Thursday, October 22, 2015

PARENT HOOD- ITS WISDOM BEHIND


I have become the father of first child and he is few months old. With the days pass by, I experience the level of responsibilities, the level of attachment and love that swirls within unknown spaces of my body and mind. The infinite, unfathomable depth of the sense of belonging, my child, my own flesh and blood puts me into inexpressible joy and happiness, which has bestowed me with a wisdom one step forward.The wisdom of Transitory existence strikes on thinking where, I was a child in the lap of my parents yesterday, but today myself holding one on my lap.
This feeling is what I believe my parents might have expressed same on seeing me or thinking of me from the day I was born. This opens my eyes to the fact that our parents are invincible, they are the Universe of one's existence, and the source of all love and care. So they deserve more (at least equal) love as what we feel for one's siblings.
But we come across many people who ignore their parents, disrespect their existence, considering them no better than one's power and position, or even fighting against them at times, in favor of one's sibling's happiness, prosperity and rights, which i now recognize as a sheer insane. The service of one's parents should never escape out of one's heart so that we teach the same lesson to one's siblings and reap same fruit.
So it is of paramount importance that we respect the cycle, which all of us are bound to experience and pass by.


Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Water fall- the comfort

Off-hills and swift bubbling flow,
Curling down along zigzag trail,
How ease it seems, to flow and flow,
Hoping for pertinent base,
From high to low, till oceans below,
One-colored azure sky, unstained,
Stains though intend to catch and lure,
But surpass not, shadow of tiniest roots,
Or some smelt ore to mesh, for only window,
Untouched yet to depth, by touching,
Of leisurely influential breeze passing round,
Why not same be men’s unseen mind,
Or one love with ease, an upward flow,
But comfort loves rolling down in haste,
Quests for brave shell,
Like mordant sweeping home,
Yesterday’s comfort gnawed, betrayed,
Greedy ones behind, hunting for tempting next,
So poisonous turns thence, brooding grief,
Soft and lethargic, tongue curled bound,
And every golden egg nature lay, transient
A gap nests in eager minds, though
Seldom far, melodies echo a trumpeting sweet,
Like oceans, turbulent and thirsty,
For long if one drinks to quench,
Or alike blazing fire, greedy again,
Thus, every inch the strolling measured,
Same distance, would nature flee,

And same length shall mankind rot.

Words of Wisdom

If we sow the seed of a medicinal herb in a pot of optimum conditions and nutrition, the herb will sprout to an adult plant and benefit world. At the same time, if we sow a poison, that poison too would grow and fruition from the same base of nutrition, but with harmful impact to the environment. Our body is like that pot and the plant growing in it is like our mind. This same body has the capacity to either nurture the mind of humanity and benefit world or become a beast, irrespective of one’s societal or spiritual background.

Monday, October 19, 2015

Speech presented during SAARC Sufi Festival, Jaipur, India, 2015

ACCEPTANCE- THE CULTURE OF HUMANITY

Now, if I say we should not harm others, or we should protect our environment, which religion should I belong to and what should be my background? I believe it is independent of any religion or culture, rather, genuine responsibility of a conscious human being. But most of our current societies are already tightened by some of the mental hurdles strongly ingrained in mind from generations, such as hierarchy; cultural, societal, blood, and so on. This in turn traps our mind into boundaries and restriction with discriminative thoughts, polluting one self, being the source of pride, fear and attachment. I believe, our religion or culture alone will never suffice to bestow us direct eternity and prosperity which most of the societies claim so, otherwise there should have been no one born on earth as diseased, addicts, poor, rejected, etc. being descended from one or the other religious and cultural groups. Further, we should also realize that, in almost all the societies and religious groups there are equally millionaires, there are philosophers, or poor and diseased too, all born from one womb, the mother earth. This is very evidence in itself to prove of equality. Never the less, it is not to blame our faith in divine forces, rather some weaknesses in human race, either through dilution of the truth over time or failure to apprehend its absolute essence. Just to take example of our mental poisons, anger, desire, hatred, etc which are the source of suffering for self, and suppose, if I harbour all these, then my blood line or the social status can’t do anything, even my religion can’t help me, and all efforts to its counter play should come from myself, witnessing my own progress, such that if someone suddenly starts to assault me and yet I am calm and composed, then at least I am free from the pain of anger, which could otherwise haunt me more than the physical pain of being thrashed, or I might lose my life trying to reciprocate with same emotion. Similarly, if my mind is occupied with ego on the power and status I own, then I shall suffer more when someone overtakes my position. So looking into these factors, I believe that if we are not able to achieve inert purity/subtle purity, then supposing to achieve physical purity through classification and differentiation with our mother planet and its components in the name of culture and religion will never suffice to bring peace and prosperity, rather than just creating barriers in achieving smooth livelihood, alike boulders and rubbles which creates hurdles on smooth flowing water.
To remind of few things passed down, some societies believe that the cow sacrifice is sin, while goat or chicken sacrifice seems acceptable, some practice killing specific animals as the demand of certain festivals or culture. There are societies who consume dog, horse, or so on, which some of us might find it disgusting. All these trends simply exist as a cultural inheritance from the parents, or the societies. But I believe that as a conscious being of one blood line, we should see all living beings as having one thing common; the feeling of pain and pleasure, composed of flesh, blood, emotions, etc. To share an experience, it was in 2010, while I was on tour to a place called Bumthang, half way drive up the hill, I noticed a calf running to and fro, bellowing with very unusual and frightened behaviour. It was midsummer and that slope was fully covered with bushy grasses. On closer watch, I saw a cow, supposedly his mother strangled with tethering rope, fallen inside the thick meadow, struggling and almost dead. Jumping out of my car, I climbed into that bush and immediately loosened the rope, providing support until she could wake up, where that calf just stood by my side with utmost silence, watching my progress of helping his loved one. Thereafter they started licking each other, in human term, hugging and embracing each other. Seeing diseased or dead isn’t uncommon, but the expression of that calf made me speechless, clouded with love and emotion. This is one example how every living being have the heart to love and care each other, no different from what I would have felt if my mother was in such trouble. Having come across few more of such incidences, I committed to become vegetarian thereafter, placing animals at the level of my heart, no matter whether my culture allows sacrifice of some or prohibit others, because the sentiments are same with all these animals, alike mine, or any one of us. Even the religious views of sin or the law of cause and effect is also more of self interest that I don’t want to suffer later. But respecting other’s rights, considering their pain and pleasure same as one’s own is a genuine wisdom and compassion, and this defines the humanity.
Genuinely speaking, if our mind is pre-occupied with negative emotions, then we should realize its breach that could be consequential to our micro and macro environment. By birth a child is not criminal, neither so good, he is innocent. But with time and understanding, his innate habits increases- tendencies for good or bad, pulled by his environment, which includes his parents, friends, culture and the society. When my child first picks up the language I speak, then he will also learn to do what he has seen me doing. To quote few of such inheritance still circulating in the societies, the culture of child marriages, the gender discrepancies, or some beneficial act either and this is how the social or anti-social activities gets inherited and passed down. Repeated exposure to such practices could lead to development of confidence in adopting next bold step, going to the extent such as discarding female births, murders or relevant social crimes, and from my careful analysis, one origin of such confidence could be the easy exposure and comfort seeing animal sacrifices and abuses happening everywhere, combined with untamed anger and wrong notion of the difference between self and others, not realizing that we all are the blessings on this earth where every individual has the right to live a life of his own accord, without fear of Earth asking anything in return.
Thus I believe that the only culture that will prevent future wars and destruction will be the culture of Humanity, and the epitome of this culture is the ‘acceptance’ against stubbornness of seeing differences in the name of religion, caste, wealth, status, etc. which has already destroyed most parts of our beautiful mother earth. Acceptance here doesn’t necessarily mean to adopt them all, rather appreciating its existence, or to the least refraining from viewing it negatively and making baseless interventions, as quoted by one of the greatest philosophers, HH the Dalai Lama- if you can’t benefit others, at least do not harm them. In the sense, suppose if we can’t provide livelihood to a beggar coming to doorstep, at least do not undermine their existence.
Only through proper analysis and understanding of all these truths, that we can expect societal harmony, regional harmony, or bringing peace in the world.

To conclude, if we sow the seed of a medicinal herb in a pot of optimum conditions and nutrition, the herb will sprout to an adult plant and benefit world. At the same time, if we sow a poison, that poison too would grow and fruition from the same base of nutrition, but with harmful impact to the environment. Our body is like that pot and the plant growing in it is like our mind. This same body has the capacity to either nurture the mind of humanity and benefit world or become a beast, irrespective of one’s background.

Friday, October 2, 2015

Parting parents


I wander through hills by fading streaks,
Lying cold over autumn lawns and wonder,
With guided streams of tears, all frosted over
To mere shiny foster sheath,
How did time fish away my tinted days,
How my parents rejoiced my first leap then,
But now they growing senile gray,
And sorrows budding to full everywhere,
Now hath all sand dune bells rung to silence again,
Where once I flared throughout, my merry heart,
Across sharp edges of powdery lands
In my juvenile ages of move and fall

As though cloudburst of gray monsoon striking,
Punches thus my weakened walls too,
Peeling it to thinner and lean,
With blossoms of bliss burrowed ruthlessly,
And beasts pinning beats to zeal-less numb,
All within their diminishing arch

I pray all my divines heartily,
To breathe my joy to live again,
But globe never turned to betray laws,
For time hath been the sun in west
Marching unanchored, sealing east

I try to hold those times when I cried,
Or to hold those times I laughed
But proving softer than dissolving dews,
Through hidden base of creviced palms
Which, by virtue of phenomenon spell,
Every ‘now’ dissolves and disintegrates.







Earthlings


O cease, the fire of human desires,
From pleasant tasting, sight or sound,
All from my pondering heart,
Or paint my earth with one,
So would I track, no red roses bloom

O swirl, you crazy silent creep,
Down a cold wintry night,
Swirl me; my origin, away from town,
So would I perceive then, how chill fight,
In wild, those shrunken deer down

O nurture, my nerves with selfless songs
Or bless my inner flowing,
Chaste and truth, of divine’s choice,
So would I sow, heavens here,
All bud fast and humane bloom

O bath, you holy shower; my body
An engorged vessel of greed and pride,
So would I prove, my flesh built,
Nurtured earth that grew outside,
Which, then breathed to new life in spring,

But what holds me so blind,
Like fallen prey on a sticky web,
Locking hard my inner sight,
And swaying me, like a paper flight,
Soiling my reason to fruitless toil

Is it all, by divine bond of mother’s love?
Or growing greens from same soil,
That mix in my greedy blood,
Slanting my conscience, like summer flood,
Or caged dark in a sealed narrow vaunt

O heavens, soil-less souls,
Please rain down, and hold me too,
Keep me by your revered self,
And nail me to your healing wing,
For I would soothed be, a divine’s slave,

Than the height of worldly king