Working from the realm of God

Many a days have I spent reading history books. Many a days have I spent being infuriated with some people at the atrocities perpetuated by them. This anger in me, and the atrocities perpetuated by them stems from the same ego. A religion or an ideology can take you to heaven or take you to the depths of hell. This hell or heaven can be on the earthly plane of existence or in many of the causal or subtle worlds.

While I think it is a good thing to know what is happening in the world around you and to what happened to our ancestors in the past, it can be detrimental to oneself if one gets struck in the mire of negative emotions like anger, greed, jealousy etc etc. These contribute tremendously to stress. Someone told me something and it did not fit my image of myself. This naturally upsets me. This 'image' of myself is the ego. Most often, the person who makes the remark might have made it from this same ego centric plane and our response to it might come from the same plane. This certainly is the leading cause of all the conflicts in the world. A lot of our problems and stresses in life are self created. If these are not held in check they can certainly lead to physical ailments. In a way I guess ailments are bodily feedback mechanisms, telling you to stop doing whatever you are doing wrong. Focusing on negative emotions, finding faults with others and ourselves, not being in the present moment.

If on the contrary we can reach a stage called that of the "Sthithapragna" by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavat Gita, we can respond to any unpleasant situations from a higher plane which is the non-ego plane or the realm of the self (God). From here, all our actions will be more natural, more practical and logical. So contrary to what many people say, it is a good thing to go into your inner sanctum and stay there and draw the breath of God.

My Liege

I left home seeking world conquest
I wanted to become rich and famous

I went to one rich city after another
I was dazzled by the wares of the merchants

I spent considerable time haggling with the merchants
Trying to buy articles I really did not need

On the way I saw the emperor of the Universe
In the guise of a beggar seeking alms

I was enamored by the face and sought his help
He took me back home and asked me to sit quiet

In exchange for 2 coins he gave me the world

I wanted to sing of my beloved and share my wealth

"Sit still" said my liege, "speak only if required!"

I sat still drinking the intoxicating rays of the moon

I ran out unrestrained to the point

Where the starry heavens kissed the earth

And I whirled and danced like the galaxies and star dust

Much to the consternation of the merchants of the city

"Which drink has intoxicated this rogue?" they asked

The wine of my beloved's presence I replied!

Tavern of Love

I walked into the market on a starlit night
Where merchants of different religions had set up shop

They rushed at passersby showing their wares
They fought with each other to get to the customer

Their wares were alluring and I was momentarily dazzled
I stood there unable to decide and confused

I bought some items from different merchants
I haggled with everyone on the overpriced items

I took the wares home and looked at them
Gone was the momentary happiness that I derived from them

Saddened I walked outside the cottage towards the neem tree
There sat a fakir gleaming in the night at the foot of the tree

"Listen not to the merchants of death" said the Fakir
He took me to his tavern and served me the wine of love

I was never this intoxicated with love
The Tavern turned out to be God's paradise

One look at the Fakir's face proved
That this is the face of God

Like a river I drifted intoxicated in love
And I merged into the clear blue waters of the ocean

A Slug fest of words

"rhurbur..blah..blah...Kejriwal...blah..blah..Modi...blah..blah..communal...rhubrurbur..2002...blah..blah...Aam Aadmi..."...This is what one hears these days in the cafeteria. All one hears is a lot of jumbled voices with some familiar political names interspersed in between the noise. On one such day, I saw a heated debate between two people at a table. I the two 'contestants' tensed, jaws clenched, gesticulating wildly. I could see them going through a lot of agony. Even after the altercation, I saw the people involved still suffering from the after effects of the fight. Which leads one to wonder, are these arguments worth their salt?

Whatever a person's political leanings might be, it is an idea that would have taken root after many subjective experiences. And often, the more one is attached to one's ideology/theology/religion the more painful such arguments might turn out to be. Are such arguments even worth it?

I for one am a nationalist and I support a certain party and candidate that I feel is best for the country. A friend was trying to convince me that he is not 'secular'. Secularism has been our country's bane. I did not mince my words when I conveyed my ideas to my friend. But I could see the pain that he was going through. This world is filled with problems of many kinds. But arguments of the kind on political ideologies or religion are self-invited problems. They do not auger well for anyone.

As an ardent devotee of Shirdi Sai Baba, I remember the first chapter of the Sai Satcharita as I pen down these thoughts. "Let us avoid contentiousness and arguments of any kind!" says Baba to Hemadpant advising his devotees to follow their chosen path and avoid un-necessary conflicts brought about by arguments of any kind.

As the Upanishads proclaim, all I can ask from my Sainath (God) is  peace! peace! peace!