Reading Between the Lines - 37 - Colossal symbol of Indhian ego

The Hindu, 23-05-2011: Tata clarifies his remark

P's C: Ratan Tata seems to have recanted his honest observation on Mukesh Ambani's billion dollar Sindhi signature barn. The Antillia, a 27-storey masterpiece of tasteless and purposeless ostentation which houses all five of Mukesh's family, rises with sophisticated self-respect from the centre of a well-laid out Mumbai slum.

The Tata PR team has announced that Ratan's statement on the person living in there should be concerned about what he sees around him is reportedly out of context, while the slum next door to this iconic expression of an idiotic ego makes it perfectly contextual.

But so what if there are slum-dwellers next door? The Ambani children are also poor in their lack of experience and opportunity to learn form humble beginnings. They have to make do with 400,000 sq.ft. of living space, while slum children nearby have the chance to thrive in 100 sq.ft. shanties. With the peculiar difficulty of having been born into such enormous riches, their children will never be able to tap into the wealth of struggle and desperation that is so generously distributed to the impoverished of India. And being sheltered in this tower that is as breathtaking as a buffalo and which could well have been the handiwork of an inebriated lego-block assembler, these children will be cruelly deprived of such epiphanic moments like leaking roofs and clogged drains. The 600 servants will prevent them from understanding even basic, everyday experiences like how hands can be used to pick food from the plate and ease it into the mouth. Such is their fate.

However, the family is making extensive efforts to be in touch with the reality that is shared by 70% of the country. Although Ambani never made it to the fund-raising discussion that the world's richest philanthropists Gates and Buffet participated in during their trip to India (he was watching cricket at that point in time) his wife is taking active interest in philanthrophy and taking very positive steps in this direction.

Like, did you know that the Abmanis have ONE full school that is running as a charity? Also, for Nita, the world is her oyster when it comes to philanthrophy. She once said, "Look at Africa. There are huge belts of people who live on less than $1 a day... Every one of us is responsible for all of humanity."

She prefers reaching India through Africa. Although there seems to be no connection here, all media-hungry Hollywood celebrities make the desperate move of adopting a child from Africa. Anyway, with such a great start, Nita will finally reach India a few generations from now, and with that the Ambanis would have contributed immensely to propagate, no sorry, mitigate the economic woes of their country.

Yes, they are actually Indian citizens.

The Real Beauty of Buddha Pournami

To celebrate Buddha Pournami, I would like to post Tagore's version of the interaction between Upagupta, the handsome disciple of Buddha and the beautiful dancing girl Vasavadatta.

This is a poem for the 21st century. When Vasavadatta laments on having lost her destructive beauty, Upagupta consoles her saying, "Vasavadatta, you are sorry for losing your beauty which lasts but the summer of life. You are yet to discover a beauty greater than that you have lost, the beauty of the self."

In the age of liposuction, the message of Upagupta overwhelms in its intensity.

UPAGUPTA

Upagupta, the disciple of Buddha, lay sleep in

the dust by the city wall of Mathura.

Lamps were all out, doors were all shut, and

stars were all hidden by the murky sky of August.

Whose feet were those tinkling with anklets,

touching his breast of a sudden?

He woke up startled, and a light from a woman's

lamp fell on his forgiving eyes.

It was dancing girl, starred with jewels,

Wearing a pale blue mantle, drunk with the wine

of her youth.

She lowered her lamp and saw young face

austerely beautiful.

"Forgive me, young ascetic," said the woman,

"Graciously come to my house. The dusty earth

is not fit bed for you."

The young ascetic answered, "Woman,

go on your way;

When the time is ripe I will come to you."

Suddenly the black night showed its teeth

in a flash of lightening.

The storm growled from the corner of the sky, and

The woman trembled in fear of some unknown danger.

* . *

A year has not yet passed.

It was evening of a day in April,

in spring season.

The branches of the way side trees were full of blossom.

Gay notes of a flute came floating in the

warm spring air from a far.

The citizens had gone to the woods for the

festival of flowers.

From the mid sky gazed the full moon on the

shadows of the silent town.

The young ascetic was walking along the lonely street,

While overhead the love-sick koels uttered from the

mango branches their sleepless plaint.

Upagupta passed through the city gates, and

stood at the base of the rampart.

Was that a woman lying at his feet in the

shadow of the mango grove?

Stuck with black prestilence, her body

spotted with sores of small-pox,

She had been hurriedly removed from the town

To avoid her poisonous contagion.

The ascetic sat by her side, took her head

on his knees,

And moistened her lips with water, and

smeared her body with sandal balm.

"Who are you, merciful one?" asked the woman.

"The time, at last, has come to visit you, and

I am here," replied the young ascetic.

I'll butcher for my Burberry

I have seen many disturbing videos in my life, but this has to stand out for the sheer apathy of the people doing what they are doing.

You can change no one and no thing, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do your part.

The Burden of Buddhi

Dhanya topped her class from KG to PG, while being second for only one term in Std. VIII. She is a gold medallist Doctor from CMC Vellore. She was the best outgoing student there, and her name is permanently etched on the Senate wall there. She also did her MD from CMC. She finally graduated with more than 32 gold medals, and a zillion certificates. The former National Scholar also secured her DNB, MRCP and her Certificate in Nephrology before she turned 30. Recently, her photo appeared in the Annual Review of MRCP world-wide (she was the only non-British person to have been interviewed for this edition). She has also co-authored an article that appeared in The Lancet, the Bible for the Medical profession.

So, what I am I trying to relay through this panegyric? If you approach Dhanya with a stomach indigestion, at best she may not know what to do. In all probability, your ailment will remain in its same condition post treatment (I am living proof of this). But if you present her with a condition of meningitis, exacerbated by pneumonia and punctuated with chronic kidney disease stage III, I assure you she will offer world-class treatment. I remember when her grandfather was hospitalized, she was the only one (in spite of being a student those days) to actually discover a fracture that none of the senior doctors of the hospital could ever locate.

There is an IIT-ian IAS 1st rank holder from Kerala named Raju Narayanaswamy who was so good at the esoteric stuff that he would not know how to find his way home from the town bus terminal. Her case is not that complicated, though.

The Kerala Paradox

Kerala finds itself in a unique position as it seems to steadily march towards non-relevance on the national stage. The world's first 100% literate state as defined by the UN has just exercised another round of vox populi, without the populi having a cogent vox.

Unlike other states like Tamil Nadu where you know beforehand it's the incumbent you are voting against,- it's either the corrupt ex-Chief Mistress or the corrupt Chief Man, Kerala's problem is a little complicated. On the one side, you have a corrupt party representing an antediluvian ideology headed by a clean CM, or you have a corrupt party headed by an equally corrupt CM candidate representing a progressive ideology.

It's right man-wrong party-terrible ideology vs. terrible party-wrong man-right ideology. So, who does the common literate (not exactly educated) Keralite vote against this time?

Like the eyelid protects the eye

The Avatar says, "I am with you, behind you, beside you – all the time, all the way, wherever you go!"

A high-impact collision of a fully-laden tipper trailer with the stationary van that my brother Prajeen was sitting in, made it fully apparent to him that there is more to Swami's words than just a sweet lilt.

At around 4.00 PM, 11-05-2011, Prajeen was returning to the office along with his colleague and a company driver, and our driver had just made a stop at a red light at Al Quoz. Prajeen was in one of the rear seats of the van, without his seat-belt to be precise, and the other two gentlemen were safely belted in the front seats. After about 90 seconds at the red light, their conversation came to a crashing halt with a tipper ramming into the rear-side of the van with a minimum momentum of 50,000 kgm/s. It was enough to send Prajeen flying into the front. Whiplash is a very normal consequence to such situations, where, the neck is yanked forward sharply due to the inertia of motion, and you can assume the rest. Incidentally, Prajeen is currently going through a neck problem.

However, what ends up happening is that the van plows forward to the red-light post and further on to the concrete road-block beside it, after which it rolls over. The intensity of the collision can be assumed by gathering that it takes quite a bit of effort to topple a nearly half-ton concrete barricade to its side. My brother crawls out through a shattered side window. Our driver is still lying on his side with his seat-belt on, and his colleague has fallen into the well between the dashboard and the front-seat. They are extricated from the van by nearby pedestrians. The only injury to the whole incident was a concussion to the right foot of our colleague, which also didn’t require stitches.

Of course, the van has been written off.

... like the eyelid protects the eye. Jai Sai Ram!

Letting loose the lion in the lemming

I missed this one, and regret it. Long and complicated (yes, it's from SABN), but seriously worth the patient effort:

Siddhartha`s loved ones had planned a different path for him but it was in disobeying them, Buddha, the pathfinder was unfolded. Mahatma Gandhi, Rajaram Mohan Roy, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela... all of them, whom we consider the architects of a new social conscience, authored a political or social revolution by their choice of disobedience.

You can either be a psychological adult or a psychological child. A psychological adult is like a painter. The brush is in his hand and he has the choice of strokes. He creates what he chooses to create. A painter is a choice maker. A psychological child is like a painting. It is a consequence of the painter`s choices. It has no say in what it is becoming. A painting is a mere consequence receiver. Mona Lisa may be the world`s finest piece of art. Yet, it is only a consequence of Leonardo da Vinci`s choices. Millions of Mona Lisas can be duplicated; will there ever be another Leonardo da Vinci?

Your loved ones, your society, your religion, your constitution, your organisation, and your community - everyone wants to play the role of a painter in your life. There is no point in placing your life in someone else`s hands and then cribbing, crying and sobbing that you are not happy with your life. An obedient painting should gleefully accept what it has become, for it had chosen obedient surrender to its painter. Else, snatch the brush. They had their life and if they have missed the chance to paint their life it is their missed opportunity. The canvass of your life cannot be used for their experimentation. You may not have the genius of a Leonardo da Vinci, but it`s okay. Make the strokes you can; scribble; at least what comes out will be your making. Then, your life becomes your responsibility. You might make mistakes, but they will be your mistakes.

Of course, the process of a psychological child attempting to become a psychological adult is always painful for everyone involved. It rarely happens without tears. It is through practice of disobedience that a consequence receiver becomes a choice maker. The choice maker begins to feel that he is losing the hold he always had on the consequence receiver. If you succeed in becoming a choice maker, he cries; if you fail in your attempt, then you cry. Either way, the birth of a psychological adult or the failure to become one always brings with it tears. But those are life`s ways of evolving a new you. Either tearfully become a history maker or tearfully remain a history reader. The world that cries when you begin, will stop crying once you start producing results.

Neither are all disobedient people disrespectful, nor are all obedient people respectful. Lord Mahavira said, `Live and let live.` Christ said, `Love thy neighbour as you love thyself.` Even such messiahs have asked you to put yourself first and then the rest of the world. A choice maker merely puts self-respect first, before he attempts to respect others.

You have only one life to live. Even if you are reborn, you will not be born as you. Don`t miss this chance. Don`t miss yourself. It is better to earn a bad name and live a good life, than to earn a good name and live a bad life. Dare to be yourself.

Reading Between the Lines - 38 - It's Mexico's fault

CBS News, 10-05-2011: Pakistan PM: Don't blame us for bin Laden

Gilani acknowledged his nation's failure to track bin Laden but said the failure wasn't Pakistan's alone."Yes, there has been an intelligence failure," Gilani said. "It is not only ours but of all the intelligence agencies of the world."

P's C: So true. I remember our Home Minister echoing the same sentiment on the topic of Veerappan and the perpetual failure of our forces to capture the bandit. He too had remarked that the intelligence failure in that respect was the fault of all the intelligence agencies of the world, including that of Latvia, Congo and Papua New Guinea.

Reading Between the Lines - 37 - Pakistan orders inquiry into Bin Laden's lair

GN, 10-05-2011: Pakistan orders inquiry into Bin Laden's lair

P's C: Pakistan orders inquiry into Bin Laden's lair, as there has been a shocking revelation that even basic amenities were not provided for an honoured guest who shared their ideology so well. The lair neither had cable trunking, toilet paper, or central air conditioning that would provide a cool mind for creative thinking, all of which are amenities that can be commonly found in a progressive country like Pakistan.

Gilani has stressed that it will pull out all stops to ensure that, going forward, all potential empathisers of the Pakistani mindset will be provided lairs with the latest in remote-controlled curtains, simulation software and digitized Indian maps, so that Pakistan will ever continue to remain the gold standard as the largest terror laboratory in the world.

Incredulous Pakistan!

After their tremendous support to the US in sheltering Obama in a villa close to their military academy for easy identification, Pakistan has now outdone itself by even clearing Abbottabad of any and all possible terrorists by rounding up nearly millions of insurgents from the city.

The 25 villagers, including shepherds, pirated-CD hawkers and three people with Bin as their middle name have all been jailed following swift raids by elite paramilitary forces, the kind that would usually support terrorist outfits, but are trained to do otherwise.

With these gestures, Pakistan has proven yet again that it is a strong partner in the fight against (or was is for?) terror. The unfailed state, governed by an elected government, and well governed by a neighbour-friendly military, wants to prove that it is not the world headquarters for terror as some people would have it, but only a haven for terrorist plots.

The elite spy service, the very intelligent Inter-services Intelligence, has also been keeping a tab on all possible terrorit elements with the exclusion of Osama, as this has been a privilege of the US. All suicide-bombings within the country are carefully monitored and analyzed to determine whether these were linked to Al Qaida, LeT, Taliban or any other branch of the military. Records are well maintained, and informed is shared with other friendly outfits.

With such efficiency of operations, and of course the power of a hundred nuclear weapons in its tight control, the ISI, the government, the military, Nawaz Sharif and Veena Malik all ensure that Pakistan remains a modern progressive and secure state with no foreign hand allowed to carry out any kind of military operation within its sovereign territory,- other than US SEALS and a few drones.

Karma is the greatest weapon of God. What goes around, comes very, very around.

The spirit of Faith

I was with a Sai brother today who was musing on the future of the Organization post the Passing on. He surmised that the name of the Avatar would increase steadily, if not exponentially. After all, the worship of the Christ only increased after His transition.

But how does that mean well for those of us seemingly left astray in spiritual terms? For starters, it's a reminder that the body is but a vestment, and that we should continue to inhabit it, without making a habit of becoming it. The vestment has to be shed at some point. More importantly, the crusade of the spirit has to continue in ever greater intensity. The legacy that we have established through births unknown and merit un-gauged should constitute the lodestone of our spiritual energy for His work. Of the next Avatar, we may not know and should not dwell upon. But of the one that we have been Blessed to associate with, we have our own personal experiences to enrich our lives. And our experiences should become the torch that lights the path of faith of those near and dear ones who have either not seen, not believed, or both.

Like they say, blessed is he who has seen and believed. But greater is he who has not seen, yet believes. Even greater is he who will pave the way for your belief.

Centre without the Centre

Many scenarios have unfolded as I contemplate on the future of the Divine Organization without the Divine Organizer.

Even closer to home, the future is but tender. Till yesterday, you had the sword of David in your possession, and the power of the same was enough to drive the common seeker to servitude. Overnight, there seems to have been a grand reorganization of the playing field, and you suddenly notice that everyone now has the same sword within him or her, and that your claim to spiritual exclusivity is no longer existent.

So, how do we continue to drive the same energy and the same enthusiasm in the people that we could command till yesterday? One: by not commanding them anymore, and two: by involving them. Going forward, it will be imperative that we transform the driver of our activities from that of coercive complicity to that of impelling engagement. For, it's a different ball-game now, and those who have nothing to lose will have nothing to fear (anymore).

What the able administrators will do is to use this opportunity (if it can be termed as such) purposefully to demonstrate that we can really be a collective unit to work His message,- by working as a collective unit in show, spirit and substance. The charisma of the Avatar is too precious to continue otherwise.

From another perspective, some devotees will drop off and some new ones will join. Those who remain are the ones who are forever aware of the difference between God and temple, and of the contradistinction between our Centre and our spiritual Centre.

The Last Darshan

They say the Avatar gives you what you want, rather, exactly what you want.

This means one has to choose carefully, and word it carefully. I got the full import of this idea when I sat amongst the students in Sai Kulwant Hall, for the first time, and probably the only time.

I had been given the good fortune to tag along with Bharat, Ramakant and Raju to Puttaparthi for our last Darshan of the Form on Tuesday, 26-04-2011 (undoubtedly, I am beholden to them for life for their act of kindness). In this context, I should confess that I had always wanted to be a student for the prime factor of physical proximity,- probably a widely prevalent phenomenon at Parthi. And with proximity comes freedom,- freedom from rules, regulations, and impositions that the normal devotees have come to take for granted. As a student, you have free access to the dais, and an enviably close interaction with the Avatar. Further, I had always longed to touch the Krishna statue by the side of the Yajur Mandir. I was well aware that this would never happen in my lifetime, as I was never a student.

But the Avatar is the embodiment of Love. He made sure that He would grant me my wishes. Unfortunately, He made sure He would grant me my wish exactly as I had asked for. I could enjoy studentship (in the way I saw it) during my life, not during His living form. Like He has said, "Ask and I shall give (exactly)."

Even so, considering the kilometres and hours that devotees endured for those few seconds, the hours that I lived on the dias, couldn't be anything but a sign of Divine Compassion.

Apostles: Call to Spiritual Arms

From Thought For the Day at Prashanthi Nilayam, - 02-05-2011

You are the instruments in the spread of Vedic truth among the farthest corners of this vast land; you are the chosen ones! You have to show by precept and by example that the path of self-realization is the path to perfect joy. On you lies a great responsibility; the responsibility of demonstrating by your calmness, composure, humility, purity, virtue, courage and conviction under all circumstances, that the Sadhana (spiritual practices) you follow has made you a better, happier and more useful person. Practice and demonstrate, do not simply assert in words and deny in deeds.

BABA

Deciphering Divinity

I was reading a comment to an article last week of the Avatar’s passing, and the lady had wondered ‘why did not a 'person' of so much expected awareness pass on in a more peaceful manner?’ Well, why did Jesus Christ pass on in not the most exalted manner? Why did Krishna get shot to death in the Dwapar Yuga?

We ascribe Divinity to have x number of characterisitics:

He should obviously be dead to be God.

He should have lived at least two thousand years ago.

He should be of unscrupulous human character.

He should not lie, He should be a bachelor and if He cures you, He should cure me.

In other words, God should be want we want Him to be.

What if I don't want the son of God to be born to a carpenter? And how can God decide to have 16,000 wives? For one descended as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna did not do many things expected of Divinity. And He did many things not expected of Divinity. How could God be a charioteer? He should have been something more respectful. Once, while Krishna was cutting sugar-cane, he cut his finger with the knife. How can I trust myself with a God who is a bit clumsy with even a knife to rule my life and sustain the universe? And as blunt is my question is the answer. He who loves God should not dictate terms to God.

The expectations of what we want Divinity to look like and behave, are but ours. What if God decides to fall ill? If He decides so, so be it. If He decides to lie, so be it. If He decides to die, so be it. He usually and unusually does what He wants. Similarly, we also tend to be foolish in our faith and logical in that of others.

At the end of the day, as the Avatar alone could phrase it most appositely: It does not matter to the sun if the dogs bark at it.

Tell-tale signs

I was reading as late as yesterday that 'The so-called Master' was definitely wrong about one thing: His prophesy that He would leave by 2020 proved false.

For starters, 202 was never His prophesy. I have personally never come across any document saying that the Avatar had declared 2020 to be the year of His passing. What He has declared is that He would leave by His 96th year.

Unfortunately, what He wills has to happen. As is always the case, we are more used to ourselves than we are to the Divine. We forgot that the Avatar’s calendar is not Gregorian. The Hindu calendar is based on the moon, and the lunar month has 27.3 days (0.18 seconds search in Google). So, the math of (85 x 365.25) / (27.3 x 12) = 94.768 (approx) years. Add that to the fact that the Hindu age starts with the first year (this I am trying to corroborate), and you get a pretty straight-forward answer.

That’s just for starters. The Avatar was never known to be as blunt in words as a judge in his judgment. He would always tend to be allusive. Of course, it may not suit us humans, but then, it not suiting our taste doesn’t change it for Him. One of the last Darshans showed the Avatar folding His hands in prayer. I have personally never seen this in my life, though I have been seeing the Avatar since probably 1991. The photo is also the first one to document Swami folding His hands in salutation. The folded hands in prayer is a Hindu good-bye. The Mahasamadhi was just round the corner.

Call to Arms: Imperfect Action or Exalted Inaction

Many things have happened over the past two weeks, least of which includes the reconfiguration of the spiritual centre of the universe. But let's follow time, since we are not Avataric enough to work otherwise.

This goes back to the beginning of last week, when a couple of us were discussing quite esoteric topics in the Mandir. And in our midst was a member of the highest echelons of the Centre. I won't name him, but it won't be difficult to guess. He is the only one who still smiles at normal devotees and has not ended up getting more and more stone-faced as he has climbed the spiritual ladder.

So, we were discussing why we should never judge anyone else (which is an excellent point to pontificate on), and why everything is his or her destiny. And, as a self-confessed anti-establishment guy, I ended up getting ineluctably polarized during the course of the conversation. The bulwark of their collective argument was that everything is perfect, and nothing is wrong, and that it is our drishti that creates this skewed srishti. All well, but for the fact that our group was constituted by normal guys who did normal things and didn't hesitate to call a spade a spade, even though the same Atma pervades that inanimate tool as well. I kept wondering during our conversation, whether, happening to see their brother getting belted by the road-side, it would still not warrant any action from their side. We live in a world full of 'yes-men' who are ever ready to let loose the fusillade of 'Swami says this' and 'Swami says that'. It's about time we have people who didn't have to live on borrowed self-esteem. As always, he who thrives by social recognition will die by social rejection. We have to live for and by bigger reserves of strength and vigour, that will push us to do what is right, irrespective of what is convenient.

The easiest thing in a group is to be part of the group, immune to the cold gales of conscience and muted to the calls of action. And normalcy is defined by 95% of the population. Nobody can afford to be different, when they can afford to be popular. But popularity is the easiest goat to sacrifice, at the face of gross injustice. When can we stand up with courage and ask ourselves if we should not be doing something what we perceive is wrong, though we can always shield ourselves with the lame shield of 'Dontjudgeanyone'?

At the end of the day, it's cute to be a lemming, but always more worthwhile to be a lion, popular or otherwise.