This is one of my all time favorite sites:
http://www.geocities.com/advaitavedant
Do check it out when bored & in front of the computer!
From the ‘Spiritual instruction’ by Ramana Maharshi, here is a neat comparison:
How can there be a connection between the Self which is pure knowledge and the triple factors (knower, known & knowledge) which are relative knowledge?
This is, in a way, like the working of a cinema as shown below:
CINEMA SHOW
- SELF
1. The lamp inside (the apparatus).
- The Self
2. The lens in front of the lamp.
- The pure (sattvic) mind close to the Self.
3. The film which is a long series of (separate photos).
- The stream of latent tendencies consisting of subtle thoughts.
4. The lens, the light passing through it and the lamp, which together form the focused light.
- The mind, the illumination of it and the Self, which together form the seer or the Jiva
5. The light passing through the lens and falling on the screen.
- The light of the Self emerging from the mind through the senses, and falling on the world.
6. The various kinds of pictures appearing in the light of the screen.
- The various forms and names appearing as the objects perceived in the light of the world.
7. The mechanism which sets the film in motion.
-The divine law manifesting the latent tendencies of the mind.
Just as the pictures appear on the screen as long as the film throws the shadows through the lens, so the phenomenal world will continue to appear to the individual in the waking and dream states as long as there are latent mental impressions. Just as the lens magnifies the tiny specks on the film to a huge size and as a number of pictures are shown in a second, so the mind enlarges the sprout-like tendencies into tree-like thoughts and shows in a second innumerable worlds. Again, just as there is only the light of the lamp visible when there is no film, so the Self alone shines without the triple factors when the mental concepts in the form of tendencies are absent in the states of deep sleep, swoon and samadhi. Just as the lamp illumines the lens, etc., while remaining unaffected, the Self illumines the ego (chidabhasa), etc., while remaining unaffected.
This is as good a comparison as I’ve ever seen, in helping one understand the nature of existence. This neatly explains my strong preference for fantasy movies. The next time I go see a movie forking out a princely sum, I might as well digest some of these facts :-)
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Aah! Amrikaaah!
This is a long overdue update. I'd been on a short 10 day trip to the US on official work. Managed to squeeze in visits to Cincinnati, Albany & Wilmington, NC on official work. In between I took a day off, got 2 weekends & made trips to visit two of my friends. The 1st weekend I took off to visit a school friend in NJ. He's made it real big out there, earning 6 figure green dough. Also happened to meet some of my KREC seniors who've made it similarly big (so called 'arrived'). We went to NYC, the epitome of what US stands for. People of every conceivable size, colour, style, orientation....it's like an aquarium packed with curious deep sea fish that you only get to see rarely! The energy there is simply remarkeable. Perhaps due to my jet lagged state, it REALLY felt like a scene out of Matrix...where I was just a passive observer & everything around me just moved in a self sustaining state!
The second weekend was spent visiting another friend. I had a first hand glimpse at one of the top B-schools in the world. The pace of life there is so hectic, you wonder when they find time to expand their lungs & take gulps of air..:-). High energy is the mantra for success. Strategic planning for even the simple aspects of life like dressing, hair style & so on to make an impact is something I learnt anew. Driving 1000 miles in 3 days, I had a chance to look at beautiful fall colors, the mountains, the lakes & some very pretty landscapes.
The first impression when I landed in US was a feeling of freedom. Very conveniently I took a GPS enabled rental car & started to drive as if I'd always lived there. The convenience was un-mistakeable. The roads were so orderly. Everything was so smooth flowing it hardly required any effort of my own or thinking. The lack of people felt like a fresh burst of air for a choking man. In India, I have to go 300 kms away, trek for 20 kms into un-explored jungles to be left alone, away from noise, crowds & filth. Here, everywhere I was alone! Luckily, loneliness is something I've conquered permanently, so it felt real good!
Very posh cars, crore rupee houses, every conceivable gadget from the ipod to the blackberry to the thinkpad, internet shopping mania...how hard I'd striven a couple of years back to get away from all this & more! And get away I had...shunning gadgets for the most part, travelling by bus/auto, disliking shopping...a very different world that's called home in India. I felt quite sick in the stomach reliving my past or retracing the memories. It never felt like home, the comfort level never was the same. This became obvious even in one of the legs of the flight back home which was filled with Indians from India - much more comfortable & noisier.
Here's a quick financial analysis of costs in bangalore vs a cheap place in US:
House - 100 K vs 40 lakh Rs
A pair of jeans - 15$ vs 2000 Rs
Car - 20k$ vs 8 lakh Rs
Fuel - 0.6$ vs 50 Rs
Food at a good restaurant - 15$ vs 500 Rs
Intl. rock concert - 80$ vs 2500 Rs
Air ticket - 200$ vs 10K Rs
Hotel stay - 30$ vs 1000 Rs
SALARY - 60K$ vs 5-8 lakh Rs
These are just indicative & average costs, but it's obvious to anybody that cost of living in India is NOT cheap compared to the US. On an average the cost is about 70-100% of US living costs, while the salary is 10-50% of US levels! SHOCKING! Which freaking moron got that idea into people's heads I wonder! The outsourcing companies just take Indians for a ride paying half or lesser salaries & we take it all lying down. How is this different from the time the Britishers occupied India & took us for a ride? This is the corporate way of exploitation in the name of upward mobility. Creating a chasm between classes, destroying the moral fabric with lure of money, upsetting the work-life balance & so on!
It all became clear to me in a flash. It's much easier being happy in India since I'm so heavily conditioned. However, the advantages of being in the US for a while are easy to see. Lot of savings. Great career advantage & opportunities. Chance to travel internationally & visit expensive places. But in the end, there's nothing like being able to take a leak on the road when you want to, having a masala dosa when you need to or just putting beat with old friends in familiar gullies! The simple pleasures in exchange for all the gold & glory!
In the end, all this only matters & seems to matter when the mind comes into being every now & then. Else, it's clear this is just a dream!
The second weekend was spent visiting another friend. I had a first hand glimpse at one of the top B-schools in the world. The pace of life there is so hectic, you wonder when they find time to expand their lungs & take gulps of air..:-). High energy is the mantra for success. Strategic planning for even the simple aspects of life like dressing, hair style & so on to make an impact is something I learnt anew. Driving 1000 miles in 3 days, I had a chance to look at beautiful fall colors, the mountains, the lakes & some very pretty landscapes.
The first impression when I landed in US was a feeling of freedom. Very conveniently I took a GPS enabled rental car & started to drive as if I'd always lived there. The convenience was un-mistakeable. The roads were so orderly. Everything was so smooth flowing it hardly required any effort of my own or thinking. The lack of people felt like a fresh burst of air for a choking man. In India, I have to go 300 kms away, trek for 20 kms into un-explored jungles to be left alone, away from noise, crowds & filth. Here, everywhere I was alone! Luckily, loneliness is something I've conquered permanently, so it felt real good!
Very posh cars, crore rupee houses, every conceivable gadget from the ipod to the blackberry to the thinkpad, internet shopping mania...how hard I'd striven a couple of years back to get away from all this & more! And get away I had...shunning gadgets for the most part, travelling by bus/auto, disliking shopping...a very different world that's called home in India. I felt quite sick in the stomach reliving my past or retracing the memories. It never felt like home, the comfort level never was the same. This became obvious even in one of the legs of the flight back home which was filled with Indians from India - much more comfortable & noisier.
Here's a quick financial analysis of costs in bangalore vs a cheap place in US:
House - 100 K vs 40 lakh Rs
A pair of jeans - 15$ vs 2000 Rs
Car - 20k$ vs 8 lakh Rs
Fuel - 0.6$ vs 50 Rs
Food at a good restaurant - 15$ vs 500 Rs
Intl. rock concert - 80$ vs 2500 Rs
Air ticket - 200$ vs 10K Rs
Hotel stay - 30$ vs 1000 Rs
SALARY - 60K$ vs 5-8 lakh Rs
These are just indicative & average costs, but it's obvious to anybody that cost of living in India is NOT cheap compared to the US. On an average the cost is about 70-100% of US living costs, while the salary is 10-50% of US levels! SHOCKING! Which freaking moron got that idea into people's heads I wonder! The outsourcing companies just take Indians for a ride paying half or lesser salaries & we take it all lying down. How is this different from the time the Britishers occupied India & took us for a ride? This is the corporate way of exploitation in the name of upward mobility. Creating a chasm between classes, destroying the moral fabric with lure of money, upsetting the work-life balance & so on!
It all became clear to me in a flash. It's much easier being happy in India since I'm so heavily conditioned. However, the advantages of being in the US for a while are easy to see. Lot of savings. Great career advantage & opportunities. Chance to travel internationally & visit expensive places. But in the end, there's nothing like being able to take a leak on the road when you want to, having a masala dosa when you need to or just putting beat with old friends in familiar gullies! The simple pleasures in exchange for all the gold & glory!
In the end, all this only matters & seems to matter when the mind comes into being every now & then. Else, it's clear this is just a dream!
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Having a blast!
Last week was a momentous time of celebration & revelry. Taking just 1 day off, I had 9 days of holidays at a stretch. All plans of travel to various places including some treks were spoiled by rain, Naxal fear (among forest officials, not me!), infectious diseases & infectious un-enthusiasm! Thus, I had so much time on my hands & no plans what so ever. It brought back fond memories of good old school summer holidays. Many a hot & weary day those days was spent simply waking up late, eating, reading books, sleeping & meeting friends. I realized how much I've NOT grown up when these holidays were spent in exactly the same way!
Deepavali the festival of lights woke me up from my slumber & laziness, with a bang! Heeding no attention to my parents, friends & 'green' well wishers who're all up in arms against the innocuous, pristine act of celebrating the joy of a festival, I splurged on pataakis (crackers or fireworks). With great gusto, joined by my brother, I burst hydrogen bombs, eerulli bombs, Lakshmi pataakis, flowerpots, bhu-chakras & many of their kind.
It was obvious that the kids next door were outdone by a huge margin. Every kid I spoke to seemed brain washed by so called morally conscientious teachers & parents - creating zombie like robots, with the childhood innocence & joy sucked out with a vacuum cleaner! People had all kinds of reasons to stay away:
'I pity poor kids toiling in inhuman conditions to make crackers' said the housewife who makes her young maid toil 16 hrs a day.
'Why burn money' said a stock market shark.
'Donate to the poor & under privileged' said another who'd never spared a rupee for the crippled beggar.
'How can you pollute the environment' said one whose bike & lips double up as a chimney!
'I hate the noise pollution' said the fella who's custom fitted his car with ear splitting horn, reverse horn, brake horn & stereo.
I suddenly realized:
I make way too much money in my current job...gotta burn some,
I breathe such clean purified air in Bangalore...gotta pollute some,
I live in deafening silence...gotta make some noise!
Some 'grown-ups' (of my age, no more!) had simply lost enthusiasm - for crackers they said; for life in general & for having fun I surmised.
O dear friend, why hast thou grown up so,
grown to not laugh at a pj,
to not have fun doing nothing,
to not enjoy the early morning dew on the red rose?
How often do you get a chance to reclaim your lost innocence?
How often do you get to relive un-adulterated moments of pleasure?
How often do you get to step into a time machine?!!
How often are you reminded of the victory of good over evil,
of opposites in creation,
of darkness & light,
of mythical legendary stories?
To hell with the anti-fireworks brigand, the so called morally concerned, the so called environmentally sensitive, the hypocrites and everyone out to debase the culture & traditions!
Ah, the simple pleasure of speaking out your mind in your cyber-space!
Ah, the simple joy of celebrating life in the name of celebrating a festival!
Deepavali the festival of lights woke me up from my slumber & laziness, with a bang! Heeding no attention to my parents, friends & 'green' well wishers who're all up in arms against the innocuous, pristine act of celebrating the joy of a festival, I splurged on pataakis (crackers or fireworks). With great gusto, joined by my brother, I burst hydrogen bombs, eerulli bombs, Lakshmi pataakis, flowerpots, bhu-chakras & many of their kind.
It was obvious that the kids next door were outdone by a huge margin. Every kid I spoke to seemed brain washed by so called morally conscientious teachers & parents - creating zombie like robots, with the childhood innocence & joy sucked out with a vacuum cleaner! People had all kinds of reasons to stay away:
'I pity poor kids toiling in inhuman conditions to make crackers' said the housewife who makes her young maid toil 16 hrs a day.
'Why burn money' said a stock market shark.
'Donate to the poor & under privileged' said another who'd never spared a rupee for the crippled beggar.
'How can you pollute the environment' said one whose bike & lips double up as a chimney!
'I hate the noise pollution' said the fella who's custom fitted his car with ear splitting horn, reverse horn, brake horn & stereo.
I suddenly realized:
I make way too much money in my current job...gotta burn some,
I breathe such clean purified air in Bangalore...gotta pollute some,
I live in deafening silence...gotta make some noise!
Some 'grown-ups' (of my age, no more!) had simply lost enthusiasm - for crackers they said; for life in general & for having fun I surmised.
O dear friend, why hast thou grown up so,
grown to not laugh at a pj,
to not have fun doing nothing,
to not enjoy the early morning dew on the red rose?
How often do you get a chance to reclaim your lost innocence?
How often do you get to relive un-adulterated moments of pleasure?
How often do you get to step into a time machine?!!
How often are you reminded of the victory of good over evil,
of opposites in creation,
of darkness & light,
of mythical legendary stories?
To hell with the anti-fireworks brigand, the so called morally concerned, the so called environmentally sensitive, the hypocrites and everyone out to debase the culture & traditions!
Ah, the simple pleasure of speaking out your mind in your cyber-space!
Ah, the simple joy of celebrating life in the name of celebrating a festival!
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