Cosmic Wealth.

You can’t after run after happiness, money or joy, if it happens it happens. Sometime we feel like failures- it helps to inject a healthy dose of sckeptism in us. It is a well know fact that when we try too hard to do something, it sabotages our attempts to do it. It is the same with achieving your goals, the pursuits of happiness or the acquisition of wealth. A holistic approach is always advisable. If we slow down smell the zeitgeist, we may catch by the wayside of our pursuits, a spiritual creature that could alter our meaning of success, Working tirelessly for material success alone is where we fail as emotional creatures, to appreciate the various other aspects that we as human beings need for spiritual sustenance, apart from our attachment to this promiscuous world. If our thoughts can be transformed into reality then the illusion will be shattered and the suspense will disappear. Wealth, happiness and success is perceived as the distillation of all that is desirable in this world, slowly it becomes a potent elixir, consuming us totally with its sensuality. By ignoring the mundane and ordinary, which is floating miles above us, we miss the sweet nourishment of spiritual manna that is necessary to give us an exuberant reverie. This will only become evident when failure in our material pursuits turns to depression. If we can return to quite introspection of our own private impersonal perception of the world our heart will be filled with pleasure and material desires will lose its allure, despite its wild carnal and sensual odors. Valuing the real over the simulated or distinguishing the intrinsic from the sticky glossiness of worldly desires, will be rewarded with opportunities and bounties that abound all over in simple images.-Vinay-

Hope is for the Hopeless.

It wastes as much energy to search for the meaning of life as it does to live with abandon, walk on the edge celebrating an ecstatic life. The underlying pulsating essence is the sublime intention to choose with no regrets. Embracing the darker realities of life is as important as enjoying the brighter ones. Instead of dissipating your time and energy searching for the elusive meaning of life, focus on the passion that excites you. As Marshal stated “for primitive man space and heaven was the uncontrollable mystery, for man in our technological age it is God and the meaning of life, that occupies the same role. Men have never shied away from experiment, stitching together myriad images of the supernatural. However belief that propels one into action need not always be derived from a religion or scriptures, and contemplation does not mean breaking away from reality, transcending flesh and bone. Religion has encouraged an allergy of experiencing negative emotions by emphasizing that faith and prayers will help. One of the selling points of religions is to ask followers to have faith and hope, while instilling the morbid fear of death & damnation in their hearts. Trying to stamp out negativity whenever it pops up is counter productive. Evolution from self absorption to the realization that life is unpredictable - you learn as you go along and we cannot change the past. This should not imply a severance from celebrating and enjoying life. Religions are unaware of the anguish of its believers, who are the borderline cases and like a pendulum swing from panic to serenity. Your success or failures in life will not be decided by the number of setbacks you encounter, but rather how you react to them. The origins of our fears are buried in the unconscious and religion converts at onto a transactable commodity making us revisit the stone ages. Fear is our natural reaction and makes us move closer to reality. We all act in a certain way and we cannot change the inevitable with hope or prayer, its how you handle the situation that counts. Real enlightenment or overcoming fear is when we look inward – to find reservoirs of strength within ourselves, to define our internal idea and seek it with a purpose verging on the spiritual. –Vinay-

Believe it or not.

With every new scientific discovery like the recent God particle, the chasm between science and religion is narrowing. Slowly the Vatican will have to relent and start accepting some of the scientific facts as the Gospel truth, as they accepted the theories of Galileo and Darwin’s evolution. However the clergy are not guileless, they manipulate their huge resources to precipitate artificial new truths, distributing a mass of images to the media-manipulated believes. For years even the Eastern religions culture and philosophy have been marketed to gullible theists and celebrities in the West. Starting from Yoga studious, transcendental meditation centers to Tantric Sex, smart businessmen have packaged this eastern wisdom- to vulnerable masses who mistook their self flattering dreams for reality. As Jonathan Lee & Bruno Latour discuss in cult of science there is a hoary orthodoxy theory which maintains that the rise of science annihilates religions –just as dawning of the day dispels the darkness of the nights. The clergy meanwhile are on overdrive denouncing science and marketing their own social constructs as the gospel truth. Uncomprehending believes, blinded by superstition and hillybillies along with gullible masses, who wallow in notions about, “the chosen people” are inspired by the scriptures, disembodied souls, exorcisms, heavenly reward and eternal damnations. They remove scientific distractions and ignore empirical thought by attending to incarnation, flesh and spirits. But if you try to argue with these blinded by superstition believers, who cling to their beliefs without any mathematical support, apart from the realm of make believe, you will end up disappointed. Their motto is that it is always, better to believe in something, or rather anything, rather than not to believe at all. The believers’ ultimate truth is a truth of transformation rather than the truth of empirical information. – Vinay-

If Tomorrow Never Comes.

Everyday there is a new Prophecy that the world will end, right from Harold Campbell to the Mayan shift of the ages end date in 2012. Most of them are a set of beliefs that signify the end of mother earth. Nothing is going to happen; none of these Prophecies have any empirical or scientific data to back them up. All the 5 elements will go on forever. The world can never end as energy can neither be destroyed nor created even by the supreme creator. There may be transformation from one state to another. So don’t put off your plans for the New Year bash. Tomorrow may be the destruction of the world and we may all reach Paradise above the ruins of our life – despite the grand times and great laughs. No mans past can be changed, like menopause or male pattern baldness which can cause moral and psychological damage. But tonight I would like to have my drink and consider my solitude, without a name, god, creed country or language. I have nothing in common with anyone- let me explore the solitude and silence by meditating about my past life where I truly lived. I have always treated death as triumph; the strain of waiting for death is delirious

YIN And Yang.

As Shimon Peres stated “when you have two alternatives, the first thing you have to do is to look for the third that you didn’t think about, that doesn’t exist. “ According to Chinese tradition Yin and Yang are the representations of the Sun’s cycle, change of season etc. Yusuf Begg explains that there are complementary attributes not conflicting ones. Like Laurel and Hardy, the Good cop and bad cop, like a wave has to have a trough. While Yin is pure energy, Yang is the body and yang originated from Yin. Yin and Yang are polar opposites that are complementary and not conflicting. Yin changes to Yang and vice versa and at the extremes when the change is taking place there is disharmony – akin to our mind life crisis. Remember Hal Ashley’s being there and Peter Sellers mumbling in the garden, growth has its seasons. Spring, Summer Fall, and winter. This is the Tao theory of finding balance in nature. There is a bit of opposite in everything. Depending on the hemisphere the mountain slope gets more sun, Yang while the opposite get the darker YIN, the feminine side, the nurturing force, with characteristics of devotion, forgiveness and flexibility.

The Karma Addict.

To be born in India is to be exposed to its mystical philosophy armed with which you wander throughout your life – free with a metaphysical certificate, as Karma becomes embedded in you DNA. No matter how intolerable the situation, you accept it with the stoic nature of a philosopher. Sometimes it also happens that instead of joy you will encounter pain, it is again attributed to Karma as explained in Eastern Philosophy. Life is a perpetual spree, destiny affects everything and everyone and there are no exceptions, because this is the assumed reality. Believing in what is reality can be a relatively negative experience, yet they strive for reconciliation – as a sort of catharsis for the soul. Life with its disappointments goes on, while ruthlessly stripping away the ornate masks which we all wear to hide our own flawed humanity. We are all victims of self doubt. When you believe in Karma (Destiny) the miseries even if many may not seem much – but the form suffers some strange destiny to which many of us succumb. Like the vapors which unravel in a haze when viewed through the mirrors of our minds, your Karma become as clear as the blue ocean. These expressions emotional as well as intellectual are all about the present moment of awareness. It is indispensable to understand this transition to achieve bliss and liberation. So go ahead, step on the gas, physically, mentally and spiritually. Drink the wild music of the noisy streets; hear the bird song in the quiet woods to find the balance between what is pragmatic, materialistic and meaningful in life. We are all part of humanity which will not survive – except by extraordinary shifts of the ages in this inhuman world shaken out of our certainties, frightened adults, struggling to understand their sad predicament and willing to forgive - an unseen and unknown God. In the west we could sing Que Sera Sera… what will be will be. There are always exits, compensations, ameliorations, people, religious rituals that create a chaos when order is beyond human comprehension. There is no sharp separation between vice and virtue – neither joy nor sorrow can be connected to form a holy chain or a narrative of life, this is our destiny. Truth may be single but lies and miseries are legion in this world. By believing in Karma we can only grasp a splinter of the truth – painful, a poignant excavation of self and a gripping narrative of life. – Vinay-

A Dark Night Indeed! (Do movies influence our behavior?)

It would seem so and that too paradoxically in a negative manner- James Holm paints himself like the “Joker” in Batman enters a cinema hall in Aurora, Colorado, lobs smoke bombs and goes on a shooting spree, killing 12 and wounding 50 people. This incident has appalled people all over the world. According to davinci, comics teach us lessons, in Batman comic lore Bruce Wayne’s parents were murdered in front of him at an impressionable age, creating a psychological trauma. Bruce grows up and investigates the mind of the underworld and becomes” truly lost”. A person called Henry Ducard comes to his rescue, he trains Bruce for many years at “The league of Shadows” and helps him to find his path. Like most comics Batman also contains an underlying moral and important lessons for all us. It teaches us that will power is more important than any training and to achieve anything in life you will have to sacrifice something ( Bruce sacrificed his wealth to fight injustice). It is harder to make choices when you know that the consequences are risky and fraught with danger. Batman also taught us that fear is normal (he was also scared) but we must keep going despite our fears. He also taught us that struggles and fear are part of everyone’s lives, and also that we never get recognition for our good deeds. No one knew Bruce Wayne was Batman- he struggles with his identity like we all do – we wear masks we create different identities - for parents, children, friend and co-workers. Like Batman we must also represent the good against the evil which is in all of us; the constant struggle we face in our daily lives, the fears we hide within and strive to live like a normal human. You don’t need to be a superman. Batman was also a psychological wreck from inside after his parents were killed- but it was ultimately what he did that defined him. “It is not who you are from the inside, but what you do that defines you”. – Batman Begins& excerpts from Step case.-

Is God The Creation Of Man?

Religion is a very personal matter...I would not stop anyone from worshipping me. But as British Savant Bertrand Russell said “If you believe in god, it’s up to you to prove his existence”. The burden of proof is not incumbent on the Atheist, who is merely denying your claim. The analogy was “If I were to claim that a celestial dog orbits the sun somewhere between Earth and Mars, it would be nonsensical for me to expect others to believe me on the ground that they cannot prove me wrong”. As spiritual columnist Vithal Nadkarni states in this internet age the Lord does not manifest himself physically, so can we equate believing in the Unmanifest ( Nirgun ) aspect of God with something as nonexistent as a celestial dog circling around the sun. Carl Sagan said men may not be the dreams of the Gods, but rather that the Gods are the dreams of men. Alain de Bottom also echoes similar sentiments when he states.” Religion is above all a symbol of what exceeds us and education in the advantage of recognizing our paltriness “To insist that Religion is benevolent is fanaticism or mere stupidity. Arthur Clarke expounds that “It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God, but to create him”. The world view is that there are idiots who believe is Santa Claus, fairies, magic and elves and we are not joining that nonsense. The Bhagavad Gita also warns us that the path to the unmanifest is fraught with utmost trouble, for those who are embodied. Jiddu Krishnamurti also says,we have invented God, the thinking created god for itself. That means due to our unhappiness, fear and depression we created something called god. God did not create us after his imagination.Devotion thus, is the last resort of the perplexed. Subdue yourself; abandon the fruit of all actions; simply merge with the Universe into the Cosmic.

Unholy Dream.

Religion gives you the luxury to dream of redemption, liberation and joy everlasting. When you wake up to the harsh reality of life, you realize that they have cleverly omitted to mention agony, grief and unhappiness on earth in their technical specifications. Over the years, religious wars, jihads and global terrorism have embedded, terror in the psyche of all peace loving people, endowing a weak messianic power to which the past has claim. People have slowly withdrawn themselves, mentally and emotionally from the wider cravings of faith. Empathy rather than sympathy is the new cardinal social virtue, which combines learning with a wise, unpretentious ethical sensibility. This has prompted a return to family values-which is clearly picking up momentum in these economic recessionary days. As the disparity between the elite and masses increase, looking outward makes for better social awareness. Power buys influence, the needs of the powerful institutions comes first, hierarchies comment must be respected, lives of ordinary people have no commercial value. Powers only understand power and the occasional injustice pales in the face of larger injustices meted out by the government. The global detachment of state and religion toward the masses is the unchanging habit of tyranny. Truth, transforms to deceit and hate in the “us-against them”, in the battle for survival, where the perverse power of solidarity erupts in “Arab Spring “and “Occupy Wall Street” revolutions. By plumbing the depths of our inner lives we understand the deep nature of reality. Following a charismatic leader or evangelical preacher to an abstract principle & their unrealistic assumptions is no longer an option. We are dissatisfied because the world is fall of wretchedness and religious vanity and our dreams turn into nightmares. The angels of history, the decay of ethics, and the flash of messianic fervor manifest the world in a futile state of flux. A new world order must arise; spirituality without borders, or confining dogmas, is the ultimate reward for happiness. “And as the truth is re-enthroned, problems of disparity should evaporate to usher in a posthumous portrait of civilized living to the new culture now defined by Internet and face book. Vinay-

Be a Vedic Nomad and Explore Life.

One’s entire life is a continuous slow journey, a pilgrimage like process of inquiry through the world. It is related to discovery and learning, but the beautiful mystery will never end. A certain sense of what is transient and what is permanent in this universe will permeate and grow as knowledge grows within you. Life itself is our teacher and the Universe communicates with us, unlike school or society there is no test and no fixed curricula. You will continuously meet different situations and this experience bitter or bliss will teach you what is to be desired and what is unimportant. You need not go through many births, heavens or hells -this life itself is a collection of moments and experiences. It will provide you with the key moment when if you look without awareness you cannot see, or listen, but cannot hear. Life may be series of attachments, because relationships are the fulcrum of our lives, be it physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. The order of existence in the Universe is rooted in viewing everything with equanimity and relationships with animate and inanimate beings. We will learn to bear reality ‘s timeless and space less fire, and enjoy the grace of nature and realize – that there is nothing to be asked for, desired for beyond one’s spiritual self. This what is called enlightenment and it is not an end by itself, only death is the end of physical existence.

Cyber sex – Fantasy without Boundaries.

If we are not afraid of death, we should not be afraid of sex. Why can’t we love and indulge in a thing that gives us pleasure? What is this irrational fear – unless we release ourselves from the fetters of this hypocritical mortality imposed by society? We will forever be in human bondage and we will never be able to find our true selves – because we are not crossing the barriers of self liberation. To live life fully is to explore those sensuous, dangerous horizons of desire; living on the razors edge heightens our senses in sheer exalted exuberance. We get in touch with our wild side of our inner spirits, the missing link where sexuality and spirituality meet. Sufis, Tantrics, Dervishes, the Bauls, Dionysus and Bacchus used love and sex as the final means to Mukti, deliverance or bliss. It was Blake who remarked – by flying ourselves with utter abandon into the sexual – we find that the spiritual beckons – the road of excess leads us to the path or place of erudition. In this internet age of cyber love and virtual sex with digitally simulated orgasms, which seems really hotter than sex in the real flesh – because there is no reality to block our inhibitions or fantasies? The mind has an infinite capacity for liberation and is after all man’s main erogenous zone. This is the right approach leading one to true spirituality, the transcendence to the right avenues, evolving from the lustful genital craving to the ultimate cosmic, symbolizing the freedom of our untamed energies. This is basis of transformation; it provides above all a meaningful human connection or linkage. In the end we recognize that it is not just work, but love and sex – the unconditional love of another who accepts us for who we are, that makes life bearable. Sex is the ultimate expression of love and fulfillment.-Vinay-

Tantric Mythology and Sex.

Tantric Mythology and Sex. In the ancient Hindu, Greek and Russian mythological texts it urges man to indulge in our baser instincts like anger, violence sex – as venting and dissipating these energies conforms to the needs of the spirits within us. A number of great sages, philosophers, writers, artists and poets also endorse this view. With regards to carnal and lustful passions, the pagan sense of sex – which is the primal flux, the DNA of our very existence. There is no resolution for the soul’s confusion, as our lives are divided into two emotional realms – one towards separation and individuation and the other towards connection and union. It is only after we have satisfied the cravings of one’s physical desires that one can transcend into the higher realm i.e. sex in the cosmic sense from the genital one. Like Dante who also found himself lost in the dark woods, in the middle of his life – but also emerged to see the stars, having discovered that love is what makes the world move and go around, and this is how he truly lived. Thoreau also echoed similar sentiments when he said “We are all living lives of quiet desperation” or in today’s context noisy desperation, the conflict between carnal and ethical explodes in our faces. Most of us are not liberated in the real sense, real freedom frightens us. We follow patterns, set for us by our parents, prurient religious, or an overtly moralistic society that weighs our morality against our desires. Sexual liberation is the actual drive that leads us toward transcendence- it enriches our life and solves our creative crisis at the fag end of our lives. Puritans and clergy will disagree and may even frown on the real freedom of our untamed energy and its link to the primal force of sex. They may even classify Dionysus (God of fertility & merriment) and Bacchus as a band of drunken monks and the epitome of vulgarity, but the spark of desire will always be inextinguishable – Vinay-

Exploring the World of Vedanta

The Vedas are world’s oldest composite literature on religion, science, humanities and spirituality, yet they are not treated as sacred in the Biblical or religious sense. It is a priceless intangible, and unique mystical world view of that era. It has documented mans culture, fear and misery as a sort of reflection of the Rishis of yore.

It deals with our attachment to our wild side and the sensual world we inhabit with all its inbuilt suffering. The universe has sculpted our connection with life forms and solidarity with sentient and insentient beings. Earth is a picture where ideological and political crimes are carried out everyday, a cruel place despite humans who are instilled with humanity inhabiting it. The world is a merciless place, inhabited by, cruelty, consumption, hatred lust, violence and untold misery.

Life is full of great joy and intense pain, we have lost something both aesthetically and ethically with the shift of the ages from that era to our modern culture, and we are on the brink of losing a priceless intangible heritage. Mans condition to object against this human condition is to protest or pray to God- as they live their entire lives in the reflected glory of religions, losing their own identity in the process. All religions, symbolize hope and despair to which mankind is forever subjected.

Our relationship are filled either with great happiness or intense sorrow shared with lasting pain, it is here that the Vedas helps us learn about life. When we are stripped down to own bare bones and the road ends, when nothing leads anywhere, and religious hope explodes into despair and everything becomes groundless- then the Vedas helps us to reclaim our lives.

As humans our life is nothing but a slow journey through detours of bliss and intense sorrow, the simple understanding which unless you have surrendered to nature, the world refuses to answer your doubts and the meanings therein. We must move into the solitude and silence of our inner self to perceive the very images whose presence our hearts opened up to in the first place.

What a fascinating world, its starkness like the desert that is within us, with a vast expanse of silence which is the real beauty. Order, chaos and reason, the will to survive, the imperious obstinacy to change, all these secrets are revealed, the happiness in those mystical moments of nature, the simple pleasures and to re organize our life’s priorities till we can treat death itself is a triumph over our spirits. It is all there in the Vedas. –Vinay-

Where Love Has Gone it goes with you Danny…. -Harold Robbins-

Love, creativity and the Universe will always remain a mystery. It has intrigued theologists, philosophers and mankind, who keep wondering about it all the time. Love is the tragic influence in our human lives, a hostile relationship like a drug, in which we cannot control the hallucinations of desire and hate.

The world is full of suffering lovers who converge easily, but with the passage of time diverge diagonally and as the sweet music ends- they no longer want the strings attached to the instruments of their love.The alchemy of the initial rhythm and mellifluous sweet thoughts that made them tango disappears in the utter tedium and futility of everyday life.

As the crescendo of the love balled comes crashing down to expire on the rocks (pun intended) the images remain shattered and totally desolate. We go on living in quiet desperation even though the page is blank and bereft of letters or meaning.
We wonder where the love came from and where it has gone.

In this life we love many and one, it is as if the truth was an illusion built on a shaky foundation of trust. When did love alter is course like the river, what happened to all the obstacles/compromises we made to hang on, it couldn’t stop the relationship snaking away like a strong current leaving one bleary and starry eyed. Like a sputtering candle in the tempest it burns brightly then blows out and our lives become a blurred waking shadow of memories.

The river of love flows into the larger ocean of life, the tears mingle with water and are everywhere but the river is no more. We wonder where it went, did someone take possession? We will never know, we return to the faded memories, like the rustling trees and rivers of our youth- to view lost love, reminisce with sensibilities on a deeper philosophical plane.

The idyllic universe, that existed briefly, when we had time for loving and thoughtful individuality- deepening the intimacy before being snuffed out. Death, love, loss, expectations and regret are the deeper issues we face in our world- tinged with a sense of mild incomprehension as to what life is all about. –Vinay-

Seasons in the Sun.

Homo-sapiens have four basic stages in life each distinct as a chapter of its own. They are childhood, adolescence, middle age and old age.

Childhood or youth is the best as it is the formative year like the early morning of a new day where everything is new and full of wonder. The dew drop that melts, the world lazily unfolding from its slumber, music and chants wafting in the air, the aroma of coffee and fresh scores bread in the air. Everything looks new as the rays of the sun sensuously envelop the verandah. This is the best phase of life as carefree and free you roam around with friends and playmates not a care in the world.

Adolescence is like forenoon where the morning has disappeared and youth hardens into a day. The world around us now takes form and shape, the sun now shines brightly and your life is crammed with activity, school / college sports, friends / partners love and passion. Like the noon day sun heating your bones to stir activity all around you till exhausted with dreams of the future you go to sleep.

Middle age as it suggests is like midday of life, work, career, and family predominantly manifests itself in your life. The engine is now pursing on the road of life, hiccups, put stops and accidents do happen. You cross the frontier between carefree youth into the responsibilities of a man / women. We look back at the past down as we inhale the smells of the day. We try to seek out the purpose of our existence, worry about our career, finance and family. We plan for grand success and happiness. The pressures of life build up as we navigate the tricky water in the world as we plunge into gross physical activity of life, indulging in reasual pleasure and other intoxicants of life tell we approach evening or twilight.

This is the time for contemplation or spiritual practice or relaxes with a drink and watch the world goes by and your children wake up to the down of their life. Time hang in the air like some music momentarily infinite till you drift out of its magic. You look back at your yesterday’s in nostalgias as today has changed its tempo as you gradually catch the rays of the setting sun. Growing old in a faster world where the techno-meter forever hovers on the red line, your memory of yester years slowly crumbles like yourself.

Running the Race of Life.

If the race is over by the time your settle in front of the Telly it’s a sprint; if it is still on after you have finished the popcorn and beer it’s a marathon or long distance run.
For some people life is a jog and others it is a lark. You see them early mornings / evenings with fancy running kits, ears plugged into an iPod. Many of them have never broken into a sweat about mundane things like mortgages / EMI, tuition fees, inflation or recession.

Years of living in countries like USA, Canada and Europe, a regular diet of proteins and carbs have built up muscles, and the sprinters with a dash of steroids have build bodies that move like greased lighting. For most people in cities life is one big sprint racing through everything in life – school to B schools, career, work, dropping the children, soccer classes, tuitions, music lessons and the occasional barbecue in the back yard.

When we race against the clock there is no time to ruminate or chew the cud, when you decide to smell the zeitgeist, it’s time for antacids and angioplasties. On the Olympic track running is not such a glamorous part time, the marathon is tough business.

The Marathon is packed with people from underdeveloped countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, and Morocco………. Athletes, who have struggled for a meal, no training facilities, who have no shoes and literally begged to find sponsors to travel and foot the bill.

Slight and wiry men, running the race of their lives, but with the will power, patience, strength and endurance required - an aerobic experience where the body has to produce oxygen. Compared to distance runners a sprinter has longer muscles & lower body fat. Sprinting is an anaerobic exercise – it uses energy stored in muscles and they are the glam boys of Athletics, while the other has to go the distance to just survive.

Awaken Your Ego.

Everywhere in discussions and beliefs it is propounded to kill the ego which is portrayed as a stumbling block in life and progress. According to Freud’s theory, ego has three parts Id, Ego and Superego.

Id is the instinctive part (involuntary & spontaneous) which contain the basic drives and pleasure principles. Ego is the organized and realistic part, as one matures this part learns to endure pain, and defer gratification (satisfaction/ fulfillment) indulging only when necessary. Super ego is the critical and moralizing part which is the dangerous part as it can bring in a sense of false pride self idolatry in nature.

All religions preach denial of the ego, this is because they do not want individual but herds and your own identity becomes extinct, and we become meek as ants. Ego is so delicate like a flower that praise tends to make it bloom while discouragement often nips it in the bud and resentment sets in.

Ego is definitely required for survival in this planet. “I “and individualism is not a failing, it promotes yours own identity and a healthy distinctiveness. Your ego represents your assertion of your unique self to attain your objectives in life. The laws of nature cannot deny your existence, so treat it as a positive state as it provides sustenance for achieving personal excellence and in charting one’s life on our own terms.

Even animals have awareness, instinct driven, the Lion is the king of the jungle, and they know fear but not greed. All creative people have hung onto their ego to follow their inner calling, passion, or creativity, because everyone is born with his or her own unique talent in their respective fields.

Ego helps to develop lateral thinking to raise the bar for excellence and overcome adversity stimulating growth. It helps you lead your life with higher values, walk the talk, to be successful, happy and communicate yours vision. Killing ego is killing yourself a sort of spiritual hara-kiri – Vinay-.

Cabbage Patch Dolls and Golliwogs in Cyberspace.

Many of us may not even remember those quaint dolls made of cloths or knitted in wool, a cherished childhood tradition. We had relationships with them, but later grew out of it. Remember the weekends when we would grab the picnic basket, sun umbrellas and head out for an intimate weekend on the beach or woods with the family and friends.

It was an iconic image of weekends and leisure, the sense of a vanishing world is painfully insistent in our technology driven lives today. With the ubiquitous Blackberry and Smartphone we embrace digital technology to fill the void of intimacy and warmth of relationship thats has vanished forever.

Dolls, picnics and weekends at the beach with family and friend are passé and even at parties – physically they are elsewhere as they tap and text on their cell phones. Children have difficulty in differentiating the real and authentic from the inanimate.

There is a dark possibility that cherished cultural artifacts and traditions will disappear to a point where, we prefer shallow relationships over actual intimacy. Cultures and places changed beyond recognition by social media.

We have a fragile sense of self; we are becoming terrified of intimacy and flee from the old life long gone by … and the old analogue world being dismantled. We can never go back within the flow of time, from which it was removed.

We turn to the digital world, mute the sound of our hearts and emotional lives and present a false persona online. We become that person; we get confused, disoriented going into a grayish dark world of monitors hoping to find a digital soul mate sooner or later. -Vinay-

Silence of the Spirits.

While growing up I was quite taken by the eagerness of the western world to learn eastern mysticism and spiritual traditions like, Yoga, Transcendental meditation, and other esoteric facets of Indian philosophy. Our spiritual heritage has spawned many Gurus, Sages who have tried to integrate the philosophy of the Vedas into everyday life.

Today Yoga and Meditation is practiced widely in the western world, while it languishes in India. Meditation is not a profound religious ritual – it is more about finding one’s inner harmony and peace by doing absolutely nothing, cutting of the noise - a sort of de-concentrating and calming our busy brain.

Being a secular nation we have always had respect for other cultures and religions. Multiculturalism and multi religious tolerance is critical in today’s globalized world. Constant dialogue throws open a lot of questions, which can shed light even if they do not give immediate answers or solutions. In Hindu philosophy we generate more questions than answers and the seeker is left in solitude to find their own wisdom.

The spiritual aspect is not about liberation or salvation per se – but there is a hidden inspirational thread to make that compassionate connection and discover your inner self. So questions will lead to further doubts and questions and even the answers will beget more questions and this deep introspection will open the doors of another dimension of reality.

Even a simple ascetic life, lived with infinite grace captures the spiritual essence of the mundane. You are liberated from the traps of mental concepts beyond the reach of mere logic and religion, layered with profound insights about all aspects of life. It is all about living a life that gives you satisfaction, one that truly makes you happy. It is then that you are at peace with yourself and the world around you. –Vinay-

THE KARMA ADDICT.

To be born in India exposed to its mystical philosophy is to wander throughout your life – free with a metaphysical certificate, as Karma is embedded in you DNA.
No matter how intolerable the situation, you accept it with the stoic nature of a philosopher. Sometimes it also happens that instead of joy you will encounter pain. It is again attributed to Karma as explained in Eastern Philosophy.

There are always exits, compensations, ameliorations, people, religious rituals that create a chaos when order is beyond human comprehension. There is no sharp separation between vice and virtue – neither joy nor sorrow can be connected to form a holy chain or a narrative of life.

These expressions emotional as well as intellectual are all about the present moment of awareness. It is indispensable to understand this transition to achieve bliss and liberation. So go ahead, step on the gas, physically, mentally and spiritually. Drink the wild music of the noisy sheets; hear the bird song in the quiet woods to find the balance between what is pragmatic, materialistic and meaningful in life.

Streets may be ugly, dirty, life full of frailties, but don’t mind anything that happens – both the good and the bad have to co-exist in life. A perpetual spree, there are no exceptions because this is reality. Whatever is not in the open street is false; now work the calmness into your soul like an anesthetic.

Even the Deistic creator who designed the world keeps aloof, an absentee God who is indifferent to their plight. He is not willing to step down from his Ivory Tower in Heaven and eradicate the problem of evil -that envelopes this world in the form of sorrow, suffering, injustice, exploitation and sickness. Why should god make some people more privileged than others? This is not so in the animal world or plant kingdom. The all powerful omnipotent god is silent or remains a mute witness. It would seem he is not existent.

There is always a darker perception unleashing negative emotions – fear pain, jealousy, all distructure and the source is a gap that inevitably exists between the haves and have nots. Their aspirations are lost in translation and it triggers the thought process that their expectations are unrealistic.

Theirs is a world where all of us would be thrown into turmoil because we can barely imagine it. Yet they have the audacity to define their own lives. The poor always view situations with more sensibilities on a deeper philosophical plane.

Practice may not make you perfect or successful.

When we do not get the desired results we try even harder, following the silly King Bruce Maxim to keep on trying till we succeed. But we never stop to analyze even for a moment why we are not succeeding after repeated attempts. Like religion does by repeating (Hail Mary’s) we keep repeating but of to no avail.

If, we stop to think or scientifically analyze what went wrong – we would soon realize that we forgot to “change course” in spite of seeing the iceberg in our path. If real awareness had set in we would have taken corrective measures earlier and avoided a lot of stress and disappointment.

Success is not a science or art that one can perfect; it is more of creative thought and applying winning strategies. To climb the ladder of success you don’t need more practice but creating more friends and leaping into the warmth of human experiences. This way you will inspire yourself to attain new heights.

In the earlier days, they said God was watching over us, now god is a blip on the radar and the Internet is watching us and might even censure you for this part. Can we not just believe in ourselves, our hearts and our intuitions? Do we need the lines of our lives to be a perpetual confession in the presence of an unknown, unknowable creator? Why can’t we create our own legend and bury ourselves in it, before our ashes lose its warmth.

Success comes at a heavy cost though we don’t realize it at that point of time and you will envy the ordinary unsuccessful people in this world, those who are blissfully unaware of dreaming big.

Sometimes you will yearn for the aimless solitude of our erstwhile youthful life, no goals, no responsibilities the sort of schoolboy life we enjoyed. It was when the world was alive with magic, less complicated and we were free inside. Not trapped between the timelines, meetings, deadlines and the fear of failure.

In the end it’s all about living a life that gives you leisure and the joy to enjoy your life, one that truly provides bliss. It is when you are at peace with yourself and the world around you that become aware of all the different paths your life took, each time you made a choice.-VINAY-

A Penny for your thoughts!

Any good post should have the capacity to provoke thought - shake the reader from his complacency and border on the outrageous.

Great philosopher, poets, writers have this capacity to stun us from our stupor and shock their readers; most of them were zealous and paranoid about their views, thoughts and works.

Safe conventional posts or quoting some second hand wisdom and advice from scriptures is for preachers’ clergy, teachers and proselyters – who do not have any original thoughts and do not want to step out of their comfort zones- and all their posts are as dull as dishwater.

Out of the box thinking and posts, presents ideas and thoughts that seemingly suspend conventional wisdom and understanding, sometimes turning it topsy turvy,it is an in your face good or bad advice from life’s bitter experience.

However whenever I post a creative or outrageous thought – I am labelled as a cultural and religious provocateur, mainly since I do not follow the path or dogmas of millions of believers. Added to that the fact that I am an atheist, a non conformist and a rebel makes me an easy target to be labeled as a fake, infidel, denigrator of faiths and an abnormal person. Often these philistines with a religious disposition sit on judgement on my thoughts and posts. My thoughts are worth more than the miserable pennies they drop in the charity boxes.

Screw them to oblivion – Vinay
My thoughts are worth more than the miserable & charitable pennies they insert in the till.

(The Untouchables) - A Life less Ordinary.

There is infinite grace, harshness and beauty even in an ordinary life - even bruised souls find a connection, a glimpse of the fabric of realities, that is about sex, love and despair. For the impoverished life is layered with a profound sadness – the kind of melancholy that comes from being aware that their life, careers, even children are tainted by poverty. Throughout their life they try to escape this labyrinth which has a bleak centre – bitter sweet, poignant and deeply moving.

There is always an endeavor to get out of this rut and create a better life – like trapped dream walkers they float in a somnambulist state of sleeplessness. Whether their dreams die or if it will be successful is a moot point. Forever alone exploited by the rich and state – a seething rage implodes within their character, loneliness and disappointments are the order of the day.

They would wake up the next day, not knowing whether to laugh or cry about their dreams or nightmares, but just shrug it off and get on with their dreary life. They are afraid of their own thoughts and their response mechanism search high and low for a means to escape from themselves.

It is a cruel world that they are trapped in which ultimately breaks their spirits and souls and in the end it kills them as surely as life. There is no end to their misery and the very brave snatch moments of joy, before the timeline dissolves. The caste system which has Indian connotations is prevalent in the world –these are the people who are not part of society, they live on the fringes, they have no position or place in society you cant touch them.

Forming a part, of a shadowy world, left out of the mainstream- loneliness creeps in like the dark night that envelope a city. Only in sleep are their tortured minds allowed to relax and slip through the fabric of misery. So many questions, so many possibilities but none of them an option, careening off in the direction of an azure conclusion,-that ultimate point of truth, where all their desires merge.

Despite the progress and wealth of this unmoving world … everything around their wretched life is stifling, yet in their hearts they are free, blissfully unaware of the enchanting treasures of the world, victims of their own circumstances. Trapped forever, jaywalking through life with dreams for all eternity. _Vinay-

Who am I?

As Barry Schwabsky commented in Extreme eccentrics, those who maintain the question “Who am I” was started by mental cases seems to be right - only “mental impulses so strong and so disconnected from the actual environment / reality” as those that plagued, Van Gogh, Cezanne and Rousseau, could have allowed them the courage or naiveté to venture so far into the unknown. Later all religious figures and seekers began exploring this new terrain in full consciousness of the unknown consequences.

In India ringing in a bitter reality Janme Shah Sinha, Asia Pacific head of Boston consulting Group realized that he did not envy those seekers of spirituality in their quest for identity. No wonder the famous Indian film star Shahrukh Khan yelled at the US immigration authorities “my name is Khan and I am not a terrorist”.

Establishing one’s identity is equivalent to seeking Nirvana and is a herculean task. You require address proof, copy of your passport, electricity bill or phone bill. The issue gets further clouded as some accept passport copy, others went your (IRS) Pan Card copy, some insist on your driver’s license.

If the electricity and phone bill are in your wife’s name then you have to produce your birth certificate, school certificates and sometimes lease deed, or letter from the society you reside currently.

If you are brave enough to change your residence the whole process has to be repeated, you tribulations will never be over. You have to get all these copies attested by a senior Government official with a rubber stamp - the purple imprimatur, which certifies you exist. You also require furnishing bank statements for 1 Year. If you have not made any transactions because of the recession, it is assumed that you are dead, fictitious or do not exist.

Just like Frang Kafka’s character in “The Trial” who has no idea what he is charged with – we too end up wondering “who am I” if not for all these documents. The search continues…. If you are a real brave heart, then only apply for a U S Visa as you have to not only establish your existence and identity, but prove that you have enough bank balance to last through 3 recessions, that you are not a pedophile, terrorist, rapist, atheist, vampire or wife beater.

The Wailing Wall of silence.

When a poem recitation is over, there is pin drop silence as we try to imbibe the meaning of the word and its import even though the poem is over, moments of quite introspection that can create mental images, float in our minds even in the absence of words which are always crammed with noise. Words can never keep track of the profusion of silent thoughts that populate our creative minds- in many instances a lot of things are left unsaid .It is the silence between our thoughts through which we can access our highest creativity- a sort of music to our ears, our deepest intuitions and our most profound joys.

When we grieve deeply or are moved intensely, we find ourselves bereft of words, this silence of wailing noises is not due to the absence of sound, but due to the interpretive feeling and the presence of a powerful and profound meaning. Sometimes when the bonds are strong between friends, family or lovers we can convey wordless messages without the jarring sound of language. Hermits, sages also seek the solitude of nature in the mountains/ deserts or caves to cut off chatter and focus or meditate, silence represents oneness.

By transcending into silence we can dissolve stress and tension – a pause that refreshes and nourishes our silent source or soul within. Some narratives in our lives are more poignant in their silences- than the loud high pitched wailing of grief and pain. Often victims of sexual violence and abuse shun word as they skip over a vast expanse of pain and unspoken truths, which we have relegated to the domain of silence and invisibility. Their anguish and memories bleed copiously into the silences of their narrative as their reticence escapes the most salient aspect of the deeply agonizing violence.

Even in quantum physics there is a non-physical filed of energy/ residing in a state of entropy or vacuum. This inner field of life is called as the field of consciousness in the Vedas and through quiet and tranquil contemplation one can connect to the innermost core of intelligence. Like the silent night when you sit in mediation one, mind becomes so silent that our own intelligence in then revealed to us.

Golf and the Art of Swinging through life.

In life we have Gurus, Sages and Personal life coaches. In golf the caddy is your companion guide and pseudo philosopher- who helps you to explore the landscape of your life. Among all the sports and games, golf is the one game that brings you closest to nature and your inner self.
There is a method in the aimless jaywalking style of the game- while chipping away at the pock marked ball, one realize the importance of conserving nature and the environment. A mystical journey and a sort of spiritual union with the universe.
Silence is absolute here like meditation, and ethical questions will always hover in your consciousness when you attempt to take short cuts- because it will dawn on you that you are only fooling yourself, and it is not the path to mastery or perfection. It is a symbolic trip through lush space and time, to perceive reality through nature.
You learn that bad shots happen on the golf course too and one must not fret about it but analyze what went wrong and focus on the next shot. You learn so much more from your bad experiences (shots) in your life than the good ones. You get time to reflect on them unlike other sports, not reflecting is a waste of a precious opportunity, as reflecting plus pain equals progress in life.
A few bad shots are not the end of the game of life and one great shot can make the par, and you can reclaim your life. The real purpose of mistakes, sorrow is to enable you to rechart your life, just like you make course corrections; you change the iron to fit the situation, different sticks for different strokes/ situations.
On the course you are alone, no coach, no guide the moment of truth- as you are poised to strike the ball, you are alone, the “ I” remains. You will discover that you develop two perceptions of life, two fundamental objectives,- the self discovery of your specific characteristic and the perception of distinction, for a balanced view, the game is a relentless pursuit of truth and personal evolution. That is why they say old golfers attain a state of bliss/ nirvana- they do not die, they only lose their balls.

Hinduism is not a Religion

Religions have always been at loggerheads with philosophers and their advice to mankind. Christianity and other mainstream religious theology always wanted to remain as the undisputed King & queens of ethics and morality. Even after moving from the Gothic arches of the dark ages - the medieval Cathedrals, to the neo-Gothic modern towers of online biblical teachings, they want to even control the air- waves, with their commandments.

In ancient Hinduism and the Vedanta Philosophy which is not a religion but a way of human life - it is a treatise, a teaching one how best to care for the soul. The Upanishads like the philosophy of Epicurus Aristotle etc, taught mankind how to eliminate anxiety and irrational desires to lead a life of happiness. Living in accordance with one’s own virtues is the goal of human life.

Vain is the word of the religious clergy who quoting their holy scripture can not heal any suffering of mankind. Even the commandments have largely lost the robust connection to human life and reality and are just a cramped box of permissible and non-permissible deeds. There is little that looks like it is capable of healing and it seems to promise the opposite.

Hinduism and ancient Vedanta’s ethical work in contrast offers guidance to “the whole of human life” not just questions of right and wrong. They share a commitment to life that develops and perfects the human capacity for reason cultivating the virtues of courage, temperance and compassion being a few.
The basic metaphysical truths of life were offered for contemplation to everyone, unlike the dense theories of religions which differed technically in each faith and advocated living in accordance to its fixed tenets. Vedanta and the Upanishads is basically ancient philosophy which focused on living well and is flexible.

Only when one has a completely grounded philosophical understanding on the embedded truth of how to live, can one find a fully satisfactory life as a human being. Unlike other religions or science there are no pre-determined answers for; What should I believe? How should I seek salvation? Or How should I live? It teaches what matter most in life and you are left alone to answer your questions.

Spirituality is not Chicken Soup for the Soul.

Spirituality is not a search for experience or meaning in one’s life. It is not something mysterious or profound- it can be arrived at by contemplation rather than meditation.
It emanates from the heart, prodding the mind and it is not an intellectual or divine phenomena.
Spirituality is the search for the real being that is inside you, and with that knowing, there is no urge- no need to seek for any purpose. With the knowing of the inner true reality, the authentic being, all search ceases.

Spirituality is all about living a life that gives you satisfaction, one that truly makes you happy, it is then that you are at peace with yourself and the universe around you.

Spirituality must connect you to your desires and choices. Once you have come in contact with your deepest core, you can live an ordinary life, but the emptiness will remain with you, a sense of worldly solitude. There is no enlightenment or nirvana. –Vinay-

The Fabric of the Universe.

All the major religions and the holy books have not changed, since the glorious days of Jesus and Prophet Mohammed, causing a terrifying gap that is the main cause for religious radicalization. Even the new denominations, derivatives like Bahai and Scientology have nothing new to offer and Scientology propounds a preposterous theory that believes in re- incarnation - and that infants are ancient adults trapped in childrens bodies.

When blind faith rules our mind then progress will always be tardy. When all think alike – then no one is really thinking. We still cling onto our secret Pagan roots even in our modern so called secular culture. Hence those who preach magic, miracles, mumbo jumbo and sham beliefs prosper feeding on our ignorance - whether polytheistic or monotheist a major chunk subscribes to these wanton beliefs.

Even though we are quick to embrace the advances of science and technology, and their innovations like the I phone, Skype and Internet - our modern culture suffers from a dearth of reverence, transcendence or a sense of awe for science, which is reserved only for religion and god. We must learn to harmonize scientific open mindedness with a sense of gratitude for the numinous without succumbing to superstition.

As Einstein stated “It is important to raise new questions, new possibilities, with creative imagination, which mark real advances in science. The discovery of the “God particle” is one such advance. In sciences unlike religion they want to be absolutely sure of the truth before claiming - hence only if it exceeds 5 sigma or 0.00006% chance of it being wrong is it announced, unlike, religious theories which are considered sacrosanct without any scrutiny!

The discovery of the Higgs particle or field, their behavior explains and unifies the fundamental forces of nature, including gravity and its mysteries. In blind faith there is no gravity that is why it sucks!
-Vinay-

I am what I am, I’ yam Popeye the Sailor Man!

Be yourself you don’t have to emulate anybody or follow any dogmas. I abide by this simple philosophy and follow what my heart speaks out to me loud and clear – doing everything that society and believers tell me I ought not to do. Many people at the fag end of their lifespan end up stating ‘’ I never did a thing that I wanted to do as it was forbidden”. Virtue is like a prison for the soul, that which does not kill us makes us happy.

I hate being the perfect man or boring role model and being told what to do and what not to do. I do not believe in playing by the rules and always rebel come what may and am willing to face the consequences. Life is all about being free to choose, free to express, free to ride into the sunset, free to follow your own bliss, live on the razors edge, knowing that delicious danger lurks round the corner.

As soon as you identify make your own choice that which you love ardently, build passion for what you love and pour your heart into it. Now that you have identified your secret bliss, spend your time pursuing it, irrespective of the consequences which form an additional thrill. Winning or losing, sin or virtue is immaterial as long as your heart is filled with joy. Buck tradition and blaze your own trail.

Consider a broader horizon that extends beyond the traditional boundaries of religion, society and the so called intelligent community. Change the rules of the game, be different, daring and bold that is the challenge, pick up the gauntlet.
You are unique don’t try to conform and change your embedded DNA be yourself.

Spend life passionately doing what gives you pleasure and identify the true thrill that resides in your soul – then you will nail the secret of a joyous, fruitful life. Venture and sail into the stormy blue ocean, live a life of discovery and the world will be your oyster. -Insane advice -Vinay- Ooops running out of spinach – the good stuff (marijuana).

GPS.

A set of 27 satellites orbiting the earth constitute a network, arranged such that at any given time four satellites are visible from any point on earth. The GPS receives all information into an electronic almanac and calculates its own location-latitude, longitude and altitude, via a mathematical principle called trilateration, based on the distance of three (3) satellites.

In the West especially USA every vehicle/car is fitted with a GPS System, so every time we set out to go to a destination, we type in the address, and the GPS takes over, it says turn left, turn right etc.But in reality every time whether it was my daughter driving in Boston or my sister driving in Dallas we would end up getting lost en-route and arguing with each other while the GPS nonchalantly goes on re calculating.

Every outing is like a real wild goose chase, with heated arguments and huge gas bills at the end of the trip. My sister even got lost while driving lack home, after picking us up from the Airport, while my daughter lost her way returning from the bus terminal.

Back home in India this fad and technological marvel has not caught on as yet, we still rely on the tried and tested method of slowing down, lowering the window and asking some pedestrian for directions. This works perfectly 99% of the time, except when some devious devil decides to give us wrong directions.
My uncle no matter how drunk he was would always be able to find his way back to his home- people attributed it to him devouring succulent homing pigeons as the hors d’ oeuvres. In some of the new large multiplexes I have to ask directions to even go to the loo.

They say there are many paths to the destination but if you are equipped with a GPS you will never find the true path. In Italy where all roads are supposed to lead to Rome, taxi drivers get flummoxed and end up fighting with the clients. I am waiting for GPS to be launched in India, then I can gift one to my wife and say get lost – till the latitudes and longitudes unto themselves divorce us. -Vinay

Wasted Days and Wasted Nights.

Strains of Freddy fenders song wafting through the F.M. radio took me back to the glorious days of my youth. Drinking played a crucial role in college days, love, celebrations, soirees, mingling amidst career anxieties were a heady cocktail – like drinking the wild music of youth: A time when you try to dissolve your dreams in alcohol and the haze of marijuana smoke.

Bonds of friendship, romance and professional camaraderie were always sealed with a drink, the magical substance that consents to be prosaic. Alcohol also had the power to destroy those very bonds and corrode our adult life. As Peter Hamil states,” In our youth we become aware of alcohol, tobacco and embrace it and later struggle to give it up”.

Drinking was as essential part of being a macho alpha male, an amber colored world of bars, nightclubs and discotheques where men and women would congregate to toast the amber colored liquid and exchange body fluids.

The culture of drink endures because it offers many rewards; confidence for the shy, clarity for the uncertain struck with stage fright, solace for the lonely/lovelorn – and above all the elusive promise of happiness albeit ephemeral. In the smug darkness of the saloons life is easier when you drink – as you imagine you can live life with greater lucidity.

Part of me still yearns for this aimless vagabonds solitude of my erstwhile drinking college life, carefree and without a care in the world. The sort of life everyone enjoys._ Vinay-

Satori

All religions state that theirs is the real path to salvation, liberation and nirvana. They claim that they can teach you proven and effective ways to attain it. Amidst all this cacophony, the voice of the soul is silenced and remains unheard, in the quest for the meaning of life.

There are various religious narratives to arrive at this liberation of the self- some involve unusual rituals albeit they claim it has miraculous power to attain spiritual fulfillment and meaning in our dreary lives .

All the paths in the religious world are meaningless without the essential idea of what salvation or nirvana is?

All of them use this USP to promote a glamorized form of faith, with a mystical juxtaposition of hollow words – moksha, liberation, salvation, nirvana and satori - scriptural semantics?

They all try to breathe life into something that holds no promise of existence a sort of shadowy platonism – a doctrine that abstract concepts exist independent of their different names, with a variety of esoteric meanings.

People and believers wait for that magical moment forever-singing hymns, paeans to god and goddesses, and there is a sort of religiously intellectual vanity in the entire process- a choreographed irrational dance of the dervishes.

So let me also propound the ultimate way to create instant satori, with phenomenal results. Doing absolutely nothing is the most appropriate mean for spiritual ascent. Go back into your inner house and spend time with someone you haven’t met for a long time: your inner self.

Surrender to the silence, though it may be hard to comprehend it initially because it is the way of peace. Celebrating the inner environment and exalting life with nature- bereft of religious paraphernalia and invocations to the divine. This is the actual Zen state devoid of all sound for that healing hush of satori

Bombshell .

Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini’ She was afraid to come out in the open, She was afraid someone would see her…

In 1946 July 1st, 66 year ago America exploded an atom bomb over Bikini Atoll an island in the Pacific. By sheer coincidence Louis Reard a French automotive engineer completed his quest to create the world shortest swimwear. In an inspired moment he named it the “Bikini “unfortunately it bombed in the marketplace with a cold reception from the fashionistas.

It took the sizzling bombshell and French actress Brigitte Bardot to revive the flagging interest, when she appeared clad in this revealing Bikini in the movie Marina in 1952. I still remember another Bombshell Bo Derek who appeared in the sizzling movie “Blow Hot Blow Cold”.

However it was only in 1962 when Ursula Andress, walked out in a white bikini in the James Bond movie D NO that it made waves and made a splash in fashion circles, since then the French Riviera and other beaches were flooded with women wearing bikinis and suntanning became popular. It also gave birth to the Brazilian bikini wax.

Today the bikini has outlived every fashion fad and was also the official uniform of the women’s Olympic Volleyball team. Yet the Bikini is still banned in public places like parks, station and streets and Governments in Islamic countries like Malaysia, Egypt, and Kuwait are debating on a total ban. Yet the Bikini unfazed has grown into a $ 13 billion industry would wide -Tracking Origins ETC-

Dances with the Daffodils.

When I first skimmed this poem in my youth, I thought it was one of those romantic poems that litter the landscape. Little did I realize that in that simple poem Wordsworth summed up an entire philosophy of life and it was loaded with meaning, depicting him wandering in a state of worldly detachment.

It has similarities with the dance of the Dervishes which represents the journey towards truth through love by jettisoning your ego and uniting body, mind, and heart. Lonely as a cloud depicts worldly detachment and unconcerned with immediate circumstances,pausing from our self- destructive pace of the treadmill of life.

Watching a blade of grass grow, an innocent child’s laugh or a host of daffodils symbolizes the rich experiences and sensations of life which we miss out because we are perennially caught up in our daily bustle and distractions of living. Mankind has perverted his own nature with this so called progress in modern society. We therefore forget to carry our cherished moments and treasured memories that happen accidentally every day.

The last stanza says it all, the essence of nirvana the bliss of solitude, heart full of pleasure and dancing with liberation and wild abandon, like the free willed daffodils fluttering in the breeze. Slow down and smell the zeitgeist (daffodils), forget the disconnected and dispassionate nature of our lives – a daily haze of anguish, religion, ritual and pointless moral codes of society. Civilization has destroyed our bond and connection with nature.

Dance is an expression of bliss and liberation accompanied by music which is the spiritual song of the universe. As Martha stated, dance is the hidden language of the soul – or a mystical journey and spiritual union with nature and your inner self. Rumi has defined dance eloquently…. Dance is not rising to your feet painlessly, like a speck of dust blowing in the wind. Dancing is when you rise above both worlds – tearing your heart to pieces and giving up your soul. -Dances with the wolves like Vinay-

What Meaning -Whose Life is it anyway ?

There are two tragedies in life. One is beleving that there is some mysterious and profound meaning in your life and then go searching for it.The other is never finding the meaning in your lifetime. In a world with few absolutes, death is decisively the culmination to our quest for the meaning of life.

The search for meaning of life is a product of religious culture, which influences going inward in the search for purpose, forever seeking your own identity. An unpleasurable state of mind an intense yearning, but with a lack of purpose as to how to find it.There is excitement but the aim is rather tenuos likea fantasy.Seekers go about like someone who has misplaced a valuable possession and inquires incessantly for its meaning - a sort of distraction and diversion from the realities of life.

These are lost souls, breaking beneath the burden of their own anguish engaged with the primary struggle of life, yet they search for hidden meaning to be found in random places- in the holy books, scriptures, promises of priests, gurus and mystics. They think some profound secret long buried in the past will unexpectelly turn up. A reveleation through images rather than narrative or casuality.

The meaning of life is not an artichoke where you forage the interpolated layer till you arrive at the centre. Life is morelike an onion, peel away the accreted layers of experience and at the centre you will find- nothing . We live and we die, don’t ask why because there is no lie, like the purpose of life- this is reality.

A Buddhist comparison, as cold as the conclusion of a metaphysical syllogism, a compassion not only for men but for all life which struggles,cries,weeps,hopes and dies - not perceiving that everything is a phatasmagoria of nothingness.

Life is meant to have a blast,living recklessly, living in the realm of timelessness; living up to desires.. to travel~ living place less… faceless, to caress the velvet reality … to glimpse at nowhere…-Vinay- Nike “Just do it “

Have faith in God.

My earliest childhood recollections echo these four words from the mouths of elders, society and clergy. They have been a refrain throughout my life – a sincere admonition from people, some of whom meant well and others who could never fathom my attitude towards religion and life.

Religion weaves a web of intrigue like the gossamer silk threads of a spider. The world is an array of traps for the unwary and the meek. Religion in the name of God has spread its subtle net across the globe. See how it gets under your skin, creeps inside your mind and even enters our bones.

As long as you are reckless and daring, you can remain amnesic to the true gospel of these religious scriptures. Following the herd is sameness and mediocrity, better to be bold and irreligious, there is no middle ground. As Marlyn Monroe stated ‘if I had followed the rules I would have never got anywhere.

If you cannot see God while you were alive, how do you expect a special vision or guest appearance once you are dead? Buck the tradition make your own Bible, we can all rise and fly with our own minds and thoughts. Giving vent to our hearts desires and enjoying life is a step towards real freedom. Don’t chicken out, drive your desires to the end of the precipice, you must take the risk for the ultimate adrenaline rush.

The Truth of the Matter.

The “Truth” is a word that is bandied about by everyone. The Bible says “the truth shall set you free,” Urdu literature proclaims. “Ain al Haque “I am the truth which was echoed by Sarmad the mystic before he was certified as a lunatic. All religions try to establish their own versions of the truth.

All search for the meaning of truth is meaningless unless you know what it means and how it will set you free. The original idea must spring out of your mind or at least we must have an intuition of the concept we are searching for as truth. In the absence of an idea, image or thought it borders on the ludicrous.

Searching for something called the “Truth “which we ourselves cannot imagine is inconceivable to me. It is like looking out from a crib on a dark and stormy night in search of an elusive Will ‘o” the Wisp. If one keeps hoping for an epiphany to inspire one’s search for the truth it will be a big disappointment. An ecstatic sense of waiting (for God…) a pure abstraction cannot give a further impetus for the search.

The main problem with all those who seek the truth is that they have not immersed themselves fully into this life on earth. Throw yourself into worldly activity; this is an ascetic exercise that will cleanse you of all impurities, like a dirty window. When I am involved with my work, mentally physically and psychologically then I am drained. I am depleted with a sense of enchantment & look forward to recharging my batteries with that amber liquid.

I then look forward ecstatically to the dawn of another day in paradise, glad to be alive and kicking. Life is a trip through an evanescent world it is sublime and with our freedom enjoy the mystery of existence. Isn’t that what life is all about, or do we have to complicate it with the search for “truth”. Truth the Upanishads states lies everywhere partially in our errors, disappointments, mistakes and even in lies. – VINAY-

Hope is for the Hopeless.

It wastes as much energy to search for the meaning of life as it does to live with abandon, walk on the edge celebrating an ecstatic life. The underlying pulsating essence is the sublime intention to choose with no regrets. Embracing the darker realities of life is as important as enjoying the brighter ones.

Instead of dissipating your time and energy searching for the elusive meaning of life, focus on the passion that excites you. As Marshal stated “for primitive man space and heaven was the uncontrollable mystery, for man in our technological age it is God and the meaning of life, that occupies the same role. Men have never shied away from experiment, stitching together myriad images of the supernatural.

However belief that propels one into action need not always be derived from a religion or scriptures, and contemplation does not mean breaking away from reality, transcending flesh and bone. Religion has encouraged an allergy of experiencing negative emotions by emphasizing that faith and prayers will help. One of the selling points of religions is to ask followers to have faith and hope, while instilling the morbid fear of death & damnation in their hearts.

Trying to stamp out negativity whenever it pops up is counter productive. Evolution from self absorption to the realization that life is unpredictable - you learn as you go along and we cannot change the past. This should not imply a severance from celebrating and enjoying life. Religions are unaware of the anguish of its believers, who are the borderline cases and like a pendulum swing from panic to serenity. Your success or failures in life will not be decided by the number of setbacks you encounter, but rather how you react to them.

The origins of our fears are buried in the unconscious and religion converts at onto a transactable commodity making us revisit the stone ages. Fear is our natural reaction and makes us move closer to reality. We all act in a certain way and we cannot change the inevitable with hope or prayer, its how you handle the situation that counts. Real enlightenment or overcoming fear is when we look inward – to find reservoirs of strength within ourselves, to define our internal idea and seek it with a purpose verging on the spiritual. –Vinay-

Cosmic Wealth.

You can’t after run after happiness, money or joy, if it happens it happens. Sometime we feel like failures- it helps to inject a healthy dose of sckeptism in us. It is a well know fact that when we try too hard to do something, it sabotages our attempts to do it. It is the same with achieving your goals, the pursuits of happiness or the acquisition of wealth. A holistic approach is always advisable.

If we slow down smell the zeitgeist, we may catch by the wayside of our pursuits, a spiritual creature that could alter our meaning of success, Working tirelessly for material success alone is where we fail as emotional creatures, to appreciate the various other aspects that we as human beings need for spiritual sustenance, apart from our attachment to this promiscuous world.

If our thoughts can be transformed into reality then the illusion will be shattered and the suspense will disappear. Wealth, happiness and success is perceived as the distillation of all that is desirable in this world, slowly it becomes a potent elixir, consuming us totally with its sensuality.

By ignoring the mundane and ordinary, which is floating miles above us, we miss the sweet nourishment of spiritual manna that is necessary to give us an exuberant reverie. This will only become evident when failure in our material pursuits turns to depression.

If we can return to quite introspection of our own private impersonal perception of the world our heart will be filled with pleasure and material desires will lose its allure, despite its wild carnal and sensual odors.
Valuing the real over the simulated or distinguishing the intrinsic from the sticky glossiness of worldly desires, will be rewarded with opportunities and bounties that abound all over in simple images.-Vinay-