1857's mutiny and today's wedding

It was only coincidental that I happened to be reading the story of the 1857 mutiny in India when the furor over the royal wedding was taking place. But as I read the story – which I was talking about a few months ago – I couldn’t help but feel a sense of disillusionment towards the British. The British ruled India for over 300 years and plundered the country of all of its riches by the time they had left.

Nehru’s Discovery of India beautifully describes the country as self sufficient – it was comprised of a people who were satisfied. They did not find the need to “go out” and conquer, but were intrinsically happy with the way they lived. Besides being one of the wealthiest nations, they were also a spiritually awakened folk. That’s perhaps why any invader who entered the country got assimilated into the culture and never left without feeling a sense of oneness with it. Of course, the British are an exception.

Wherever the British went they brought in missionaries and tried to change the natives to the Christian faith. They burnt religious texts and always felt that the natives were “wild” and needed to be tamed to meet their definition of civil. They did not succeed with India, where like other invaders they tried to change but were completely unsuccessful. A docile people, they watched the British plunder and loot every possible object; ranging from jewels to bed sheets, curtains and pillows but when it came to their beliefs the British didn’t stand a chance.

1857 is a revolutionary book, simply because it tells of life during those times through the eyes of a commoner. Many Indian history books are written by freedom fighters, people who were involved in the thick of things but none written by a commoner, a man who had nothing to do with the revolution but left his village only to earn some money. He talks about life as most of us would have experienced had lived during those arduous times. He sees the cruelty of the British who kill, plunder and devastate in their effort to fasten their grip on the country. He talks about the brave men and women who dared to stand up and fought the British only to lose their lives or to live like fugitives. It is a sad story that opens your eyes to the abominable justice people had to suffer at the hands of an outside power.

So as I watched the wedding I kept thinking, the palaces, abbeys, jewels and all the royalty was awash with the blood of so many innocent people. Every bit that I saw reminded me of what was stolen, looted and taken away from whom it belonged to. Not just from Indians but all those people who suffered because the British were “expanding” their empire. Don’t get me wrong, I do wish the couple a life time of bliss, but really royalty at what cost?

Only Love is Real

Only Love is Real propounds the conclusions I came to this past weekend, that the most important thing in this world is love, the rest is distractions. It’s a story about Pedro & Elizabeth two people desperately seeking love but finding themselves far away from it.

Heartbroken and forlorn, they’ve traveled many lives, through the centuries to suffer separation from their near and dear ones but this life time is different. In this life time their souls are determined to make it, to tie the knot and find love in each other. It’s a story about destiny, a tale that reinforces the belief that there is a divine plan for us all and it will come to us at some point in our lives. What we do with it, of course, is our choice. If we make the right choice, we will learn those lessons most important to us, find love and make immeasurable spiritual progress. If we don’t, for whatever reasons – we are not ready, fear has taken over, ignorance reigns supreme – then we will travel through more life times looking for that person or that experience to elevate us.

“It is the reaching out with love to help another that is important, not the results”, is one of the messages transmitted to Dr. Weiss through Pedro. We are all guilty of this, like I mentioned yesterday wash the dishes so I can eat the dessert, eat the dessert so I can go to the movies, finish the movie so I can sleep…the result is more important to us not the actual task of doing things and doing them with love.

Embrace love so you can elevate yourself, learn a thing or two and then come back to help the less fortunate. Love is the only language the universe understands, the rest is all noise.

Do Your Dishes Before You Change The World

“To my mind, the idea that doing dishes is unpleasant can occur only when you aren’t doing them. Once you are standing in front of the sink with your sleeves rolled up and your hands in the warm water, it is really quite pleasant. I enjoy taking my time with each dish, being fully aware of the dish, the water, and each movement of my hands. I know that if I hurry in order to eat dessert sooner, the time of washing dishes will be unpleasant and not worth living. That would be a pity,for each minute, each second of life is a miracle. The dishes themselves and that fact that I am here washing them are miracles!”

--Thich Nhat Hanh

Timely realizations

When you read philosophy, you always will come across the adage – time and space are a construct of your mind. Don’t ever tell this to Einstein (although I am sure he knew it), who wrote several theories propounding the importance of these 2 variables to the universe and it’s functioning. It’s easy to say time is a construct of the mind but in everyday life, we barely understand it. At least I barely understood it. Try telling that to your boss when you are 10 minutes late to work or when your family is asking - you are well past your age, why aren’t you married? Or when your parents say this is really the right TIME to have kids. I am not venturing into the physical benefits/aspects of having kids at a certain time, which I understand are necessary but looking at the issue from purely an out worldly perspective.

This weekend I got a glimpse into how my mind binds me and creates the fallacies of time. To provide some context, I spent the weekend at The Vivekananda Retreat Ridgely in Stone Ridge, NY. 83 acres of land for your spiritual pleasure! Unlike other retreats, at this ashram there is no fixed schedule which enables you to do whatever, whenever. I followed most of their events (except the ones at 7am) which included chanting, lessons on the Gita and Tantra, evening aartis and recitation of the Gayatri mantra. The main house – Manor House – has a shrine devoted to Vivekananda, who visited this estate 3 times in his lifetime, along with Ramakrishna, his guru, and Sharada Devi, Ramakrishna’s wife.

Manor House

Swami Vivekananda's bedroom when he visited Manor House

His couch

Pine tree under which he taught in Maine. The coves were grown into a tree at Ridgely.

I was indeed spellbound to discover that 1.5 hours away from this noisy city I live in, there is such serenity. The place is of course quiet but more than that it exudes spiritual warmth, a welcoming feeling where aspirants are free to explore and take their spiritual quest further. There were many insights, many aha moments for me, some I probably don’t even remember and others I will share separately but the biggest aha moment was there is no need to rush. A friend visited yesterday and she put it succinctly – one life time is not enough to understand and learn. And at that moment the skies opened up for me. One life time isn’t enough so it’s best that we don’t rush but rather take our time.

A message from Thich Nhat Hanh hung in the kitchen emphasizing the importance of doing dishes. In a wonderful way he expressed why doing dishes is so important. It is important because at that moment, that’s what you are doing and if you cannot enjoy it because you are thinking of the dessert you are about to eat then while eating the dessert you won’t enjoy that either. Your mind will be on the next thing you have to attain. Made me think of everyday life – where we are so concerned with rushing we forget where we are and oft miss out on everyday miracles.

By no means am I enlightened or claim will never again fall into the traps of time. But this weekend served as a gentle reminder that is far removed from my daily life. You don’t have to scream to be heard, you can live in silence – both in your surroundings and in your mind so your soul can speak and come what may, time is not important. Love is and I am so happy to have found it.

Victories, awakenings, knowledge

This week has been crazy – not busy, just crazy! First, last week ended with a cricket frenzy that started on Feb 19 with India winning the World Cup after 28 years! That was reason enough to act nuts. After a long celebration and incessant chatter about the heroics of the team, reading countless articles and watching every possible video, I concluded I’d had enough. Certainly it qualified for cricket overdose. The next season of the Indian Cricket League (IPL) starts today but I am out of the picture. I need normalcy. I need to go back to my old shows where rape victims are served justice (Law & Order: SVU), where destructions of parallel universes are planned (Fringe) and where a benign American manager struggles to cope with localism (Outsourced). So that’s that!



Nope, I couldn't stop myself and had to share the winning moment!
Woohoo!

After a fun filled weekend, the flu demons decided I was their next target so I had to live the week with a horrible sinus infection. Suffice to say, I was annoyed. Not only was I suffering from constant sneezing (about 50 times a day) but I also had to face the wrath of my head unsuccessfully trying to crush itself. Forget Dr. Bishop’s fight to save the universe from self annihilation, the annihilation of the self had started in my own head. And unfortunately, I was powerless to stop it but let it run its course. Good news awaited me though -- I am happy to report I haven’t sneezed even once today. Aaach…ah never mind, it went away.

Yesterday I read about an activist in India who is on the war path! No, he is not using any form of violence, remember India, the land of Gandhi, fast unto death? No, you don’t know? Shame on you! For those who do, Anna Hazare, a social worker/politician with an untarnished reputation – those are a dying breed there – has entered into his 4^th day of fast unto death unless the government meets his demands. What does he want? For many years now, the government of India to appease the public enacted a bill to fight corruption. If it was effective, it was only on paper. Corruption is synonymous with pollution in India. It might not be long before they ask for a bribe in order for the people to breathe clean air! Yes, of course it’s an exaggeration but you get the point! Anyhow, so Mr. Hazare wants the government to enact a bill that is actually effective and which would bring the perpetrators to justice and not allow them to make money by looting tax payers and freely roam the streets of the country. The country is up in arms! Thousands of Indians all over the world and in India – sportsmen, actors, everyone is supporting this 70+ year old man with a simple vision. He wants the current and next generation of Indians to live in an atmosphere where you don’t have to bribe in order to secure an admission in school, or have a telephone that works or have uninterrupted flow of water or ensure that bridges built during Common Wealth Games don’t simply fall off. Will India be the next Egypt? I certainly hope so! Last I read, the government has accepted his demands and Mr. Hazare is to end his fast tomorrow. Let’s pray for a brighter shape of things to come.

Lastly, the book I’ve been reading – Beyond the Big Bang – we’ve all at some point in our lives looked up at the heavens and wondered what is out there. Some ask the question and move on with life, others take it up in vital pursuit; still others pursue it as a part time hobby. I fall in that last category. Those who’ve read the slightest bit about the universe will know about the Big Bang which innocently integrates with the Catholic belief of let there be light but the Endless Universe talks about precisely that: an endless universe, with no beginning and no end. This theory aligns very much with the ancient Greek, Indian and many other older religions point of view. We didn’t come out of nothing – really how can we? We were here and will always be here – at least for the next billions of years. The big bang according to this ekpyrotic model occurs when two membranes (read String and M theory to understand more) collide with each other. This dispels matter and radiation and creates all the stars, galaxies, planets, plasma and virtually everything else we see before us today. I won’t go on and on because I realize it’s not the easiest thing to understand but if the origins of this universe and its end interest you definitely probe more in these theories. They give more food for thought than you can imagine. And who knows, someday your faith and science just might align!

For now, I hope the weather man and the weather align to create a much awaited/deserved weekend in the 60’s. Have a nice weekend!