The village of Okhalkhanda lay perhaps in the Ramgarh District of Uttar Pradesh way back in 1976. Since it has been a long time since I visited there, the details are slowly being erased from my memory. It was an idyllic village in Kumaon Himalayas and had a Forest Rest House that was quite comfortable. Since I was a student at that time, I was not given permission to occupy the main rest house, but was given a small room in an annexe. A local person, Ram Singh by name used to prepare a few chappathis and a curry for lunch and dinner. The treks used to be quite exhausting, as it involved a descent and climb of about 3000 ft every day. Evenings would have me in the only teashop narrating various stories and facts about other parts of the world to the keen villagers who would lap up the stories in great eagerness.
The villagers were disarmingly innocent! For instance, when I told them about New York and the Empire State with over 100 storeys, they would ask me in all innocence “Sab, New York, Okhalkhanda se kitna door padtha hai?!” I would be tempted to tell him ‘Eleven thousand three hundred and twenty five miles, four furlongs, 143 yards, seven feet and three inches!’, but I would answer them without ever being patronizing even to the slightest degree. They were extremely hospitable. The men-folk were by and large lazy, but it used to be the women who were very hardy and put in all the strenuous work
This was the area that Jim Corbett in his book ‘The Man-eaters of Kumaon’ referred to as ‘The Chowgarh tigers’. Those days, I am sure it must have been covered by a dense mixed jungle, but now, sadly the whole forest was denuded and we saw the hill-slopes covered extensively by pine trees. The year I visited the place there was no electricity, but I heard it arrived shortly after I left the place. As there was no electricity, there were no televisions either. I am sure, by now the whole scenario would have changed and the villager of Okhalkhanda may have a thing or two to tell us about the outer world!
About 12-13 km east of Okalkhanda was a small cozy forest rest house nestled in a valley in a place called Thakura. I was lucky to get an accommodation over there and I stayed perhaps for over ten days. It was one of those old British style resthouse, with very antique and heavy teak wood cots and various rosewood furniture. It had quite a few large armchairs with high backs and spacious arm rests that could be spread out in a circular motion around a pivot. There were two rose-wood almirahs – one with antique porcelain cutlery, steel knives, forks and the works. The other almirah had many ancient copies of ‘Strand Magazines’ and other British magazines. That was where, I distinctly remember, I read P.G. Wodehouse’s ‘Mulliner’s Buck-u- Uppo’ in one of the old Strand Magazines.
For days together, I never had much contact with the outer world. Back home, my parents would have got a postcard just before I left Delhi, but for the next three months, they just would have no news about me, nor I about them. I had an old Murphy-minimaster transistor-radio that kept me briefly linked with the outer world, and I would get to hear my favourite Hindi film songs on it.
In a place near Babiyar, I was staying in a solitary dilapidated primary school that consisted of two small rooms with heavy doors but no latches. The school was about a kilometer from Babiyar and about 800 m upslope from Pokhri Pher and on a hump. Not one soul would venture near the school after dark...
( ….. to be continued in the next entry..)
Friday, January 29, 2010
A Confession !
About two or three days ago, I had made an entry about ‘Baltimore’! Here is a confession – there is no Vikram Trivedi from Roorkee that I know of, nor was there a conversation in Koshy’s Restaurant of Bangalore and there was no practical prank. All that had happened was that my sister just happened to mention the name Baltimore as we were heading back home from the Bazaar, and I told her about how the word ‘Baltimore’ came into existence and she knew immediately that the thing was just a prank and we all had a good laugh.
Now let us come to the more serious stuff. Most people of our generation would have loved the Hindi film Padosan. While I thoroughly enjoyed the banter, I was rather surprised at the real and present dislike that I had to face sometimes in Delhi and in rural Uttar Pradesh as I was from south of the Vindhyans. There were a few observations that I made though. Whenever the group consisted of the hail-fellow-well-met sort of guys, there seemed to be much less prejudice. The sporting lot, though they paid lip service to the general idea of a comic South Indian seemed to take each man as he came. These fellows were generally the liberal lot, and their politics too was of the liberal type. In all aspects of their thinking – social, religious, scientific etc. they were generally broadminded. The danger was with people who had rigid ideas, and it is surprising to see the tenacity with which they held on to their ideas with a total unwillingness to keep open various possibilities.
In the south too we are guilty of this travesty. We seem to label people of certain parts of India as belonging to the ‘cow belt’ with rather backward ideas; people of other parts as ruthless money lenders and shopkeepers; yet others as having loose morals. And in doing so, we may turn out to be guilty of doing a unjust action as this Block Development Officer (BDO) did which I give hereunder.
In the year 1976, I was working for a Ph.D in geology in the vicinity of a small village called Okhalkhanda in Kumaon Himalayas, about 60 km east of Nainital. Those days there was no electricity in the vicinity of those villages. I was twenty-four years old, and being from the plains, I used to find the ascending and descending of the hill-slopes quite strenuous. I had found the village folk to be very friendly and would spend evening hours just chatting with all of them in the only tea-shop that was there in the villageof Okhalkhanda where I had camped. I liked the villagers and could make out that the villagers grew fond of various anecdotes that I related to them of other parts of India that were totally out of their experience those days.
After a few days, I had to shift camp to a place called Babiyar which was about 12 km to the west. The distance in a plain terrain may not be too much to trek, but in a hilly terrain, it can be quite strenuous, especially for a man from the plains. Further, I had some heavy luggage that I had to transport over to Babiyar. When I put the matter across to the villagers, they suggested that I meet the BDO and place a request for mules that he had under his custody to facilitate the camp shift.
Later, when I went to meet the BDO along with a few villagers, as we sat around the table and discussed the matter, he told the villagers of how when he had been deputed to Germany for some study on agricultural aspects, he found Pakistanis to be more friendly than South Indians. He went on like this for quite some time, and in the end he declined any help whatsoever in the matter. I found it extremely tiring and strenuous to shift all my belongings to Babiyar from Okhalkhanda alone.
I write this to remind ourselves of how we should be alert in dusting and scrubbing our mind of the cobwebs of preconceived notions about men, or even of various events, and in making this suggestion, I thank an anonymous person who has advised me very rightly – to keep this Blog clean!
Now let us come to the more serious stuff. Most people of our generation would have loved the Hindi film Padosan. While I thoroughly enjoyed the banter, I was rather surprised at the real and present dislike that I had to face sometimes in Delhi and in rural Uttar Pradesh as I was from south of the Vindhyans. There were a few observations that I made though. Whenever the group consisted of the hail-fellow-well-met sort of guys, there seemed to be much less prejudice. The sporting lot, though they paid lip service to the general idea of a comic South Indian seemed to take each man as he came. These fellows were generally the liberal lot, and their politics too was of the liberal type. In all aspects of their thinking – social, religious, scientific etc. they were generally broadminded. The danger was with people who had rigid ideas, and it is surprising to see the tenacity with which they held on to their ideas with a total unwillingness to keep open various possibilities.
In the south too we are guilty of this travesty. We seem to label people of certain parts of India as belonging to the ‘cow belt’ with rather backward ideas; people of other parts as ruthless money lenders and shopkeepers; yet others as having loose morals. And in doing so, we may turn out to be guilty of doing a unjust action as this Block Development Officer (BDO) did which I give hereunder.
In the year 1976, I was working for a Ph.D in geology in the vicinity of a small village called Okhalkhanda in Kumaon Himalayas, about 60 km east of Nainital. Those days there was no electricity in the vicinity of those villages. I was twenty-four years old, and being from the plains, I used to find the ascending and descending of the hill-slopes quite strenuous. I had found the village folk to be very friendly and would spend evening hours just chatting with all of them in the only tea-shop that was there in the villageof Okhalkhanda where I had camped. I liked the villagers and could make out that the villagers grew fond of various anecdotes that I related to them of other parts of India that were totally out of their experience those days.
After a few days, I had to shift camp to a place called Babiyar which was about 12 km to the west. The distance in a plain terrain may not be too much to trek, but in a hilly terrain, it can be quite strenuous, especially for a man from the plains. Further, I had some heavy luggage that I had to transport over to Babiyar. When I put the matter across to the villagers, they suggested that I meet the BDO and place a request for mules that he had under his custody to facilitate the camp shift.
Later, when I went to meet the BDO along with a few villagers, as we sat around the table and discussed the matter, he told the villagers of how when he had been deputed to Germany for some study on agricultural aspects, he found Pakistanis to be more friendly than South Indians. He went on like this for quite some time, and in the end he declined any help whatsoever in the matter. I found it extremely tiring and strenuous to shift all my belongings to Babiyar from Okhalkhanda alone.
I write this to remind ourselves of how we should be alert in dusting and scrubbing our mind of the cobwebs of preconceived notions about men, or even of various events, and in making this suggestion, I thank an anonymous person who has advised me very rightly – to keep this Blog clean!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Liberal Arts And Science - Should they Blend ? - II
MATERIAL FOR THIS ENTRY AND THE PREVIOUS ONE WAS LARGELY DRAWN FROM :
1. The Western Intellectual Tradition By J. Bronowski and Bruce Mazlish
2. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig
Such a transformation was not always easy. The Church hindered the progress and dissemination of scientific ideas. Galileo’s case is not the only instance. The works of many philosophers like Voltaire, Rousseau and Descartes were banned by the Church. It was not only Christianity but other religions too victimized heretical thinkers. Baruch Spinoza, a Jew, was excommunicated in 1656 for being a religious and political liberal. Even in the 20th C philosophers like Bertrand Russell were victimized for their views. And the case of Salman Rushdie who was condemned to death by certain Muslim clerics is still fresh in our memories.
It will be interesting to recount the impact of science on the social fabric of our own country. You just have to read accounts by various travelers to the 18th and 19th C India to realize what a bleak place it was. Young widows were burnt on their dead husband’s pyre. Child marriages, child sacrifices and untouchability were the bane of India. Infant mortality was high and the absence of hygiene and sanitary practices in our country’s towns and villages made diseases like typhoid, cholera, plague and hepatitis rampant. Superstition and blind beliefs led to much human suffering which could be prevented. Over a period of time, with advances in science and technology, there has been a vast change and things are still changing. The average life-expectancy has risen. Improved methods of agriculture have seen to increase agricultural production many fold. The fabric of the society is more equitable, though much remains to be done. The practice of untouchability is punishable. Women, who were earlier being consigned to the four walls of the kitchen have now become a strong work-force and are actively contributing to the economy.
While strongly acknowledging these changes that science has wrought, I would like to speak a word of caution. In trying to understand the world around them, humans employ two main methods. These can be broadly classified as Classical understanding and Romantic understanding. CLASSICAL understanding sees the world primarily as underlying FORM. ROMANTIC understanding sees it primarily in terms of immediate APPEARANCE. Science largely issues from the former and art from the latter. While both forms of understanding are essential for human progress, the overwhelming dominance of Classical understanding over Romantic understanding is a cause for some worry and introspection and such an unequal development may even be an impediment to Human progress.
The Romantic saw a universal intelligence which created the sparkling Sun. It created the Moon, the call of the mother, the reeds in the lake, the daisies and the white dove. The Classicist busied himself gaining knowledge. He reduced a fragrant flowering tree to Michaelia champaka. A leaf is not just green. It is green because of chlorophyll. To the Romantic the moon was perhaps made of cheese. Now we know it is made of basalts. “Is there a man on the moon?” the children would ask in wonderment. Now they know Neil Armstrong was there. The magic of touch-me-nots, which close themselves in salutation to a man’s touch, for he is the only animal who has the consciousness to marvel at it, now shuts itself because water is expelled from one crucial part of the flower to another. The magic has been removed from creation and creation has lost its value. As Georg Lucacs says “Man has been rendered TRANSCENDENTALLY HOMELESS”.
The Classical mode which generates science, by itself, is dull, awkward, ugly. Nothing is figured out until it is run through a computer a dozen times. Everything is in terms of pieces and parts and components and relationships. Everything has to be measured and proved. Everything is oppressive, heavy, dull and endlessly grey. The Romantic mode is primarily inspirational, imaginative, creative and intuitive. It provides value for the Human circumstance. It generates art. It does not proceed by reason or by laws. It proceeds by feelings, intuition and aesthetic conscience! Is Newton more beneficial to humanity or is Shakespeare? The answer is both are equals. Both the Classicist and the Romantic are needed for the advancement of the human spirit. The Classicist is needed for the advancement of science and reason and progress, while the Romantic is needed to give value to the Classicist discoveries. Without the former there would be no understanding and without the latter there would be no meaning. Science and Arts are both important for human progress.
The overwhelming importance that man is giving to science may be causing this world to be a very bleak place for him. It has engendered man to think of his predicament as is widely reflected in modern (20th C) art and literature. ‘A Clockwork Orange’ could very well be the world of the near future. Franz Kafka’s works amply emphasize the fears and trepidations that a modern man faces in a contemporary world. The concepts of the ‘Absurd’, ‘Alienation’ and ‘Outsider’ dealt with by many modern European novelists talk of the tragedy of the human situation. The dichotomy between ‘LIFE’ and ‘MEANING’ has crept in. Many say that Science and Technology cause it! We pay for knowledge with alienation.
My call this day is that we should re-establish man’s home in the knowledge of the external world he has. Intuitive modes of interpreting the world should also be given its due importance as they may offer guidelines to govern human conduct and behaviour. Religious systems derived from mystical experiences have to be tempered and modulated with the knowledge derived from science and a firm basis for an ethical and moral world should be established, in which we, our children, and their children can live without fear.
The importance that need to be given to emotions and feelings is stressed in this TED TALK by David Brooks (Please Click on the link below ) :
http://www.ted.com/talks/david_brooks_the_social_animal.html
xxx
1. The Western Intellectual Tradition By J. Bronowski and Bruce Mazlish
2. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig
Such a transformation was not always easy. The Church hindered the progress and dissemination of scientific ideas. Galileo’s case is not the only instance. The works of many philosophers like Voltaire, Rousseau and Descartes were banned by the Church. It was not only Christianity but other religions too victimized heretical thinkers. Baruch Spinoza, a Jew, was excommunicated in 1656 for being a religious and political liberal. Even in the 20th C philosophers like Bertrand Russell were victimized for their views. And the case of Salman Rushdie who was condemned to death by certain Muslim clerics is still fresh in our memories.
It will be interesting to recount the impact of science on the social fabric of our own country. You just have to read accounts by various travelers to the 18th and 19th C India to realize what a bleak place it was. Young widows were burnt on their dead husband’s pyre. Child marriages, child sacrifices and untouchability were the bane of India. Infant mortality was high and the absence of hygiene and sanitary practices in our country’s towns and villages made diseases like typhoid, cholera, plague and hepatitis rampant. Superstition and blind beliefs led to much human suffering which could be prevented. Over a period of time, with advances in science and technology, there has been a vast change and things are still changing. The average life-expectancy has risen. Improved methods of agriculture have seen to increase agricultural production many fold. The fabric of the society is more equitable, though much remains to be done. The practice of untouchability is punishable. Women, who were earlier being consigned to the four walls of the kitchen have now become a strong work-force and are actively contributing to the economy.
While strongly acknowledging these changes that science has wrought, I would like to speak a word of caution. In trying to understand the world around them, humans employ two main methods. These can be broadly classified as Classical understanding and Romantic understanding. CLASSICAL understanding sees the world primarily as underlying FORM. ROMANTIC understanding sees it primarily in terms of immediate APPEARANCE. Science largely issues from the former and art from the latter. While both forms of understanding are essential for human progress, the overwhelming dominance of Classical understanding over Romantic understanding is a cause for some worry and introspection and such an unequal development may even be an impediment to Human progress.
The Romantic saw a universal intelligence which created the sparkling Sun. It created the Moon, the call of the mother, the reeds in the lake, the daisies and the white dove. The Classicist busied himself gaining knowledge. He reduced a fragrant flowering tree to Michaelia champaka. A leaf is not just green. It is green because of chlorophyll. To the Romantic the moon was perhaps made of cheese. Now we know it is made of basalts. “Is there a man on the moon?” the children would ask in wonderment. Now they know Neil Armstrong was there. The magic of touch-me-nots, which close themselves in salutation to a man’s touch, for he is the only animal who has the consciousness to marvel at it, now shuts itself because water is expelled from one crucial part of the flower to another. The magic has been removed from creation and creation has lost its value. As Georg Lucacs says “Man has been rendered TRANSCENDENTALLY HOMELESS”.
The Classical mode which generates science, by itself, is dull, awkward, ugly. Nothing is figured out until it is run through a computer a dozen times. Everything is in terms of pieces and parts and components and relationships. Everything has to be measured and proved. Everything is oppressive, heavy, dull and endlessly grey. The Romantic mode is primarily inspirational, imaginative, creative and intuitive. It provides value for the Human circumstance. It generates art. It does not proceed by reason or by laws. It proceeds by feelings, intuition and aesthetic conscience! Is Newton more beneficial to humanity or is Shakespeare? The answer is both are equals. Both the Classicist and the Romantic are needed for the advancement of the human spirit. The Classicist is needed for the advancement of science and reason and progress, while the Romantic is needed to give value to the Classicist discoveries. Without the former there would be no understanding and without the latter there would be no meaning. Science and Arts are both important for human progress.
The overwhelming importance that man is giving to science may be causing this world to be a very bleak place for him. It has engendered man to think of his predicament as is widely reflected in modern (20th C) art and literature. ‘A Clockwork Orange’ could very well be the world of the near future. Franz Kafka’s works amply emphasize the fears and trepidations that a modern man faces in a contemporary world. The concepts of the ‘Absurd’, ‘Alienation’ and ‘Outsider’ dealt with by many modern European novelists talk of the tragedy of the human situation. The dichotomy between ‘LIFE’ and ‘MEANING’ has crept in. Many say that Science and Technology cause it! We pay for knowledge with alienation.
My call this day is that we should re-establish man’s home in the knowledge of the external world he has. Intuitive modes of interpreting the world should also be given its due importance as they may offer guidelines to govern human conduct and behaviour. Religious systems derived from mystical experiences have to be tempered and modulated with the knowledge derived from science and a firm basis for an ethical and moral world should be established, in which we, our children, and their children can live without fear.
The importance that need to be given to emotions and feelings is stressed in this TED TALK by David Brooks (Please Click on the link below ) :
http://www.ted.com/talks/david_brooks_the_social_animal.html
xxx
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Liberal Arts And Science - Should They Blend ? - I
Some ideas for material for this post and the next have been borrowed from:
1. 'The Western Intellectual Tradition' by J. Bronowski & Bruce Mazlish
2. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig
The tremendous economical and social progress that mankind has achieved throughout the world since the Renaissance is too well known. In the medieval times the world was a stark place. Pestilence and disease would decimate large sections of the population. Slavery was widespread and men would subjugate fellow men. Suspected witches would be burnt at the stake. Superstitions were rife and humans were mercilessly subjugated by nature. There were many tragedies like the Spanish Inquisition and incarceration of heretics. A significant change was brought about by the Renaissance.
Renaissance witnessed the emergence of individualism. Art blossomed and numerous painters like Alberti, Verrocchio, his student Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michaelangelo Buanarroti have all created works that are characterized by a kind of impatience and self-assertion. There was a transition from classical to a popular culture, from an idealistic to an empirical Renaissance; from a worship of past humanism to a fierce belief in the human present. The Medici of Florence had given up the medieval ideal of an unapproachable godhead, but man and nature were still remote ideals to them. The self-made men of the new Renaissance wanted to grasp Man and nature through the senses, physically, in handfuls. The men of the Renaissance were interested in what was new. They were not willing to look back: their look was outward and forward into nature. They looked at her with two passions: a passion for the exact, which turned many men towards mathematics, and a passion for the actual, which urged them to experiment. These two strands, the logical and experimental, characterized the entire nature of artistic and scientific activity and have remained the two sinews of scientific method ever since. Thus there was a concomitant rise of empirical science and the close attention mankind paid to nature. Thanks to the Renaissance ‘The fitness of the individual, his worth and capacity, were of more weight than all the laws and usages that prevailed..’
The importance of what I have mentioned till now cannot be underestimated. Renaissance saw the sudden flowering of both art and science. This was no accident and the fact that both progressed together only underscores the importance and the intense need of both the spheres of human intellectual activity. Leonardo da Vinci’s works, especially his anatomical drawings with the hollows and blood vessels in the head are reputed to be so exact that even today it is striking to compare them point by point with X-ray photographs and with photographs taken with radioactive tracers. His notes reveal that he performed autopsies on corpses, a practice forbidden by the Church during his time. His artistic explorations were entirely scientific. His scientific personality helped him seek the unity under the chaos of natural phenomena but his artistic sensibility made him leap to the concrete and the particular. He made the artist’s eye for meaningful detail become a part of the essential equipment of the scientist. Observation of nature and nature’s laws revolutionized science. New realizations have dawned upon the Human Consciousness from time to time. The world was discovered to be round rather than flat, the earth was found to go round the sun, gravity force was recognized and a theory of electromagnetism to explain various phenomena like light, magnetism and electricity was formulated. Space and time were unified. Time was not a universal standard but was found to be relative depending on the frame of reference. Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, Shrodinger Wave Equation and quantum mechanics gave a new description of reality recognizing that perhaps an observer influences and changes the nature of reality! It was also discovered that LIFE as we know it had not existed throughout. Fossils were discovered. It was found that life had evolved and Man is a very recent appearance on the face of the earth. Scientific investigations also established that Earth, far from being the centre of the universe, is just one of the planets revolving around the Sun which is just an average star among the millions located in a remote corner of one of the spiral arms of a galaxy called the Milky Way which is just one of the millions of galaxies in the universe Science has transformed Man, the society and his beliefs.
1. 'The Western Intellectual Tradition' by J. Bronowski & Bruce Mazlish
2. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig
The tremendous economical and social progress that mankind has achieved throughout the world since the Renaissance is too well known. In the medieval times the world was a stark place. Pestilence and disease would decimate large sections of the population. Slavery was widespread and men would subjugate fellow men. Suspected witches would be burnt at the stake. Superstitions were rife and humans were mercilessly subjugated by nature. There were many tragedies like the Spanish Inquisition and incarceration of heretics. A significant change was brought about by the Renaissance.
Renaissance witnessed the emergence of individualism. Art blossomed and numerous painters like Alberti, Verrocchio, his student Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michaelangelo Buanarroti have all created works that are characterized by a kind of impatience and self-assertion. There was a transition from classical to a popular culture, from an idealistic to an empirical Renaissance; from a worship of past humanism to a fierce belief in the human present. The Medici of Florence had given up the medieval ideal of an unapproachable godhead, but man and nature were still remote ideals to them. The self-made men of the new Renaissance wanted to grasp Man and nature through the senses, physically, in handfuls. The men of the Renaissance were interested in what was new. They were not willing to look back: their look was outward and forward into nature. They looked at her with two passions: a passion for the exact, which turned many men towards mathematics, and a passion for the actual, which urged them to experiment. These two strands, the logical and experimental, characterized the entire nature of artistic and scientific activity and have remained the two sinews of scientific method ever since. Thus there was a concomitant rise of empirical science and the close attention mankind paid to nature. Thanks to the Renaissance ‘The fitness of the individual, his worth and capacity, were of more weight than all the laws and usages that prevailed..’
The importance of what I have mentioned till now cannot be underestimated. Renaissance saw the sudden flowering of both art and science. This was no accident and the fact that both progressed together only underscores the importance and the intense need of both the spheres of human intellectual activity. Leonardo da Vinci’s works, especially his anatomical drawings with the hollows and blood vessels in the head are reputed to be so exact that even today it is striking to compare them point by point with X-ray photographs and with photographs taken with radioactive tracers. His notes reveal that he performed autopsies on corpses, a practice forbidden by the Church during his time. His artistic explorations were entirely scientific. His scientific personality helped him seek the unity under the chaos of natural phenomena but his artistic sensibility made him leap to the concrete and the particular. He made the artist’s eye for meaningful detail become a part of the essential equipment of the scientist. Observation of nature and nature’s laws revolutionized science. New realizations have dawned upon the Human Consciousness from time to time. The world was discovered to be round rather than flat, the earth was found to go round the sun, gravity force was recognized and a theory of electromagnetism to explain various phenomena like light, magnetism and electricity was formulated. Space and time were unified. Time was not a universal standard but was found to be relative depending on the frame of reference. Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, Shrodinger Wave Equation and quantum mechanics gave a new description of reality recognizing that perhaps an observer influences and changes the nature of reality! It was also discovered that LIFE as we know it had not existed throughout. Fossils were discovered. It was found that life had evolved and Man is a very recent appearance on the face of the earth. Scientific investigations also established that Earth, far from being the centre of the universe, is just one of the planets revolving around the Sun which is just an average star among the millions located in a remote corner of one of the spiral arms of a galaxy called the Milky Way which is just one of the millions of galaxies in the universe Science has transformed Man, the society and his beliefs.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Credulous Parochials!
If a liberal city-slicker chooses to lead an innocent city dweller with strong parochial and rabid religious feelings down the garden path, it is amusing how easily he can be fooled, especially if the bait chosen is something that stirs up strong emotions – like language or patriotism. The victim is willing to swallow the whole thing hook, line and sinker (thanks Vasu!).
I happened to be seated with Vikram Trivedi, a migrant to Bangalore from Roorkee, in Koshy’s Restaurant, Bangalore one evening. As the conversation rolled on, it turned to what in common Indian parlance is referred to as ‘Co-brother’. His Co-brother’s sister had supposedly moved from Florida to Baltimore…
And that was when I decided to intervene.
“You would be interested to know how that town got its name!” I remarked casually.
“Well, actually, it so happened that a large Brahmin family had moved to certain settlements in Washington just after America decided to launch its war of independence!” I spoke on, adding “they had in fact boarded an English vessel that set sail from Calcutta, chiefly intending to settle in the Carribean Islands.”
“Really?” asks Trivedi.
“Before they were to arrive in the Carribeans, the Head of the family - a man called Gokul Nath Sharma - heard about greener pastures in the Americas…” I went on hoodwinking him, “and one thing led to another and it was the first Indian family that was to settle in what is now known as Washington!”
My friend felt quite thrilled about a first ‘Brahmin’ family in the U.S. of A and that too from near his own hometown!
“Later, as the Governor Sutcliffe decided to move out of Washington and into strange territory, the large group of settlers that included this large Brahmin family migrated and established a settlement in what is now Maryland”.
“The settlers would rely for their supplies on travelers who used to move inward from the coast, and who would transport imported items fetched from overseas.”
“And this large Brahmin family with its orthodox Hindu practices felt a strong need for many buckets to attend to their daily ablutions.”
“Not being very familiar with the English word ‘bucket’ he used the Hindi word for it and asked the Governor to get more of them from the coast!”
“One thing led to another, and due to garbled communication and various confusions associated with the Hindi word for ‘bucket’, and in seeking the destination for the consignment the town came to be called ‘Baltimore’!”
“Achcha? I didn’t know that! Chalo! Apna Hindi padh se ek American shehar ka naam to huaa!” exclaimed my friend in exultation and swelling with Hindu pride!
I happened to be seated with Vikram Trivedi, a migrant to Bangalore from Roorkee, in Koshy’s Restaurant, Bangalore one evening. As the conversation rolled on, it turned to what in common Indian parlance is referred to as ‘Co-brother’. His Co-brother’s sister had supposedly moved from Florida to Baltimore…
And that was when I decided to intervene.
“You would be interested to know how that town got its name!” I remarked casually.
“Well, actually, it so happened that a large Brahmin family had moved to certain settlements in Washington just after America decided to launch its war of independence!” I spoke on, adding “they had in fact boarded an English vessel that set sail from Calcutta, chiefly intending to settle in the Carribean Islands.”
“Really?” asks Trivedi.
“Before they were to arrive in the Carribeans, the Head of the family - a man called Gokul Nath Sharma - heard about greener pastures in the Americas…” I went on hoodwinking him, “and one thing led to another and it was the first Indian family that was to settle in what is now known as Washington!”
My friend felt quite thrilled about a first ‘Brahmin’ family in the U.S. of A and that too from near his own hometown!
“Later, as the Governor Sutcliffe decided to move out of Washington and into strange territory, the large group of settlers that included this large Brahmin family migrated and established a settlement in what is now Maryland”.
“The settlers would rely for their supplies on travelers who used to move inward from the coast, and who would transport imported items fetched from overseas.”
“And this large Brahmin family with its orthodox Hindu practices felt a strong need for many buckets to attend to their daily ablutions.”
“Not being very familiar with the English word ‘bucket’ he used the Hindi word for it and asked the Governor to get more of them from the coast!”
“One thing led to another, and due to garbled communication and various confusions associated with the Hindi word for ‘bucket’, and in seeking the destination for the consignment the town came to be called ‘Baltimore’!”
“Achcha? I didn’t know that! Chalo! Apna Hindi padh se ek American shehar ka naam to huaa!” exclaimed my friend in exultation and swelling with Hindu pride!
xxx
Tried Eloping - Sought this guy's help !
Just two days ago, I tried eloping with a girl, but the girl's father caught me in the act. He was furious! I sought the help of this hairdresser to deal with the father ! This barber promises 'Girls Bap Cutting' ! You too can use him.
Monday, January 25, 2010
To lighten things a bit: Humour
ON A CRIMINAL LAWYER
A famous criminal lawyer, quite a dislikable fellow actually, once created quite a stir when he went on dharna on some self-righteous grounds. The opposing camp ravaged the premises where he was on dharna and assaulted him grievously.
“The rascals clutched at my testicles!” he complained bitterly to the press.
Noting the incident my friend remarked :
“Have you seen his offspring? If you see his offspring, you’d wish they’d clutched at it earlier!”
DEFT DEFINITIONS:
Philanthropist: One who gives away what he should actually give back!
Economist: An economist is a person who knows more about money than the one who has it.
Etymologist: An etymologist is one who knows the difference between an etymologist and an entomologist.
Psychiatrist: A person to whom you pay $100 an hour to squeal on your mother.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PSYCHOTIC AND A NEUROTIC:
A psychotic thinks 2 + 2 = 5! A neurotic ‘knows’ that 2 + 2 = 4 but ‘Hates it!’
Overheard:
A schizophrenic telling his doctor :
“I hear voices Doctor!! It says that you are charging too much !!”
A famous criminal lawyer, quite a dislikable fellow actually, once created quite a stir when he went on dharna on some self-righteous grounds. The opposing camp ravaged the premises where he was on dharna and assaulted him grievously.
“The rascals clutched at my testicles!” he complained bitterly to the press.
Noting the incident my friend remarked :
“Have you seen his offspring? If you see his offspring, you’d wish they’d clutched at it earlier!”
DEFT DEFINITIONS:
Philanthropist: One who gives away what he should actually give back!
Economist: An economist is a person who knows more about money than the one who has it.
Etymologist: An etymologist is one who knows the difference between an etymologist and an entomologist.
Psychiatrist: A person to whom you pay $100 an hour to squeal on your mother.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PSYCHOTIC AND A NEUROTIC:
A psychotic thinks 2 + 2 = 5! A neurotic ‘knows’ that 2 + 2 = 4 but ‘Hates it!’
Overheard:
A schizophrenic telling his doctor :
“I hear voices Doctor!! It says that you are charging too much !!”
HOW DO WE GIVE VALUE TO THINGS ?
It was just yesterday that I said to my wife “Suppose there is a hypothetical situation wherein…”, but before I could continue any further she exploded “You are always thinking of hypothetical situations and various fall-outs! I just can’t think like that; so don’t trouble me with such things!”
It was then that I realized, how the preoccupations of men differ from those of women. May not be all women, but certainly most of them. When men seek the company of other men to spend their time in such idle talk, the women get resentful! So addressing the wives of some of my friends, I now say –“It’s not fair!”
What I was trying to get my wife to evaluate was this situation : - If you were a 30 year old man wearing a red shirt and jeans walking on a road, and without your knowledge a 20 year old lass has complained to her brother that a man in a red-shirt and jeans had attempted to molest her. The brother in a rage had rushed inside his house, picked up a bottle of sulfuric acid, rushed out in search of the molester, and at the first sight of a man in red shirt and blue jeans, thrown the acid on his face rendering him totally blind and distorting his features into a grotesque mask.
Suppose after some 25 years, due to some phenomenal advancement in science, the victim’s eyes are partially restored – just enough to feel his way around in the world, without having to face the frightening perils of being totally blind. It also happens that the assailant - the girl's brother - realizes that his victim was actually innocent and seeks to compensate him for all the years of blindness and permanent facial distortion. The question that arises is - how do we fix a value for the compensation that he has to make? Would one crore be enough? Or two crores? Or five crores?
Imagine this blind victim and the assailant are traveling by bus from Bangalore to Mumbai. The victim is however not aware of his assailant's presence in the bus. Suppose some woman raises a furor about the blind man accusing him of purposely falling on her with a bad motive, but it all happened due to his feeble eyesight (Our blind man seems to get into a lot of trouble! :-) ) A cop traveling in the bus demands a five-thousand rupee bribe from the blind man which, failing to pay, would land the man in jail. The blind man has no money! But the assailant would be carrying just enough cash as he is proceeding to Mumbai to secure the admission of his son into a college by paying a donation. The assailant who who would have been in dire financial straits would have borrowed money from a money lender to pay for the college admission of his son at Mumbai. The money was given to him after a lot of taunts and insults. Surprisingly the assailant offers to pay the Rs. 5000/- bribe that the policeman is demanding in genuine contrition, even if it means his son losing a year of college, it being the last day for remitting the fee. Would this Rs 5000/- be of a greater value than say, the one crore rupees?
If there is a manic depressive suffering from intense bouts of anxiety and depression that makes it almost impossible for him to concentrate on the job. He somehow seems to do an adequate quality of a job allotted to him and there has been no serious breach of discipline or insubordination. If he has rendered some work, which though not of ‘good quality’, but is perhaps as much as he was capable of doing. If you were now to compare the ‘value’ of his output with another man who essentially had no major problems since childhood, was more or less fortunate in all his efforts, and as a result had turned out major publications which have genuinely contributed to the good of the society. How would you compare the ‘value’ of the two outputs.
Are humans capable of assessing such value, or would you prefer to put your trust in a God who is supposed to be ‘Omniscient’! Frankly, I would prefer God to men!
xxx
SPIRITUALITY - Just an attempt to fix Value
I feel that what I want to pour out certainly has value. I say it has value because there is certainly some value in intense suffering, and this value is being crystallized in what I pour out in this blog. I also understand that different people find different things valuable, and so far as value is concerned, it is almost impossible to fix an amount such that all people would find that they concur. As it has happened in the recent past, some may feel that I am a fool, someone else may feel I am a fake, and a rare person may like to see what I want to say. So I say it now!
The path of spirituality is essentially one of fixing value. At least for me, that is what it seems to be. All of us tend to live with a total lack of consciousness, so that we seem to have lost value for the opportunity provided to us as ‘a life’ on this earth. For instance, every morning when my wife boils milk, she makes a conscious dedication and thanks to God before she uses it for our coffee. In trying to attribute ‘value’ to such a ritual, I think of how many calves are being deprived of their food and nourishment – something which is actually theirs- and how we are appropriating to ourselves something that is theirs. If the cow is conscious, how would it feel that its own child is being deprived of its nutrition. Have you ever noticed that some cows refuse to yield milk when the farmer tries to milk it, and the farmer lets the calf suckle first and as soon as he gets to know that the milk is flowing, how he forcibly leads away the calf to milk the cow for us to drink! The path of spirituality draws attention to these small things that we seem to lose sight of.
Again, I have seen some people pouring out water to their lawns for hours or use buckets upon buckets of water to wash their cars or to wash the ground in front of the gate of their house. There may not be much wrong in this action, provided you are conscious that water is a dearly precious commodity to some others in Bangalore, and they have to stand in long queues near a common pump, over and over again to get just enough water for their essential requirements.
I am not trying to moralize. The very fact that fate seems to have provided some with all of these comforts, and denied it to many others, perhaps itself is enough justification that they are indeed entitled to the lavish lifestyle. I am just trying to make the experience of enjoying these commodities more valuable and precious by my past experiences of suffering.
xxx
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Oh! Doctor!
My cousin is just my age but a lot more mature. Throughout our childhood he had a genial spirit and was given to enjoying the good things in life. When in PUC, he would ride his bicycle to our house and on sunny afternoons we used to gorge on potato buns which were a novelty then – and of course, it was always he who paid.
Our family has been regularly using his services, and at critical times, he is always there for us. And so is he to a lot many more families and friends. Recently I had to visit him due to a sprain in my left knee. On examination, he felt that there was an accumulation of blood due to some internal bleeding, yet felt that perhaps it would be prudent to seek the opinion of a specialist orthopedist.
Accordingly, an appointment at the specialist’s hospital was fixed and we hastened there forthwith. The specialist was a mix of a stern faced yet outgoing type of doctor. He carefully examined my leg by folding it in different ways and later concluded that I have to get a few X-rays of the knees. On examining the X-rays carefully, his face took upon a grim expression and he said “Actually, you have two options – Since you are over 55 years you could have osteoarthritis as the joint has worn out, and further due to injury there seems to be a ligament tear resulting in the weakness in the knee. This could be studied intensively for ligament structure and blood-capillary structures..”
“What is the second option?” I pleaded, sensing in a panic that the whole mission would turn out prohibitively expensive.
“The other option is that you could have a sprain of the knee, and you could rest your knee for about ten days and observe for improvement”, he declared plainly.
“I’ll choose the second option!” I added hastily, and much to my relief.
-----------------
As we were driving down from M.G. Road to our home in Bangalore, my brother-in-law chanced to see a fairly large compound with a spacious building with a name board “NATURE CURE HOSPITAL”.
“I wonder what sort of treatments they give you in a Nature cure hospital?” My brother-in-law asked curiously.
“Perhaps they allow nature to cure the patients!” said my sister.
“And they collect the money!” I said.
---------------
Our family has been regularly using his services, and at critical times, he is always there for us. And so is he to a lot many more families and friends. Recently I had to visit him due to a sprain in my left knee. On examination, he felt that there was an accumulation of blood due to some internal bleeding, yet felt that perhaps it would be prudent to seek the opinion of a specialist orthopedist.
Accordingly, an appointment at the specialist’s hospital was fixed and we hastened there forthwith. The specialist was a mix of a stern faced yet outgoing type of doctor. He carefully examined my leg by folding it in different ways and later concluded that I have to get a few X-rays of the knees. On examining the X-rays carefully, his face took upon a grim expression and he said “Actually, you have two options – Since you are over 55 years you could have osteoarthritis as the joint has worn out, and further due to injury there seems to be a ligament tear resulting in the weakness in the knee. This could be studied intensively for ligament structure and blood-capillary structures..”
“What is the second option?” I pleaded, sensing in a panic that the whole mission would turn out prohibitively expensive.
“The other option is that you could have a sprain of the knee, and you could rest your knee for about ten days and observe for improvement”, he declared plainly.
“I’ll choose the second option!” I added hastily, and much to my relief.
-----------------
As we were driving down from M.G. Road to our home in Bangalore, my brother-in-law chanced to see a fairly large compound with a spacious building with a name board “NATURE CURE HOSPITAL”.
“I wonder what sort of treatments they give you in a Nature cure hospital?” My brother-in-law asked curiously.
“Perhaps they allow nature to cure the patients!” said my sister.
“And they collect the money!” I said.
---------------
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Lesson - 1
I am a subscriber to Paulo Coelho's blog ‘The Warrior of Light’.
Could Sofia be likened to Bangalore? Could Bulgaria be likened to the place where everyone is a sinner? Is it the Earth? It is for you to think for yourself
Paulo Coelho
The Streets of Sofia
After spending five special days in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, for the first time I board a plane of the Bulgarian Air company, which will carry me to my next destination on this journey without (many) plans that I am making in tribute to the 20 years since my pilgrimage on the Way to Santiago.
Since it is forbidden to turn on your computer before and during take-off, I take a look at the airline magazine. Like all other airline company magazine, I know that it will describe the marvels of the country, which I am not very interested in because my visit has been wonderful, so nobody has to tell me again how marvelous the place is. Years ago, during the extremely harsh communist regime when no-one could visit the country, a Brazilian author wrote a book questioning the very existence of Bulgaria: he claimed that he had never known a soul who had come here. So, maybe it was all one big conspiracy to make us believe in a reality that did not exist. The book, of course, is very funny, without any criticism of the Bulgarians, but it does explore the fact that the collective imagination can sometimes be manipulated.
I am thinking of that writer as I read the airline magazine when suddenly, among the pages where normally you find advice about hotels, restaurants and boarding procedures, I come across something that fascinates and surprises me:
A] Walking through the center of Sofia means having to confront cars parked on the sidewalk, people hooting their horns in your ears, dogs straying loose on the street, and holes that appear without any notice to warn pedestrians.
B] If you want to take a bus, remember that the doors are small, so there is a good chance that you will hurt yourself while boarding. Toss a one-lev coin (the local currency) in the driver’s lap, shout where you want to get off, and be aware that the buses do not always respect bus stops. Don’t let that put you in a bad mood.
C] If you’re driving, take all the following items into account: a driver’s license, passport, stainless-steel nerves, eyes that must not blink for an instant, traffic lights that look like hieroglyphics (Bulgaria uses the Cyrillic alphabet), and mad drivers.
E] When you stop at a traffic light, be prepared to see your car surrounded by a crowd of children ready to clean your windshields: be firm, don’t accept!
F] Traffic policemen are “prodigiously venal” and are watching out for you. Behave like a saint, do not stress out, not unless you want to pay an “on-the-spot fine”, which is simply a bribe.
G] Bulgaria has a high crime rate, but please relax! You will be as safe or unsafe here as in New York, London, Paris or any other big city.
H] The lighting is awful during the night.
I] Shopkeepers never have change. Ask at your hotel for low-value bills, otherwise you run the risk of waiting for twenty minutes while the salesperson goes to the neighbor or to the closest bank to get change.
J] To get back to the buses: some of them have a terrifying machine at the door, and you have to discover fast how to extract your ticket from there. Remember that public transportation is paid everywhere in the world. Of course, chances are great that during your journey you will see inspectors boarding the bus and asking the passengers for their tickets, but most of them won’t have tickets, so there will be an argument and they will all end up having to pay a fine. Since you have overcome all these problems by already buying a ticket, you can watch all these arguments without any fear.
Let’s be honest: almost any big city in the world suffers from most of these problems (the ticket situation, for example, is something I have experienced in Amsterdam). But this is the first time that an airline company has ever mentioned such problems. Congratulations on having the courage to do so, this has made me love the country and its people all the more.
Could Sofia be likened to Bangalore? Could Bulgaria be likened to the place where everyone is a sinner? Is it the Earth? It is for you to think for yourself
Paulo Coelho
The Streets of Sofia
After spending five special days in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, for the first time I board a plane of the Bulgarian Air company, which will carry me to my next destination on this journey without (many) plans that I am making in tribute to the 20 years since my pilgrimage on the Way to Santiago.
Since it is forbidden to turn on your computer before and during take-off, I take a look at the airline magazine. Like all other airline company magazine, I know that it will describe the marvels of the country, which I am not very interested in because my visit has been wonderful, so nobody has to tell me again how marvelous the place is. Years ago, during the extremely harsh communist regime when no-one could visit the country, a Brazilian author wrote a book questioning the very existence of Bulgaria: he claimed that he had never known a soul who had come here. So, maybe it was all one big conspiracy to make us believe in a reality that did not exist. The book, of course, is very funny, without any criticism of the Bulgarians, but it does explore the fact that the collective imagination can sometimes be manipulated.
I am thinking of that writer as I read the airline magazine when suddenly, among the pages where normally you find advice about hotels, restaurants and boarding procedures, I come across something that fascinates and surprises me:
A] Walking through the center of Sofia means having to confront cars parked on the sidewalk, people hooting their horns in your ears, dogs straying loose on the street, and holes that appear without any notice to warn pedestrians.
B] If you want to take a bus, remember that the doors are small, so there is a good chance that you will hurt yourself while boarding. Toss a one-lev coin (the local currency) in the driver’s lap, shout where you want to get off, and be aware that the buses do not always respect bus stops. Don’t let that put you in a bad mood.
C] If you’re driving, take all the following items into account: a driver’s license, passport, stainless-steel nerves, eyes that must not blink for an instant, traffic lights that look like hieroglyphics (Bulgaria uses the Cyrillic alphabet), and mad drivers.
E] When you stop at a traffic light, be prepared to see your car surrounded by a crowd of children ready to clean your windshields: be firm, don’t accept!
F] Traffic policemen are “prodigiously venal” and are watching out for you. Behave like a saint, do not stress out, not unless you want to pay an “on-the-spot fine”, which is simply a bribe.
G] Bulgaria has a high crime rate, but please relax! You will be as safe or unsafe here as in New York, London, Paris or any other big city.
H] The lighting is awful during the night.
I] Shopkeepers never have change. Ask at your hotel for low-value bills, otherwise you run the risk of waiting for twenty minutes while the salesperson goes to the neighbor or to the closest bank to get change.
J] To get back to the buses: some of them have a terrifying machine at the door, and you have to discover fast how to extract your ticket from there. Remember that public transportation is paid everywhere in the world. Of course, chances are great that during your journey you will see inspectors boarding the bus and asking the passengers for their tickets, but most of them won’t have tickets, so there will be an argument and they will all end up having to pay a fine. Since you have overcome all these problems by already buying a ticket, you can watch all these arguments without any fear.
Let’s be honest: almost any big city in the world suffers from most of these problems (the ticket situation, for example, is something I have experienced in Amsterdam). But this is the first time that an airline company has ever mentioned such problems. Congratulations on having the courage to do so, this has made me love the country and its people all the more.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Greed !!
GREED !
My father-in-law was middle class and was one of the most unlucky souls born on earth. Though he was not blessed with money, and barely scraping to make an existence, he was such a large hearted man, that people recount warmly (he died just a few months before I got engaged) the generosity and hospitality that an unannounced guest always received at his house.
It so happened that as a youth he was placed in such a circumstance that he had to seek out the generosity of the father of the famous Test Cricketer M.L. Jaisimha, a man by the name Lakshmi Narasu, who had come up the hard way. Mr. Narasimha Murthy, my father-in-law, had to seek the financial assistance of Mr. Lakshmi Narasu to further his academic career at Aligarh Muslim University. And later it so happened that when a few years advanced, Mr Lakshmi Narasu asked My F-I-L to support and nurture three elderly persons – an aged sister of Lakshmi Narasu and his two aged parents. Thus it so happened that the three persons, my F-I-L's two parents, wife and five children had to be nurtured.
My F-I-L later lost his job and barely scraped a living. And this is what surprises me. He never reneged on the demands made by his once benefactor. Come hell or high water, his children suffered the pangs of monetary deprivation but the five aged persons were taken care of adequately.
My father-in-law was unlucky and unsuccessful. For some reason, whatever he attempted would crash. Yet he is supposed to have been a lion-hearted man who never held back when he had to take a risk. In the early 1990s, he had a fairly large sized plot with an old house in Seshadripuram, Bangalore. The poor man borrowed a huge sum of money at prohibitive rates of interest to try and develop an apartment complex in that space. Those days the bank rates for loans were around 18% which went up to 22%, so he ended up with a totally losing proposition for the plot he had. Further the flats were all sold cheap. All in all, they ended up losing the plot in a way.
One of the losing investments he made, was a fairly large strip of land that he purchased in the early 1990s in what is now Hosakerehalli. For some reason, though the documents were genuine, the family had not executed the Khata deed. The registration of the land was nevertheless done. All seemed to be in order until a few years ago. It so happened that a prominent Karnataka politician became interested in that strip of land and sought to annex it to other lands he had acquired for a so-called educational institution. The politician – a powerful man, used his power and is presently engaged in the greedy task of grasping more than he really needs even as an impoverished family looks on. The world looks on too!
My father-in-law was middle class and was one of the most unlucky souls born on earth. Though he was not blessed with money, and barely scraping to make an existence, he was such a large hearted man, that people recount warmly (he died just a few months before I got engaged) the generosity and hospitality that an unannounced guest always received at his house.
It so happened that as a youth he was placed in such a circumstance that he had to seek out the generosity of the father of the famous Test Cricketer M.L. Jaisimha, a man by the name Lakshmi Narasu, who had come up the hard way. Mr. Narasimha Murthy, my father-in-law, had to seek the financial assistance of Mr. Lakshmi Narasu to further his academic career at Aligarh Muslim University. And later it so happened that when a few years advanced, Mr Lakshmi Narasu asked My F-I-L to support and nurture three elderly persons – an aged sister of Lakshmi Narasu and his two aged parents. Thus it so happened that the three persons, my F-I-L's two parents, wife and five children had to be nurtured.
My F-I-L later lost his job and barely scraped a living. And this is what surprises me. He never reneged on the demands made by his once benefactor. Come hell or high water, his children suffered the pangs of monetary deprivation but the five aged persons were taken care of adequately.
My father-in-law was unlucky and unsuccessful. For some reason, whatever he attempted would crash. Yet he is supposed to have been a lion-hearted man who never held back when he had to take a risk. In the early 1990s, he had a fairly large sized plot with an old house in Seshadripuram, Bangalore. The poor man borrowed a huge sum of money at prohibitive rates of interest to try and develop an apartment complex in that space. Those days the bank rates for loans were around 18% which went up to 22%, so he ended up with a totally losing proposition for the plot he had. Further the flats were all sold cheap. All in all, they ended up losing the plot in a way.
One of the losing investments he made, was a fairly large strip of land that he purchased in the early 1990s in what is now Hosakerehalli. For some reason, though the documents were genuine, the family had not executed the Khata deed. The registration of the land was nevertheless done. All seemed to be in order until a few years ago. It so happened that a prominent Karnataka politician became interested in that strip of land and sought to annex it to other lands he had acquired for a so-called educational institution. The politician – a powerful man, used his power and is presently engaged in the greedy task of grasping more than he really needs even as an impoverished family looks on. The world looks on too!
Monday, January 18, 2010
MEANING OF RITUALS FOR ME (ONLY) - 2
MEANING OF RITUALS - 2
The first question I would like to ask is why are people scared to ask ?
Answer: The main hindrance that arises in the path of acquiring knowledge is that people, for some reason, think it is inappropriate to ask such questions. Just yesterday (January 17th 2009) there was a multiple-Homa at a relatives house . A homa is where the god of fire (Agni) is worshipped by various offerings to a fire in a consecrated homa-kunda (where the fire is kindled), all this being accompanied by Mantras chanted in Sanskrit. For some reason, I have always had my suspicions of such rituals. I understand that rituals are symbolic. They are symbolic of an action that you perform to relate to God. I intensely desire to relate to God. I earnestly ask Him to answer some urgent prayers that my soul seems to demand from me. The strongest prayer that I have been addressing to Him is expressing a need for the unification of my self with the Divine. Why do I ask this? I have been told that once such a unification is achieved, it is the end of all wants and desires. One is supposed to attain a supreme state of bliss that puts an end to all desires. Now who would not desire that? I have been told that this is possible and one has to try and seek that out.
Yesterday all hell broke loose! All I happened to do was to make a statement that the performance of Homas could be quite meaningless and unfruitful if you are not acutely aware of the actions that you are doing as each Sanskrit line is recited, and the meaning of the line is entirely known to you. The real controversy arose when I made a naughty statement. I said, “What if some mischievous bloke said a line in Sanskrit which, in fact when translated meant – ‘Let your bums be busted!’?”
There was a furious uproar. I was accused of being frivolous. “If you were interested, you could have sat down beside the fire and asked the priests?” my cousin remarked. But seriously, when the Brahmins are doing it at the rate of 45 lines a minute, is it really possible to stop at each line and ask? Luckily, though all were angry at being caught on the wrong foot, they had the grace to let me off lightly. Everyone seemed to enjoy the banter in the end. The husband of my guru was the only person who seemed to see my point, and I thank him for that.
It is time to question the efficacy of these practices. If a multiple entry-Homa, with four agni kundas are being simultaneously performed, is it really possible for it to be fruitful. Is it not being too ambitious? And what are you asking for? If you seem to have everything, are there still some things you need? I swear, in all my life, I have never done a single homa. Now would I be punished for it? Will I be deprived of the basic levels of health, security and comforts and nourishment? When Homas are done for selfish reasons, do they really work?
It may be time to examine such questions. As an aside, I remarked, Brahmins who perform a surfeit of homas could be classified as ‘Homa Sapiens’!
The first question I would like to ask is why are people scared to ask ?
Answer: The main hindrance that arises in the path of acquiring knowledge is that people, for some reason, think it is inappropriate to ask such questions. Just yesterday (January 17th 2009) there was a multiple-Homa at a relatives house . A homa is where the god of fire (Agni) is worshipped by various offerings to a fire in a consecrated homa-kunda (where the fire is kindled), all this being accompanied by Mantras chanted in Sanskrit. For some reason, I have always had my suspicions of such rituals. I understand that rituals are symbolic. They are symbolic of an action that you perform to relate to God. I intensely desire to relate to God. I earnestly ask Him to answer some urgent prayers that my soul seems to demand from me. The strongest prayer that I have been addressing to Him is expressing a need for the unification of my self with the Divine. Why do I ask this? I have been told that once such a unification is achieved, it is the end of all wants and desires. One is supposed to attain a supreme state of bliss that puts an end to all desires. Now who would not desire that? I have been told that this is possible and one has to try and seek that out.
Yesterday all hell broke loose! All I happened to do was to make a statement that the performance of Homas could be quite meaningless and unfruitful if you are not acutely aware of the actions that you are doing as each Sanskrit line is recited, and the meaning of the line is entirely known to you. The real controversy arose when I made a naughty statement. I said, “What if some mischievous bloke said a line in Sanskrit which, in fact when translated meant – ‘Let your bums be busted!’?”
There was a furious uproar. I was accused of being frivolous. “If you were interested, you could have sat down beside the fire and asked the priests?” my cousin remarked. But seriously, when the Brahmins are doing it at the rate of 45 lines a minute, is it really possible to stop at each line and ask? Luckily, though all were angry at being caught on the wrong foot, they had the grace to let me off lightly. Everyone seemed to enjoy the banter in the end. The husband of my guru was the only person who seemed to see my point, and I thank him for that.
It is time to question the efficacy of these practices. If a multiple entry-Homa, with four agni kundas are being simultaneously performed, is it really possible for it to be fruitful. Is it not being too ambitious? And what are you asking for? If you seem to have everything, are there still some things you need? I swear, in all my life, I have never done a single homa. Now would I be punished for it? Will I be deprived of the basic levels of health, security and comforts and nourishment? When Homas are done for selfish reasons, do they really work?
It may be time to examine such questions. As an aside, I remarked, Brahmins who perform a surfeit of homas could be classified as ‘Homa Sapiens’!
MEANING OF RITUALS FOR ME (ONLY)-1
RITUALS- 1
Having once been an atheist, and having seen the evidences for the existence of the Divine, and only thence becoming convinced, I could logically see that what Hindu sages have specified for so long, could indeed be possible. And if possible, it is certainly desirable, and hence becomes rather imperative to seek that out. It so happened that I was first convinced about the existence of the Divine by the occurrence of certain phenomena that are brushed off as ‘trickery’ by the skeptics. My wisdom and commonsense told me very plainly that the woman just could not be a trickster. It was clear for all to see that she was just a middle-class housewife with no apparent ambitions for glory and recognition. And so it happened fortuitously, that I surrendered to her. She gave me a direction by asking me to read a text. I scrupulously read the text - one chapter a day - attempting sincerely to reach the goal. Subsequently she gave me a mantra which I accepted eagerly. She gave me the most rudimentary form of a ritual and asked me to do it regularly.
When I looked into the ritual that she had advised me to perform – she had materialized a Sai Baba figurine and asked me to do the abhisheka (a ritual where an icon is given a bath in water or milk or honey etc.), and offer a naivedya (a ritual whereby food is offered to the icon) to the figurine I was fortunately able to give my own interpretation to the ritual. The interpretation I gave evolved as my needs changed with spiritual growth. At first, I used to perform the abhisheka with utmost concentration and sincerity and eagerly seeking solutions to certain problems that were plaguing me. I invested considerable faith in the whole process. I viewed the abhisheka as a bath that I would give a person (one can imagine the person to be sick and with bed sores), and the naivedya as return of gratitude for I having been fed by the Divine for several years. In offering the naivedya, I would visualize the Guru accepting it. It took some several months of patience to realize that some prayers were indeed being answered in whatever way. If I asked money for satisfying my hunger, I found that money may not be given more than a certain degree, but concomitantly my hunger was being reduced too! Many of us miss out this aspect. Say if a homeless person asks for winning a lottery of Rs 15 lakhs to buy a house, he may find that someone would have willed him a fairly accommodative one worth 5 lakhs. And miraculously, he would be quite satisfied. Something like this happened to me.
Here I must add that together with the ritual, she had prescribed the reading of a suitable text. The text prepared me for what I had to accept to reach my goal. It advised me two main things – ‘Patience with fortitude’ (Saburi in Marathi) and ‘Faith’ (Shraddha). Hence the readings bolstered what the rituals did, and gave me a remarkable assurance and boldness and courage to face certain situations that could have been quite unnerving and worrisome.
As I progressed along the path, I began investing more and more meaning to the rituals that I was performing. For instance, while bathing, I attributed phenomenal curative powers to the water falling on my body, and told God that I view it as a substance created by the Universal Intelligence to symbolically purify the wrong actions of the day. I also told God to heal the split between me and God.
Prayers helped me too. I earnestly prayed for the removal of conflicts and troubles, and for the betterment of my health. I wonder if I was being guided, or whether it was a part of my nature. I attempted to pray to God to help me forgive the people who had hurt me. Frankly, I found it extremely difficult in succeeding. But then over a period of time, I was given a realization of the hypocrisy that does exist in this world. As I was given this realization or ‘knowledge’, I found it becoming increasingly easy to accept myself. Here I have to say that ‘accepting myself’ was a major problem I had faced since childhood. For various reasons related to those circumstances, I found it very difficult to accept myself. The problem had compounded as years passed, and as luck would have it, the hypocrisy and self-righteousness of the society had created further trouble. My prayers helped me by God revealing to me, what the society really was like.
So now I have come to realize the value of rituals. Luckily though, I realized its full value only because I had the honesty to tell people around me for many, many years that to me, these things did not make much sense!
Having once been an atheist, and having seen the evidences for the existence of the Divine, and only thence becoming convinced, I could logically see that what Hindu sages have specified for so long, could indeed be possible. And if possible, it is certainly desirable, and hence becomes rather imperative to seek that out. It so happened that I was first convinced about the existence of the Divine by the occurrence of certain phenomena that are brushed off as ‘trickery’ by the skeptics. My wisdom and commonsense told me very plainly that the woman just could not be a trickster. It was clear for all to see that she was just a middle-class housewife with no apparent ambitions for glory and recognition. And so it happened fortuitously, that I surrendered to her. She gave me a direction by asking me to read a text. I scrupulously read the text - one chapter a day - attempting sincerely to reach the goal. Subsequently she gave me a mantra which I accepted eagerly. She gave me the most rudimentary form of a ritual and asked me to do it regularly.
When I looked into the ritual that she had advised me to perform – she had materialized a Sai Baba figurine and asked me to do the abhisheka (a ritual where an icon is given a bath in water or milk or honey etc.), and offer a naivedya (a ritual whereby food is offered to the icon) to the figurine I was fortunately able to give my own interpretation to the ritual. The interpretation I gave evolved as my needs changed with spiritual growth. At first, I used to perform the abhisheka with utmost concentration and sincerity and eagerly seeking solutions to certain problems that were plaguing me. I invested considerable faith in the whole process. I viewed the abhisheka as a bath that I would give a person (one can imagine the person to be sick and with bed sores), and the naivedya as return of gratitude for I having been fed by the Divine for several years. In offering the naivedya, I would visualize the Guru accepting it. It took some several months of patience to realize that some prayers were indeed being answered in whatever way. If I asked money for satisfying my hunger, I found that money may not be given more than a certain degree, but concomitantly my hunger was being reduced too! Many of us miss out this aspect. Say if a homeless person asks for winning a lottery of Rs 15 lakhs to buy a house, he may find that someone would have willed him a fairly accommodative one worth 5 lakhs. And miraculously, he would be quite satisfied. Something like this happened to me.
Here I must add that together with the ritual, she had prescribed the reading of a suitable text. The text prepared me for what I had to accept to reach my goal. It advised me two main things – ‘Patience with fortitude’ (Saburi in Marathi) and ‘Faith’ (Shraddha). Hence the readings bolstered what the rituals did, and gave me a remarkable assurance and boldness and courage to face certain situations that could have been quite unnerving and worrisome.
As I progressed along the path, I began investing more and more meaning to the rituals that I was performing. For instance, while bathing, I attributed phenomenal curative powers to the water falling on my body, and told God that I view it as a substance created by the Universal Intelligence to symbolically purify the wrong actions of the day. I also told God to heal the split between me and God.
Prayers helped me too. I earnestly prayed for the removal of conflicts and troubles, and for the betterment of my health. I wonder if I was being guided, or whether it was a part of my nature. I attempted to pray to God to help me forgive the people who had hurt me. Frankly, I found it extremely difficult in succeeding. But then over a period of time, I was given a realization of the hypocrisy that does exist in this world. As I was given this realization or ‘knowledge’, I found it becoming increasingly easy to accept myself. Here I have to say that ‘accepting myself’ was a major problem I had faced since childhood. For various reasons related to those circumstances, I found it very difficult to accept myself. The problem had compounded as years passed, and as luck would have it, the hypocrisy and self-righteousness of the society had created further trouble. My prayers helped me by God revealing to me, what the society really was like.
So now I have come to realize the value of rituals. Luckily though, I realized its full value only because I had the honesty to tell people around me for many, many years that to me, these things did not make much sense!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
The Monkey Mind !
MONKEY MIND !
Very troubling! The way my mind runs ! And makes me guilty for entertaining such thoughts. Well, not exactly ! Because it is quite entertaining and amusing.
As I was walking down Mahatma Gandhi Road this morning, I saw a well-endowed girl in a snug t-shirt emblazoned at the prominent place, the words 'GIVE ME A BREAK !'. "You want a break?" my mind questioned, "But you seem to be craving for a squeeze !" my mind told me. And with thoughts like these I end up feeling guilty !
This morning I visited my cousins house. They have a cute child that they have named Abhay. Quite a calm sprite actually, the child. But today it seemed mischievous. The mother, patiently at first said, "Abhay". The mischief continued and the mother said somewhat irritated "Abhay!". On continued mischief, the mother got wild and shouted "Abhay !!" Then I patiently explained - "The mistake is yours actually! You have named him Abhay (fearless). How do you expect him to be scared of you if you glower "Abhay!!"
In India we have a trdition of considering children the gift of god. So quite often children are named 'Ramprasad', meaning 'gift of Ram' and so on. This colleague of mine already had two sons. He did not want anymore children. Neither did he want to spend money on condoms. He bought one on a fateful day and on the fateful night it ruptured and as a result he had another son. We asked him "Why not name him Nirodh Prasad!"
I had a friend in college who was a year junior to me. It so happened that he also joined the Geological Survey of India in a post that was two ranks junior. Around the year 1978 or '79 he happened to marry the sister of Narayanamurthy (INFOSYS). At the time of his marriage, Narayanmurthy was like any other middle-class bloke leading a placid life sans limelight. My colleague too was middle class, and had to be very stringent in his spending and careful with his money. Maybe he was even less fortunate than me, and perhaps was economically weaker.
Now picking up another thread, Indian babies, as already explained, are named by their proud parents after gods they revere intensely and also in great gratitude. So maybe Narayanamurthy was named as the idol (Murthy) and visage of Lord Narayana.
As years progressed and the 1990s rolled on, INFOSYS became a very successful company which made huge profits and the share prices shot up phenomenally and went through the ceiling! And generous and benevolent and transparent in their dealings that the founders of the company were, every employee of the company prospered phenomenally and became tremendously wealthy. And so too did many of their relative and friends! And sure enough the fortunes of my colleague mutated magnificently and he became one of the wealthiest employees of GSI which generally has very middle class people. He purchased a new mansion, a car, and was generally very prosperous.
Well! He was beholden to Narayanamurthy who was chiefly responsible for his prosperity and was grateful to his benefactor and held him in high esteem. He celebrated the wedding of his daughter with a very successful engineer working in USA. At the wedding I was remarking to a Bengali friend about my colleague's success story and told him that my colleague was so beholden to Narayanamurthy that if his daughter gave birth to a son, he would name him Narayanamurthy Murthy!
Very troubling! The way my mind runs ! And makes me guilty for entertaining such thoughts. Well, not exactly ! Because it is quite entertaining and amusing.
As I was walking down Mahatma Gandhi Road this morning, I saw a well-endowed girl in a snug t-shirt emblazoned at the prominent place, the words 'GIVE ME A BREAK !'. "You want a break?" my mind questioned, "But you seem to be craving for a squeeze !" my mind told me. And with thoughts like these I end up feeling guilty !
This morning I visited my cousins house. They have a cute child that they have named Abhay. Quite a calm sprite actually, the child. But today it seemed mischievous. The mother, patiently at first said, "Abhay". The mischief continued and the mother said somewhat irritated "Abhay!". On continued mischief, the mother got wild and shouted "Abhay !!" Then I patiently explained - "The mistake is yours actually! You have named him Abhay (fearless). How do you expect him to be scared of you if you glower "Abhay!!"
In India we have a trdition of considering children the gift of god. So quite often children are named 'Ramprasad', meaning 'gift of Ram' and so on. This colleague of mine already had two sons. He did not want anymore children. Neither did he want to spend money on condoms. He bought one on a fateful day and on the fateful night it ruptured and as a result he had another son. We asked him "Why not name him Nirodh Prasad!"
I had a friend in college who was a year junior to me. It so happened that he also joined the Geological Survey of India in a post that was two ranks junior. Around the year 1978 or '79 he happened to marry the sister of Narayanamurthy (INFOSYS). At the time of his marriage, Narayanmurthy was like any other middle-class bloke leading a placid life sans limelight. My colleague too was middle class, and had to be very stringent in his spending and careful with his money. Maybe he was even less fortunate than me, and perhaps was economically weaker.
Now picking up another thread, Indian babies, as already explained, are named by their proud parents after gods they revere intensely and also in great gratitude. So maybe Narayanamurthy was named as the idol (Murthy) and visage of Lord Narayana.
As years progressed and the 1990s rolled on, INFOSYS became a very successful company which made huge profits and the share prices shot up phenomenally and went through the ceiling! And generous and benevolent and transparent in their dealings that the founders of the company were, every employee of the company prospered phenomenally and became tremendously wealthy. And so too did many of their relative and friends! And sure enough the fortunes of my colleague mutated magnificently and he became one of the wealthiest employees of GSI which generally has very middle class people. He purchased a new mansion, a car, and was generally very prosperous.
Well! He was beholden to Narayanamurthy who was chiefly responsible for his prosperity and was grateful to his benefactor and held him in high esteem. He celebrated the wedding of his daughter with a very successful engineer working in USA. At the wedding I was remarking to a Bengali friend about my colleague's success story and told him that my colleague was so beholden to Narayanamurthy that if his daughter gave birth to a son, he would name him Narayanamurthy Murthy!
Again The Same Thing - Mind Or Matter ?
AGAIN THE SAME THING – MIND OR MATTER ?
I’ve frequently wondered at serendipity. Do you ever get a strange feeling sometimes of seeing something you’ve always suspected and discovered it to be true after all?
I draw reference to the now famous experiments in physics designed to prove whether light is a particle or a wave. What now seems to be a common consensus: depends on the way you look at it. Or to put it another way, depends on your inclination. But is this obvious? For example, before Christian Huygens, it was widely held that light is a particle (by Newton and others). But Huygens wanted to see for himself. If he was contented with the idea that light is a particle as earlier experiments had supposedly proved, he would have set up an experiment to confirm it. But no, he wanted to prove the earlier physicists wrong! So he contended within himself – could light in fact be a wave. So he set up experiments to see this angle. And of course, he found that light rays are actually waves!
Can a similar thing happen in the famous philosophical question: is mind supreme or is matter supreme? Could an answer be that it depends on your inclination? Because I’m certain, that in one of my guru’s presence, strange things suddenly materialize. I’ve had no doubt about her veracity, because she is just a middle-class lady, whose existence is hardly known to anyone, and I am convinced she is not out to gain money or fame or glory, because she has requested her guru to take away her power. I am not aware if her guru has agreed or not. But others have seen, how yesterday, in my house, there suddenly materialized – almonds, pistachio, dates, honey, vibhuthi, a ring to exactly fit my ring finger, a pendant for my wife, a silver coin of the British Empire dating 1917, another silver coin with Sai Baba and the Dashavataras etc. I had invited two of my friends to visit and perhaps examine their cocksure conclusions – just to raise the possibility of questioning their assumptions, and of course, they did not turn up. So much for science!
Now if things had just to materialize out of nowhere, does it mean that it is mind that gives rise to matter? For if matter had to come into existence, it does involve a conception of such a thing. Even if it happened to have been transferred from somewhere, an HMT factory, for instance, then it does imply some sort of subjugation to mental ideas! And of course, there is a possibility that a man who does such things is a thief. And like my grandfather, you are apt to prove it. Or would you? What if the persons who say they are the skeptics are really people who have been deputed to keep such a controversy alive? What if they have been given a similar power? To really find out the truth, you have to honestly admit, you have to look for it yourself. If you take another man’s word, that’s just what it is - his word, not His word!
I’ve frequently wondered at serendipity. Do you ever get a strange feeling sometimes of seeing something you’ve always suspected and discovered it to be true after all?
I draw reference to the now famous experiments in physics designed to prove whether light is a particle or a wave. What now seems to be a common consensus: depends on the way you look at it. Or to put it another way, depends on your inclination. But is this obvious? For example, before Christian Huygens, it was widely held that light is a particle (by Newton and others). But Huygens wanted to see for himself. If he was contented with the idea that light is a particle as earlier experiments had supposedly proved, he would have set up an experiment to confirm it. But no, he wanted to prove the earlier physicists wrong! So he contended within himself – could light in fact be a wave. So he set up experiments to see this angle. And of course, he found that light rays are actually waves!
Can a similar thing happen in the famous philosophical question: is mind supreme or is matter supreme? Could an answer be that it depends on your inclination? Because I’m certain, that in one of my guru’s presence, strange things suddenly materialize. I’ve had no doubt about her veracity, because she is just a middle-class lady, whose existence is hardly known to anyone, and I am convinced she is not out to gain money or fame or glory, because she has requested her guru to take away her power. I am not aware if her guru has agreed or not. But others have seen, how yesterday, in my house, there suddenly materialized – almonds, pistachio, dates, honey, vibhuthi, a ring to exactly fit my ring finger, a pendant for my wife, a silver coin of the British Empire dating 1917, another silver coin with Sai Baba and the Dashavataras etc. I had invited two of my friends to visit and perhaps examine their cocksure conclusions – just to raise the possibility of questioning their assumptions, and of course, they did not turn up. So much for science!
Now if things had just to materialize out of nowhere, does it mean that it is mind that gives rise to matter? For if matter had to come into existence, it does involve a conception of such a thing. Even if it happened to have been transferred from somewhere, an HMT factory, for instance, then it does imply some sort of subjugation to mental ideas! And of course, there is a possibility that a man who does such things is a thief. And like my grandfather, you are apt to prove it. Or would you? What if the persons who say they are the skeptics are really people who have been deputed to keep such a controversy alive? What if they have been given a similar power? To really find out the truth, you have to honestly admit, you have to look for it yourself. If you take another man’s word, that’s just what it is - his word, not His word!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Separating the grain
Frankly, I found the Hindi film '3 Idiots' totally unconvincing. I view it as a failure and am surprised at the extensive applause it is getting, for I feel that it has a really important message that is urgently needed to be spread around the world, but is done in such a crude way that has left me totally disappointed. Let me correct myself – not totally but largely disappointed. There certainly are some funny sequences, but if you juxtapose the crudely conceived ones with the clever ones, you end up feeling sorry that it was made this way.
Islam has many very important messages. Very useful messages if you care to look at it carefully. But it also has messages that can be interpreted in a dangerous way. It could have been the design of the universe to allow humans to choose and select useful messages from others that are not very helpful. Would they have the discrimination to select a good interpretation and reject the bad ones? Swans are birds that are supposed to have an uncanny ability to separate out milk from a mixture of milk and water. Would humans likewise evolve to become like swans using the faculty of discrimination? Unfortunately they chose to remain humans. Man was tempted by the promise of ‘heaven’, ‘seventy one virgins’ and all the associated evil desires man is tempted by. Islam preaches brotherhood in the path of God. But while taking this message, if you have the right understanding, you will reject the interpretation that this brotherhood is to be established to slaughter others who refuse to believe you. There is the concept of Zakat – the useful idea that a person is to set aside a certain amount of money by realizing the suffering that other deprived persons are undergoing. The concept is there with the idea to arouse in you the emotion of empathy and understanding. But missing the point and offering Zakat largely with the idea of firstly, the fear that they may be punished if they do not obey and secondly with the idea that they would be rewarded with heaven and of course the ‘seventy one virgins’ seems to negate the very spirit of the message . Consider for an instant the fate of those seventy one virgins – have they done supreme good deeds to be honored to be used by you. Or is it true that those virgins are actually condemned to suffer in hell. Could it be heaven for you and hell for them? Humankind should develop the discrimination to select the right messages from various religions. Hinduism promotes a very significant idea - viveka - that translates as discrimination. A man is advised to exercise this faculty as he goes through his daily life. Now, with this warning, if they were really sensitive, they would have a totally different attitude towards the people that they interact. You may find an eager Hindu calling someone a mlechha and viewing him with contempt. You may find a Brahmin not at all feeling guilty when he sees that a fellow human being is made to collect his feces totally blind to the other man’s plight. So you have that instead of empathizing with the man, he ends up calling him an untouchable and refusing him his rights. He is not even sensitive to the hurt feelings of the other man. Could such a blatant loss of awareness in the Hindus have caused the decline of India? Could it be the judgment of a universal intelligence?
Can humankind now be facing a similar lack of discrimination in selecting useful information from the ‘scientific attitude’ and rejecting potentially dangerous ones! Can the universal intelligence be warning humankind by sending signals that are being ignored because of a lack of discrimination which is incidentally due to a lack of consciousness? Why are humans failing to see that they are not omnipotent, but are like feeble ants which could wipe themselves out anytime? Why are films like Armageddon being made, where Human’s arrogance over nature is so blatant as to be embarrassing? Can the West clearly see the arrogance they seem to have? Can they care to look at how they portray themselves and how they portray Indians as an asteroid is about to hit the earth. If they come to know the truth, they may realize that it is actually humankind that has to bow down. Maybe the early men were right to a certain extent - they had bowed down much earlier to the power of Nature and in good time!
I started off by citing the crudity of a film in spreading a useful message and use this instance to reference how intelligent humor can be used to convey a very important fact. In the film The Great Dictator, Hitler mouths a long winded pompous message to his secretary with an air of self-importance. He pauses and looks at his secretary hoping that she is impressed. He is surprised to find that she reacts with only two key-strokes! Hitler is thoroughly confused. But he does not know what to do and involuntarily reacts with just the word “Nein!” This has the secretary typing and typing and typing, and Hitler just watching helplessly and surprised till he gathers the wisdom to order her to ‘Stop!’
I feel it is time humankind shouted 'Slow Down!' if not totally 'Stop'.
Islam has many very important messages. Very useful messages if you care to look at it carefully. But it also has messages that can be interpreted in a dangerous way. It could have been the design of the universe to allow humans to choose and select useful messages from others that are not very helpful. Would they have the discrimination to select a good interpretation and reject the bad ones? Swans are birds that are supposed to have an uncanny ability to separate out milk from a mixture of milk and water. Would humans likewise evolve to become like swans using the faculty of discrimination? Unfortunately they chose to remain humans. Man was tempted by the promise of ‘heaven’, ‘seventy one virgins’ and all the associated evil desires man is tempted by. Islam preaches brotherhood in the path of God. But while taking this message, if you have the right understanding, you will reject the interpretation that this brotherhood is to be established to slaughter others who refuse to believe you. There is the concept of Zakat – the useful idea that a person is to set aside a certain amount of money by realizing the suffering that other deprived persons are undergoing. The concept is there with the idea to arouse in you the emotion of empathy and understanding. But missing the point and offering Zakat largely with the idea of firstly, the fear that they may be punished if they do not obey and secondly with the idea that they would be rewarded with heaven and of course the ‘seventy one virgins’ seems to negate the very spirit of the message . Consider for an instant the fate of those seventy one virgins – have they done supreme good deeds to be honored to be used by you. Or is it true that those virgins are actually condemned to suffer in hell. Could it be heaven for you and hell for them? Humankind should develop the discrimination to select the right messages from various religions. Hinduism promotes a very significant idea - viveka - that translates as discrimination. A man is advised to exercise this faculty as he goes through his daily life. Now, with this warning, if they were really sensitive, they would have a totally different attitude towards the people that they interact. You may find an eager Hindu calling someone a mlechha and viewing him with contempt. You may find a Brahmin not at all feeling guilty when he sees that a fellow human being is made to collect his feces totally blind to the other man’s plight. So you have that instead of empathizing with the man, he ends up calling him an untouchable and refusing him his rights. He is not even sensitive to the hurt feelings of the other man. Could such a blatant loss of awareness in the Hindus have caused the decline of India? Could it be the judgment of a universal intelligence?
Can humankind now be facing a similar lack of discrimination in selecting useful information from the ‘scientific attitude’ and rejecting potentially dangerous ones! Can the universal intelligence be warning humankind by sending signals that are being ignored because of a lack of discrimination which is incidentally due to a lack of consciousness? Why are humans failing to see that they are not omnipotent, but are like feeble ants which could wipe themselves out anytime? Why are films like Armageddon being made, where Human’s arrogance over nature is so blatant as to be embarrassing? Can the West clearly see the arrogance they seem to have? Can they care to look at how they portray themselves and how they portray Indians as an asteroid is about to hit the earth. If they come to know the truth, they may realize that it is actually humankind that has to bow down. Maybe the early men were right to a certain extent - they had bowed down much earlier to the power of Nature and in good time!
I started off by citing the crudity of a film in spreading a useful message and use this instance to reference how intelligent humor can be used to convey a very important fact. In the film The Great Dictator, Hitler mouths a long winded pompous message to his secretary with an air of self-importance. He pauses and looks at his secretary hoping that she is impressed. He is surprised to find that she reacts with only two key-strokes! Hitler is thoroughly confused. But he does not know what to do and involuntarily reacts with just the word “Nein!” This has the secretary typing and typing and typing, and Hitler just watching helplessly and surprised till he gathers the wisdom to order her to ‘Stop!’
I feel it is time humankind shouted 'Slow Down!' if not totally 'Stop'.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
QUOTES FROM SAI SATCHARITA
TO SOMEONE, HE WOULD PERSONALLY TELL IN A PEREMPTORY MANNER, “WE ARE A STERN AND UNRELENTING CLASS. WE WILL TRY WARNING ONCE OR TWICE, FAILING WHICH, WE RESORT TO HARSH MEASURES. (Chapter 19 v. 231)
‘HE WHO PAYS NO HEED TO OUR WORDS, HIM WE WILL CUT IN TWO AND THROW AWAY, EVEN IF IT BE OUR OWN CHILD!’ (Chapter 19 v. 232)
SAI IS A DEITY WITH HIS OWN INDOMITABLE WILL BEFORE WHOM THE CONCEIT OF OTHERS FALLS OFF ALTOGETHER (Chapter 12 V.26)
To perform pleasurable karmas or to earn wealth is not the purpose of nurturing the human body; the fulfillment of human life lies in acquiring the Supreme Knowledge, till breath leaves the body. (Chapter 8. v63)
... But God’s Grace alone brings one to Sai’s feet (Chapter 8 v. 49)
Somebody’s deeds, good or bad, or his innermost secrets were all known to him and he used to astonish the devotees by giving a sign or indication of them. (Chapter 7 v. 33). He was a reservoir of Knowledge and Wisdom under the guise of feigned ignorance. To exert himself for honour and recognition in the world was too irksome for him. Such was the disposition of Sai (v. 34)
When men look upon wealth, honour, wife and children as the only source of happiness and turn away from the spiritual path, then it is that saints appear on earth. ( Chapter 4 v. 10)
When we are talking to little children and are amused by their childish prattle, can there be any serious, adult talk? (Chapter 17 v. 148) So also are humorous jokes and jesting a special skill used to impart instruction (v. 149)
Various verses in page 270 i.e. verses 29 to verse 40 of Chapter 17.
Under the cover of not knowing anything, he, in reality, removes ignorance and give us knowledge. WITHOUT TRANSGRESSING THE LIMITS SET BY SHASTRAS, HE IMPARTS INSTRUCTION TO HIS DEVOTEES IN A PLEASANT MANNER. (Chapter 16 V. 13)
About Dakshina He says: “To begin with, whatever is to be given should always be given with faith. For, if given without faith, it bears no fruit. (Chapter 14 v. 144)
The adage which says ‘If God’s Grace is upon me, I shall get everything, sitting where I am and without lifting a finger’, is no doubt true, but only for food and clothing. (Chapter 19 v.209) He who applies it to spiritual matters, will find himself cheated out of spiritual gain altogether. ‘As he sows, so he reaps’. These are Baba’s priceless words. (v. 210)
He should avoid speaking words which will sting and hurt and not strike anyone on the vital spot. But should always engage himself in pure, virtuous deeds, keeping his mind, all the time, firmly on his duty. (Chapter 19 v. 217).
There is no other protector except ‘Allah the Master; Allah the Master’. Unique are his doings, priceless and inconceivable! (Chapter 19 v.148).
Look at the frog and the black bee! The beautiful lotus is the abode of both. But the bee flits amid the fragrant pollen, while the frog feasts on the mire. (Chapter 50 Verse 101)
They are blinded despite having eyes. Giving up good company, they take to loose, shameless behaviour and are perforce, ruined by the bad company they keep and begin to behave as they please.
Although we see the wife, sons, brothers, mother, our chosen friends and kith and kin, dying before our very eyes, yet it does not give rise to any good, wise thoughts in our mind. (Chapter 39 verse119)
Learn that by humble reverence, by inquiry (persistent search for the reality by piercing through the illusion), and by service; the masters of knowledge who have seen the truth will instruct thee in (that) wisdom. (Chapter 39, verse 44)
He said ‘He who prostrates at the guru’s feet, is ready to give up his life in the guru’s service and puts a question to the guru very respectfully, to him the JNANIS give knowledge with exposition (Chapter 39 VERSE 48)
It is necessary for all to get across this ocean of worldly life. But to do so, our hearts must be purified. Purification of the heart is the chief among all the means for crossing it and its source lies in devotion to God. (Chapter 39 verse 20)
To deceive the guru is great sin and there is no expiation for it (v 139). With Sai untruth would never work. Sai’s Grace would never be obtained by telling a falsehood. Untruth leads to a fall and ultimately, to an evil end. (Chapter 38 V. 138)
When a guest arrives, the householder should satisfy him by offering food, whatever may be the time of the day. Those who turn them away without offering it, invite adversity, unmistakably ( Chapter 38 v. 17)
What is needed is the strength of the purificatory religious influences since birth and also, a discriminatory intellect cultivated by careful study. Without deep ‘sadhana’, the purification of the mind does not come, without which, knowledge is very difficult to gain. (Chapter 37 verse 84)
When moral end is the object of knowledge, that knowledge is undoubtedly the true knowledge. When the object is purely a material end, it is ignorance. (Chapter 37 v35)
Those who are intellectual, argumentative, inquisitive but without faith, will never receive the highest knowledge from the saints. It will be received only by him who has pure faith. (Chapter 35 v. 229)
For him, there is no joy at being worshipped, regret or pain at being derided. And here where there is no joy, how can there be dejection? This is that very same state that completely transcends the pair of opposites. (Chapter 35 verse 148)
Wealth is beneficial to the wealthy only in so far as it is spent on dharma and in charity. For, ethical conduct and charity alone make for true knowledge. (Chapter 35 v. 132)
But rare among us is he, who will speak little and always for the good of others, and will act strictly, according to his word and vindicate it (Chapter 32 v. 224)
Service of others, which in worldly life is an ornamental necklace, but in spiritual life is an obstacle. ( Chapter 31 v. 69)
The hyper-critical and the logicians should not go after these stories. What is needed here is not argument and counter argument, but profound love. (Chapter 30 v. 22). The listener should be a jnani and yet be devoted, full of faith and utterly trusting, or a servant of the saints. To all others, these stories will appear unreal. (v.23)
So, at least from now onwards, give up doubts and distrust and remember your ancestors. Give up crooked ways. (Chapter 26 v.108)
Before the guru’s Word, rules and regulations, prohibitions and taboos are of no avail. The attention of the disciple must be focused on the duty appointed to him by the guru. The burden of his difficulties rest on the Guru’s head. (Chapter 23 v. 180)
Even when the guru’s command is clear, the disciple who questions the propriety or impropriety, the good or bad of it, has, according to me, fallen from his duty. (Chapter 23 v.176)
Guru’s command should be obeyed without a moment’s delay. And he who doubts and hesitates is truly, a wretched one – in fact, he is a beast without a tail, in the form of a man. (Chapter 23 v.156)
It was not a volley of censorious remarks, but his grace to teach me that futile debates and discussions, scornful, critical revilings and such wicked thoughts about anyone, should be given up altogether (Chapter 21 v. 117)
The book should be listened to carefully, first; then the same should be contemplated upon. It should be perused from the beginning to end and read repeatedly in this manner. That is how it is meditated upon all the time. (Chapter 21 v.71)
In the absence of even the smallest degree of Divine Grace and the special favour of the Sadguru, it is the instruction of a Siddha that is necessary for a man to get self-knowledge.
‘HE WHO PAYS NO HEED TO OUR WORDS, HIM WE WILL CUT IN TWO AND THROW AWAY, EVEN IF IT BE OUR OWN CHILD!’ (Chapter 19 v. 232)
SAI IS A DEITY WITH HIS OWN INDOMITABLE WILL BEFORE WHOM THE CONCEIT OF OTHERS FALLS OFF ALTOGETHER (Chapter 12 V.26)
To perform pleasurable karmas or to earn wealth is not the purpose of nurturing the human body; the fulfillment of human life lies in acquiring the Supreme Knowledge, till breath leaves the body. (Chapter 8. v63)
... But God’s Grace alone brings one to Sai’s feet (Chapter 8 v. 49)
Somebody’s deeds, good or bad, or his innermost secrets were all known to him and he used to astonish the devotees by giving a sign or indication of them. (Chapter 7 v. 33). He was a reservoir of Knowledge and Wisdom under the guise of feigned ignorance. To exert himself for honour and recognition in the world was too irksome for him. Such was the disposition of Sai (v. 34)
When men look upon wealth, honour, wife and children as the only source of happiness and turn away from the spiritual path, then it is that saints appear on earth. ( Chapter 4 v. 10)
When we are talking to little children and are amused by their childish prattle, can there be any serious, adult talk? (Chapter 17 v. 148) So also are humorous jokes and jesting a special skill used to impart instruction (v. 149)
Various verses in page 270 i.e. verses 29 to verse 40 of Chapter 17.
Under the cover of not knowing anything, he, in reality, removes ignorance and give us knowledge. WITHOUT TRANSGRESSING THE LIMITS SET BY SHASTRAS, HE IMPARTS INSTRUCTION TO HIS DEVOTEES IN A PLEASANT MANNER. (Chapter 16 V. 13)
About Dakshina He says: “To begin with, whatever is to be given should always be given with faith. For, if given without faith, it bears no fruit. (Chapter 14 v. 144)
The adage which says ‘If God’s Grace is upon me, I shall get everything, sitting where I am and without lifting a finger’, is no doubt true, but only for food and clothing. (Chapter 19 v.209) He who applies it to spiritual matters, will find himself cheated out of spiritual gain altogether. ‘As he sows, so he reaps’. These are Baba’s priceless words. (v. 210)
He should avoid speaking words which will sting and hurt and not strike anyone on the vital spot. But should always engage himself in pure, virtuous deeds, keeping his mind, all the time, firmly on his duty. (Chapter 19 v. 217).
There is no other protector except ‘Allah the Master; Allah the Master’. Unique are his doings, priceless and inconceivable! (Chapter 19 v.148).
Look at the frog and the black bee! The beautiful lotus is the abode of both. But the bee flits amid the fragrant pollen, while the frog feasts on the mire. (Chapter 50 Verse 101)
They are blinded despite having eyes. Giving up good company, they take to loose, shameless behaviour and are perforce, ruined by the bad company they keep and begin to behave as they please.
Although we see the wife, sons, brothers, mother, our chosen friends and kith and kin, dying before our very eyes, yet it does not give rise to any good, wise thoughts in our mind. (Chapter 39 verse119)
Learn that by humble reverence, by inquiry (persistent search for the reality by piercing through the illusion), and by service; the masters of knowledge who have seen the truth will instruct thee in (that) wisdom. (Chapter 39, verse 44)
He said ‘He who prostrates at the guru’s feet, is ready to give up his life in the guru’s service and puts a question to the guru very respectfully, to him the JNANIS give knowledge with exposition (Chapter 39 VERSE 48)
It is necessary for all to get across this ocean of worldly life. But to do so, our hearts must be purified. Purification of the heart is the chief among all the means for crossing it and its source lies in devotion to God. (Chapter 39 verse 20)
To deceive the guru is great sin and there is no expiation for it (v 139). With Sai untruth would never work. Sai’s Grace would never be obtained by telling a falsehood. Untruth leads to a fall and ultimately, to an evil end. (Chapter 38 V. 138)
When a guest arrives, the householder should satisfy him by offering food, whatever may be the time of the day. Those who turn them away without offering it, invite adversity, unmistakably ( Chapter 38 v. 17)
What is needed is the strength of the purificatory religious influences since birth and also, a discriminatory intellect cultivated by careful study. Without deep ‘sadhana’, the purification of the mind does not come, without which, knowledge is very difficult to gain. (Chapter 37 verse 84)
When moral end is the object of knowledge, that knowledge is undoubtedly the true knowledge. When the object is purely a material end, it is ignorance. (Chapter 37 v35)
Those who are intellectual, argumentative, inquisitive but without faith, will never receive the highest knowledge from the saints. It will be received only by him who has pure faith. (Chapter 35 v. 229)
For him, there is no joy at being worshipped, regret or pain at being derided. And here where there is no joy, how can there be dejection? This is that very same state that completely transcends the pair of opposites. (Chapter 35 verse 148)
Wealth is beneficial to the wealthy only in so far as it is spent on dharma and in charity. For, ethical conduct and charity alone make for true knowledge. (Chapter 35 v. 132)
But rare among us is he, who will speak little and always for the good of others, and will act strictly, according to his word and vindicate it (Chapter 32 v. 224)
Service of others, which in worldly life is an ornamental necklace, but in spiritual life is an obstacle. ( Chapter 31 v. 69)
The hyper-critical and the logicians should not go after these stories. What is needed here is not argument and counter argument, but profound love. (Chapter 30 v. 22). The listener should be a jnani and yet be devoted, full of faith and utterly trusting, or a servant of the saints. To all others, these stories will appear unreal. (v.23)
So, at least from now onwards, give up doubts and distrust and remember your ancestors. Give up crooked ways. (Chapter 26 v.108)
Before the guru’s Word, rules and regulations, prohibitions and taboos are of no avail. The attention of the disciple must be focused on the duty appointed to him by the guru. The burden of his difficulties rest on the Guru’s head. (Chapter 23 v. 180)
Even when the guru’s command is clear, the disciple who questions the propriety or impropriety, the good or bad of it, has, according to me, fallen from his duty. (Chapter 23 v.176)
Guru’s command should be obeyed without a moment’s delay. And he who doubts and hesitates is truly, a wretched one – in fact, he is a beast without a tail, in the form of a man. (Chapter 23 v.156)
It was not a volley of censorious remarks, but his grace to teach me that futile debates and discussions, scornful, critical revilings and such wicked thoughts about anyone, should be given up altogether (Chapter 21 v. 117)
The book should be listened to carefully, first; then the same should be contemplated upon. It should be perused from the beginning to end and read repeatedly in this manner. That is how it is meditated upon all the time. (Chapter 21 v.71)
In the absence of even the smallest degree of Divine Grace and the special favour of the Sadguru, it is the instruction of a Siddha that is necessary for a man to get self-knowledge.
xxx
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Another Animal Story !
I was one day relating to my sister a curious incident I saw near my house some years back. On the route to my office I had to pass a house where they reared poultry. The hens, the rooster and the chicks would scamper on the footpath, pecking away at tiny morsels of food. One day as I was passing by this house, I noticed a crow that lay on the road being mercilessly pecked by three or four other crows. I was surprised to find the rooster that was some distance away rushing into the scene of the battle and scaring away the violent crows and liberating the victim. So I was relating to my sister how, even in the animal kingdom, there seems to be a recognition of a subtle moral order, and recognition of the concept of justice, and the responsibility to get involved! I was expressing my surprise to my sister when she told me this story that happened in rural Pennsylvania and was covered by television channels in the U.S.
The story is that there was a woman living in a farmhouse. She had a rolly-polly pig as a pet. One night as she was returning from fetching a bottle of water from the refrigerator, she suffered a violent massive heart-attack and fell flat on the carpet. The pet pig at first tried to nudge her, and when it realized there was something seriously wrong that needed help, it is reported to have proceeded into the freeway in the darkness of the night and lay sprawled to draw the attention of any vehicle that might happen to pass by. In a few minutes, a vehicle did appear, and the driver luckily happened to notice the pig in the nick of time. He disembarked from the vehicle and tried to drive the pig away from the road. The pig is supposed to have headed towards the house, but when the driver attempted to enter the car and drive away, it rapidly rushed back to the road and lay down in front of the car. The driver is supposed to have dismounted and tried again, and later realized that the pig was, in fact, trying to lead him somewhere. He followed the pig to where it was leading him and finally entered the house to see the woman lying prone on the ground. Thus it happened that the woman received timely medical attention by having been rushed to the hospital. The pig was photographed and shown on the television with its owner fondly hugging and kissing it!
LIKELY CONTINUATION OF THE STORY (from human values seen around)…
It was in a way unfortunate that the woman was living alone at the time of the incident as her husband was away traveling in California visiting a daughter who was living there. The other daughter was a writer and lived in Stockholm and was married to a banker. The son was a mathematician teaching in Zurich. The family was hence scattered in various parts of the world and rarely got a chance to meet. The next Christmas, after the woman had a heart attack, the family had decided in unison to assemble at the farmhouse in Pennsylvania. Close to Christmas day the weather had turned bad and on the day of Christmas there was a heavy snow-fall that blocked all the roads and prevented the family from visiting the market which was a few miles away. That evening, the family was desirous of a hearty meal and there did not seem to be much meat in the larder. Efforts were made to procure some substantial meat, but as the weather was bad, nothing could really be done. However, they were lucky to notice the pig sleeping by itself in the corner. They thanked their stars and God for providing when there was an urgent need. A raging fire was kindled and the sleeping pig fetched from the corner. The skewer (or whatever it is called) was driven through its rectum, and the pig was suspended over the fire, and turned slowly over and over, till it was well done and roasted to the right degree. The family had a delicious Christmas dinner and offered grateful thanks to God for His kindness.
The story is that there was a woman living in a farmhouse. She had a rolly-polly pig as a pet. One night as she was returning from fetching a bottle of water from the refrigerator, she suffered a violent massive heart-attack and fell flat on the carpet. The pet pig at first tried to nudge her, and when it realized there was something seriously wrong that needed help, it is reported to have proceeded into the freeway in the darkness of the night and lay sprawled to draw the attention of any vehicle that might happen to pass by. In a few minutes, a vehicle did appear, and the driver luckily happened to notice the pig in the nick of time. He disembarked from the vehicle and tried to drive the pig away from the road. The pig is supposed to have headed towards the house, but when the driver attempted to enter the car and drive away, it rapidly rushed back to the road and lay down in front of the car. The driver is supposed to have dismounted and tried again, and later realized that the pig was, in fact, trying to lead him somewhere. He followed the pig to where it was leading him and finally entered the house to see the woman lying prone on the ground. Thus it happened that the woman received timely medical attention by having been rushed to the hospital. The pig was photographed and shown on the television with its owner fondly hugging and kissing it!
LIKELY CONTINUATION OF THE STORY (from human values seen around)…
It was in a way unfortunate that the woman was living alone at the time of the incident as her husband was away traveling in California visiting a daughter who was living there. The other daughter was a writer and lived in Stockholm and was married to a banker. The son was a mathematician teaching in Zurich. The family was hence scattered in various parts of the world and rarely got a chance to meet. The next Christmas, after the woman had a heart attack, the family had decided in unison to assemble at the farmhouse in Pennsylvania. Close to Christmas day the weather had turned bad and on the day of Christmas there was a heavy snow-fall that blocked all the roads and prevented the family from visiting the market which was a few miles away. That evening, the family was desirous of a hearty meal and there did not seem to be much meat in the larder. Efforts were made to procure some substantial meat, but as the weather was bad, nothing could really be done. However, they were lucky to notice the pig sleeping by itself in the corner. They thanked their stars and God for providing when there was an urgent need. A raging fire was kindled and the sleeping pig fetched from the corner. The skewer (or whatever it is called) was driven through its rectum, and the pig was suspended over the fire, and turned slowly over and over, till it was well done and roasted to the right degree. The family had a delicious Christmas dinner and offered grateful thanks to God for His kindness.
xxx
Sunday, January 3, 2010
The Trio
We were a trio in the nineties. Actually, they were a two and I just hung around and didn’t have much to contribute to the conversation. I realize the generosity of my friend who religiously used to pick me up every Sunday because of old habits – once upon a time I was indeed ‘interesting’, and he did have the consideration that can be seen in the battlefield, especially when a fellow-soldier has been fatally shot and lies prone. The other cannot really get himself to abandon the beleaguered soldier without suffering the serious psychological effects of abandonment.
We would spend lazy Sunday mornings at the restaurant in Cubbon Park in Bangalore, sipping cold draught beer. None of us were boozers actually - we were just social drinkers, more interested in the conversation rather than drinking. The conversation was mostly on films. In fact it was always entirely on films. I scarcely had any opinion on them, for I hadn’t seen most of the films, and further, because I had lost the intellectual equipment that enables one to have opinions. I would spend the hours lost in my own thoughts, distracted, but drawing subtle nourishment from the fact that I had someone to seek me out when I felt betrayed and abandoned by the one person whom I had put all my faith on – the person with whom I was totally honest both outwardly and from the depths of my soul. Actually, what had deprived me of all my bearings and coordinates in life was the fact that, to the best of my knowledge, I had not done her a single wrong deed ever. I had given out bits and pieces of my soul in many installments - they were devoured without acknowledgement or even the feeblest expression of reciprocation. And when I tried to give expression of my emotional starvation to a person who I mistakenly thought was her friend, her ‘friends’ entered the scene, and so did a colleague of mine. If the records of my interaction were there, if the initial ones could be scrutinized, people can see for themselves the sincere efforts I had taken to protect her privacy just in the event I was mistaken. They can see for themselves how late in the day her name was mentioned, and that too only after I had submitted myself for the possibility of slaughter by placing, as is so frightfully clear to me now, an entirely unfounded trust in the goodness of humanity.
Do I know the extent to which I had lost my bearings? Of course I do. One of the trio was singularly inept in taking care of himself. He was totally incompetent in the management of his money, in the management of his environment, and more importantly and tragically, in the management of his emotional needs. He lived in a small, dingy room, the condition of which will be described at an appropriate time (if there is anything like that). He had no relationship with his parents whatsoever. He did have siblings, but he rarely talked of them. He did have a fondness for his father which he expressed once in a very, very rare bluemoon. He never ever seemed to try to relate to women. He received no letters, no visitors to his room. No one enquired or cared whether he had eaten. No one cared whether he desired any special dishes – whether something would make him really, really happy if he were to get it. No one enquired if he felt lonely; whether he had strong, heartfelt wishes that he would have love to see quenched, having after all, arrived on this earth. And he solved crossword puzzles. He seemed to be somewhat adept at them – the one from The New York Times, which requires a fairly good acquaintance with western society and western culture. And of course, he saw films.
Did he learn anything from films? He was certainly very astute and would sensitively pick out situations that were remarkably interesting – ones that were an accurate and enlightened observation of humanity. But unfortunately, he never used those sequences as a source to attend to his emotional hygiene. He sought us out to his detriment, when in fact, if he were wise in anyways and had learned his lessons from films, he should have ditched us like he would get rid of burning ember. He should have learnt from the following incident:
One of the Sundays when we were at the Cubbon Park Restaurant as usual and he announced he would abstain from beer for that day. I asked him the reason and he confessed that he had no money. All through, each time, there was a strict acknowledgement that all of us would only go dutch. That day I offered, “Have a mug, I and ‘X’ will pool and pay for your glass!” It turned out that ‘X’ said honestly and plainly – “Sorry Boss! I can’t pay! I’m cleaned out, washed out!”
The fact is that I could have indeed afforded to pay for his glass of beer (about Rs22 or 24). But a peculiar intellectual assessment of the situation led me to take care of myself. So it turned out that Mr ‘X’ and I sat and sipped beer while this ‘tramp’ watched us over a period of an hour or two, and discussed the perceptiveness of Chaplin’s films. Now, should I talk about beef steak at The New Bull & Bush? I’d rather not! I wish to be safe and preserve myself from the angry judgment of humanity.
We would spend lazy Sunday mornings at the restaurant in Cubbon Park in Bangalore, sipping cold draught beer. None of us were boozers actually - we were just social drinkers, more interested in the conversation rather than drinking. The conversation was mostly on films. In fact it was always entirely on films. I scarcely had any opinion on them, for I hadn’t seen most of the films, and further, because I had lost the intellectual equipment that enables one to have opinions. I would spend the hours lost in my own thoughts, distracted, but drawing subtle nourishment from the fact that I had someone to seek me out when I felt betrayed and abandoned by the one person whom I had put all my faith on – the person with whom I was totally honest both outwardly and from the depths of my soul. Actually, what had deprived me of all my bearings and coordinates in life was the fact that, to the best of my knowledge, I had not done her a single wrong deed ever. I had given out bits and pieces of my soul in many installments - they were devoured without acknowledgement or even the feeblest expression of reciprocation. And when I tried to give expression of my emotional starvation to a person who I mistakenly thought was her friend, her ‘friends’ entered the scene, and so did a colleague of mine. If the records of my interaction were there, if the initial ones could be scrutinized, people can see for themselves the sincere efforts I had taken to protect her privacy just in the event I was mistaken. They can see for themselves how late in the day her name was mentioned, and that too only after I had submitted myself for the possibility of slaughter by placing, as is so frightfully clear to me now, an entirely unfounded trust in the goodness of humanity.
Do I know the extent to which I had lost my bearings? Of course I do. One of the trio was singularly inept in taking care of himself. He was totally incompetent in the management of his money, in the management of his environment, and more importantly and tragically, in the management of his emotional needs. He lived in a small, dingy room, the condition of which will be described at an appropriate time (if there is anything like that). He had no relationship with his parents whatsoever. He did have siblings, but he rarely talked of them. He did have a fondness for his father which he expressed once in a very, very rare bluemoon. He never ever seemed to try to relate to women. He received no letters, no visitors to his room. No one enquired or cared whether he had eaten. No one cared whether he desired any special dishes – whether something would make him really, really happy if he were to get it. No one enquired if he felt lonely; whether he had strong, heartfelt wishes that he would have love to see quenched, having after all, arrived on this earth. And he solved crossword puzzles. He seemed to be somewhat adept at them – the one from The New York Times, which requires a fairly good acquaintance with western society and western culture. And of course, he saw films.
Did he learn anything from films? He was certainly very astute and would sensitively pick out situations that were remarkably interesting – ones that were an accurate and enlightened observation of humanity. But unfortunately, he never used those sequences as a source to attend to his emotional hygiene. He sought us out to his detriment, when in fact, if he were wise in anyways and had learned his lessons from films, he should have ditched us like he would get rid of burning ember. He should have learnt from the following incident:
One of the Sundays when we were at the Cubbon Park Restaurant as usual and he announced he would abstain from beer for that day. I asked him the reason and he confessed that he had no money. All through, each time, there was a strict acknowledgement that all of us would only go dutch. That day I offered, “Have a mug, I and ‘X’ will pool and pay for your glass!” It turned out that ‘X’ said honestly and plainly – “Sorry Boss! I can’t pay! I’m cleaned out, washed out!”
The fact is that I could have indeed afforded to pay for his glass of beer (about Rs22 or 24). But a peculiar intellectual assessment of the situation led me to take care of myself. So it turned out that Mr ‘X’ and I sat and sipped beer while this ‘tramp’ watched us over a period of an hour or two, and discussed the perceptiveness of Chaplin’s films. Now, should I talk about beef steak at The New Bull & Bush? I’d rather not! I wish to be safe and preserve myself from the angry judgment of humanity.
xxx
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Frivolous and Serious!
I frankly confess that my education didn’t teach me certain very important skills. I have to clarify that the skills I consider very important and valuable are in all likelihood, important and valuable specifically to me and may not be so to others. These would have helped me be more successful. As I said I am not too sure whether the same skills would have been important to others, who I clearly see, do not also have even an iota of it.
One of the skills I wish I had earlier is : ‘the wisdom to know what to take seriously and what to take frivolously’. Bereft of this wisdom, I am clearly conscious how I suffered intensely because of it.
For instance, I didn’t take the importance of conducting myself righteously as something to be very serious about. I know I suffered because of a lack of this knowledge. I fully realize there are several others who likewise lack this clarity and don’t seem to suffer at all. To a sceptic who would dismiss my feelings about this awareness as unfounded, unnecessary, and perhaps without reason I draw the analogy of ‘allergy’. Some people are intensely allergic to penicillin. To them penicillin causes death! A man who is not allergic to this substance should not view the other man’s allergy as ‘superstition’.
By suffering I realised the importance I have to invest in concepts like honesty, truth, fidelity, trust, reliability, unselfishness, compassion, justice, non-covetousness, ‘being non-judgmental’, speaking from the heart, not being hypocritical and so on.
And I have to take seriously love, forgiveness, humility and several other ‘values’. I have to view insults very seriously, for it is a lack of respect to me as a person - a denial that I am entitled to be treated with consideration. I have to take very lightly other people’s banter and teasing done in fun without the intention of disrespect. Luckily, unlike some of my closest friends, I know this difference only too clearly. I have to take other people’s betrayal very seriously as there could be more than one motive for this – 1. To insult and ensure I suffer, 2. To subjugate me to their will and deny my self-respect and freedom. 3. The attempt to impose falsehood and obvious injustice and untruth that could be positively dangerous, like keeping me dependent on dangerous medicines.
I wish I was immune like others are - this former colleague of mine for instance. For several years now, I have the full knowledge that he had a very important role to play in my falling into a depression. I am aware of it from the year that incident happened. I however did not hold him culpable, for there were serious flaws in my character. The incident caused me to seriously introspect and led to a markedly positive change in me. This change gave me the moral courage to frankly express to him that I realized my errors. I observed his reaction and could sense that in his heart he still judged me unfavorably. I later revealed to him certain other aspects of the circumstances of my life, that anyone with a righteous character and a sense of justice would have clearly realized that there indeed were ‘strong extenuating circumstances’ that would obviously merit pardon. Not him, though! He had no forgiveness. So often has he used the word ‘thief’, ‘cheat’ but with such cleverness and softness that I realized he was actually a coward! Yet, the grand irony is that he spent several years betraying me, passing ‘sensitive’ information (often that I had deliberately doctored for his consumption) that was deleterious to my reputation, spreading calumny on my character. It is really remarkable that he was such a duffer and lacked self-awareness to a degree that not a single day did he realize that he was in fact a cheater who was actively betraying a man who had never ever done him harm. In being strongly judgmental, he totally lost sight of his own untruthfulness, hypocrisy and the obvious fact that he was the ‘thief’, ‘cheat’ and other words that he was disposed to use on me.
I have to view such things very seriously. Fortunately, there are others with a genuine sense of fun! So enjoyable, reading witty article with great humour like today’s (January 2nd) editorial ‘Ear to eternity’ in The Times of India, Bangalore Edition.
One of the skills I wish I had earlier is : ‘the wisdom to know what to take seriously and what to take frivolously’. Bereft of this wisdom, I am clearly conscious how I suffered intensely because of it.
For instance, I didn’t take the importance of conducting myself righteously as something to be very serious about. I know I suffered because of a lack of this knowledge. I fully realize there are several others who likewise lack this clarity and don’t seem to suffer at all. To a sceptic who would dismiss my feelings about this awareness as unfounded, unnecessary, and perhaps without reason I draw the analogy of ‘allergy’. Some people are intensely allergic to penicillin. To them penicillin causes death! A man who is not allergic to this substance should not view the other man’s allergy as ‘superstition’.
By suffering I realised the importance I have to invest in concepts like honesty, truth, fidelity, trust, reliability, unselfishness, compassion, justice, non-covetousness, ‘being non-judgmental’, speaking from the heart, not being hypocritical and so on.
And I have to take seriously love, forgiveness, humility and several other ‘values’. I have to view insults very seriously, for it is a lack of respect to me as a person - a denial that I am entitled to be treated with consideration. I have to take very lightly other people’s banter and teasing done in fun without the intention of disrespect. Luckily, unlike some of my closest friends, I know this difference only too clearly. I have to take other people’s betrayal very seriously as there could be more than one motive for this – 1. To insult and ensure I suffer, 2. To subjugate me to their will and deny my self-respect and freedom. 3. The attempt to impose falsehood and obvious injustice and untruth that could be positively dangerous, like keeping me dependent on dangerous medicines.
I wish I was immune like others are - this former colleague of mine for instance. For several years now, I have the full knowledge that he had a very important role to play in my falling into a depression. I am aware of it from the year that incident happened. I however did not hold him culpable, for there were serious flaws in my character. The incident caused me to seriously introspect and led to a markedly positive change in me. This change gave me the moral courage to frankly express to him that I realized my errors. I observed his reaction and could sense that in his heart he still judged me unfavorably. I later revealed to him certain other aspects of the circumstances of my life, that anyone with a righteous character and a sense of justice would have clearly realized that there indeed were ‘strong extenuating circumstances’ that would obviously merit pardon. Not him, though! He had no forgiveness. So often has he used the word ‘thief’, ‘cheat’ but with such cleverness and softness that I realized he was actually a coward! Yet, the grand irony is that he spent several years betraying me, passing ‘sensitive’ information (often that I had deliberately doctored for his consumption) that was deleterious to my reputation, spreading calumny on my character. It is really remarkable that he was such a duffer and lacked self-awareness to a degree that not a single day did he realize that he was in fact a cheater who was actively betraying a man who had never ever done him harm. In being strongly judgmental, he totally lost sight of his own untruthfulness, hypocrisy and the obvious fact that he was the ‘thief’, ‘cheat’ and other words that he was disposed to use on me.
I have to view such things very seriously. Fortunately, there are others with a genuine sense of fun! So enjoyable, reading witty article with great humour like today’s (January 2nd) editorial ‘Ear to eternity’ in The Times of India, Bangalore Edition.
On the importance of being frivolous!
I am a member of a group that is very strongly following a spiritual path. I purposely use the word strongly because I want to draw the attention of some of the members of the group that they are doing it too ‘seriously’. I feel they are somewhat mistaken in their attitudes to life, living, and to the spiritual path (this so called spiritual path is what is actually supposed to be an unbroken integral part of life and living!)
The mistake some members of the group seem to be making, is to mistake intense for serious. A spiritual path is to be pursued intensely. Perhaps the members of this group erroneously believe that the spiritual path should be bereft of hilarity, light-heartedness, enjoyment and frivolity. So you might find that if you make a light-hearted joke in this group, some members would consider it inappropriate. How can a spiritual path include fun? You might also find that a member of this group, who has an excellent voice, sings a melodious bhajan but very conscientiously prevents himself from singing a ghazal or a song that incorporates other aesthetics of music but with emotions different from devotion like love (romance) for instance. You find him avoiding these songs even after the bhajan session has ended and when people are just sitting there eager to see the music continue.
Likewise, I find their attitude to other aspects of life perplexing. For instance, there is a definite beauty and an intellectual harmony of an entirely different sort in the ideas and concepts of science. Being extremely weak in mathematics I cannot really appreciate this, but I can see the obvious pleasure in the face of a man who is scrutinizing a math concept and coming to a realization and understanding of it. I see God’s intelligence and design in that too. I also see God’s intelligence and design in some exciting ideas of science and realize that it too is an aspect of divinity. The whole thing is God! But the attitude of the members of the group is that science stands in opposition to spirituality. I feel that rather than opposites, they are complements. One completes the other and stands adjacent to each other.
I also see God’s intelligence in the romantic Hindi songs of Mohammed Rafi and in the voice and compositions of Hemant Kumar, Manna Dey and so on. The talent of O.P.Nayyar to me has a divine basis. In a tour I had gone recently with the group, I was earnestly thirsty for these things, but I had to pretend that such desires were evil. And inasmuch as they were evil they were opposite of being spiritual.
“When a body is immersed in water – the telephone rings!”
Or another one:
“Stains are of two types – Those of the light kind on dark coloured objects;
and those of the dark kind on light coloured objects.”
Or again:
“Adhesive tapes are of two types – those that don’t stay on;
and those that won’t come off”
And then (My friend Raghavendra’s observation)
Lawyers of Bangalore are of two types –
Those whose black coats have faded green;
and those whose black coats have faded red!
and finally:
“THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF PEOPLE –
THOSE WHO DIVIDE ALL PEOPLE INTO TWO TYPES;
AND THOSE WHO DON’T!”
Anyone who does not see the divine in these concepts has no soul!
Is there a rule that if you are on a spiritual path, you should not look at such things?
I hope to continue on this attitude in the next entry!
The mistake some members of the group seem to be making, is to mistake intense for serious. A spiritual path is to be pursued intensely. Perhaps the members of this group erroneously believe that the spiritual path should be bereft of hilarity, light-heartedness, enjoyment and frivolity. So you might find that if you make a light-hearted joke in this group, some members would consider it inappropriate. How can a spiritual path include fun? You might also find that a member of this group, who has an excellent voice, sings a melodious bhajan but very conscientiously prevents himself from singing a ghazal or a song that incorporates other aesthetics of music but with emotions different from devotion like love (romance) for instance. You find him avoiding these songs even after the bhajan session has ended and when people are just sitting there eager to see the music continue.
Likewise, I find their attitude to other aspects of life perplexing. For instance, there is a definite beauty and an intellectual harmony of an entirely different sort in the ideas and concepts of science. Being extremely weak in mathematics I cannot really appreciate this, but I can see the obvious pleasure in the face of a man who is scrutinizing a math concept and coming to a realization and understanding of it. I see God’s intelligence and design in that too. I also see God’s intelligence and design in some exciting ideas of science and realize that it too is an aspect of divinity. The whole thing is God! But the attitude of the members of the group is that science stands in opposition to spirituality. I feel that rather than opposites, they are complements. One completes the other and stands adjacent to each other.
I also see God’s intelligence in the romantic Hindi songs of Mohammed Rafi and in the voice and compositions of Hemant Kumar, Manna Dey and so on. The talent of O.P.Nayyar to me has a divine basis. In a tour I had gone recently with the group, I was earnestly thirsty for these things, but I had to pretend that such desires were evil. And inasmuch as they were evil they were opposite of being spiritual.
Likewise, I see God’s intelligence in humour, wit and jokes. Some of these are so ridiculous that I feel if you don’t enjoy them you don’t have a soul. If you really see clearly, there is a great intelligence behind some of the witty sayings and the concept can come only out of the divine. Take a famous Murphy’s Law :
Or another one:
“Stains are of two types – Those of the light kind on dark coloured objects;
and those of the dark kind on light coloured objects.”
Or again:
“Adhesive tapes are of two types – those that don’t stay on;
and those that won’t come off”
And then (My friend Raghavendra’s observation)
Lawyers of Bangalore are of two types –
Those whose black coats have faded green;
and those whose black coats have faded red!
and finally:
“THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF PEOPLE –
THOSE WHO DIVIDE ALL PEOPLE INTO TWO TYPES;
AND THOSE WHO DON’T!”
Anyone who does not see the divine in these concepts has no soul!
Is there a rule that if you are on a spiritual path, you should not look at such things?
I hope to continue on this attitude in the next entry!
Friday, January 1, 2010
Human-Animal Relations 2
Padma Pukur. It is supposed to be a place in Kolkata. My friend tells me that in Padma Pukur one can see a great deal of activity related to animals - particularly cattle. Cows and bulls are traded and a particular aspect of trade that involves cows and bulls is mating.
Healthy bulls of good breed and pedigree are assembled and are eagerly sought by owners of cows to fertilize them to ensure healthy progeny that would further the cow owner’s commercial prospects. So it is common to see a Bengali rustic lead an innocent, nervous cow to Padma Pukur to be mercilessly used by an eager bull. The bull is securely harnessed, with its master eager for a satisfactory commercial gain from the owner of a cow. It is also common to see that when the rustic leads the cow to the owner of the bull, the latter senses the nature and purpose of the transaction going on between the two and the exciting role he has to play in the whole deal! He perks up his ears, turns his head and watches the whole proceeding with gradually increasing excitement and sexual tension. He tries to break free from the harness, sways his head restlessly from side to side and swishes his tail vigourously. The bargaining goes on. It seems to be endless! "Why can’t they hurry and get it over with?" he wonders. He gazes thirstingly at the cow. She seems very inviting indeed! The bargaining goes on, and after what seems like a tortuous interminable time, the owner of the cow decides that the price is just not right. The deal falls through! So he leads away the cow to another owner. The poor bull is inconsolable. Furious! It kicks its feet, sways its head and tries valiantly to break free of its harness. But it’s the way of the world. Yet another victim of human commerce!
And we have Bruno!
Bruno was a German Shepherd who had a ‘certified official pedigree’ which lay with his master. He was fortunate to inhabit a rather imposing house with tall walls and an oppressively opaque gate which rarely afforded a view of the external world. He was a philosopher of sorts and did not even seem too keen about it. The compound of the house was quite large and he was content to romp around it, quite satisfied with the territory he could mark as his own by his urine. He was well looked after by his owners, provided adequate food, and as for love and affection – he seemed quite content with the petting and stroking he received from his masters. I wonder if the thought of sex ever came to his mind, for he never seemed to exhibit any signs of sexual tension. Afternoons would see him sprawled under a ceiling fan, and he spent all his time just lazing around like a government worker.
All this was to change! It so happened that a friend of his master had a certified pedigreed German Shepherd too. The problem was it was a female. And being a female it generated the usual problems a female generates. In other words, her master desired to have a generous supply of litter from her as he could make some money by selling them. This man approached Bruno’s master when his dog was in heat and was mentally ready. Bruno’s master didn’t really care one way or the other, but since a good friend had requested, he agreed to leave poor Bruno at the other’s house.
So good old Bruno was led to the other house one evening, and being philosophically inclined, just proceeded resignedly without any desire whatsoever of sinning. On getting to the other dog’s house, he was pleasantly surprised to find a bitch and the first stirrings of sinning gently picked up. As his proximity with her increased, his consciousness was tingled strongly with a strange perfume she seemed to emanate. A powerful wave of electricity ran all through his body and he wondered what it was, for he had never even considered such strange possibilities! As time flowed on, he found his sexual urge rise phenomenally and he energetically tried to woo her. At first she was somewhat brusque with him - the way females are, but when she perceived that he really adored her, genuinely desired her and made her feel quite important, she turned quite coy. Later with an air of feigned disdain, and ensuring not to display inordinate enthusiasm, she turned cooperative. Bruno decided to drop his philosophical attitude and realized that being a hedonist was all what life was about. He decided to mend his ways forever henceforth and swore to enjoy life to the fullest extent and forever. As a first step he sexually locked up with the female dog and the next thirty minutes of intense sex set the stage for what would be his life-style forever and ever.
Only there was a problem! For when the sex act was over, after a brief interval of time, he sensed that he was being led back to his own residence – the dry, empty space surrounded by tall walls and the oppressively opaque gate. He just didn’t want such a life! Not after what he had just seen. But forcefully and much against his wish, he was dragged back to his own house by an iron chain on his collar. He was totally restless and on the first opportunity he could get, when the milkman tried to enter the house, he rapidly sneaked out of the gate and feverishly bounded across the neighbourhood to the other dog’s house. His master however soon followed him, and in minutes arrived where he was. He was again secured in chains and dragged back to his own home. His master realized that Bruno was a changed dog and would run away from the house at the first opportunity he got. So it was, that Bruno lost his right to freely roam around his house and gaily mark his territory as he once used to. He became a dog that was securely chained with iron and collar. He lost his peace of mind and would wistfully think of his lover – a sophisticated, pedigreed German Shepherd – a female dog of his dreams, and he would dream of her piningly forever – another animal victim of human commerce!
Healthy bulls of good breed and pedigree are assembled and are eagerly sought by owners of cows to fertilize them to ensure healthy progeny that would further the cow owner’s commercial prospects. So it is common to see a Bengali rustic lead an innocent, nervous cow to Padma Pukur to be mercilessly used by an eager bull. The bull is securely harnessed, with its master eager for a satisfactory commercial gain from the owner of a cow. It is also common to see that when the rustic leads the cow to the owner of the bull, the latter senses the nature and purpose of the transaction going on between the two and the exciting role he has to play in the whole deal! He perks up his ears, turns his head and watches the whole proceeding with gradually increasing excitement and sexual tension. He tries to break free from the harness, sways his head restlessly from side to side and swishes his tail vigourously. The bargaining goes on. It seems to be endless! "Why can’t they hurry and get it over with?" he wonders. He gazes thirstingly at the cow. She seems very inviting indeed! The bargaining goes on, and after what seems like a tortuous interminable time, the owner of the cow decides that the price is just not right. The deal falls through! So he leads away the cow to another owner. The poor bull is inconsolable. Furious! It kicks its feet, sways its head and tries valiantly to break free of its harness. But it’s the way of the world. Yet another victim of human commerce!
And we have Bruno!
Bruno was a German Shepherd who had a ‘certified official pedigree’ which lay with his master. He was fortunate to inhabit a rather imposing house with tall walls and an oppressively opaque gate which rarely afforded a view of the external world. He was a philosopher of sorts and did not even seem too keen about it. The compound of the house was quite large and he was content to romp around it, quite satisfied with the territory he could mark as his own by his urine. He was well looked after by his owners, provided adequate food, and as for love and affection – he seemed quite content with the petting and stroking he received from his masters. I wonder if the thought of sex ever came to his mind, for he never seemed to exhibit any signs of sexual tension. Afternoons would see him sprawled under a ceiling fan, and he spent all his time just lazing around like a government worker.
All this was to change! It so happened that a friend of his master had a certified pedigreed German Shepherd too. The problem was it was a female. And being a female it generated the usual problems a female generates. In other words, her master desired to have a generous supply of litter from her as he could make some money by selling them. This man approached Bruno’s master when his dog was in heat and was mentally ready. Bruno’s master didn’t really care one way or the other, but since a good friend had requested, he agreed to leave poor Bruno at the other’s house.
So good old Bruno was led to the other house one evening, and being philosophically inclined, just proceeded resignedly without any desire whatsoever of sinning. On getting to the other dog’s house, he was pleasantly surprised to find a bitch and the first stirrings of sinning gently picked up. As his proximity with her increased, his consciousness was tingled strongly with a strange perfume she seemed to emanate. A powerful wave of electricity ran all through his body and he wondered what it was, for he had never even considered such strange possibilities! As time flowed on, he found his sexual urge rise phenomenally and he energetically tried to woo her. At first she was somewhat brusque with him - the way females are, but when she perceived that he really adored her, genuinely desired her and made her feel quite important, she turned quite coy. Later with an air of feigned disdain, and ensuring not to display inordinate enthusiasm, she turned cooperative. Bruno decided to drop his philosophical attitude and realized that being a hedonist was all what life was about. He decided to mend his ways forever henceforth and swore to enjoy life to the fullest extent and forever. As a first step he sexually locked up with the female dog and the next thirty minutes of intense sex set the stage for what would be his life-style forever and ever.
Only there was a problem! For when the sex act was over, after a brief interval of time, he sensed that he was being led back to his own residence – the dry, empty space surrounded by tall walls and the oppressively opaque gate. He just didn’t want such a life! Not after what he had just seen. But forcefully and much against his wish, he was dragged back to his own house by an iron chain on his collar. He was totally restless and on the first opportunity he could get, when the milkman tried to enter the house, he rapidly sneaked out of the gate and feverishly bounded across the neighbourhood to the other dog’s house. His master however soon followed him, and in minutes arrived where he was. He was again secured in chains and dragged back to his own home. His master realized that Bruno was a changed dog and would run away from the house at the first opportunity he got. So it was, that Bruno lost his right to freely roam around his house and gaily mark his territory as he once used to. He became a dog that was securely chained with iron and collar. He lost his peace of mind and would wistfully think of his lover – a sophisticated, pedigreed German Shepherd – a female dog of his dreams, and he would dream of her piningly forever – another animal victim of human commerce!
xxx
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