platitudes and performance...

I have been following various debates on television as also the thread of thoughts on various blogs.I have had the occasion to serve as the civilian area commander representing the NGO space during the communal riots as also during the blasts. I was mainly working in the Dharavi Behrampada area.I have also been on the spot during various natural disasters at various locations across india.

i beg to differ from the tirade against politicians; i believe we as citizens cannot escape from our apathy and indifference to events beyond our individual peripheries.If we do not help douse the fire at our neighbours, our house will soon catch fire.For me, politicians are not a black box, they are an intrinsic part of a corrupt and non-integral society. We are getting the politicians and leaders we deserve, they are mere reflections and emergences from ourselves.

I have seen corporate leaders and so called intelligentsia from really close quarters and they are no different.While in the thick of operations at Dharavi, I have been pulled out for a cocktail launch of an NGO formed by some prominent citizens which thankfully does not exist today.I have seen the political establishment used by businessmen for narrow objectives of protecting their own establishments. Their presence at various citizen's chapters was just to expand their networks for fulfilment of personal agendas.Like our politicians these people never exposed themselves to line of fire - they came in hordes for photo-ops later.More efforts of the volunteers on the field went towards provision of safe water for our distinguished visitors.

Who are we fooling? is this rhetoric any different from those of our politicians? I hold no brief for the politicians but would like to re-iterate that they are mere scape goats for an epidemic situation in society.Individually and collectively, we have become immune and indifferent.For me, we are really no different from the militant we are fighting.Under a different set of circumstances he may have been an efficient general manager of the very hotel he chose to destroy.

Please spare us the "holier than thou" platitudes.Even today, we are incapable of feeling for those who perished - it is hogwash; we are only reacting from the fear that has surfaced through events in our doorsteps.For me, we are no different- each time i see a prominent adworld chief being touted as a citizen's representative, I feel like puking for i have had the occasion to see him at extremely close quarters. for me, he is a terrorist in mind- he would not carry a gun in his hands but he spouts venom with his every action and the elaborate masks he wears.Rather than derive our energies from our blame games, let us awaken to the death within each of us where we are indifferent to the needs of our immediate neighbour while we cry hoarse about remote events.

We live in a world of plastic smiles and hollow gestures. We have become incapable of feeling, living in a projection of who we would like to be, far removed from who we are deep down.And the further tragedy is, we are unconscious of it.

We can wake up people who are asleep but what do we do with people who are pretending to be asleep and doing a damn good good job of their performance, cloaking it in platitudes. We are escaping our responsibility and responsibility is not about merely casting a ballot.We have taken so much from this city and this country - how many of us pay heed to feeling gratitude for the same and returning something to it.We abuse its facilities for our own benefit in the same way we use our parents and peers.

Let us look beyond ourselves and strive to be just human.

In the words of a President of a country where a lot of our peers are chosing to spend their lives after acquiring their basic skills here, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country...." Whether we be politicians, business men, media personnel or any other, we can never really give back to our country what it has provided and given us. We are no different from those we blame..They are mirror images of us...let us collectively rise to the challenge..

are we alive?

The recent events in mumbai are media events. And "media" and "performance" are so deeply linked.

Where is all our naturalness gone? Our "unconscious" controls us making us reactive and mechanized beings. We are zombies, robots in action, with our behaviours following predictable patterns. We are in essence no different from the militants. The violence and the hurts within us , if we can only be aware of it, is the venom that is manifesting in the world outside. Different people relate to different concepts and acquire their positionalities. And each believes they are right. For God's sake, let us separate facts from concepts.

It is an unfair and unequal world. Privileges are so varied. Consequently, events such as what has happened have to occur according to various laws of karma and principles of existence.Each one of us is a part creator to it through our lack of integrity and our basic sense of disconnect with our identities just as humans.We are constant "performers" , projecting ourselves far removed from what we actually are and our masks are the burdens we carry day in and day out.

If humans can just "BE" , our outer worlds can be the paradise we wish for deep down.

Yes, it is time for us to awaken within, reach out to the natural fountainheads of healing within and start to live, not merely exist.

The choice to create our universes is with each of us, not in symptomatic external changes.

The crisis of today is an opportunity for us to revisit ourselves and trigger the life force within.

Come let us move from conditioned , suffocative death to a vibrant life....

heaven of freedom....

Please check out this link....

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=M5OVMrad5iQ

fear of death

We cannot really fear death because we do not know what death is. What we are afraid of is losing the known. When we see a white strand on our head or a wrinkle on our face, deep down we are afraid of losing our power of attraction over others.

similarly in every situation.we are afraid of letting go of teh known, concepts we are comfortable with..however, concepts are just that - concepts...

Our ability to deal with and flow through changing circumestances, anshoring ourselves in the unchangeable is what elimates vulnerability in our lives.Life is a process of constant change.

-inspirations from Sri Bhagavan

The Golden Age

The dawn of this new civilization, which we may call the Golden Age, is the single most explosive fact of our life times. We have a destiny to create - A state of consciousness that is oneness with all that is.

- Sri Bhagavan

We celebrate today as Gratitude Day for all the learning and blessing that has crossed our lives.When I look back, the breakthroughs in the movement from perception to fact has been awesome.

Thank You Amma Bhagavan, thank you ,all of creation for this journey in exploration and discovery in realms of consciousness....

one move is all it takes!!!!!!!

A 10-year-old boy decided to study judo despite the fact that he had lost his left arm in a devastating car accident. The boy began lessons with an old Japanese judo master.

The boy was doing well, so he couldn't understand why, after three months of training, the master had taught him only one move.

"Sensei," (teacher in Japanese) the boy finally said, "Shouldn't I be learning more moves?"

"This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you'll ever need to know," the sensei replied. Not quite understanding, but believing in his teacher, the boy kept training. Several months later, the sensei took the boy to his first tournament.Surprising himself, the boy easily won his first two matches. The third match proved to be more difficult, but after some time, his opponent became impatient and charged; the boy deftly used his one move to win the match. Still amazed by his success, the boy was now in the finals. This time, his opponent was bigger, stronger, and more experienced. For a while, the boy appeared to be overmatched. Concerned that the boy might get hurt, the referee called a time-out.He was about to stop the match when the sensei intervened. "No," the sensei insisted, "Let him continue." Soon after the match resumed, his opponent made a critical mistake: he dropped his guard. Instantly, the boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the match and the tournament. He was the champion.On the way home, the boy and sensei reviewed every move in each and every match.

Then the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really on his mind. "Sensei, how did I win the tournament with only one move?"

"You won for two reasons," the sensei answered. "First, you've almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm."

The boy's biggest weakness had become his biggest strength.Sometimes we feel that we have certain weaknesses and we blame God, the circumstances or ourselves for it but we never know that our weaknesses can become our strengths one day. Each of us is special and important, so never think you have any weakness, never think of pride or pain, just live your life to its fullest and extract the best out of it!

self - an illusion

Deep down, everyone knows he is no one and nothing - he is only pretending to be someone and something.

-Sri Bhagavan

The wave in the ocean thinks of itself as separate - it is only an illusion.

oneness

when we experience the oneness of all suffering across events, we are on the way to experience oneness with the world around us. All suffering is ONE within us - we see it as different across events; one day it is relationships, the other day it is money, yet another day it is physical pain - it is the same underlying pain..we move cosmetically across it, but the basic pain is a constant.

It is this basic pain we have to get liberated from....not from its symptomatic manifests...