A Sai Baba Temple Project - Escapades with Shirdi Sai Baba

In many blog posts of mine in the past I have referred the name of Shanthamma (Refer Archives February 2011 and January 2012). She happens to be a middle class woman in her mid fifties who is an ardent devotee of Shirdi Sai Baba. - a Saint of India who lived between the years ~ 1838 and October 1918. During his lifetime he has been recorded to have helped in bestowing favours to many people who later turned out to be intensely devoted to him. Even after his passing on many people have reported to have experienced certain 'states' and apparently been present at certain strange happenings and as a result, the number of his devotees is increasing phenomenally. It is not my purpose to recount the incidents of various people, but rather my effort is to maintain as a record, the happenings related to Shirdi Sai Baba that manifest around Shanthamma with whom I have been in contact since the year 2004.

The curious thing is that Shanthamma experiences certain states whose veracity is apparent to those around her from her expressions and body language, but none else present is privy to it. Many would be tempted to dismiss them as 'hallucinations' peculiar to her alone without any basis in reality. But to underscore that there could be some link to some level of reality, we normally see the materialization of strange objects at the same time. In my previous blogs I've described some of these and have attached photographs of things that have appeared, but here I proceed to declare some recent happenings just for the sake of keeping a record.

Since the past eight years or so, Shanthamma has been receiving instructions from Shirdi Sai Baba to take active steps in the construction of a Sai Baba Temple. Many efforts have been made to realize this objective but none had yielded fruit. Recently a family (mainly by two brothers - Shri Bhaskar and Shri Jayaram)  that had lands in Byatarayanapura,  near Mysore Road in Bangalore has been generous enough to donate a fairly large piece of land for the purpose.

The Ground Floor Hall of the building

One part of the land has a three storied building with three huge halls that will be put to suitable use like for meditation, bhajans or such. It is on the vacant portion that a Sai temple is proposed to be built. Shanthamma reports that the land has the approval of Sai Baba for the construction of a temple. One morning in the month of October 2012, Sai Baba is reported to have roused Shanthamma very early in the morning (around 4:30  a.m.) and stressed that she has to take a more proactive and vigorous step towards the construction of the temple and that the proposals of donations by Bhaskar et.al. should be considered. He also inspired her of the procedure that had to be followed :

Firstly, on a suitable day, starting with a Kaakada Aarthi (early morning Aarthi) the Naam Smaran of Sai Baba had to be done for five hours followed by what in Karnataka is called 'Bhumi Pooja' - the Ground-breaking ceremony.  These two were to be followed by Dhoop (Noon) aarthi and later by a mass feeding of people. Towards this end the date was fixed for November 23rd 2012. On an earlier date when Bhaskar, Jayaram and their sister were visiting Shanthamma at her residence (this happened when I was also there) Shanthamma had a vision of Sai Baba and a pair of wooden Paadukas together with figurines of Dattatreya and Hanuman and plenty of vibhuthi and a few rudraksha together with glass marbles and a polished pebble of agate which is supposed to represent a Shiva Ling materialized in a white cloth bag that could be slung on the shoulder. The donors of the land were quite moved by the incident.

'Guddali Pooja - groundbreaking ceremony for Sai Temple

On 23rd November all the formalities that were envisaged took place without a hitch and maybe about 1300 people were fed on that day. A figurine which is the exact likeness of Sai Baba's idol at Shirdi was presented to Shanthamma at the time of the Bhumi Pooja when Sai Baba gave her a vision.

Sai Baba idol that  materialised at Guddali Puja

Sai Baba had also instructed Shanthmma to carry out a formal reading (called Sat Charita Paraayana in Kannada) of all the chapters of Sai Satcharita by a large group of devotees at the newly consecrated temple premises. Accordingly a group of about 50 to 60 people from the Bhajan Group assembled at Byatarayanapura on the 20th of December 2012 and each person was allotted one chapter to complete the task. The group assembled at around 7:30 hrs at the temple site.

A few people were to escort Shanthamma and her husband Ramanath in a car from her residence to the temple. As they were on their way Shanthamma had a scary vision - it was as if the car was racing down a very steep gradient and Shanthamma shouted out to the person driving the car to grind to a halt lest they crash in a fatal catastrophe. Later she is supposed to have had a darshan of Saibaba as a huge figure whose feet were yonder below in the deepest of the nether worlds ("Paatala" as she says) and enveloped with tongues of fire, and the chest had snowy peaks of great heights as a backdrop and the head was way out in space.  The vision was supposed to have created great trepidation in her. Later Sai Baba reduced his size and materialized a set of large wooden padukas together with vibhuthi and rudrakshas wrapped in a red cloth. Referring to a person in the car Sai Baba is supposed to have told Shanthamma "...What does he think he is doing  - running around like a thief! While at times he prays to me there are times when he gets angry with even Me! Tell him to be relaxed, and that I am always there to protect him! He is very dear to me and was Das Ganu in his previous life..."

My question has already been asked once previously. If the vision is merely a set of hallucinations how come the very material presence of padukas, rudraksha and the red cloth in which it was all wrapped?

Baba is further supposed to have told Shanthamma that the various procedure and observances in constructing a temple will be revealed to her as things unfold and that she is supposed to record it in a book.

As has been happening for the past six to seven years, this year too an Annual function to honour Sai Baba was organised at the Adi-Chunchunagiri Samudaya Bhavan, Vijayanagar, Bangalore on 16th December 2012, and the usual things materialized - A silver rudraksha chain, onions, chappathis, figurines, and the bundle for the POORNA AAHUTHI.

Sai Baba's Gift for December 2012  (Yes! Chapatis too)

Close-up view (Laddoos & Onions too)

Sugar candy, marble, matchsticks, silver-rudraksha chain,Sai figurine etc.

Various Homas at the regular annual function in honor of Sai Baba (2012)

                                          xxx

Life of Pi

Just this afternoon (December 5th 2012) I happened to witness this film 'Life of Pi' and since I have not read any reviews on this film save that of Namrata Joshi's in the magazine 'Outlook', and though I had heard about Yann Martel's book but have neither read the book nor any reviews about it, I decided to briefly write in a paragraph or two about what I made of the film : -

(Please replace the word 'humankind' wherever the word 'Mankind' or 'Man' is found for political correctness)

Man loves to tell stories. The stories that Mankind has woven throughout the ages can be broadly classified (specially since the Age of Reason) into two main types - Those that speak about the triumph of Man and his spirit; and those that speak about the triumph of Man as a rational animal. The stories that spoke about the triumph of Man and his spirit spoke eloquently about his escapades in a world of mystery and magic - a world where the vagaries of nature would threaten to ravage him but of course, he would emerge successful. He would succeed perhaps due to an assortment of human capacities like bravery and courage; of honour and self-respect; of self-sacrifice and patronage; of love and sacrifice; of generosity in the face of personal deprivation and so on. Some of them would even dwell on Man's weaknesses like greed (Merchant of Venice) or lust (Ravana's bete noir in Ramayana) or other weaknesses like that of gambling (Yudhistira in Mahabaratha) or jealousy between cousins; but essentially what would ultimately win the day would be the human spirit.

Since the Age of Reason, especially so in the late 19th C and 20th C, the stories are largely centered on the triumph of reason as the prime quality in the triumph of man. Even if other stories are being told, what is largely being listened to with any degree of credibility are stories where the foundations of reason are not shaken.

This film tells a story of a boy who is named Piscin Molitor by his father, who due to intolerable scorn by his peers, rechristens himself as Pi. His father runs a sort of menagerie in Pondicherry, India, in a complex that also hosts a botanical garden where his mother works. Years after the French have left the colony, and in the 1970s, the family facing a financial crunch to keep the zoo going, decides to shift base to Canada. The father decides to transport the animals by sea and with them, the family too. He embarks on a scheme where he would realize a small fortune by selling those animals in his new country that would provide for all their upkeep. The ship is wrecked in a storm and the entire crew and the whole family save for the main protagonist Pi who is then a youthful lad and a few animals survive to end up in a small raft. The other animals die in an internecine fight of survival and Pi and a royal Bengal tiger are left to battle it out for survival. I to rush to the conclusion of the film where Pi makes it clear to an eager listener ( a writer struggling to make it in this world) that - given that there is a basic story where a group of caged animal get shipwrecked with his family in the Pacific but he survives to tell the tale, he is compelled to relate the circumstances of his survival in two ways - one is a way with magical circumstances and another is a way that seems more probable by human reason.

The tale that the film director evidently prefers - because he chooses to film the story in this manner - is the way of a magical universe, where despite great turmoil and devastation, he is magically provided for and nourished; he is both protected both magically and also due to his own spirit. This speaks of a universe where perhaps God still exists, but before showing that He exists, there is considerable shaking-up and churning, so that by the end of it all you are left doubting what sort of God is He that could cause a protagonist to undergo such things? In this scheme of the Universe there is much greater acceptance and meaning where the loss of the family - mother, father and brother - seems to be accounted for and accepted with much more meaning. This universe seems to be more holistic and sees man together with all animals as a necessary and interdependent system.

The other story, of course, is one that seems much colourless with pain and despair and deaths of the family and others told without magic but where reason perhaps feels more comfortable. Nothing makes meaning and everything is just a rolling on of unrelenting circumstance. These seem to be the stories of science. But the director strongly suggests that these stories too are equally unreal. If one goes to see, perhaps all stories - that of the triumph of reason and the triumph of the spirit of man are both unreal, but perhaps the latter is more meaningful. Then of course one can think of several levels of psychological importance and symbolisms - what could the tiger represent? Could it be the hero's triumph over a mother's persona?

The character Pi seems to mouth a regret that when it was time for separation, the Tiger never paused to look back towards him - there was no closure for his relationship with the tiger and all his efforts to ensure it survives. But the preference of the film director shows what the tiger sees in its mind's eye with fondness - a smiling Pi behind it, feeling profoundly happy that it has finally found safety!

SNOWBOUND ! (Part 4)

SNOWBOUND !   (Part 4)

Darkness was approaching and despite a herculean effort it took quite some time to reach a comfortable place. The group convinced Panchiram that they would not reach the designated spot that day.

“We’ll be right there in the morning!” Srikantia shouted back to him.

Taking the shelter of a large boulder they prepared a bivouac in the snow. By midnight it started snowing again. The officers took every precaution to protect their maps from getting wet. In an attempt to retain a cheerful spirit they began relating anecdotes from slices of their lives – a broken love, a betrayal, another adventure in a field work in a forested terrain, a ghost story etc. Though there was snow all around, they had not a drop of water. Swallowing handfuls of snow they eagerly gazed at the eastern horizon.

It was a grey and dull morning the next day and their feet were painful and swollen. They continued the trek and reached the banks of the Chandra River around 9 0’Clock. Panchiram, the faithful tehsil peon was there and he guided the group a further distance upstream where the river had a shallow stretch. The wary porters mustered up courage and slowly waded through the shivering waters. They carried one end of a nylon rope and promised to return to help the others who remained behind after depositing their luggage on the opposite bank. However once across the river, they were in an indecent haste to push their way ahead. Without losing nerve, the rest of the group securely fastened the other end of the rope to a boulder with the first end being held robustly by Panchiram.

Stripping their clothes and tying them around their necks, they waded through the chest deep, swiftly flowing Chandra River, locked arm in arm. The cook lost nerve and had to be carried across. Once they were across the river, the peak of the ordeal was behind them. Safely stationed on the other bank they gave vent to their feelings and tensions of the past five days.

They next joined a human caravan that was moving along a narrow track. They came to know of thousands who were affected by the disaster. The route bore the marks of a large exodus. Carcasses of mules that had died of hunger and four human bodies that were frozen to death were also seen. It was night when they all reached the Chotadhara Rest House further downstream. Resting for two days there they dragged themselves to Chattaru where they rested for another day and reached Khoksar on the evening of 30^th September.

Once in Khoksar they all flashed messages of their safe return to their homes and the headquarters of their office. Peripheral neuritis owing to overexposure to freezing conditions caused several sleepless nights to several of them. The group next moved to Kulu, the administrative seat of the district.

The entire group led by Srikantia, R. N. Padhi (another geologist) and Biswas, a surveyor together with other supporting staff was warmly felicitated by the Chief Minister for their courage and grit in facing life-threatening dangers and their great sense of duty.  The events were also widely covered by the press and the group felt thankful for their lives being spared.

                                                                                 (Concluded)

SNOWBOUND ! (Part 3)

SNOWBOUND !   (Part 3)

The morning of September 22^nd saw the first rays of the sun making its way through the slits of their tents. “Gosh! The Sun is out !” shouted Srikantia getting out of the sleeping bag. Gaps of blue were seen in the horizon. All familiar landmarks had disappeared in the white expanse which was nine to ten feet deep. Donning sunglasses they came out of the tents one by one. Pangs of hunger gnawed in their guts but they refrained from eating, lest their supplies run out. Retreating to their tents they decided to chalk out a strategy for escape.

“We can’t risk another day here. Another bout of snowfall and we’ll all have a white funeral!” mumbled Biswas glumly. The porters were demoralised. They too were running out of rations. The group realised it was impossible to remove and carry the tentages and other equipment and also the geological specimens they had collected. Yet they were not too sure whether to abandon everything and scoot. Hence they decided to risk staying a while longer.

The next day too (September 23^rd) was a fairly clear day. The leader Mr. Srikantia had hopes that the snow would gradually melt and aid them in their return journey. The transistor radio was the only contact with the outside world and other than film songs, they never heard a word about their plight nor any news about the heavy snowfall in the news bulletins. Dwindling rations brought the group to their feet. It was the fourth night without sleep.

The morning of September 24^th had a porter peer into Srikantia’s tent and announce “Sahib, it has started snowing again and we can’t risk remaining here any longer!”

“Collect all the maps, vouchers, cash and other valuables” Srikantia announced. “Let’s leave immediately !”  

With stoic detachment they abandoned everything at the site save geological maps that was the fruit of the labour of three months.

The porters revolted and refused to carry any luggage excepting a few of their blankets. It was quite understandable – they had their own stuff. The adventurers donned on as many warm clothes as they could fit into and they all looked quite bloated. Due to the heavy load the porters could hardly move through the fresh snow. Srikantia ventured to stay in the lead and make a track for others to follow. All foot tracks were obliterated and there was a danger of stepping into a crevasse. Quite often the foot would get jammed between crevices and the painful march was unending. At one place they had to cross three branches of a glacial stream, as crossing a glacier with crevasses was too risky. They removed their shoes and crossed the icy waters that bit into their flesh. Some people lost their gloves during the crossing. Their feet and hands were becoming numb and sensationless. It was snowing throughout as the trek continued without respite. Even after a trek of six hours the group had barely covered two miles. They later heard the drone of a plane and learnt later that it was on a run to drop food packets for the party. The outside world had got to know of their plight through P.W.D engineers who were working in other parts of the valley.

 They were still a long way from Batal a small town where they hoped to rest and assuage their hunger. The visibility had improved and could espy the other bank of the Chandra River. Towards evening they were pleasantly aroused to hear a shrill shout from the distant right bank of the river. A tiny lonesome figure stood there gesticulating wildly! From loud shouts traded across the river they realized it was Panchiram. Braving the snow and slush he had single-handedly made his way to guide them to safety. He guided the group to a particular spot down the river. It was his intention that they cross the river immediately.

                                                                                      (To be continued…)

SNOWBOUND ! (Part 2)

SNOWBOUND  (Part 2)

The leader of the expedition Mr. S. V. Srikantia, a geologist who hails from Karnataka, had sent the tehsil peon Panchiram to Manali to fetch a pack of mules to transport luggage on their return journey. The fateful day of the 20^th September began with anticipation that the mules would be heading for the camp. The drizzle of the wet afternoon turned to excitement as they saw the first hints of snowflakes gently settling on the earth. It was their first experience of snow. Inch by inch the snow started piling up. Gradually the visibility reduced and the first feelings of nervousness began to stir in. The sun had set and the darkness of the night took over. By about 9 p.m. about two feet of snow had accumulated. The thick blanket of snow reduced the area into a trackless terrain and the camp had become an icy trap which was cut off from the rest of the world. The food supplies were barely sufficient to last a day or two and the kerosene supplies were also running out. The possibility of Panchiram reaching the camp with the mules seemed to be ruled out.

As a first step to face the grim altered circumstances, it was decided to restrict themselves to only one meal a day. The snow piled on incessantly and the temperature began to drop drastically. Babu Ram, the cook, who was laying down the dishes for dinner suddenly collapsed to the floor with a thud! The party realized that he had fainted due to the extremely low temperature and revived him with a swig of brandy. Still tottering, he was stuffed into a sleeping bag and shifted to a warm corner. The rice was icy cold and almost impossible to swallow. That was the last dinner they were to have for the next few  days.

As the snow kept on piling up, they began to discuss strategies for escape. Fuel and food shortage was in fact quite precarious. It was past midnight as the party began to fear the possibility of tents collapsing under the weight of the snow. Donning gloves and warm socks and footwear, the party members embarked on digging trenches and shovelling the snow around the tents. The silence of the night was rudely punctuated by the thundering noises of avalanches and snow-slides.

“In the morning (September 21^st) when I opened the tent I was confronted by a snow wall,” says Srikantia reminiscing about that morning. Extricating himself, he saw a misty expanse of snow. It was still snowing and the camp was almost buried and the visibility was very low. Heating snow to generate water and thence heating it further to boiling, the party refreshed themselves with some black coffee. Trenches were re-dug and soon they were almost ten feet deep. They tuned on their transistor radios to find out if the world was aware of their fate. “They still don’t know about the snow blizzard here,” remarked Padhi, another geologist from Orissa. At noon Ramnath, a technical bearer cooked some boiled rice. Mixing it up with some spicy powder or the other the expedition party had a frugal repast. Babu Ram was recovering speedily. “I should be o.k. by tomorrow,” he said reassuringly. More snow was cleared in the evening. The blizzard was continuing unabated. The noise of avalanches were heard all through the night. Luckily the party had selected the camp site with prudence or else they would have been swept away. Soon the tents, already fully soaked, began leaking and the sleeping bags became wet. With the shrill winds and the noise of snow-slides sleep was impossible throughout  the night.

                                                                                                                         (To be continued …)

SNOWBOUND ! (Part 1)

SNOWBOUND!  (Part 1)

by

S. V. Srikantia & Deepak Bellur

It was exactly fifty years ago that this awful incident happened. Way back in September 1962 (20^th September to be precise) a group of hardy geologists and surveyors of the Geological Survey of India were snowbound in a remote part of what is now called Himachal Pradesh and were in terrible risk of losing their lives.

It was a grey, wet afternoon in a place called Bara Shigi in the snowy heights of Lahaul Valley of what was then referred to as Punjab Himalaya. Back in those days the network of roads was just incipient and not as well developed as today. They had to cross the 13,050 foot altitude Rohtang Pass -  a fairly easy task now because of fairly well laid out roads, but was a daunting task back then. This group of earth scientists had been assigned the task of geological mapping along the steep slopes of Bara Shigi. Some parts of the area, especially between the altitudes of 13,000 to 16,000 feet was a geologically virgin terrain and they were engaged in the task of mineral exploration.

Let me begin from the beginning. The group had left Shimla on 16^th June 1962 on an expedition after collecting their tentages, sleeping bags, maps, geological and surveying equipment and provisions for their daily upkeep. At Manali they engaged a fleet of mules for transporting their luggage. Having crossed the Rohtang Pass by trekking on the 25^th of June they reached a village called Khoksar in the Lahaul Valley. The muleteers were a recalcitrant lot often vanishing from sight and reluctant to take risks which was inevitable while crossing rivers and glaciers. But with a great deal of persuasion the group established a camp at Bara Shigi at an altitude of 13,400 feet.

The terrain here, in contrast to the greenery of Lesser Himalaya, is a bleak one with not one green twig of a tree seen anywhere nearby. The valley is surrounded by majestic snowy peaks and mountain ranges. The casual visitor here is warned of rolling boulders that slide down the slopes and of dangerous avalanches. The barrenness of the area and the absolute absence of any traces of civilisation and human contact over a long duration of over two months and fierce icy cold winds that blow along the valley start telling on the nerves. The weather is very unpredictable.

Their world consisted of a few tiny threadbare alpine tents where the group would struggle to fit in after a hard day’s work. Gin Rummy was the only diversion. Some buried themselves in thick bound volumes of story books. It is a common thing that in these circumstances tempers are easily frayed. The work proceeded quite smoothly without any major glitches, and according to their itinerary they were due to close camp by September 21^st, well before the onset of winter.

                                                                                                           To be continued …

My Thoughts on God & the problem of Evil

I saw a girl wailing for help in Yahoo! Answers as follows : “I think I have to be the worst philosophy student alive! Lmao. I think I must (have) read Meditations over a thousand times and I still don't get it this one part. I even went to a weekend workshop that (sic) how bad I am. But all they did was read it over but (never) really explain (sic) it in detail. Which is what I need. So I'm asking all you smart people here on Yahoo Answers. You helped me name my son and decorate my new bedroom apartment so why not this? Lol.
“Anyway can someone explain to me Descartes proof of God's in his 3rd and 5th mediation. I'm just little unclear. I understand to a point but not enough that I can participate in any class discussion's (sic) without feeling like I'm making a fool out of myself. And I'm a honors student here! :(
Thanks in advance. I really appreciate it. “

Well! I also must have read something about it in Bertrand Russell’s ‘History of Western Philosophy’ and have come across the theme several times, but I confess nothing sticks to my mind. It is like Teflon! Each time I come across the word ‘Ontological’ I keep running back into the dictionary to find out what it means. The dictionary defines ‘Ontology’ as follows :-

— n
1.	philosophy the branch of metaphysics that deals with the nature of being
2.	logic the set of entities presupposed by a theory

As to the first definition given above it may be useful to add :

      It is the branch of metaphysics that studies the nature of existence or being as such.

Further something that ‘IS’ is said to exist and is called a being. And many argue that God is a Being.
In the light of these considerations and definitions of the word ‘ontology’, Descartes offered an Ontological argument that God exists.  To briefly sum it up (as he discusses in his book ‘Meditations’)

Because Descartes had the IDEA of God, there must be a God to receive that idea from. So God exists! The definiion of God at such point of writing was "That greater than which cannot be conceived."  In other words, it is something greater than whatever you can imagine. Descartes probes various ideas about God's 'objective reality'--the representational qualities and content that makes up the idea of God : -

God is generally conceived and explained to be infinite, independent (was not created), supremely powerful, supremely beneficent, supremely intelligent, and the creator of everything. All six of these qualities added up to be the idea/concept of "Perfection". (As a curious aside I draw the attention of readers to the god ‘Kartikeya’ also called ‘Muruga’ in South India or even as ‘Shanmukha’ or six-faced which is supposed to reflect six potencies of his divine nature)

This brings us back to the Ontological Argument, also often referred to as the "Inheritance Idea".

God exists--->God is perfect--->God is not a deceiver--->Therefore the Light of Nature (God) can be trusted.

It is kind of a bad argument. This argument is weak because together with the ideas about the existence of God, there are also many theories about the non-existence of God. If God exists and He is not a deceiver, then how do these theories arise?  Since we know that they have arisen, how can it be proved that they are wrong?

There is also the explanation of the problem of Evil. If God is Omnipotent, and if God is supremely ‘Good’ and if God is also ‘Just’,  then how does Evil arise?  Is there something that is Supremely Bad that balances out the Supremely Good? Is such a thing a necessity?

Descartes denies the existence of Evil by arguing that:  If God is supremely benevolent and supremely powerful, then He would want there to be no evil, and SO there is none.
I draw the reader’s attention to the Indian tradition where there is a widely held view that there is no evil in this world. There are only errors. These errors are due to false judgments. These wrong judgments arise due to ignorance. Also these false judgments arise because of God’s desire to provide Human’s with Free Will. Mistakes are false judgments, and free will allows mistakes. Just imagine a world in which it is proved that God Exists, and further, that orders are given that such and such codes of behavior and conduct are to be followed. I would say that such a world would be a very bleak place! Each man and woman would be reduced to a beast of burden and forced to ‘carry his or her cross’ till death! So I argue that God in His wisdom chose to only give ‘revelations’ at random just to indicate the directions in which the Good lies and left it to humans to judge for themselves. In other words ‘good judgments are indicated by God through revelations’. Each human is free to choose which rules he or she would like to follow and the consequences of your choices are there for you to reap.  However much I wish the previous sentence to read friendlier, I am afraid I cannot make it more user-friendly!   :-)  :-)

Modern Man has of recent years perhaps been displaying many errors of judgments. My theory is that perhaps this has led to a dangerous increase in mental diseases like depression, manic-depressive psychosis and schizophrenia. Ask any psychiatrist who has examined a host of these cases and they will probably tell you that the main errors of the sufferers are ‘errors in cognition’ or ‘cognitive errors’. I pick up from the Wikipedia the description of cognition as :

“In science, cognition is a group of mental processes that includes attention, memory, producing and understanding language, solving problems, and making decisions.”

The various cognitive errors that occur in Modern Humans are briefly given below (source Wikipedia):
Many cognitive distortions are also logical fallacies.

§  All-or-nothing thinking (splitting) – Conception in absolute terms, like "always", "every", "never", and "there is no alternative". (also "false dilemma" or "false dichotomy".)

§  Overgeneralization – Extrapolating limited experiences and evidence to broad generalizations. (also faulty generalization and misleading vividness.)

§  Magical thinking - Expectation of specific outcomes based on performance of unrelated acts or utterances. (also wishful thinking.)

§  Mental filter – Inability to view positive or negative features of an experience, for example, noticing only a tiny imperfection in a piece of otherwise useful clothing.

§  Disqualifying the positive – Discounting positive experiences for arbitrary, ad hoc reasons.

§  Jumping to conclusions – Reaching conclusions (usually negative) from little (if any) evidence. Two specific subtypes are also identified:

§  Mind reading – Sense of access to special knowledge of the intentions or thoughts of others.

§  Fortune telling – Inflexible expectations for how things will turn out before they happen.

§  Magnification and minimization – Magnifying or minimizing a memory or situation such that they no longer correspond to objective reality. This is common enough in the normal population to popularize idioms such as "make a mountain out of a molehill." In depressed clients, often the positive characteristics of other people are exaggerated and negative characteristics are understated. There is one subtype of magnification:

§  Catastrophizing – Inability to foresee anything other than the worst possible outcome, however unlikely, or experiencing a situation as unbearable or impossible when it is just uncomfortable.

§  Emotional reasoning – Experiencing reality as a reflection of emotions, e.g. "I feel it, therefore it must be true."

§  Should statements – Patterns of thought which imply the way things "should" or "ought" to be rather than the actual situation the person is faced with, or having rigid rules which the person believes will "always apply" no matter what the circumstances are.Albert Ellis termed this "Musturbation".

§  Labeling and mislabeling – Limited thinking about behaviors or events due to reliance on names; related to over-generalization. Rather than describing the specific behavior, the person assigns a label to someone or himself that implies absolute and unalterable terms. Mislabeling involves describing an event with language that is highly colored and emotionally loaded.

§  Personalization – Attribution of personal responsibility (or causal role or blame) for events over which a person has no control.

Such cognitive errors frequently appear in a patient who has been generally making false Judgments of errors out of ignorance. Perhaps it may be true that one of the solutions to this problem is to obtain a balanced view of God, religion and spiritualism. (from personal experience I would be tempted to say that it is the main solution, but that too would be a cognitive error of ‘Over-Generalisation’, and a probable error of ‘Labelling’, and of ‘Emotional reasoning’).

A further tragedy is that such cognitive errors makes a person lose his or her gratitude for the divine and he fails to see its munificence. This lack of gratitude leads to a sort of disgruntlement with life and thence on to a dismal world view and becomes a self-fulfilling monstrous cycle. In my case it turned towards atheism and I began looking for rational reasons for the denial of existence of God.  But the overall effect atheism had on me was one of lost hopes for the future and dark pessimism ultimately leading to psychological disorders.

I add that God may prefer to have it this way (and for disbelievers I would add ‘If God Exists!’) leaving the choice of actions to individuals. . In my own case a remarkable healing was effected by a scrupulously careful reading of books affirming the existence of the divine tempered with proper and watchful actions and conduct that lifted me from the morass of despair to normalcy. I however assert that there was a showering of 'Grace' before I embarked on this path. It is still true that I seem to commit quite a few of these cognitive errors but there is healing before it is too late.

Source:  Self in  http://www.Speakingtree.in/    and certain parts of the text from Wikipedia.

My Thoughts on a Sunny October Morn

Background information : -

1. The site adjacent to my house is a vacant plot of land. There was once a house on this land that was demolished by a merchant who seems to have bought it as an investment.

2. Ever since the Bangalore city civic authorities appointed contractors to collect the garbage of the town and dispose it, these contractors who are not accountable to the public opinion select the most convenient spot where the garbage cleaners of a few roads are advised to dump the garbage. The garbage truck visits these spots after a few days when sufficient garbage has accumulated and evacuate the stinking mess.

3. The footpath adjacent to the vacant plot has been selected as one such site, and despite my efforts (letter to Chief Minister, Local political representative, Corporation Commissioner) to get the point shifted to another location, it has not yielded any results.

4. I feel like accusing Muniyappa, a friendly scavenger who despite my protests, dumps the garbage next to my house.

5. A crucial drainage channel of my house was blocked today. This has happened due to the burrowing of bandicoots. I was informed about this by my maid servant who advised me to seek the help of Muniyappa.


With this background information I proceed ahead with the story.

It so happened that my hackles are being raised by Muniyappa who stubbornly pushes the large garbage wheel-barrows to the footpath adjacent to my house. Today morning my fury knew no bounds when I found the garbage wheelbarrow just beside the gate to my house. It was loaded with garbage and was a stinking mess and was quite heavy too. The barrow was moved close to my gate because the Sewerage Board is laying new concrete pipes and mechanized trench digging is taking place. He could have kept it in the niche on the road on the opposite side without it being close to any house. I was wild. I had decided to verbally abuse Muniyappa and even was prepared to slap him when he came nearby.

As my thoughts were going on thus, my maid informed me about the drainage channel block. So I found that I needed Muniyappa's help because, I being a middle-class retired government officer, do not have the willingness to stick my arm deep into a dirty and stinking sewage channel. So I found that I could not really attack Muniyappa and was forced to be nice to him. If you go to see, much of human pleasantness in society has a basis similar to this idea.

It was at this time that a rather deep realization struck me. If I had the willingness to stick my hand in the drainage channel, I would have had the guts to fight with Muniyappa. So I end up being nice to him. Then my thoughts began probing deeper. The middle-classes and the rich who have sufficient money wouldn't mind throwing a few rupees to get someone to do your dirty job. The medium of money that is paid strips the value of the effort involved in the work. It is not only the physical work that I am referring to, but also the mental shackles and limitations that we have tied ourselves with.  Since we have easy money, we toss a few rupees without examining the processes that are happening. If you were to correlate the twenty rupees with all the physical and emotional ramifications that the menial task involves, we would realize the value of money.  With easy money not only does one miss out thinking about these deeper aspects, we also develop contempt for the so called menial class who we get to do our dirty jobs.  We are debasing another human being, who like you, is also a child of the universe, and all that without feeling grateful to him for doing your dirty work, but rather shockingly, holding him in contempt.

The medium of money is making humankind unconscious of the value of their actions. This is what makes money dangerous! With the development of the spiritual side in me I seem to be more conscious of these things. There was a time when I was a youth when I felt that I preferred socialistic ideas. It is a truth if I say that there was in me a desire for justice and also a desire to see the gap between various classes eliminated. But while I was conscious of these facts to a certain extent I never seemed to have the consciousness to examine and probe each thought and strong emotion like I am doing these days at certain times. I would like to be more conscious but I now think it is largely a GIFT!

-0-

Joe And Elaine - Dangers of thinking overdrive !

This is an article that I received a few years ago as an e-mail forward.  The article talks of wild imaginings, supposedly more characteristic of the feminine species, but from personal experience I can vouchsafe that many men too are guilty of the same modes of thought. There is an immense danger in this: reality can be vastly different from your wild imaginings !

JOE & ELAINE

Let’s say a guy named Joe is attracted to a woman named Elaine.  He asks her out to a movie, she accepts.  They have a pretty good time.  A few nights later he asks her out to dinner and again they enjoy themselves.  They continue to see each other regularly, and after a while neither one of them is willing to see anybody else.

And then, one evening when they’re driving home, a thought occurs to Elaine and without really thinking she says it aloud:

‘Do you realize that, as of tonight, we’ve been seeing each other for exactly six months?’

And then there is silence in the car.  To Elaine it seems like a very loud silence.  She thinks to herself “Geez! I wonder if it bothers him that I said that.  Maybe he’s feeling confined by our relationship. Maybe he thinks I’m pushing him into some kind of obligation that he doesn’t want or isn’t sure of”.

And Joe is thinking “Gosh! Six months!”

And Elaine is thinking “But, hey! I’m not so sure I want this kind of relationship either.  Sometimes I wish I had more space, so I’d have time to think about whether I really want us to keep going the way we are, moving steadily toward … I mean, where are we going? Are we heading toward marriage? Toward children. Toward a life-time together? Am I ready for that level of commitment? Do I really even know this person?”

And Joe is thinking “…so that means it was … let’s see… February when we started going out. Which was right after I had the jeep at the dealer’s.  Which means … lemme check the odometer … Whoa! I’m way overdue for an oil change here!”

And Elaine is thinking “He’s upset! I can see it on his face. Maybe I’m reading this completely wrong.  Maybe he wants more from our relationship. More commitment! Maybe he has sensed – even before I sensed it – that I was feeling some reservations. Yes! I bet that’s it.  That’s why he is so reluctant to say anything about his own feelings. He’s afraid of being rejected”.

And Joe is thinking “And I’m gonna have them look at the transmission again. I don’t care what those morons say, it’s still not shifting right. And they better not try to blame it on the cold weather this time.  What cold weather? It’s 87 degrees out, and this thing is shifting like a garbage truck, and I paid those incompetent thieves $600”.

And Elaine is thinking “He’s angry. And I don’t blame him. I’d be angry too!  I feel so guilty putting him through this, but I can’t help the way I feel. I’m just not sure!”

And Joe is thinking “They’ll probably say it’s only a 90-day warranty. That’s exactly what they’ll say. The scumballs!”

And Elaine is thinking “Maybe I’m just too idealistic; …waiting for a knight to come riding upon his white horse…; when I’m sitting right next to a perfectly good person; a person I enjoy being with; a person I truly do care about; a person who seems to truly care about me. A person who is in pain because of my self-centered, schoolgirl romantic fantasy! I see it in his face!”

And Joe is thinking “Warranty? They want a warranty? I’ll give them a warranty. I’ll take that warranty and…”

“Joe!!” Elaine says aloud.

“What?!” says Joe, startled.

“Please don’t torture yourself like this,” she says, her eyes beginning to brim with tears. “Maybe I should never have…I feel so…” (She breaks down sobbing.)

“What?!” asks Joe, puzzled.

“I’m such a fool,” Elaine sobs. “I mean, I know there’s no knight”.

“No night?” Joe asks perplexed.

“I really know that” says Elaine. “It’s silly! There’s no knight and there’s no horse!”

“There’s no horse?” asks Joe more perplexed.

“You think I’m a fool, don’t you?” Elaine asks.

“No!” says Joe, glad to finally know the correct answer.

“It’s just that…it’s that I…I need some time,” says Elaine.

(There’s a 15-second pause while Joe, thinking as fast as he can, tries to come up with a safe response.  Finally he comes up with one that he thinks might work.)

“Yes,” he says.

Elaine, deeply moved, touches his hand.

“Oh! Joe! Do you really feel that way?” she asks.

“What way?”

“That way about time?” asks Elaine.

“Oh that!” says Joe. “Yes!”

Elaine turns to face him and gazes deeply into his eyes causing him to become very nervous about what she might say next, especially if it involves a horse.

At last she speaks. “Thank you Joe.” She says.

“Thank you,” says Joe.

Then he takes her home, and she lies on bed, a confused tortured soul, and weeps until dawn, whereas when Joe gets back to his place, he opens a bag of Doritos, turns on the TV, and immediately becomes deeply involved in a rerun of a tennis match between two Czechoslovakians he never heard of.  A tiny voice in the far recesses of his mind tells him that something major was going on back there in the car, but he is pretty sure there is no way he would understand what, and so figures it’s better if he doesn’t think about it. (This is also Joe’s mode of reaction to world hunger).

The next day Elaine will call her closest friend, or perhaps two of them, and they will talk about this situation for six straight hours.  In painstaking detail, they will analyze everything she said and everything he said, going over it time and time again, exploring every word, expression and gesture for nuances of meaning, considering every possible ramification.  They will continue to discuss this subject, off and on, for weeks, maybe months, never reaching a definite conclusion, but never getting bored with it either.

Meanwhile Joe, while playing racquetball one day with a mutual friend of his and Elaine’s, will pause just before serving, frown, and ask “Norm! Did Elaine ever own a horse?”

Pappa Devo Bhava ... whatever...!

This piece is about conflicting images that we conjure up whenever we are exposed to an idea or a concept.

       A few days ago a cousin of mine (a prosperous man) came home visiting along with his spritely daughter who has been brought up in a secular way with a greater exposure to western ideas. She is just about fifteen years and is in the process of moulding and also defining her personality. Her father realises this, and whenever possible, chooses to prompt her with ideas sought to bolster values in her.

      So as we got into a discussion of the deterioration of values in the present Indian society, my cousin told her daughter "You know Pinky, when I was in the Singapore Airport once, I saw a series of counters for 'Enquiries'. Seeing a lone man at one of the counters, I proceeded to stand behind him. But I immediately realised there was a queue some for the same counter some seven feet behind and the others had stood at that distance not to crowd on him. I immediately realised my mistake and chose to join the queue behind the others when they all said in unison 'Please go ahead Sir, you must be in some hurry!' And I..." and so on. 

     His young daughter joined the discussion saying "But in India too there were good values being promoted once, for instance like 'Pappa Devo Bhava ... whatever'! "  

         I felt amused at the unconscious choice of words. To my mind 'Pitru Devo Bhava' conjures up images of an austere and wisened man somewhat advanced in years who expounds by his lifestyle the values he chooses his son to emulate. To my mind 'Pappa Devo Bhava' conjures up images of a pot-bellied man in a three-piece suit with a cigar in his lips sitting in front a televison with a glass of scotch on the rocks watching a T20 match cheering the Indian team as it plays against Pakistan!   

      Similarly 'Maatru Devo Bhava' conjures up rather conservative images of a 'chaste' woman who looks up to the family as a source of pleasure and emotional strength. But 'Mummy Devo Bhava' conjures up images of a woman at a sophisticated kitty party playing rummy and spreading cheer.

       I confess these are my prejudices and there is nothing to say that the 'Pappa' is less morally ethical and less spiritual than the 'Pitr' or that 'Mummy' is less chaste than 'Matru'! I am writing to clarify how we let our preconceived ideas prejudice our thinking and more importantly, to underscore the clash of images when a traditional Sanskrit saying is modified with a combination of an English word and the smile that it draws forth from me.

Source: Self  in   www.speakingtree.in

The Limit of a Woman as X tends to A - The Calculus of Relationships!

Many people may raise an objection as to what such a blog is doing in a nice ‘Spiritual Website’ like this. But then this site has a branch devoted to ‘Wellness’ and what is the point if half of world’s population is not  ‘well’ at all, in certain aspects that happens to promote peace on earth! We certainly need to work at wellness with a better understanding.

‘Women are so mysterious’ wail my friends who are rather unsuccessful with women. That is the charm of a woman – to hide behind a mystique that would stump even the smartest. On a certain bright sunny Sunday morning with clear blue skies you may find your wife dropping an oblique hint that a wise man presented his wife with an attractive gift A.  You perk up.  You pride yourself on latching on to a hint, but then wouldn’t want to make it too obvious that it was, after all, a gross hint from your wife that motivated you to gift A to her. You would like to credit yourself for making the discovery that she needed it.  Hence you stall for a few days to create an impression that you had, in fact, thought about it all along to present her with A.  And after an intelligently contrived time lapse, one day you declare to your wife – ‘You know! I’ve been thinking for a long time to give you a costly present! Do you think you would like to have A?

‘I hate it!...’, your wife surprisingly declares. ‘In fact, I prefer something more along the lines of Z!   ’
You are surprised at this sudden turn of preferences. In fact, it is to the opposite end of the spectrum.  But then your male intuition tells you that maybe she doesn’t really like Z, but you think ‘could she, in fact, really want B but said A because it is somewhat close to what she really likes?’

But then you reason that if she is playing a game of subtlety she wouldn’t be thinking of B which is so close to A, maybe K that is sufficiently distant from A is more likely what she wants. So after a few days you again tell your wife ‘By the way, Rohan was thinking of gifting a nice present to his wife. Do you think K would be a good idea?’

‘What in the world would a woman do with a thing like K?  Something like Q would be more useful!’ she suggests helpfully.

But you know women quite well!  It couldn’t possibly be very close to what she really desires. But since she has strayed sufficiently far from A you wonder ‘Could she really want Z?’ But then you again reconsider. Z is way too much to the extreme. ‘Is my wife so much of a bohemian to really like Z?’ You know that women are more moderate and abhor extremes. But then these days, women are priding themselves for being quite radical in their tastes and even burning bras to prove it. Further you’ve even noticed that they put a herculean effort to excel in mathematics even if only to prove that they are more logical than men, and since X is something that figures everywhere in mathematics, and further since it is also the name of an object that has a real presence in the universe, you wonder by your devious logic, whether X could really be what she wants.  You are already tired of the mental effort involved in the whole process and take a rather bold leap of faith and spring into the dark chasm of pure probability and spend a big fortune to buy her X.  After the purchase you wonder ‘Did I make a stupid error? Could she really want A for herself but Z for other women?’ You are quite nervous, but put on a show of great confidence and charm. And in the privacy of your room and at an opportune time before retiring to bed you announce to her ‘Honey!, I don’t know if you’ll like it, but just today evening I bought you this X !!’

She squeals with obvious delight all over her visage. She puts her arms around your neck and exclaims “How wonderful!! I’ve always wanted this! How in the world did you know? You’re so wonderful!”

“Well! I’ve been successfully married for sixteen years!”  You tell her aloud, but secretly thank your stars that pure probability worked once again in your favor. Of course, it was blended with a clever mixture of intuition and a knowledge of feminine logic since, after all, you are especially talented as far as women are concerned.  But would it work again the next time? Is your success with women a product of your talent or is it predestined?

A small pointless debate

The other day I was involved in a semi-serious argument with a friend of mine about free will and predestined events. Having been thoroughly mauled by the events in my life, and further, finding myself at a somewhat mediocre although comfortable station in the social ladder, I seemed to prefer the existence of predestined events as having shaped my predicament. After all no one would like to believe that he is a mediocrity because he screwed up things in a royal manner. A man who finds himself at a mediocre level would like to believe that things were screwed up for him because of an external agent - God.

This friend of mine faces a similar problem though in an entirely different way. His problem is that in the normal scale of things he is an astounding success. He lives in a plush residence that even the super-rich of Bangalore can scarcely dream of living; he has attained a degree of success even in the realm of letters (as a prolific and quite articulate film critic); he has won prestigeous fellowships; he has travelled widely and is even financially quite successful. A man who finds himself in such circumstances would scarcely be convinced that luck could have perhaps favored him to a certain extent. Undoubtedly it would be very satisfying to claim total authorship of his achievements attributing them to his own talents.

Well, the two of us with our preferred predelictions got into a serious discussion of what, in fact, could explain the mechanism of the universe around us. He gave solid instances from his life where he had taken wisely considered and astutely conceived proactive measures - like for instance buying certain shares when they were freshly introduced in the market; selling those shares when their value had risen and investing the proceeds in real estate when land prices had fallen in Bangalore; further doing these even when there were strong protests from his wife - and of course, he was proved right; and several instances of how his moves were calculated to succeed even when he was working as an officer in a bank.

I tried to present events from the lives of people I knew who I felt were mauled by circumstances. He argued that in each case it could have been demonstrated that the choice they had taken was the most inappropriate one. If they had the right foresight they could have avoided peril and any person could predict that they would flounder. As a sort of a grand touche, I said that the very fact that one was born in a certain class of society  rather than another (for example as the son of middle-class parents rather than as a maid-servant's son) seemed to definitely indicate that there is a certain amount of pre-destination. He tried to fob off the argument by saying that he didn't believe 'in a pre-existing 'I' before my actual birth!'

I argued that it is immaterial whether one believes in the existence of a 'soul' or karma or not but it is an incontrovertible fact that people are born in different circumstances and that fact itself can have tremendous impact on the outcome.

I have to admit it that he came up with a strong attack by saying "If you didn't believe that Dinakar couldn't overcome his alcoholism problem by using his 'free-will' and 'will-power' you wouldn't have cared to give him the dressing-down advice that you gave him the other day."

I had to grant him victory on that point. We all tend to inflict our advice on others because we really believe that they are capable of making major changes in their behaviour.  Further, he argued that perhaps insofar as the circumstances of one's birth is concerned there may be no free-will but subsequently there is total control over directing one's life the way one wants to. He rightly argued that without the possibility of free-will no one would ever attempt to change his or her circumstances.

To counter his argument I gave an instance from my own life - I was made to jump from kindergarten to fifth standard, and even though such things were done in India, I suffered severely in the higher class because I was never given adequate preparation before being admitted to the higher class. I hadn't been taught the processes of multiplication and division; in fact I hadn't even been taught addition and subtraction and I found myself in a class where we were asked to convert 6438 pounds into tons; asked to convert 843 pence into pounds and shillings and so on. I was barely being taught nursery rhymes when I was put in a class where we had to study history, geography, hygiene and so on for which I neither had the vocabulary nor the maturity to grasp those ideas. I was not taught cursive handwriting and was expected to take down the notes that the class teacher dictated. I was taunted by the class teacher as 'small baby' and no one would like to be called that amongst his peers. I was taunted by my class teacher so much that I came to hate the school and anything related to studies.

I argued with my friend that this is a clear example of how predestined events seem to exert an important force in one's life.

Ultimately we reached a truce of some sort. We agreed that if the total motive force of a person's life is ONE (1)  then it is perhaps true that some decimal fraction, less than one (X < 1) is predestined, and the remaining is left to a person's free-will. For example, X could be 0.46 (predestined) and the remaining 0.54 could be left to one's free-will. And I chose to further specify that the value of X though less than one, is a variable that differs from person to person. So if you let your free will choose a goal and put more of your free will and life energies to attaining it, the fact that you won't attain it is determined by predestination.

And inasmuch as I consider a large part of my misery to be predestined, I similarly consider a large part of his rich circumstance and fortune also to be predestined rather than having the generosity of attributing it to his talent !!!     :-)

What they never teach you at any business school !

An acquanitance of mine was the CEO of a small company. Having risen from the ranks he was as street smart and astute as any CEO of a multinational company could be. The way he could economise on the expenses of running the company, yet at the same time, never missing opportunities to build up the goodwill of people who worked for him were simply admirable and is amply illustrated by this example that I am about to cite.

It happened that he had an accounts superintendent who was a loyal hard working hand and whose trust and allegiance had to be maintained in the company's interests.  This accounts superintendent had a son who had just finished final year of schooling and was about to enter college. The accounts superintendent felt that his many years of loyal service needed a recompense of some sort by the company management besides his regular salary and periodical bonuses that never seemed to add up to much. Hence one day this officer approached my acquaintance who was the CEO and put forth the request that his son's college education be funded by the company.

My acquaintance who considered the matter bought some time before taking a decision and asked the accounts superintendent to submit an application and that he would consider it. Meanwhile he made discreet enquiries about how much the boy had scored in the school final exam. My friend was informed that the boy had scored an aggregate of 72% marks.

When the accounts superintendent did submit an application to the company seeking financial assistance for his ward's college education, my acquanitance made a grand file noting -

"If the boy has scored over 95%  aggregate marks, his entire college education will be fully met by the company.

 If the boy has scored between 90 and 95%, then 75% of the boy's education will be funded.

If the boy has scored between 85 and 90% then 50% of the boy's education will be funded.

If the boy has scored between 80 and 85% then 25% of the boy's college education will be funded.

If however the boy has scored below 80%, the company regrets that it will be unable to finance the boy's higher education as it is the company's avowed policy to reward only talented youngsters who constitute the future of a great country like India".

The accounts superintendent was heard sadly ruing his son's missed opportunity with his colleagues- "The generous Managing Director was only too willing to help, but what to do? My son, the duffer that he is, just did not deserve it !!"


                                       xxx

Siddara Betta Trek on March 25th 2012 - Continued Part 3

I had decided to first explore the summit of Siddarabetta and only later explore the cave temple and all other caves at a slightly lower level. While we were descending from the summit to the cave temple, Vinod informed me that a Nepali Sadhu had arrived last Monday (we were trekking the following Sunday) and was living in the cave and performing intense Sadhana (extremely rigorous spiritual practices) and had not eaten anything since the past five days. Since he did not know the local language he could not interact with the locals. I was curious to meet this person and interview him if possible. We gradually descended to the level of the cave temple, removed our footwear and devoutly entered the cave.

We were shown the Shiva Linga and is called Siddeshwara. It is a tiny black linga with a hooded serpent of metal. It was adorned with flower garlands and other assorted flowers like hibiscus. After a brief prayer we decided to venture deeper into the cave.

Rugged Path to Rudra Muneeshwar Gaduge

As we negotiated low hanging rocks on top and rugged boulders strewn on the floor, we arrived at a bright chamber. We saw two tiny rooms both of which had doors that were closed. Vinod informed me that the Nepali Sadhu was in one of the rooms. I made a somewhat hesitant effort to rouse the sadhu to open the door. I spoke out loud in Hindi that I had been to Nepal and to Katmandu and asked if I could speak to him. I was feeling extremely hesitant as I was afraid I might be interrupting his spiritual practises. Vinod later tapped on the door and presently he opened a tiny window with an iron mesh screen and briefly acknowledged us. Not wishing to disturb him further we bade farewell and proceeded deeper into the cave.  We had to crawl through about twelve feet of extremely low hanging rock with barely three feet clearance and then emerged to a somewhat spacious chamber that was quite dark. We lit our electric torches and were surprised to find a few monkeys even here.

Low roofed caves to be negotiated

Jeevantha Samadhi (Live grave) of Venkatappa Avadhutha

Vinod pointed to a rocky platform and said that this was what was called in Kannada as the RudraMuneeshwara Gaduge (Rudramuneeshwara's Seat) where the Sadhu was supposed to have lived during the reign of Kurangaraya.  Just four or five feet opposite this platform was a mound with a slit to one side and which Vinod said was the Jivanth Samadhi (live grave?!) of Venkatappa Avadhootha. My guru later told me that this Venkatappa is quite different from the Guru of Shirdi Sai Baba.  Vinod further explained that the slit was there in the mound to facilitate the prana of Venkata Avadhutha who, they all believe, is still alive in the grave.


All the fotos that I have put in the blog are from a still camera with a flash. A video camera recording would have been quite spectacular. I provide a link to a video recording further below.

Meditating on Rudramuneeshwara Gaduge (Seat)

I sat on the Rudra Muneeshwara Gaduge and meditated for a few minutes. Later we explored a small underground source of refreshingly cold sweet water just beside the Gaduge. This spring is called Suvarnagundi as the hill is also known as Suvarnagiri. Vinod asked me if I was game to have a bath in that water. When I eagerly assented (I had brought a spare underwear and towel from Bangalore based on my readings of other blogs) he made me sit on a rock about five feet away,  fetched a vessel and poured out five large measures of water on my head.

The spring named Suvarna Gundi

After drying myself with a towel and dressing up, we decided to retrace our path to the exit. On our way back we were happy to find that the Nepali Sadhu had flung the door of his room wide open. He invited us to be seated and spread a mattress. On enquiry we found that his name was Jyoteshwar Das and that he was from a location near Pashpathi Nath temple in Katmandu, though he presently lived in some other remote part of Nepal. We were surprised to hear he was only 27 years old and had had also lived in Texas and New York where he had worked in the accounting line. His guru's name was Balak Das and was supposed to have been from South India. His guru had advised him to move to the south of India and by some convolute route and with the help of some person he met, he found himself in the caves of Siddarabetta. 

Jyoteshwar Das - the Nepali Sadhak in the cave at Siddarabetta

He said he had acquired some power over his bodily needs through intense sadhana. He said that though all these local villagers were saying that he had not eaten for five days, he had a meager stock of beaten rice (poha in Hindi) with which he was feeding himself somewhat. He later informed us that he was getting intuitive messages that his friend was in some need and that he had to leave for Tumkur immediately. Presently Karthik, Jyoteshwar Das and I descended to the foot of the hill after paying our guide Vinod a small sum of 300 rupees for his guidance.

We reached the base at 3:50 p.m and left for Bangalore at 4:10 p.m. The speedometer reading was 83115 at Siddarabetta. This time we headed towards Tumbadi and Koratagere and thence to Dobbspet and Bangalore. We had a break of about 50 minutes at Uradigere where Karthik wanted to buy fresh vegetables. It is only after we entered the Bangalore Division from the Tumkur Division on
SH3 that we found the quality of the road to be good. The other drawback on this route is that there are quite a lot of dangerous curves and the route is rather sinuous. Further, as is the tendency of many rural folk especially in Karnataka there are many unmarked badly constructed speedbreakers that can be quite dangerous to a motorbike rider. The route we had taken in the morning had none of these flaws and we had a safe ride.  On our return journey we were at Yeshwantpur, Bangalore at 7:10 p.m. and reached Rajajinagar (Karthik's house) at 7:30 p.m. The kilometer reading at home was 83218 meaning that it had taken us 103 km on a return journey.


For an interesting short video on exploring the caves at Siddarabetta click on the Youtube link given below: (be sure to connect your speakers !)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqla6BlT-xw&feature=colike



Thus ended an exhilarating Sunday in the month of March 2012  !


                                                                    Concluded