Gandhi Bazaar!

The scooters, motorbikes and the occasional cars made their way slowly amidst the sea of humanity. One had to be very cautious, for the gaze of most of this sea of humanity would be on the different shops in the bazaar. There were the street vendors selling flowers, vegetables, fruits and whatnot. The footpaths were crowded to a such an extent, it was difficult to figure out where to place one's next step. This was one of the most well lit streets in the entire South Bangalore. Night here turns into day. If one were to stop at any point in the street, and instead of looking at the wares in the street or the shops, were to look up at one of the electic poles one would gain valuable life lessons. For there one can gaze at beautiful verses from Dr.D.V.G's Magnum Opus "Manku Thimmana Kagga".

"Life is a Horse Cart! Fate it's master! You are the horse. The driver decides who the passengers along the journey are! Whether it's to a marriage or a funeral, the master of the cart decides. Run wherever he takes you, and if you get tired along the journey and should your feet tire out, you have the ground (Mother Earth) to support you!" One of the Kagga's were emblazoned, alongside a picture of the Great Dr.D.V.G. You have but to take a stroll here to learn valuable life lessons. The journey on foot through the streets of Gandhi Bazaar are sure to aid you in the journey of life.

As one looks around, everyone seems to be happy and contented. Everybody is looking around to buy something for the oncoming festival. Some seem to be taking a stroll, taking in the colors, lights, sights, sounds and smells. You can hear people haggling over flowers, fruits and vegetables. The effect of the streets are almost magical. People seem happy. The place almost seems therapeutic. I have never seen anyone looking morbid around here. It is mysterious how a stroll in here can heal painful wounds.

I think anyone with an ailment of the mind or body will find the atmosphere here soothing and healing. It is a mystery as to why Gandhi Bazaar exudes this kind of magical effect. Go there during Ganesh Chaturthi, and you will find the streets bedecked and lit up to rival the Disney world parade. And then there are places which are a gastronomical delight. Walk a little further along D.V.G road and taking a right would take you to a place perhaps more crowded than the rest of the Bazaar. You will be able to see people sitting on benches outside an old building, looking expectantly at an old man carrying a notebook and a pen. "Ramesh, 3 people!" he calls out! Ramesh with his wife and son gets up excitedly and walks in hungrily to the world famous Vidyarthi Bhavan. You can stand there outside looking at the somewhat old sign which announces proudly "Vidyarthi Bhavan : since 1942". This is a heritage place. Step inside and you find the interiors are in very good condition. It appears to be freshly painted. On the walls hang portraits of famous personalities who have tasted their world famous dosa. The delicious dosa which you can smell from outside. Once inside, a waiter comes and writes down the now familiar order "2 Dosas and a cup of coffee!". After waiting for a while you see the waiter clad in blue, carrying a huge stack full of Masala Dosa plates that resemble the leaning tower of Pisa. With great adroitness, the waiter transfers the plates to different tables. The moment the dosa plate is in front of you, you can smell the delicious aroma of Dosa roasted in Clarified butter (Ghee). As you are looking at the beautiful read, crispy looking dosa stuffed with spicy potato curry, another waiter pours ample spicy chutney on the side. If you haven't eaten their dosa yet, you should.

In case you happen to reach Gandhi Bazaar at a time when Vidyarthi Bhavan is closed there are numerous other hotels which serve gastronomical delights! And if you look at Gandhi Bazaar over the years, very little seems to have changed. I remember as a kid, my father taking me to a small book store (Which isn't there anymore! Unfortunately I do not remember the name either!) to buy me my very first Tintin comic book. It was "Crab with the Golden claws!". Back then, it cost Rs.60 and it was expensive. But my father inculcated this habit in me of reading classy books like Tintin. Even back in 2012, Belegere's Books and Coffee was a very nice and fancy book store (Unfortunately this too is closed). There is "Shri Book World" which sells mainly technical books and text books. Then there is "Ankita Book store" to serve your thirst for Kannada books. Then if you are in the mood for fried foods or sweets there are countless shops that cater to your tastes. Famous amongst these is "Subbamma" shop.

What can I say? As a book lover and a foodie, I find walking past the various shops in Gandhi Bazaar therapeutic. As I walked the streets of Gandhi Bazaar the day before Nagarapanchami festival, I felt : If heaven had a thoroughfare and a market it would resemble the streets of Gandhi Bazaar!

This dervesh was once a sober man

This dervesh was once a sober man
The shrine in his heart was uninhabited

He roamed the markets buying ever new wares
Brought by merchants from afar

"I cannot live without this new soft Persian rug"
Thought this dervish once with fervent desire

Thoughts of the new rug gripped him until he bought it
However the joy of having the new rug lasted not more than a fortnight

When his thoughts were drawn to the new carriage his neighbour bought
Drawn by white and grey steeds of the finest variety from Medina

This dervish who speaks now, started saving up for the carriage
And so continued the hoarding and unending conquests of desires

However the happiness remained elusive as ever
The void in the shrine of the heart seemed to grow

Until the dervish caught whiff of the beloved's holy feet
Sweet "attar" wafted from a great distance as the faithful started their worship

The fakir's enigmatic presence started pulling at my heart strings from a distance
The unbearable yearning filled the void now and I ran towards the shrine like one possessed

The children remarked, "There goes another madman running after the fakir!!!"
This happened once in a while when someone was this close to eternal happiness

I drank in the wine of the beloved's presence all night
I then danced in unbounded joy at the fakir's sight

Once I left for the fakir's shrine in the city centre
The fakir came back to reside in my heart shrine

From that day all sobriety was lost like the chaff before wind
And this person became the drunken dervish never to become sober again!

The Flute's lamentation

“Hear ye, how the flute wails, lamenting the separation from the reed - bed” said Rumi in the Masnavi. This is the tale of mankind. The ego it seems has severed the connection to the divine within, and men lament in manifold ways this painful separation. All ailments and ills of the society are due to this ever drifting divide between man and his maker. 

I wonder if at any moment one looks at the situation around him and finds that it is not acceptable, then the ensuing emotions like anger, frustration, sadness, greed etc are all due to this separateness from the beloved.

If one knows that there is a cosmic design behind everything and I am being guided by that design and I need it’s support and not the other way around, half our problems will go away. Then we will work and take action from a position of strength and not weakness. When the mind feels overwhelmed by events and the ego steps in and says “I must do something or the whole village, country, nation, universe will burn…” This is an illusion. Often the most extraordinary miracles have saved us from calamities. A sincere prayer at the shrine of the Sadguru has always ensured success. When we have the most powerful almighty who rules the entire creation within our hearts, why worry? First we should not get perturbed by events, but look at them calmly and then if we can change anything we should try to, else we should cling to the feet of the Sadguru and request his aid, which will unerringly take us in the right direction as it always does!

On Tyrants and their devotees!

Today I had a discussion with a  Christian friend about how there is no right or wrong but thinking makes it so. My friend jumped at the opportunity and went on harping about how, Constantine is the most misunderstood Emperor of all time. He said, Constantine’s mother was most religious, and Constantine realised that he can use this as a tool to ‘unify’ his kingdom and strengthen his rule. He figured if everyone believed in the Son of God, his rule would be unquestioned. And my friend said to do this Constantine had to slaughter all the pagans and those who did not believe in Christianity. My friend went on to say that he would not be a Christian, had Constantine not slaughtered those who did not share his beliefs and ambitions.

It got me thinking, Sapiens as a species have been known to unify under  collective Imaginary story (Be it religion or political ideology) . Would others who belong to dogmas spread by violence be grateful to tyrants raped, looted, plundered and pillaged their home town. A person belonging to such a dogma might think had his forefathers not been murdered and their wives and children taken as slaves, the person may not belong to such and such a dogma. And hence he would be grateful to the very tyrant who tortured his ancestors who share his very DNA.

How cruel a fate is in store for this human kind. At least in Vedanta, during the era of Adi Shankara, there were Buddhists, Jains, Mimamsakas, Charvaakas etc living side by side. There would be debates and discussions, however there never was any slaughter. Now I am surprised that something built on such peaceful and benign intentions which recognises the inherent differences in human thought and recognises different lines of thought is much chastised whereas if the followers of other dogma indulged in such heinous acts, they are recognised as heroes. 

My friend also said, he would not understand what was said when a priest in a Hindu temple would pray to God on your behalf. He said to him, Christ has said there is no intermediary. 

Contrary to his thought, in Vedanta, there is no intermediary. There is no prophet divining the word of God. There is no single or multiple set of men who dictate what is right and what is wrong. Vedanta never says do this or do that. On the contrary it says find out the truth by yourself. Experience the reality of Brahman by your own grit.Unfortunately ignorance is what pushes people to violent dogma and makes them feel any kind of atrocities performed on fellow children of God is justifiable so everyone can come to their level of thought.

If I see someone performing better than me, my natural inclination is to misunderstand him and to bring him to my level, so I (The ego) am not destroyed. 

This was the thought of Tyrants, and this is the thought process of those who follow them blindly and are grateful to them.

My friend said if you speak to someone from your religion then you feel you both are speaking the same language. On introspection I felt he could not be more wrong! Fortunately for me, Baba has taught me the language of all Human Beings. And while I could decipher what my friend was talking about, I doubt he will ever be able to listen to the stillness inherent in all of creation. The noise of religious dogma is very tumultuous and if that be the case, how can one learn to revel in the divine stillness within?

The Persian Market

Tourists come and go to the persian market
Taking in the sights, sounds and aromas

The various merchants try to interest them in their wares
"Look at these jucy dates" says one, "smell this lovely scent" says another

"Listen to the melodius tunes from this flute" says another
"Feel the softnesss of these persian rugs" says another

And yet there comes the lover yearning for the beloved
Burnt in the fires of seperation he thirsts for nectar

The wares interest him not and the merchants realize
That this is no ordinary tourist and can never be sober

Amidst all the clamor of the busy market street
The lover catches a whiff of the beloved from afar

He ignores the merchants and runs towards the shrine
Where those who are lovestruck wait for the beloved with bated breath

Having burnt in the furnace of seperation with a shudder he knocks at the door
The door opens and the lover becomes the beloved by forgetting himself

Sleep

Every time the cruel world gave me the cold shoulder
You were there to soothe me into deep rest

Every time I ended up getting hurt with an injury
You were there to numb my pain away

How many times have I cried myself hoarse
Until my mother's caressing arms took me to your doorstep

The rich or the poor are not to be distinguished
By your all encompassing power their worries are extinguished

They say the ones you love can hurt you the most
By their mere words and looking the other way

These are wounds that are most difficult to heal
Although this cross everyone needs to bear

When I am most hurt and seek your help
Why do you elude me and go away

I am a prisoner in the clutches of a cruel task master
One who took the heart I offered and stomped all over it!

Let me for a moment leave my burden by the roadside
And lying under the neem tree with the fakir's feet as my pillows

Let me dream the dreams of Universal love
Under the starry gaze of my loving Fakir

The world oh fakir has crushed my dreams and broken my heart
You and you alone can mend this and give me eternal rest

Fakir, I seek nothing but your company now
Let me sleep peacefully at your lotus feet.

Paradise from afar

What seemed to be lush and green from afar
Turned out to be bleak and dull from near by

What seemed soothing and warm from a distance
Turned out to be cruel and cold from near by

Dullard that I am I left the shelter of the fakir and parents
To seek greener pastures in your heartless city

I built a massive palace in my heart to make it our home
You broke my heart and made it the final resting place of love

I gave you my time, love and life, hoping to be loved
All I got was insults, curses and humiliations

The fakir had made me a king and lord of my dominion
You made me a pauper begging for love at your doorstep

I came to your city full of businessmen seeking your loving embrace
All I got in return was kicks, heart breaks and disgrace

I turn towards the fakir and ask him why did you let this happen
The fakir just smiles, asks me to forget all this and return to his feet

What seemed Paradise from afar
Turned out to be hell from near!