Desire to change!

One of my friends is an ISCKON member and strongly believes in vegetarian food habit. I told him, "I will leave nonveg when it happens. I.e. why should I leave something? A habit or act, if detrimental, should feel disgusting. Then I just can't do it anymore. I need not put effort to leave it."

Thinking again on my logic, I am forced to go a bit deep. Should we force change in our behavior? Will habit, accrued by force, be long lasting? Wont it be better to live and wait for the change to happen, instead of forcing the change?

A thief can say that his act of stealing has a purpose and he will continue it till he feels disgust for it. More horrible practitioners (!) like pedophiles or homicides can also put such a logic!

And, there is a more subtle tinge here. I am not discussing about criminals and laws. I.e. I am not talking about forced changes. I am talking about a man who knows that his behavior might be hurting someone and does realize its impacts. But at the same time he still enjoys his act. Should he try to force a change upon himself? The question becomes still more complicated if I limit my concern to acts which are not universally bad! For example, lets go back to the example of eating meat or moderate drinking. Should I force a change, be a new man?

In the richest continent!

Been in Africa for past month and a half. The more I see of it, the more I learn about it (from people or/and internet), the more I appreciate Indian democracy. Yes there is corruption, nepotism, redtapism etc. But there is a stable democracy which works in India, in a place where it seems highly unlikely to work! There is poverty, but people somehow (as of date) are not drug addicted. There is crime, but still you can walk down a road without the fear of being mugged. There is population, but there is no staggering unemployment rate. Somehow people in India find their way out! Whereas in Africa we have countries, even with stable politics, of 4 million population but with a 40% unemployment rate. It is so counter intuitive! May be its high time to evolve and adopt schemes like Gramya-swarajya (as advocated by Gandhijee and Vinoba Bhabe).

Indian 'Invictus'!

Last night was the cricket match between Indian and Pakisthani teams. Its not that India and Pakisthan are playing against each other for the first time. Nor is it that I am cric-craze! However, one thing struck me when India won the match at 11PM last night. Fire-works were cracked in huge quantity. This is not unusual in cities that I have stayed in India. However, currently I am in the North-eastern city of Guwahati. Not many here have ever watched the Republic day parade in the parade ground! Not many kids here have been able to observe Independence day in their schools. And I have never observed fire-works after an Indian victory in any game what-so-ever.

However, thanks to the communication revolution, and thanks to our media-hype, this match became so much advertised that it became fashionable to follow it! And of course while watching a game, you have to become a fan! So suddenly everyone here became Indian-team fans! So much so that even in the remote city of Itanagar, students painted themselves in tri-color to watch the match. Such was the fever. Now I fully realise the power of game. As depicted in the recent movie Invictus, it does have the power to unite people. And I am delighted to note that, like most other developments in India, our own Invictus was not designed by some leader..... it just emerged!

Jai Hind

Ramayana and solution for agitated-mind!

When I was studying for my class tenth examination, Sanskrit was the language that I chose to study. We were lucky to have a text-book which has chosen many excellent pieces from the rich literary wealth of this ancient language. There was one poem from the great epic Ramayana. In that poem (of more than 15 couplets), Lord Rama was describing the beauty of a pond to his younger brother Laxmana.

For those who are not aware of the story, in it Rama, his wife Sita and his brother Laxmana had left their kingdom to roam in forest for 14 years. This was to fulfill a certain vow his father once made. In the forest a demon kidnaps Sita. After that they have sent animals of the forest to find where is she. And he was waiting for any news of his beloved Sita. During this waiting period came the rainy season...

Rain in India comes mostly because of monsoon. Monsoon rainfall is intensely romantic (you have to get drenched in a monsoon rain to feel the effect!). In such a condition, there was Rama not only alone, but also with no information of his beloved one. My dear friend, this condition of helplessness is utterly maddening. When you get a clue and can give your effort, its still OK (even if you are losing). But the moment of helplessness when you are just waiting for some information, when you cannot do anything... It just drives one mad!

During such a mental condition, Rama took a step which I recently found to be really effective. He went on looking at the mundane (or not) beauty around him displayed by mother nature. Believe me, how much the agitation may be, just try looking at a flower and the dew drop on it, you will feel immediate tranquility!

I feel this was a great remedy suggested in the epic by the godly poet Valmiki. Just try it my friend and you can see how effective it is...

Picnic and Hospitality!

The event I am going to narrate may be a trivial one, but it had a lasting impact on me! Last Sunday we were going on a departmental picnic. Half way to the spot few guys got a call of nature and stopped the bus. Its common here to just release yourself in any wide-open area. So it was no new thing. However, I marked that after those two guys many more followed the trend. I got curious and went out to follow the trend as well. Coming out, I was surprised to mark that there was no sweet wide open space in sight! So I just followed the flow of familiar faces. That took me to a narrow lane with houses on both the sides. I felt a bit scared! Finally I asked one guy where is the wide-open space? He directed me to a house! I felt very awkward. He understood and told me to use the lavatory of one of the houses! I was quite surprised, and to check it myself I ventured in. To my surprise no one told me anything. The house-owner, who was brushing teeth, just tried to smile at me with his mouth full of froth! I released myself and came back. All through I was wandering what type of people these are! Allowing a bunch of stranger to use your lavatory is something which one can never hope to come across in any country. And in the Indian-heartland this issue becomes really impossible because of caste-issues. But here is a corner of my country where people are still open enough to open their lavatories to complete strangers!!
(PS: A complete stranger is one whom you may expect to meet never again in the future!)

Kanhai painki gAi-guhAla

This is a often cited adage by my father, which literally mean "the cow-shade is because of Kanha". The milieu is from the epic Mahabharata. Mother Yasoda wants the baby Krishna to be fed well and hence she is trying to maintain a good cow-shade with well-looked-after cows. But in her earnestness to maintain the cows properly she sometimes forgets to look after the baby Krishna! So this line tries to remind the Mother that all this cows and cow-shade is to serve Krishna!

In life many a times, we get too involved in some trivia, get tensed and worked out. And in this process we tend to forget the reason for which we might be doing the particular work. Thinking of the cause mostly calms us down and gives us new insights!

For example, the man working hard day and night to make enough money for his family many times forgets the cause for which he is working. And he then tends to give the minimum time to his family!

Or, lets say the lover who is trying to fight the society to get his love. Sometimes he gets so involved in the process of fighting for a tomorrow that he forgets to think about his beloved in the present...