The Merciless Dry

Dry earth parched by fire spewing winds
There be no respite only reptiles live

Walk in two cowboys in search of their horses
Their throats parched with just whisky to drink

No help them guns in front of desert sprawling
Better beseech the rains, before the jeans start a fire

Vacation

Were there not the mist, the cold
And the icy breeze flowing forth

It was warm and pleasing
Cool breeze fanning the sweat

Coconut trees around, and mangoes to eat
It was a beautiful, memorable day to be

I lay in my silence, witnessing around
I breathed deep into activity, with joy abound

Role models

I had reconciled to a nice, siesta in shade
But realised no trees, will be left for my children

I had started to relax, and read up a book
Only to notice, the next generation's contempt

We have to be teachers, role models and guides
Not less this evening, for such a pursuit divine

A night that got thirsty and lied...

... Thereafter it was never like before alike
Passions had arisen never to surmise
The gift of coolness had now been belied

It had to be Him to restore order
Shiva called he, but nameless in truth
Was he only who drank up the poison
Leaving behind a nectar for aeons of healing

A Pouring Heart

The calming moonlight has now gone to sleep
My dear love sleeps, my children sleep
The dew drops drip, and tip tap sound
Chirping crickets and frogs can't sleep

The cooling breeze from a rain drenched night
There is no heart, that it can't melt
I thought so I will never grow up
My children proved I still have not!

The Fallen

For the fallen society has no respite
They stand condemned for entire life

May they not look upon themselves with shame
The others condescend but they are the same

Rather use this experience to free us
Learn that none cares and turn fearless

So get up, dust it and go move ahead
So far ahead that the world has to forget

Remember Me

I've always had this feeling that
I'm watching, I'm someone else watching

And every act and pursuit practised
Seems only to make me forget That

I pray that I remember Me again
And take My-Self to a liberated place

Pain stays

There were none that standing still
Was a night to dance away the the chill

I forgot what day and for how long
I know had not let hair down since long

Eyes opened when sun shone on sand blown breeze
But heart ached and I found that time stood still

How can this sustain

In a world where 8 people put together earn as much as half of the world

In a world where 1 in 9 go to bed hungry

In a world that exploits its Children and Mother Nature
How can it sustain, this Family and Home Earth

How small our petty wants, why not we go out and rather help
Give for richer is the one who gives, and not the one who earns

The pursuit of desires..

The pursuit of desires means you do not feel lasting joy.

The fulfillment of desires does not give lasting joy

So easy to explain, a little difficult to comprehend

And oh, so very, very difficult to practice

But that's only, if you see yourself as mind

If the mind's the master, senses are its children

And to objects it will drag you, to gratify those senses

An endless cycle you are put through, no hope or end sight

Until the body withers in time, and mind wallows in regret!

Don't Refuse a Bad Idea, Discuss It

In today's world, there is perhaps not a bigger buzzword in Corporate circles that Innovation. And with the influence Corporates have on Nations' economies, it's but natural that Governments wanting to be seen as investment-friendly, have caught on.

It is all very good: necessary to ensure scarce resources are put to good use. Because everything is derived from nature. And the more resources we consume, the more in harm's way we put future generations. Human capital is the one of the costliest resources for companies, and like it or not, means to improve productivity and lower costs will always be attractive so long as they have a positive effect on the balance sheet. 

Few and far-between cries for Compassionate-Capitalism notwithstanding, it's destined for now to on-paper displays of Corporate Citizenship or self-driven attempts by a handful of corporates. This, in a world-culture where individuals and Corporates alike are always on the lookout for loopholes to lessen tax contribution, I don't think it'll amount to much. It is only when the effects of such taxes and benefits of Corporate Citizenship are shown, will there be more such self-driven and client-demanded contributions by Corporates.

Be it reducing waste, improving productivity, or ideas to ensure there is more willful contribution to taxes or acceptance of compassionate-capitalism, it all still boils down to Innovation! And Innovation is not a Eureka moment; that's the biggest misconception. It is a disciplined process, which will be a mix of Brainstorming, Reusing models that has worked at other places, simplifying to just one basic must-have skill - Listening. In order to foster Innovation as a discipline and culture, Managers all-over have to keep reminding themselves to have patience, and listen. Indeed, time is scarce, and it'd augur well for leadership to carve out time for Line-managers to invest in Innovation. Google has led the way here, allowing 20% of voluntary time towards such projects. The problem there being, it's isolated and not process-driven. Innovation has to be process-driven to show results, just as other Quality control systems have had to. Creativity is one aspect and contributor to Innovation, but certainly not the Driver. This has to be recognized by leadership. The biggest mistake corporates are making today is demanding Innovation with no resources provided, be it time or expertise.

There must be SWAT teams created who go about training and mentoring projects and teams on Innovation practices and improvements that can be implemented. Increasing resources in terms of staffing and time is the first help leadership has to provide. Incentivising is also bound to help. Something like how Agile has grown with patterned Best-Practices and Certifications, Innovation also needs to be a study in itself.

But like any growing field, winning over the team is a must. Nurturing and being supportive is most important. Results will come over time, and there is no baseline to measure against, admit it! And quit putting unrealistic pressure. And the Biggest Mistake one can make is to simply reject bad ideas (even if genuinely so). Every idea needs to be discussed. Who knows, our minds have not thought through where the person was going with the idea. Also when discussed as to why and idea won't work, you might get corollaries or options that when used to slightly tweak the original (bad) idea, would make it a masterpiece! Imagine the kick the original ideator and the rest of the contributors feel when this happens!! If handled differently though, it could lead to growing resentment, lack of motivation and esteem, feeling of rejection and disenchantment by the individual and over time the team as a whole to the entire Innovation process!

We have a long way to go..

Why jail as punishment

Society seeks to be humane, while recognizing the need for being stern to avoid chaos. Laws are made, some decent, others open to debate. And punishments defined, for those breaking them. While punishments have varied across the history of mankind, civilization and the gravity of aberration, incarcerating a person has seemed to stand the test of time.

I seek here to challenge, if that's a shortcut approach to be humane. I want to highlight, that in some ways it's not targeting the problem, but just keeping it away, out of sight.

Instead a truly mature society, should rather put the problem to good use, alongwith trying to improve the convicted.
Let's take the example of financial impropriety. If a person is found to be tampering with the stock market, or committing a financial fraud, society currently puts him in jail and takes away all the ill-gotten well, and adds some fines also as icing. What we miss here, is the skill. That person had a vasana, and a skill, which put together combined to make that fraud happen. Why not instead of letting that skill rot in jail, put him to use in foreseeing such financial impropriety by digging out more loopholes in the financial and legal system. In exchange, give him a house-arrest say. Don't pay him; tell him this is penance for his crimes. I assert that this person will do it whole-heartedly. He's anways getting his punishment in that he's lost his name and ill-earned wealth already. But for once, his skill is put for the benefit of others. And not only he, but society benefits as a whole.
Those involved in spying, theft, hacking, all such can be put to good use. These are talents gone wrong; instead of simply putting them away, have a process of giving them a win-win; use their talents for the benefit of society.

While crimes performed by those mentally ill are rightly taken in their true sense, and are punished by putting them in mental hospitals, I doubt if such people are studied to identify patterns and prevent similar situations in future. I'm sure a common theme would be lack of spirituality and social comity. If these be then made a purposeful fabric of social life, such crimes could be prevented. Crimes of passion, and assault or murder that's carried out by people due to psychiatric or emotional reasons, can be prevented by such study.

I want to add that this is not to reward the perpetrator, rather to put it in the correct context, and use the misfortune as an opportunity to prevent in future.
In order to fit into this view, is also the other extreme. There are many who choose to commit crime, especially kill without remorse. Who have willingly chosen crime as their career path for the quick money it offers. The fear of death is the only thing that'll work with these. They have the money otherwise to bribe their way out, further corrupting the law enforcers and the courts. Causing the common man to lose faith in the system. Harsh punishment, like immediate punishment to death by such perpetrators is the only way to reduce such occurrences. Or similar such brutal punishment, an example performed by countries like Saudi Arabia. But here in Bharat, backed by proper legal procedures. A firm will and stern punishment to such perpetrators is in the larger interest of society, than letting them at best enjoy luxuries at jail and mocking our system from the inside out!!

An Advaitin

Beyond the discrepancies, the apparent chaos
Is a commonality, a flowing rhythm

Not all can see, and some observe by science
And all but Advaitins, at pains to explain it

An Advaitin is one, who sees all as One
To whom Harmony, is a suprise like none

God alone is This, projected all in front
God alone the One, projecting all in front

Understanding of Mithya

A talk by Ramakrishna Mission's Swami Sarvapriyananda touched a core philosophical and spiritual aspect, one of Mithya:
- Mithya gets loosely interpreted as Not Existing
- But what it actually should be interpreted as, is Appears as Something Else

Let's delve deeper into that aspect here.

Swamiji uses the analogy of Truth, Lie and Silence:

- When we say something which is factual, it is the Truth. At the reference point in time, the Truth has to be consistent with the fact; else it cannot be called the truth. With the passing of time, the facts of the matter may change, and so too the truth behind it.

- When we stay Silent, it means nothing. But it's still not a Lie. Silence, or Nothingness have their integrity at the reference point in time.

- A Lie is when you say something which is not factual. Where the fact (truth) is something else at the reference point in time, and you coat it with something else, which is not factual.


Such too, is existence, and the nature of the Universe and the World:

- What does not exist, is easy to understand. It cannot be called Mithya. It's like Silence. It is Nothing, but still not a Lie. The (relative) World is not like that. It exists, in front our eyes.

- Atman (the internal consciousness reference term used for Brahman), the constant unchanging sense of Consciousness, the sense of Existence we feel. That is easily analogical to Truth for us. We physically, intellectually, emotionally change. But there is a something in us, that feels has never changed. Just look at ourselves in the mirror, and pull out the memory of looking at the mirror 10 years ago. We look different, but within, we feel the same. This feeling is actually even greater than Truth, and it does not change with time. Which shows it is even beyond time. Even the sense of time if we think about it, exists within our awareness. It lies within Atman

- The World, constantly changing, cyclical, is called Mithya in the sense that Vedanta asserts that it is Brahman coated by something else. It is in this sense that the world should be seen. That it verily is Brahman, and not what it appears to be. Vedanta does not claim that the World is false in the sense that it does not exist. It claims it is false or a lie in the sense that it appears something different from what it actually it!

As a beggar who claims possessions

We come to this world alone and naked
And are clothed and fed by the grace of love

Why we grow up to think, all this is mine
Why can't we give, with equally love-filled

As a beggar who claims the bridge is his
Because he was born, sleeps and earns a living out there

So too are all, in this world of matter
Everything is graced, only we claim to have earned

Beyond the pertinent sound

..A silence that holds thousand secrets

Beyond the apparent self
Lie a million beings unseen

I do not say, our eyes are lying
I just mean that, they cannot fully see

Not everything unexplained by science is false
For there are matters, beyond the labs of matter!

Lessons from the movie Lucy

"A movie that takes lessons from Vedanta!"

A fictional sci-fi thriller, Lucy (IMDB Link) which where the title character (Scarlett Johansson) is shown drugged by a chemical which takes her cerebral capacity increase from the normal 10% levels to 100% by the end of the film.

While the thriller aspects are for the entertainment factor, the interesting portions are:
- When Professor Norman (Morgan Freeman) during a talk tries to introspect with the listeners how the ancient civilizations including Indians were able to gain deep insight into science without the help of technology. He goes on to imply that this was because they were able to extract higher cerebral capacity from the mind
- When Lucy describes to the Professor how she can see and control the subtle (Sukhsma) powers, including metabolism, pain, desire. And even electricity!
- When her powers increase, Lucy is able to control matter. Achieving seemingly supernatural powers.
- When at higher cerebral capacities, Lucy is able to traverse time and space, but still within her own body (an analogy of Jivatman). She explains how if a car moves infinitely fast, it won't even appear to us. And from our point of view, it's existence becomes questionable. This wins a smile from Professor Norman.
- When at 100% cerebal capacity, Lucy apparently disappears. And she communicates with the Police officer that She is now Everywhere (a perfect analogy of Brahman).

I would call this a must-see for Vedantins. If nothing, it gives us a sense of wonder at the comparisons with the teachings of Vedanta, and a sense of awe! I'm sure those unfamiliar with Vedanta and Indian spirituality would not have connected with the film as much!