Well… This is my third post within a week. So isn’t it obvious that I don’t have much work to do? I am goddamn bored of fixing some two bugs per week. Fortunately, I have been in a nice writing form…
Yesterday evening there was this discussion on saints and celibacy. Two of my colleagues – Kamil and Jayanthi were debating. Kamil always has strong opinions on anything and would always present his points in a religious fervor. Jayanthi is a little naïve.
Jayanthi argued she could meet god in flesh and form!! (How insane!!) So I asked what’s god.
“God’s everything. Its inside me, you and these things…”
“Oh so all of us are gods! That’s why you are saying, you can meet god in flesh and form.” We had a good laugh.
Kamil - “The point is celibacy is absurd. Who do you call a living being? Biological definition of a living being is – 1) something that can take food & 2) something that can reproduce to create offspring. The saints don’t do the second one. So I don’t even consider them humans!! LOL. See our body produces sex hormones, which produce carnal desires in us. It’s a continuous cycle. Once in a month or so it’s produced. These desires are in-escapable. If some sage comes and tells he can control sexual desires and he advises me to control it, I would say its utter rubbish. He is not just wasting his time, but spoiling the other people. I say these people are useless to the human society.”
This guy always amazes me. He always has radically different views. I said “I don’t believe there is anything wrong in what they are doing. See you are saying science says hormones are produced blah blah but science has its limitations. In science, decisions are made based on what’s recorded as truth. It’s based purely on fact. Till Columbus discovered America no body knew it existed. I read a few days ago in newspaper – ‘A Japanese woman complained of repeated head ache. When her head was scanned they found the left part of the brain dint contain the grey matter at all. But science believes that left hemisphere of brain is responsible for understanding languages and associated with learning. Then how comes it that she has been normal till she was 32? He has led a perfectly normal life till then and secured good marks in her academics’”.
“May be. But my point is they are unable to control their carnal desires and they are advising us. There is this swami called premananda. U might have also heard of him few years ago. He did all sorts of things in his ashram and made news. It is this sort of people who we call saints”
“I don’t agree that everybody is like that. Its true they also find it difficult to control their desires. May be that’s the reason sages always went to Himalayas in search of solitude. They are also mere mortals. If you bring them back to this world, they would be influenced by us”
“So if they get influenced, why should they advise us? See boss this world has evolved because of people like us. It’s this complex because we have so many desires. If everyone went their way, we would still have been in Stone Age. If they come to me, I would advise them ‘what do you get by being alone sitting on rocks in chilling cold. Come have nice food, have sex and enjoy’”
“Well you are partly right I think. Buddha asked people to denounce desires and went seeking alms, did meditaion. If everyone had followed him, who would give him alms, would they eat leaves? But still somehow I can’t completely buy your argument. “
I had to end it since I needed to finish a small work before leaving at 6.30. Just wondering how my new company would be…
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Monday, November 19, 2007
Bike Woes
Today morning I fell from my bike. Luckily nothing happened to me.
Earlier in the day I had to miss my cab. Our cab timings have been advanced by 15 minutes with effect from today. I had forgotten that I will still slumbering with my dress when the driver started honking. I sent him off and decided to go by bike.
Going by bike has its advantages, u can get ready at your own pace, read paper while eating etc etc… I left some 35 minutes later, vroomed past the known streets of Vijayanagar. Having driven my bike for some 7 years now, it looks like a toy in my hands.
There is this area in bommanahalli where beneath the bridge the road is very narrow and there are lots of stones and mud. I had slowed down knowing the condition of the road but still I slipped on the stones and fell from the bike. Fortunately nothing happened, my clothes got soiled a couple of places. My bike was still roaring as I stood up and shook the dust off. A Good Samaritan offered me a helping hand, lifted my bike and put the stand. He offered me some water and asked me to sit in his car and relax for a few minutes. He was standing beside me holding my helmet till I relaxed. I was moved by his friendly gesture. I thanked him profusely and asked him his name and company before leaving.
The other day in majestic, I was waiting for bus, as the bus came some 30 ppl rushed alongside the moving bus, just to get seat. An old man in his fifties who had ran alongside the bus fell on the floor. The people were so pitiless that they just jumped over him and ran towards the bus; I think some even stamped him, until finally the mob had left and two people came to his help (One was me!! J).
So with that in background I felt happy. As I continued and drove to electronics city, I felt some pain near right ankle, so I stopped briefly to check what had happened. There was again this car guy who stopped by and asked if everything was ok!! “Oh man is he following me or what? Just to make sure that I am ok and can reach?” I thought. I gestured that everything was ok and moved on.
Earlier in the day I had to miss my cab. Our cab timings have been advanced by 15 minutes with effect from today. I had forgotten that I will still slumbering with my dress when the driver started honking. I sent him off and decided to go by bike.
Going by bike has its advantages, u can get ready at your own pace, read paper while eating etc etc… I left some 35 minutes later, vroomed past the known streets of Vijayanagar. Having driven my bike for some 7 years now, it looks like a toy in my hands.
There is this area in bommanahalli where beneath the bridge the road is very narrow and there are lots of stones and mud. I had slowed down knowing the condition of the road but still I slipped on the stones and fell from the bike. Fortunately nothing happened, my clothes got soiled a couple of places. My bike was still roaring as I stood up and shook the dust off. A Good Samaritan offered me a helping hand, lifted my bike and put the stand. He offered me some water and asked me to sit in his car and relax for a few minutes. He was standing beside me holding my helmet till I relaxed. I was moved by his friendly gesture. I thanked him profusely and asked him his name and company before leaving.
The other day in majestic, I was waiting for bus, as the bus came some 30 ppl rushed alongside the moving bus, just to get seat. An old man in his fifties who had ran alongside the bus fell on the floor. The people were so pitiless that they just jumped over him and ran towards the bus; I think some even stamped him, until finally the mob had left and two people came to his help (One was me!! J).
So with that in background I felt happy. As I continued and drove to electronics city, I felt some pain near right ankle, so I stopped briefly to check what had happened. There was again this car guy who stopped by and asked if everything was ok!! “Oh man is he following me or what? Just to make sure that I am ok and can reach?” I thought. I gestured that everything was ok and moved on.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
A Midwinter night's dream
I sprinted towards the main gate. But my cab was gone by the time I reached there. I saw my watch. It was 7.40. Another grueling 55 minutes for the next cab. So me and two of my friends were heading back, then we decided we’re not going back to the office again. We walked to the amphitheatre. It was so cool. To my surprise everyone one of us took out our mobiles and started talking. I wonder if people have forgotten something called solitude. They finished talking and went to the office again may be to swipe their cards again it seems. As I finished talking I was all alone.
It had been quite sometime since stayed late. The trees swayed and brought cool breeze. The light from the distant buildings lit the place, as the moon hid somewhere, enough to see the silhouettes of call centre girls moving. As I moved along the bridge, there was the sound of gurgling water flowing from the artificial water fall. I had heard that they play the music of flowing water to cure in psychotherapy, but its therapeutic values were delighting me as it had a calming influence on me. I just walked along the river slowly and settled at a place beside a tree. The tree has tender drooping branches all over and it hid me when viewed from the food court side. I lied down beside the river so that I could keep my left hand in the river and started moving in it. So cool and delightful.
A shadow kept lengthening. The person was a female and coming from the food court side. I could finally see her. I could not see her face as it was dark, but she surely had the great figure of a model. Might have been some call center girl I thought. The shadow stopped near me. I turned to my right. What the hell was she doing here at this time? Let me introduce this woman. I don’t know her name. But she’s quite famous in the company. She always reminds me two things whenever I see her – 1) hybrid tomato as she looks so red 2) water bed as she’s plump. She looks sexy and there is not one in the company who wouldn’t have fantasized spending a night with her.
“What are you doing here?” she said as if she knew me. Before I could say anything, she kneeled down beside me.
I was confused by her effrontery. I just shrugged off my shoulders as if to indicate “just like that”. And I attempted to sit up. She pushed me back. I was gripped by fear as to what was happening. She bent over and closed in on my face, I could feel her breath on my face. The smell from her body was tantalizing. Her bosom was resting on my chest. Her heavily colored lips closed in on mine. Her tresses around my face. I went stiff when she did so, not knowing what to do. It was a mixture of feelings for me – shock, remorse, excitement, fear. Her hands slowly slid behind my head and she started fiddling with my hair as she kissed me on my lips. My body became warm suddenly. I felt a stir in my groin. I started to feel breathless.
The stir became more intense. It was becoming impossible to resist. I opened my mouth and felt her tongue. It was like heaven had suddenly come on earth. The kissing became more passionate. As I moved my hand towards her bosom, suddenly everything became dark. It suddenly started to seem as if I had been suspended in mid air and I dint know what was happening with me for a moment. When I opened my eyes, my left hand was on my friend’s unshaven cheek. I took it off in disgust. I unlocked my mobile and it glowed “2:17”. I went to pee off.
It had been quite sometime since stayed late. The trees swayed and brought cool breeze. The light from the distant buildings lit the place, as the moon hid somewhere, enough to see the silhouettes of call centre girls moving. As I moved along the bridge, there was the sound of gurgling water flowing from the artificial water fall. I had heard that they play the music of flowing water to cure in psychotherapy, but its therapeutic values were delighting me as it had a calming influence on me. I just walked along the river slowly and settled at a place beside a tree. The tree has tender drooping branches all over and it hid me when viewed from the food court side. I lied down beside the river so that I could keep my left hand in the river and started moving in it. So cool and delightful.
A shadow kept lengthening. The person was a female and coming from the food court side. I could finally see her. I could not see her face as it was dark, but she surely had the great figure of a model. Might have been some call center girl I thought. The shadow stopped near me. I turned to my right. What the hell was she doing here at this time? Let me introduce this woman. I don’t know her name. But she’s quite famous in the company. She always reminds me two things whenever I see her – 1) hybrid tomato as she looks so red 2) water bed as she’s plump. She looks sexy and there is not one in the company who wouldn’t have fantasized spending a night with her.
“What are you doing here?” she said as if she knew me. Before I could say anything, she kneeled down beside me.
I was confused by her effrontery. I just shrugged off my shoulders as if to indicate “just like that”. And I attempted to sit up. She pushed me back. I was gripped by fear as to what was happening. She bent over and closed in on my face, I could feel her breath on my face. The smell from her body was tantalizing. Her bosom was resting on my chest. Her heavily colored lips closed in on mine. Her tresses around my face. I went stiff when she did so, not knowing what to do. It was a mixture of feelings for me – shock, remorse, excitement, fear. Her hands slowly slid behind my head and she started fiddling with my hair as she kissed me on my lips. My body became warm suddenly. I felt a stir in my groin. I started to feel breathless.
The stir became more intense. It was becoming impossible to resist. I opened my mouth and felt her tongue. It was like heaven had suddenly come on earth. The kissing became more passionate. As I moved my hand towards her bosom, suddenly everything became dark. It suddenly started to seem as if I had been suspended in mid air and I dint know what was happening with me for a moment. When I opened my eyes, my left hand was on my friend’s unshaven cheek. I took it off in disgust. I unlocked my mobile and it glowed “2:17”. I went to pee off.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
LIfe...
All the human beings constantly struggle for the sake of happiness and get entangled in the process, in some crisis. Everyone struggles for freedom and gets caught in some form bondage. They strive for name and fame but humiliation lies somewhere in the wait to pounce on them unawares. The attempt to evade death continues, but the fear of death doesn’t recede. Right from birth till the curtain of death is drawn, man is swept through the current of life by the conflicting waves of laughter and tears, victory and defeat. He sometimes becomes as hopeless as a fly caught in spider’s web. None can escape these conflicting forces, neither the peasant in the countryside nor the eminent statesman in the capital, neither the owner if a palace or a monastery nor the occupant of a cottage or a cave. Is that all there to life? why then has man made a compromise with his state? why does he remain satisfied with his limitation? why does he constantly try to escape from these shackles? why should imperfect man forever contemplate the image of a perfect man? The truth is this: Man is not truly mortal, not truly bonded, not truly imperfect. Because of ingrained ignorance he believes that he is mortal, bonded and incomplete, but his inner spirit resists this constantly. Without shedding his ignorance, he cannot see the inner truth. His struggle is, thus, unending until he realizes his real nature.
With the heat of the sun, the water of the sea turns into vapour, forms itself into clouds and rises to the heights of the Himalayas. The true nature of these particles of vapour is the sea itself. and they constantly strive to get back to their true source, the ocean. Hence they are so unsteady till the reach their real state , their true home of the ocean, they continue to float and wander. Every living being, which has been displaced from its source of perpetual happiness has an indomitable urge to attain true happiness and to remain constantly in this real state of being. Hence the struggle for this attainment goes on and the human being is constantly restless. He seeks happiness in wife and children, in wealth and other worldly matters. It is with the desire for the attainment of happiness than man engages himself in various acts that lead him into good or evil. His attempts, however, are not guided by complete knowledge. Partial knowledge or ignorance leads him into confusion, doubt and misery. When he attains true knowledge, the individual becomes free from bondage, attains perfection and experiences perfect bliss.
All our social, political and economic reforms are intended to provide for food, clothing and shelter and thus remove obstacles in the path of physical existence. but there is another struggle thats going on for the maintenance of ego. Man has not yet learnt the art of disburdening himself of this struggle. the ‘ego’ tries to main its identity, its superiority - in the family background where it is born, in its working environment, in the midst of friends and colleagues, in other forms of social relationships. We can imagine the maze of problems that can arise from this struggle. Existentialist writers show a great skill in depicting this struggles most impressively and movingly.Bertrand Russel remarks in his book “The conquest for happiness”: “what people mean by struggle of life is really struggle for success. What people fear when they engage in the struggle is not that they will fail to get their breakfast next morning, but they fail to outshine their neighbours.”
According to views of wester thinkers, efforts made by man to maintain and preserve the ‘ego’ is one of the unavoidable existential necessities. In the view of Kierkegaard, the father if existentialism, all experiences that man can gain come through the narrow passage of the ‘ego’. he summarizes the features if human life in four words: individuality, contradiction, choice and bread. He goes in to explain the struggle of the ego. Just as man cannot perch on his own shoulder, he cannot transcend the four limitations referred to above. The word “individuality” encompasses the limitations of the person who is caught in the current of forces like various impulses, interests, actions, reactions, influences and protests in the context of pressures emanating from time, place, environment and tradition. The quality of life of an indivisual depends on the occupation of profession he has chosen and his attitude. but is he really free in this? He feels that nothing is impossible for him. But when he goes a few steps forward, he finds unsurmountable barriers around him. He realizes that he is helpless. He realizes that his life is like a tree without roots, a house without foundation, boat without a rudder. death engulfs everything in a fraction of a moment. However, even in a midst of these contradictions he sometimes sees principle of unity or reconciliation….
In India, thousands of years ago, our sees had found answers to existential problems from the highest level of spiritual consciousness….
Th true spiritual exercise consists of effort to reach the high state of consciousness. recitation of mantras, worship, meditation, selfless service are steps leading to this high state of consciousness. ‘Realization of self is religion, the struggle to transcend the limitation of the senses is religion’ - These statements of swami Vivekananda give us a true idea about our goal and the means to reach it.
- Swami Jagadatmananda
This article which i saw in one of the magazines was very moving. It was somewhat puzzling at the same time it made me question myself. So i had to publish it. Looking forward to read more about the existentialist theories by Bertrand Russel and Kierkegaard.
With the heat of the sun, the water of the sea turns into vapour, forms itself into clouds and rises to the heights of the Himalayas. The true nature of these particles of vapour is the sea itself. and they constantly strive to get back to their true source, the ocean. Hence they are so unsteady till the reach their real state , their true home of the ocean, they continue to float and wander. Every living being, which has been displaced from its source of perpetual happiness has an indomitable urge to attain true happiness and to remain constantly in this real state of being. Hence the struggle for this attainment goes on and the human being is constantly restless. He seeks happiness in wife and children, in wealth and other worldly matters. It is with the desire for the attainment of happiness than man engages himself in various acts that lead him into good or evil. His attempts, however, are not guided by complete knowledge. Partial knowledge or ignorance leads him into confusion, doubt and misery. When he attains true knowledge, the individual becomes free from bondage, attains perfection and experiences perfect bliss.
All our social, political and economic reforms are intended to provide for food, clothing and shelter and thus remove obstacles in the path of physical existence. but there is another struggle thats going on for the maintenance of ego. Man has not yet learnt the art of disburdening himself of this struggle. the ‘ego’ tries to main its identity, its superiority - in the family background where it is born, in its working environment, in the midst of friends and colleagues, in other forms of social relationships. We can imagine the maze of problems that can arise from this struggle. Existentialist writers show a great skill in depicting this struggles most impressively and movingly.Bertrand Russel remarks in his book “The conquest for happiness”: “what people mean by struggle of life is really struggle for success. What people fear when they engage in the struggle is not that they will fail to get their breakfast next morning, but they fail to outshine their neighbours.”
According to views of wester thinkers, efforts made by man to maintain and preserve the ‘ego’ is one of the unavoidable existential necessities. In the view of Kierkegaard, the father if existentialism, all experiences that man can gain come through the narrow passage of the ‘ego’. he summarizes the features if human life in four words: individuality, contradiction, choice and bread. He goes in to explain the struggle of the ego. Just as man cannot perch on his own shoulder, he cannot transcend the four limitations referred to above. The word “individuality” encompasses the limitations of the person who is caught in the current of forces like various impulses, interests, actions, reactions, influences and protests in the context of pressures emanating from time, place, environment and tradition. The quality of life of an indivisual depends on the occupation of profession he has chosen and his attitude. but is he really free in this? He feels that nothing is impossible for him. But when he goes a few steps forward, he finds unsurmountable barriers around him. He realizes that he is helpless. He realizes that his life is like a tree without roots, a house without foundation, boat without a rudder. death engulfs everything in a fraction of a moment. However, even in a midst of these contradictions he sometimes sees principle of unity or reconciliation….
In India, thousands of years ago, our sees had found answers to existential problems from the highest level of spiritual consciousness….
Th true spiritual exercise consists of effort to reach the high state of consciousness. recitation of mantras, worship, meditation, selfless service are steps leading to this high state of consciousness. ‘Realization of self is religion, the struggle to transcend the limitation of the senses is religion’ - These statements of swami Vivekananda give us a true idea about our goal and the means to reach it.
- Swami Jagadatmananda
This article which i saw in one of the magazines was very moving. It was somewhat puzzling at the same time it made me question myself. So i had to publish it. Looking forward to read more about the existentialist theories by Bertrand Russel and Kierkegaard.
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