STRAY THOUGHTS 6/2014 Dear Friends, Early childhood provided to me, lots of stories from the epics, lots of sports, daily Geeta path and so on. TV didn’t exist. Movies were a once a month, quota basis, luxury. There were not very many distractions or friends around. Books, cricket and music were close friends. One of the fascinating and at the same time incongruous seeming stories out of the several that I kept hearing, was that of Bheem doing ‘मल्ल युद्ध’ (wrestling duel) with Magadh Samrat Jarasandh. What was fascinating was that two very powerful, enormously overpowering personalities were wrestling; whereas, the incongruous part was the repeated tearing apart and then rejoining of and coming back to life of the oft torn asunder Jarasandh. Over the years of growing up the wholly unpalatable and totally incongruous part remained just that, unpalatable, until I gradually stopped wrestling with the idea of rationalizing this seemingly unexplainable pheno...
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Stray Thoughts 5 – 2014 Dear Friends, For a few days now a few thoughts have been causing a minor turbulence in my mind. I have been wondering why God plays so many games with HIS favourite creation, the human being. To top it all up HE never tires of these games (leelas- as we call them) and has been playing them since time itself began. He first creates a huge variety of beings, allows them to follow an elaborate and complicated life long script and then removes them from the scene to reappear in a new role in the next life. This he is in the habit of repeating ad-infinitum. To add spice to the fun and games He Himself makes guest appearances, which are game changers. The famous ten avatars of Vishnu, the innumerable Shiv leelas, and the minor appearances of the Lotus seated Bramha, and the other minor devtas such as Indra and so on, is what I am talking about. All in all it’s a complex interplay of many extremely powerful forces, too complicated for the avera...
Stray Thoughts – 3/2014
Stray Thoughts – 3/2014 Even if we wish to, there are a lot of impediments to our quest for the Almighty. Why? Dear Friends A close friend and a good kriyayogi once asked me a question on the subject above, today. This makes me very happy indeed, as it shows in one go, the churning of the juices in the brain and the utility of the Stray Thoughts series. We have seen and some have felt rather acutely, others a little mildly that the greatest critics of all our actions are our spouses. It would be serious mistake to treat them as impediments or hindrances, for they are not that at all. A car needs both the accelerator and the brake as well; I often say. Just imagine the great potential for disaster that a car without brakes would have. Goswami Tulsidas has said “निंदक निअरे राखिये कुटी आँगन छवाय ". The Almighty has provided the nindak in the shape of our spouse and no need for the kutia in the aangan as well. I recall a true story related by my Param Gu...
Stray Thoughts – 2/2014 Have u ever wondered why it is so difficult for us to perceive the Lord even though he is all pervasive? Or that you can as a matter of routine, interact with the material world in so many ways, but you are left wondering whether your creator exists at all? Why is it that he has made our sensory organs in such a way, that we are able to see, hear, feel, experience everything but him? Is He playing with us? Or is there a method to His seeming madness. It is actually His grace and blessing that He does not appear to most of us. If He were to do it we would not be able to tolerate the enormously powerful (prakash punj) light that He is; and surely either our puny heart or mind or both would fail in His divine presence. Arjun was scared witless remember? परांची खानी व्यतृनत स्वयम्भो ! तस्मात् परा पश्यन्ति न अंतरात्मा!! says the kathopnishad The self created Lord created all the sensory organs of His creatures facin...
STRAY THOUGHTS We have been outta touch for some time now. Sorry about that. Guess I got a little disorganised and there were no starry** stray thoughts. Did u guys miss me ? I guess not, coz if you did, somebody would have said so. Right ? But that brings me to my stray thought for today. "CHANGE !!" Remember this word ? It was used by a tall, wiry, black gentleman called Barrack Hussain Obama to do the impossible and become what no one could have imagined, the C-in-C of USA, much to the chagrin of the Republicans and their constituency the RED Necks and the white shrouds with the peaked caps and burning crosses, and the amazement of the rest of the world. But stop and wonder what is it, in this word that grabbed the imagination of the world and created a miracle in the most paradoxically conservative of nations? CHANGE- is among the most basic of all human instincts. Everyone wants change!! The wife wants to change the husband and his habits to sui...