The Red Poem

First, let me apologize for being so callous about my next post. It's true that I was hectic, occupied and pre-occupied, but due diligence should have been given to the blog in spite of all these lame excuses. For me, the thought of a post bubbles-up only when I find time for own-self. The only time I had for myself in this past month turned to be the time I drive from home to office and back. In spite of the shimmering heat of Chennai aggravated by the annoying traffic, I was able to conceptualize a flurry of posts and their skeleton. However, when I plunged into the work, everything evaporated, only to be left with the guilt of not having materialized those bubbles into a beautiful post.

Many thanks to Priya, Dawn, Vishesh and Mystic for their concern. Inspired by them, I share a poem that I wrote last week, for a team of 200 that my wife was heading for her company's family day. As a part of the Maui Hikers team's publicity campaign, my wife asked a poem on Red, the colour of the team. The poem was required to have attributes of Power and Action and I got the crux from the good old "Gimme Red" Eveready Advertisement. This poem got crystallized while I was driving from home to office. I concluded that, it's worth sharing the poem, when I heard that many people liked it -:)

Gimme Red
Gimme Red
The sunset dusk
In crimson Red

Gimme Red
Gimme Red
The human blood
In scarlet Red

Live-in Red
Live-in Red
The caution saves
In Striking Red

Live-in Red
Live-in Red
Passion and Love
At heart is Red

Being Red
Being Red
Tulips and Roses
Beauty in Red

Being Red
Being Red
Strength and Courage
In flaming Red

Love you Red
Love you Red
Maui Hikers
House is Red

The bird on the tree

A friend asked me the meaning of the picture I have posted in my profile. It is strange that, we, as human beings have grown used to look for reason, rationale and logic in understanding anything and our mind has become so calculative that, even a thing of beauty is measured using some quantitative method. We fail to accept things that are beyond human understanding and brand them as irrational, illogical, abstract and what not. For some reason, I had a reason while posting that picture and the answer was handy when I heard the question.

Mundaka Upanishad depicts its very essence through a parable narrated in verse of 4 lines.

A bird is sitting on an immense tree having innumerable branches and huge foliage. The branches were laden with fruits of different sizes, shapes and stages of ripening. The lone bird chirped and jumped from one branch to another. The sweet taste of fruits made him happy, and his eyes sparkled with contentment and joy. His breast swelled up with the pride of having discovered and enjoyed the sweet fruits.

But soon, the bird tasted a bitter fruit and his joy turned sour; his ego deflated. Again it tasted some sweet fruits and rejoiced with happiness and pride. Again, some fruits turned out to be bitter and the bird was feeling miserable and helpless. Cursing the whole tree, the bird pondered, “All this is useless; there is no happiness or joy in these fruits. I don't want any of them.' Ah! The glorious feeling of discrimination and renunciation occupied his heart.

He looked hither and thither, and his eyes caught sight of a calm and serene looking bird sitting at the top of the tree. That Bird appeared to be in state of meditation, golden effulgence radiating from His countenance that illumined the whole tree including our little bird. Later, the bird realized that, the bird sitting on the top branch is just the reflection of himself in the divine form.

The picture is just the representation of my aspiring soul. My friend was convinced. May be this story would fit into the lives of most of us. How about you? Can you fit yourself as this bird?

Love uncaused

I still love Kodai

Following the meandering

Curves of your crystal brooks;

Biking through the less-traveled
Nerves of your shimmering hamlets;

Hiking on your enthusing knolls,
Sniffing the earthly aroma;

Encountering the fierce stare
Of the majestic lone bison;

Bliss of the whisperings creeks
Gracing your evergreen shola;

Relishing the luscious comb
Brimming with glittering honey;

Brushing off the lush green tress
Dangling of your pine trees;

Sprinkling of the delicate
Fragrant petals of your flowers;

Sinking in the orchestrated
Serenades of the rattling beetles;

Lying in trance between the
Cushy bosoms of your prairie;

These cherished memoirs of the past
Remain dissolved in my dreams.

Though we have abandoned each other,
The way I miss you In my sleepless nights,
Is the only proof to reassure that,
I love you always and forever.

Celebrating Womanhood

Love
Trust
Beauty
Divinity
Brilliance
Radiance
Fragrance
Intelligence
Compassion
Motherhood
Womanhood
Consciousness
Perseverance
Competence
Authenticity
Awareness
Strength
Courage
Passion

Though my last year's post on the Women's day (Women's Day, A joke) focussed on the maladies of the unempowered women of India, this year I have decided to post on the ever empowered womanhood.

Woman is the radiance of God, she is not just a beloved.
She is the Creator. Rejoice in your womanhood.

The Path

Where darkness is the darkest,
Where wilderness is the wildest,
Where forest is the densest,
Lone stands a calf in loss .

In the hope of finding its herd,
Wades through the mounting darkness,
Across the Uphill and down dale,
Forging a tortuous path.


Perchance, a dog spots the path,
Treads to where it leads,
Only to stop where it ends,
At the shattered bones of the calf.

Forges that path farther hill,
Hobbles through the curves and crooks,
Wrecked, Weary and wounded,
Crosses the forest intact.

A ram with his flock of sheep,
On seeing the path wide open,
Leads its flock across the hill,
Paving the pathway wide.

The man treads across the same path,
Turing right and left along,
Croucing down and burshing the obatscles,
Ever cursing the tedious path.

Though rational in blaming ways,
Never thought of an alternate way,
Turing right and left all day,
When straight in-line is the shortest.

The path passed through the years,
To a main street of a avenue;
To a highway of a town;
To a expressway of a city.

The traffic swallowed the path,
Fuming and fretting as always,
At the worst possible alignment,
Hopeless, man remained.

The forest laughed at the man,
Who blindly follows any path,
Never caring to reason himself,
To see if it suites him the best.


Note: Adopted from a parable I have read.

You and I

Soul in mine

In Dream; In love

Celebrating Childhood

Insomnia

I've had enough
Of sleepless nights,
Of the clinging past,
Of the uncertain tomorrow,
Of the demanding work,
Of the overwhelming remorse,
Of my unspoken grief,
Of the preception of defects,
Of my rebellious self,
Of my tired wisdom.
Come my Mother,
Breath of the universe -
Veil of Maya-
Reveal yourself-
Come and dress my wounds
And be my cure.

Pria's TAG

Favorite Colors: White

Favorite Food: Anything hot and spicy

Favorite Month: December

Favorite Songs:

• Tamil: Nallathor Veenai Seidhe of Subramanya Bharathi
  

• English: Just the way you are – Billy Joel

• Hindi: - Hawa Dheere Aana (Nanhi Kali Sone Chali) from Sujata
  

Favorite Movies:

• English- God Father

• Tamil- Guna

• Hindi- Black

• Italian – Life is beautiful ( Dubbed in English)

• Iranian – Children of Heaven (Dubbed in English)

Favorite Book

• English - Lust for Life by Irving Stone

• Tamil - Ponniyin Selvan by Kalki
  

Favorite Sport: Basket Ball

Favorite Season: Monsoon of Kodaikanal

Favorite Day Of the week: Saturday

Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Chocolate

Favorite Time of Day: Late evenings

During weekends: As it flows.....

8 CURRENTS

Current Mood: Happy and Relaxing

Current Taste: Chocolate

Current Clothes: Southern Spice Lungi

Current Desktop: Osho

Current Toe nail Color: Not Applicable :)

Current Time: 10:46 PM CST

Current Surroundings: Silence

Current Thoughts: Pria’s TAG


6 FIRSTS

First Best Friend: You too !

First Screen Name: Give me a hugzzz was your answer!

First Pet: None

First Piercing: Just like you - Ears

First Album: Colonial Cousins

First Movie: Ninaithale Inikkum

6 LASTS

Last Cigarette: I see someone standing with a stick!

Last Drink:

• Alcoholic: Jack Daniel's
  

• Non-alcoholic: Water

Last Movie Seen: Dances with the wolves ( in TV)

Last Phone Call: As I type this…

Last Book Read: Passions of the mind by Irving Stone

Have You Ever Broken the Law: Which Law?

Have You Ever Been Arrested: They were never successful :)

Have You Ever Been on TV: I have a 100 channel TV running in my mind

Have You Ever Lied: Many times, for good.

Have You Ever Kissed Someone You Didn't Know: Only in dreams!

5 THINGS

Thing You're Wearing: I thinks, I told you..

Thing You've Done Today: TAG

Thing You Can Hear Right Now: Cell phone vibration

Thing You Can't Live Without: Love

Thing You Do When You're Bored: Books, Travel and of course, blogging

4 PLACES YOU'VE BEEN TODAY

Office, Apartment, Gas Station and Barnes & Noble

3 PEOPLE YOU CAN TELL ANYTHING TO

My Sister, My wife and My Friends

2 CHOICES

Be yourself

Listen to your heart

1 THING YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE

Nothing

The TAG is passed to Shirsha, Jeeves, Kavi (If he ever sees this post) and Jeevan (Please ignore, if you had already been through this)

An encounter with God

Beloved Lord!

No prayers are heard.
Do you want me to conceive that you are deaf?
For I know, you understand only the language of silence;
In silence, I hear your voice.

No deeds are seen.
Do you want me to believe that you are blind?
For I know, you see only the light;
In light, I see your vision.

No warmth is felt.
Do you want me to conclude that you are a stone?
For I know, you feel only the fire;
In fire, I feel your warmth.

I breathe no long.
Do you want me to trust that you are just a void?
For I know, you breath only the life;
In life, I breathe your air.

Thirsty, I remain.
Do you want me to imbibe that you are deserted?
For I know, you drink only consciousness;
In consciousness, I’m drunk.

My five senses make no sense;
The world I live cease to live;
Just fill me with what you are,
For me to, live in you.

Shivoham! Shivoham!

Added on 17-Feb-2007 - Shared more pcitues of Shiva, as the post received 2 comments stating the picture is good.

Imbued in Love

Finally, the V’day has arrived. Though trapped in the house because of the storming snow, the air was filled with Love, as every media that we would peep into was only broadcasting love, love and love only. For having imbued in love, I can only express gratitude by joinings hands with family and friends.That too, when I think of this day as our wedding anniversary, with Pranav celebrating his first Valentine's day, the joy is doubled.

As a proponent of Love :), I'm sure that, Love is the most appreciated and accursed word in the history of human existence due to it its varied nuances, projections and the impact it is capable of causing to anyone who possesses it or to anyone who is possessed by it. It is like the sun rays passing through a prism. If we are a prism, love adorns us with a rainbow. If we are opaque, it leaves us.

Love is Divine; Love is Bliss
Love is Eternal; Love is immortal
Love is Illogical; Love is Irrational
Love is Awareness; Love is Madness
Love is Knowledge; Love is Innocence
Love is Possession; Love is Freedom
Love is Music; Love is Silence
Love is flowering; Love is Joy

Love is the force that masters everything,
I’m totally mastered by Love.

By the passion of love for love,
I’ve grown as sweet as sugar.
By myself I’m bitter,
Through love I’m sweet.

When depressed darkened I’m
Love lightens my mind.
By myself I’m a rock,
Through Love I’m a gem

Life ensnared me with desire and disease
While, Love holds me in its palm.
By myself I’m pain.
Through Love, I’m pleasure.

When life flings me into the air,
Love hoist me to the sky.
By myself I’m a slave,
Through Love I’m the King.

Birth made me wander in illusion;
Love has shown me my being .
By myself I’m death,
Through Love, I’m life.

To Lord, with Love

Oh Lord,
Take my mind off my soul.
Liberate my poor soul.
Fill me with nothing and
release me from my dreams.
If I hurt anyone, even by chance,
let fire burn me from inside.


Oh Lord,Take away what I want.
Take away what I do.
Take away what I need.
Take away everything
that makes me vice.

Melting in harmony

In the recent times, I have been fortunate enough to read some beautiful posts from my Blogzone, and to my surprise most were about liberation of women or subjugation of women, women’s right or in one way or the other connected to establishing women as equal to men. I am also baffled when I see articles or posts that exaggerates any accomplishments by women as if, she is incapable of what she has just achieved. People have forgotten that, we are living in the same world where the great warriors like, Joan of Arc, Rani of Jhansi, Rani Padmini, Rani Velu Nachiar had tread, great saints like Mira, Mary Magdalene, Florence Nightingale, Sarada Devi, Madame Blavatsky, Mother of Pondicherry and Mother Teresa had illuminated, great thinkers and scientists like Marie Curie, Ayn Rand, Jane Austen, Arundhati Roy had traversed. It is obvious that for centuries, women have been deprived of their freedom and that is one reason why last year I called Women’s day - A Joke.

I continue this post with the hope of illustrating the attributes of the two inevitable aspects of life, which are irrefutably significant in their own way and the one without the other is non-existential. Life exists only in duality and non-duality is beyond life. Having been a part of life that thrives in duality, where light and darkness, good and bad, moral and immoral, sin and sainthood, east and west, head and heart, Yin and Yang, Yoni and Phallus, female and male are just projections of same energy in dual forms in harmony, negation of one over the other is just ignorance at its peak.

For the sake of those who can accept the facts as facts, only if it is logical and rational, let us dissect the male and female aspects of life, through the attributes that makes them a one.

The primary reason why women were being kept in captivation is because, men were afraid of the mysteries of womanhood, ignoring the fact that manhood is also equally mysterious from women’s perspective. Moreover, the conviction that, how harder men try they cannot create life, while women are capable of creating life. Even in this conviction men ignored the fact that, without him she will not be a source of life, with the exception of the recent advancements of medical sciences. The urge to dominate the fear made men to start creating anything and everything he could create with his capability, making him more productive and physically stronger than women. This advantage in terms of production and strength made women dependent on him, precipitating a whole decoction of illusions that, men are superior, women are meant to serve men, satisfy his desires and needs, a means of procreation (the life creating aspect was renamed as procreation) and more.

In essence, male and female aspects doesn’t exist as two distinct entities, but as a blend with varied proportion. In India we have a deity called Ardhanarishwar. The god is half man and half woman. It is Shiva and Shakthi, the Hindu God, and half of the body is of the woman and the other half of the body is of the man. Up to the time of Carl Gustav Jung it was thought that, it is only a mythology, metaphor, poetry – but this cannot be true. Jung identified the anima as being the unconscious feminine component of men and the animus as the unconscious masculine component in women. Every person has both an anima and an animus. Jung stated that the anima and animus act as guides to the unconscious unified Self, and that forming an awareness and a connection with the anima or animus is one of the most difficult and rewarding steps in psychological growth.

Every man and every woman are both, because every child is born of a father and a mother. So, something of the mother and something of the father is present in every child, whether the child is a girl or a boy. The only difference can be that the man is a little more male, perhaps fifty-one percent male and forty-nine percent female, and the woman is fifty-one percent female and forty-nine percent ma.”

But the difference is not much.

If we really want to understand the mystery of women or men, we will have to understand the art of melting our head into our heart and our heart into our head. It will not only help us understand the mystery of women and men, but the whole existence.

Let us live like a pair of skaters. Skating in pair is a harmony. It's like two skaters coming together and becoming one.

An Eternal Embrace

Archaeologists in Italy have discovered a couple buried 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, hugging each other. A pair of human skeletons lie in an eternal embrace at an Neolithic archaeological dig site near Mantova, Italy.

Reuters - More Info ...

I wonder -

Are these Archaeologists planning to keep their eternal embrace intact?

Will they bury the excavation or will imprison the couple in some museum?

It really sucks, when the finer attributes and essential ingredients of human gratification are destroyed in the name of discovery, invention, technology, exploration and too much of civilization.

Even as skeleton, their eyes fixed and longing, arms around in embrace and legs bound for warmth.....this is the eternal love

U IN ME

ME IN U

FOR EVER

EVERYWHERE,

O! Milky Snow

O! milky snow,
Grown thick and hard,
All night and day;
Like a gloomy cloy
Spread on earth!

O! milky snow,
The frozen lake is in
Quiescent melancholy;
Like the flea-bitten love
Deserted by lovers.

O! milky snow,
The shiny tender skin,
Dry with cracks turn itchy;
Like the drained river
Deprived of moist.

O! milky Snow,
I Pray, you say good-bye.
Let the world awaken;
Let the birds in chorus sing;
for the lake to open
Wide in love
To let the lotus glow.

The Starry Night

Silencing the glitter

of the stars —

night rain

Confined at home because of the freezing cold, I could think of nothing but this beautiful haiku of Uko. Haiku are meant to be interpreted and comprehended according to each one’s understanding. They are like pebbles in the ocean, reflecting the nuances of the surrounding. When he wrote this haiku, Uko must have been sitting in his small hut looking at the night stars glittering, and then suddenly...it starts raining.

The stars are there, they are shining; the rain comes, the clouds come and the stars disappear, but they are still there. The clouds or the rain cannot take them away. Your divinity is just your inner glitter, your inner luminosity. Rain comes and clouds come, but they all pass away: your interiority remains untouched. Your glitter is not the glitter of the stars that can be taken away or that can be erased even for a moment. Your glitter and your silence is so deeply rooted in you that there is no way to avoid it.

We have been avoiding, everybody has been trying to avoid our Inner Self. Sooner or later we will get tired of hiding, of running away from ourselves. Sooner or later we will sit down — silently and peacefully, and suddenly: it explodes! Then there is only a showering without the cloud in a starry night.

Attempting to relate the painting, Starry Nights, a masterpiece of Vincent Van Gogh with this haiku.

Hope you enjoyed this :)

A pure form of greeting

During my stay at Dakshineswar in Kolkata, I used to spend most of my evenings listening to the bajans. People from the neighborhood gather carrying their own muscial instruments to sing and dance in praise of Kali, Shiva, Radha, Krishna and Ramakrishna. On one such evenings, there was no singing, no dance and only silence prevailed is spite of the large gathering. I was told that, a women sanyaasini, who is from the order of Sarada Math is going to deliver a discourse and I noticed that she was sitting among the people. She had a radiant smiling face with a glow in her eyes; her shaved head covered with a shawl and her crystal clear compassionate words were captivating the gathering. My memory fails to remember her name.

One gentle man asked, “Why do we pray to god with the hands clasped and also greet a fellow human being in the same way.”

She said, “The five fingers represent the five sheaths or the shells that envelope the real self of a person. In Sanskrit, the five sheaths are called as

• Annamayakosha – The Physical sheath – It is the gross physical body that is sustained by food
• Pranamayakosha – The Energy sheath – It is the subtle body that is sustained by pranic force.
• Manomayakoshsa – The sheath of mind – This is the perceptual body, a covering which is the result of the mind where all the impression and knowledge obtained from the external factors reside.
• Vigyanamayakosha – The sheath of consciousness – This is the covering which is finer than the mind, where intelligence, instinct and intuition are dominant
• Anandhamayakosha – The sheath of bliss – This is the transcendental body which is beyond reason and logic. This is where the subtle ego resides, on breaking which the self is realized.
  

Through the five fingers that represent the five sheaths, we reach the palm which represents the Self. When we clasp both the hands and greet, we say that I greet your real self from with my real self. Beyond these sheaths all of us are Gods and hence, we greet our fellow beings just as we greet our Gods.”

This purest for of greeting had however lost its significance with all these politicians blindly greeting the rising their clasped hands at the vote banks. This traditional way of greeting only exists during the marriages and at other domestic functions. The mere understanding will help us appreciate the divinity of our being, the profoundness and virtue of these practices and save them as treasures for the generations to come.