Sky above, Earth below, Fire Within

What an opportunity it is with,

Sky above, Earth below, and Fire Within!

And glowing in that fire,

you see anything is possible

You see opportunity when others see impossibility

You take risks. You are focussed. 

You hustle, you are restless,

You  know that nothing is unrealistic

And glowing in that fire,

You feel overwhelming love!

You embrace your childlike wonder and curiosity

You take flying leaps into the unknown

You  contribute to something bigger than yourself

And glowing in that fire,

You create. You learn. You grow. You do. You be.

You believe it's never too late to start living a dream.

And glowing in that fire,

You reclaim your humanity 

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Essentials are Invisible - A Thought Experiment

Life is short. Senses are limited. Time is fleeting. Challenges are many. Distraction are innumerable. 

In this predicament of human life, it is essential to realize two things primarily - 

1. An awareness of what is essential and what is not, and 

2. The Essentials are invisible.

It certainly is of prime importance not to spend this precious life in non-essentials. But the dilemma is how to create that insight to spot the essential, and discard the non-essential. I think to be able to overcome this challenge, one has to deal with both the points above simultaneously. One leads to the other. I guess there would not be any prescription to follow to be aware of what is essential and not. But certain examples below might be able to put certain instances on the table. 

For example for a warrior, the actual fighting is non-essential. What is essential is the cause he is standing for. 

For an original painter, the canvas, or the brush is not non-essential. They are dispensable. He can switch to any better brush or medium. Rather what is essential is the idea he is trying to paint.

In a relationship, the personalities involved are non-essential. But what is essential is the invisible virtue of understanding, compassion, kindness, empathy that binds two personalities. Moment the fabric of these invisible essentials are broken, the relationship tears apart. Again the same personalities might enter into similar relationships with others. But then the fabric that is essential for any relationship remains the same. Personalities change - non-essentials are ever changing. But what is essential remains the same.

For a writer the medium he uses to write is non-essential. The language he uses is non-essential. But what is essential is that invisible archetype he is dealing with in his mind and heart. It is that experiment he is having in his mind, that commotion happening in his heart, leading him to write, resulting in the flow of a poem or a novel, is what is essential.

It is interesting to observe the amount of time and energy we squander on non-essentials. The endless pursuits to have more power, money, fame, friends, well wishers, kinships, etc that man engages in, appears non-essential to me. These aspects of daily life are just mere reflections of something invisible which is totally from a different plane. Rather than focusing on the source, we get distracted into the dissipated reflections of that. We spend time in the questing of having more and more the artifacts of something at source. That source emanates from our own being. It arises from our own understanding, our own heart and mind. I am not hinting a way to solitary exclusion. Certainly it might be a way for some. But it is not necessarily the most optimum way for all, atleast not for me, for sure. These dry artifacts are important for me. But along with having these dry artifact, the awareness that these are non-essential, and they link to something which is at core, which is invisible, is at heart of things.

Many great thinkers have spent most of their lives in figuring out a way to be centered into this invisible essential - the source. One effective way the ancient civilizations invented for themselves, to solve this existential problem, might have been the creation of the idea of God, and developing the capacity of man to concentrate on that Ideal. What might be more apt than to have a concrete projection of an Archetype in form of a personal God-head,  or an abstract idea. At least there is a point in which a person can refer to when she wants to relate to those essentials.

But, I think, this whole creative experiment defeats itself, when this idea of God is treated in exclusion to daily living. When God is treated a separate entity from one's own self, and one's own actions, and the innumerable interaction one has with others, in one's daily life. When God limits Himself to that small corner in one's living room, or a building in exclusion, one calls a temple, He fizzles out to the domain of non-essential. The whole purpose and the toil of all the ancient masters get defeated. I think that one-pointed focus on the essential, should be maintained in one's daily activities, and voluntarily one has to exclude from her awareness the non-essentials.

I try to practice it at my work, and personal life. Yes, I fail multiple times. But, again I try to stand up, shirk off the dust, and start walking again on the path. I think the key is - Finding out the essential, and one pointed concentration on the essential. At work, the issue at hand, the problem being faced is essential, and anything and everything coming our way piggybacking the issue are non-essentials. 

Even when dealing with work and life, work becomes non-essential, and life is what is essential. To clarify, I have experienced people who kill life in name of work. By killing life I mean, for them there is no room for compassion, kindness, empathy, love, joy, respect, loyalty, or humanity, when it comes to work. Humans become just a means, a resource, a robot to churn out a result. If the result does not meet a pre-determined expectation, the doer is considered worthless. The dignity of a person is attached to how much capital is created by the person, or how much productivity gain is produced by the person, and how much the person has been able to make a corporation's cult which is given fancy names as "Operating Systems" or "Standard Operating Procedures".  It is interesting to see that many times,  we are incapable to differentiating a man from his role, or artifact he produces out of an action he is forced to do at his job. 

The problem remains the same. It is about being distracted with the non-essential, and losing the sight of the essential.

To simplify, I carry with myself a logo to remind me every moment of the essential. For me the essential is - Love. It is fraternity, compassion, understanding, respect, objectivity, friendship, individuality, and respecting that sacred space for the self, and the other. 

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The Space

Walking to Andrea,

In that solitary walk,

Across the desert,

In the scorching heat

Thirsty Simony,

Could see no life around.

Times were tough,

Abandoned was he,

Walked uphill across the sand dunes,

Simoni was all alone.

With no caring shade,

With no drop of quenching water,

With no shoulder to rest.

Was he all alone,

Walking up to Andrea.

With every stride ahead,

There were more unknown,
There were more thorns and uphills.

There was more solitude,
There were more challenges.

Tired was he,

Defeated and wronged was he.

But his spirit was young,

Undaunted and brimming full

With sacredness and Love.

For he had created a Space.

A Space around him.

That guarded his soul,

Away from all that is evil,

Away from all that is dark.

Away from all that is in-humane.

The Space was a canvas for his brush,

It was the marble for his chisel,

It was that empty arena,

Where he could compose his own note.

In that Space,

Kept Simoni creating,

The symphony of Love, Faith, and Hope.

With the power of that Symphony,

Kept he walking, on and on.

For all, what appeared

were the wrinkled skin,

the gray hair, the white beard,

The parched feet.

But deep inside

Was a brimming fountain of life,

Of understanding, Of compassion, Of love.

Deep inside was the ever youthful self,

Guarded by his Space,

Working to see God,

With every passing moment in his life,

Either through his sculptures,

Or his paintings, or his songs.

Centered was Simoni on the Ideal,

On the Archetype, on the Beauty.

Kept he on, his journey to Andrea.

He did not know what would he find

Upon reaching Andrea.

But he knew for sure.

It was the journey, and not the destination,.

Giving him the opportunity to see

His Truth, His God, His Love.

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The Journey on the raft

The  Journey on the raft
Playing with the tumultuous waves,
Being winnowed by the gushing wind,
Surrounded by the endless ocean,
So wide, you can’t get around it,
So deep, you can’t get under it,
Simoni plays the tune of life,
On the harp of his ores!

Some call it life,
Some call it coincidence,
Some call it a meaningless charade.
What it is in real, Simoni does not know.
And feels it futile to even attempt to know.
For time is short, and the art is long!

The art of being alive,
Meditating on each moment,
Going deep into the suchness of each second,
Keenly listening to each breath,
Feeling each throb of the heart,
Carried on the boat of the breath,
Across the limitless and unpredictable ocean!

He does not know where he is headed to,
He does not know when the journey shall end,
All that he knows is he has to keep rowing,
He has to know – All from beginning,
Back to school, again over again,
Since thousands of yester births,
To thousands in future!

In the passion to really know,
To really be, to observe and be aware
Of the stillness beyond the apparent entropy.
To discover the invisible thread
Connecting the dots of the countless
Turns, swirls, ebbs and flow.

Some say it is all preordained.
Some say it is just an indifferent nature.
Some say it is the causation of your actions.
Some say it is the Big Father in white beard,
Up in the sky controlling all.

Simoni has come out all alone,
In the midst of the storm,
With his bosom exposed to the lightning,
His sinews hardened with the fighting the waves,
Every moment through his art.
He is to discover the suchness of the ocean,
By his own heart and soul.
He is out to create his own poem,
With his own understanding of the ocean.

Going along finds he,
Glittering islands,
Colorful mermaids,
Bountiful ships.
All playing beautiful tunes,
Frolics, dances, activities all around.
All vie for his attention.
All want him to come to rest,
In the ease of the slumber of their fraternity
Of determinate answers,
To all the existential questions.
Through their borrowed ideologies and beliefs!

Simoni keeps rowing,
Going deep within,
Acknowledging his amazement,
At the flowering of events all around,
Shaping his destiny,
All coordinating with each other,
His efforts and actions,
The invisible mystery,
All working hand in hand,
Creating this wonderful tapestry of his existence!

He wants to see the mystery
In his own eyes,
Feel it with his own hands,
Reflect upon it with his own find,
Love it with his own heart.

He keeps rowing,
Undaunted by the tribulations,
The failures and pain.
He does not know where he is heading,
Nor he knows from where he comes.
He just knows one thing,
To chip away the non-essentials,
Carving this sculpture of his life,
Expressing only the truth!

It is the truth what he has to find out,
By his own, with his mind, heart and soul,
Guided by the masters of posterity,
And the Elders of his time.
He knows he is another link
In the invisible string of life,
Extending from the eternity,
Heading to the eternity.
He knows his sculpture of truth,
Is not for himself.
Rather it is for the links coming tomorrow,
The links who carve their own sculpture,
Better and more beautiful than ever.

Simoni knows he has to just act,
With all devotion, humility, and finesse!
He knows all his toils, pains, and strivings,
Are his offerings to that Source,
The Source of all the Mystery!

He gets the glimpse of that unknowable Mystery,
Sometimes as an incredible coincidence,
Sometimes as a gasping beauty,
Sometimes as a venerated intuition,
Sometimes as just a simple purity of stillness.

He knows the Mystery is unfathomable.
He knows his life is just a wavelet,
Amidst the roaring giant waves,
In the shore less ocean all around.

He keeps rowing,
Meditating towards chipping away,
Illusions one after another,
With the chisel of his mind, heart and soul,
Sharpened with intuition, intelligence and grace.
He keeps on with is work,
Still, concentrated, and un-wavered.
No storm can move him out,
From his deep meditation.

Amongst all these actions,
All these struggles,
He is mystically at peace.
For him all flow in a divine harmony!
As the orchestra in resonance,
As the nature!

Doing the yoga of his Karma,
Not enchanted with the outcome,
He keeps on with his work,
One-sighted, unmoved, and still.
Rowing his boat,
Knowing the mystery,
One level after another!
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The Glory of the Friendship Day!!!

Looking out of the window,
I see all the trees swaying in joy,
With friends, kith and kin,
Dancing in the rhythm,
Impeccably played by the wind!
For, today is friendship day!

So have the clouds come out,
Joining hands with friends,
In groups big,
Silently gliding in the same rhythm!

Today Sun is not alone too.
For he is surrounded by the long traveled clouds,
Coming from far of skies.
All coming together in his brace,
Singing out in joy!

Ants are in holiday mood.
No one carrying grains to store!
But the gifts for the friends on other shore.
The peacock is up in grace,
Dancing with the morning dew,
Heralding to the world,
The beautiful spectacle of the special day!

No stone is falling alone, through the slope the hill,
For he too has by his sides,
His pal, moss, by all his rolling strides.
No matter it is the inevitable fall this time,
Or the past’s arbitrary rise!

The lotus on the swamp,
Today is in communion with his pals –
The fragrance divine, and thousands petals pink!

Even the shadows of the leaves on the farm ground,
Are with their pals, celebrating the unity,
Swaying in the music of the breeze!
All the vagabond meandering streams,
Find their home in the river.
And the serene river forgets its solitude,
Being one with the vast gushing sea!
All the drops of water, and of life,
Yearning to be united in harmony of fraternity!

What an invaluable blessing it is to be human!
Being blessed with the opportunity,
To synthesize all apparent antagonism,
All ostensive differences,
Into the harmony of friendship!

What a beautiful orchestra it is,
All the differences not homogenized,
But decorated as a rolling kaleidoscope!
To lose one’s mortality,
To the immortality of the Collective!

Friends are not yet another luxury.
But they stand for that indispensable link,
The link what reclaims our humanity.
Friendship is the first and the last chapter
Of the book to be human!

Friendship is the gateway of the Archetype.
It is the first attempt to know a person, a thing, an institution.
It is the heralding of a journey,
An arduous one,
To be alive,
To be knowing,
To be human!

Blessing all on this auspicious day!
Simoni celebrating friendship -
A gift nobler than divinity,
Proclaiming all of humanity,

To open up their embrace of friendship,
Their understanding, their compassion,
Beyond all the limits imposed by smallness of man,
Beyond one’s likeness,
Beyond one’s proclivities,
Beyond one’s provincialism,
Beyond one’s whims,
Beyond one’s weaknesses,
Beyond one’s strengths.

Let us all be bound to each other,
In the golden thread of fraternity,
In the hug of friendship,
In the attraction of loyalty,
No matter what!

Let us all reclaim our humanity,
Through the specter of friendship!

Happy Friendship day to All.
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The Stillness Beyond

Is it the eternal wait for the return
Swayed in the propensity -
To own and have?

Is it a throbbing
With the anticipation of acceptance,
In that special countenance?

Is it just about being bound,
Tied up to the daily chores?

Is it the eerie fake determinism,
Of borrowed ideologies?

Is it the make believe,
Artificial peace of hopeless irresponsibility,
Of standing for nothing,
Leaning on a hallucinated ideal for everything?

“Thou art mistaken”, shouted the Sky!
“Rather - his Stillness is beyond all!
Beyond all clamors of the personality.
It hails from a place where
The ideal is real and impersonal – known in its suchness,
Cleansed from the cravings of the mind and heart,
Bright and clean standing like the impersonal Himalayas!

It is about working in silence,
For love of the work,
With no aims but to give out the best
Hidden deep inside –
In the form of a poem, a stroke on stone, a song.
It is about building up a nation,
It is about carving out a humanity,
Deep in love, for love sake.

Still is Simoni,
Contemplating on the white marble,
Listening he to his own breath,
And the unheard whispers of nature!
Feels he the connection with that sublime Truth,

The Eternal Beauty!
Clamors Simoni not for power,
Not for love, Not for wealth,
Not for fame or fairness.

He just is still,
Contemplating on the white marble,
Striving to give to the cold grossness
The warm touch of his Love,
Making it permanent, embalmed within the marble,
In the form of those beautiful chisel strokes,
Creating the most beautiful expressions,
Sight of man has ever touched,
The pristine blessing from the invisible –
Through all his past,
The Past of his love, his pains, his torments,
And the ideal vision of the future as well,
Being enriched by never before,
Readier than ever,
To stand with its head held high,
In-front of posterity in the millennia to come!
Ushering mankind to a new morning,
A morning of glory, love and truth.


He toils, he observes, he thinks,
He works with his chisel – lost in solitude,
In scorching Sun, and in gushy rains,
In the chilly snow, and in restless storm,
Always engaged and focussed,
Building up artifacts reflecting the One.

Needs he has none,
To talk to any mortal,
Impress on any one,
To search for love outside.

Needs he has none,
To share his thoughts,
His ideas, his love,
To any one out there.

For he knows the sacredness
Of his heart, his love, his ardor!
Questions he, how can the eternal grace,
Be captivated in the expressions of mere mortals?

His love is too grand to be held in the clutches of language,
His prayer too profound to be sung out loud.
Thus in stillness aloof,

Simoni sits
Contemplating on the marble.
The sky asked in amazement though,
Is it so simple to transcend the needs and the clamors?
The passions of the heart and the mind?
Is not on contrary, being just a human justifies all?
To want, to have, and to be Happy?

Simoni looked up to the high Sky,
Immediately replied he,
The point is not about what is easy and hard.
The point is not about what is right and wrong.

Rather, the point is walking which way -
The way of an ordinary lad,
Or the way of Michel Simoni!



More poems on Michel Simoni are available at
http://criativ-mind.blogspot.in/search/label/SIMONI%20SERIES
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Ekla Chalo Re - Being Human

"Jodi Tor Dak Shune Keu Na Ase Tobe Ekla Cholo Re" (Bengali: যদি তোর ডাক শুনে কেউ না আসে তবে একলা চলো রে, Jodi Tor Dak Shune Keu Na Ase Tobe Ekla Cholo Re, "If no one responds to your call, then go your own way alone"), commonly known as Ekla Chalo Re, is a Bangla song written by Rabindranath Tagore in 1905.

Originally titled as "Eka", the song was first published in the September 1905 issue of Bhandar magazine. It was influenced by Harinaam Diye Jagat Matale Amar Ekla Nitai Re, a popular Bangla Kirtan song of Dhapkirtan or Manoharshahi gharana praising Nityananda, disciple of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Ekla Chalo Re was incorporated in the "Swadesh" (Homeland) section of Tagore’s lyrical anthology Gitabitan.

The song exhorts the listener to continue his or her journey, despite abandonment or lack of support from others. The song is often quoted in the context of political or social change movements. Mahatma Gandhi, who was deeply influenced by this song, cited it as one his favorite songs.


Here is the translation in prose of the Bangla original rendered by Rabindranath Tagore himself -

If they answer not to thy call, walk alone. 

If they are afraid and cower mutely facing the wall,
O thou unlucky one,open thy mind and speak out alone.

If they turn away, and desert you when crossing the wilderness,
O thou unlucky one,trample the thorns under thy tread,
And along the blood-lined track travel alone.
If they do not hold up the light when the night is troubled with storm,
O thou unlucky one,with the thunder flame of pain,
Ignite thy own heart and let it burn alone.

The original song in Bangla is as follows -
যদি তোর ডাক শুনে কেউ না আসে তবে একলা চলো রে।
একলা চলো, একলা চলো, একলা চলো, একলা চলো রে॥
যদি কেউ কথা না কয়, ওরে ওরে ও অভাগা,
যদি সবাই থাকে মুখ ফিরায়ে সবাই করে ভয়—
তবে পরান খুলে
ও তুই মুখ ফুটে তোর মনের কথা একলা বলো রে॥
যদি সবাই ফিরে যায়, ওরে ওরে ও অভাগা,
যদি গহন পথে যাবার কালে কেউ ফিরে না চায়—
তবে পথের কাঁটা
ও তুই রক্তমাখা চরণতলে একলা দলো রে॥
যদি আলো না ধরে ওরে ওরে ও অভাগা,
আলো না ধরে যদি ঝর বাদলে আঁধার রাতে দুয়ার ধেয়ে ঘরে-
তবে বজ্রানলে আপন বুকের পাঁজরা জ্বালিয়ে একলা জ্বলো রে।।

This song reminds me of the teachings of the Buddha, to stand on your own feet, and relieve yourself of the crutches - in various forms - both material and spiritual. The Buddha quite succinctly had rendered this idea of his, in the following verses of the Dhammapada -

By self alone is evil done, by self one is defiled;
By self is evil left undone, by self alone one is purified.
Pure and impure on self alone depend;
No one can make another pure
- Verse 165 -Dhammapada.

It certainly is in the hand of man, in his total control, what he is to be. He has to walk alone, and burn his heart with the pain, and light the path on his way in the dark wilderness, as Tagore puts it. This is not a gesture of cutting oneself off from others. Neither it is a stance of an egoic obstinacy. This idea comes out from the sense of being a complete human - standing on one's own feet. It is about not being a creeper. It is about being the light, being the creator. It is in the words of Erich Fromm - being productive, grounded in love. Also to be noted is the possibility of man to do so, is taken as a possibility. By Fromm, the Buddha, Tagore, Plato and the Neo-Platonists, it is considered that Man can really walk alone, and it is a possibility of him to realize the Truth - all by himself. That is a major jump in human imagination, revived from the ancients both in the European Renaissance during 1400-1600 AD and the Bengal Renaissance started by Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1775–1833) and ended by Tagore (1861–1941)

This spirit of Humanism has been beautifully put forward by Pico della Mirandola in "Oration on the Dignity of Man", explaining the Biblical myth of Adam.
"Adam, we have not given you a fixed place, nor an appearance of your own, nor any particular privilege, so that the place, the appearance and the privileges which you may desire, you yourself may obtain and keep according to your desires and your feelings. The well-defined nature of the other creatures is limited by the laws we have decreed, but you who have no such constraints that will determine your own nature according to the free will into whose hands I have given you. I have placed you in the middle of the world so that from there you can better understand all that is in the world. We have made you neither celestial nor terrestrial, neither mortal nor immortal, so that, as the free and supreme modeller and sculptor of yourself, you can sculpt yourself into the shape which you have chosen. You can degenerate and fall towards the inferior beings who are animals; you can, if you so decide, regenerate yourself and rise towards the superior beings who are divine"

Fernand Schwarz in his book,"The Spirit of the Renaissance" observes - "The miraculous character of man is due to his unique place in the center of an ordered universe: he can overturn and ruin everything, just as he can redeem everything in a liberating transfiguration. His humanity is not given to him from outset: he has to forge it for himself; it is a choice and an effort. It is his actions which shape it. He can choose good or evil, play the part of the angel or the best. He is responsible for his infinite freedom. Situated between the diabolical and the divine, he has the responsibility to find the right path: that of glorification of the work which utilizes the given order to create a ladder of ascent. The ambiguity of human nature obliges man to face this uncertain and perilous adventure.
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On Action and the Law

Dharma is the Omnipresent law, the Archetype, the ideal. Dharma is the Way. Karma is the vehicle to tread the way. It is the means to be one with Dharma. It is the manifested dharma. If dharma is the order, karma is what keeps it alive. 

Karma exists in 3 fold manifestations - the knower, the knowledge, and the known. All these three dimensions of karma can exist in the following 3 climates or temperaments - Rajas, Sattva, and Tamas. 

Following words try to express the feel of Rajas: 

Plurality, analysis, individuality, separation, alienation, arrogance, fear, stress, anger, nervousness, anxiety, restlessness, disbelief, meanness, stinginess, prejudice, go getter, material efficiency. 

Following try to explain what constitute the Tamas: 

Attachment to an individual, lust, attachment to having something or somebody, indulgence, laziness, driven by baser instincts, attachment to results, to profits, helplessness on the face of obstacles, rationalization, over intellectualization, delusion, inactivity, habit 

Sattva stands for unity, integration, non attachment to the material manifest, one sighted concentration on the Archetype, the Dharma, the Ideal. From this vantage point all the three constituencies of Karma, viz - Knowledge, knower, and the known are considered as a way to be one with "Krishna" – the invisible Ideal – The Truth – The Source. From this standpoint every moment of existence becomes a worship. The action or the outcome of the action per se loses its importance. What is primary is the process of being in the act to be able to "see" the invisible in all the three material constituents - the knower, the known and the knowledge. 

Life is an opportunity to practice Sattva every moment of being alive. It is about living in touch with one’s sense of Being, instead of Having. Both Tamas and Rajas are flavors based on the mode of “having” 

It is easy to be swept in the delusion of having something or somebody. The way media, society and the world around imposes its noise on our minds, It is very easy to fall in the trap of the rat race of searching one’s self worth, one’s identity, in the form of one’s possession of power, knowledge, education, a lucrative job, profits, deals, relationships, etc. Not much attention is given to Be. Even if someone is giving a passing thought into one’s being, it is always weighed against what he shall “have”, out of “being” that. So, a person would prefer reading a book, if one is convinced that it would help one at work, and everyday living, manipulating life and people to achieve one’s own end. Or others might want to read, to have a stint of fantasy, to escape from one’s own reality. Not much thought is given to just Being. 

The state of Being is mostly misunderstood as the state of inaction. Rather it is quite contrary. The state of being is actually as state of immense internal and external activity, which helps a person to express out who she really is. It is a journey to discover one’s real self. It is a journey of self analysis to know one’s own self, the life, and the world around. It is a life lived in deep contemplation observing and knowing life. It is about being in that profound gratitude and appreciation of the creation and grandeur of nature. It is about trying to solve the mystery of one’s own existence. 

Being is what remains with man – his increases awareness, his growing respect of life and people, his enhanced capacity to love, his enlarged soul and heart, his resolution to stay with the Dharma, love, peace and harmony – no matter what. Being is that immortal sheen on one’s soul that transcends one’s life. It continues to be in this creation long after the body ceases to exist. After 2500 years of the death of the prince Siddhartha, the shine of his Being still is so young and relevant in this world. Same is the case of Beethoven, Dickens, Shakespeare, Blake, Mozart, Michelangelo, Jesus, and hundreds of masters who have made their being sublime in their lifetimes. Certainly no matter what they had, has all perished away. Nature and life has not even a passing awareness of them. But it was their Being which has remained timeless. 

Today is the world of markets. It is the world of business, of industry, of capitalism. Capital is the God. It is not for wellbeing, man wants capital. But it is for capital, one needs more capital. Capital is no more just a means. But it has become an end to itself. Everything is measures in the backdrop of its salability. Even before taking up a hobby, it runs out in the mind of man, on the aspect of its salability to the society. Today, in the shelves of the best sellers, you see books which worship the men who “have” – in the form of power, capital, prestige, knowledge, or any other such forms of getting more capital in return. Unconsciously man has started measuring his own worth based on this skewed scale. 

But, remembering the ageless wisdom of the Vedas, if we practice the Sattvik form of living - a living based on the way of being, life becomes a beautiful play of discovery and enchantment.

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One with the Essential

To Discern – The Essential from the myriad of the non-essentials,
Is the axis of existence – the internal compass – the pole star.

Going beyond the darkness,
To see the morning dawn.
Going through the transient illusions,
Through the mirage of sensuous pleasures,
Eludes the real One,
With all His Beauty!

For non-essentials are those roses,
Non-essential are the forms and contours,
Non-essentials are the fragrance and mushiness.
It needs the eyes of an artist,
To see through these veils,
The Source of all these beauty - fragmented,
The Unity – the Integrated One – The Genesis of ALL.
The invisible – but very much present,
Entwined with the mundane!

Through the eyes of the soul,
He gives small glimpses,
To few masters, after all their toil!
Through the material gross,
Sanctifies He all that is in existence,
With His invisible presence,
To all in flesh and blood,
To all in lines, letters and colors,
To all flora and fauna!

All material both in nature and artificial are but non-essentials.
They are all fleeting, transient, dynamic forth.
Changing forms from winter seed,
To Spring Blossom,
To the death of the Fall.
Holding all changes,
Is the invisible force of life,
Heading through infinite forms,
Take birth, growing and dying, and back again,
Re-affirming the Archetype – the Ideal – the One,
Flowing through eternally!

Lust is non-essential,
Love is Essential.
Anger and Hatred are non-essential,
Compassion, Kindness and Empathy are Essentials!

The seed of the acorn is non-essential.
But Essential is the blue-print of the grand oak tree in it!
The longing of Juliet was non-essential.
But Essential was Eternal Love she stood for,
Showing to the generations to come – what is Love!
Shakespeare, Einstein, Socrates, Jesus, Plato, Buddha were non-essentials.
But Essential were their timeless wisdom – always invisible, but available!
Power, fame, wealth and possessions are non-essentials,
Essential is courage, kindness, generosity, compassion and love.
Living safe cocooned by the security of materials and money is non-essential.
Risking life and reputation for a noble cause, being in love, helping the other is Essential.

Here I walk through the sands of times,
Searching for the invisible,
Sieving Through the heap of the non-essentials,
The hidden, enmeshed and ingrained,
Soul of the invisible – Omnipresent, Omnipotent!

The Invisible does not elude the disciple.
Always He is present for him,
Wearing the garb of the non-essential,
Play the game of Maya – now and always.

Here, in this heart, lives another disciple,
Eager to be one with the One!
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Don't Kill. Just Listen

At a time when most of the humanity is very busy in the race to have more and better, to be more productive, to do more in less time, to devour more and more, to produce more, to get the best deal - not only in the commodity market, but also in the realm of relationships, - the words like patience, perseverance, beingness, reasoning, love, compassion, relating to, etc are scoffed by many. Today man is eager to kill, not having any time to listen. When I say, "eager to kill", I not only point to the increasing terrorism determined to kill peace, love and solidarity, but I also intend to point to people in this society who are always eager kill others with the ammunition of hatred, superstition, prejudices, narrowness, close-mindedness, impatience, and an deep seated unwillingness to listen to the other, and understand the other. Man is slowly losing out his innate humane faculty to understand, empathize, express his solidarity and to connect to others being in love. Loving the other looks like a huge task. People do not sometimes even are able to relate to the other, forget about loving. Most of us are busy building up our guards to protect ourselves, our ego, our self-importance, in the name of individuality. We are busy doing the same with ourselves, and the other is busy too doing the same with himself. Most of the time is spent creating the separateness, creating those dis-integrated silos to save oneself, and then life fizzles out in ones own dungeon, either alone, or grouped with similar thinking diseased souls. Man misses out the opportunity to be able to really see the Truth, woven in the plurality and appreciate the inherent unity. It is not religion, culture, God which divides man from man. But a deep seated psychoanalytical disorder in man, which hinders his inherent capacity to love others, is the root cause of the dis-integration prevalent among men. 

Already having tough guards built around our ears, eyes, and minds, most among us tend to super-impose our own autobiography onto the other. The only way of life for most among us, is to quickly apply a borrowed or a quickly arrived at theory or framework and rationalize humans, relationships, work, circumstances, institutions to fit into a bias as per the framework. The idea is to find a quick fix, to be "productive", to be "smart", to be able to "do a split second decision", to be able to "lead". The same busyness and eagerness to produce results have been fuelled by the big capitalistic corporate environments, where the basis of all ethics, values, meaning, and existence of one is just - results, and value for the share holders. This predilections of modern man to find quickies, have shown its colors in the way people relate to men and women in their lives too - both in personal and professional realms. People so easily fall in love, and also fall out of love for that matter. A one night stand is considered to be the most in-thing and fashionable. Strangely, a weird existence is being propagated among most which is grounded on lack of patience, depth, creativity, authenticity, loyalty, courage and love. And most unfortunate thing is that each of these are definitive factors which make us humans. Inventing new machines, and making the existing machines and computers faster and better, as days pass to months, and then to years and decades, man being surrounded by machines, computers, networks, commodities, have slowly started identifying other fellow humans, including himself as a commodity. Having reduced to just a commodity, it is obvious that the human qualities of love, compassion, beingness, will be inevitably missing in the society. 

We can choose to continue to be in the state of trance, gradually relinquishing our core human values, or rather step back and think for sometime, what we are doing, and where we are going. Certainly before killing again - an idea, a person, a hope, a potential, a love, an understanding, a compassion, a concern, an affection, we need to stop and listen. We need to listen to our entire being, listen to the stars, listen to wind, listen to the stream, listen to the Earth, the sky and the moon. We will have to start reclaiming that lost awareness of the forgotten language - the language of being, where in its pristine form, man was able to relate not only his fellow men being in deep love, but also to nature, to flora and fauna. 

The Greatest Masters of yesteryears - Jesus, Buddha, Vedic scholars, Kabir, Rumi, to name a few, had always stressed on love and being-ness as the way to realization of man, his real essence and the real essence of this universe.

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The Right Action - On Beingness

There is one profound dimension to the right action that I would like to bring to the attention of the reader. This is the aspect of "Being" over "Having". Action as related in the contemporary society is mostly from the realm of "having". It is when wants to have something, he takes an action. That having might be material or more sublime. It might be related to experience, emotional needs, or more exterior oriented to achieve a worldly goal. In the realm of "Being" action is more of an internal activity which one undertakes just to observe, understand, accept, know and be silent, in the meditation of inaction, but keeps growing internally to increase one's level of appreciation of life as a whole. I can give an example on the way Mother Earth manifests herself. Mother Earth or as she is known by the ancient Greeks as Gaia, is always in a state of tranquil inaction, in an outward realm. But she is always quietly serving thousands of seeds to nourish them in her womb, holding in her immense embrace the sparkle of the diamonds, the sheen of gold, the passion of throbbing geysers and hot springs, and innumerable life forms. Mother Earth does not enter into these activities to "have" something. She even does not proclaim her actions to the universe. She also does not go and stop the mindless human when he exploits her and hurts her. 

Please note that I am not pointing out to sacrifice, forgiveness of un-conditionality. I am going beyond that. I am pointing to a place where there is a silent but throbbing state of is-ness. Mother Earth always is in a state of "is-ness". This state of "is-ness" from outside looks like a life-less inertia. But in reality, from within, Mother Earth is in endless activity grounded deep into love, concern and compassion. She does not have anything. She is just "IS". This awareness and appreciation of "Being-ness" brings into one's consciousness new depth of being alive, which would have otherwise fizzled out when man is vexed in the race of having and having. It allows a man to be really free. He is for the first time would be able to live his life without the added heavy baggage of expectation, judgment, fear, or heartbreak. For the first time he would be able to love freely. This idea of being is not a trick to save oneself from the unavoidable misfortunes and helplessness of life. If the reader is going into this direction, I would be pained that the idea is not understood at all. I am coming from a point of being in a state where a person will be for the first time be able to see the hidden beauty of life, which is camouflaged by the apparent commotion, dis-integration, contradictions and ugliness all prevalent on surface. This is the only way to see God. The private space of silence that one creates in the gaps of one's thoughts, ushers one into the way to the understanding of life in a much more deeper and true way. That way man is more closer to the truth. 

I try to implement this state of being every moment of my life. That helps me better to integrate myself with the diverse realities of life. There are mishaps that happen. Most of the times the harsh realities of life look so overwhelmingly against man's wish and desire. Many a times life brings man face to face with situations that one is embarrassed to core to confront. There are people one loves to the core, but they hate them more than anyone. Men are most hurt by people they love the most. But in the state of "Being", one starts to recognize that, in spite of abominable ugliness of the world around, there is an undercurrent of beauty and melody and a serene composure joyously gurgling. The more he recognizes the harmony in which the life is woven, more he goes deeper - between the ridges of the tapestry and dives into the beauty gushing out from each deep pore of the fabric of life. He realizes that the true bliss is not having something or somebody. That pleasure of having is just momentarily. Eventually what one has, rusts, decays and dies. Only what stays is what "is". 

There might be many other deeper levels of understanding the idea of "Right Action" in the Gita. But to the level I have come up with years of my own internal activity, and help and guidance from my friends, teachers and people around me, I have come to relate to just this level of understanding of the "Right Action" from the Bhagavad Gita. There is a long way to go for me before I can try to even fathom so many uncharted avenues this profound work of art can take us.

PS - Please note that reference to "man" in my essays are meant to stand for "mankind". I don't intend to be patriarchal in my expressions. This is done more from the point of view of simplification of the expression.

I have been delving into the aspect of "Right Action" in last few articles of mine. In these, I have tried to synthesize from my various readings, contemplations, innumerable synthesis, experiences and understanding of myself and life, the essence of right action. An initial treatment of the topic has been done the my previous articles on Bhagavat Gita as follows -

http://criativ-mind.blogspot.in/2012/03/idea-of-right-action.html

http://criativ-mind.blogspot.in/2012/03/symbolism-of-bhagavad-gita.html

In this current essay, I have tried to touch upon the idea of Being inherent in the attitude of the "right action". I have added this essay as the last part of the earlier article - "The idea of right action", for completion sake. So that the reader can separately contemplate on this idea, without any distraction of other aspects, I thought it would be better to bring this out as a separate essay. Hope you enjoyed it.

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The Idea of Right Action

Bhagavad Gita gives reference to "karma" - action, aligned with "dharma" - the laws of nature, at multiple places. The idea of "action" and then the "right action" as postulated in the Bhagavad Gita is pretty interesting and profound. In this article I discuss different dimensions of this philosophy.

A) Action without attachment to the Goal.
In this Krishna says, "You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of actions. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty"
In simple terms it means: Keep on performing your duties without expecting any reward in return, leading a selfless life.
Most of us today have forgotten about this part and always take things as business deals. Be it friendship, love or even marriage. We always impose conditions before doing anything so that we benefit from it in the end. Here the suggestion is to do away with the greed of the result of any action.
In this level, one can logically arrive to the efficacy of this formulation. Obviously, when you are not distracted by the future result that your action will take you to, and focus all your energy and attention to your task at hand, you would be able to be more organized and efficient at your task. This will by itself lead you to successful result.

B) Action - the only path to true wisdom.
In the next level, we are told that "the path of knowledge is the same as the path of action." What this means is that "the path of action," i.e, of what is called Right Action, when it is attained, merges with the path of knowledge. At this point, they become one and the same; but this is  because that action is no longer action, as we normally understand it, but something quite different: it is wisdom in activity and, ultimately, just wisdom. So we can see that in order to reach this path of wisdom, a man cannot be bound to the action he is carrying out, but must be immersed in the Law, and act from there. Right action is not an attitude of giving in order to receive, of sowing in order to reap. To understand this we have to break down our mental structure which is unable to conceive the reality of something for that "something" in it. If we take a certain path, we feel we have to get somewhere; if we make a sacrifice, we have to gain a reward; it we give, we feel that sooner or later we must receive something in return. This is the way we tend to think. But the Bhagavad Gita has totally a different formulation. It says that right action would put an end to the chain of exchanges, with cause and effect. It leads one to a kind of freedom, where one is closer to the truth, to the wisdom. There is nothing that action shall take to, which is any way near to the profundity of wisdom that action itself nurtures the person. It is the journey the person undertakes doing an action that beautifies his character with added insights and wisdom. The result of the action is just another outcome - a bonus, if you would. There many grander aspects of entering into an action per se. Attaining knowledge, wisdom, understanding, maturity, insight, etc are various other dimensions that linger from the process of entering into a right action. It is further said that without action, no wisdom is possible.
To explain this tenet, let me take up a small example. If I am to explain to my daughter what love is, I might explain all the definitions, theoretical frameworks, aspects, nature and ramification of this word. My child might be able to get a fair idea of the concept in a mental level. But it will be still be in the superficial level of just another intellectual concept, a shallow mental picture. It is only through her personal experience of what is love, by entering into an activity engaging her entire personality, experiencing the bliss of being in  love in relating to it, or experiencing the pain of not in love, from the level of mind, heart, body and soul, she will be able to for the first time taste what real love is all about. You might agree that this voluntary or involuntary engagement into an activity to really experience love is a necessity in the part of my daughter to really understand what love is, in its totality. Not just a partial understanding in the level of mental models. Same thing holds good in any aspect of life. An understanding which is based on borrowed ideas, without entering into self-action, remains superficial in the level of just mental models. That is just a partial view. That is by itself powerless and sterile. There is no potency, vitality or life in it. Life has to be lived, entering into activity, to experience and understand life, in its various aspects. One who has not seen, felt and trekked the Himalayas, will never even come close to what is known as the grandeur of the Himalayas.
In today's world of rampant commoditization, people think that they can buy anything and everything off the shelf. If one wants to have a good dinner, one immediately buys oneself an expensive dinner in a restaurant. But the person totally misses out the pleasure of growing the vegetables, washing and cutting them, cooking them, and really cherishes the profundity of the pleasure of eating and sharing the food, after ente ring into all these activities. One would be able to appreciate the difference in the quality of pleasure one derives in the second way, when compared to the first.
One has to really understand that even in the realm of interpersonal relationships this holds good. If one does not take deep interest into the other, and really enter into an internal activity to understand a person, his point of view, his pains and fears, his personality needs, his background, his interests, one will never even be able to relate to what the other is even trying to say. Most of the way we relate to others is very superficial. We never feel for the other. We relate to the other just in the mental and logical level, most of the times superimposing our own autobiography on the other person. Relating to another person in such superficial realm, we end up either loving, or hating him. One has to understand that such a stance is just an illusion. By this, one has to understand that he is not dealing with another individual, but just a projection of one's own self.

C) Being-ness over Having-ness - 
In the journey from "action" to the "right action", Krishna proposes the aspect of Being over Having. The state of being is prescribed to search for the "right action" for one own self. This right action for an individual is suited to the uniqueness of the individual. It helps the individual to express himself fully and bring the full expression of his unique individuality. In Sanskrit, the term used to denote this is "Swadharma". In the state of being, which precedes the state of doing, a person is asked to contemplate on his self, and use his reason, experience, understanding and other human faculties to break through the illusions both within and outside, and search for himself the right action - the right way of being. Only after this phase, one is asked to venture into the world of action. This phase of being-ness does not end when a person is in the domain of doing. He continues in this state, being centered in his "Swadharma", and keeps taking action. He is always centered and grounded.
The state of Being has two fold purpose. One is it allows the person to select which action to take, and which not to. This is a sense of discrimination one develops within. The second is that the person grounded in the state of being, even when performing the action, does not get distracted by the storm of the distractions of "having" from all the directions of the material world. He is tuned to the internal compass of "Swadharma".
This can be appreciated in the way Mother Earth manifests herself. Mother Earth or as she is known by the ancient Greeks as Gaia, is always in a state of tranquil inaction, in an outward realm. But she is always quietly serving thousands of seeds to nourish them in her womb, holding in her immense embrace the sparkle of the diamonds, the sheen of gold, the passion of throbbing geysers and hot springs, and innumerable life forms. Mother Earth does not enter into these activities to "have" something. She even does not proclaim for her actions to the universe.  Please note that the state of being-ness as is not about lethargy, in-action, and a dejected state of hopelessness. Rather it is a state of immense internal activity. The activity might not be visible to the material world. But there are lots of upheavals being crossed, battles being won, obstacles being overcome, in the is-ness of one's own inner self. This builds up the psychological capital which provides the strength and direction to oneself to relate to the world outside. Mother Earth in this case, always is in a state of "is-ness". This state of "is-ness" from outside looks like a life-less inertia. But in reality, from within, she is in endless activity grounded deep into love, concern and compassion. She does not have anything. She is just "IS". This awareness and appreciation of "Being-ness" brings into one's consciousness new depth of being alive, which would have otherwise fizzled out when man is vexed in the race of having and having. A person will be able to see the hidden beauty of life, which is camouflaged by the apparent commotion, dis-integration, contradictions and ugliness all prevalent on surface. This opens up avenues to appreciate and observe divinity from the everyday chores of one's existence. Being-ness attaches meaning to an action. This meaning crops from one's capacity of love, concern, passion, vitality and potency. In the state of "Being", one starts to recognize that, in spite of abominable ugliness of the world around, there is an undercurrent of beauty and melody and a serene composure joyously gurgling. The more he recognizes the harmony in which the life is woven, more he goes deeper - between the ridges of the tapestry and dives into the beauty gushing out from each deep pore of the fabric of life. He realizes that the true bliss is not having something or somebody. That pleasure of having is just momentarily. Eventually what one has, rusts, decays and die. Only what stays is what "is" 

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Interpretation of the Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra

Meaning of the 1st line - "Om Triambakam Yajamahe"

Honoring the threefold expression of life. According to Vedanta, everything in the manifest world, meaning everything that has form and phenomena, has a beginning (will, idea), a middle (love, nurturing, life, womb) and an end (full form, ripening, reaching to the full potential) to it. It is just the nature of life that everything that is born must die, and riding that wave of the beginnings, the middles and the endings, with effortlessness and balance, and enthusiasm, and appreciation, is the key to living a conscious life. 

Meaning of the 2nd line - "Sugandhim Pushtivardhanam"

If we do surrender to this flow of life, if we are not struggling all the time, if we are not resisting all the time, if we are not trying to impose our individualized ideas about how things should be, but really can have the awareness of how things are, then we experience "sugandhim pushtivardhanam" - which means we experience the sweet fragrance of life. If we begin to accept the beginnings, middles and endings of life, without a lot of resistance, then it is literally said by the yogis that we experience a sense of joyfulness, that we feel tangibly in our bodies, in our minds and in our hearts, in our souls, and that, a fragrance arises when our personal experience is in alignment with the experience of nature, with the experience of life, with the experience of divinity.

Meaning of the 3rd line - "Urva Rukamiva Bandhanat"

By surrendering to this three fold impulse, it encourages my mind and soul to bring to my awareness that what is nourishing to me and relinquish that is not. If we can maintain such a consciousness, we do not have to struggle so much. We can accept that nature is going through those cycles and we can be in alignment with those cycles, and that can bring us happiness and joy, at the right time. 

Meaning of the 4th line - "Mrityurmukshia mamritat"

Like a cucumber that falls off the vine when ripe, death falls of our awareness. We lose the attachment to mortality. We remember ourselves essentially as unbounded, infinite beings and if we can resonate in that plane of that existence, then, even as we are living in this world of beginnings, middles and endings, of form and phenomena, of births and deaths, and going through our cycles of individuality, there is another level of our awareness, that says, I am beyond it all. I am an expression of these births and deaths, but I am deeper than that. 

- By David Simon (Chopra Center of Well Being).

This is the most accurate interpretation of the Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra I have read or heard from any source. Thanks to Deepak Chopra and his league to have beautifully explained the crux of this ancient mantra.

Interestingly the same ideal of the trinity is expressed in all the major ancient civilizations -  

In ancient Egypt this cycle of life was known as - Osiris (birth, will), Isis (love, nurture), Horus (form)

In ancient Vedic traditions this was known as - Brahma (birth, will), Vishnu (love, nurture), Mahesh(form)

In ancient Christianity it was known as Father, Son and the Holy Spirit

Similar symbolisms have been created in the ancient Celts, Zorastrians too.

It is interesting to find the similarity in the philosophy of nature all across the world.

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Being Aware. Being Alive

To be able to relish any gift, the first and foremost thing we do is to open the wrapping which hides the gift. Same obviously applies in considering the gift of life too. The most interesting part of this gift of life is that it comes camouflaged with wrappers in multiple levels. It takes lot of effort, guidance, education and will to be able to peel out these layers of veils one by one, and be able to see life in its original beauty. I use this word - “life” to mean both man’s inner self, and the society, which forms an integral part of who man is.

Various philosophers have enquired into this process of peeling out the veils. This finds its crowning development in the writings Spinoza, Freud and in Marx. Most generally speaking it is about developing oneself in such a way as to come closest to the “model” of human nature or, in other words, to grow optimally according to the conditions of human existence and thus to become fully what one potentially is; to let reason or experience guide us to the understand of what norms are conducive to well being. Inner liberation - freedom from the shackles of greed and illusions - is inseparably tied to the optimal development of reason; that is to say, reason understood as the use of thought with the aim to know the world “as it is” and in contrast to “manipulating intelligence”, which is the use of thought for the purpose of satisfying one’s need. For example a person who is the prisoner of his irrational passions loses the capacity for objectivity and is necessarily at the mercy of his passions; he rationalizes when he believes he is expressing the truth. 

Two most far-reaching, eye-opening critical theories at the beginning of the latest phase of industrial society were those of Marx and of Freud. During his times, Marx showed the moving powers and the conflicts in the social-historical process. Freud aimed at the critical uncovering of the inner conflicts. Both worked for liberation of man, even though Marx’s concept was more comprehensive and less time-bound than Freud’s (which is non-applicable in the current society, in its original form). Interestingly both these theories also share the fate that they soon lost their most important quality, that of critical and thus liberating thought, and were transformed by most of their “faithful” adherents into ideologies, and their authors into idols. 

Similar experiment was tried by the Buddha in ancient India, as I have tried to explain in the following articles - 

http://criativ-mind.blogspot.in/2011/05/uniqueness-of-gautam-buddha.htmlhttp://criativ-mind.blogspot.in/2011/05/interesting-experiment-by-prince.htmlhttp://criativ-mind.blogspot.in/2011/05/on-pain.html

An optimal living, is not just about relishing the gift of life by being able to uncover it from the packaging of illusions. The idea becomes more serious when that gift is nothing but the man himself. It becomes of urgent attention when the existence of man depends on his uncovering of who he is, and what is his relation to the world outside. It needs immediate focus when the question is related to man’s own existence and the possibility of being alive optimally. 

Fromm states this beautifully in “The art of being” as follows - 

“The strength of man’s position in the world depends on the degree of adequacy of his perception of reality. The less adequate it is, the more disoriented and hence insecure he is and hence in need of idols to lean on and thus find security. The more adequate it is, the more can he stand on his own feet and have this center within himself. Man is like Antaeus, who charged himself with energy by touching Mother Earth, and who could be killed only when his enemy kept him long enough in the air.” 

He further says later in the same book - “.....becoming aware of truth has a liberating effect; it releases energy and de-fogs one’s mind. As a result, one is more independent, has one’s center in oneself, an dis more alive. One may fully realize that nothing in reality can be changed, but one has succeeded in living an dying as a human person and not a sheep. If avoidance of pain and maximal comfort are supreme values, then indeed illusions are preferable to the truth. If, one the other hand, we consider that every man, at nay time in history, is born with the potential of being a full man and that, furthermore, with his death the one chance given to him is over, then indeed much can be said for the personal value of shedding illusions and thus attaining an optimum of personal fulfillment. In addition, the more seeing individuals will become, the more likely it is that they can produce changes - social, and individual ones - at the earliest possible moment, rather than, as is often the case, waiting until the chances for change have disappeared because their mind, their courage, their will have become atrophied....This is not primarily a question of intelligence, education, or age. It is essentially a matter of character; more specifically, of the degree of personal independence from irrational authorities and idols of all kinds that one has achieved.”

One discovers answers to one's existential problems only when one feels that they are burning and that it is a matter of life and death to solve them. If nothing is of burning interest, one's reason and one's critical faculty operate on a low level of activity it appears then that one lacks the faculty to observe.

Being able to live life with total mindfulness, with application of reason, love and productive activities to be able to realize the truth hiding behind the innumerable veils of illusions, by being more aware and alive, is the most momentous vantage point that humanity is endowed with. This makes humanity so special, and being alive as a human so unique and precious. 

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Authority, freedom, will and whim

The contemporary society is obsessed with freedom. Freedom is most of the times mistaken to being restricted by one's whim. There is deep difference between whim and will. Beautifully articulated by Erich Fromm in his book, "The Art of Being", he says - 

"Following whim is, in fact the result of deep inner passivity blended with a wish to avoid boredom. Will is based on activity, whim on passivity..A whim is any desire that emerges spontaneously, without any structural connection with the whole personality and its goals...The desire itself - even even the most fleeting or irrational one - today requires its fulfillment; to disregard it or even to postpone it is experienced as an infringement of one's freedom!.....The chief rationalization for the obsession of arbitrariness is the concept of antiauthoritarianism. To be sure, the fight against authoritarians was and still is of great positive significance. But antiauthoritarianism can and has become a rationalization for narcissistic self indulgence, for a childish sybaritic life of unimpaired pleasure. Fear of authoritarianism serves to rationalize a kind of madness, a desire to escape the reality. Reality imposes its law on man, laws that can only escape in dreams or in states of trance - or in insanity" 

In my inclination to personal freedom, and my abhorrence to authority, it might have appeared to the reader that I vote for that arbitrary relativism. This article is to clarify that confusion. It is not that the ideal way of being is to do what subjectively one feels. It is not about basing our thoughts and action by our own value judgement, totally devoid of the laws of nature, or the "truth". One has to first know the truth, using his reason, to snap himself free from the illusions of the mind, society and other conditionings. Once a man is able to see the truth, then it is his prerogative to express his unique potentialities through spontaneous activities, based on love. 

So, to some extent authority is mandatory. This is because unless man knows what is truth, he has to be directed to the truth. This has to be done through proper education, contemplation, and practice - using his reason, emotions, and the whole personality. This is a personal process which man has to undergo. It is about knowing the truth, and following the same. Once man is centered with this central axis, he is eligible to exercise his will. It is very important, as Fromm has put forward, to develop the sense of discrimination between whim and will. To be able to develop this understanding one needs to undergo a directed process. 

The essence is to find the balance, and develop the discrimination where and in what dose authority has to be applied with total freedom to exercise one's own will. This typically is very relevant in the realm of leadership in any form - either parenting, or in a typical corporate world, or in say a social context. Man has to be aware when and what form of authority that needs to be exercised. The bottomline is that authority might be needed to nourish, develop and grow a person to be able to enable that person to know what is right and wrong. The idea is about educating and guiding a person to lead him to the truth. Doing this, the leader has to be aware that he does not stifles and chokes to death the individuality of the person being led.

Leadership is about being like an artists trying to make a clay sculpture. He knows how and when and where the right pressure has to be put on the clay to mould it to a beautiful idol. In doing so, he allows the unique characteristic of the clay to add that special sheen and texture to the idol. Although the conception of the idol is the imagination of the artist, he does not kill the individuality of the clay, and allows the clay to express its own self. In no instance does the clay-smith disdains the existence of the clay, and collaborates with the unique and independent existence of the clay, to bring to form his imagination.

Mankind has to defend himself and his offsprings from this whimsical fantasy which is termed as freedom and independence, in the contemporary world. Imagine what will happen if a sharp sword is handed to a baby. Having said that one also has to keep in mind that one cannot act as a sadist, trying to control, subdue and manipulate the subordinate using him just as a means to his own personal ends. The idea is not about being soft. None of the masters of the like of Buddha, Spinoza, Socrates, Plato etc were softies. They were ruthless to be centered with the ideal. But at the same time, they gave space for the optimum development of the unique faculties of humanity. It is of prime importance to understand and appreciate this balance between authority and freedom, between will and whim.

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Happy Women's Day!

Today is international women's day. On this auspicious day, I take this opportunity to express my respect, gratitude, appreciation and affection for Women in form, and in spirit.

I celebrate the following forms of a woman, which makes womanhood so very venerated in this world. I have tried to depict these forms through the ancient Greek Goddesses.

1. VENUS - 

Venus is an ancient Greek Goddess. She stands for Beauty. Beauty is that what inspires life. To experience the same one can see the role played by a flower for instance. A beautiful flower placed on the table lifts the consciousness of one, to touch the ethereal world of beauty and inspiration. You remove the flower, things are not the same again. Beauty inspires mankind to take that extra step, do that bit more, make that unique difference, try to be be that bit more. It stretches life, and lifts it up to an exalted place. 

2. ATHENA - 

Athena is also an ancient Greek Goddess. She stands for strength, courage, wisdom, inspiration, just warfare, mathematics, skill, and art. Minerva is the Roman incarnation of Athena. Saraswati is the Vedic incarnation of Athena. She stands for that woman of wisdom, who has more to give to the world than just inspiration of beauty. She is that nourisher of the mankind with the knowledge, and wisdom. She also stands as the warrior - for a cause. She is the next level of relating to women. She is power - Shakti.

3. DEMETER - 

Demeter is the ancient Greek Goddess of harvest. She presides over the grains and the fertility of the earth. Her Roman equivalent is Ceres. She stands for the Mother. In Vedic framework she is also known as Durga. Woman has been primarily related as the Mother in most of the Vedic Myths. This is the most exalted state of womanhood, which gives it the highest place in creation. In this symbol, woman is related to as Earth, the provider, the nourisher, the acceptor. This is the next higher level of relating to women. Here she stands for the unconditional love of the Mother.

4. HERA - 

She is the ancient Greek Goddess of destruction of what is not as per the natural laws. She destroys the ignorance, and creates the place for the birth of new form in wisdom. Kali is the Vedic equivalent. She is the elder. She knows what is right and what is wrong. She destroys the wrong. She does not allow the sin to flourish. 

In the current material and male dominated world, hardly there is even a will to relate to women beyond the level of Venus. This has its skewed ramifications. Most of the times women are related to just a thing of beauty and fragility. Although no one voices these prejudices against women vocally, but this attitude is very clear in the sub-conscious state of humanity. That is unfortunate. More than any cunning ploy of the bastion of males, I feel it is just ignorance of the majority. Humanity is just too much tied with what it can see and touch. In that physical realm it is next to impossible to even relate to anything as divine as womanhood. One needs to really grow up, to relate to women as women, and give them their rightful respect, affection and gratitude.

Womanhood has not only to be acknowledged and respected in forms - as people around us as Mother, sisters, friends, colleagues, wife, daughter, etc, but also she has to be related in the realm of non-form, as the spirit of womanhood, in the form of nature, earth, acceptance, being receptive, understanding, caring, giving, nourishing, mentoring, protecting, guiding, loving etc.

Today is not just another day. Today is the day when the entire planet stands in ovation for that indomitable spirit of womanhood! 

I bow before thee on this auspicious day!

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The Falling Leaf

“You can take the boy out of the jungle, But you cannot take jungle of the boy.” - so was said for Mougli by his mother, in the Jungle Book. There was this non physical onenesss between jungle and Mougli. So is there a non-perceivable oneness between the life furthering force and all the forms visible to the eye in this world of forms. 

In the season of Fall, when the dried leaves wither away from a tree, one can perceive the death of the leaves, where they part away from the tree of which they were a part of, for about an year. On surface it appears to be a moment of melancholy parting, between to entities who were actually one - one in love for each other - the leaf and the tree.

Going a bit deeper into the visible phenomenon, one can quickly appreciate the presence of that invisible force of life, which tends to express itself outside to the world of form. That force of life, made the first sapling grow from the seed, and when the sapling grew, it made it possible to continue its journey to upliftment to take the grand form of a tree. And then the same life force was busy expressing itself in the forms of leaves, fruits, shade, solace to the passing travelers, taking the form of God to the nearby communities, being the place for those incognito meetings between the lovers. This life force is what the essence is. It takes various forms just in order to express itself. These forms are subject to entropy of nature, just to keep that invisible life to express itself re-juvinated and young, with every passing moment, to eternity. The physical forms of leaves, fruits, shade, sound, etc are only the passing Shadow of Divine object - the life force, in movement towards Objectives which are not perceptible from the materialistic point of view. 

It probably appears advantageous not to be attached to the forms in the level of physical reality. They are transient manifestation of the hidden potential of the Life itself. Physical life forms are disintegrated shining entities condensed out from the Source. These physical entities of lower vibration and high density are subject to entropy to sustain the eternal flow of life in this world, through these forms. So, as per natural laws these life forms will always morph, transmute, grow, perish and again born, just to accommodate that ever moving Source. 

Although man is limited by his 5 senses, and in some cases 6, which makes him totally incapable of even relating to this invisible life force, there are avenues available to him to get a feel of how this elevated state feel like - not in actuality, but atleast in an analogy. Being involved in an activity, which enables man to express his unique potential of being who he is, is one of them. Similarly the state of being in active love, grounded in service, concern, humility, objectivity, responsibility, and respect, gives a glimpse of this hallowed state of the Source in its pristine form. I have tried to explain this idea of activity and love in my article - http://criativ-mind.blogspot.in/2012/03/love-and-productive-reason.html

This place of the Source, the unchanging ideal, is termed as Nous by the ancient Greeks, and Manas by Vedic traditions. This is the Ideal, the all loving divine inspiration which is at the core of everything. This ideal lends its manifestation to both inspiring beauty as well as the abominating ugliness. Both these extremities help the life force to express who it is, as Man’s perception is determined by duality. This desire to express itself, and to be able to conscious of itself, appears to be the objective of this life force, at-least in the level of understanding of ordinary mortals. 

In our dealings of every day life, in our engagement with the play of Maya, it seems logical not to be swayed by the gross forms of the material world - both in the forms of emotions, needs, attachments, fears, etc. The point is not about guarding oneself from these propensities. Infact these propensities are the ones that make us human. They are the premise on which the play is performed in the stage of Maya. But in the process of working with these “Shining Doubles”, Man has to be centered with the central axis of the Nous - the real reality. It is not a trick to avoid pain and be happy. Rather it is a way to express one’s respect to the invisible life force. It is about standing in acknowledgement to the laws of nature. It is a firm human resolve to be led by reason and awareness. It is not about relinquishing one’s independence and creative human faculties to a bigger and more powerful force. But, it is about standing in perspective to be able to enquire the nature of this invisible, omnipresent life force, in order to express oneself in absolute originality in a more optimal way. 

It is of prime importance for mankind to be engaged optimally in active love and productive activity in order to live life in full awareness, standing in acknowledgement of the eternal intelligence of Life. This is the only gateway to experience the Source. Talking about this path, N.Sri Ram had beautifully said so -
"Only as we go out in Love which seeks to help and serve, do we transcend ourselves and develop that consciousness which embodies the awareness of your essential unity with others."

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The Symbolism of the Bhagavad Gita

The Bhagavad Gita is much more than a moral treatise, which it apparently appears as. Behind the literary veil, the Bhagavad Gita presents a profound discussion on sum total of all science, harmony and mathematics of universal creation. The Bhagavad Gita - “The Song of the Lord”, was not named as the “Commands from the Lord”. By definition the work of art is not authoritative. Rather it is an expression of the laws of nature. It is a “song” of the Lord. It depends on the reader to listen to the song and implement the wisdom relating to it at a level appropriate for him. 

At the outset it is important to be reminded ourselves that the Bhagavad Gita - “The Song of the God”, is a symbolic tale. The two central characters are Krishna and Arjuna. Krishna symbolises the intelligence, the Buddhi, the dharma, the inspiration. He is the link to the ultimate Wisdom - the Ideal.

Krishna is the link to the Nous for the Greeks, Isis for the ancient Egypt, Buddhi for the Vedic school, Ideal for Plato, and Virtues for Aristotle. Arjuna is Hebrew Abraham, dragging himself in infinite pain up Mount Moriah with the torch of Faith illuminating his heart, triumphant over his human grief. The most important aspect of Krishna is that he is not a personna in human sense. He is above human needs and propensities of emotions, desires, ambitions, anger, body and soul. He is the mirror of “Vishnu” in the material world. At the same time he is not Vishnu. He is a man-God, or “Manas Putra” - the way Vedic tradition likes to name. He is symbolically analogous to the serpent of the garden of Eden - a harbinger of wisdom, enabling man to raise to the next level of evolution - a stage where man is more aware of what is right and what is wrong. In the myth of the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh, Vishnu stands for the sustainer. He stands for a womb of creation, nourishment, intelligence, inspiration, the right environment, which makes the will (Brahma) to grow up to the form of creation (Mahesh). Vishnu is the analogous to Isis in ancient Egypt. Brahma is Osiris, and Mahesh is Horus. Krishna is the manifestation of the abstract idea of the ideal of Vishnu, in the material world. He symbolically acts the role of the charioteer to Arjuna. Hence he guides Arjuna to the right path. He is the eyes of Arjuna in his battle. Note that Krishna does not do the fight for himself. He is the inspiration, the link between man (Arjuna) and The Ideal (Vishnu). Krishna is the teacher of the wisdom. Wisdom is Vishnu himself. Arjuna is the disciple. Krishna is the philospher - the link between man and the Ideal.

Arjuna stands for Nietzsche’s Superman, and kierkergaard’s Christian. Arjuna is “Krishna” in potential. He is the disciple of the Dharma. He is the leader who manifests the inspiration of Krishna to the material world, into form. He stands for the common man, who is fighting the battle of his life. The battle between Kauravas (lower self) and Pandavas (higher self). Arjuna’s doubts are our doubts, his problems and dilemmas are ours, and the questions which he puts to Krishna are the same universal and eternal questions that men and women of all ages, and from every part of the world, have been asking themselves since time immemorial. 

One very important premise on which the Bhagavad Gita is based is the idea of the battle between Kauravas and Pandavas. Since time immemorial most of the greatest of the ancient civilizations have been teaching that man has two natures : the sense and the mind. The former is material and the latter is divine. Plato speaks of our lost wings and of the useless beatings of the stumps which have lost the prodigy of flight. The immortal soul, when free of the body, has wings that hold it aloft, in heaven. Yet the wings are lost when the soul is tied with the body, but since the soul has glimpsed the immutable forms, it strives to join them again. The eternal striving of the lower self (Kaurava) to be united with the higher self (Pandava), battling the human propensities grounded in the material world of senses has been symbolised by the battle of Kurukshetra, to win over Hastinapura - “The city of elephants”. Elephant symbolizes Wisdom. Hastinapura has been translated to the “City of Wisdom”. 

Just to clarify the lower self (Kauravas) is not something that has to be despised and subdued. The lower self is just the transient, material, emotional part of being human. It is more connected to the animal nature of man. It is the physical existence of the man. This part of man acts as a vehicle for man to climb the stairs of the evolution. The lower self are the limbs of man, helping him to climb up to the Idea - the Nous. The lower self has to be guided by the “Krishna”, to win over the existential battle of mankind - “The battle of Kurukshetra”. The higher self is already present in the lower self, in potential. All that is good, and close to the ideal, which is represented by Pandavas is the potential already present in man. Same is true for the Kauravas. All the lower propensities are also potential in man. By nature, man is in potential - both the God and the demon. It requires the education of the Krishna to realize man his real potential - the potential of being the God. Krishna plays the role of the “Partha Sarathy” - the charioteer of the Arjuna - the disciple, guiding him to the realization of the real potential of being human. 

One very subtle but profound premise of the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita is about the way to achieve victory over the lower self. It is neither in the form of suppression (using will to stop oneself to act as per lower instincts), not in the form of repression (removing the stimulus itself from the awareness, which can entice man to fall for his lower instincts). The former method is too superficial and stress-full. That reduces man to be a guard of himself, who is forcibly trying eternally to lock up the evil monster inside. The latter method is about creating a pseudo surrounding by avoiding the realities of life. This way might guard the conscious self from lower propensities. But the sub-conscious mind will have its own ramifications. The effect of the repressed impulse on the person is not even necessarily smaller than if it were conscious; the main difference is that it is not acted upon overtly but in disguise. so the person acting is spared the knowledge of what he is doing. Krishna formulates a third method in which the life-furthering fores in a person fight against the destructive and evil impulses. The more aware a person is of the latter the more is he able to reat. Not only his will and his reason take part, but those emotional forces in him which are challenged by his destructiveness. This relieves a man of being his own watchdog and of using his will power constantly for self-control. In this method, the emphasis is not on one’s feeling of badness and remorse but on the presence and use of productive forces within man. Thus, as a result of the productive conflict between good and evil, the evil itself becomes a sources of virtue. It is not about repression of man’s evilness but the productive use of man’s inherent primary potentialities. Virtue is proportional to the degree of productiveness a person has achieved. This productiveness is being termed “karma” or the “right action” by Krishna. Action is treated as a means to self realization by Krishna. 

The figure of Krishna holding the four horses (symbolising our senses going hey where) tight, and leading the chariot of Arjuna to the right direction symbolises not an authoritative vigilance of the guard who has to shut in the evil prisoner; rather, the vigilance of the rational being who has to recognize and to create the conditions for his productiveness and to do away with those factors which block him and thus create the evil which. Bhagavad Gita is based on the premise that man is a potential God, and not a potential evil. The evilness in man do arise due to presence of barriers which stop the real self getting manifested. And Krishna through his song tries to put forward the idea of productive usage of man’s inherent potentials through productive activities, both internal and external, to be able to realize his Godliness. 

This battle of Kurukshetra, the fight of man to reach the ideal, is what our philosopher forbears intended to convey when they wrote Bhagavad Gita. On that problem, every genius has planted the seed of his talent. It is the problem and for man: there is no other. It was the inspiration for the mysterious hierophants of the Nile and their hermetic tablets. It was contemplated by Plato when he wrote his Dialogues. It was in the heart of the first being who questioned the Infinite about his own essence. 

One very interesting thing about Bhagavad Gita is its settings. Here we have the Lord singing to his disciple amidst a ferocious battle. Weapons flashes in sunlight, clutched by tensed Kaurava warriors. Animals snort andneigh; the mystical conch-shells sound; life trembles, and death smiles expectantly. Amidst all this noise, confusion and destruction all around, we are shown an afraid and confused Arjuna, who has surrendered to Krishna, and is listening with all intent and discipleship to the song of the Lord! It demonstrates Arjuna’s virtue of being centered to the axis and his attention on the dim melody of the divine song, not letting the distractions of the battle move him out of his center. He is not stunned by the noise. All that matters to him is to seek the eternal Silence within him in order to hear the Voice which sounds above the din of battle. To have that silence is to have everything. 

Bhagavad Gita is one of the most profound treatise on ethics ever formulated by the ancients. With all its literary adornments this book goes to bring forth the optimism, the faith, the feeling of certainty that the day of final reunion will come after the long journey across the dark seas, where no one should remain but as stranger returning to his homeland. It reminds man to exercise his reason, faculties and virtues of being human, to transcend his inherent Kaurava propensities, which although appear sensuous and attractive, but are transient and illusion of the world of maya. The treatise is like a mine of wisdom. Written succinctly, it is like an eternal fountain of wisdom. It offers man in every level to find for himself, the nourishment for his soul. For a common man still grounded on material realm, it offers the apparent story which he can follow with interest, with hidden symbolism. For a philosopher this treatise challenges his mind to interpret the symbolism to go deeper into the laws of nature. This is the most beautiful aspect of the Bhagad Gita. It has something every every one, based on individual needs. This nature of the treatise, itself inspires. Can we be someone who has something to give to all - irrespective of the level from which one is coming from? Can we be able to stick to the art, note and meter of the “song” amidst the bustle of the every day material life? Can we focused in the path of dharma? The book comes up with such challenging questions, which inspires man to realise who he inherently is - The God - The Ideal.

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