SPARE A THOUGHT.....
October 31, 2005
from here and there....
Put your awareness to work, not your mind. The mind is not the right instrument for this task. The timeless can be reached only by the timeless. Your body and your mind are born subject to time; only awareness is timeless, even in the now.
The Master was walking through the fields one day when a young man, a troubled look upon his face, approached him. "On such a beautiful day, it must be difficult to stay so serious," the Master said. "Is it? I hadn't noticed," the young man said, turning to look around and notice his surroundings. His eyes scanned the landscape, but nothing seemed to register; his mind elsewhere. Watching intently, the Master continued to walk. "Join me if you like." The Master walked to the edge of a still pond, framed by sycamore trees, their leaves golden orange and about to fall. "Please sit down," the Master invited, patting the ground next to him. Looking carefully before sitting, the young man brushed the ground to clear a space for himself. "Now, find a small stone, please," the Master instructed. "What?" "A stone. Please find a small stone and throw it in the pond." Searching around him, the young man grabbed a pebble and threw it as far as he could. "Tell me what you see," the Master instructed. Straining his eyes to not miss a single detail, the man looked at the water's surface. "I see ripples." "Where did the ripples come from?" "From the pebble I threw in the pond, Master." "Please reach your hand into the water and stop the ripples," the Master asked. Not understanding, the young man stuck his hand in the water as a ripple neared, only to cause more ripples. The young man was now completely baffled. Where was this going? Had he made a mistake in seeking out the Master? After all he was not a student, perhaps he could not be helped? Puzzled, the young man waited. "Were you able to stop the ripples with your hands?" the Master asked. "No, of course not." "Could you have stopped the ripples, then?" "No, Master. I told you I only caused more ripples." "What if you had stopped the pebble from entering the water to begin with?" The Master smiled such a beautiful smile; the young man could not be upset. "Next time you are unhappy with your life, catch the stone before it hits the water. Do not spend time trying to undo what you have done. Rather, change what you are going to do before you do it." The Master looked kindly upon the young man. "But Master, how will I know what I am going to do before I do it?" "Take the responsibility for living your own life. If you're working with a doctor to treat an illness, then ask the doctor to help you understand what caused the illness. Do not just treat the ripples. Keep asking questions." The young man stopped, his mind reeling. "But I came to you to ask you for answers. Are you saying that I know the answers?" "You may not know the answers right now, but if you ask the right questions, then you shall discover the answers." "But what are the right questions, Master?""There are no wrong questions, only unasked ones. We must ask, for without asking, we cannot receive answers. But it is your responsibility to ask. No one else can do that for you."
Posted by Sundar at Monday, October 31, 2005 0 comments
Labels: from here and there
out of the closet....
Posted by Sundar at Monday, October 31, 2005 0 comments
Labels: insights
happy diwali....
a very happy, safe and self-illuminating diwali to all of you and your dear ones....
Posted by Sundar at Monday, October 31, 2005 0 comments
Labels: wishes
October 30, 2005
prisoners of blue prints..
those days, i used to be randomly intuitive and sometimes just predict...typical college level past-time..for me , it was not an acquired skill however..it just had randomly happened and i enjoyed a reasonable reputation...
it was the ganesh utsav festival in our locality....as volunteers , we used to stay the night in the pandal...one such night , at about 2 am, this friend of mine insisted i read his palm....i was reluctant, but he kept persisting...i just glanced at it, and the words just sprang out of me...take care..u are in line for a violent death before ur birthday..his birthday was on dec 6th.
a hushed silence followed....the entire group was aware that this friend had started moving in undesirable circles....he had gotten into drugs, the underworld etc through routine college networks...and was on his way out of such connections...an unacceptable happening in such equations....we also knew the personal traumas that had made him gravitate thus...
we decided to organize what is known as "fielding" in mumbaiyya parlance...one of us would always be with him to avoid any untoward flare - ups...thus it was for about 2 months...
on dec 1st , i was with him at our local khatta....those were not the days of mobile cell phones...it was twilight hour...
i was called by somebody saying there was telephone call for me...i went in...it was a dud call...and in the meantime , my friend had been butchered with 13 stab wounds.. i had to do the honours of identifying and claiming his body...
while his death was itself a shock, a deeper personal q troubled me...i had been able to predict because there was something predictable...a pattern which led him there....so what about free will and the power of our choices....it rankled me no end...i felt a lot of resentment at my ignorance on this fundamental aspect....there were various theories but none that i could actually authebticate for myself...they were just theories, nothing more, for me.
was a critical trigger in the process of my explores..i did discover to my dismay that we were indeed prisoners of a blueprint, a set of patterns accumalated from myriad sources...next q , are we condemned in such space?
i discovered that , the blue print is a mind impress....a kind of a pattern from past life impressions, fundamental childhood decisions and so on.....most of these blueprints take shape by the time we are 5-6 years old..a few even happen later....
and it is possible to be liberated of the mind...when we discover spaces beyond the mind....
this does not imply that "we lose our mind".....
the mind is a wonderful faculty that we have to use....unfortunately, it has begun using us....
for me, understanding the whole dynamic of grace played a critical role in this process...i am still in process...learning by the moment.....
but i am experiencing much greater freedom inside me than say `10 years back when these questions crippled and paralysed me...i am able to breathe...
i see the world as multi-media classroom designed to set us free....through the bridge of events that occur in our lives...each event comes with its learning...but then we have to learn to learn...
i wish and pray that every single human who experiences such suffocation within should discover these dimensions beyond their blueprints..which can set them free....if they so desire it...
Posted by Sundar at Sunday, October 30, 2005 0 comments
Labels: insights
reality check....
Posted by Sundar at Sunday, October 30, 2005 0 comments
Labels: insights
Posted by Sundar at Sunday, October 30, 2005 0 comments
Labels: insights
our universe..created by our minds...
Posted by Sundar at Sunday, October 30, 2005 0 comments
Labels: insights
October 29, 2005
space and time...
- author unknown
Posted by Sundar at Saturday, October 29, 2005 0 comments
Labels: from here and there, insights
a sufi express...
-from a sufi lyric...
Posted by Sundar at Saturday, October 29, 2005 0 comments
Labels: from here and there
sometimes, let us agree to disagree...
shubham karoti kalyanam
arogyam dhansampada
shatrubudhi vinashaaya ( as different from shatru!!!!!!!)
deepjyoti namostute...
a very happy diwali( festival of lights..within and without) to all of u......
Posted by Sundar at Saturday, October 29, 2005 0 comments
Labels: point of view
October 28, 2005
pearls from einstein - a mystic as i see him...
"A human being is a part of a whole, called by us,the universe, a part
limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and
feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical
delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for
us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few
persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this
prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living
creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."
- Albert Einstein
Posted by Sundar at Friday, October 28, 2005 0 comments
Labels: from here and there, insights
the human crisis...as i see it...
not our fault , really ; seems to have happened for whatever reason, where we have got disconnected from our cores...some critical link snapped...we are out of sync with life..every moment is a burden we carry and try to fill up...
otherwise, everyone is an arjuna, riddled with conflict, numbed, paralysed....the difference as I see it, is that arjuna was alive to his pain, to his suffering, to his state of conflict..
and that made, krishna "happen" in his life...
an old indian adage, when the field is ready, the seed will come....
the question is whether we wanna keep escaping or face our realities squarely; our insecurities, our fears, our meaninglessness, boredom, indifference, begging for love, vulnerabilities, humiliation in defeats etc.....some of us are moving corpses, merely existing, not living; going through the motions because we have to...almost like a twig in the vast ocean...battered by the waves....of circumstance...
Integrity is the key in evolutionary processes.
in my perspective, spiritual explores are not a pastime, as they tend to become; they are critical essentials to deliver us our basic rights of joy, love and bliss, should we feel a need for it.
but then, we have to feel the suffocation in our lives and feel the need to break free; into a space that is independent of circumstances...
also , we can share only what we have...happy, joyous people can spread the joy....by just being themselves........the energy can be infectious....
Posted by Sundar at Friday, October 28, 2005 0 comments
Labels: insights
relationships.....
Posted by Sundar at Friday, October 28, 2005 0 comments
Labels: insights, relationships
native american wisdom on life...
Posted by Sundar at Friday, October 28, 2005 0 comments
Labels: from here and there
October 27, 2005
restless river...
- from a sufi poem
Posted by Sundar at Thursday, October 27, 2005 0 comments
Labels: insights
krishna..a perennial inspiration...
Posted by Sundar at Thursday, October 27, 2005 0 comments
Labels: insights, point of view
morality...
Posted by Sundar at Thursday, October 27, 2005 0 comments
Labels: point of view, relationships
Silence...enabler of manifests...
The unchangeable can only be realised in silence. Once realised, it will deeply affect the changeable, itself remaining unaffected.
-unknown author
Posted by Sundar at Thursday, October 27, 2005 0 comments
Labels: from here and there, insights
lights all around...
love the festival of lights and its ambience...so colorful....so energetic...the lights, electric and the more traditional come out in all their splendour....celebrate...
Posted by Sundar at Thursday, October 27, 2005 0 comments
Labels: generic
judging....
in judging, we stall "experiencing"....and creation, unlike the mind and its need for "patterns" offers paradoxical mix 'n' matches....it is not limited by the need to conform...nor does it seek "approvals"....it just is..
Posted by Sundar at Thursday, October 27, 2005 0 comments
Labels: insights
October 26, 2005
authenticity....
He was once heard to say,"When you have ears to hear a bird in song,you don't need to look at its credentials.
Posted by Sundar at Wednesday, October 26, 2005 0 comments
Labels: insights
everyday heroes...
Posted by Sundar at Wednesday, October 26, 2005 0 comments
Labels: generic, NGOs/Developmental perspectives, people
our essence
love.....causeless; joy .....limitlesss - our very essence.
-sri bhagavan
Posted by Sundar at Wednesday, October 26, 2005 0 comments
Labels: insights
Time....
-Unknown author
Posted by Sundar at Wednesday, October 26, 2005 0 comments
Labels: from here and there
perceptions...
Posted by Sundar at Wednesday, October 26, 2005 0 comments
Labels: from here and there, insights
learning bytes...
Posted by Sundar at Wednesday, October 26, 2005 0 comments
Labels: insights
October 25, 2005
twins-a parable...
-Unknown author
Posted by Sundar at Tuesday, October 25, 2005 0 comments
Labels: from here and there
fidelity blues....
Posted by Sundar at Tuesday, October 25, 2005 0 comments
Labels: point of view, relationships
challenged....
Posted by Sundar at Tuesday, October 25, 2005 0 comments
Labels: insights
manifests....
Posted by Sundar at Tuesday, October 25, 2005 0 comments
Labels: insights
October 24, 2005
awareness...
Awareness is ever there. It need not be realized. Open the shutter of the mind, and it will be flooded with light.
- unknown author
Posted by Sundar at Monday, October 24, 2005 0 comments
Labels: from here and there, insights
tag notes...
have been tagged by nyneisha( a very creative expressor in words, visuals etc)....so here goes...
seven or more things I want to do:
- get a new computer asap..lost mine during the 26/7 deluge in Mumbai.
- finish a celebrity house build event successfully in Nov....am an event consultant and helping reconstruct about 1000 houses for the flood affected at Mahad through innovative event concepts for an NGO.
- create a win win feedline for the BPO sector in India through the setting up of a creative customer service training centre for the differently abled......the networking and allied works are underway.
- manifest more wealth energy for myself....resource crunches can be very limiting.
- sustain and build on existing friends...enrich myself with more friendships.
- spend more quality time with my mom.
- change the paradigm of events and celebrity management....am one of the pioneers in that space in India and do not feel very fulfilled creatively and professionally...
- identify and work with a venture fundee/s who tunes in to my perspectives...ideas are many but to give them legs is a dream.....
- improve fitness levels
Some things i wanna weed out...
- procrastination
- unconscious mechanizations of my activity sphere.
- indifference to wealth energy creation.
- dead wood legacies in consciousness.
- dwelling too long in non-starters and failures.
- tendencies to defend my life perspectives....
- improper or adhoc personal prioritizations.
Words I use frequently:
- integrity
- authenticity
- unconditional
- wow
- perspective
- amma
- personal space
- personal choice
- seeing
fellow bloggers i wish to tag( dont know most of u personally; just as fellow bloggers); seems a fun exercise; a request to join in, not a command....
- gaizabonts - atul
- leave it unsaid - arundhati
- evolving everyday - sophie
- let the cut begin - poonam
- visual essays - sushma
- polioman - poonam arundhati combo
- step down - anuva
...in shared space as fellow humans, take care..have a gr8 festive season....
Posted by Sundar at Monday, October 24, 2005 0 comments
Labels: generic
October 23, 2005
something, somewhere....elusive....
One day, both of them went to a local "fun-fair", a mela.Engrossed in the colour and the entertainment, they were enjoying themselves, when suddenly, the woman realized that her son was missing.
She was distraught.She searched here and there but of no avail.She made a police complaint.But he was nowhere to be found.
A week, passed , then a month. He was still missing.
The woman was in no mood to eat anything. Her relatives tried consoling her, but it did not work. The wound was too raw and fresh.
6 months passed and a year. Some of the live pain had subsided or rather it appeared to be. It was suppressed to an extent. She was eating something now and then. But a kind of listlessness filled her being.
A direct impact of the suppression.
She was merely managing her pain, it had not been released.
Soon, her relatives extolled her to start some tuitions, to keep her mind occupied. It was tough to concentrate but she relented.
Soon her tuitions became a big enterprise. She created an institution.All her time was occupied, no time to think of anything else.
The sorrow of losing her son remained, albeit a distant memory. She was still listless, but often wondered why?
Her pain was not alive....It was present but deep within, unobserved , unconscious...
Can we see the same in our lives....some missing link( call it God or what you may), long forgotten and elaborately suppressed through "management" mechanisms.
We try to fill up our lives in myriad ways, but each attempt only makes the void more pronounced. Activities qualify our lives; for some of us it is spending time at the bar, for others it is sex, for yet others , it is religion....all mechanisms originating from teh sense of discomfort we dare not face, the sense of security that all of us seek through various concepts. To the vast majority of us who "believe" in God, that too is not "real" to us.It is the projection of a concept.To those of us who dont, that is just an "alternative" concept.
None of us really "know".
The misery, the boredom, the meaningless hit us time and again , peeping in through our management mechanisms.
Can escaping the basic pain and misery of boredom and meaninglessness ever be a solution.It only leads to a temporal cosmetic arrangement, a way to manage our pain.
Being in touch with that fundamental pain is the key to a million or more locks in our lives.To be in touch is to be aware.
The fundamental ignorance and pain is our "reality". To me, it makes sense to start there; it is a fact of our lives; and from there on move to facts as they evolve for us....does not mean we have to reject concepts. But we have to be constantly aware that they are "concepts as yet for us."
And to be aware is to be freed......
We live and act, dont just react.....
In my perspective, to escape constantly and not be in touch with our cores is to condemn ourselves to a life of mediocrity and meaninglessness. One has live in awareness every moment.
-inspirations from my master
as an ancient Indian prayer expresses....
Asatoma Satgamaya......from the unreal lead us to the real...
Tamasoma Jyotirgamaya.....from darkness lead us to light....
Mrityorma Amritangamaya.....from death lead us to immortality....
Om Shanti Shanti Shantihi......
Posted by Sundar at Sunday, October 23, 2005 0 comments
Labels: insights
mind filters hide reality...
Posted by Sundar at Sunday, October 23, 2005 0 comments
Labels: from here and there, insights
human abuse
Degrees and doctorates are immaterial , so also location. Conflicts within manifest in the external.Some societies are better equipped in the external space to "manage" these outbreaks, but to me, while they are critical, a mere symptomatic addressal may never be enough.
Posted by Sundar at Sunday, October 23, 2005 0 comments
October 22, 2005
mind silence - fountainhead of creativity...
Posted by Sundar at Saturday, October 22, 2005 0 comments
Labels: insights
October 21, 2005
associations- our own creation...
Posted by Sundar at Friday, October 21, 2005 0 comments
Labels: insights
eyes of the beholder....
the first half of the movie builds up a person as seen by various people in his life; his mom, his girlfriend, his caretaker, his employer and so on....a break is given in between and people are asked to build their own images of the person in q.
After the break, the person is shown as he really is...
a real eyeopener on the gap between perceptions and reality.....
Posted by Sundar at Friday, October 21, 2005 0 comments
Labels: insights
Meditation....
To me , to "relate" is essentially a total and unconditional acceptance of the other.
very often, i have seen that in our efforts at "meditation", we often strengthen unconsciously the very objects we seek liberation from.
The perspective of this post is not to be critical or judgemental of any processes one may be tuning in with.I have traversed through various techniques and processes in the quest of discovering something that would "work" for me.
The sharing is in that context. We have to see what works for us, if we are in an explorative process.We have to "experience" desirable results for us.
Posted by Sundar at Friday, October 21, 2005 0 comments
Labels: insights, point of view
shut off..
Posted by Sundar at Friday, October 21, 2005 0 comments
Labels: insights
nekoosa indian poem
Native American Wisdom about making life beautiful :
"You... whose day this is,make it BEAUTIFUL.Get out your rainbow colors,that it may be beautiful."
Posted by Sundar at Friday, October 21, 2005 0 comments
Labels: from here and there
October 20, 2005
emptiness...
music needs the hollowness of the flute; letters, the blankness of the paper; light, the void called a window; sacredness, the absence of the self.
- Anthony De Mello
Posted by Sundar at Thursday, October 20, 2005 0 comments
Labels: from here and there, insights
life - a mystery...
By rejecting some and accepting some, we are limiting ourselves.
Acceptance helps us to respond; rejection enforces suppresion of "perceived non-desirables".
our "perceived desirables" on personality content are more often than not dictated by "fears of peer rejection" , social alienation and so on.
In my opinion, social interaction necessitates the wearing of a few masks sometimes.Due to collective aspects of judgements and so on.
However, the danger is in our trying to beleive that we are something we are not. Not many of us maturely discriminate between our projections and our reality.
And that does not help us ; "integrity" and "acceptance" are critical keys to growth.
____________________________________________________________________
life is not a problem to be solved ; it is a mystery to be lived , loved and experienced....
-osho
Posted by Sundar at Thursday, October 20, 2005 0 comments
Labels: insights
fear is the key........
Posted by Sundar at Thursday, October 20, 2005 0 comments
Labels: insights
experiencing...as it is...
Posted by Sundar at Thursday, October 20, 2005 0 comments
Labels: insights
October 19, 2005
The 4th Dimension.....
Posted by Sundar at Wednesday, October 19, 2005 2 comments
Labels: insights