Surrender

On the spiritual path, surrender is the most wonderful thing that can happen. It is a state when one learns to trust God or the infinite power of being to take care of everything, from the mundane to the meaningful. It is surprising, but for most people for a very long time, this trust doesn’t come easily as the ego keeps obstructing the natural process. It is like beating one’s hands & legs while in free fall – there is nothing really to do but to just be & relax, yet it is incredibly hard since one is hurtling down at tremendous speed & seemingly there is chaos & destruction which requires one’s constant action & attention. After a while though, one knows that once the fall has started (fall used not to convey a downward or negative trend), implying once the prarabdha karma that constitutes one’s life has been set into motion, it takes care of itself. Most people choose to strive with their mind rather than sit back & enjoy the movie. 

However, once there is complete surrender, then thoughts no longer lead one into multiple directions. There is pure, choiceless awareness at every moment. To be choiceless is freedom itself – freedom from having to make choices which present themselves to the normal ego ruled person at every instant of time. Making choices dictated by the mind is always tricky, as the mind never knows the full picture & can never tell what the best choice is. One standing 6 feet tall can never really see the whole road & all the routes to know what lies far ahead & decide now which route to take. However one on a tall building, or more appropriately, on a moving helicopter, knows exactly which road to take – which keeps changing constantly. This is the state of pure being which where everything happens spontaneously & only the right thing happens – rather, one may say there is just 1 path & no right or wrong path.

Practically, how does this work & how is this restful state brought upon? There are numerous well known paths to liberation, so there is no need to get into those. The most direct path is that of self enquiry. Whenever thoughts trouble oneself, it is enough to watch them & enquire ‘to whom do these thoughts arise’. The answer obviously is ‘to me, to I’. Then one further enquires ‘who am I’ or ‘who is this I’. One doesn’t answer this question in any way – though it may appear to some that I is the body or mind or brahman/being in a theoretical sense. So every chain of thought is led to this question & then there is silence. After a while the silence remains of itself without explicit need for the self enquiry. This restful state feels much like deep sleep, except that the body is fully functioning and aware of the waking world. The body does what it is supposed to, at exactly the time that it is supposed to. As a very simple & routine example, say one needs to go & get water from the cooler in office. Now this is not something that normally needs to be planned as it is straight forward. But while in the pure state of being, this simple activity is so perfectly timed, that the exact person one needs to meet also appears there, with the exact conversation that needs to happen taking place. It is almost as if the whole of life is running according to a very detailed script which auto adjusts & takes care of everything!

So, is this state worth attaining or does it appear boring? It is not dullness, like the sort that one feels after lack of sleep or a very heavy meal, but it is highly vibrant & full of life. It is deeply peaceful, so that one can instantly close one’s eyes & lose track of the whole waking world, yet instantly wake up again the waking world, as needed, without the least bit of drowsiness. If everything happens in the best possible way, then what else is desired? There is nothing more to strive for. Once this state becomes continuous or permanent, it is called liberation. It is liberation from constant mental effort & striving to move towards desirable events/places/people/outcomes & away from undesirable ones. It is when one becomes a living embodiment of the truth, when all that is said in the scriptures about the final state occur effortless, always. The state itself is important to be held onto & the events that happen later are of no consequence, since it is already established that they will be perfectly in order.

Surrender to thee

O dawn, I surrender to thee

That you may show me what to see

O wind, I surrender to thee

That you may take me where you flee

O sky, I surrender to thee

That you never make me feel, blue

O fire, I surrender to thee

That you consume what I need not, with glee

O earth, I surrender to thee

That you keep me unshaken in this milieu

O space, I surrender to thee

That you make me infinite, so I can just be

God is everywhere

This is a frequent excuse I’ve heard from people as to why they don’t need to visit any holy places. While it is true at the highest level, that all that exists is indeed a manifestation of God, it is also true that there is a factor called Maya which covers God, thereby making it appear that everything is a discrete, separate entity having no continuity or underlying commonality.

However, there are places on earth & people on earth where the covering of Maya is very slight or even non-existent. These are the revered, holy places or holy people meant to give hope to humanity that there is something beyond the sometimes mundane, sometimes beautifully perceived matrix that we live in. By frequently visiting & attuning ourselves to such energies in holy places, one is gradually able to attune oneself to such energies even without visiting the places or people in a physical sense.

Nevertheless, there is a discrete ‘opening’ in Maya, perhaps what can be called as an opening in the time-space continuum that wraps itself around us so closely all the time. Thus, the rejoinder to ‘God is everywhere’ is that ‘Maya is nearly everywhere’ & those places/people where Maya isn’t, are most sought after, like jewels buried in the sands of time-space.

Of real dreams

Quite some time back, I used to have a recurring experience during sleep which I thought was a dream. It was a feeling of actually floating around & travelling by flying as I moved past cities & all kinds of scenery beneath me. I wasn’t in a flight, nor was I in any vehicle, but I was just flying by myself. There was no one else in the dream & the most pleasurable part was the act of flight itself. It felt very real & refreshing to think about it in the waking state. Sometimes I fly high, sometimes low. The ground beneath is very real with all the scenery that we see typically. The freedom of flight by oneself, un encumbered by the physical body is indescribable. I had no explanation for what this joyful experience really signified.

Recently on reading the book ‘Journey of souls’ which is a must read book examining the life between lives using hypnotherapy to regress subjects to the past, I found the answer to what this very real dream experience meant. This is also mentioned in the other highly inspiring book 'Conversations with God'. It seems the soul or jiva sometimes dis engages itself from the body & roams around freely. It leaves a part of its energy behind in the body as an imprint, to return as quickly as needed. This happens during sleep state & also for babies that are still in the womb.

So, incredulous as it may sound, this experience was my jiva or soul roaming around in an alternate reality which was neither my waking universe nor my dream created universe! It felt so ‘real’ because it was real in the sense that it actually happened beyond the imagination projected by the mind. To use a different expression, it is also an ‘out of body’ experience since the body is fast asleep, with the mind dis engaged from the senses. As one advances far along the path, progressing spiritually, one is able to consciously disengage from the body & leave the body behind. There is even a technique by which one can exit the body from the Ajna chakra or the spiritual eye.

Thoughts that create life

It has been a very long time since I wrote a post on my blog. It seems I’ve been too caught up in ‘doing’ things all the time. Though there is always a reflective under current to my state of mind, none of it has made its way into writing for so long. Unfettered, unedited writing is the mark of a free mind flowing without stopping to examine the thoughts along the way.

Over the past few months there has been an accelerated learning about the lessons of life in general, without actually going through that many variety of experiences. It seems when you’ve learnt the lessons, or actually, remembered that you already know it, then many of the experiences that are meant to teach you those lessons become unnecessary.

One of the greatest learnings for me or rather unlearning a concept that was quite deeply ingrained in me, was about the idea of free will vs fate. Some books I read such as ‘Journey of souls’, ‘Destiny of souls’ & ‘Conversations with God’ have contributed immensely to this new found clarity.

My earlier understanding on this topic was to somehow shirk away from responsibility of all kind by attributing everything to ‘fate’ as an extraneous factor over which I have no control. This helped in many ways to learn acceptance of events, people & circumstances without fighting to change them. This could also be because none of the recent events have been adverse, implying there was no real need to struggle against the tide.

But the current understanding is that there is such a thing as free will. It is just that this free will acts in an unconscious way for most of us, most of the time. In fact, if there was no such thing as free will & if everything was pre-ordained then there would be absolutely no purpose for life. What fun is the whole drama if every single thing is already scripted? Even in theatre or a movie, the actors improvise on spur of the moment actions to even surprise the director. So the questions becomes, is there free will consciously? The answer to this is that most of us don’t employ free will consciously because we don’t observe & control our thought patterns which constantly create life for us. By bringing our whole mind under the radar of conscious observation, we can really become masters of our own destiny. Hold a thought, any thought long enough & it becomes powerful to create the reality we seek. It is another matter that sometimes, bringing the thought into physical manifestation may need another lifetime, which makes it appear that free will has failed.

If I examine my own life for some such ‘thought patterns’ which led to circumstances or events which I couldn’t explain, I clearly see a few such examples. For instance, for a long time I used to hold the thought that I hate computers & everything that goes with it. This led to a need to get away from computers as something evil. This thought manifested itself as pain in the hands during intense hours of work (within normal hours of duty!). I had even written a blog about this at http://anandanubhava.blogspot.com/2006/11/suffering-due-to-computers.html .While one can spend lifetimes digging into research material on the mechanics of physical injury due to computer usage & its prevention, none of that is practically useful as long as one doesn’t change the primal thought generating behaviors & circumstances for its outward expression. So the cure is extremely simple – to just hold the positive thought that one is healthy in all ways. Care should be taken to see that one doesn’t hold the negative of the negative thought – such as ‘I am not ill’ since this doesn’t work like Maths to make it a positive affirmation.

Yet another example in my life is the reinforced thought due to prevalent literature & studies based on statistical evidence, that running can be injurious to the knees. Just adopting this thought since it is so widely prevalent leads one’s own body to start running in such a way, unconsciously, as to produce the effect of knee pain. I now realize why I sometimes used to get knee pain – it didn’t matter how much I ran, where I ran, what I wore, how frequently I ran or what warm up/cool down exercises I did as much as what I thought running would do to my body. Then one has to go to great lengths to retrain the mind & the body to consciously run with the proper posture. It is so much easier to just observe one’s own mind & remove this negative thought.

Until one becomes a master in observing, controlling & changing one’s own thought patterns to create the desired circumstances in life, one has to be incredibly careful on what material the mind is exposed to. For example, most people read incredibly bad news which is all there is in the newspaper, first thing in the morning. So the thought gets ingrained into their mind that ‘it is a tough life’ or ‘how meaningless life is’. Then they struggle through the day since difficulties inevitably get presented to them & they find it hard to discover any meaning for why they must struggle so much. Without washing the mental cloth each day, the fabric of the mind becomes so dirty that to imprint one’s own thoughts on it becomes a challenge.

So what thought should one hold? To each, his / her destiny, hence each person should hold the highest thought they are capable of. However, in the relative world, the highest thought one can hold is about oneself, rather than any other object. That highest thought about oneself is ‘I’m self realized & I’m infinite’. This is no new thought, nor is it born of fiction as it is a primary thought expressed in the Upanishads as ‘Aham Brahmaasmi’. Only now do I even comprehend clearly what the steps of the Upanishadic self enquiry mechanism involve when they talk about ‘Shravana, Manana & Nidhidhyasana’. Shravana is simple & many of us do it – it is being exposed to such lofty thoughts input through the senses – listening to discourses, or reading scriptures. Manana is to constantly circulate such a thought in the mind & Nidhidhyasana happens when the Manana has become deep & constant, leading to self realization upon reflection on the highest thought.

Why visit a temple?

Looking back, it appears very strange, somewhat unbelievable that for so many decades of my life I never experienced first hand the real significance of temples. It is only of late that the presence of God is distinctly felt when I visit temples. It is so real, even more real than looking at somebody with one’s own eyes. This first started at that great pilgrimage center of Tiruvannamalai, in Ramanasramam, where I distinctly felt like a fish immersed in water, the ocean of bliss. I felt like I was swimming in the nectar of Satchidananda. All thoughts were perfectly stilled without effort. It was a natural state of being, incredibly joyous. But what was so obvious to me was not necessarily experienced by everyone. Many visitors just came in, saw the place, sat for sometime, talking loudly & then just left. No doubt there would’ve been an impact on everyone, irrespective of one’s awareness of the changes, but such a beautiful experience must be fully experienced with one’s attention focused on it. Some people argue that God exists everywhere, so why go to a specific place of pilgrimage such as a temple. This is akin to telling a thirsty man to imbibe water vapour from the atmosphere, since there is always moisture in the air! The fact is undeniable that water exists in the atmosphere, but we’re not fitted to draw moisture from the air directly into our bodies. Likewise, the vast majority of us are incapable of feeling the presence of God everywhere. So, in the beginning, we must go directly to the water source of consciousness to quench our thirst. The field of consciousness in the manifested creation is of non uniform density throughout space. Thus the positive force field is very strong at some places, but negative or weak at other areas. There can be a small grain of particle or a stone image or a tree or anything really – size being immaterial, which can be powerful enough to alter the minds of people by its force field. In fact even the holy river Ganga is said to be truly a blessing from God for the salvation of mankind. Some of my friends have attested to its holy presence – while bathing in the Ganga, their thoughts became naturally stilled. The effect was so profound with one person, that he said he could not concretely remember every moment of bathing in the Ganga. This is because the mind had merged completely with the self during those moments, so while the mind became active again there were no impressions to again bring forth!

Thus, it is not hard to understand why temples & other holy places were at the center of the Hindu civilization in olden times. In those days, whenever one was afflicted with negative energy, sad thoughts, untoward incidents in life or just needed the intuitive guidance of a higher being, temples served as power centers where one could tune into an uplifting presence. Such knowledge about their significance is now lost to the progressive, modern culture. It is indeed a matter of shame that even in the holiest land of India which is said to be the spiritual capital of the whole world, many people scoff at age old rituals merely because their scientifically inquisitive mind has no explanation. Such rationalists need to wait for the Satya Yuga when all this will be common knowledge in the so called ‘scientific’ way to be understood by the vast majority. For those who cannot wait for many millennia, there is a most detailed, cohesive explanation by Osho on the internet, which one can access by searching Google for “Alchemical Secrets of Places of Holy Pilgrimage”. But mere reading will not suffice. There is absolutely no substitute for first hand, repeatable experience.
And what is it with auspicious days? I have clearly felt on days such as Shivaratri, Krishna Janmashtami or Ramanavami that there is a much more purified & powerful presence of God saturated throughout creation, not just temples. Of course, on such days temples become even more exalted. One slowly understands there must be some meaning to all the madness of standing in long queues, jostling with one another & sweating it out just to get a glimpse of a ‘stone image’!

Having been endowed with free will, it is our responsibility to uplift our consciousness constantly. One of the easiest ways to do it is to regularly visit a temple where we feel the divine presence. Like the water from an ocean rushing into the water in a small cup & replacing that dirty water in the cup with the ocean’s own water, the consciousness of God completely cleanses our very being down to the depths of our subs consciousness. This also serves as a means of satsang, which is the company of truth. Since it is very hard to find the company of holy people steeped with spiritual splendor in our daily life, temples are an easy way of achieving this. Imagine for a moment how difficult it must be to find a truly holy man’s time for satsang everyday, in the midst of a materialistic society in a bustling city! Likewise, imagine how easy it is to find a temple, irrespective of where you are. Different temples may have differing powers of manifestation. For instance the world famous temple in Tirupathi has an awesome magnetic presence, but the sad part there is one cannot spend more than 10 seconds with the blessed deity. On the other hand, we must also strive to directly make contact with the divine being, irrespective of where we are. This can be by any of the standard means of purifying the mind. It also helps remove the dirt in one’s mind so that the blessings can be poured in readily. This way, we take the first baby steps towards seeing God everywhere, independent of location. One’s aura or energy field or consciousness expands & gets purified.

Where does all this eventually lead us to, at the pinnacle of human evolution? One becomes a perfect channel for the divine presence to be expressed in everyday life. Just like in the beginning one benefits from the presence of a Master or a temple, likewise, at the end of the journey other people benefit from one’s evolved state of being. When the nectar fills up, the bees are attracted! In that state, there are absolutely no selfish motives & one’s actions cannot be logically explained. Everything flows effortlessly, by the self, for the self, of the self!

Today and forever

A spark in the annals of time,
When the gust from the past
Brings forth a plethora of possibilities
Gushing forth like the rapid river in spate
On whose bows the boatman rows
Wafting hither, thither, as she whims.
At every periodic twist and turn
Bestowing order to illusory chaos
T’is the hour for the hoary helmsman
To beseech her, who moves earth and wind
Why I am rowing?
Why I am?
Why I?
Why?

This is a poem I wrote for a birthday gift. Normally poems should be self explanatory, but people may just get the general gist without grasping all the subtle nuances & deeper meanings. So I’ll attempt to explain the intent & imagination behind this poem.

Today and forever:
This is to be reflected starting from today, the birthday and go on forever. Alternatively, the bend in the river happens today, but the river flows forever in a continuous manner.
A spark in the annals of time, when the gust from the past brings forth a plethora of possibilities:
Every soul that has ever existed was created at some point in time, no one knows when. That moment is referred to as a spark – often times a spark is just a momentary occurrence, but it creates a fire that can rage on for a long time, doing many things - some wonderful, some disastrous. Likewise it is the gust that carries the spark & creates the raging fire, i.e., an individual soul encased in ignorance. One often wonders why one had to be created, to be told that it is all just God’s play where, in the end he wants us to unite with him. The other meaning of gust from the past is that every life is a continuation from the past life. The wind that blows, its intensity, direction, etc is determined by the past & influences the future possibilities. Thus, when one is born in this world or another, the prarabdha karma of fruits waiting to ripen already exist.

Gushing forth like the rapid river in spate, on whose bows the boatman rows, wafting hither, thither, as she whims:
Being born as explained earlier, the life force flows rapidly like the mighty river. This is true of certain individuals, while others may like the mere trickle of water, hardly flowing. In any case, it is wrong to construe the whole river to be an individual soul. In fact that represents the entire sum of life forces in existence. It is impossible to separate certain drops of water or certain currents, from others & from the river itself. The boatman represents the ego, thinking itself to be the doer. We struggle, strive hard all our lives in chasing dreams, laughing when we achieve them & crying when we don’t. It is bondage worse than a prisoner in gallows for life. In fact, though the boatman rows hard & thinks it is he who is guiding the boat here & there, the reality is that the river of life herself is the doer & she carries the boatman according to her wishes. Perhaps the rowing of the boatman often only makes matters worse – in his ignorance he may smash against a rock! Thus it is with life that one has to sit back, follow the flow of life & just enjoy the whole show without giving rise to new desires, but just allowing the prarabdha to run its course.

At every periodic twist and turn, bestowing order to illusory chaos, t’is the hour for the hoary helmsman, to beseech her, who moves earth and wind:
The periodic twist & turn is the birthday! We humans keep assiduous track of time, as though it is something very tangible. Likewise, the twist & turn in the river is nothing more than an imaginary milestone. Perhaps it does nothing to the flow of the river, perhaps it does something. In any case, it is not very significant for the river herself, but for the boatman who keeps rowing it is a crucial ‘turning point’! It is believed by many people that the tracking of time by humans is what keeps us from going into a chaotic spin. However, just like the river would flow just the same if it were not for periodic twists & turns, the universe would go on irrespective of what we keep track of. It is for us, the boatmen of the world whose egoistic mind can easily go into a spin, that time & such other milestones become necessary. The hoary helmsman is the ancient ego – God alone knows how long it has existed & what phases it has passed through. Of course, in its last life in the journey, all that would be revealed. It is the boatman’s one and only duty to seek answers to some key questions from the river – the river whose flows moves the earth beneath (soil) and causes wind due to currents. It is every human beings’ only purpose in life to seek answers to such questions, not just intellectually, but to internalize them & develop complete awareness at every instant.

Why I am rowing:
This is a question seeking answers and it belongs to the realm of karma, doership. The seeker here questions as to why he is performing actions. The alternative is of course to not perform any action, which is impossible to do. Even an idle or lazy person has to perform actions to maintain his body – such as eating, sleeping, etc. This question therefore is easily answered, since there is no other alternative. It leads to a deeper question.

Why I am:
This is an existential question, referring to the ego ‘I’ and why it exists. The boatman here questions his very existence and whether it is necessary in the grand scheme of things. He then realizes that the river is necessary for the boatman, but not the other way round. In fact his separateness is a fictional entity. Thereby he is able to dissolve his identity & just follow the river, without trying to row here, there, wherever his mind leads him. Henceforth the questions & answers to the last 2 questions happen between the semblance of ego (like the burnt rope, or like a line in water – no division causing hindrance) & God. The answers are experiential & cannot be put into words.

Why I:
Here the ego has been dissolved and the ‘I’ refers only to the creation in its entirety. It refers to the eshwara loka, or prakruti, or the created universe. As to why there is creation, it is said that it is God’s play that arises spontaneously from Brahman, which forms the substratum or adhistana. Saguna Brahman arises out of Nirguna Brahman. Yet it is as real as the Nirguna Brahman. However, this can be experienced in various forms, such as love, peace, joy, etc.

Why:
This goes to the realm beyond the created world. The knowers of Brahman who are not incarnations of God, cast off their body within 21 days it is said. Those who climb to these heady heights usually cannot come back to their senses to tell the tales. It is only incarnations of God, or Ishwarakotis who can describe this state. However, it simply cannot be grasped at all. Nirguna Brahman which has no attributes – how can one understand that ever? One cannot even experience it, for Brahman alone is. Hence it is said that ‘Aham Brahmasmi’ which means the individual soul free of ignorance, verily is nothing different from the Brahman.

Blossoming beatitude

As the sleeping bud awaits the dawn, 
Cradling in its fold petals of potential, 
Seeking life's light to bid adieu to yawn; 

Thy shall be the resplendent flower of fruition, 
Of a myriad mileu of delectable dreams,
Borne with expectant ecstasy by thine forewent dandelion!

A dream.. a revelation

In my dream one night, I saw a milkman whom I found to be incredibly intelligent, knowledgeable and wise. Then I wondered in the dream why he is just a milkman. Can't he do wonders for the world - in terms of achievements etc? Then God, in his formless aspect answers to me that each person has a specific role to play in life and that through whatever activity one is doing, none of which should be considered high or low, the devotee shall be drawn towards God.

Phew, an incredible and deeply satisfying dream! Very true & graphically remembered the next morning!

It is very appropriate as well for me cause I often in my waking state wonder what profession would suit my abilities & attitude towards life. The answer comes out to be far from practical to survive in the day to day world. To add more flavour, this is compounded in recent times by the nagging, but not very worrying hand pain while working on the computer. Also, my chosen Ishta is the formless God that I worship & visualize. So this dream is really an answer to some deep queries.

While my faith isn't lacking, such experiences further deepen faith to quicken one's pace in spiritual progress, giving a boost towards becoming one with creation after truly breaking down the ego.

Can it be said the dream is unreal? According to vedanta from the perspective of Brahman both the world & the dream states are equally unreal. But most of us leading 'normal' lives aren't in that state of exalted blessedness. Hence it is safe to assume that both dream and the world are equally real from the sphere of perception that we observe them.

Why outsourcing is bad for India

I always seem to be on the 'other side' of looking at so called 'progress'.

Being based in the UK and previously in the US, I recently had the chance to call my UK banker for some clarifications. As expected the call goes to a call centre in India. It is picked up by a chap who can barely manage to blabber a few words of English. But he has been put through a brain sucking training to remove his native Mallu accent and replace it with a stiff British upper lip. The result is hilarious at best, frustrating at worst. Language apart, the knowledge of banking processes was utterly miserable as well. I was put on hold for nearly half an hour twice, just to answer some simple queries. This experience of mine is not new - I've had the same delight each time I call up certain vendors in sections such as banking, insurance, etc.

Who's to blame here? The innocent young kids back home who want to make a fast buck, having dropped out of school even before they learn how to learn? Or, the global economy? Forget the blame, what happens will continue like a juggernaut - all we can do is debate.

Young people with impressionable minds are lured with the promise of hefty (relatively) salaries at an age when they barely can manage their meagre pocket money without squandering it. In the past, having an education was compulsory if you needed to succeed. Now there seem to be short cuts to fame and fortune. Who needs to cram volumes of Math, Science or History that seem practically irrelevant? With call centres recruiting people like cattle, being trained like sheep to all speak the same 'baaaah', it seems natural that anybody even slightly less gifted gets into this groove.

Its not just call centres, take software engineers for instance. Recruited immediately after their graduation, they are put through loads of training to kill their creativity, to make them conform to rigour and deliver the same block of code. It may be argued that where no 'opportunities' existed in the past for such people, there are opportunities galore to make a mark not just inside the country but in the global world. The result is that anyone and everyone may today rise to the very top, despite having nothing at the top of their body! Perhaps, the real world requires more than just intellectual skills - this does prove that success depends on attitude more than anything else.

But this is a deadly, dangerous trend developing in India. Take for instance the incentives that Government gives to attract talent for its defense, military, space and other internal work. For a hugely qualified individual, this amounts to a fraction of what a high school kid can earn working for global companies, in call centres, software code studios, etc. Who then has the motivation to study long and hard to master intricate subjects and put them to good use for the motherland? While all over the world, the focus is on India due to its fast economic growth, emergence of a new, larger middle class, positioning in the IT industry and so on, no where is it even highlighted in the media as to what happens to India's 'own' development!

All the great nations of the world operate in a push mode - pushing their products, services, technology to the less capable nations. It is simply knowledge in various forms flowing from a higher to a lower potential. By getting sucked into the whirlpool of outsourcing, India's potential and skillsets are sinking increasingly into a trench. This is simple for anybody to evaluate. How many cutting edge technology products indigenously (100%) developed in India are today widely sought after in the world market? Wouldn't it make every Indian proud, if for instance we had an equivalent of Toyota, Boeing, Google, Intel, etc born and incubated in India, to make a truly Indian company?! I was alarmed when I read that the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) completion has been delayed by (hold your breath) SEVENTEEN years, from 1993 to 2010. Reasons are well known - technical knowhow inadequacy fuelled by bureaucratic hassles. I doubt India can produce its own aircraft even in 50 years. In some respects, though the GDP improves and so on, India remains atleast 100 yrs or more behind the advanced nations.

Since India is a developing nation the Government can only go a short distance in rewarding talent. This has been the case from decades. But with the advent of multinational companies with outsourced operations in India, this chasm between the Govt and private (global) company's pay packets has grown incredibly huge. This is mainly due to exploitation of the weak Indian Rupee against foreign currencies. I cannot foresee any scenario where droves of hugely talented and intelligent individuals feel motivated to serve the country.

In order to develop, there needs to be a period of incubation where globalization needs to be resisted. It is like this - think of a baby in the womb of its mother. If technology were to evolve to expose the baby even before development in the womb to the outside world, in the name of giving it a head start in learning, what would be the result? Similar is the case with a developing nation. In the formative years, there has been a very short period since independence, only 50 years to develop kickstart the advancement and walk out of the shadows of obedience to foreigners. Every advanced nation in the world today - think US, France, Japan, UK, Germany, China, etc - has had 100s of years or in some cases 1000s of years to make steady progress, albeit with small hurdles.

So my take is that we got the whole thing wrong - it is just a matter of fate and nothing can be done really. An ideal situation would have been one in which India develops its indigenous technology, without opening its economy much for atleast a few 100 years. This not only has the benefit of retaining talent, but also giving a sense of pride in being Indian and using Indian, without aping the west. This would have rebuilt the strong sense of cultural and religious identity that is part of the equation if an individual or a nation needs to succeed - without a foundation how high can one climb really?

Is it any wonder then, that even today after all the success India has achieved, for the most part, the rest of the world looks down upon India when it comes to creativity, scientific breakthroughs, innovation and such path breaking ways of progress? India is merely considered a huge pool of low cost labour with limited skills. With the rise in levels of globalization, this will further be reinforced as it leads to refocus of western labour force on value added breakthrough activities. It will then appear that India is doing even better, its GDP will continue improving, people will migrate all the more from the villages to the big cities and the general standard of living would raise further - this is currently happening too, but will continue at an accelerated pace. More and more foreign companies will infiltrate India not merely for labour markets, but to push their products and services into house holds even in villages. Meanwhile, indigenous products and cutting edge technology development inside the country will reduce even further.

When I reflect on this article, I sense a feeling of pessimism flavouring its tone. But going by the trend today, it appears that the country is on a downward slide and if that is true indeed, then we go further till we reach bottom on the downward cycle, before starting to ascend again and come out on the top! How does one decide whether India is on an upward trend or a downward spiral? Looking at technological progress this conclusion may be hard to arrive at, but when one looks at the foundation - the rich cultural, religious and spiritual heritage of India - then it becomes obvious that the foundation has eroded and will further diminish. Thus it is indeed true that India is riding on a negative slope, cause without the moral fabric of a strong indigenous culture, all other clothes become mere threads to be ripped apart by the slightest gale!

The nature of knowledge, role of mind in acquiring it and implications to life

The mind by its very definition is nothing more than ignorance. As the level of ignorance varies, so does the person with that mind become the most knowledgeable entity in the world, or a total fool. Being limited in the sense that the mind arising out of the ego is not infinite, there is always a part that is outside the scope of the mind. In acquiring this, thus it is said that the mind has 'progressed' if this is for the benefit of some other entity. For instance organizational brain washing theory uses the refined word career advancement to address any knowledge acquired by the individual for the benfit of the company. In acquiring this knowledge it benefits the individual as well, since it benefits multiple companies thereby enlarging the scope of application.

Knowing that the mind is an inert entity, just how does it acquire knowledge of any form? Here again, knowledge is restricted to the world of illusions - knowledge of objects, events, etc, termed as lower knowledge. The mind is dependant for its existence on the light of the self or the infinite. It should be obvious that the infinite includes the mind (finite) and that the finite mind cannot exist by itself, without infinity for its support.

As a finite entity, though inert, the mind is not idle for sure. It constantly jumps around, interacts with other minds, objects (such as books for example) and keeps changing direction as life continues. It is convenient to visualize these aspects of the mind by personifying it as a river that flows. Think of zillions (uncountable really) of river currents flowing within the vast ocean. Really, the distinction between one current & the other is hard to verify as in some aspect or the other there is a definite connection between all.

In understanding the process of acquisition of knowledge, it is useful to know the nature of knowledge as well. It is well accepted and obvious that knowledge (even the lower form which we are concerned with) is infinite, existing by itself and needs no support of any kind. Definitely, knowledge does not depend on minds though it appears that a certain 'invention' has 'created' anew an object or a process. In essence, nothing is ever created new, but merely changed in form or function to appeal to the ignorance of the rest of the individuals as something 'new'. No doubt this is very useful to make a living.

There is a place for each individual in the vast ocean of life. This is determined by the type of knowledge each person acquires. Our living and roles in life are dictated by the limits of this knowledge. Our ability to interact with and help others is also to some extent dependant on being able to know what the needs of others are. Thereby, the flowing mind has to acquire the static and infinite body of knowledge that is ever present and complete. As the mind flows faster, deeper and for longer periods over certain domains of knowledge then the limited entity of the mind-body appears 'knowledgeable' because it is able to reproduce this knowledge quickly and coherently to another individual of repute (due to deeper, more coherent nature of this knowledge). This is a chain reaction or a pyramid structure, where the mind which has flown the deepest and fastest over the greatest amount of knowledge is considered most knowledgeable and spreads this awareness among a vast majority of people to be recognized as an 'expert'.

There are certain minds that can quickly flow deep into any part of the knowledge sphere, though it has never flow there. This is what is characterized as 'intelligence' - the ability to learn. Then there are other minds that are knowledgeable merely because they have flown in certain channels for long enough - this is the role of experience based learning over time.

Is knowledge really constant as assumed? The body of knowledge is constant at a fundamental level. The principles and nature of the rules governing it is definitely a constant. But having refined the knowledge in various ways, for instance to create an artificial object from known rules, the new object opens up and expands the sphere of knowledge. Think for example the invention of a simple gadget such as a computer mouse. Prior to its invention all the principles and rules to create that were already in existence - they have been so for ever. But post invention, the specific knowledge about how to create a mouse, to improve its technology, etc is new. In this sense the knowledge can be said to be varying at every instant, which doesn't make real sense as nothing is created new from ground up (atomic level or even subtler). To give a comprehensive picture, suffice it to say that if you define knowledge as the 'potential' to know something, then that is already inherent and hence never changes. But if you define it as actually one finite entity (like a human being) knowing something in particular, then that keeps changing. So, independent of finite entities & finite acquisitions of knowledge, knowledge itself is considered to be stand alone and constant through time and space.

Should the quality of living not improve as more and more knowledge is acquired by humans? This is obviously never true. Oft cited examples are invention of the atomic bomb, kalshnikov rifle, etc. Even a simple invention like the computer mouse, almost widely regarded as a breakthrough convenience invention, can cause much distress to a sizeable but growing section (repetitive strain victims!). Here rests the most important conclusion, that technology, human inventions, discoveries, etc, will NEVER be able to provide a better life than what was possible prior to these. An illustration - it may be said by some that air travel made life much easier, cutting short the time to go across continents which previously used to take ages. Then, this led to the necessity for other technologies - as more and more people made the journey to far off lands, the need arose for being able to keep in touch. Till this need was satisfied, there would be no respite for those that dared to make the journey. This led to other communication breakthroughs which made life simpler for travellers. Now there is the need to acquire these latest gadgets of communication - for which there is a need to earn more money adding fuel back to the need to travel to lucrative regions. Thus, there is no end in sight - it is nothing more than a vicious circle that seems to get better and better, but never really goes anywhere!

Most of us spend a major part of our lifetimes acquiring knowledge about all sorts of things - useful for a living, or otherwise. But what really needs to be done to stop swimming and be at once everywhere in this vast ocean? If the river current realises its mere illusory existence then the ocean is what remains. As awareness shifts away from the mind, then there is the possibility of knowing anything as and when required. This is the true meaning of 'sarvagna'. It is not one who knows everything, but one who can, if the need arises know anything! One is already a sarvagna but has to give up ignorance to realise and revel in that state.

Admiring the French

Everybody has a thing to two to learn from the French, especially India and Indians. I still cannot stop admiring the arty French people and their living style. I have never seen such wonderfully preserved History and culture anywhere in the world, not that I've seen the whole world. But from what I know so far, I can tell they are incredibly proud and rightly so, of their heritage, their language, and they have no qualms standing up to the invasion of English into their lives. In France, there is a very harmonious blend of the latest technology (think blindingly fast trains for instance) with the ancient History - for example there are many towns where all the houses, pavements, etc are still in stone, as they were some 500 years ago!

India should take a leaf out of the French book. Though we stood up to the British invasion once upon a time, the culture and what India stands for is largely eroded today. No longer do we even realise the winds of change and the loss of ancient treasures. Shamefully, English is accepted to the extent that many feel ashamed to talk in their native languages, looking down upon their roots. Imagine what if we could uphold Sanskrit, and even today have our entire education, all our websites, books, etc in Sanskrit? How wonderful that would be! This is not far fetched when you look at France, Japan and such countries which are among the most advanced places, yet with millenia old traditions proudly surviving even today.

Another thing that's truly heartening to observe in France is their taste for art, and their slow paced, relaxed and enjoyable lifestyle. In fact, there is law prohibiting work > 35 hrs weekly! They have a lunch break for nearly 2 hrs, even in today's so called 'fast paced' world. And what do they have to show for it? Everything - progress in all its glory! The age old proverb 'slow and steady wins the race' comes to mind. Their taste in art, literature, gourmey cuisine, etc all go a long way in filling up their spare time fruitfully.

On the face of it, as a traveller we usually look for the best of what we see and a passing glimpse of the grass makes it look green, often with envy. But nevertheless, not withstanding a deeper analysis that may expose certain pitfalls of their society, the above are truly values that every culture needs to possess and emulate from the French!

WUI - writing under influence

This is a disclaimer. It claims that most of these posts, especially the ones that resonate with the majority of people and find harmony at the deepest level, are written under influence. Under the influence of intoxicating subtances that make one forget about the false reality of the universe in its manifested form. Whether these are external in the form of physical liquids, solids, or internal, in the form of the joy that is ever inherent to oneself, sometimes discovered through external activities themselves or merely activities dependant on other factors is just a matter of coincidence.

In simple words, what this means is, there are many ways to dissolve the ignorance of the mind that brings forth the shining light of the self in its full glory even if momentary. This can be through the consumption of intoxicating substances which however leave a harmful side effect in the form of addiction, on the mind. Or, it can be in the form of certain practices like meditation, which again can run the risk of being addicted to the path than to strive for the end goal! It can even be as simple as a fulfilling achievement that causes the mind to dissolve itself the moment the object of attachment is attained, which is however momentary. Exercise can also cause this by releasing certain chemicals in the brain as the sense of self is expanded to include the sport being indulged in by the body. It is important to note that the true purpose of life that teaches through these experiences is to let one attain the highest state of mind, the true formless self, to ever experience such unhindered joy forever!

A favourite pasttime

It was always an acitivity that used to give me great pleasure. To watch old kannada songs or atleast hear them somewhere, even if in the distance on a radio playing in the neighbouring apartment. Maybe it was becauase I'm an old fashioned guy who will never become 'with the times'. Maybe it is because as a kid my mom used to play the radio every morning and as I got ready for school these same songs used to play and strike a resonant chord with my heart. Maybe its because the old times are when life was un hurried, less hectic, full of romanticism - atleast one would like to associate a memory with more glorious times. Nevertheless, the video in these songs evokes some extremely fond memories of trekking in the western ghats with glorious views afar and soothing greenery nearby.

Now as I enter a new phase of life, I can imagine and put myself - again here, the 'self' is the much abused word used in ignorance to denote the body-mind complex, while it means the self of the universe and beyond in the real sense. Though, for transactional daily purposes especially in such mundance posts of desires, memories and the mind, I shall use it in the 'normal' sense of ignorance. So, continuing, I can put myself and my 'would be' in the picturisation of each of these songs - its really beautiful !

The current song I'm listening to is 'naaninna mareyalaare'... how can one forget the ones dear to oneself? I cannot help delving deeper than meets the eye to say how can one forget ones self. The 'I' ness is and will always be inherent, though in a mistaken sense mostly till the ignorance is given up! Another song which I now listen to now is 'nagunagutaa nee baruve'.... for the sake of a single liftetime, it is sufficient to assume one gets happiness from another person, the significant other with whom one spends an entire life. But what beyond the life? What about eternity? Thankfully, no ignorance can exist for ever and that is solace to us deluded individuals imagining ourselves to be mere mortals.
'eko eno eenanna manuvu uyaale anthe toogide' talks about the swinging nature of the mind. The mind is better known as the monkey mind, swinging between one thought or desire to another with no end in sight. Basically, all songs and all lyrics are outpourings of the mind, experiencing often the 'no mind' state that gives joy!

Shifting back, its good that technology for video streaming has improved to the extent that one can watch videos in low resolution without awaiting removal of jerkiness during buffering intervals. At the same time, at a broader reflection it is to be seen that the technology to 'keep in touch' with ones memories whether it is of songs, incidents, people, etc is only keeping pace, just about, with the technology to take people farther away than their minds could imagine!!! So, in some sense, if 'progress' didn't exist then nothing would be amiss, definitely not happiness!

In the hands of the unknown

This year has been a roller coaster of unusual ups and downs. As I introspect I wish to be always positive and hopeful so I'll list down in chronological order, the upswings first:

1. I did a 10 day solo trip hiking some beautiful mountains surrounded by lakes. It was a near meditative experience being alone so long in such quiet, desolate places.

2. I got engaged to a very lovely girl of my dreams, though dreams and characters are never static!

3. I finally got a transfer to the group of my choice within my present company, something that had kept me on a painfully long wait due to bureaucratic processes

4. My parents visited me in a foreign land, an event which unfortunately had never occured in another foreign land even further across the seas

Now for the negative events, though it'll be seen how atleast some of these so called terrible events had some purpose:

1. My passport was misplaced by my home country authorities in this foreign country. It caused unnecessary tension, more so to my close family than to me. But this later proved to be a blessing in disguise as 2 above (& less importantly 1 also) would have never happened without this mishap.

2. I had a near fatal accident where the car ended up gruesomely mangled up. On the positive note, all of us escaped nearly unhurt, so that's the best part.

3. I got swindled of a very large sum of money by an unscrupulous real estate agent. Again, on the positive note, this later saved me from spending much more money by living on my own. Its just how I look at it now.

4. My house got burgled and 2 valuable laptops stolen. Lost some un-backed up data too! Again, the silver lining is that I received a much better performing newer, sleeker laptop.

All in all, it evens out or can actually be said that's its a great year for me. Its all a matter of perspective. Some may say I was jinxed. I'd prefer to look at the very large silver linings in each of these and be very thankful for a pleasant turn of events. This year the events have flowed in such a way that most of them can be said to be more of 'fate' than free will, if at all that exists in a dream characters dream world!

One of the paths...

Most of us lead a deluded existence identifying with the ego comprised of the body and mind. At the root of all our thoughts and emotions lies this ego. So, the best way to root out the ego is to observe the thoughts & emotions constantly and trace their origin. At the most fundamental level the ego also has its birth from the 'source' consciousness or the self. So on removal of the ego, as mistakenly understood by some, it is not nothingness and loss of identity, rather it is the real identity emerging from the shadow of ignorance.

What can lead us to seek this? It may be some trivial problems in life, or in general a feeling of limitedness that is tightly constraining. After all, what sort of freedom is it as long as one identifies with a body that ages every moment, whose critical functions are all involuntary, and a mind that one knows nothing about, yet which seems to dictate each & every outcome of life?!

As I enter into a new phase of life the larger purpose becomes immediately clear. There is a mirror to the mind at most instants and its easy to observe progress in self enquiry. Sometimes attachment develops to a very large extent. Previously the technique practiced was to try and avoid thoughts or divert them - but that is largely useless as its impossible to control flow of a river. However, with self enquiry, one focuses on the self which is the self of all and since there is unity and harmony, there is no 'other' than one's true self, thus removing attachment and every other unwanted thought.

It is similar to dipping a salt statue repeatedly in the sea to dissolve the salt in the sea and once the statue disappears or rather, merges into the sea which anyway contains infinite salt, then only the sea remains! By dipping the mind and its thoughts back into the self constantly, in the beginning it takes conscious effort (of the mind itself) but gradually when it becomes smooth and effortless its an amazing feeling. There is total calm and peace. The most crucial advantage of this method is that it can be practiced at any instant of time and has no relevance to the situation or the state of mind/ body! One can be walking on the road, in a meeting, studying something, all the while resting in the nature of one's self! Having said this it is to be noted that, in a subtler state of mind its much easier to see the light of the self.

A major and often encountered pitfall is the stage where the ego becomes miniscule but doesn't disappear totally. Then there are periods of knowledge where the magnitude of everything other than the finite becomes known. But this is the crucial period that has to be gone beyond to completely extinguish all traces of the ego. That is when the knowledge dawns in its permanence!

Mirror less reflections

The currents in life have been changing very rapidly these days. In fact, so fast they flow from all directions that I'm amazed I can finally call myself as 'very busy' even before I enter the next phase of life. Just 2 years back, I had lots of time on my hand for contemplation and idling which I never consider wasteful. But these days, balancing all priorities in life is a big challenge, as newer more exciting activities keep popping up all the time, weighted on the other side by responsibilities that aren't as fun, but required nevertheless!

The mind is also no longer existing in isolation. There's great amount of synergy with another! When the waters of life from two streams mix there's a lot of excitement and different perspectives added. Its useful to know the higher purpose of union of two minds which is to get a more streamlined, stronger flow with less fluctuations thereby able to go farther and have a wider variety of experiences. If the dissolution of egos happens at least with in the boundary of two egos, then there is the capacity to live life through two different experiencers. This is with the intention that the minds broaden even further to encompass the entire creation and become one with Ishwara, the presence underlying creation. And of course, there are always the events that attract other similar minds to be nurtured in the physical world. Eventually, the goal is to surrender and merge all minds into the ocean of bliss of infinity that continues to exist irrespective of the world, but not the other way round.

This is an inconclusive piece, just as life itself is inconclusive when seen from the life’s perspective. Does the river ever conclude? Maybe yes, if one considers meeting the ocean as the end of its journey. But then, the ocean that doesn’t really flow continues the journey of the waters always.

An Irish poem

May there always be work for your hands to do;

May your purse always hold a coin or two;

May the sun always shine on your windowpane;

May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain;

May the hand of a friend always be near you;

May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

Mirror mirror of my mind, who's the youngest of them so kind?

One more year ticks by. It is only due to lack of imagination that we feel time has a forward direction. As for me, but for the occasional sober reminder that I'm getting older & need to take on responsibilities, there's nothing at all to make me feel any less innocent or carefree than a small kid! Certainly, the body grows older, the cells have been in existence much longer but apart from that the rest is timeless. As for the mind .... its been in existence only as long as it remembers itself.

Tales be told of a bygone era where men and women drank merrily from the fountain of youth. Nothing is amiss today. One can feel as young as one wants to, as happy as one desires and none will be poorer by this thought!

I believe I can fly.. I believe I can touch the sky! I'm light as a bird & the wind is heavy as my mind. I rise up beyond all, leaving far behind the surface thats the end of everything known!

Colorful chronicles

Touched by heaven in the twinkle of a moment,
Such a gush of blood in the heart of a poet,
Mere madness in an attempt for a sonnet!

Worlds apart, distant like the sky and earth
Till the clouds of mind have nothing but dearth,
Bestowing land the waters of desire's fiefdom.
Rendering bereft the sky, spaceless with air of freedom

Welcoming warmth of the celestial warrior,
Shooting splendidly arrows of light,
Piercing rays of hope through an invisible barrier
Splashing subtly colors of creativity, oh what a sight!

Behold the bridge of contoured creativity
Touching sky with earth, with such impunity!
The beginning of a show, thats all about unity!