Perspective, or lack of it?

I am both stunned and amused by what Thakerey /Sena has been saying. The Government had declared that it has no hand in what happened in IPL and that the non selection of Pakistani players was not premeditated.

Does the Sena mean to refute the statement of the government and mean that after invitation, none of the Pakistani players should have been taken?Shouldn't the Government react to that! Had one or two Pakistani's been selected and the issue had not happened at all, would Thakerey have even bothered to think, let alone speak about who brought them? SRK having wanted to take a splendid Pak player is understandable. Thakerey's arguments that if SRK could want that, then he should take two jailed up criminals because they are Pakistani's; is a demonstration of defective argumentation. Being a politician when he hatches a plan for self propoganda at least he should make sure it does not have loopholes and defective argumentation. With such grossly defective plans, just nobody would be fool enough to believe that his plans are for the good of the people rather than so obviously for party propaganda. Moreover if the Sena wants to prevent Australians playing in Maharashra to oppose the violence and 'outsider' treatment given to Indians' in Australia, how can they explain their concept that 'Maharashra' which is very much a part of India is not open to all Indians?!

Then there is BinLadin who looks all around and sees everything red but fails to notice that he is in the centre of all of it and most definitely must be the same colour. Just after a foiled attempt to blow up another huge Volcano of Pollution, he comes out with a tape snubbing the Americans for global warming. If he is concerned about the earth, he should be concerned about each and every earthling,all the children of the earth.

There is no sound basis to the thinking process of such people who take the responsibility of deciding for others and calling the shots. No wonder why these fellow earthlings end up making all the rest of humanity squirm, with their every word and action. Definitely nobody says anything to them. Only if they could think with more perspective they could understand... and not snap at every harmless prudent word.

The fortunately unlucky...?

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out"

In all the schools I have studied, the very first opportunity to say the 'Thought for the Day" would find me say this Thought.

In life as well, often at every other crossroad when I find a so called lack of good luck, I find my mind turn again to the same Thought.

I have found reasons to trust this saying. For a river beset with a tough path sees more of the world in it's winding way. The easy lucky path tries less, shows less, teaches less.

In my teens I had written a poem titled 'The Worst'. I loved that poem more than any other poem I had written at that time, but unluckily I lost the whole collection. Today I feel like rewriting it. I remember only a few lines and I am gonna recreate just two stanzas from the old poem around the words I can remember

The worst?

The worst is nature's naughty mask,

to wring out all for a worthy task.

The worst can sure be the hardest whack,

but it tests our teeth and weighs our stack.

Look the worst in the eye, pull its mask aside;

for sure you will find life smiling wide

When the worst does fall, got to deal it right...

For the 'hardest nut', has a soft inside....!

..........................

And now a fresh small poem celebrating the fact that there are people who trust and love my words. Most people notice things on a pedestal, but it is such a greater joy to be noticed when still in the mud. It is also a poem for all those who happen to be....

Fortunately unlucky

Failed again.., Oh yes, as you see..

and may wonder with not the slightest clue

'Are you worthless or just plain unlucky?'

Failed again, Oh yes it's true

It's the eyes of the world that have failed to see

'cause I am good, I am more, I have found anew!

Failed..Failed, it's a word to me

are there any scales that can judge the true?

'Tough luck'.Wrings more.Ah! Fortunately....

GOD-Parts or a whole..?

My third flight was a miracle. I took a pill for nausea but there is no pill for panic! But fortunately for me the third seat which was for my baby was not alongside mine and so a pastor was seated there. He had just been moved and so I chose not to shuttle him back and put my baby on my lap. I told him of my previous bad flight experiences and he helped distract me by talking on spiritual things. His efforts worked!

I really felt that when inner resources fail, God still helps by giving an external aid. The pastor with his steady eyes and calm demeanor, held my attention when it began wavering by the movements. It is true that God is in us but sometimes we need the God in others.

We talked about my manuscript on answers for skeptics in religion for which I could not finding a publisher. He told me that maybe my book isn't ready and that I should consider if there is anything to be added to it. When I reached home, my sis in law had a book waiting for me, 'Christ in Ancient Indian Thought' by Dr. Koshy Abraham(she seems to supply me with resources, regarding books this was the second book she provided, the earlier one was also at another opportune moment!).

Though I parted with the book before reading it from the biginning, I did manage to start and read till the second chapter and one line in the second chapter struck me, 'Parmatma...has a spiritual congregation for consultation'. This line from the book took me to a disconnected stream of thought linked to a query I had long back on the reality of sidhi. SIDHI- is a hindi term and means gaining mastery over one of certain powers of God and using it. In right hands it can benefit, in wrong hands it can harm. It was confusing then as it implied that God is not an individual power and his different powers can be tapped without his will. I couldn't understand it then, but I can understand it now comparing with the example of how Jesus turned around and asked, 'who touched my cloak' There were many who had touched but only one had drawn from his power and got well. It therefore does seem possible to draw from the powers of God but only a pious soul is worthy of gaining this knowledge of mastering some powers, the knowledge of which I have heard is provided in Atharva Veda . Just like stealing a cable connection, it is possible to steal the power without paying by a pious life. That is when this tantric vidya can be misused being in unworthy hands. That thought process spurred by a line in the book cleared my confusion of how a good power can end up in bad hands and how it could be possible that individual powers can be tapped. The statement in the mentioned book -that God has a spiritual congregation for consultation, meant -the father son and holy spirit I guess, but I have read into it a deviant or deeper meaning. Come to think of it, quite like our country India which has many states with individual administration but the whole Indian peninsula is not really divided by any real barriers to distinguish the different states; God is One with many powers which are part of a whole, and yet each part, each power can be very distinct...

Faith ? or its look alikes.........?

I have been pondering on an aspect of demonstrative faith in God or religion, since the first week of BIGG BOSS season 3.
Sitting with a HUGE photo of Jesus on elimination day, the contestant in Bigg Boss hopes probably not to be eliminated owing to the power of God beside? Or is it a hope that the photo would remind that everything is as per the will of God? Is the photo beside a reflection of faith or rather infact of a lack of faith..of a nervousness, of fear...
God and faith is a matter of the heart, not of an object or taking the NAME during trials. When taking an exam if a student keeps thinking about GOD, he will waste so much time and misdirect the focus from the questions in front of him on the paper. When we take our focus to an outside object (when infact the real energy called God is part of us), we move the inside energy to the outside and become weaker rather than stronger! It is fear that plays this trick with us of weakening us by dissipating our energy to the outside and keeping on asking(in all futility of course) that it help us!!! That is why probably the Bible gives the commandment.."Do not take the name of the LORD your GOD in VAIN" When we focus on our trials, the whole of our faculties and power inside is directed on the problem..and then what we do is empowered and perfected in a divine and yet real way.

Another thing to consider in this regard is extremism in (any) religion. Somewhere in my book (in the initial posts of the blog) I have declared that I believe in all scriptures because doubting one is doubting all the others. All scriptures have a basic agreement on core matters. Some do not speak on certain issues whereas others do. Therefore I chose to refer to scriptures only for basic understanding. It is said that everything should be done in moderation,(including moderation). So I feel there should be moderation in terms of looking into the scriptures for answers too. I have spent 12 posts and even more years pondering about scriptural truths. But despite having faith in scriptures, I do not feel compelled to read the Bible EVERY day. When beset with problems I am aware and I know that the God connected to me through my heart is giving me answers and I know I do not really need to randomly open the Bible and find answers there, though I may sometimes chose to. Religion is a guide that leads to our spirit. Once connected to the spirit,we have to leave the hand of religion..otherwise when we should have started looking in our hearts for further answers, if we still compulsively look into religion we may be led to Extremist viewpoints and due to fear we may wrongly disregard our heart. This is what happens to extremists in ALL religions. They think that there is no way they can trust their heart over the sometimes conflicting words in their scripture. But they should also think...Do they love GOD? yes. They follow the core of the religion? yes. Their spirit is aroused? yes. Then God is now unvieled in their hearts. And if this spiritually opened heart is pointing to a different direction in certain things compared to what is 'written'.., the trust I believe should be placed on what the heart says. Written things may get distorted or influenced with time but the heart connected to spirit is true. It is not faith to follow written words that conflict our conscience..it is rather again the trick that fear plays with us that keeps us compulsively hooked to words on paper rather than giving heed to the direct words heard by our heart. Take an example. Which is proper of a servant to do?..To follow a paper which has passed through hundreds of people and is claimed to be from his master or follow the direct words that his master comes later and tells him? Should he say that, no master I wont follow your instruction because the message you sent me through so and so says something different?

It is always important to be clear what drives our actions...Is it faith or is it really fear? The answer to this will guide us to the right decisions, to follow the faith directed paths......

Informed Love

My daughter in UKG told me that she saw a Cinderella cartoon Movie in school and liked it very much. Great..I just hope she does not take fairy tales too seriously or grow up on a staple diet of that. There are certain things I would like to inform her as she grows up..I am hoping for the right questions from her so that I can know the right aspects to deal with as per her age and stage in life.

Girl children brought up in conservative households have one advantage maybe of being too shy of the opposite sex to mingle with them (and so are 'protected') and therefore maybe can be shoved safely into an arranged marriage. But then their delayed realization, that is after marriage, that fairy tale men and real men are as different as Venus and Mars, can be quite shocking and difficult to accept and can create severe emotional problems. This is because what should infact be learned gradually is thrust into a capsule and given when views and expectations have really firmly set in the mind. The disadvantage then of conservative upbringing is emotional vulnerability.

Life and men do not turn out to be as perfectly put as fairytales are. Maybe there should be little stories taught in school or elsewhere, where the differences in thinking and attitude of men and women come clear so that as time progresses both sexes can correctly interpret the opposite sex's hidden messages.

Here are a few differences that they should learn as they approach, or are in, the teen age.

1. Women evaluate men as a person first and the way to their hearts is via the brain. Men evaluate women first according to their body and appearance and desirability.

2. Women Like to be appreciated, and dressing provocatively is (more often than not) merely because of self Love and desire for attention. They often don't realize the extent of the effect it can create.
Men can wrongly interpret this as 'seeking sex'because unlike women, men are biologically prone to be too often thinking of sex and so wrongly think that it must be the same with women.

3.Women are dreamers and desire a person who can LOVE them more than anything else (rather than about sex).
But most men do not have the concept in their system of a 'one and only' or a 'true love'. They love all desirable women and often a beautiful woman in their life can mean another of their possessions (like cars or latest mobiles) that they can boast of possessing

4. When men do realize the'being in love', it may or usually be true (because they were not looking for it and it was a discovery!), though never all exclusive. It is rare that a man could think of a woman, before he thinks of money and cars. And man 'cant help' being attracted to sexy women despite being in love with one. It is biological and women should learn to accept that.
But women can rarely be too content with a man's 'true love' as they generally want all the attention of their Man exclusively for themselves. Because women unlike men CAN love a man exclusively. But 'TRUE' LOVE can be in fact be a bit more difficult for women because women can generally never see love as non possessive and unconditional. Men value their freedom and therefore can rather more easily be unconditional and non possessive in love.(although these factors may reverse {flip around} for both sexes as the relationship progresses, that is men may get possessive as women turn non possessive often due to disillusionment and hence non expectation in love)

5. Women are REALLY from VENUS and ALL men are REALLY from MARS and no NOT EVEN ONE of the men is from VENUS!!

All these above given information, though can always be learnt from books but both young boys and young girls DO NOT REALLY BELIEVE IT unless they experience this truth firsthand!! Therefore it is really essential to learn these truths first hand, slowly but surely in small 'non-harmful' doses. Men have to learn that women's biology is such that unless they get proper information when they are in their teens(which is rare) they cannot really understand sex!! The desire that they seem to possess is REALLY only for LOVE. Women should learn that though they would like a fairy tale prince, the characteristics that they want is rare in a real Man, and are only found in women!!
So maybe unfortunately, but it becomes important to accept men as different beings and see if they can be loved despite these terrible differences that Mars endows them with. But hey, we women can be sure it is TRUE LOVE we feel and not mere a feed to our ego and vanity, only when despite of all the turn off differences, we still cant help but be drawn to one of these 'difficult to love' mars creatures...

PS: In this article, the term sex is used only to imply to the basic act (not foreplay). Teenage girls may not find it that easy or natural to understand the actual act because unlike for boys, their puberty changes do not provide clues to the actual act. Of course today's generation is more explicit with sharing information and therefore sexual awakening due to either clear understanding or even experience can be earlier. And after sexual awakening a woman may become quite similar in terms of sexual appetite as a man. Though this is true, still uptill the age of atleast 20, a woman does need to be considered as per the above article, because in a conservative society like India, it stands quite true even now and it is important for young men to interpret the non verbal messages of teen girls keeping the above information in mind.

Sachin Tendulkar

I have been thinking since the past week of writing a blog to honour Sachin after his much written about 175 in hyderabad..But the papers are replete with articles about him as he completes his 20 years in International cricket. Maybe another article in the net from me is not really necessary but still I want to. I have not really been a fan of cricket. And after the match fixing fiasco, I haven't even watched a whole match. But through it all I have always admired Sachin and maybe he is the only one I would say I am a fan of. Whenever he has been criticized for some non performances, I have felt ashamed about those who criticize him. I may never see a match but I can always say with certainty that it was just the luck that day and not any lack in Sachin. He is one person who I believe does not ever deserve to be negatively criticized. I have seen him stand at the crease to bat. I can see his eyes and his demeanor. Here is a man who plays for the nation. His focus on the ball and the game and the focus on the need of the team comes through in his attitude and his eyes, burning the TV screen. I have often wondered "How is it that he is not affected by pressures of expectations or negative criticisms or even self doubts" This is his strength that has often made him carry forth a one man show in the game, where those with not as much mental toughness crumble at the other end of the crease.

Sports is as much a test of mental toughness as of physical toughness and technique.
Weaker minds wither away in a sport that puts on so much pressure on every moment
He is a strong enduring Mind. A mind to give honour to...always..whatever he scores..

Recieving the Eucharist

Today in church, I really was touched by the sermon of our aged priest..It was about being like little children and forgetting and forgiving immediately after a fight. He asked us to remember all those whom we hadn't forgiven and forgive them. I felt the whole process very liberating and shedding all and any anger against anybody or even against myself, I proceeded towards the alter for recieving the eucharist(the body and blood of christ). I noticed the young priest who was giving away the eucharist,looking suspiciously at a lady three places in front of me in line as she moved away after recieving the eucharist. Probably she didnt recieve it in the proper way and the priest suspected that she was not a christian. He asked another man to bring her back. He was distracted and had anger writ on his face. I had noticed the woman who had taken the eucharist and passed by me, she had looked blessed to have recieved the eucharist. The priest was looking away at where the lady had gone as he gave the eucharist to the two in front of me. He was still looking away distracted as he kept me waiting for the eucharist. I felt upset as he had managed to kill all my feelings out of the blessedness of the act that I was to perform in recieving the eucharist! Quite involuntaritly I opened my palms which had been joined in prayer and posed a questioning "what!!" with it at the priest!Sorry!!! Mercifully I guess the priest was too busy looking away to notice me.

After the eucharist the priest went towards the back to where the woman was standing. I saw the agressive expression on his face as he passed by. I looked back to see him question them. From the gestures and expressions in the answers I guessed they were christians all right, probably 'reasonably new converts' which could have led to some mistake or whatever, that had made the priest doubt that she may not be christian.
I know that the church forbids non christians from recieving the eucharist.. but really for me personally whoever comes to church with reverence is a christian. Ofcourse the priests have to be alert with their duties...
But I really wish they didnt have this duty to do which could distract them from the duty to give 100% of their prayerful presence to those who had come with reverence to recieve the eucharist- the body and blood of Christ- from his hands.
And I also wish that those standing in line to recieve it don't take it upon themselves to question those alongside in line whether they are christian or not(I have witnessed it happen too -on a christmas morning -and in that case too, the one questioned was a christian, a regular infact!).
Those standing for eucharist and the one giving, in my opinion, have to be totally looking into their own selves, to see how much of a christian they themselves are as they prepare to give or recieve the body and blood of christ.