Thursday, May 31, 2007

Introduction

It was a meeting that had an agenda item called “Know your neighborhood”. And one my colleagues had a task of introducing me. In fact she was talking to me about this earlier and asked to share the one slider on me that would ease her talking. Well working in a process oriented company it was easy for me to pull that as all of us have their one-slider.

She started with my experience, studies, background and work. Suddenly she changed the angle and started revealing at personal levels about the sessions we had. She said “Iam her best friend in the company”- I was staring at my own photo front of me with gaping mouth and thorough astonishment. This was not to the fact that was being shared, but to the courage or should I say to the candidness that my dear friend was exhibiting…. heard lot of adjectives like spiritual mentor, philosopher, guide etc, and infact she shared about the joint venture that we have been planning.! I was contemplating that she would just stop with a formal intro of mine.

Well sometimes some things strike you unexpectedly. This was one such sweet surprise and it will be memorable one too. Thanks to H for making me happy!!

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Mind Blowing!?!

Knock Knock Knock!! Did you know that the world you live in , the body you have and the name you behold are not real – they are illusory??? When I heard this or to be more specific, when I read this my first reaction was “someone is jus kidding me out here!?!?” To add on the confusion this was said by the most eminent sages and even scriptures talk about it. Everyone seems to know it and Iam standing out as a fool trying to comprehend the stuff. I guess that there should be truth in those statements?? Well am I sounding spiritual here? – to my surprise, the answer has to be yes..!!

This blog site is dedicated for my thoughts which would be a consolidation of most of the stuff I read, I hear and of course what’s new would be my experience and reactions to such mind blowing statements – Take it literal here!! If you feel the stuff here is all absurd and bull shit, then take a deep breath and realize that by denying this you only loose.

You loose?? Now who is “you” here? As I told already there is no “you”. Sometimes you may think this is yet another moron’s blog site – To hell with this, who did ever find the concept of blogging and people start misusing it like this. The truth is now you don’t have a chance to stop me, the best thing that would suit you is switch onto other hits got in the google!

Well, for the people who decided to continue with the crap, it all started when I started to fear that I will soon loose my kith in kin as time passes by. One day “I” myself will not be here to see what’s happening on this earth if something called death happens to me. Strange!! I don even want to think about it. This started reeling in the questions in me like how can I escape this? Is there a way out? I remember my good old days when I go to temples to hear the stories said by sadhus – “Lord Rama lived happily ever after!!” was the ending statement made when Ramayana story narration came to an end. Now how long is this “ever after: eons”?? I was missing something terribly here. As is the case with anyone, I got bogged down by my own stuff – studies, school, music, tuitions and all other extra curricular activities.Never got time to think about all the stuff Iam talking here.
Finished my college and was living life as it was taking me. Made a job on campus, it was time for me to prove myself in the new company. Still din get time to ponder about the things which I want to do the most. Then switched job, my work hours were longer than the day and I was working as hard as a dog! That’s it!! All my questions got culminated and by chance I started reading books like “Unlimited power” by Anthony R. And someone did thrust a book called “Divine Romance” by Swami Yogananda. These initial books which gave different perspectives of the life I have been leading……well the journey of life still continues!! Stay tuned here to know more……..

Wow! What a book!

Another wonder of Paulo coehlo “I sat down and wept on the banks of river piedra”. After alchemist, this was the second book I got hold of. A must read for any spiritual seeker. The book talks about love – like any other love story all ends well here too but with a difference, a punch that surpasses all love stories. The man sacrifices his “call” to the mankind to attain his love, which was quite unusual. Normally renouncing love is considered as the toughest. The book proves that wrong.

Well if I try to explain the story here, I would end up imitating Paulo – the least thing I wanted to do. Jus go grab the book and enjoy!

More Books..

As the books I read kept growing, my quest for knowledge on subjects like life, death, body and mind were quenched to some extent. Lobsang Rampa – a Tibetan monk has shared his experiences in a series of his books. I got a chance to dive into his books – he spoke about metaphysics, astral travel, concept of overself, transmigration of souls, reincarnation , dimensions more than three..List goes on!
I liked the way he portrays things in a very simple way. It was just a consolidation of his experiences gained during the course of his lama hood. His narrative style made these concepts to come out naturally though such stuff seems to be beyond reality at first glance. His books also help an individual to practice the entire phenomenon he describes. The book “You forever” is a must read for any spiritual seeker. Well, I started off with Ana pana Sati (a technique of meditation on breath)..Really not sure when was that, but the practice was going on consistently and it WAS doing me good. Good? What is good now? :-)
After the Rampa series, I got hold of Vashista yoga. It was a comprehended version with English translation for the Sanskrit verses. “Self inquiry” is one the key concepts that it reinforces for the mankind to try. When I read it, I was stunned by the literature that came out quite blaringly. Was it all so simple? Are we trying to complicate things? The effect of “Maya” and the polarity of all things became very evident. If there is a substance that is bitter, then it need to be compensated by some stuff that is sweet..and that’s how life goes on…And its YOU who made a choice of this life, the environment you live, your parents, your figure, your language…!Well how is that sounding, I was zapped when I came to realize this. Now the question is if that’s the case why we feel that we are short of something sometimes? The answer to that is multidimensional. What you feel now could be a culmination of various feelings/thoughts which is not only yours but also from the society you live in as well. Ok, to put that straight we forgot that we chose to live like this. If we revive this from our consciousness, then things would be clear. Vashista Yoga is actually the teachings from Sage Vashista to Lord Rama. Rama was in his path of enlightenment and he had so many queries about this life. Sage Vashista answers him with lot of illustrations and I guess whoever is trying to understand his own purpose of existence should read this! The effect of karma and how one can overcome karma is wonderfully explained. The book also stresses on the knowledge gained from the scripture should be used/practiced, a person just reading the book for curiosity do not gain anything out of it.
Iam really not sure where I stand exactly with all these stuff, but one thing is for sure as a physical entity – Iam (dunoo how to refer my “self”) on my way to crack all this down!

Simple Stuff!

“Are you really doing what you want to do?” How many would say a “true” yes for that question? Well it needs more than jus “guts” to really what you want to do. It may demand you to overcome all your “fears” that your mind has been tuned to. The fears that are quite natural for a mind..infact its so accustomed to those fears – it fails to realize that they are “fears”. But only the first step is difficult, once you are out of the rut…I guess you can pull on easily.
It all starts like this – you just go by how life is taking you. You may think that conscious choices and decisions are being made by you. For example if you want Thai food, you just go to a Thai restaurant and not to a Chinese outlet - its as simple as that. Lets take a step back and analyze more deeply, have all your choices been as simple as that. Picking up Thai stuff was an easy one and under your control. How easily we take such conscious choices throughout our life? The answer can be yes only if you don have even a single crib the way you are living currently..and the “yes” need to be honest and coming from deep down of your heart!!
And this is tough not because we cant do what we want, its mainly cos we don’t even know and not sure of wot we are supposed to do. Irony!!! I guess if you can make a sincere effort, you can first find what you exactly want to do and then to solve all your variances in life - YOU JUST HAVE TO DO IT!!! Its definitely as simple as selecting a “Thai” food joint.