31 December, 2013

Thank you, 2013!

No surprises here about the form of what follows. It is a list. But the substance of it is entirely up to the perception of the reader. To myself, what follows is a great pleasure of introspection and learning, and about choosing habits and behaviors that shape a way of life I prefer. I have written this as I would speak to myself. It is also philosophy if you know me well enough and if you are somewhat into the line of thinking that 'philosophy-in-everything' is indeed a great way to view the 'everything' in  life. After all, of what good is life if it does not provide the impetus and constant means for 'philo-sophos', quite literally 'love of wisdom'? If you got me right, Bravo!

So, here goes the list.
  1. Substance over form: I have been prey, more often than not, to form rather than the substance of things, people and their actions in my life. I wouldn't say it was all that shaming after all. It's the best way to learn. Go ahead and judge people. If you are right, great! If you are wrong, admit it and learn not to be judgmental by the looks of anything/anyone. The best part is this - each time the form deceives me, the substance proves it is indeed unshakable. In other words, seeing is believing, but seeing through is knowing. Decide for yourself where do you want to keep your heart and place your trust. Belief or knowledge?
  2. The gift of solitude: If you haven't felt solitude, please take time off and do it consciously. If you don't know how to, here are a few things that may help. Get up very early and listen to the sounds of the world come up from nothing. See the darkness turn into twilight and then into daybreak. Feel the whistling wind on your ear tips and the icy sensation in your eyes that cause tears of cold as you bike your way in the early morning mist. If you live by the sea, hit the beach and watch the sun rise. Don't miss the silver linings on the clouds. Don't miss watching the sea turn from blue to yellow, orange and finally sparkling white. Get so lost in this grandeur that there can only be the realization that you and the sun are one. Trek a mountain or a hilly terrain and feel the chilling wind dry your eyes and ears out as you go higher up. Even one of these is enough to stir up thoughts that assess what man-made materialism and natural aesthetics add to life and which one is more fulfilling. To be able to experience and know this is bliss, is to understand the finesse of solitude in you and what it can bring you to help you view life differently. It never fails on you. All of these happen when you are mostly alone. So, don't immerse yourself in self-pity if you are alone. Being alone is the best thing that can happen to you to experience solitude. Alone is great, loneliness is not! Don't confuse solitude and loneliness. You are way more than just a lonely being lost in the abyss of listlessness and ineptitude in life. If nothing, Solitude makes all the more sense if you are a longing or a troubled man, for it brings hope to the former and wisdom to the latter.
  3. Love and friendship: Fall in love, but be sure to pull yourself up if you find yourself fallen for a while, for it cannot be love if it does not lift you up. Better still, keep off it if you know for sure you are going to fall and won't find a helping hand. It is perfectly fine. To save the trouble of all this pettiness in the end, be as much around as possible with a friend. That hand around your shoulder never lets you fall down in the first place. If you have both, nothing like it.
  4. Find a way of life and get moving: In simpler terms, philosophy is a way of life. And there is always one right way. Choose the best that suits you. But to know which one to choose, take a dig at everything available. Sometimes you will find the right one early, but most of the times you will know the wrong ones early too. That helps narrow down the probable ways. Ultimately, you will get on your path one way or the other. And that is just the beginning. Immerse yourself as much as possible in the ways and means of life prescribed in that path. That won't be difficult, for if you did not feel it both intuitively and with reason, you will not have chosen that path. Feel the thrill of that journey and cherish the ride. It will be one of the finest and most beautiful memoirs you could ever write.
  5. Be invincible: Easier said than done. But definitely not impossible. We only need two things intact to be invincible. Be sure to get your thoughts rights; for some thoughts, like habits, die hard. Judge only your own character and get it right. You can't judge another man's character. It is a lie
  6. From rat races to grand marathons: If your perceive life as an exciting journey, then there is no use in your being part of the many rat races of others. They may all be excited that they are racing and that there is pride, fame and glory in winning the race. But they fail to see that their race is never over. They are oblivious to the fact that the moment they think they are near the finish line, someone somewhere extends the line. And so it goes - a never ending race in which they are exhausted too soon and still puff and pant to get to the invisible line. They will never finish the race. Don't worry. Instead, try seeing through life as a grand marathon. You don't have to necessarily win it. You just want to finish it and be proud that you could stand it all and still make it. There is no competition to you but yourself. You only want to better yourself with each passing twist and turn. You will make good with the ups and downs. You will enjoy the scenery all the way. That's with the metaphorical rat races and marathons. Literally speaking, just running is a lot better than sprinting or racing. Physically, you are able to run a lot and still feel good at the end of it instead of being exhausted and burnt out in a sprint and could barely move yourself about. It also lends a perspective to the metaphorical stance mentioned above. 
  7. Travel: For life's constant wanderer who is in love with the unexplored, I need say no more. One life will not be enough to travel all you want. But if you're waiting for a start, please do travel right away. The best part of traveling is that it always has surprises which challenge your mental complacency and laziness in wanting to be different. And so it provides the real impetus to be different. You will be thankful for it. It is highly likely that Nietzsche's rare and isolated moments of the greatest significance will beckon you on incredible and exciting travels. It definitely did for me. And not just once. I've had that pleasure many times over. 
  8. Know your religion and choose your God wisely: Believe in a God, but know That starts from within you. And you will know there is only One God. I venture to speak only about Hinduism here, because that is the only one I know of in quite some detail. The Vedas do not prescribe any form to God. The forms are our imaginations and creations for a simple thing - focus. If we can focus on the omnipresent without needing a form for it, we have got it. Again, Substance over form, you see! [Particularly for Brahmins, if you need further proof, know the core essence and the ultimate purpose of Sandhyaavandhanam which is "Asaavaadhithyo Brahmaha, Brahmaiva Ahamasmi" which translates to "The Brahman (the single absolute being pervading the universe and found within the individual; atman) that the Sun is, that I am too". Now tell me if you really need an idol worship and a set of rituals]. If not for any of the above sound reasons, personally as an admirer of aesthetics, a few mins of stunned awe at the live glowing brilliant ball of fire is preferable to a clay/metal idol to get me going through the day. The form is useless to me here.
  9. Humility and Indifference: People always have both good and bad opinions of everyone around them. If you value their opinions: Take the good ones with humility. Always keep in mind that they have spent time thinking about you and your actions and have attempted to judge you favorably. Some humility helps appreciate the other person's intent and interest in judging you. Take the bad opinions too with humility. It's a check for you to judge yourself from the other person's shoes. And you may indeed be wrong. Learn from both the good and bad opinions and see if it makes sense to improvise. If you don't care about others' opinions: It pays to be indifferent to others' opinions and focus instead on yourself. Indifference is not a vice. At any time, a No is better than a wrong decision
  10. Social Networking: If you belong, all heart and soul, in your real trust radius, you don't need to be connected with the mostly irrelevant and noisy chatter of the hundreds of branches along the perimeters of the virtual world called the social networks. Time is not far away when we'll come to realize we have wasted far more time than we could afford to in the virtuality and missed out on many real ones. Even if this doesn't work, if you have got even a few of the above, you don't really need a network, because you'd by then know that virtuality is a fad.
Well. That's it. Thanks for having come this far. Hope this makes up for the 3-month hiatus from writing and the lack of clear thoughts for a while now.

Here's wishing everyone a happy and prosperous year ahead.

Rajaji

10 October, 2013

Attitude before pride

While pride drives a man to do or not do, it is attitude that drives him to be or not be. If one cannot be, one simply cannot do!

15 September, 2013

Humor from tragedy and comedy

Every man has enough of a mix of tragedy and comedy in his life to create a masterpiece of pristine humor! A life without such humor isn't a life lived well! And a life that hasn't known that such a life is humor, hasn't lived at all!

13 September, 2013

Are you people serious?!

Considering that I would've seen many of these posts myself over and over again, let's say, 25-30% revisits, that's still well above 5000 views! And discounting another 50% for machine views, that's still close to 2500-3000 views! Well.. Bless you souls who have stopped by this space, all these years. And be blessed even more so.. those of you who took the time to comment and provide feedback.



11 September, 2013

A life full of love

not one, nor two, and not once, nor twice,
a game of this and that, of back and forth,
in zest and true spirit, and not of its rules,
but bent here, broken there, with no fixes.
Still, not the time to regret, nor cry over,
not halfway through yet, hard or smooth,
the love of it, in bits and pieces all over,
yet, the journey isn't finished, way to go.
Counting on courage to take it all in stride, 
and the will to keep moving, and not tired,
strength in solitude to give good company,
to keep testing the limits of its endurance.
Now to kill a hope with a will to resurge,
to rise again above all the clouds of loss,
to keep feet steady, and the head strong,
to not tremble with hurt, pain or sorrow.
To not ever be crushed by weight of love -
that love that wasn't gained nor was lost;
that love that simply was and also wasn't -
but hold the head, and inspire the heart.
The only way is where the heart is, that
stands this all and still wants it even more;
that pure spirited life of adventure and joy,
of courage, of hope, and one, again, of love.

06 September, 2013

the song of life

streaks of yellow, dull first and bright soon,
tear through the black and blue sky,
swords of orange follow suit soon enough,
cutting across the silver horizon.
One faint light's born, so eager to grow,
consume and subsume the whole world below,
drowning out the million little lights below that,
at best, lit landscapes in pieces, here and there.
The orange rays are golden now, revealing lines
that are mountain tops in the midst of vast plains.
All life awakens with the rhythm of this song,
the song of the sun, of the earth, of life.
The song of life that unites all souls,
with a meaning so intricate and connected,
every breath of every being taken in tandem,
to tune to the beats and the rhythm of the song

21 August, 2013

Popular contrarian beliefs

Contrary to popular belief, many popular beliefs of my generation, I think, are contrarian in nature!

08 August, 2013

What am I - 1

(Pantheistic Religiosity + Individualistic Spirituality) - (Ritualism + Idolatry + Dogma) =

Your answer is your judgment of me. Judge me as if I care!

02 August, 2013

Ideas & people

I'm fine when ideas challenge me but not when people challenge me. For, in the former it's my thought that is challenged, whereas in the latter, it's my ego that is challenged!

17 July, 2013

Conscience and contentment

The only two meaningful things necessary for a peaceful life are a clear conscience that we do right by ourselves at all times, and a contentment that our integrity is intact regardless of the challenges we face in doing the right things

26 June, 2013

The machine that man is

Regardless of how well-oiled, maintained and fit the mind is, if the fuel does not come from the heart, man is never auto-motivated!

09 June, 2013

Rebirth of the soul

Behind a mask of lies and torment,
lies a face, stiffened by falsehood,
awaiting a spark to ignite them all,
and burn them down, hell after hell.

Out of the carnage rises the soul again,
emboldened by the will to take fire,
to die and be born, time and time again,
death after death, and, life after life.

With a wish timeless, and hope eternal,
the next life sure to be made better,
than the vanity and lies of the last one,
to die for the sins, and be born again.

Amidst chaos is calm and composed, the soul.
so what of all the lies of the last life, and
so what of all the hopes of the next one?
When hopes win over lies, is the glory of rebirth!

Life and death

Not a day goes by, in these times,
that I don't look up the sky for you,
when at times there's too much to take,
with you, they would've been easier.
I feel you pretty strong, but sans touch,
the warmth and life, sans holding hands,
Alas, not much remain but thoughts,
of how nice life would've been, together.
Not much remain but strong memories,
some momentous and some fleeting.
Somewhere beyond the clouds, in the azure,
I know you're there, silently watching.
But the clouds stay too long sometimes,
stealing the view, that of the grandeur in you.
Still, every dawn when the sun rises up,
I see you, feel you, hold you, and hug you.
You're with me, I know, stronger than ever.
Though sometimes you're just too far away,
that I know you want me to get on, by myself.
We'll always play this game of hide and seek,
where when you hide, you want me to be strong,
be brave and keep pushing through the crowd,
and when you seek me, then you'll know,
that I've lived and outlived the trivial world,
then I'll join you in the abode of great Gods,
the likes of you and me the world'd never know.

23 May, 2013

Rationality

"To the irrational and the superstitious, the rationals generally seem radical."

Judge of character

"No man is a good judge of another man's character. For true character comes out in front of only those who don't feel the need to judge. Everything else is a lie."

23 March, 2013

Solitude and Loneliness

"A man stupid enough to spoil an hour of solitude with a thought of a moment of loneliness does not deserve the solitude in the first place."

Solitude

"Solitude brings to a longing man, hope; to a troubled man, wisdom; and to a contented man, boredom."

Saving self-respect

"For man in the troubled company of other men and things that disturb, in ways big or small, his self-respect, there are but two solutions. One, to avoid, altogether, the company of such men and things; or Two, pretend, with a total detachment of an untainted soul, to be just another man in the thick of such men and things, and pretend to convince himself that self-respect is over-rated. Any middle way is sure to cause harm, as it does to most men."

Saving truth

"Most often, the best way to save a truth is to avoid telling it, because most people do not deserve to know it. Lesser the number of people knowing a truth, safer are its priceless secrets and lessons. That is the only way to protect the sanctity and profundity of any truth."

Everyday Living

"The simplest essence and purpose of everyday living is to go to sleep without regret and to wake up with hope"

Back to basics!

I should admit that for quite some time now, I've been a bit too ambitious about taking this space further, by stopping to write here and moving all my great writing(!) to a secret, undisclosed place, unleashing my full imagination there and building up some good writing... and ultimately becoming an author! Well.. so far the dream is so good. But I should say a little bit of practicality also helps.

I'm adivising myself to take it one step at a time, and not miss the wood for the trees. So I'll continue to write here too, and when the time is right, hopefully it all comes together to make a fine piece! If you really liked my writing, and waited to hear something like this from me (Your God bless you!), pray for me for your sake, so that you end up with a good book of mine in hand, in the near, foreseeable future!

Welcome back to reading my scribbles yet again!

"One step at a time"

Rajaji

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