Morning Dews

If you are clever,
You don't need to be
In love.
You need to be
Buying and selling fake
Jewelleries in Miami.
Love doesn't need
Intelligence, it only needs
Morning dews on a
blade of grass.
If you can bring me
those dews,
I will show you how to
Colour them in love!

Chanting

Mohitji, the only disease that the human kind has, is the fear. All others come from fear.  Fear comes from many reasons. A very common reason for fear is continuously thinking 'I dont have',  'loss', 'losing out', 'being deprived'. In a nutshell, THINKING OF ALL FACTORS, THAT "WE THINK",  WE LACK. Fear is born from here. Thinking of 'LACK".

There is a way to get over it. We have to STOP THINKING OF LACK, and start the day with thoughts of 'WHAT WE HAVE'. We are so very engulfed with continuously thinking of what we dont have, that we forget to think about what we have. This is a common ailment, due to the pressure of the society, which has already marked what one should have in order to be accepted by the society. So, we actually, without knowing, start living for others, trying to meet targets set by others. Its time, we set our own targets and standards. We must respect and love what we have. The fear of living will automatically vanish.

Here is a simple way. Practice chanting (loudly), in your own language, about the things that you have. You have to write your own mantra. This can be like this (just an example):
1) I have a lovely family
2) I have beautiful daughters and sons.
3) I have a wonderful wife who loves me.
4) My life is becoming better and better every day, in every way.

If you wish, you can also chant about your material possessions:
1) I have a lovely house.
2) I have a very smart car and I love it
3) My clothes are the best and I have them in plenty.
4) I have a cycle
5) I love walking to the office

But again, there can be a mix up here. For the sake of 'chanting', one need not stress oneself to posses car, house, cycle. This is for everyone and anyone, immaterial of the fact of what one has. This chanting is all about what one has. And not about what one does not have. So please write your own mantra about what you have. You know better. The chanting should be done every day at least 20 times, twice a day. And preferably in an isolated place, locked room, open ground. Or else, it will sound very stupid and others will mark the person as mad.

This method of getting rid of fear is one of the ways to instill positive energy in us, to re-program our subconscious and to drill in us, the confidence that we need to fight fear. This is a small, simple step towards 'Aham Brahmasmi', which in various ways means, 'I am the creator' /  I am part of the Universe / Whatever is in the Universe, is present in me’ (and ‘whatever is in me, is part of the Universe’).

Who??

The other day my friend, in his early fifties, said "kichchhu bhalo laaghchhe na". Simply translated, it means "I dont like anything anymore"/ "I am done". Two days back, another frined, around fify, closed all his successful businesses and started planning to do something small from his home. I asked him why he closed all his businesses. He said “I dont like it any more”.

What it is that we dont like ? The weather? People around us? Walking? Driving? Eating? Sleeping? Everything? And anything? How is it possible that after living in this beautiful world, for about half a century, we suddenly dont like anything anymore?

I often wondered about it. I have also felt this many times. And I am sure, all of us, at some point of time, feel this at some point of time. What happens to us? Why do we feel this ''dont like it any more''? My doctor friends will tell me "You lack energy, take some Vitamins". My friend who 'didnt like it' any more, told me that he wanted to go to some temples in the evening to listen to some religious lectures. My friend is just around fifty. And when he said, "I wanted to go to the temples to listen to some religious lectures", it sounded to me like "I am finished and now I want to hand over my life to others to do anything they want to do with me". Dying before death?

This is very interesting. Why very often, many of us, feel this ‘lack’? Why this emptiness? Why this সব কিছু থেকেও কেন মনে হয় কিছু নেই। Why, in spite of having everything that one should have for leading a normal social and healthy life, one should still feel that one has nothing! What is it? Or should I say ‘WHO’ is it?

A pilgrimage by the rivers of India

June 16, 2011. I Have arrived in India last night and have been immediately engulfed by its hot and humid conditions. I have come from a temperature of between 9 and 15 Deg C. Its about 40 Deg C here in India. This time I would be in India for a longer period of time than what is considered professional.  Although the journey that I have started as a pilgrimage of the Indian rivers, should take a life time to complete, I will try to cover as much as possible in as little time as possible.

Will start soon with the river Narmada, in Gujarat, with a little place called Chanod, where I immersed the last remains of my father. Wanting to do it for the past three months. Probably this is the time.

Living again

The other day my very dear friend mentioned something to me, which made me think again. Thinking, of late, has been quite a painful thing for me. Living without thinking is so much fun. But since I couldnt avoid thinking that day, I thought of this:


After certain years in life, especially after many years of marriage, something happens.


One fine morning, when the wife looks through the windows and finds a sparrow, all alone, pecking on the grass and trying to eat something, when the cool breeze of the morning hits her face, when she watches the pumpkin creeper growing slowly up towards the sky and holding hands of the larger and stronger creepers to take support, when she watches her daughters playing in the heavy rain and coming back home all mud and soaked....she feels very lonely. She feels lonely, in spite of being surrounded by all that a she wants.


Another fine morning, when the husband receives a call from his school mate asking him to come out and join the group for a cup of tea in a local restaurant, while driving to the office, he looks at the street corner, where new faces join every year to make it a 'gathering' point for friends (back in Kolkata, India, we called such gatherings as 'adda'), when a racing bike stops next to him at the traffic lights and the young man in dark helmet looks at him, when in office parties some one suddenly places a hand on his shoulder and says "Hey, care to join for a film after the party?", he feels very lonely. He feels lonely, in spite of having all that he wants to have.


What is this loneliness? Especially a loneliness that surrounds one, when one is among a crowd, be it one's own nearest family, or, friends and relatives, or among the mountains and seas and deserts. I have not yet understood. My life, has been so designed so far, of course by choice, that most of the time I talk to myself (not like a mad-man, but silently) and stay with myself. Sitting hours together in the comfortable corner of the couch and not uttering a single word, has become my habit, and I quite enjoy it. So I have not understood this 'loneliness', as I do not have situations as I detailed above, to remind me of such loneliness.


But I will tell you what I have understood. I take this 'loneliness' as a realisation. Its a discovery. Discovery of our own self. As we journey through our time, till the children are somewhat grown up and all is well, we suddenly realise what we missed. We missed being with ourselves. Some one called it 'me time'. We missed looking at ourselves. The moment this realisation comes, we become lonely. It happens at mid age. But its not a midlife crisis. There is no crisis. Its a position change when husband and wife start finding each other just as another 'thing' in the house, which they are used to for a long time. But they will not get rid of it, and change it, as they love this 'thing'. But since it has been said many times over that they 'loooove' this 'thing', they dont say it any more. The time for negotiation is over. The company is doing well and the partners have a lot of time suddenly. 


Suddenly both discover a terrible thing. That they have never said, 'I love you' to one's own self. And this realisation makes one feel very 'lonely'. Its the time we suddenly discover the most interesting friend within ourselves. Its the time to give a chance to ourselves. 


Its the time to live. All over again. Love yourself. 

Arrival

Long ago, watched a film. The guy was wearing a shirt with the buttons on his back. That is, the chest of the shirt was on his back, and the back of the shirt was on his chest. When asked, why he was wearing the shirt front side back and back side front, he replied '...so that no one knows if I am coming, or, going'. Good enough reasoning. But then, do we really know, without such explicit physical expressions 'if we are coming, or, going?'. More plainly speaking, have we arrived? If we have, when? I have, several times argued this within myself and found that at any point of time, and actually at every moment, we are actually in a state of arrival. And then start again. The journey is full of 'arrivals' and 'departures'. The final arrival, when the quest is fulfilled, is on the final day.


Lets love this living..

Japanee Babu

Long ago, when I was in Ahmedabad, around the time when Ahmedabad was a very vast and clean place (its still clean, but full of cement and concrete), I knew a gentleman called 'Japanee Babu'. This terminology was used to describe a Bengali person, meaning Mr. Japan. This particular gentleman, whose actual name was Mr. Bhattacharya, used to visit Japan very frequently for his office work and loved talking about Japan. It was very obvious that Japan impressed him very, especially as during the early 80's, India just started surging forward, and Japan was looking like a picture perfect technological giant. Suzuki Motors from Japan had just invaded India, with its lone crusader, Maruti Fronti. So all of us used to discuss 'Japan' with great respect. And in that, when we found that Mr. Bhattachary was visiting Japan very frequently, we named him 'Japanee Babu'.

Many years went by. I was settled in Zambia, Africa and slowly advanced in my years through many interesting happenings. I have been a very frequent visitor to India to attend to various family matters. In 2008, about 25 years after I met Mr. Bhattacharya for the last time, I was in Ahmedabad, visiting my mother and my eldest brother. Incidentally I asked my brother about Japanee babu. My brother gave me the sad news of his wife's passing away and the good news of how his son was now settled in US and was doing very well. Japanee Babu had retired and was doing some private research work. We also discussed Japanee Babu's fondness about Japan and his frequent visits to that country. But that was 25 years ago.

During this particular trip in 2008, and a few days stay in Ahmedabad, I suddenly decided to visit Kolkata and made my plans to fly from Ahmedabad. My brother came to drop me at the airport and we said bye to each other. As I slowly walked into the check-in area, I noticed a known face. It was Japanee Babu. I went to him and greeted him. I also touched his feet, as he was my elder brother's friend and was much elder to me. He was very happy to see me and asked about my work. After a cup of coffee, we sat down and started to talk about how nice things were about 25 years ago. I told him that I was going to Kolkata to visit some relatives and my friends. I also asked him about his journey and wanted to know where he was going. Japanee babu said "Japan".

I quickly stood up and looked at him. Yes. He was the same man, as he was 25 years ago. And he was going to the same destination, 25 years later. "Japan".


'Japanee Babu' was still doing justice to his name. He was going to Japan.