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Thursday 31 July 2014

Being Single - A novel on the blog part 1

It is raining outside. I sit by the side of window. The window glasses have gathered moisture and I cannot see what is going out clearly. But still I can feel it. I can hear the sound of drops of water rushing from the sky towards the ground. I am uneasy. I don’t know why. At times I feel I am pessimist and at times I am just anxious. There is very thin line between the two and it is difficult to differentiate. I am all alone. I feel more lonely when it rains. Rains are romantic, aren’t they? Then why am I feeling so terrible. Something is wrong. Something is missing. I am at that point of life, where complacency should not creep in. I am just thirty one with good fortune and I am divorced. Let us not go into the reasons of latter. My mother wants me to get remarried and I want to have kids. But still I am anxious of getting into any alliance. My mother had called me this morning to remind me that I have to go to her house this Sunday without fail, where we are going to see a girl. Forgive me for the choice of words but that is the term in vogue for many many years and it is really difficult to have a more sophisticated choice of words. How do two people meet in a chaos of parents, uncles, aunties and cousins, spend few minutes with each other in private and take the most important decision of their lives? I don’t understand. Yes, I had gone by the same route and got wounded. I don’t want to trample the same path again. If I have got an another chance, I would love to take the road which I have less travelled. Love marriage. My friends who are already fathers and mothers of five years old laugh at me. “There is nothing like romance, there is only marriage,” they tell me when they wait for a smoke and tell their wives over the phone that they are busy in an urgent meeting which was called by the boss impromptu. “Find a nice girl and get married. Have children and you will be happy. Don’t think too much. Don’t expect too much.”
The rains don’t seem to stop. I hanker to have a cup of tea. I go to my tiny kitchen. The kitchen looks darker due to the black clouds. I notice stains on the marble tiles of the kitchen platform for the first time. Some of them are blackish, some just oily and most of them yellowish. I place the pan on the stove. I open the fridge to find milk. There is no milk. I decide to have black tea and boil the decoction. I come to the drawing room with my tea and switch on the TV. News is all that I see. I know the news that I see doesn’t make any real difference to my life. But still I see them just as my middle class parents saw. The news channels are telecasting the news of landslides in some remote rural parts of Maharashtra.  Everybody is claiming their ground zero reports to be exclusive. The land slide has provided them fodder which will last for at least a week. The pictures depicting one village throbbing with life being reduced to rubble of stone and mud are disturbing. The young anchor is busy describing the mass funeral of the twenty one dead bodies removed from the debris in detail. I remember my father’s funeral. My father died all of a sudden of a heart attack. I was just twenty one then. I could not believe that my father would never wake up again. He was gone forever. Since then I am insecured about every relationship of mine. I feel that death would snatch every person with whom I get close. I feel I will die any time. What is the use of having lofty dreams then? I felt that this would just be a passing phase. But it wasn’t. It has been more than ten years after my father’s death, but still I don’t trust life.
The news channel move to display pictures of a young woman and her four month old child who were rescued from the debris. They were buried for more than twenty eight hours and yet escaped the nightmare without a single scratch. The sight of the baby changes my mood. Babies carry so much of optimism with them. I feel a bit better. I am happy that still there is something green within me. I switch off the television and go and stand in the porch. Suddenly even the blackest of the clouds appear beautiful to me. I notice the stalk of grass dangling in glee. My entire garden, the open space in front of my house, is wearing a greenbelt. What I call my garden is actually a pasture land. When the rains will stop, the cows standing under the expanse of the big banyan tree will come again to graze. The bells in their necks will crinkle. There is so much innocence in nature. Why? Nature thinks only about today. It lives in the moment. It doesn’t label things, places, people and situations as good, bad or grey. Yes I know that. I have read that so many times. But I am human and I accept myself most of the times, if not always.
The phone rings. I go inside the house and pick the phone. It is my mother. She enquires as to whether it rained in Bandhihole. I tell her yes and describe the meadows I had just witnessed. She asks me not to get wet and change my clothes immediately in case I don’t listen to her. “Wipe your head properly.” She tells me. This is what makes me love her in spite of all the differences that we have. She lives in Mumbai alone. She is very social person. She loves to talk. She will tell the same thing several times in the same conversation and that is what irritates me the most. Seeing that I am irritated she says, “I am going to talk less.” “What is the need to say that?” I ask her. She doesn’t take words seriously, no matter whether they come from her mouth or mine. She continues to tell me seventh time over the phone that her sister Shashi, my aunt had called her and told her that her son-in-law has purchased a flat at Pune. I just nod my head and listen to her in patience. I had read somewhere that to be a good parent, you have to be patient. But still I guess I am not qualified to be a good parent. I ask her not to tell the same things again and again. She finally hangs up.
It becomes dark. It is still raining. Now I can see nothing from the window. I step out of the door in a hopeless hope of seeing the green meadows again. But gone is the greenery, grazing cows and innocence of the nature. It is pitch dark outside. The power goes off. I come into the house and bolt the door from inside. I don’t have an inverter. Bandhihole is a remote place. I plan to buy one when I go to the district place. But I get little time to go to the district place. My work consumes my most of time. I teach the villagers all about environment. The NGO with whom I work bears the little expenses which I have in this quaint village. It has been a year that I am living in Bandhihole. No friends, no family. I am all alone here. To be honest I love this loneliness. It brings me closer to myself. Yes at times I lose control. But still I love being alone. No birthday parties no marriages to attend. No social obligations and no need to adhere to expected social norms. Its fine here if I don’t shave daily. It’s alright if I wear a crumpled shirt. I can have the pleasure of bathing late or skipping the path. No hurry to reach office in time and get the card punched. No peer pressure of fitting in. I am much happier here than I was in my college. Yes, did I tell you that I was teaching at a college in Mumbai? I loved teaching that is all I can say. Please don’t ask for more.
With nothing to do I slump into the bed. The thoughts of marrying again keep coming. Mind plays all the games. I get married and stay happily forever with two children of mine. In another game, I get a wife with terrible temper. Again I decide not to marry only to construct the faces of my grandchildren in my mind. The dilemma continues.
I sit erect in my bed and start meditating. Becoming a Sadhu appears to be the only option available which will guarantee me peace of mind. But I have a mother. I cannot think of being a Sadhu. I feel jealous of those mendicants who travel in ecstasy with no worries of family. I wish I could afford that kind of luxury. I know I can’t. But I wish I could.
I come back to my mundane world and think of the things that bother me. I am supposed to teach the villagers all about reducing plastic wastage the next day. In this village and villages nearby plastic is considered as a sign of modernity. There are plastic bags everywhere. If you have one you are smart. If you offer eatables in plastic plates you are educated. I don’t know wherefrom the villagers gathered all these impressions. But they do carry them is a reality. My previous speeches about reducing plastic usage replay in mind with every minute detail, with expressions on the faces of the villagers and their inappropriate laughter too. Some time in midnight sleep drowns me. 
To be continued...

Worth a ride

This is the easiest of all movies to review. Golmaal returns is worth a ride provided you adhere to some rules. 
1. Be least bothered whether it is remake of  "Aaj ki Taja Khabar" or any other Madrasi movie. 
2. Do not expect it to have anything to do with its prequel. Undoubtedly it shares nothing with the prequel except the name. 
3. Do not expect any great performances from actors like Ajay and Kareena. 
4. Do not be bothered if the characters are not properly sketched. It really does not matter whether Kareena watches Balaji’s Soaps or sells washing soaps. 
5. If you are ardent fan of Sawariya and Om Shanti Om, be mentally prepared to watch ample digs on the said movies. 
6. Do not misunderstand if Shetty’s next movie having some thing golmaal in its title to be the sequel to this movie. 
  
Note; If you do not strictly adhere to these rules, the joy ride may turn into a Nightmare

This is my review of  Nov 03, 2008 12:19 PM revisited.

Fashion no passion

It is high time that the entire cast and crew of Fashion should try their hands on something new.  The subject dealt by Madhur is indeed eyeballs widening, but this time owing to bad script he lacks the sensitive handling of the subject like he did in Page 3.  The movie drags on. No character except that of Kangana Ranaut is well written. The research is superficial and the way Meghna’s career graph goes up is far from imagination. It would have been wise to portray her progress in some more reels and in a realistic way. There are unnecessary tracks like the gay designer marrying the model chic and both of them discussing adopting a child. Fashion needed much better editing job. Atleast half an hour of the film needs to be chopped of. Of the performances Kangana plays the depressed, drunkard and psychic character for the nth time. Time to try some thing new baby. Mugdha Godse does a decent job. Priyanka Chopra is an average lady in all terms except her luck. Her luck got her the beauty crown even after wrong answer. Her foray into movies is also a luck. In fashion she fails to look a struggling model or later a supermodel. She looks average in all terms start to end.  She may end up bagging few awards. But that again is attributable to her luck that this year there has been no movie with a female protagonist. To sum up fashion lacks the passion and is best to be avoided. The music of the movie does not even deserve a mention.

Review done by me on Nov 03, 2008 12:01 PM  is revisited.

Wednesday 30 July 2014

Yash finds solution in JIFI

“Yes Mr. Rockstar. Well come to my hovel.” I greeted my younger cousin Yash.
Yash entered the room. He was sweating. He wiped the pearls of sweat on his forehead with his t-shirt which said “No Facebook. No Twitter. No life.”
“So had great fun in Goa? Saw your pictures on Facebook. I wish I could have stayed forever in college.”
“Don’t remind me of college.” Said Yash.
“Why? Don’t you love your college?”
“Not any longer.” Said Yash.
“Why?”
“They have withheld my scholarship and asked me to open an account.”
“Then what is the problem? In a bid to bring transparency everything is linked to a bank account.”
“I don’t have a bank account.”
“Then open one.”
“I had been to open one. But there were long queues in the bank. There was utter chaos. I don’t think this system can work for me. I am not accustomed to standing in long queues.”
“But you can spend several hours on Facebook and Twitter?”
“Bhaiyya don’t sound old. Don’t drag my Facebook and Twitter into this like my Mom and Dad. Had I told them about my problem I am sure they would have delivered a series of sermons on me wasting time on the internet.”  
“But I am not telling you not to use Facebook and Twitter. The point I want to make is operating a bank account is as simple as using Facebook and Twitter. Rather you can operate your account using Facebook and Twitter.”
“My dear brother please I am in no mood to take any jokes.”
“Yash, I am damn serious. Kotak Mahindra Bank has launched Jifi, a fully-integrated social bank account. Jifi transcends digital banking by seamlessly incorporating social networking platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.”
The twinkle in Yash’s eyes was evident. It was the same twinkle which I was familiar with. It was the same twinkle, which I had seen when I had placed a chocolate on his greedy hands when he was a toddler. It was the same twinkle, which had appeared when I gifted him his first bicycle. It was the same twinkle, which had surfaced when I sponsored his first date. Yash had grown up before my own eyes.
“Come on bhaiyya. Tell me more. I am all ears.” My reverie was broken by Yash’s voice. His baritone reflected both his youth and impatience.
With Jifi, Kotak takes banking to the next orbit by providing a hassle-free proposition to tech-savvy persons who prefer to stay online at all times.”
“How can I open one?”
Right now the, Jifi is available by invitation only.”
“I am disappointed.” Yash said as he leaned against the headrest of the couch.
“Darling have patience. Let me complete. Simply invite yourself through the Facebook or Email option available on the homepage, to get started. You will receive an exclusive invitation from us to open your Jifi account.”
Yash leaned forward and asked “What are the documents that will be required?”
“To verify your identification details, you need to submit your PAN Card, Aadhar Card or Passport. To verify your address, you can submit your home Electricity or Telephone Bill. In the absence of these documents, other relevant KYC  documents will be accepted.”
“Cool.” Now Yash was engrossed in the conversation.
Jifi also has a loyalty point programme encourages high level of interactivity among account holders. You can earn transaction and social points on referring friends and online transactions. Makemytrip, Jabong, Ebay, BookmyShow is  where you can redeem your points. In addition to transacting on social media platforms, you can  also transact through net banking and the Kotak Mobile Banking app.”
“But what if my Facebook account gets hacked.” Yash was worried of the crimes in cyberspace.
“If the Facebook or Twitter account of the customer is hacked, then the hacker will be at the most able to see your reward points and use those points. But he will not be able to do any transactions or check your bank balance. Your banking details will be fully secure and cannot be seen by the hacker. For transactions, you have to log in to net banking.”
There was a sigh of relief on Yash’s face, albeit momentary. He dropped in another question.
“That is all right. But is it a real bank? Will I get an ATM card?”
“Of course, it is. While queries relating to account balance, spending and transaction details  will be available on the social platforms and can be accessed from anywhere in the world, Jifi customers will have access to all conventional bank offerings pan-India including branch and ATM network, a Platinum debit card, Internet and phone banking access.”
“Bhaiyya the account is so much like you. Though you have all the worldly experience that comes with age, you are still willing to adapt to the new age. You are so unlike my Mom and Dad.”
“Yash should I take it as a compliment or are you by any chance calling me an old hog? Let me give you one old man’s advice,” I adjusted my specs and took a deep breath “Yash you must save money. I know you wish you could but you can’t.  Here also Jifi comes to your help. Balances of over Rs.25,000 will be automatically moved into fixed deposits thereby fetching good interest."
“Thank God! At least now my parents won’t criticize everything new that I adopt.”
“There is some good news too. The Kotak Jifi account is a zero minimum balance current account.”
Hearing the words zero minimum balance, Yash immediately took out smart phone from his pocket and played with the keypad.
“What are you doing Yash?”
“Inviting myself to the Jifi account.”
“I am happy that one person who was out of the banking net is coming into it. Thanks to social bank account.”
“But bhaiyya how do you know so much about it?”
“Do you think you are the only one who is net savvy?” I said and both of us had a good laugh.
Visit official website of Kotak Jifi and bank while having all the fun.



Monday 28 July 2014

Anger Management

I had accompanied a friend to an office for his work. He had assured me that it would not take more than five minutes. I was checking my watch. Five, ten, thirty minutes had passed, but he was not out. I was becoming restless. He came out after good 150 minutes. I was furious. “ Do you realize that you made me wait for more than two hours? You had told me that it is matter of just five minutes?” I asked him as I was fuming.
Suddenly a smile broke on my face. I was happy for I had been angry after so many years. I thanked him for making me angry. I was going through a very bad phase of life then. I had begun to meekly accept all the situations, all the people who came my way, without being angry on them. Today suddenly this anger emerged out of me. I was happy as I was still alive and my heart was still beating. Anger is a natural quality of humans. Its absence had made me feel like I was dead all those years. I felt like I was out of my grave. We had a party that evening for I had become angry for all those years. Though it may sound odd, it is true.
If anger is a human trait, why are so many people in this world doing all sorts of stuff to control it. They read religious scriptures, attend workshops just to control this human characteristic. Can you control your anger? This question is never posed as all of us believe that yes we can. If you ask me this question my answer would be no. You cannot control your anger. You can only manage it. Just like you cannot control a disaster, you can only manage it.
Why does a person get angry? Let us just try to find out the answer to this question. Close your eyes for few seconds and remember the moment when you were angry. What was the reason for your anger – your spouse did not wear the dress you wanted her to wear, your child did not score good scores in his examination, your boss did not give you the pay hike that you deserved or just as silly as someone was playing loud music and did not listen to your request of switching it off. Now if you rethink over these situations you would certainly agree that the reasons were really silly. If today these situations arise you would react in a different manner. But then if you have this knowledge why did you get angry at first instance. The reason for your anger was not that dress of your spouse, not that bad scores of your child, the act of your boss of your boss of not giving you the payhike or the loud music. The reason for your anger was that the other person did not act according to your wish. Think over it!
Now again think of all those moments that made you angry. Again consider the reasons for your anger. Now for the entire next week whenever you get angry, you just try to find out the reasons for your anger, until I am back with the next part of this topic.
Keep Smiling
Mahesh Sowani
PS Let me know if you agree with me or disagree, but with reasons. If you have any personal queries relating to the subject feel free to ask the same. I would try to resolve the same.

Tantra

Today I am going to talk about the esoteric path of Tantra. Tantra is  misunderstood all over the world. To the west it is sex and its complicated humanly impossible postures. To the east it is black magic.

Tantra says that the world exists in duality. Kali mata represents both the good and bad forces. She governs the universe. So   unacceptable things to accepted religious beliefs like meat, eggs and even liquor are not disregarded by the Tantrics as ugly. According to them everything is created by the some primordial source and hence everything is holy. There cannot be anything unpious in the world created by the Mother herself.


It would not be wrong to say that Tantra is a science. Modern science believes that everything is made of the same atoms and by changing the atomic structure we can change the matter. Applying the same principle Tantric Masters were able to convert even flesh of dead body into sweets and liquor into water of the Ganges. At the same time it is to be noted that a large part of the tantric knowledge has been lost in the course of time.

You will seldom find those well versed with the Tantric knowledge coming before the world and telling us about their knowledge. They will not write any books nor give any interviews. Even in the documented tantric texts like Soundarya lahiri, the most vital part of the process is always missing. It is always given by word of mouth to the disciple.



Indian masses often crowd the Masters in hope of getting quick fix solutions to their domestic problems. This can be a hindrance in the path of Masters as they are disturbed in their spiritual practices. Hence the Tantriks began to move to places where ordinary householders would not disturb them. This is how they found the way to the Samshans or the cremation grounds. In a further attempt to keep away the disturbances they smeared themselves with ashes, carried human skulls and even sprinkled liquor on their clothes. 

Tantra is neither a religion nor is it a sect. Tantra principles are essentially individualistic and the Master is simply a guide. The premise that the whole universe resides within the human form forms a basis in the Tantric schools as well. 


The tantric places like Ujjain, Varanasi, Haridwar are regarded by the devotees like any other religious places. However, these are the places which are conducive to the practices. They are the laboratories of Tantra where all the apparatus, chemicals are readily available. Moreover it is not just the shrine, but everything around the shrine upto few kilometers is holy and vibrates with the energies of Masters who have performed their practices there. It offers you a good opportunity to tune yourself with the frequencies of the great Masters and move towards the higher levels of understanding.

Bringing regularity in meditation

This is my favourite topic. How to bring regularity in the practice of meditation is one of the most asked questions. Devote a specific time for your practice and follow it strictly. This should be the ideal answer to the question. But do you think that seekers like you do not know this. If they know then what is the problem? The problem is that we have been taught to degrade ourselves. We have been taught to say publicly that we are unworthy of the good things in life, including enlightment. To add fuel to the fire we are taught to be dishonest under a sweet garb called diplomacy. So our thoughts and actions are not in sync. With this background let me give you some practical tips to bring regularity in meditation.
1.    Tell yourself that you are worthy of self realization. Every person including even those whom we call insane are capable of being enlightened. The whole universe resides within all of us. So before you sit for your practice tell yourself that you are worth of the highest spiritual experience.
2.   It is ok to miss practice for a day owing to some reason. Don’t feel guilty about it. But at the same time don’t find silly excuses for missing your practice.
3.   The mind gets bored. So try different meditation techniques.
4.   Meditation doesn’t require renouncing the material world, going to the Himalayas or attending some course which charges hefty fees. Remember a course for a week or month cannot guarantee you any instant results. Beware of cleverly marketed meditation packages. Keep in mind that for your enlightment you will have to work. You will have to ignite the passion to find out the ultimate truth. The saying that there is nothing like free lunch applies here as well.
5.   Start from where you are. The very fact that you want to know the ultimate truth goes to show that you are loved by the Divine. You are blessed by Him.  He is always there around you.
6.   Don’t run away from your duties. That is cowardice. Do your duties and steal time for meditation from your daily schedules.
7.   Love yourself. Don’t condemn yourself for the bad things that you did in the past. That was bound to happen. Love will bring in acceptance and your past will not disturb you while you are meditating.
8.   I know that you are still seekers, stumbling along the way, unsure of which path to take. But still teach someone how to meditate. You may ask your best friend or spouse to simply sit idly without doing anything for ten minutes. You may also forward the link of this blog to your friends. That will make you accountable and make meditation a part of your daily routine. Remember whatever you cause to happen in the lives of others increases in your lives many fold. With lots of love and best wishes. You can be enlightened too.

Benefits of meditation

Benefits of Meditation is the magnet that attracts millions of souls world over towards meditation. What is more interesting that research has been conducted by renowned institutes with regard to meditation and its benefits.  It is scientifically proved that meditation has astonishing benefits on the mind, body and the soul. Let us discuss some of them

  • ·     Meditation keeps you young – For all those who spend a fortune on cosmetics to keep themselves young, there is good news. Have you ever wondered what makes the body old? The researchers have found an answer that body becomes old due to degeneration of telomeres. Telomeres are the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes. Meditation protects these caps and delays the process of aging. I can see the smile on your wrinkle free faces.
  • ·     Meditation reduces blood pressure – Meditation significantly reduces the blood pressure. In some cases even medication was dropped. However, we precaution you not to give up any medication without the advice of your doctor.
  • ·     Lowers Cholesterol - On analysis it was revealed that the lipid profile of meditators showed lower values in triglycerides.
  • ·     Enhances brain performance – Research has revealed that the brain is capable of being trained and physically modified beyond human imagination.
  • ·     Reduces pain – Meditation reduces pain, even more effectively, than the pain relieving drugs.
  • ·     Meditation better than sleep – Meditation relaxes the body and leads to increased performance.
  • ·   Boosts immune system – The more you meditate, the better your health is.
  • ·     It brings you near to the Greater Consciousness – Meditation brings you closer to God.
  • ·    Peace of mind – Meditation gives you a serenity and peace of mind which cannot be described in words.
  • ·     Inculcates virtues -  When you meditate regularly, it has been noticed that you become patient, benevolent, loving, caring, non-violent, compassionate, helping, give up bad habits like smoking, drinking, stealing, lying.
  • ·  Destroys bad karma – Meditation destroys your bad karmas and eliminates its results.
Dear ones, though these are some of the benefits of meditation, regular prolong practice is necessary to notice these benefits. Meditation is not a magic wand nor is it a fairness cream which promises to make you look fair in four weeks, of course as a result of strong chemicals.  The purpose of telling you the benefits is to encourage you to meditate. Even if you read this article once in a day, I am sure you will meditate every day. God bless. Peace be to all.
References
1.   Time Magazine 27/07/2003
2.   Studies carried out at Government Medical Colleges and Hospitals in Mumbai
3.   The Observer UK 23/04/2011
4.   Shamatha Project at University of California, Davis
5.   Annals of the New York Academy of Science.
6.   New Scientist November 2005
7.   Research at Massachusetts General Hospital and Wake Forest Baptist Medical Centre
8.   Los Angeles Times 29/10/2007
            9.   The Washington Post 03/01/2005

First flower

When people tell me they want to learn meditation, I ask them why they want to learn it. Usually they do not have any concrete answer. However, some are candid enough to share their true answers. From years of experiences I have learnt that people want to learn meditation for the following reasons
  •         Peace of mind
  • ·     To cure physical and mental illness
  • ·     To reduce stress
  • ·     Curiosity about supernatural powers of adepts called Siddhis
  • ·     Get rid of the things they are guilty about
  • ·     They had enough of sensory enjoyment. Now they yearn for the   higher good
  • ·     Everybody is meditating
  • ·     It is fashion to speak about meditation
  • ·     They love meditating
  • ·     Students feel that by meditating (and not studying) they will get good marks
  • ·     They love meditating
I don’t condemn any of these reasons. At least these reasons make them aware of their true nature. Once I agree to teach meditation people ask me what is meditation. They want a definition of meditation like that of solid, liquid and gases, which they were taught in schools.
Meditation defined         
Sitting silently, doing nothing
Spring comes and grass grows by itself
I give people experience of meditation; still they want me to define meditation in words. After much persuasion I define meditation for them. Meditation, I tell them, is doing nothing.  Yes, you heard it right. Meditation is doing nothing. The disappointment on their faces is palpable. No, they say, meditation cannot be not doing anything.
Now it is my turn to learn from them. For some time they forget that I am the one who is going to teach them meditation. They are still to come out of the mode of denial. They want me to redefine meditation. Come on, it has to be doing something, concentrating on the point between the eye brows, staring continuously at the flame of a candle, breathing exercises, they tell me. They would have been happy if I had told them that meditation is seeing beautiful colourful lights with closed eyes. Meditation is levitating. Meditation is kundalini jagaran. Meditation is rising of the dormant serpent at the base of the serpent. Meditation is zen. Meditation is past life regression. Meditation is producing objects from the air. Meditation is achieving of Siddhis. Meditation is just doing some stretching exercises. Meditation is tantra and copulating while doing headstand. Meditation is this and meditation is that. In today’s age of consumerism, just add few specs of spices in the form of above jargons and the homemade stale roti or bread, becomes a hot selling pizza which will reach your home within forty minutes on payment of a hefty sum.  Meditation is reduced to a commodity which is grown at some exotic location and which can be purchased for a few dollars. You check in an ashram with five star amenities, stay there for a fortnight and check out as enlightened souls. This is what impression people carry about meditation. People are happy to hear such definitions and get instantly enlightened. But I will not lie to you. Because on the true spiritual path one does not lie. Moreover, I am not a commodity for sale for sure.
Then too, let me attempt to define meditation. Meditation is the end result of successful practice of simple techniques, liking sitting quiet and doing nothing. That is why I call it as flowering of the soul. In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras it is the seventh step of the eightfold path and is called Dhyana. According to Patanjali in deepest meditation one experiences the eighth step of communion with God which is known as Samadhi. Meditation quiets the mind. The silent mind becomes an observer and becomes aware of the advanced states of consciousness. No wonders the words meditation and medicine come from the same root which means healing. While the latter heals the body, the former heals the soul. Not only does it heal the soul but makes it blossom.
The Technique
Against the aforesaid background let me begin by teaching you a simple technique.  The word teaching hurts me. Please tell me whether any one taught you how to eat, how to sleep, how to pee and how to shit? It came naturally to you.  Do you know that even the child in the womb defecates? Yes you were disciplined by telling to sleep on the bed that too only during night time. You were taught table manners and were given toilet training. You would be surprised to know that like the aforesaid basic urges, you knew how to meditate even before you were born. I am just going to conduct a sort of refresher course for you.
So now let us come to serious business. If I don’t teach how to meditate today, you would strangulate me to death. So I teach you a very basic technique.

Sit in any comfortable posture. In the beginning do not meditate by lying down. Chances are that you may revert to the most basic form of meditation called sleeping. Close your eyes. Even if the body is stiff it is alright. Even if you are feeling some pain it’s alright. With closed eyes feel your breath. There is a pause once you inhale. There is a pause when you exhale. Just observe the pauses. Even if someone is playing loud music in the background and you can hear it, it is okay. You listen someone talking over the phone. It is alright. Cars are honking and donkeys are brazing. Perfect. Just observe the pauses. Congratulations my friends you have learnt to meditate. 

Wednesday 23 July 2014

Black 5



Black is always special. We Maharashtrians have a special place for black in Sankrant festivities. Sankrant is synonymous with tilgud and black. Newly weds are dressed in black attire. Even small children celebrate Sankrant by wearing black dresses. Short mein bole toh, Indian culture regards black as holy, auspicious and the colour of the Lord Krishna.
So here is my list of five black things which I want.
1. Tablet
Black dominates the gazette world too. Mostly all the gazettes are of the colour black. Even I wish to possess a black tablet. Black makes the tablet look soft, smooth and glossy, short mein bole toh sleek.
2. Black suit
Would you like to have a man who is dressed in pink suit as your husband/boyfriend? Yes I know that the metrosexual man exists. But women like men dressed in black suits. Black makes man a gentleman. He is suave yet very very masculine. Short mein bole to date pe jana hein to black hi lucky colour hoga.
3. LED TV
I am dying to have a LED TV. I am yet to see a television set which is not black. Such is the power of black that no one even thought of having a yellow television set. Short mein bole toh black is irreplaceable.
4. Car
For me black is elegant. Black is style and black is being royal. I wish to have a  luxurious black car.  Short mein bole toh hum kale hain to kya hua stylewale hain.
5. Bag
I love travelling. Even black stands out here. Black luggage doesn’t get dirty soon and also does not draw unwanted attention. No wonders that black luggage is always in demand. I want to have a black two wheel flight case with overnight bag of the same colour ie. Black. Short mein bole toh black is the colour of all seasons.
This post is a part of #WhatTheBlack activity at BlogAdda.com