The Futile Struggle

That struggle to bring Her into form,
That sense of awe,
That feeling of likeness,
That solace in heart,
Is a futile errand.


Each time I attempt to put in words,
That inspiration, or that ecstasy,
Each time I try to bring into color,
That wish, that dream,
Each time, I try to sing
That unsung desire.
All what comes to form,
Is not that inspired in the first place.
All in the world of form,
Appears just a metaphor of
The real Invisible.


I think with awe, about the masters bygone,
Who could bring into reality,
Their love, their vision,
From the labyrinths of hidden darkness,
To the light of the day.


Why then I can't carve out my Love,
That inspiration, that enchantment, that Divine,
In my poems, in my song, in my life?


I know the struggle is futile.
But I shall keep trying.
May be this is what life is for me.
Being in the journey of a disciple,
Lovelorn for the Ideal,
Trying to see her in my poems,
Trying to feel her in my songs.


For one day for sure,
Before I cease to exist in form,
Before mingling into the invisible again,
May be I would have found her,
My Ideal, My Lord.
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Copy Right © All rights reserved - Samrat Kar

Prayers from a rustic soul

In the trance, here I stand,
With my words, my letters, and the invisible Inspiration.
For I know these are not just words,
But are prayers, from rustic soul!

Held strong is the connection,
Since millennia days, and seasons,
With the thread of love. Just Love.

Love for that all inclusive humanity.
Where there is nothing which is alien.
Where there is no separation,
But just unity and fraternity.

In that deep bond, held I am ever strong.
Grounded in faith, and friendship to one and all.
A space shared by all,
Where all belong to me, and I belong to all.

For sure, we are not all same,
For better we differ!
Different shades of the rainbow,
We all are,
But sharing the same sky,
The same space,
We hold each other by hand,
Stand shoulder to shoulder,
Arching the sky from one horizon to the other.

In the trance, here I stand,
With my words, my letters, and the invisible Inspiration.
For I know these are not jus words,
But are prayers, from a rustic soul!
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Copy Right © All rights reserved - Samrat Kar

The Journey of Love

In love was born a little but an infinite and immortal soul.
Eons ago, when there was no creation around.
What simply existed was silence and darkness dead.


The Soul was in love.
He was in his journey eternal,
To see, hear, smell, touch and taste,
That part in him that he priced the most!
That he could see as a reflection,
In his love for his lady with the most beautiful eyes.


Didn't know he about his beloved.
But just he could have some apparition
Here and there, sometimes in his dreams,
Sometimes when fully awake,
His Beloved playing hide and seek,
Either in the blossoms of the spring,
Or the wetness of the monsoon.


In that journey, he discovered for himself,
The ever bright assertive rising Sun,
The soft and silvery mellow Moon,
The ecstatic wild arduous oceans,
The still, meditative mountains high.
Strangely all seemed to be in love,
Craving to embrace in all their passion,
There own personal love,
In the best way they could.


Millions of years did pass away,
The ever youthful soul,
Still looks for his beloved,
In his eternal journey,
Finding for himself,
The reflection of his love -
In those most beautiful eyes,
In those luscious trembling petal like lips.
Hanging from the edge of time,
Like the dew drop from the tip of the leaf green,
Passes the soul from one form to the other,
Covering centuries, millennia and eons,
Sailing in the curved continuum of time and space,
Looking out for his lady love -
Those most beautiful eyes.


That eternal journey,
Is the soul engrossed in,
Discovering his love,
Thus knowing himself better.


His love gave rise to the flora and fauna,
And all the humanity,
Held together in the bond of love,
Ever growing all around,
Extending the silver lining of that immortal love.


Each time today,
When a child gasps at the Grand Canyon,
Or wonders at the rapturous Niagara,
When he looks wonderstruck onto the starlit sky,
With the twinkle in his eye,
Knows he not,
All are just reflection of the love of the little soul,
His love for his lady with the most beautiful eyes.


Transcends the love of the little soul,
From the tiniest insect to the blue whale,
Extending all over the oceans, deserts, mountains and plains,
Throbs his love with ever renewed passion,
To see, to know and to embrace,
His Beloved deep inside in the temple of his heart.

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The perfect place in the world

The perfect place in the world,
For me is my study,
With open books all around,
With book marks reminding a train of revolution on hold,
Waiting to be synthesized
With thoughts ancient, new and unique,
Creating a world beautiful, in real!
For today, tomorrow, and through eternity.
With my pen, my computer,
This beautiful mind and heart,
Working through the ideas of masters many,
Spending hours trying to grasp their ideas,
Their passions, their inspirations.


The perfect place in the world,
For me is my study,
Sitting on the recliner,
With closed eyes,
Reflecting upon the power of human mind,
Creating the expressions as creatively breathtaking,
As the Vedas,
And as heinous and derogatory as the Holocaust!
And then following the chain of the civilization,
And gasping at the magical train
Of Human ingenuity, holding as silver lining,
The hope of an inspiring future!
Inspired with the undaunted spirit of human expression,
Defeating on its way all the anomalies and aberrations.

The perfect place in the world,
For me is my study,
Meditating with gratitude,
At precious heritage of human history,
At the unique point when I am alive,
Working tirelessly,
Towards communicating,
The creative legacy of the human race,
To myself, and the world.

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Copy Right © All rights reserved - Samrat Kar

http://karconversations.com

Happy New Year 2013

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Copy Right © All rights reserved - Samrat Kar

Come back Everyone.

Come, lets sing aloud -

Krishna nee begane baro
Krishna nee begane baro
Darkness coming round
And everybody fighting with their brothers
Everybody wants control
Don't hesitate to kill one another

So come back as Jesus
Come back and save the world
That's all the future
Of every boy and girl
Come back as Rama
Forgive us for what we've done
Come back as Allah
Come back as anyone

Krishna nee begane baro
krishna nee begane baro

Religion is the reason
The world is breaking up into pieces
Colour of the people
Keeps us locked in hate please release us
hmm..

So come down and help us
Save all the little ones
They need a teacher
And you are the only one
We can rely on
To build a better world
A world that's for children
A world that's for everyone


Krishna nee begane baro
Krishna nee begane baro

Time is the healer
Time moves on
Time don't wait for anyone
You tell you'll be back
But that will take some time
I'm waiting...
ahh......
I'm waiting...
Waiting...
I'm waiting...

I'm waiting
Yea.... Yea...
Come back as Jesus
Come back and save the world
We need a teacher
You are the only one
Come back as Rama
Forgive us for what we've done
Come back as Allah
Come back as anyone

Krishna nee begane baro
Krishna nee begane baro

Jesus!
Come back and save the world
That's all the future
Of every boy and girl
Come back as Rama
Forgive us for what we've done

Come back as Allah
Come back for everyone

All you need is Love. Love is all you need.

All you need is love
Love is all you need.

An open mind in compassion,
Grounded in humility and
But free with the passion to know and grow.

A stance centered on the spirit of freedom,
On mutual respect and love.
Poised to learn from the human heritage,
And build on top of it -
A new tomorrow,
Carrying forward the legacy of human race.

It is not about being a rebel.
Neither it is about being fraternal.
It is about being in the grace,
Of who you are,
Standing in respect but not
Necessarily in agreement to the other.

It is not about who is right,
It is not about who is wrong.
Rather it is about,
What is more beautiful for you,
What is more natural for you.
What is the Truth.

This video was made by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady.

They are New York-based documentary filmmakers. Their forthcoming film “The Education of Mohammad Hussein,” which is on the short list for the Academy Award for short-subject documentary, is to be broadcast on HBO in 2013. Their previous Op-Doc was “Dismantling Detroit.”

Coming to Andrea

The dawn was about to break,
Simoni woke up and looked to the far horizon,
The horizon which was silver lined
With the silhouettes of men and women,
From the mystical land of Andrea.

The twinkle of the stars were fading out,
Into the glow of the Sun.
The fresh light cascading from east,
Gradually was camouflaging the twinkling story of the night forgone.

It was a new morning,
And Simoni was about to reach the
Legendary land of Andrea.
The journey was long and arduous,
A journey of 101 nights,
Nights of storm, solitude, battles, and pains.
All alone, walking the solitary journey of abandonment.
Along the sand dunes and the meandering westerly wind.

The journey has ended or just begun,
Simoni did not know.
Just was that he aware,
At last with his weak and old eyes,
He could see the huge gate to the land of Andrea.

He was in search of someone,
Knew the sky, the stars and the Sun.
Was well aware the gushing ocean,
The meandering stream,
The restless fall.

Unheeded to all the inquisition,
Of the nature and its ways,
Simoni kept walking,
Unfazed and undaunted.

Had he to visit
The 7 castles,
And ask the 7 dames and 7 knights,
Looking for his love, his true love
The lady with the most beautiful eyes.

(To be continued)

Previous poems of Michel Simoni - 
http://criativ-mind.blogspot.com/search/label/SIMONI%20SERIES

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Copy Right © All rights reserved - Samrat Kar

A Christmas Wish

Here is a wish for you this Christmas,

From my truest self I know.

That you may do what you really are,

With freedom, courage and love,

And that there is fire always kindled within you.

The fire that you already are.

May the music of your heart,

Come out before you close your eyes.

Before mingling into the nothingness,

May you reclaim who you are.

That you may be wise,

But more importantly kind.

That you may be successful,

But more importantly overwhelmed in love.

May you be prosperous,

And yet, not lose the bond,

With the rain, the moon, and the star.

And not forget to smile, and to say Hello.

That in the bustle of who is right,

And what is more reasonable and correct,

May you not lose your own true self,

No matter how unreasonable and incorrect you are.

May in the rat race of following the herd,

You be left out,

And re-kindle that basic instinct,

To follow your heart,

Taking the road less travelled. 

That you be the change maker,

Being the harbinger of beauty,

The best version of that original masterpiece,

That you already are.

May you endlessly

Always continue to Be,

Expressing that authentic being who you are,

Either with a smile, a hug, a kiss or a pat, 

Or may be with a poem, a song...or a tear.

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Copy Right © All rights reserved - Samrat Kar

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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Copy Right © All rights reserved - Samrat Kar

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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Copy Right © All rights reserved - Samrat Kar

The Power of Love

When Rumi had sang
On the  power of love,
In myriad songs of his,
I had a taste of it intellectually.
But little did I know
What that power really was.

 
When I had read of the big bang,
I had an appreciation of
That incredible power
Behind the big bang.
But little did I know
How that power really feels.

 
When I was told
About the power of worship.
I had an understanding of the holy,
And was aware that such grandeur strength
Does exists somewhere.
But little did I know
How that power really uplifts.

I had read about
The healing touch of Jesus.
But never could relate
To the ecstasy of the blind
Who got the vision from his touch.

But O dear magical Presence,
That power is within me.
The power of your love,
The power that can raise a dead man
The power that can turn water to wine
The power that can turn an acorn to the high oak.
 

Thank you
For bestowing in me
The power of thou love.
It feels like unlimited,
Always with power,
Always like a Man.
Steadfast and True
Standing the storm of life
Unfazed, and undaunted.

Thank you for showing me
The glimpse of what it is
To be a Man
To be a Knight
To be a Warrior.
 
Yes, it all is in the
Power of your love.
My Lord.

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Copy Right © All rights reserved - Samrat Kar

Upending the cost Structure. Do you have any input?

Upending the cost structure. Do you have any input?

Capitalism requires someone to create a commodity, and someone to buy it. The hidden link that connects the whole drama is money. There is a cost structure on which the empire of capitalism is built on. The aim of a capitalistic endeavor is to generate more capital. It is good to create more capital. It drives the economy. The issue is the cost structure on which the framework is built on.
This efficiently bars away people who are in dire need of a product or service but could not afford to buy it. World is today rocking and rolling intoxicated with the opium of capitalism. It has worked for decades. But that does not mean it will keep working for centuries to come. Signs have started showing up of innovative business models outside of the precincts of capitalism.
The most interesting experiment is that of the Google. I want to discuss in this article a very popular experimentation of Google - The Google Maps. Till a decade back, maps were all copyrighted, and the market was monopolized by companies like Garmin making GPS devices helping people to navigate. Garmin charges about $100 to download new maps to its device. One device costs about $200-$500. Sometimes even more.

Now compare all this with the Google Maps. And the latest feature in Google Maps to download any portion of the maps to your device, and use them offline. So, today you have a free GPS device which is way much more advanced than any Garmin device. And all these services are free. You can download the Google Map in your phone (of course if it is not running in the latest IOS) or your any other hand held device.

The most interesting thing is you can notice that cost of the service is no more the indicator of the quality of the service or the product. The free google map is any time better than the expensive maps you download from Garmin. So, here is something that is free and better. In the language of economics, you have something whose "value" is expressed independent of its "exchange value". And that the product or the service could be really sustained without an exchange value, you see.

Can such experiment be done in education? Can we upend the cost structure inherent in providing quality education? Can a free education provided to millions be if not better, as good as that provided by the Harvards and the Stanfords?

A question, many social entrepreneurs are trying to find an answer. Do you have any input?

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Copy Right © All rights reserved - Samrat Kar 

Active Compassion

Active Compassion

Merriam Webster's Dictionary defines the word compassion as - "Sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it."
All the great masters starting from the Axial Age to the contemporary world have stressed on the importance to be compassionate. But, time and again, I find it so hard to be compassionate. On the whole I am fairly a forgiving and kind person. But compassion is of a different genre all together. I discovered that compassion is not just tolerance, kindness and forgiveness. Rather it is a sympathetic consciousness of others' distress. And it does not end just at that. It is also complemented with the desire to alleviate it.

Now, in my daily life, I see myself most of the time concentrated with the daily chores concerning myself and my family. It might be work at office, or responsibilities at home. Even in the office or at home, mind always tends to think only about its own point of view. When I am distressed at work, or my personal life, what only appears to me are the faults of others, and my own tragic predicament. Mind never by itself goes to think about the distress of the others that I might be causing unknowingly. It always wants to simplify the the happenings like a child, segregating people, circumstances, etc as good or bad; as either the fairy godmother or the daemon.
I found that it is a very naive way to look at life, for myself. Mind, I have seen is always in an inertia. It tends to do thing good what it is used to. It is used to doing what it practices daily. So, if the mind is made to practice peace and compassion, it automatically does nothing both peace and compassion. If the mind is engaged into judging, hatred, violence, etc, it does nothing but the same automatically.
It is not just practice makes a man perfect. But rather it is practice what sets the mind to an inertia - an automatic avalanche of thoughts and imagery consistent to what is practiced.
I have seen this pretty consistent to my own personality. If I am in the mood of writing romantic poetry, I keep writing beautiful poems and imagery months after months. The mood overflows in my way of being, my thoughts, my preferences etc. Later, after an year, when I am deep into say Marx's Das Capital, I tend to go deep into every economic and social transaction, and try to link that with the means of production and labor. My writings reflect the same mood. And interestingly when I read those old romantic poems, I feel silly. If I am deep into Plato, I always relate to Ethics and what is that way to bring that invisible archetype to the living world. The point I am trying to make here, is that brain continues an inertia. We tend to do, act, behave with what we are actively engaged with.

The same beautifully applies to Compassion too. It is not just knowing the word, and being aware of the way of being of compassion. But rather, I try to actively practice compassion, every moment of my life. In the food I eat, in the dress I wear, in my communication, behavior, and dealings with people around me both at home and at work. Yes, I fail many times. Anger, impatience, ego, or many such psychological barriers come in the way, and blinds me from understanding the other person. But then, I try it over again. More I practice, I do a better job the next time. It feels good when I see myself improving.

There is so much antagonism prevailing in daily life, I feel the most important thing that I need to keep in mind is being compassionate, actively; not only towards others, but also towards myself.

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Copy Right © All rights reserved - Samrat Kar

How about being who I am

Free from the burden of
Being good in the other's eyes,
Carrying the uneasiness
Of trying to be someone else,
How about being who I am.

Letting go that urge
To copy the other,
To see the world in the eyes of the other,
To believe on a borrowed ideology,
To create an art,
with a copied idea.
How about being who I am.

Forgoing the tiredness
Of pleasing all,
That tireless striving,
To walk in the roads,
Marked by the other,
How about being who I am.

Choosing my own path,
Swimming my own stream,
Fighting my own war,
Dancing in my own tune,
How about being who I am.

Lovely is that point of being
In awareness of who I am,
In understanding what I stand for,
In knowing my own self,
And the world.
How about doing that
What makes me feel proud,
What makes me feel relevant,
What makes me feel  I.

Reclaiming that Identity,
Here I walk the unknown path in solitude,
In this pilgrimage of life,
To my own shrine,
Being who I am.

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Copyright Reserved - Samrat Kar.

When what matter is..

When what matters is
Just being able to do something beautiful.
Just being of some help to someone.
Just being able to be tired doing work for which one is proud of.
Just being able to inspire.
Just being able to offer every toil,
every drop of sweat,
Every moment of hard work,
As an offering to the invisible,
As an offering - a gift.

When what matter is
Just in the space of giving.
Not being touched by the desire or need.
Rather just about being
In a place of a gesture in service,
In whatever is done,
Whatever is thought,
Whatever is dreamt.

When what matters is
Just being able to grow, learn and know.
Being closer to the truth,
Being in love,
With one and all.

When what matters is
Being able to be in love and respect
To one and all.

When what matters is
Just about being able to discover
One's  own shortcomings, and
inability to know someone, and learn form the other,
Being in kindness and brotherhood with the other.

When what matters is just Fraternity.
With one and all.

Life is real, Life is earnest.
It is about being awake.

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Copy Right © All rights reserved - Samrat Kar 

The Beautiful Mind

“Lovely has been the journey
All these years,
Along with you – my beautiful mind”,
Mused Simoni .
Walking on the long road to Andrea,
So spake Michel Simoni –
An ode to his beautiful mind.

Never have you left my side,
In thick and thin,
In scorching sun and pouring rain!

Like a true friend,
You lifted me from a just a breathing bag,
To a creative man,
Being able to try out the ordeal,
To know my own self,
To be fully, who I am!

In the journey to know the truth,
Both within and out,
Like a guardian angel,

You had shown me the light.
Clairvoyant to what is invisible,
Was not my cup of tea.
But then you were there

Always being a link
Between the self,
And the masters and their wisdom,
Enabling me to have the perspective,
Clear and True!

My beloved,
Whom thieves can’t steal,
Battles can’t claim,
Time can’t rust,
Death can’t snatch!
You are in me, and I in you!

Grateful I am to the Light,
Straight from some ancient land,
Mysterious, Sacred and Quiet,
Sacramenting my being,
With an understanding deeper!

The marble, the statue
The chisel and the studio,
The accolades, the glitter,
The charm and shine,
Passions and pain,
All were just dead remnant
Of the real essence,
The Spirit of creation
Of my beloved – my mind!
The quiet throb of life in potential!

Continue I to swim
The ocean of being alive,
Flying the sky of thriving in life,
Walking the uphill of being human,
Through you,
Seeing myself and the world,
In light never as beautiful,
In love never experiences as such!

You are eternal,
Throughout creation.
Having been the idea from the ancient masters,
To me today,
You shall continue to thrive,
In all your youthful bountiness,
And sensual warmth,
In millions of hearts,
Through eons after,
When I am no more!

O great eternal Grace!
My mind – my beloved!
I dedicate my being at your feet!
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Marriage and Mythologies

Campbell: Read myths. They teach you that you can turn inward, and you begin to get the message of the symbols. Myth helps you to put your mind in touch with this experience of being alive. It tells you what the experience is. Marriage, for example. What is marriage? The myth tells you what it is. It's the reunion of the separated duad. Originally you were one. You are now two in the world, but recognition of the spiritual identity is what marriage is. It's different from a love affair. It has nothing to do with that. It's another mythological plane of experience. When people get married because they think it is a long time love affair, they will be divorced very soon, because all love affairs end in disappointment. But marriage is recognition of a spiritual identity....it is a mystery.

Moyers: If marriage is this reunion of the self with the self, with the male and female grounding of ourselves, why is it that marriage is so precarious in our modern society?

Campbell: Because it is not regarded as a marriage. I would say that if the marriage is not a first priority in your life, you are not married. The marriage means that two that are one, the two become one flesh. If the marriage lasts long enough, and if you are acquiescing constantly to it instead of to individual personal whim, you come to realize that that is true - the two really are one. One not only biologically, but spiritually. Primarily spiritually. The biological is the distraction which may lead you to the wrong identification.

Moyers: Then the necessary function of marriage, perpetuating ourselves in children, is not the primary one.

Campbell: No, that is really just the elementary aspect of marriage. There are two completely different stages of marriage. First is the youthful marriage following the wonderful impulse that nature has given us in the interplay of the sexes biologically inorder to produce children. The second stage is more spiritual.

Marriage is a relationship. When you make the sacrifice in marriage, you are sacrificing not to each other but to unity in a relationship. A single self that is formed by a spiritual union between you and your partner. Marriage is not a simple love affair, it is an ordeal, and the ordeal is the sacrifice of ego to a relationship in which two have become one.

Moyers: So marriage is utterly incompatible with the idea of doing one's own thing.

Campbell: It is not simply ones own thing, you see. It is, in a sense, doing one's own thing, but the one is not just you, it is the two together as one. And that's a purely mythological image signifying the sacrifice of the visible entity for a transcendent good. This is something that becomes beautifully realized in marriage, which I call the alchemical stage, of the two experiencing that they are one - spiritually, mythologically.

In the above excerpt from the book, "The Power of Myth", Campbell beautifully puts forward Archetype of marriage. Today, in India it takes 4 days to get married. There are several rituals, Vedic oaths taken infront of Fire and Spirits, and Blessings bestowed from elders, both from the physical world, and the world of the dead. Similar mythic rituals ordain this special even in one's life in various ancient civilizations. Unfortunately, in most of the cases, the mystic invisible holiness of the occasion has been lost or defiled. This disappearance of the mythical essence of marriage is even more visible in the modern developed societies. Marriage seldom transcends beyond a means of achieving personal ends, individually. Here Campbell stresses on the concept of true union, where individuals are no more different, but are the same. It is important to recognize that the state is not about graduating from a "I" to a "We". Rather it is about embracing the other in I. That is important. Only then, each individual can really related to the other, and be in harmony. It is only then, both the individual sees a new world - which they were unable to see when there were separate. So truly expressed by Campbell, marriage is not just an institution for genetic proliferation, and social order. Rather it is a sanctification of a person to a different order - an order in which they see things differently, they understand the world differently. 

Marriage is an opportunity to transcend one's individual ego. It is about going out of one's own needs and whims, and relating to the other. Not only it is about relating to the other, but also appreciating the other as the self. This philosophical exercise to achieve oneness is the starting step to get an Idea what is God. God is not an entity out there, as most of the ancient traditions have repeatedly proclaimed. Rather God is one's own self, from a different vantage point. It is about appreciating unity with one's life, circumstance, people around, challenges, and also God at the same time.

Marriage is about gaining a perspective. It is about coming closer to the Truth.

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Perfection is inhuman - An excerpt from "The Power of Myth"

[This is an excerpt from the book - The Power of Myth, by Joseph Campbell. It is a discussion between Campbell and Bill Moyers]

Moyers: Why myth? Why should we care about myths? What do they have to do with my life?

Campbell: My first response would be, "Go on, live your life, it is good life - you don't need mythology." I don't believe in being being interested in a subject just because it is said to be important. I believe in being caught by it somehow or other. But you may find that, with proper introduction, mythology will catch you. 

One of our problems today is that we are not well acquainted with the literature of the spirit. We are interested in the news of the day and the problems of the hour. No more our attention goes to the inner life and to the magnificent human heritage we have in our great tradition - Plato, Confucius, the Buddha, Goethe and others who speak of eternal values that have to do with the centering of our lives. When you get to be older, and the concerns of the day have all been attended to, and you turn to the inner life - well, if you dont know where it is or what it is, you will be sorry.

Greek and Latin and biblical literature used to be part of everyone's education. Now, when these were dropped, a whole tradition of Occidental mythological information was lost. It used to be that these stories were in the minds of people. When the story is in your mind, then you see its relevance to something happening in your own life. It gives you perspective on what is happening to you. These bits of information from ancient times, which have to do with teh themes that have supported human life, built civilizations, an informed religions over the millennia, have to do with deep inner problems, inner mysteries, inner thresholds of passage, and if you dont know what the guide signs are along the way, you have t work it out yourself. But once this subject catches you, there is such a feeling, from one or another of these traditions, of information of a deep, rich, life vivifying sort that you dont want to give it up.

Moyers: So we tell stories to try to come to terms with the world, to harmonize our lives with reality?

Campbell: I think so, yes. Novels - great novels - can be wonderfully instructive. In my twenties and thirties and even into my forties, James Joyce and Thomas Mann were my teachers. I read everything they wrote. Both were writing in terms of what might be called the mythological traditions. Take, for example, the story of Tonio, in Thomas Mann's Tonio Kroger. Tonio's father was a substantial businessman, a major citizen in his hometown. Little Tonio, however, had an artistic temperament, so he moved to Munich and joined a group of literary people who felt themselves above the mere money earners and family men. 

So here is Tonio between two poles: his father, who was a good father, responsible and all of that, but who never did the one he wanted to in all his life - and, on teh other hand, the one who leaves his hometown and becomes a critic of that kind of life. But Tonio found that he really loved these hometown people. ANd although he thought himself a little superior in an intellectual way to them and could describe them with cutting words, his heart was nevertheless with them.

But when he left to live with the bohemians, he found that they were so disdainful of life that he couldn't stay with them either. So he left them and wrote a letter back to someone in the group, saying, "I admire those cold, proud beings who adventure upon the paths of great and daemonic beauty and despise mankind; but I do not envy them. For if anything is capable of making a poet of a literary man, it is my hometown love of the human, the living and ordinary. All warmth derives from this love, all kindness and all humor. Indeed to me it even seems that this must be that love of which it is written that one may 'speak of the tongues of men and of angels', yet, lacking love, be 'as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.'"

And then he says, "The writer must be true to truth." And that is a killer, because the only way you can describe a human being truly is describing his imperfections. The perfect being is uninteresting - the Buddha who leaves the world, you know. It is the imperfections of life that are lovable. And when the writer sends a dart of the true world, it hurts. But it goes with love. That is what Mann called "erotic irony", the love for that which you are killing with your cruel, analytical word.

Moyers: I cherish that image: my hometown love, the feeling you get for that place, no matter how long you have been away or even if you never return. That was where you first discovered people. But why do you say you love people for their imperfections?

Campbell: Aren't children lovable because they are falling down all the time and have little bodies with heads too big? And these funny little dogs that people have - they are lovable because they are so imperfect.

Moyers: Perfection would be a bore, wouldn't it?

Campbell: It would have to be. It would be inhuman. That is why some people have a very hard time loving God, because there is no imperfection there. You can be in awe, but that would not be real love. It is the Christ on the cross, that becomes lovable. 

People say that what we're all seeking is a meaning for life. I don't think that's what we're all seeking. I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances within our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive. That's what it is all finally about, and that is what these clues help us to find within ourselves. 

It is about experience of life. The mind has to do with meaning. What's meaning of a flower? What is the meaning of the universe? What's the meaning of a flea? It's just there. That's it. And your own meaning is that you're there. We're so engaged in doing things to achieve purposes of outer value that we forget that the inner value, the rapture that is associated with being alive, is what it's all about.

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