useless in front of the ability of such a song in raising consciousness. This happened to me yesterday when I was introduced to this song (again, from the chat, edited for the sake of coherence)

I was reading about zen, enlightenment, Osho etc yesterday around midnight and I was in quite an awful mood. I was machine like clicking through for about an hour. In addition, I had some porn videos open that I was sampling now and then. My mechanical link clicking led me to the zen story of10 bulls. This video was embedded in that page but it took some time to load. I did not notice it then. As I was half way through the story, suddenly this song started playing and in a second I woke up from that machine like state. There was a sudden shift in consciousness. I was suddenly extraordinarily awake. I thought what bullshit - porn videos and stupid JK/Osho words. I closed all windows and listened to this at least 5-6 times. What the words of Osho and JK could not do then, this song did it so easily!

Monastic life joke

A young monk arrives at the monastery. He is assigned to helping the
other monks in copying the old canons and laws of the church by hand.

He notices, however, th at all of the monks are copying from copies,
not from the original manuscript. So, the new monk goes to the head
abbot to question this, pointing out that if someone made even a small
error in the first copy, it would never be picked up! In fact, that error
would be continued in all of the subsequent copies.

The head monk, says, "We have been copying from the copies for centuries, but you make a good point, my son."

He goes down into the dark caves underneath the monastery where the
original manuscripts are held as archives in a locked vault that hasn't
been opened for hundreds of years. Hours go by and nobody sees the
old abbot.

So, the young monk gets worried and goes down to look for him. He
sees him banging his head against the wall and wailing.
"We missed the R! We missed the R! We missed the R!"
His forehead is all bloody and bruised and he is crying uncontrollably.

The young monk asks the old abbot, "What's wrong, father?"
With A choking voice, the old abbot replies,
"The word was...
CELEBRATE!!!"



PS: Got this as a forward! Was laughing like mad for quite sometime :D

What a wonderful world

What a wonderful world

I am probably the last person alive on planet earth to have heard about this song. Who cares! What a wonderful world! It made my day today. But its night now. Who cares! What a wonderful world! Why whine? Why cry? What a wonderful world!

PS:This is my new gita!

Light

Whats the point in gathering information about the frequency, wavelength and / or polarization of visible light amidst other things when one has not learned to open ones eyes!

Osho on chanting mantras

Osho on chanting mantras

If you chant any word or any mantra continuously inside the mind, other thoughts stop because they don't have any space. And this continuous chanting is a certain device of auto-hypnosis; it is not meditation. It does not lead you to any spiritual enlightenment, but it certainly gives you a good feeling of wellbeing and health. You will feel refreshed -- just as you feel refreshed after a good shower;

Related post - Self knowledge or self hypnosis - Jiddu Krishnamurthi

PS: There are lots of comments by Osho on many other people, spiritual masters and so called spiritual masters in the same website that contains Osho's comments on mantras. Interesting read!

House of cards

"Even a house of cards needs a firm ground to stand on!" - Osho

தாய்

கடவுள் இல்லை என்றேன் தாயை காணும் வரை!
I used to be an atheist, till I saw that in my mom!

The ability to love selflessly, even in the face of adversity and non-reciprocity with total humility is god! Finding this feeling in us for everyone around us is indeed finding that in us!

Truly, love is god!
அன்பே சிவம்!

Allowing this beauty to shine through us, by removing the curtain of maya that is currently preventing us from doing so, is probably the prime purpose of life!

Boredom

I was getting supremely bored this afternoon. I tried a lot of things to get out of the boredom. Just a few minutes ago, I decided to get a "spiritual high" by reading some articles of Jiddu Krishnamurthi but couldn't find anything interesting. Then, I moved on to Eckhart Tolle and this is the first quote of his that I read. Remember, I only googled for Eckart Tolle and not boredom.

The mind exists in a state of "not enough" and so is always greedy for more. When you are identified with mind, you get bored and restless very easily. Boredom means the mind is hungry for more stimulus, more food for thought, and its hunger is not being satisfied.

When you feel bored, you can satisfy the mind's hunger by picking up a magazine, making a phone call, switching on the TV, surfing the web, going shopping, or — and this is not uncommon — transferring the mental sense of lack and its need for more to the body and satisfy it briefly by ingesting more food.

Or you can stay bored and restless and observe what it feels like to be bored and restless. As you bring awareness to the feeling, there is suddenly some space and stillness around it, as it were. A little at first, but as the sense of inner space grows, the feeling of boredom will begin to diminish in intensity and significance. So even boredom can teach you who you are and who you are not.

You discover that a "bored person" is not who you are. Boredom is simply a conditioned energy movement within you. Neither are you an angry, sad, or fearful person. Boredom, anger, sadness, or fear are not "yours," not personal. They are conditions of the human mind. They come and go.

Nothing that comes and goes is you.
"I am bored." Who knows this?
"I am angry, sad, afraid." Who knows this?
You are the knowing, not the condition that is known.

Gravity end Ego

Gravity distorts the smooth space-time fabric and makes it convoluted. In a similar vein, ego distorts the smooth fabric of reality that includes space and time. The amount of distortion is proportional to the ego. Getting oneself rid of it, will enable one glimpse reality!

Partial source code of the Matrix

Some sections of the source code of the Matrix was clandestinely revealed to me yesterday by a mole amongst the gods. Here it is. I am revealing it at great personal risk. So, please make good use of it.

// Partial but crucial sections of the program for life of person X


void main()
{

X.body = new body;
X.enlightened = X.awakened = FALSE;
X.ego = random (1, MAX_EGO);

while (X.ego)
{

while (X.body)
{
update_ego (&X.ego, X.enlightened, X.awakened);
X.body -= random(1, X.body.life_remaining());
is_enlightened (&X.enlightened);
is_awakened (&X.awakened);
}

delete X.body;
X.body = new body;
X.enlightened = X.awakened = FALSE;

}

print "X is back amongst the gods";
return 0;

}


update_ego(ego, enlightened, awakened)
{

if (enlightened)
ego = 0
else if (awakened)
ego--
else
ego += random(-1, 1);

}

Problem with Bhakti folks

The problem I face when I discuss spiritual issues with people steeped in Bhakti is that I often feel like I am walking on egg shells. I really do not know when they would take offense about something that I say. This means I am constantly worried when they would brand me a blasphemous bastard and decide to deal with me (dealing could be in various ways from avoiding talking to me to issuing a fatwa). This fear exists in me despite the total genuineness, kindness and humility of many such people whom I interact with constantly. It is so damn difficult! If only i knew how to transcend this fear, I would be able to extract a lot of gems from them!

Gateless gate

Have you ever walked through a gate that vanished the very moment you crossed it?
It is indeed the gateless gate.


The Great Way is gateless,
Approached in a thousand ways.
Once past this checkpoint
You stride through the universe.
- Wumen Hui-k'ai, 1183-1260

கண்ணனுக்கு

போற்றுவார் போற்றலும்
தூற்றுவார் தூற்றலும்
போகட்டும் கண்ணனுக்கே!

May the praise of the praiser
and the abuse of the abuser
go to the lord!


WOW! What a profound thought!

Typically when someone abuses us or praises us, our mind keeps replaying the message again and again and again. We cannot stop deriving pleasure or pain, as the case may be, from this never ending replay! Only when we stop identifying with our mind, will we stop deriving pain or pleasure from our thoughts. The only way to do that is the above verse!

Me and suffering

As long as there is a me and a non-me, there will be suffering!

Voice in my head

Dear Mr. Voice in my head,

I know I cannot silence you. I know you will go on ranting non stop till I die. But, I have decided to boycott you. I might fail for now. But, Ill keep trying.

In the spirit of Gandhi's quit India movement, am gonna start the quit me movement :p. Quit me, my dear voice in my head!

With luv.

Darkness

It makes so much more sense to spread light than to fight darkness!

Dealing with fire

As long as we hold on to the inflammable material, we need to fear every one with a match stick. The less inflammable we make it, the less we need to fear match sticks and the ilk. If it becomes totally nonflammable, then there is absolutely no fear of fire from anywhere. That is freedom!

Of course, the choice of how much we want to fight others with the knowledge of fire and how much we want to make the inflammable material as nonflammable, is totally up to us! But, remember Murphy's law. If it can catch fire, it will! :)

Self-knoledge or self-hypnosis

Self-knoledge or self-hypnosis - Conversation with Jiddu Krishnamurthi

You have practised self-control, mastered thought, and concentrated on the furthering of experience. This is a self-centred occupation, it is not meditation; and to perceive that it is not meditation is the beginning of meditation. To see the truth in the false sets the mind free from the false. Freedom from the false does not come about through the desire to achieve it; it comes when the mind is no longer concerned with success with the attainment of an end.

பக்தியா கர்மமா ஞானமா?

பக்தியா கர்மமா ஞானமா?
அன்னையா தந்தையா குருவா?
ஒன்றில்லாமல் மற்றொன்று உருவாகுமா?
இதில் உயர்வென்றும் தாழ்வென்றும் நிலையேதம்மா?

Dear Ms. Anuradha Ramanan

Homosexuality is not something to be disgusted about. It is as natural as heterosexuality or bisexuality. It has been repeatedly observed in many animal species across different geographical locations - birds, mammals and even cold blooded animals.

The title of your series claims you are going to talk about the sexual issues of your readers with love. But, you seem to have lost focus on that aspect. Please do take a look at your prejudices.

Anbudan Antharangam - A question and answer type section in a tamil magazine

Brief description of the article for followers of blog who cannot read tamil:
Someone has written to her asking suggestion on dealing with balancing his male partner, with whom he became intimate with after his divorce, and his former wife who wants to get back with him. She has responded with a lot of disgust towards his homosexual tendencies and claims it to be a big blot on Tamil and Indian culture.

With luv
Partha

Won’t You Join Our Animal Welfare Society?

Won’t You Join Our Animal Welfare Society? - Conversation with Jiddu Krishnamurthi

Of course we must work together, that is most natural, but co-operation isn't a matter of following a blue-print laid down by the State, by the leader of a party or a group or by any other authority. To work together through fear or through greed for reward is not co-operation. Co-operation comes naturally and easily when we love what we are doing. And then co-operation is a delight. But to love, there must first be the putting aside of ambition, greed and envy. Is not this so?

...

If action arises from seeing the necessity of a certain work and from having the capacity to organize it, such action leads in a direction quite different from that of action which is the outcome of love and in which also there is the capacity to organize. When action springs from frustration or from the desire for power, however excellent that action may in itself, its effects are bound to be confusing and wrought with sorrow. The action of love is not fragmentary, contradictory or separa¬tive. It has a total, integrated effect.

...

I am only pointing out that if your motive is not that of really helping the animals, then you are using them as a means to your self-aggrandizement which is what the bullock-cart driver is doing. He does it in a crude, brutal way whereas you and others are more subtle and cunning about it. That is all. You are not stopping cruelty as long as your efforts to stop it are profitable to yourself. If by helping the animals you could not fulfill your ambition or escape from your frustration and sorrow, you would then turn to some other means of fulfillment. All this indicates - doesn't it? - that you are not interested in animals at all except as a means to your own personal gain.

...

Of course, that is what the vast majority of people are doing. From the biggest politician to the village manipulator, from the highest prelate to the local priest, from the greatest social reformer to the worn-out social worker, each one is using the country, the poor or the name of God as a means of fulfilling his ideas, his hopes, his utopias. He is the centre. His is the power and the glory, but always in the name of the people, in the name of the holy, in the name of the down-trodden. It is for this reason that there is such a frightening and sorrowful mess in the world. These are not the people who will bring peace to the world who will stop exploitation, who will put an end to cruelty. On the contrary, they are responsible for even greater confusion and misery.

I Want To Find The Source Of Joy?

I Want To Find The Source Of Joy? - Conversation with Jiddu Krishnamurthi

Search is an extraordinarily deceptive phenomenon, is it not? Being dissatisfied with the present, we seek something beyond it. Aching with the present, we probe into the future or the past. And even that which we find is consumed in the present. We never stop to inquire into the full content of the present, but are always pursuing the dreams of the future. Or from among the dead memories of the past we select the richest and give life to it. We cling to that which has been or reject it in the light of to-morrow and so the present is slurred over. It is merely a passage to be gone through as quickly as possible.

Finding inner peace

Prof Menon at IIT Madras, author of Stop sleep walking through life, conducts a meeting once every two weeks on the above topic. To describe it briefly, the meeting can be called Spirituality 101. I attended it today for the first time and a lot of thoughts came to my mind. Some of them are almost exactly what he said, some inspired by what he said and some not instaneously inspired him:

1. The most important thing in this world is one thing. That thing is a question and that question is Who? Who are you?

2. Can you just sit simply and feel extremely wonderful? At least as wonderful as on orgasm? If not, isnt there something wrong?

3. If you have a problem with someone and are angry with them, beware. For, they are also god in disguise. Just like you.

4. If you want to contribute to social change, the most important thing that you have to do is to radiate joy. Unconditionally. As often as possible

5. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar says pain is inevitable but suffering is optional. An explanation came to mind to explain this. Consider the situation where you hit the pinky toe of your leg very hard on the base of an iron table. It hurts. It really does hurt. Consider an alternative situation where someone else pushes you and then you hit yourself. It hurts too. But then, something else also happens. There are many more emotions. The former is pain and the additional emotions in the latter is suffering. The above example is an analogy. In emotional cases, the latter situation causes a lot of damage. For a long time. That can be totally avoided by someone who lets go of ego. The more the better.

6. The more one progresses in the direction of freeing oneself from ego, any insults to us will be felt like an insult to our shadow. You just do not care about it anymore.

7. The idea of who you really are is the most important lesson one has to learn. Even before one learns to play cricket!

Death

I think one thing that we should think about now and then is our own death. Different people experience different things when they think about their own death. To me it indicates how transient and insignificant the sense of 'me' is in this infinite cosmic continuum. That does help me in turning my mind inward to question the sense of 'me'.

Thinking about death is not necessarily masochistic. I understand it could be done that way too. That is counterproductive. But, it is certainly possible to think about death in a non-masochistic way and that will bring about a lot of moderation and humility in our lives!


ஊனிற்காக ஏங்கி அழுது வாடினாலும்
வாராது போவானோ யமதர்மனே?
ஞானத்திற்காக ஏங்கி உருகி வாடினால்
காக்காமல் போவானோ அவன் அப்பனே?

Observations from Elliots beach

• Ohh! to the omnipresent nameless seamless continuum!
• Its absolutely magical that the silver carpet on the sea (moons reflection) appears to be directed towards everyone who cares to look at it!
• There is no gnana if bhakti is denied and there is no bhakti if gnana is not accepted!
  

Bhakti

What is Bhakti? How does one find out about it? Is there any point in even talking about it? If not, where does a person who is totally bereft of Bhakti even start?

காக்க காக்க கனகவேல் காக்க,
நோக்க நோக்க நொடியில் நோக்க!

கேசவனுக்கு வினா

என்பினில் ஈரம்போல்
என்நெஞ்சினில் பக்தி படைத்தாய்,
உயிரற்ற புவியில்
உயிர் படைத்த மாதவா,
உன்னில் அன்பற்ற என்னை
ஆட்கொள்வாயோ கேசவா?

The Legacy of Luna

Read this fascinating book called The Legacy of Luna by a beautiful lady called Julia Hill. Started to read the book yesterday facing the beautiful Bay of Bengal at the Elliots beach in Chennai*. I just could not put the book down. I finished it today.

Its the story of a lady who climbed up a tree and stayed there for just over two years to protect it from being chopped down for timber. Going beyond saving the tree, this lady also constantly tried to reach out to everyone, to those who tried to kill her friends, to those who tried to chop the tree and to everyone whom she interacted with it. Try to close your eyes for a couple of moments and feel the enormity of the act. Two full years, through storms, lightnings and amidst un-friendly security guards on top of a tree, at about 200 feet from the ground. What an achievement! I am just stunned thinking about the passion one would need to do such a thing! Its a very light read and one can finish this book in about 4-5 hours. I strongly recommend this book to everyone.

This book and the person reminded me of another lady who chose to follow the calling of her heart and put her life on the line for its sake (though in this case she was eventually ). This person is Dian Fossey. She was a primatologist who went to the african jungles to study the endangered mountain gorillas and stayed back to protect their lives and their habitat from greedy poachers and power hungry military men. Again, close your eyes and imagine. A lady leaving the physical comforts of a first world nation to go and stay for about 18 years in the jungles of a third world nation without even a functioning democracy for the sake of the gorillas, saving whom she was very passionate about. What a magnificent achievement! She wrote the book, Gorillas in the mist, relating her experience (A movie was also made later on with the same name). Though this book is not as light a read as the one by Julia Hill, Dian's passion for her subject and her selfless love of the gorillas shone through brightly. The story of Dian had a sad ending as she was brutally murdered.

I am absolutely fascinated and inspired by these two women for their courage and passion! And, I strongly recommend the two books to anyone who wants an inside peak into the lives of truly passionate people who pursue their hearts calling at any cost!



* Was looking for a coffee shop in Chennai to sit down and read a book without being thrown out before 4-5 hours. There are these big corporate shops like CCD and Barista, but I really wanted a smaller shop. Till I find one, Elliots beach is probably the best place to read a book, at least for 3 hours on every non-rainy day!