The best way to know the self is feeling oneself at the moments of reckoning. The feeling of being alone, just with your senses, may lead you to think more consciously. More and more of such moments may sensitize ‘you towards you’, towards others. We become regular with introspection and retrospection. We get ‘the’ gradual connect to the higher self we may name Spirituality or God or just a Humane Conscious. We tend to get a rhythm again in life. We need to learn the art of being lonely in crowd while being part of the crowd. A multitude of loneliness in mosaic of relations! One needs to feel it severally, with conscience, before making it a way of life. One needs to live several such lonely moments. One needs to live severallyalone.

Sunday 28 November 2010

CHINA’S DISSIDENCE ON PEACE NOBEL TO A ‘DISSIDENT’: WHAT’S ON STAKE FOR THE STAKEHOLDERS – III

It is 52 days; 52 days since October 8, 2010. It took 52 days for the Chinese state machinery to crush the Tiananmen Moment of 1989 culminating in June 5 bloodbath from a humble beginning as civilian gathering on April 15.

So what all China has done in these 52 days this time? Certainly it’s not another Tiananmen of 1989 but it can be precursor of something like what came out of mourning after death of Hu Yaobang in 1989.

The 52 days since the Peace Nobel announcement to Liu Xiaobo has seen a frenetic activity by the Chinese government that tells nothing much of the Chinese elite mindset has changed since the days of the 1989 Tiananmen Movement. The uprising then had acquired a loud and potent formation with its wide outreach and was meted out with an equally crushing and demeaning spread of totalitarian tentacles subsequently. The seed of a potential uprising this time is subtle and it is there, yes the seed may take longer to germinate here because the change now is happening amidst a conundrum of economic, social and political parameters that the Chinese policymakers are still trying to understand.

Not much insight is needed but a keen observation to the response of the Chinese state machinery and of its elite since October 8.

It has virtually arrested Liu Xia-no communication means available. It has cracked down on members of Chinese intelligentsia who dared speak positively on Liu’s Nobel, arresting some, making some pariah by clipping their wings defaming them by using its state sponsored propaganda machinery (what else can one expect when you have the whole media acting as your mouth organ – no doubt the huge investment that the Chinese media industry saw was never to get its return), cracking down on communication and social networking means of some, threatening the country’s masses with direct and indirect consequences of even thinking about the name Liu Xiaobo, extending it to other countries through its coercive and threatening diplomacy. How else can we have a Nobel Committee alleging a country of years’s Nobel recipient of sabotaging the Prize Ceremony as six countries including Russia (no need to mention China) have shown their inability to join the function? December 10 has still 12 more days to go and expect more muscle juggling of China’s coercive diplomacy externally and an over-alert internal security system internally.

What all these tell? Something ominous!

Yes, ominous for the Chinese elite but symbolically opportune for the Chinese masses with its emerging classes and interestingly foretelling for the world community.

And what are these factors? The similar ones already discussed in previous two parts of this write-up, a burgeoning middle class, new classes within the class-less Chinese society, their growing connectivity and communication freedom and hence their growing demands of a life, always to be bettered in terms of what a ‘standard quality of life’ means universally.

What all it says of what all that China has done in these 52 days for other stakeholders - - Chinese like Liu, Chinese other than the Chinese elite, the Norwegian Nobel Committee and the humanity - of the decision to award the Peace Noble to Liu Xiaobo!

Amnesty has stated -  "As we're doing right now, there'll be increased attention paid not only to Liu Xiaobo, but also many of the dozens of other activists who have spoken out, worked really tirelessly, been jailed for promoting freedom of expression, for promoting respect for human rights.  The international community will hopefully pay greater attention to the fact that Liu Xiaobo is not alone, in fact, in the activities that he's been conducting."

Friday 26 November 2010

THANK YOU..O MY BEACON..

It was a day
When,
I felt reborn
When,
I got that lost sojourn
Now, how,
I see that!
No more speculation,
Rather,
A cool resurrection
No whys,
Just congratulation

It was a day
Elemental,
To the transition
Natural,
To the rejuvenation
Categorical,
To the elevation
Sabbatical,
To the assimilation

When,
I felt reborn
When,
I got that lost sojourn

It was a day
Momentous,
To the self-realization
Sacred,
To the purest recreation
Brimming,
To the core of self-appreciation
Graduating,
To the conscious determination

Oh no! No more speculation
It’s indeed a cool resurrection

Thank You,
To show me the light
Thank You,
To make it that bright
Thank You,
To be that inspiration
Thank You,
To be elemental in recreation
Thank You,
O friend.. O my beacon..

Sunday 7 November 2010

BANARAS CALLING VII: A 14-YEAR OLD AT THE GATEWAY OF THE ETERNAL FLAME: ILLUSION OF SOUL AND FLESH-II

Anything but the truth is no one can draw even an element of satisfaction in a death, be it of a close relative, or of someone not related at all. But, at the same time, these are some elements of satisfaction only that lead us to manage our day-to-day lives out of the greatest mental agonies that life keeps on throwing us in. And so, the discussion was a pertinent one. Yet, we fall miserably short of getting full picture of this sort of satisfaction to come to terms with such a mishappening like someone's death. The 14-year old-back-into-the-future  boy, 15 years later, still finds him into this quagmire time and again.

"I lost my young son two years ago. The pain is still unbearable. But, somehow, I have managed to go on with life and his memories play an important role in it, for, he had some dreams, dreams of a young blood. If the tragedy has done anything, then, it has made me younger by some years so that I can try to relive the dream of my young son. He had this much of life after that he left. But he left me something that, I, now understand, is the element of satisfaction for me to build on, that is, his dreams. Though unbearable, I see him passing on to a higher realm." Someone from among the audience said.

"I had never had cordial relation with my wife. When she was alive, I never realized who was at fault. But we never thought of separating. Now that she is no more, I find I was on the wrong footing since the very beginning. It makes me yearn for her even more. I have no element of satisfaction. It kills me an inch more on every passing day. How can I not think of being guilty when I know I am?" Another voice from among the audience!

On here, comes the voice of the orator with the foreign accent quoting again a Gita text:

nasato vidyate bhavo
nabhavo vidyate satah
ubhayor api drsto 'ntas
tv anayos tattva-darshibhih

"Those who are seers of the truth have concluded that of the nonexistent [the material body] there is no endurance and of the eternal [the soul] there is no change. This they have concluded by studying the nature of both."

The orator goes on saying, "Both of you are on the path of truth now. Both of you are seeking more truth, truth being a relative term here. One has found the element of satisfaction in his biggest mental agony; another has found the element of dissatisfaction.  One is living the days that he had lived with his son; another is living the days that he could not live with his wife. One has a positive element to move on; another has a negative element to move on; something in both the lives, that is pushing them to find themselves; something that is pushing them to find the one and only absolute truth. Now it is to be seen whether you continue on the path to the extent where this debate of 'a life lived' and 'a life gone' stops making sense, for, the soul is absolute; the soul is purity embodied; the soul is to remain with you, to guide you, even when the body is gone; even when the flesh is annihilated, for, it had to be, sooner or later. What remains is the element of association that comes to haunt you, that goes on hunting you. But, as the time passes, one comes to realize the presence of soul more and more in metaphysical terms, a presence far beyond the sensory modalities. It, then, starts cultivating at the level of subconscious, something that always remains with you, whether you realize it or not. For a soul, nothing changes, for, it is beyond the realms of creation and destruction; for, a soul has to be in a transient state. The only permanent attachment for a soul in a lifetime is with the memories of the time when it was with you. And it honours it, for, it remains with you. Yes, it depends much on the circumstances, circumstances that you are in; circumstances that you create."

Therefore, he adds:

avyakto 'yam acintyo 'yam
avikaryo 'yam ucyate
tasmad evam viditvainam
nanusocitum arhasi

"It is said that the soul is invisible, inconceivable and immutable. Knowing this, you should not grieve for the body."

There is no life, no death for a soul. There is just life, no death for memories. There is life; there is death for the body.

But isn't the question of relevance of debates on life and death still there? For, the soul remains with us; it may or may not be with us.

Saturday 6 November 2010

MOTHER’S WORDS: DO GOOD ANYWAY!!

I saw it first on a post by one group fellow on the Internet Writers Guild. Here, I have taken it from a blog which, in turn' took it from somewhere else. There are different versions of this beautiful prose available including the one that is considered original and credited to Mother Teresa. It has shown me light during many odd moments.

 

In a certain slope of Himalayan Mountain, where Holy Mountain meets holy person, there is a coffee shop that provide simple lunch. In the wall, the owner hangs a beautiful message like this: 

 

"People are often unreasonable and illogical. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, they may accuse you of ulterior motive. Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. What you spend  years building, someone could destroy overnight. Build anyway. If you find happiness and serenity, they might be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, it may never be enough. Give the world the best you have anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway".

 

Link: http://gedepramainenglish.blogdetik.com/2009/06/18/in-the-final-analysis/

Monday 1 November 2010

अचानक ये क्या हुआ

अचानक ये क्या हुआ
क्या था मैं,
क्या समझा गया

जो खोजी धरा पांवो तले
कुछ ना मिला,
ये जीवन जले
जो खोजा खुदी को,
उन साँसों तले,
साया भी गया,
तुम भी ना मिले
जो खोजा तुम्हे ऐ दोस्त मेरे
खोया कुछ ऐसा के,
मन ये भटका फिरे
जो सोचा के फिर से चलें
उन राहों पे,
जहाँ वो मेरा दोस्त फिर से मिले

अचानक ये क्या हुआ
क्या था मैं,
क्या समझा गया
जो खोजी धरा पांवो तले
कुछ ना मिला,
ये जीवन जले