Looking at our lives..at the majority of us at least, its so funny not to miss the little fears and frustrations, anguishes and pains, our own little concepts of this life we live, our joys, pleasures, sorrows, inhibitions...all of these things. A little thing is made a big issue. We tend to complicate things a lot, and often blow them out of proportions. When in pain, we seek sympathy than support; when in joy, we forget everyone and become very selfish. Yes, we do say we are simply humans and these things are but instinctual to us. But is that really so? I mean, lets ponder over this bit a little more. Do we actually try changing ourselves for the better unless circumstances force us to? Do we accept our incapacities and incapabilities instead of hiding them? Why do we always tend to hide behind this mask of what we are not whenver forced by a situation to fall and accept defeat?

Life should be a pursuit of perfection, not of happiness; because perfect happiness comes only with perfect knowledge, the knowledge of self, of reality, of life...and perfect knowledge comes only when we manage to perfect ourself. Only when we become successful in taming the wild and drunken monkey of our mind do we ever encounter pure happiness. One should be able to distinguish between happiness and pleasures. That which lasts only for a short period of time is pleasure...its like the drops of water in an ocean which evaporate to fall from the heavens as rain only to vanish again but still giving joy to the innocent life for a while. Happiness, however, is eternal, like that vast ocean...ever so fathomless, ever so mysterious, ever so pure!

Most of our lives are spent hankering and craving for happiness. Even a little joy of a moment makes us feel we are happy when we are no more than pleased! We tend to believe that the road to happiness is contention of soul and that in order to be happy, we need to look beyond our very self. Staring happiness in its eyes though, we realize that this is wrong. Happiness arises only when we are at peace with ourself and to be at peace in such a way, we first need to confront our darker side. Shying away from this other half only makes things worse. Letting go of our inhibitions and accepting what we really and truly are, we become the divine force which sustains life. Becoming this force, we find peace and knowledge. With this comes the virtue of happiness. We first need to conquer our frail and timid half which on exposing itself looks very scary at first sight, but later we realize that it is just what we think it is and not what it really is!

The only way to attain eternal bliss and happiness is thus, to first become at peace with ourself. 'The Middle Way' teaches us how to attain this equilibrium. Excess of anything is wrong. Just as joy is followed by sorrow and sorrow by joy, we need to work our way through this minefield of opposites to reach the end, which we then understand is just the beginning. Instead of obstructing the flow of life, we should learn to flow with it. Life is not just a haphazard arrangement of incidents, it is an intricately designed facade which has a very deep and implicit meaning, only waiting to be unveiled.

Recently I've been in a think-a-lot mode..forcing myself to find answers to certain questions I always wondered about. Following few posts will be about that. Nothing great really, just thought that I'd share this stuff here. Now these are no more than my answers for these questions but I couldn't help wonder how these complex questions of life and reality and truth can have such really simple answers.

So here we go.. :-)

Life is that which you never knew it is; and when it starts unfolding, you realize that even you are not what you thought you were. Slowly and steadily as one comprehends the mysteries of this universe and begins to realize the truths of life, one begins to be isolated from the homogeneous monotony of the mundane realism. Whether this isolation is good or bad is yet another question but what is worth noting here is the immense potential which this isolation equips that individual with; the potential to become life itself in a way.

Everyone realizes the truth when their time comes, when their destinies mature, but it is this very truth that corrupts! When you see the joy as joy, the suffering as suffering, the pain as pain, the self as self, the illusion as illusion, the ignorance as ignorance and the escape therefrom as escape, you cease to be what you always believed you were. The reality as perceived by the ignorance bounded creatures of darkness becomes a mighty enemy of your selfless self, glorified by the eternal luminescence of that imperceptible and undescribable reality of all that there ever was, is and will ever be.

A fantasy although this may seem to be, it is the reality of our lives; a fantastic reality!

Death of the Man

Revelations of what you see, and those of what I see too,

Infernal revelations from our primordial past;

Do shock us, but also soothe.

He speaks of honour and glory, bloody hypocrite!

Just as dreamily as he evoke the passions,

He uses the blood to stain the stream

Then in vain, with a peacock's feather he tries to paint;

The absurd in static, the surreal in facts.

I wonder, just as you would do,

What ticks his psyche's clock?

That heaving bosom, like the bellows of a blacksmith,

Germs a terror, or perhaps a fraility of some kind?

Back to wondering though, it does not stop,

But no answer I find, and neither would you;

Right, but who is he? And what is it in him...

...which makes him root in these fallacies?

Nobody knows, nor them, not you and neither do I;

But we remain stunned and petrified in horror,

When we beheld those hellish acts...oh devil be cursed!!

Questions...of life and death, of reality and dream...still horrify.

To my surprise, still, I remember I tried

With you, you know...to confront these dumb lies;

What we got though? Just a little more pain,

And an evening supper with the devil's clan!

How could a man, oh God how could he?!

Wreak such havoc in the nature's womb?

How could he...I beg to know, be unaffected...

...by his own diabolic acts? Is his conscience frozen??

If enslaving the niggers and coloured beasts were philanthropy,

Then I would rather eat a venomous feast and die;

If hubris were to be a virtue and lust the land's law,

A hungry lion in my face, to me would suffice!

Remember...they would wring the necks of men and animals alike,

And then in silver goblets, their blood-meals would proceed;

Followed by the succulent le bifteck de chair avec le sang,

Oh nevermind...they'd say, les autres attendront...as if they care!

Look there, you see those clergymen? Ha! They say...

...no, preach morelike; "the gospel of love" (and what do they do?)

Like how a bunch of pigs would happily bathe, in the grime of fresh hypocricy!!

Poor pigs, why blame them? Who are we to judge afterall?

You see, my heart aches and the soul goes numb,

As I continue to write this song;

Did I say song? Oh melodies be damned!!

I mean...this is but a tragedy of man...

The benign skies from above would laugh,

And the earth too would shy away;

The oceans, with the rivers would wash their face,

And trees would hide their's in disdain!

I see a change coming this way,

Perhaps quite tumultuous and grave;

Transformation to redeem this race of its sins,

As it walks silently, down the Hellespont.

Meanwhile, like a dumbstruck fool I wonder still,

Trying to figure out what I wish to know;

What makes the heart of a man? Is it the good or is it the bad?

Shades of both perhaps, for no poles exist in there.

Listen carefully...do you hear the sound? The choir plays a dirge,

And hermits clad in jet black robes too queue;

To mourn, or may be to celebrate the death of man...

...who lost the battle, before even knowing why!

"Blâmer le sort"...now you might say,

For what was his fault in this case?

I just grin and laugh inside, a few more join me too...

...you know, like how swans mock a crow?...just like that...

Bang! A rapturous rumble of the roaring skies,

Mark his end afteral...that brutal savage, forever damned!

A lightning strikes, followed by the rain, and it cleans...

...the earth from the plaques of man's deeds, ever so evil.

Zen Poetry

Tao of Life

Go there, what has been abandoned by all,
Go there, where no life thrives;
And once you go, see that humming bee,
Smile to it, and it shall show you its hives.

Kensho

The lark above, it chases its prey,
Soaring through the winds gracefully it flies;
What an awesome scene! But I just smile…
…and the next moment, I am that lark.

Dialectics of Existence

The thirsty soil, drinks the tears of the sky,
And then under its lightning’s frenzy it burns;
But the rosebud grows full, to feed the bees,
And with its thorns, to bleed the gardener’s hands.

Dependent Co origination

The moon and the stars, on a summer’s night,
Play hide-and-seek in the clouds;
The owls hoot, the wolves howl, the frogs croak,
And the plants grow on their own.

“...Aniccho Hoti Nibbuto...”

Knock…knock…knock…
“who is it?”; “you know better…”
“is it that what you are, and unto it I be?”
“Ah! Now we are free!”

Echoes of Silence

Echoes of silence, to my heart console

like rays of light, a dreary night illuminate;

cries and shrieks of my trembling self

go unheard...but you do know

for in the letters of gold, t'was on thy soul engraved.

Love, why you be not here? I ask myself...

thine whispers of hope, why can't I hear?

the naked truth, my vision of sight t'has stripped;

deeper and deeper into the abyss it falls,

the abyss...of this fathomless dream.

Suddenly, at once...a Magpie's nest,

catches its soul, by the thread of a grass

...in the silver moonbeams, as it rejuvinates...

the starlight fom above, spots its other half;

which in a kingdom faraway, sleeps a restless night.

Together then...in joy and innocence they bathe

...their being, faraway so, in a neverland's dream;

thus, one they become...for their spirits entwine,

the waves wash the shores! And then the sun off sea...

seal their fates to be one forever...those grains of sand.

Plop...plop...plop...as the raindrops drip,

their haunting sound turns my brows' wheel;

and then, faraway I disappear...

I fly away with the winds,

but in their hearts again, I reappear.

I return thus, I do return...where else would I go?

becoming the arrows of the divine archer winged,

with a stallion's speed, thy souls and hearts I pierce;

and by its mane, the course of life I steer,

life...mine and yours, and theirs and ours...

Woosh! though the candles burnt out,

their light still remains in my being...and says...

"To wither away and burn yourself...for them,

who in thy glory shine...life does be"

some live on...while some shed a silent tear.

And thus, without a sound...without any trace,

into the eternal you sublime; through me, and I in you,

only to wake up...to what we already knew.

which dream you talked of? and which dreamer?

For once, for others, for your other half,

you ceased to be...only to find the truth, the love and joy;

and just as you lost yourself in them,

in the life itself, you dissolved.

Just a shot of lightning though, and none remains,

one grieves, while the others sees joy;

and then the one enjoys...as the other,

...in his solitude, sheds his mien...in his tears.

and all this...t'was but a profanation of your soul,

which lost on its rambles on the lovely plains;

...now do awake...to the light of peace and love,

the echoes of silence whisper thus.

An old essay...title is missing...

One of my old essays...just because I didn't post anything in a long time am posting this. Now when I read it just now I couldn't believe I wrote it...I can't even remember the meanings of a few words in it..lol..but its fun that way! :P

From the dawn of human civilization to this day, the pride of being a human has always remained the same. Times changed and so changed the circumstances, ages came and passed, and changed were the attitudes of folks, but what has remained constant is this pride, the identity of belonging to this mighty race. A day will come in time when man will be animal again. A journey back in time, to the origin; to the birth of life, to the day when first man treaded this planet. Our roots are strong; strong enough to stop us separate from the reality, strong enough to not let us drift away in the eternity; where there is no beginning and no end. How can we forget our past? It keeps peeping into the present every moment. A brief interplay of those ideas as if it were, being superimposed on the transitory present. Our past, won’t ever spare us, it would keep haunting us forever, just as it always did, is doing now, and will keep doing tomorrow; when the morrow will be today and today will be the day long past. From one point of view, we are no different; we have evolved from the primates after all, making us no different than those monkeys, stupidity and clumsiness being the most marked features. Still unsuccessful in taming our animal instincts, where do we head? Leaving behind our footmarks in time, building the milestones of each success achieved, and the most important of all, totally unaware of where we come from, where do we go? Come to think of it and reflect on the reality, the few of us understood that there is none beyond us. All that “is”, is in the here and now; all that is true is this very moment, it’s just our distorted perception that makes us conceive the one as many, and we perceive plurality in the one eternal and immutable singularity. It was same then, and not a bit changed even now, trying to catch a flying bird, leaving behind the one in hand has always been our favourite hobby. But who can help! We are monkeys nonetheless, just a little more evolved and a bit more sophisticated in our acts, that’s it. No more differences whatsoever.

Life itself is a big question, even more so, is how to live. The very thought of the answer being what we never expected it to be is somewhat irksome. We know that if we delve deeper into the ocean of existence, we will find the impeccable reality, somewhere at its bottom, but the hint of it being something totally out of the world prevents us from doing so, from even feeling the waters of the ocean, from even bothering to simply ponder on thought or imagination of its nature. Hiding behind the shadows of ignorance, we practically waste all our lifetime. Chasing false ideals, where do we end up? In the middle of nowhere, utterly confused and lost. This does create a pretty gory picture of reality, but is it really all that gloomy? Perception matters, what I may see as a half glass filled would be perceived by you as half empty. But one thing is for sure; there definitely is a way out, if at all we bother to try!

However, from the other viewpoint, we occupy the highest seat on the ladder of the degree of sentience. We boast the top position. Most superior of the animals, we claim to be the owners of this universe. But one question that consistently struck me was whether other animals believe similarly or not. Now we all know they certainly don’t. Most common of the rarely found sense can assure us about this. So what’s in us that makes us different? It’s not just like that, that we have reached till here. The answer is simple, we can think! Eureka!!! What a truth of life indeed it is! Analysing the silliest of our acts and clumsiest of the deeds, we can reach to one conclusion, it is not our achievements which make us proud, but it is this basic truth of life that we think, is where the pride has its origin. Most developed of the currently existing sentient beings, maybe we rightly deserve the right to occupy that top position and be proud. But it is this very fact, which makes us special. With great powers come great responsibilities, and perhaps Mr.Friedman was right, “there is no such thing as a free lunch.” There is a price for this upgraded version of life, which we ought to pay. Creativity and imagination are the only things, which make us what we are today. Incredible although they are, with the acquisition of these faculties comes a responsibility which we ought to fulfil, and that, precisely is the price!

We fall, we stumble, but it is the fact that we get up after each fall, determined even more and ready to go for it once more, which has helped our species to survive for so many millions of years of evolution. We rise with even more confidence, ever ready to face the challenge, to finally make it our slave, marching ever forward, achieving one success after another and cherishing the victories. Pride saves the day again! One of our ancestors faced extinction because they weren’t the best of the lot, but the sacrifice didn’t go in vain. We owe them our existence today, we owe it all to them, for without their sacrifice, we would have never come about. Why then, or rather, how then, did we manage to travel so long in time? How was it possible for us to come this far? The journey was never an easy one, neither was it supposed to be. Treading through the span of millions and billions of years, we did manage to reach this point safely and sanely (although sanity is highly doubtful). But couldn’t it be the fact that we did managed to come till here, which implies that our existence serve a purpose? Couldn’t it be this very fact which is the long lost secret of existence? Devoid of divinity, as it is, in the here and now, lying bare in front of our eyes, how did we not manage to spot it before? Well, many of us did, but the others of us were too proud to pay any heed. Revisiting it though, wouldn’t it be of the utmost delight that we have finally found the grail? Perhaps we stretched our imaginations a bit too much in its search. What lied at the feet was being searched all around, everywhere else. However, now that we know it, we are at the perfect time to repay the price of being what we are. One thing is for sure; we can never get away with it. We must repay the debts of nature, and so we would. Have we another choice?

To sum it all up, the facts prove themselves. The truth is simple, “live and let live”, go against it, and we face the consequences, live by it, and we see the life! That is what our responsibility is, being not the “only” ones to be on this planet. We do not own this universe; we share it. We do not rule the existence; we are an indivisible part of it. Our role is that of the guardians of this wonderland. Our role is to ensure harmony in it. Our job is to make peace. Although an ultimate ‘Utopia’ can never be achieved, we are obliged to achieve whatever we can, reach the highest degree of perfection, get as close as we can, to that unattainable Utopia. Whatever we do, are we ready to take the responsibility? Or will we let ourselves down? Only time can tell what we do, but there are only two things, which could happen, we would either keep developing, provided we fulfil our responsibility, or face extinction. The choice is ours; after all we possess a thing called ‘free will’!