unconsciousness..an epidemic...

A fire broke out in a house in which a man was fast asleep. They tried to carry him out through the window. No way. They tried to carry him out through the door. No way. He was just too huge and heavy. They were pretty desperate till someone suggested, "Wake him up, then he'll get out by himself."
"Man is unconscious", says Sri Bhagavan. "There is enormous suffering in every individual. Like the rats that eat away the hands of a leper and he is unconscious of the bite having lost all sensations, people are unconscious of the suffering that gnaws at their being."
There are a lot of things going on inside you to which you have never paid attention. For instance you could be helping a person not knowing that you would rather not help if given a choice. If you go a step further you will see ulterior motives in helping him. The aim need not be monetary or physical but a simple craving to project a good image. Many forces are acting behind the scene, of which you are unconscious.
A person who denies that he is suffering is telling a plain lie to himself and to the world. His tail is on fire and he is not accepting it. You do not know yourself.
The first step in the path of enlightenment is to be conscious, to see the prison that holds you. The state itself is a benediction.

- from onenessuniversity.org

peace...

"Peace is the inner nature of humankind. If you find it within yourself, you will then find it everywhere."

~Ramana Maharshi

our base nature....

We are eternal, ecstatic beings pretending to be something else.

- Rumi

vulnerability.....

I am having a strange experience with technology space at the moment. For the last few years Yahoo messenger has been an integral part of life and communication therein. I do not know when or how long back I registered with yahoo. It seems like an ancient moment, a distant memory, almost like when I was "named" by my parents..Recently, I received an email mentioning that my password had been changed. I had not done any change. The result being that I cannot access any of my yahoo services.When i go into my standard "forgot password" menu, it is not even recognizing my date of birth.

A moment of helplessness with mails being exchanged with yahoo customer service...Wonder what the outcome would be.....

But a deeper realization....virtual spaces have become such a reality in our lives and have enhanced our basic vulnerabilities...my yahoo id is a critical part of my "identity"...and i feel a strange sense of violation of space...my yahoo was home to my "passwords" list for everything..my banking and other trading aspects...like a bank locker taken for granted...not to mention friends and relatives who might be trying to be in touch...offlines and all...

and suddenly I have lost the key with remote possibility of retreival....I do not know if my space has been hacked into....it is possible...it can be a technological error...

but look at my vulnerability...a moment of discovery of my dependancy....

a lot of critical data is in memory, but still....

observation...

If we observe carefully, what seems imperative at a given point of time acquires a redundancy at a different time.What seems imperative today seems redundant sometime later....and a lot of our decisions are based on this perspective of imperativeness brought on various factors. Hence, it is imperative and critical to be aware of the factors and their influences on us....

our thoughts?

Thoughts flow through you and not from you. You are not the originator for the thoughts. Hence, your thoughts are not your thoughts. You just are tuned in to them in the realm of the universal mind. To identify with them ; condemn oneself, feel guilty, feel proud , feel frustrated etc is hence unintelligent.

One is a process within a process, dynamic every moment of the way.

- inspirations from Sri Bhagavan

sufi wisdom...

'WHAT is good for one may be very bad for another. For one it may be very good to be a nun or sit all day in a church or a mosque, but for another may need to go to the cafe and learn the meanings of the experiences gained there.'

-Pir Inayat Khan

satori...

Thought cannot silence thought...

-Sri Bhagavan

friends......

it was July 1981. The 25th of july saw me losing my father, an event out of the blue which sent me, a lone child into a tizzy. the event hardly had sunk in when I had to start a new life. I had just completed my class 10 and moved into the freer world of a "college".The mind in turmoil, in incessant conflict. Why did it have to happen to me? Why did I lose my father?

a group of friends entered my life then...Manoj, Ganesh, Jaijiv, Suresh....was it destined? probably so...friends with whom I have shared so much...i have other very dear friends too...but this group has a special place in my life...we spent all of 2 years together in college..handling an awkward adolescence...playing cricket, going on treks and hikes....working on projects and journals together.

after our 12th we went our individual ways into professional courses and the like...but we always were in touch...jaijiv's house at Dadar was the common meeting place...after engineering yet another separation was in store..jaijiv, salim and suresh went to the usa.we still were in touch..albeit a bit lesser...Marriages and spouses arrived and the relationship has blossomed...

today, it is 25 years since my father passed on...though it seems like just yesterday...it is also 25 years since we came together...thanks to ganesh who remembers this milestone, all the gang members are in India over the next couple of weeks as we celebrate a bond that has enriched us all...and which is woven into the fabric of our existence...

Thank You , guys...we have never been very emotional in our expressions as friends...but whenever we connect it is like there has been no gaps...

it has been a privilege knowing each of you.....

banaras-the movie

saw the movie, banaras, today.very impressive performances and direction...liked the theme and the songs too...