Author: neoalchemist

I am not a fan of poetry, as I am of elegant prose. Maybe one of the reasons is that I dont understand poetry and it just flies miles above my head, effecting no change in my brain neuron structure. Even the famous, “and miles to go before I sleep” poetry was just a common thing for me. The thing about that poetry by Robert frost is that, since it was part of school curriculum, we were asked to write meaning of that poetry.

Well, to me it sounded like that Robert Frost just came up with this poetry, with no special meaning attached to it. For me it was like, he was going somewhere, looked at the forest, and he had to go, and he thought up a poem to say that. Well, now that wouldnt have scored me much marks, so I went all the way detailing, how in life, we dont have time to stop as we all have promises to keep. That male “cow dung” I put down on the exam paper, got me some marks indeed.

Maybe I also am not moved by poetry that much, because I too can come up with “standard” poems. I can create poetry, and that too rhyming. This is not just restricted to english, but I can make them in hindi too. For example, I was chatting with my wife today and we were discussing doha’s by some bhakti movement poets and also some koans. She said she had a doha written in a piece of paper in her purse, and warned me of the grave consequence, if I took any money from her purse, and I came up with this poem…

kaajal ko kyon chahiye aur kaalimaa
aur ambar ko kyon aur neelima
sooraj ko kyon chahiye aur laalimaaa
aur mujhe kyon tera paisa, meri ammaaa

Ok, maybe that was an awful poem, but you need to give me points for rhyming. But then again I can work on it and bring it upto the standard poetic level. Then the critics can write a lot of things about it and attach several meanings to it.

But then on the other hand there are some poems, not many of them, but which bowls me over. Thanks to Dakshin hindi prachaar sabha, I had an early exposure to Kabir das, sur das and other bhakti-movement poets. And their poetry were just leagues apart. For example Kabir das says,

Jaise til mein tael hai, Jyon chakmak mein aag
Tera saayee tujh mein hai, Tu jaag sakey to jaag

Soor das is not much behind the quality in dohas,

“Maati kahe kumhaar se, tu kyon rondhe mohey.
Ek din aisa aayega, mein rondhoongi tohey.”

After digging thorough the purse of my better half, I found some money (its mine, my dear) and this doha, again I believe from Kabir das…

Dheere dheere rey manah, dheere sub kuch hoye
Maali seenche sau ghara, ritu aaye phal hoye

Beautiful indeed.

And Santosh continues…

It is all about how man tried to perceive the universe. It is more about his quest about his own roots, the origin, cause and purpose of his own existence, the final destination and the ultimate goal (if such a thing exists) of this very thing called life.

This quest, a direct resultant of man’s curiosity and intellectual thirst has persisted in him right from the time civilization was born. Thus as he was learning to make wheel, he was also laying down the fundamental principles of philosophy. This is where, da praveen, I am seeing the first grains of what is called Religion- A term, as I see it, unalloyed, free from the dust and debris, the modern definition of the term carries with it- here let us see Man’s genuine quest for the ultimate truth of being.

Thus happened, in Indus valley, where the oldest civilization sprang up, made social set up, way of life, transformed through ages, made temples, buildings, pottery and wheel, developed mathematics, science, arts and medicine whereas reflecting underneath of all these were strong currents of his inward quest. (we dont have to discuss the historical validity of the Aryan invasion theory. As such these labels and their historical chronology are immaterial. Here let us just see man as man, for it was the development of human race. Man in the absolute sense has no claims to make regarding his original abode).

A research into the life and thoughts of earlier Indian society will reveal a lot of facts. First and foremost is the Freedom of thought that existed in its absolute sense .The very motto of the Rig Veda – one of the earliest and majestic hymns produced in the Vedic age is, “Let come noble thoughts from any direction what so ever”!!

Several schools of thoughts existed at that time. Contemplation, argumentation and discussions were tools of establishing the principles. Every fact and every new theory was put to test, experimentation and reasoning. Even the process of thinking and reasoning has been researched upon and systems of yoga and meditation were developed.

Sanscrit language with all its grammatical superiority & structural strength was a great contribution of this age. This became the medium of sankhyam, tharkam, meemamsa – all these well-structured and scientific tools of logic and reasoning and logistics towards the ultimate human goal. All these thoughts and deductions were put to experimentation and the ardent followers had come up with their results followed by detailed analysis and validations.

Any development in sciences will always lay down newer and newer building bricks in the social construction. The Vedas as divided into four systems by sage Vyasa and those became the constitution of the civilization that henceforth florished in this land. The concept of God was strongly argued for and against, and the Upanishads came up. Yes, The Upanishads… The greatest work of human intelligence and the most brilliant pieces of logical thoughts. It was an all-time triumph of humanity in the field of philosophy and in his search for truth.

The puranas later developed, the three wonderful epics in this era are the Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhagavata. Dramas in sanscrit and prakrit brought these down to the masses. The concept of bhakti and dharma-artha-kama-and-moksha got established through these works with strong philosophical backing. The concept of values in life, higher meaning of life, the principles like “mata pitha guru daivam…” and “janani janma bhoomishcha…” all reached the common man in the form of living embodiments.

Common man ‘saw’ God, philosophers discussed God, Vedantis pursued God and the ones like Buddha perceived God… All were free… to go the way they like. And they did go. Their experiences did make their marks in the building bricks of the society. Some or most in the form of cults. Yet the wheels did run and the pursuit went on and on.

Down the masses many-where, values were getting degenerated. This always happens in the society. Many practices became mere rituals and distorted concepts crept in when arrogance and base instincts in man took the upper hand. The caste atrocities as such are the best examples. Yet there was a force… a force in the works of the ancient Man that bound them together into a common civilization which, seen in total is simply glorious.

And this life… it is this life of freedom, honest and sincere pursuit towards truth, the readiness to put one’s own thoughts to test before facts, readiness to accept the new, on being convinced, and the strength to pursue what you are convinced about, against all odds, this life of strength. This is, for me, the essence of religion. This is my religion. This is the one that existed in India and remains still eternal. They call it Hindu religion. The word could remain or not, it is just a label. Still, if you choose it, by name, then this what I have described above is my definition of Hinduism.

Da, here each man lives his own religion. He thinks. He experiments, he proceeds. Religion for one lies in ones own instincts… in one’s own heart. When he surrenders this to the one self who he considers the higher self, The Guru, who shall instruct him further, he becomes the sishya. Some walk their own way, still they walk, and that is the point. That is the strength. That is religion.

This force is natural. It is there in every man. It knows no geographic or cultural boundaries. In fact it is an act of going beyond boundaries. And this force, this is the only common bond in all these pursuits. And this goes by definition of the term… Religion. Eda… that is it. The very word religion can be given only this one meaning. And thus it exists in its core in every man, and is beyond all labels. And it is this force that comes out as religion of every man.

Thus in truth Religion is universally one, da. This is the concept of secularism. And this is the concept of religion too. Both are exactly one and the same. Though both are in today’s language misnomers.

For the attention of Iran, Libya, North Korea, al-keeda and well yes, anyone interested, this is how to make a nuclear bomb, if you want to have one.

🙂

I recently had a chat with my childhood friend Santosh, who was shaken a bit by recent Indian politics and media. Particularly the threat to Hinduism and the pressing need of its resurrection. I do have my thoughts on it, but I wanted to hear from him what he thought and asked him to email his ideas in installments. I got the first part as below.

Da, Remember the day Sonia Gandhi got elected as the prime minister, which she ‘politely’ declined ‘upholding the principles of renunciation’. (as media hastily put it as if to uphold her Indianness). Whether sonia has become more Indian from that day or not one thing became clear to me, that the media has certainly become less Indian. The fourth estate is now like a fast food parlour. There is no much time for an analytical assessment of events and in that haste to proclaim sonia as Indian in thought and deed, what was lost to us was our own understanding of Indian thought and way of living.

Renunciation, in India has been highest spiritual virtue that stood as a synonym for detachment and adherence to the code of dharma. As Lord Krishna has put it “for the sake of a village forsake a house, for the house of a country forsake a village, … and for the sake of self denounce the entire universe”. This practice of living for a higher ideal denouncing all that is less has been prevalent in India. An India wherein Shankara , Buddha all were born who renounced the princely status to pursue something higher. So were Sita, Gandhari, Damayanti, Anasuya… all who lived the life of renunciation for a cause. Rama abdicated the throne to keep the word of his father.

Now comes the Question, has there been any hero or heroine in Indian epics who abdicated the throne and just kept quiet saying it has been an act of high renunciation? Those of you who have read the charvaka samhita will better understand Krishna’s message to yudhishtira. It is a sin to abdicate the throne, which has come to you by dharma. This is what has happened when the democratically elected prime minister refuses to rule the country. it is whimsical to call it renunciation. And, if her own reasons like “my children fear that what happened to my husband may happen to me” (oops that thought came a little just before the coronation moment… eh?) are considered. More than a concern about renunciation, a genuine concern that arises is the concern about the spine of Indian administration.

What if Vajpayee after having been elected the prime minister had said, “meri maa kahati hai. ki meim PM nahi banoom” and resigned? Could we afford a “dhoodh pine wali PM” for our country? And above all the philosophical question that arises here is “can Indian citizens be taken for a ride?”. When they elect you democratically and you say “meri gharwale log mana kar rahe heim” and decline the post? Hmm, perhaps there was a Vyasa who would call it dharmachyuti, but then the media bhavatita has already declared it renunciation. And this is ‘modern India’. The India is no more, and in”modern India” truly sonia is very much Indian.

Though I disagree that Sonia was “democratically” elected leader, I agree that India is more becoming a country which bends more backwards that remain straight and the media also playing an irresponsible role. In addition to that India now has an added burden of a “secular” government, who have got no direction to head to, other than supposedly carry on ruling “ram bharose”.

To top it, the democracy in India does not make any sense at all. When peoples who dont have a clue about their own rights and what governance is, vote in majority, I dont think democracy works. I have spoken with several people including relatives, some who criticise the government and wont go out to cast their vote. “Sab chor hai”, they say. I somehow have to restrain myself from yelling at them and just has to comment, “phir bhugto”. Democracy sure has a long way to go in India.

Yesterday I missed the program “what the ancients did for us” in BBC2. I have watched some previous episoded and missed some too. But the special thing about yesterdays programme was that, it focused on India. I came to know that today only, and I was told what all I missed, to add to my anguish.

Couple of weeks back they had covered the contributions of the chinese culture. From gun powder to the first siesmograph, i have to admit made with great ingenuity in those times. And the kites, fireworks, paper, resin and football too. It was great and I remember that I wondered if they will make the same on India too.

They had, and I missed it. But after some search I found that the BBC made the documentary isn association with open2.net, the open university of UK. Their site contained the details of what I had missed in the program. The one hour program yesterday highlighted Indian contribution to the world. This included yoga, chess, cotton, metallurgy, complementary medicine, city planning, pioneering plastic surgery and cataract operatiosn and not to forget the contributions in mathematics and astronomy including the shoonya. Just the fact that I didnt watch the program didnt prevent me from bragging about it at the work 🙂

Read the synopsis of the documentary here.

I have upgraded to wordpress 1.5. The upgrage itself took only 10 minutes. Now my site runs on the WordPress default design theme. I will work on the theme to bring back my original design, but more importantly I need to put more content.

This one is excellent.

From a Forum, the ant and the grasshopper story retold.

Classic Version

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks he’s a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.

Modern Version

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he’s a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

BBC, CNN, NDTV show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the ant’s house. Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticizes the Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the grasshopper.

The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the
grasshopper. Opposition MP’s stage a walkout. Left parties call for “Bharat Bandh” in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.

Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act [POTAGA]”, with effect from the beginning of the winter. The ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government and handed over to the grasshopper in a ceremony covered by BBC,CNN and NDTV.

Arundhati Roy calls it “a triumph of justice”.

I got this from intelli briefs blog.

thunder was magnificient
we gave birth to indra
fire kept us warm
we called him agni
the breeze was calming
we named him vayu
water gave us food
we called him varuna
death was reality
we invoked yama
sun gave us life
we called him surya
stars gave us the universe
we called out to saptarishis
mystery of universe kept us wondering
we named it brahman

I never forget my marriage anniversary-date, nor do I forget my wife‘s birthday or even valentine’s day. but i forgot it was today…

It has got nothing to do with the dolby-digital-eastman-color-5.2-megapixel memory that I have, which is a topic I will broach some other time. I am just mentioning that I am not allowed to forget those special days. I will be dropped huge boulder-sized hints two months in advance to begin with, and as it nears one month, the demand for gifts becomes vocal, peppered with some piercing glances.

I am a normal guy with really good skin-thickness. All the threats I receive from my better half, just bounces off my body. And for that I get accused of being “thick-skinned”. I have a theory that evolution has designed the male-human-skin in such a way that the skin increases in thickness after marriage. I only wish if some dermatologists took this theory up as research topic and proved it beyond doubt.

The piercing glances of my wife that attack me during such period, just pass through my head, as if its some darkmatter, undetectable by any scientific instrument. But when the threats becomes UFOs (unidentifiable flying objects) flying around in the house, I panic. No wonder, I am then left with tensions of last minute gift-hunting to maintain a “happily-married-life”.

I protest against this western culture influencing me and my country(wo)men, in the guise of days like “St.Valentines day“. I want all the support I can get to root out this evil day. I want to counter it. I say, why do we need to celebrate such an atrocious day, the day when you have to buy some koochi-koo gifts just to tell your wife that you love her. I am sure this is eroding our long standing culture.

I thought over this for quite some time while taking bath. I somehow had to find something to negate the influence of St.Valentines day. There has to be something in our culture which was much better. And that was when the tubelight flickered – I struck upon this brilliant idea, and as with all the great people, I shouted “eureka”!! I had the perfect answer for St.Valentines Day.

The solution was simple and belonged to our “indian culture”. All we had to do was to celebrate “St. Valmiki Divas”. Very Indian idea, very Indian celebration and moreoever, it’s going to be really good for all married/unmarried people as I explain the idea behind this day.

Obviously we all know S(an)t. Valmiki. Unlike the obscure St.Valentine, our Valmiki-ji created the epic poem Ramayana, the story of which everyone in India is acquainted with.

So here is my idea…let’s celebrate St.Valmiki Day as begun by Lord Rama. You don’t have to buy very expensive gifts or tell anything that sounds “koochikoo” to your wife/girlfriend. Let me bring the first recorded incident of St.Valmiki Day from our history books as written by Karl Marx and his followers. Our hero, Lord Rama is back at his palace after the long 14-year “vanvaas” with his wife Sita and his brother. He has vanquished Ravana and his cohorts, in a 14-day long battle (all the 14s are very significant as you will see) and released his wife – Sita – from prison.

Then on the following 14th of February (see I told you 14 is important), Our great Rama starts the First St.Valmiki Day. This is the day he decides to put an end to the untold sorrows of all men in his kingdom, and sets an example. He decides to abandon his wife Sita in the forest.

So on the 14th of February, Sita-maiyya is taken in a chariot to a deep jungle outside Ayodhya and is left there. That day of celebration is the first recorded incidence of St. Valmiki Divas. The only expense that day for the male population of our world is a one-way ticket to some forest outside the town. What a great idea!! I am sure this will be celebrated as it was years ago, and all the male population will thank me profusely for re-discovering St.Valmiki day.

After shouting “eureka” in the bathroom, I rushed downstairs to give this excellent piece of discovery to my wife. As I explained my latest discovery animatedly, the expressions on her face changed. At first I thought that it was something to do with the carpet getting wet, as my eureka moment happened while taking bath. But while I continued with the details as to how to celebrate the St.Valmiki Divas, I had this feeling, the feeling of impending doom.

I wouldn’t go into what happened next, but here I am, deep inside this forest, far far away from my home, writing this to you (needlessly I was dumped even before I could explain my discovery fully). The woods are lovely, dark and deep, and cold, very cold. Siggghhh…lucky I have my laptop for company.

Anyway, join me in celebrating Sant Valmiki Divas. And don’t worry about me, somehow I will find my way back from this jungle.

Happy St.Valmiki day.

ps: India does have a celebration for sant valmiki.

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