The economically poor: The culture torch bearers

You look out of the window, at the poor construction worker family. With thatched makeshift huts, their home at the street side. And watch closely, at what they eat, what they wear.
When I say poor, I mean economically lower, but not beggars. I mean the ones who toil, but still just make ends meet. The ones who never even had the equal opportunity to get ahead in life.
Look closely at them, and you see the model of the true Indian. And again, I don't mean to say this from the economic perspective, but from the cultural perspective. You give the woman a choice, but still she'd prefer her Saree over any other dress. She'll still cook the chapati than buy a bread. The fast-ageing father will take his children to temple, more than any other affluent family visits.
And you think to realize, God's world is strange, but it can't be unfair. When Jesus said, The meek will inherit the kingdom of heaven, there was a meaning to it. These so-called poor, are really more content than us. They are the ones who'd certainly attain bliss, for they are right at the cusp. Of course but, they are not the target audience of the globe-trotting, true Jnani gurus.
Yes, if you ask them of their future, they'd worry too. But don't we too, despite all our pay cheques and bank balances too?
They don't have the time to idle, their work keeps them engaged and happy. They don't have the money to get pulled into consumerist marketing, the junk food, the idle brain's food - the TV or the games.
Their kids, we only have to ensure they get a good education, because the true teachings, of the Vedanta are within their family's day-to-day living. If they only get the opportunity to study, they can guide us, and the country too.

Why are teachers paid less

Why in any nation are teachers paid less

Why their sacrifice earns such disrespect

Is really market economy the answer to all

How can a by-quarter world view be best for all

A seed once sown, takes months to bear fruit

A human generation, two decades to gain trust

Those who nurture and protect

Should be heralded the best

Must become the guiding policy

For a nation's interest

There was that beautiful bliss

It felt like a walk in a forest
With sun rays passing through as arrows
It felt like standing on sandy beaches
With gusty winds blowing on
I know not how to describe it best
It felt like a holiday afternoon
With feet on sofa, and reading a book

But no, that doesn't, even tell it best
I guess it was just beyond
Just beyond any pleasure felt

Bliss is what we all pursue
But bliss is all, we really are
It's just the illusion, the covering of karma
Else bliss is where, we all came from

Use ego to win over senses. Then go beyond ego

Achieving bliss, is ironically, a war
Conditioned by senses, our likes, our dislikes
There is no out with
Every moment a test, every action a reaction

The journey then, is a series of steps
And a step a time, could even slip nine
I introspect thus, to fight iron with iron
And use the stronger iron, to scale the mountain

If Ego is bigger, put it to effect
Use it as weapon, in the battle with senses
Your anger, your tastes, your lust, avarice
Set these as targets, your Ego could win it

And once the battle is done,
With Ego weary or bloated
Have it look around then
Who ever cares for your win..

Don't Honk..but does it make sense?

Read an article about Bengaluru being the second most noisiest. And saw a pic with Rahul Dravid holding an "I don't honk" sticker. Agreed, being second noisiest is something for the traffic and transport departments to take notice about. But to deflect the blame to "honking" is pure escapism!

The reasons were in the article itself: They said people honked to express frustration. Traffic Jam, or some other driver making a mistake. Well, then what you have to fix are the traffic jams, the honking will automatically stop.

My point is I've seen this about USA too. People there, especially in the suburbs hold honking in very low esteem. But go to the downtowns with actually filled up roads, and then you see the difference. It's all honking, no different from a metro in India.

The reason I honk does fall into the other category, where driving habits, and traffic rules are poorly enforced. And it is indeed mostly linked to the traffic jams (or potential traffic jams ahead why drivers have gotten used to be so much in a hurry, something in the blind spot or not!). So I better honk, at a passing stray dog, the pedestrian who's looking the other way and crossing, or the motor cyclist who's joining the road from a T-junction, but doesn't even bother to look if vehicles are coming at speed at him before joining.

So what the message needs to go out, loud and clear - even by Rahul Dravid if he could kindly - is represent the motorists, and go to the traffic department, and with them to the transport department, and with them to the planning and financing department, and with them to the chief minister even if need be: Bengaluru is the second noisiest already, please fix it!

You can be higher than the Gods you pray

Those who became Gods, asked to be, and accepted that fate.
Power and perhaps, even pleasure abounds.
But as nature of pleasure goes: Habit forming, transitional, they find no end to it.
And as far as power goes, even controlling natural elements, is but limited.

To free themselves of this, they have to take birth
And birth as none else, but humans on Earth

So while you are here, may you use them as models
But not for once, choose them as ideals

Realize your worth, make the realization intuitive
Filled with compassion and love, merged will All with you Go

Serve

This Earth may be dream, but do not deride it
There are things to be done, do not deny these

Of human contribution, and not concern result
Is all this life is, do not forget this

The time has come now, you should not lose it
Coming back to finish, would take another birth this

Grace of the Divine

O Deva Subrahmanya, the bestower of boons
Ever since you established, your presence in Swadishtana
You blessed me progeny, You granted me thus immortality

Dear Mother Kali, you guide me to liberation
I ask you of all, as a child demands of mother
In one stroke of  Sword, you have rid me of ego
Your Trishulam defends, keeps my senses in control

Ayurveda treats the root cause, maybe not the effects

This I learnt when I took my son to the Ayurvedic Pediatric doctor at Punarjani in Bengaluru. To cure my son's back-to-back ear infections, the approach to cure was ensuring he doesn't get his cold again.

And that's what the Allopathy doctor's parting shot had been, for which they had no medicine, only cure if it occurred.

But Ayurveda had natural medications - bitter quite a bit - but ones that quickly showed effect. The approach of Ayurveda is in general to help build the body's immunity through herbal supplements. So there are no side effects, and the body builds up its defenses to fight the infections that earlier it was so prone to.

I guess this is why Ayurveda should, and must, build and market itself as the preventive cure that this and coming generations really need!

Light and Rain

Light and rain, it's a drainy mix right away
I wake up, get feet wet, and dance away

There was no sunset, so sunrise I missed
I just stayed awake, the body may have slept

There is no such as me, there will be many more
I'm still the One, the drop that completes the ocean

Fastest way to happiness, have no desires

This article is inspired after hearing another excellent, intellectual, and spiritual, speech by Swami Sarvapriyanandaji (Youtube link) where he investigates happiness.

The biggest takeaway for me being: If we quell the wave of desires, the happiness-and actually even better-the bliss, that is you, shines forth. And there are two ways to this:

- The worldly untrained, instinctive way, by going after the desires, trying to fulfill them. Which you may or may not. And even if you do, it only quells these waves for some time, making us feel the bliss. Thereafter again, such transient happiness (pleasure in accurate terms) feels satiating and habit-forming (the example of the ice-cream as Swamiji aptly gives).

- Via discipline and sadhanas, realizing this true nature of desires. And thus voluntarily letting go of this rush after desires. And gradually progressing, observing, that the more you let go (in the mind), the happier you feel.

Next step, to make this learning intuitive to you. A speech everyone should hear!

A child is born..

A child is born, first in your own mind
It may then take, its birth as conception

A child next blooms, in its own parents hearts
It may then sprout, as a baby in this world

The child is reborn, when innocence is regained
It may then elevate, as a sage to liberate

And why these dresses..

It's considered taboo area, something anti-feminist. But shouldn't feminists question, give due introspect:

Why the dresses, these western clothes here, why not adapt the Indian salwar and sarees, we Indians.

And have the big confident worldview to spread this "fashion" around the world.

Isn't simply accepting it a sign of inferiority, over the world itself. 

Why a just questioning of it, is seen as chauvinistic? Why not realize, it's a responsibility, an honor from generations of mothers, starting the Divine Mothers, that women were given their dress code.

Even in the west, were the Jeans and tight yoga pants, really meant for women as a whole day wear?

Wasn't it the frock there? And weren't Yoga pants meant only for Yoga. I hear some western voices calling this obvious indecency out. But no way, it's taboo here in India!

Agreed that generations, maybe centuries of male dominism has caused it. The way the caste system has caused narrow, paranoid political causes, that the rich "low caste" or "OBC" person gets it all over the poor and meritorious "high caste".

Likewise, the social queens raise assertions that having separate bathrooms in their mansions is getting gender-equality, rather than solve actual problems on the ground. Why does the rapist get to marry the victim, than be castrated. Why widow remarriage is not encouraged, than something to be borned as Karmic fruit. And also, why is the homemaker looked down upon. Can the home grow its roots, when the nurturer, the divine mother is out?

My Mother is All

When she feeds, we all get healthy
It's her gift, her divine miracle
I saw it, with my wife and son

When she cares, we feel her touch
She not be here, still fills our hearts
Be times be good, or be they bad
Her concerns unsaid, gain all more expression

When she wills, you have to dread
She seldom loses calm, instead
Her firm voice, is one of assertion
Her confidence, not something to arrest

When she leads, you entrust Maya
Her Japa always, Sat-Chit-Ananda Rupaya
Not this world, not the mortal wares
Her trust, her faith, is for us to love all

Narasimham series Part 6: Why it all started

Part 5 | It is said that interventions you take to avoid your destiny, inevitably take you closer towards it. And that's what happened here.

This was where it started, the palace where I once belonged!

I was a blissful sadhu now, a corrupt official once. Ruthless to all, especially the meek, with the police within my command. All under directions from a tyrant of an emperor. However, that doesn't excuse my actions. Only penance can untie the knots. And that is why I'd left it all for. When cheap lamp-posts for public places - and public money misused in the bargain - all at the behest of my king himself, had cost me my own daughter walking underneath. And the trauma that took a toll at my equally-guilty wife.

There was nothing to stay back for..I didn't blame anyone but myself. And so for months I'd wandered, till my Guru made his appearance.. | Part 7

Poems for Shravan

(Modifications I'm sure, of heard-from nursery rhymes)

He's my good boy (tak - a tongue sound), he's my best boy (tak)
Beautiful Shravan is his name (tak tak)

Good Night, Sleep Tight
Shravan is a Very Good Body
Good Night, Sleep Tight
Sweets Dreams Shravan

I Love the Rains

I love the rains, that drench my shirt
So that I come home to, a change to cozy dress

I love the warmth, of a hot tea's sip
Especially when, the rains bathe nature

I know not where else, I can get this fragrance
Of earth and trees, that symbolize the rain

Wet and humid, not the ice or snow fall
The rains touch us in ways, only rainbows can match

True Story..Covered Up!

It was all well planned. A child had gone missing, and I'd blamed the dark forces. Civilized society couldn't be allowed to sink into chaos. So they needed a reason, a scapegoat to blame. And using means circumstantial as reasons, I was made the fall-guy.

But I knew this had happened, and I can repeat it to anyone they way I clearly remember it. Let anyone point out inconsistencies in my version. It's a nightmarish event I can't forget:
I and the child had got into the cave, We had seen the plaque markings in series, and had wondered earlier why. She was my only solace, this girl I'd adopted. All innocent of four, her parents lost to war. But perhaps that's what, was thought to be of her.
Her face angelic, I always thought she wasn't from here. I always dreaded when her true claimant would come, and that's exactly what happened.
We had a deep bond, she fully trusted me. She was now 7, and we would take our long walks, both loved the mountains for some reason unforseen. It is only I realize, we were being pulled by her destiny.
One late evening we saw, this open cave midway to the top. I could've sworn I'd not seen it before, but then again, wasn't a regular trekker. This cave welcome, with a faint light coming from within. A plaque numbered "1", just close within the entrance, was just the right invite to the adventurous. To know where's the next number, and why that light far within. But it was late evening, and getting dark, and I forbid it against her will, and we returned.
But the next time we went, I'd forgotten about it, but she'd very well planned it. It was only late afternoon we reached the cave, and she insisted. I let out a sigh, not knowing how to dally. So off we went within, she even had a torchlight. We saw a "2", and only when we reached the "3" did I realize that the sunlight was not behind, and yet the number illumined.  I told her let's get back, she knew I wouldn't have it any other way, and she started running further. I caught up to her, and this time sternly said we are done.
But just when we started walking back, her a faint sound far behind, taking her name! It startled me, and made me let go of her hand. Just the chance she needed to dart within, her curiosity piqued. And I regret doing that, to this day, and will do so till the end of my life.
I ran behind as fast as I could, following the faraway torchlight. But after one turn there was a T-junction. and both sides were illumined, as if by fire-torches. And to confirm my fears, both sides had 4. My love had an instinct, and I knew which way to go, I was in tears, my fear of losing her coming true..
And that's when I encountered, this smiling pot-bellied person. He was dressed in ancient, an Arabic sultan like costume. He commended my will, my truth and my love, for there was no other way, I could've taken the correct route. But he said my time with her, had to come to an end. She was special, and had to be returned, to the abode she belonged. I could not touch, then realized he was either a ghost or an illusion. He blessed me with one last view of her. A transparent wall, perhaps a screeen behind which I beheld her still running. But when I went there, I only crossed her. It was just a screen, with another one after it. I instinctively crossed, perhaps hoping to get away from him and maybe towards her. Only to see a small cage door shutting another exit from the mountain.
I looked behind, and there was only darkness. She was gone! I pushed open the cage door and crouched out. Now this below me is that hole I crouched out of. The cage door is gone, and as I too agree, inside this hole, within visible sight, is only a wall. And yes, this is at the other side of the mountain we found the cave in. And nobody has seen that cave since, not even me. It was there to call her, and take her it has.
But society wanted answers, and those I had none. My grief of losing her, had numbed my mind. So answers were woven. My live-in partner, equally grieving, said my story did sound concocted. An earlier roommate whose barking, red-eyed dog I'd always detested, said I was known to steal and hide things, which the dog had hated.
My workplace colleagues were made to say in unision I had issues. I was "not interested" in work, good enough comment to create a negative perception in public, but of course not legally holding them compliant. Smart move government, or public prosecutors!
All my social media pieced out, by government or "ethical" hackers. Of course the ethical hackers found nothing, and since they'd done a faster job, the government didn't get enough time to plant something.
Physical evidence couldn't be placed, for they feared if the girl is "dug out" (god forbid) from someplace else, they'd have a hard time explaining.
So well, the girl was last seen with me, and my only defence was this incredible fact. (Even my lawyer suggested I say she was kidnapped, and I hadn't seen the license plates, but I'd refused for that wasn't the truth).
I am in this prison, as the search and trial prolong. And I know this is where I'll be, and don't want to be outside anyways, till my time on Earth. that pot-bellied messenger, his ever peaceful face, hope it fulfills my last wish, that life after at least, be in the place he took her, in my child's abode!

A joy, a learning

A privilege and joy, is to see you grow
O cocoon do become, a butterfly and flow

There is logic, and also there is inspiration,
But you my son, go beyond any sensation

I may not have touched, your tiny feet in here
But you continue to teach me, the thing what life is dear

Consider what you buy: Buy local

Wherever in the world you are, try to buy local. By that I also mean, conceptualized, and created/grown/made in that locality/country based on the sophistication of need and from the local retail shop.

Our addiction to things online will burn down the communities built around us, through decades if not centuries. We even hardly spend time with neighbours. It will cause what is increasingly seen happening in US, warehouses of items actually shipping door-to-door, these warehouses situated in faraway places, with employees serving a person they don't know, or care to know.

Be it the want to promote the country's economy, or buying from the smaller retailer in an altruistic sense, or promoting diverse innovation around you, or health in walking around, whatever be your reasons, try not the mini-penny saving mindset divert you from the big picture.

And extend this big-picture thought to where the product is made from (country), and how it is made (organic, eco-friendly materials). There are countries with no democracy and who use their position of power with aims to bully others, and there are others who've colonized other countries cruelly, and there are countries and companies that blatantly exploit resources in poorer nations for self-interest.
Be aware, well-read, hold some ideals, and cast your vote, in this case, by not purchasing from there. And then, spread the word. There is no need for a greater power, this is within each of our reach.