On birthdays

On birthdays

If the soul is in transit from the Source to the Destination using the physical form as the vehicle, it is actually facing a double jeopardy – of separation from the Source to which it belongs; and also to go through all the sufferings that the vehicle (the body) is bound to undergo in the physical world.
Then is it a happy thing? If not, why do we celebrate birthdays?

To understand this, let us visualize a situation where people world over have stopped conceiving. Not postponing conception, but NOT conceiving at all. People are getting married, making love, setting up families – but no conceptions. What would be the mental state of the world at that time? People are getting old, but have no children. No one to lead or shape up. No one to teach. No one to earn for. No one to feel anxious about. No one to look forward to. No one at whom to shout. No one to try to discipline. No one to pray for future, because there IS no future. Everyone knows that after them, there is nothing. Their properties, their name, their earnings are for none. All that they thought are theirs, would be gone without a trace after them. Knowing that, they would walk with drooping shoulders, live without hope, with no laughter – just waiting for the impending doom that was bound to come.

Sounds so cruel, sad and depressing isn't it?
To be alive and still not live.
To live and waiting for death.
To wait for death in desperation.

Now we understand what difference that the 'birth' makes to the world. The fact that soul selected the body as the vehicle to traverse the spiritual space is itself an affirmation of the faith of God in the humanity.
We descend to make it interesting, inviting, colourful and lively.
We bring cheer, hope and purpose to the world here.
This is our job, our Dharma here!

But are we doing really doing that?

May be celebration is the way to start.

Subrahmanyam
31st July 2008

Life in red

Life in Red

The light turned red in disdain
The costly cars screeched to a halt
As if to breath regain
While the music beat hard.

Then he came, tapping on the windows
The contorted face exhibiting myriad sorrows
The frail hand waving the Tricolour
The sign of national pride and valour.

The cheeks covered by cakes of soot
Homing all the roads’ dust and the dirt
Punctuated by streams of dried up tears
A ‘museum of mortal fears’.

Limping on feet naked
The festering wound
Clothes in desperate tatter
Victim of attack of terror?

Terrorists?
Yes.
More than the people who caused them this
Are those who stare blankly and pass.

Green, the traffic light turned
Away the ‘terrorists’ in hurrying cars sped
Leaving the Life on the road
Permanently in red.

Battle weary

Battle weary

The war rages thick and wide
Enveloping from many a side
The smoke billows out
Through the day and the night.

Some fought external
And many more internal
Some batter concealed
All come unannounced.

Between the body and the spirit divine.
The desire and the discipline.
The momentary joys and the sorrows permanence.
Cry for freedom and the silence of temperance.

The ageless war savaged infernal
A relentless fire with fuel eternal.
Any lull here is, by norm,
Just the eye of the storm.

Sometimes we fight and win
And hear the accolades’ din.
Sometimes we give up and lose
And the brickbats come a loose.

Battle weary, I cry,
Looking at the sky -
Awash with peace
‘When will all this cease?’



RS
6th Feb 2007

On attraction

14th March 2007
The reality as I see it: VI: On attraction

Attraction is the power of pull between two objects, similarly made with the matter intrinsically same and positioned at a distance. Due to the inherently same structure, they exert pull to come closer - like the gravitational pull of the earth to the objects. The closer the objects, more intense the attraction.

Although attraction is felt between all objects similarly made, it is most intense when manifesting between two opposite poles. Consider the example of the magnets: magnet attracts all objects, which are ferrous in structure. But the strength of the magnetic pull becomes manifold between opposite poles of two magnets.

In cosmos, attraction between the opposites is the source of all movement. Call it Shiva and Shakti – the pull between objects is the cause of all movement, all creation. Without attraction, there would have been only inertia. Because of the intense attraction between the ‘source’ and the ‘destination’, we have particles flowing from one end to the other, making the journey of life. Clearly, there would have been no life without attraction between the opposites.

The source of attraction is therefore cosmic and inherently divine. The pull of attraction between a male and female symbolises the pull between the ‘source’ and the ‘destination’. The attraction that creates the cosmic system, the attraction that draws a butter-fly to a flower, the attraction that creates orbits of the celestial bodies, the attraction that comes by nature, the attraction that occurs naturally - can that be shameful? Can that be wrong, irrespective of what the ‘man-made’ laws and rules say?

On desire

Desire is the result of an inadequate response to a physical or physiological challenge. The desire by definition has a purely bodily origin. Desire is the urge to possess, urge to internalise and an urge to satisfy body craving. Desire expresses the demand of the body on the system (remember the concept of the Body-Spirit Continuum?). The desire to drink water, the desire to eat, the desire to possess something, the desire to have sex – they are all expressions of the body element within us.

Desire is therefore not attraction. They are different. Both have different origins. Attraction arises out of the cosmic force, therefore from the ‘spirit’. Desire arises from the body, therefore from the ‘body’. Desire disappears when it is satiated (till the body demands for it again). Attraction can never be satiated. We all feel the attraction to our mother who takes care of us, brings us up and we genuinely love her, right? When you are hungry, she makes food and feeds you. Because the food is tasty, we do not go on eating. After the hunger disappears, we stop. We stop eating when the desire to eat ceases. But we do not stop loving the mother.

Desires cause disturbance, they represent a conflict, they contain an agitation within. Desire is therefore inherently energy-consuming. If there is limited electricity, we use the lights and electric appliances sparingly, right? We are told to switch off all lights when not needed. We decide which electrical appliances to operate and for what length of time. There is an element of decision and application of discretion. In the body energy system also, there are limited resources, while the demands on it (the desires) are unlimited. We should be able to decide which desire to give power to and which to reject. Then we put the cosmic power to optimal use.

Sounds simple, but in practice, it is not. When the desire arises, it overpowers the system. It arm-twists all faculties, uses all strategies until it is satisfied. It hits like a tsunami. So how do we stay in control? How do we cope with tsunamis?

First is to recognise that they exist and they could be inherently powerful. Denying the existence of a tsunami makes you more liable for damage when it strikes. Similarly, desire cannot be eliminated. The desire to ‘overcome all desire’ is itself a powerful desire!
Second is to have an early warning system, which warns you in advance before the desire become more intense. So you take steps that would restrict damage.
Third is to monitor the movement of the desire. When you observe dispassionately and clinically, you can take better decisions.
Fourth is to distance oneself to the desire – to tell yourself that the desire arose out of the ‘body’ that is not ‘you’.
Fifth is to take steps for fortification of ourselves. If you know that a visit to a market would kindle desire to buy things unwanted, avoid that market. If we know that the coast is prone to tsunamis, we stop construction of villages on the coastline.

Desires cannot be eliminated, but can be contained with ardent practice and diligence.

****