The center of world

I was around 13-14 years old. I used to get mesmerized by the sound of flowing river. A small river named Garga used to be my favorite spot.

Once while wandering near the river I decided to sit on a stone. While sitting like a person who has forgotten what he was looking for just a while ago. I was aimlessly looking on all sides of where I was and then …I suddenly felt special.

…  Exalted I noticed …  “oh !  look, this place, right here is the center of the world”. excited as a teenager, I stood up, turned my eyes around and found that, to whatever distance I could see, it was all such, as if, I were standing just at the center of the world. I was looking at a large circle with horizon at the circumference on all sides barring some trees and land elevations in few directions.

My logical mind wasn’t accepting …. “am I so fortunate, to have discovered the ‘true’ center of world ?”
…. “or may be, this is just the center of Bokaro ” (my home town). My mind was willing to accept that I could possibly be that much fortunate.

As a teenager, I very closely held the belief that I was not ‘a man’ but I was ‘the man’ …something unique, someone special.

I confirmed in my imagination that even if I had the ability to see larger distances, this conclusion would still hold true. I was awed. “Am I right !”
…… yes, with whatever instrument I would have seen. I would see a circular view of the world from that stone. The center of the ‘viewed world’ would be none other than me myself !
… but I failed to understand that it would be the same for everybody, at whichever place they are.

As I washed my physical understanding of the world with the holy water of science, I understood that, the place of the stone was not actually the center of the world as I thought.

Despite growing up into an adult, men still emotionally live with that belief. Every time when you say that, “yes, I know!, this is right” … when you are frustrated with “why the hell are you not able to see this simple point” …”wait, first try to understand what I am saying”. We keep shouting … not understanding why the other person is unable to see that the center of the world is where “I” stand.

We fail to realize that the other person, miserably, is also looking at a whole different world.
Even if ‘I’ were magnanimous enough to see a bigger & wider world; still, whatever ‘I’ see would have the center of the world on ‘me’ … isn’t that the limitation of the way our physical eye and emotional mind is ?

Only when we wash our emotional understanding of the world with the holy water of spirituality, do we understand that we are just another bubble of energy in this plethora of energy-dust and what ‘I’ think is not the perfect way… its just a way which might be true from the center of ‘my’ world and untrue from the center of ‘your’ world.

Way out ?
… Allow a little space for even those things/thoughts which you think are not the way it should be.

a glimpse into my life …

अन्तर्द्वन्द्

अन्दर के शोर को दबा न सका
कई बार चीखने के बाद भी;
मन मे हलचल अब तक मची है,
अश्रु प्रवाह के बाद भी |

‘अस्तित्व’ के इस जंग मे,
मै अकेला खुद को पाता हू ;
लहरो के भॉति, साहिल की खातीर,
अपनो से टकराता हू ||

… स्वरचित

The Third Jihad

atleast something of this is probably true.

“I” … why ?

I indulge in everything with one pursuit, the unambiguous and persistent but a confused pursuit of completeness, that “this” is going to be the final one, that no more, never again would anything else be required.

The desire of reaching the epitome of tranquility, identification of the uniqueness of my supremacy in ‘everything’ acts as a base motivation of ‘all’ (probably) that I do, Why?
Is this desire inherent in the genetic code I inherited as Home sapiens ? or is it me only !

If I let myself get lured with nomadic tendencies and act on instant appeals, then shall my moves be anything more worthy than a drunken man’s move ?

Nevertheless, I’m confused. I act clearly and with perseverance on this ‘air like’ motivation, which is everywhere but never seen … as if walking in my dreams on instruction from ‘a’ master … as if How long I take and how efficiently I do is all that is “me”; but in that howsoever long time and howsoever inefficient execution I undertake, I am acting on some internal instruction/motivation which is not “me”… or at least I haven’t yet met and identified that “me”

The journey feels painful; the instance of it(motivation or non-motivation) is overwhelmingly un-patronizing. but that which I seek or repel springs from this.

Who am I, where am “I” heading ?

Who will Answer – Part 2

“… being able to build the Ram Temple in Ayodhya is Real Secularism” says Advani
“I will cut the hands of anybody who rises against Hindus” says Varun Gandhi, suddenly becoming a poster boy of his party.

Do they really represent India and its youth ?
Do they really represent the philosophical currency of Hinduism ?

I’m reminded of the fact that when Muslims first came to India (through Sea Route) in Kerela(long before the invasions from north), they were called by the word ‘Aliyan‘ which stands for son-in-law in the local language(Malayalam).

Anybody, who has ever walked on the road of a suburban town in India – - who has heard the bells in temple and the call of Namaz going at the same time – - who has witnessed the sale of Diwali and Id Gifts at the same shop – - who has ever thrown a colored water-balloon on a Muslim Uncle during the colorful realm of Holi
… will know, that this country has never lived in Insecurity.

Who will tell the leaders of the nation that we reject this brand of Religiosity, where people are being fed with Insecurity?

Do we know, that the scriptures written in the name of Allah or Ram both reiterates the insignificance of the latitude and longitude from where you send out prayers…  Constructing a ‘Grand Temple Building’ will only be a prize to those who believe that mistakes are corrected by mistakes …. Demolishing the few left-overs of the Babri-Masjid will only demolish the hope of a few that ‘its not just numbers that matter’

If Baabar broke a Temple to make a Mosque at one time, history deplored it.
What good shall be done if a Mosque is again broken to make a temple ?

Are we going to teach our children the values of Revenge and Retaliation ?

Something in me gets wet, unable to understand, WHY our Politicians are not talking of working on the problem of Population Outburst ?
Why our politicians are not talking of ways to increase public entrepreneurship ?

Who will answer……… !
You have been evading this question since last 62 years, passing the burden to newer generations.
Whether you vote with Insecurity of Religion, or with Greed of Reservation, or for the man of your caste;
Its only you who will answer it every morning while going to office, hardly standing in a crowded train, while waiving the wooden fan in summer, while looking at the school fee of your child, while hearing the disappointment of your son unable to get a job, while cleaning the bruises of your son & daughter when they come back home beaten up, because someone thought that they were enjoying Valentine’s day.
……….. Its ONLY you who has to answer, recursively.

…. until you realize that Evils in Society exist not because of the activity of the bad men, but because of the Inactivity of the good ones ?

Who will answer !!

When we talk of strict action against terrorists, why did we keep the hanging of Afzal Guru under the carpet. It has been 5 damn years feeding him in Jail, with no reply from the Government ?

Why was Dr. Abdul Kalam unceremoniously shown the door choosing Dr. Pratibha Patil as the next president.

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru always opposed the concept of reservation as the primary means of growth of any backward community. (Ref: an extract from Newspaper). The next in that bloodline Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister when Mandal Commission submitted its reports, She never allowed its implementation seeing clearly that it would bring about caste based division in the society. When V.P.Singh gave a new lease to Mandal Commission report to save his falling government, the then leader of opposition and the next man in the Royal bloodline Rajiv Gandhi gave a 1.35 hr speech condemning it, as a completely “biased report taking only 802 villages in the whole country as the sample for all statistical results” derived in the report.  Somebody should answer me as to what has changed in India changing the opinion of 50 years and 3 generations !

Has India become more Backward, or the earlier generations of our Prime Ministers were not honest towards eradication of Backwardness ?  When shall we grow up from the Divide and Rule policy.

Why after once accepting the recommendations of the ‘Amarnath Shrine Board’ forwarded by the Governor, did we have to retract on that decision. Why did we have to stand with folded hands when separatists in Kashmir were burning Indian flags triggered by the Amarnath Issue.

Why has the top clergy of Congress started naming Rahul Gandhi as the yuvraj. Why does a party still ends up seeking votes by showing the photograph of Mahatma Gandhi after a virtual 50 years of one party-one family rule .

I beg your attention towards the explanations given by Ms. Sonia Gandhi on the following, Watch for the pattern!

Sikhs getting slaughered in thousands = “A MISTAKE”.
Hindus getting killed in Kashmir = “Political problem”.
Protestors getting shot in WB under Left Govt = “Misunderstanding”.
Kargil Attack = “Government failure”.
Chinese invasion in 1962 = “Unfortunate betrayal”.
Reservations in Education on caste lines = “Serious Effort” against “backwardness”.
Reservations in Minority institutions = “Communal”.
Fake encounters under BJP in Gujarat [Sohrabuddin] = “BJP brand of Communalism”.
Fake encounters under Cong-NCP in Maharashtra [Khwaja Younus] = “Police atrocity”.
BJP Govt. freeing 3 terrorists to save 174 Indian hostages = “Shameful”
Congress freeing 4 militants to save the daughter of the then Home minister in Kashmir [Rubina Sayed] = “Natural Political dilemma”.
Attack on Parliament = BJP ineptitude.
Not hanging Afzal Guru the mastermind despite Supreme Court orders = Humanity and Political dilemma.
Congress questioning Ram’s existence in the application filed to Supreme Court = “Clerical Error”..

Why are Indians such a tolerant species, who forget all of their mistakes when men in khaadi talk about prosperity and giving one more oppurtunity, pretending innocense

Indian only in color

This poem is composed by Prof. H.C.Verma, He is a Proffessor of Physics at IIT Kanpur. He is also the General Secretary of Shiksha Sopan the NGO working for the upliftment of underprivileged students around IITk.
I am uploading it here with his permission.

give it a thought

The Perspective

Yesterday, I was on OWL shift in an experiment and had an American girl in the shift crew. We were casually talking, since the experiment didn’t require much attention on our part of responsibility and at ~ 3 am in the night, we are not in a state of awareness to do anything academically fruitful. After talking for about 8-10 minutes, she shifted from the other questions she was asking about Indian Culture, and said…

“I came to know that in India people don’t have sex before marriage, so then, Is the age of marraige very early ?”

I said NO, she then quickly suplimented the question by

“… what is your age?… are you married? …. I really cannot even remotely understand how does the (social) system work then! “

I saw a sincere curiosity as she asked all these questions calmly, but in one go.

In trying to understand and answer her question, I realized, how much of a difference can ‘perspective‘ bring to the same question or issue. I put myself in her shoes, trying to imagine a state of mind, which would stem this question in me. I noticed, a part of me begging to look at the obviousness of the question raised, but I still grossly felt as if someone has asked “Why do you say hello when u meet someone” .

Despite the native desires and tendensies being the same, all across the globe, the way we grow adds a ‘tag of obviousness‘ in such a subtle way, that even if we argue and invite criticism in it, the domain in which we even ‘imagine’ may have a zero overlap with another person.

after all the jiggle in my mind, the bottom-line of my answer was “that is how it is !”

… well then, she probably thought that she offended me by her questions, and she changed the topic and started talking about what her other roommate says about her own (eastern) culture.

Love with a Condition

Its a common experience to hear people say that I don’t love this person, because he is ‘like this’ or because he is ‘not like that’.

Why do we become a Capitalist while thinking about the self,  and becoming a socialist while judging someone else.

Men put conditions to Love for others and then, at times start feeling low themselves because of being unable to fulfill his own conditions and hence lose the love for the self.

We need to realize that life is not a movie where the Hero is all good and the Villan is all bad. We need to give space for mistakes, shortcomings. Only if we allow this space for others, we would be able of love, ourselves and our loved ones without conditions.

I think, only this love has the magnanimity to contain the mundanity of an individual, has the warmth to heal, has the steadiness to stay on; everything else is just coupling of conveniences which we all do with our neighbours to make life easier.

Chinmaya Smiles Back

I had decided to start up an Alumni Association of my School, Chinmaya Vidyalaya.

According to the vote that it got in the chinmaya vidyalaya’s largest orkut community, it should be named as “Chinmaya Smiles Back” !!

I look at this as social entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship as I see is a skill of a different kind. One has to be passionate about it only then can you overcome the habit of postponing everything until it gets stretched to the limit of becomes urgent… .Because Entrepreneurship can never be urgent, it requires deep passion.

I notice in this endeavour that, the most important thing is that,

1. You should be sure that you want to do it with an attitude  of ‘come what may’.
2. You should have faith in your Idea/Product/Service that you want to introduce as an entrepreneur, because there are risks involved, and this is the 2nd most important thing because of which ” you decided to do it, while others didn’t “
3. You have to be ready (and capable) to take responsibility of its failure.
4. I recall Ashok Sir’s statement when in a value education class he said, “If you stop bothering for who gets the credit for a certain work, you will be able to get a lot of work done”.

I find myself lacking in the ability of coordinating nicely. At times, I overestimate myself, but to my rescue comes the nice advice of my friend ’sushan’ , “Never Promise anything, when you are very happy or excited”. I have been following it very religiously for the last couple of days.

In this endeavour I made my first webpage as www.chinmayasmiles.org ; I wish to reach the aim of making it a self-sustaining website. I have also made a google group for now to keep people informed.

Chinmaya Smiles

Visit this group

The Attitude of Action

Do we have the attitude to act ?

We are taught to think before we act. But several times this thinking process which was supposed to be a prelude to the Action, ends up becoming a toy of our pretension that we are in the process of Action.

We present to ourselves reasons like

1. “This is not the best way to do it …so there’s no point doing it”;
2. “I am not in the correct mood right now”
3. “This would hardly have an impact, so, there’s no point in doing it”
4. “There are not enough people who are with me till now, so lets postpone”.
5. “I always wanted to do it, but Now I don’t have enough time; I’ll consider doing it sometime later”

Bottom line…………. The work remains undone.

!! Is is reasonable to NOT do something just because there could be a better way !!

Install Love

Tech Support: Yes, how can I help you?
Customer: Well, after much consideration, I’ve decided to install Love on my Hard Drive. Can you guide me through the process?
Tech Support : Yes. I can help you. Are you ready to proceed?
Customer : Well, I’m not very technical, but I think I’m ready, as long as you walk me through the steps. Tell me now, what do I do first?
Tech Support : The first step is to open your Heart. Have you located your Heart?
Customer : Yes, but there are several other programmes running now. Is it okay to install Love while they are running?
Tech Support : Er… what programmes are running, can you list them for me?
Customer : Let’s see, I have Past Hurt, Low Self-esteem, Grudge and Resentment running right now.
Tech Support : No problem, you can go right ahead. Love will gradually erase Past Hurt from your current operating system. It may remain in your permanent memory but it will no longer disrupt other programmes.
Love will eventually override Low Self-esteem with a module of its own called High Self-esteem. However, you have to completely turn off Grudge and Resentment. Those programmes prevent Love from being properly installed.
Tell me, can you turn those off?
Customer : Umm… let me see. Actually, I don’t know how to turn them off. Can you tell me how? Please help.
Tech Support : With pleasure. It’s really quite simple. Go to your start menu and invoke Forgiveness. Do this as many times as necessary until Grudge and Resentment have been completely erased.
Customer : Okay, done! Wow, Love has started installing itself. Is that normal?
Tech Support : Yes, but remember that you have only the base programme. It’s quite basic. You need to begin connecting to other Hearts in order to get the upgrades.
Customer : Oops! I have an Warning message already. It says, Programme not run on external components.’ What should I do now?
Tech Support : Don’t worry, relax. It only, means that the Love programme is set up to run on Internal Hearts, but has not yet been run on your Heart. In non-technical terms, it simply means you have to Love yourself before you can Love others.
Customer : So, what should I do?
Tech Support : Pull down Self-acceptance; then click on the following files: Forgive Self; Realise Your Worth; and Acknowledge Your Limitations.
Customer : Okay, done. That wasn’t too difficult.
Tech Support : Now, copy them to the ‘My Heart’ directory. The system will overwrite any conflicting files and begin patching faulty programming. . Also, you need to delete Verbose Self-criticism from all directories and empty your Recycle Bin to make sure it is completely gone and never comes back.
Customer : Got it. Hey! My heart is filling up with new files. Smile is playing on my monitor and Peace and Contentment are copying themselves all over My Heart. Is this normal?

Tech Support : Sometimes. For others it takes a while, but eventually everything gets it at the proper time. So Love is installed and running. One more thing before we hang up. Love is Freeware. Be sure to pass it and its various modules around to everyone you meet. They will in turn share it with others and return some cool modules back to you.
Customer : Thank you, thank you so much

Courtesy: Times of India, Speaking Tree.

Who is Abhinav Bharat ?

“Abhinav Bharat” is the name of the first revolutionary organisation in India, dates back to ~ 1905. Started by Damodar Veer Savarkar.

I had always wanted to name my initiative by this name. So, the name of this blog carries this name. though it is not the name of anybody related/concerned with me. In English, the word literally, stand for ‘Abhinav: Fresh & New’ and ‘Bharat: India’

The people in this blog header snap (from left to right) are: my dear roommate Markandey Mani Tripathi; the modest me; the non-saintly philosopher Peeyush Sahay, the walking microprocessor Saurabh Dayal.

Mitti ke Aasu

Aao ek baar kahen, aakhiri baar kahein,
kya pata tum na raho, kya pata hum na rahein;
Mandir-o-Masjid ki, ya kisi imarat ki…
maati to lagi isme bhai mere bharat ki,
lahu tha Hindu ka, Alah sharminda raha,
mara Musalmaan to, Ram kab jinda raha,
bikhre-bikhre hain sabhi, aao ek ghar me rahein
kya pata tum na raho, kya pata hum na rahein.
——————————————————

English Translation:
Come, lets talk about it, (may be) the last time;
Who knows weather you will survive or not, who knows weather I’ll survive or not, so lets talk now …
Oh brothers! Be it a Temple or a Mosque or any other building, the soil that is used to make it, is that of India itself.
when a Hindu bleeds, the Allah, is no less pained,
If the love exemplified by Ram had survived, Would a Muslim ever be killed ?
why are we so segregated, why are we so separated, come, lets live together,
who knows, if you will live by tomorrow or not!, who knows, if I will live by tomorrow or not.

This is a famous poem by “Sahir Ludhiyanwi”. I am thankful to Peeyush bhai to introduce it to me.

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