Dog Eat Dog in a Dog's Life!

Five cute puppies were born to Sundari this season. Sundari was just one of the many skinny, flea-ridden strays, until she wandered into the compound of our community about three years ago. Now she is the only dog in the area that has a name.

Affection is something most dogs in India simply do not know. A dog is considered one of the lowest and dirtiest life forms, and the vast majority are forced to scavenge for a living, dying young from disease or brutal fights over food or territory.

The sickening image of that dog... a patch of raw flesh to the bone instead of an ear... returns to mind.

But these puppies are fortunate. They will not have to grow to be so tough, I think, while I watch them from my window as they play on a pile of small rocks used by the builders.

One finds a larger stone and takes possession of it, inviting the others to steal it away if they dared... little growls warning of his superiority, yet continuously teasing.

Another manages to playfully trick him into letting go of the stone then, picking it up himself, he takes off with it. The first puppy takes chase.

Suddenly they both stop. I cannot see why. The clever one drops the stone. He looks shocked. He whimpers in pain. He turns and limps away, looking sorry for himself.

The one who had been out-done makes for the rock, looking pleased with himself.

It dawns on me... and I relate to the shock and sorrow...

He had been bitten. By his own brother.

I realise that it is not quite circumstance, but Nature, that dictates.

Sadly, it sure is a dog-eat-dog world.

Money Can't Buy Me Love

What to do when, gone to the roof to take your washing off the line, you find it on the ground covered in grime, black fingerprints and white, woolly monkey-hair????


The gits have had a whale of a time playfighting with my underwear... grrr! Okay, granted, I'm not really angry... more just like: OH WHAT TO DO?! Like when a kid does something naughty, and it's 20% frustrating and 80% endearing!

But this episode leads me to contemplate the things one could take forgranted. While I'm happy to be in India, and would not choose to be anywhere else at this point in time, I find myself momentarily appreciating more than usual that land with automatic washing machines and no pesky monkeys, which I usually call home. In fact, that place has so much material comfort...

* Glass on windows - especially when it's 10 degrees outside and you want to bathe!
* Hot water in a tap, or simply running water! (But you learn to love the dodgy immersion heater, honest.)
* Electricity, 24 hours a day!
* Shops having fixed timings, or the 'closed day' being on a fixed day of the week, no matter where you are. Did I mention finding the shop-keeper ready to serve you rather than napping on the floor of his shop?
* Really good pizza!!! :-S

Well, the list goes on... but why bore you with reminders of the material oppulence of the West? It might even give one the wrong idea that I may be of the opinion that those things really matter.

Because when I have all these things, I miss so much of MY India, this other place I also call home. But it is not anything superficial, like the plentiness of vegetarian food, or the natural balance of humans co-existing with nature, that really attracts me.

It is because, as a wise Indian sage once said, 'Western materialism is like a blind man while Indian spirituality is like the lame man: the former has a fit body but cannot see the best way to utilise it, while the latter has all the wisdom available to mankind but not the means to utilise it to its full potential.'

But if we place the one who can see on the shoulders of the one who can walk...?

In India, what we tend to see as strengths (money, power, women, name and fame) are considered the weakness and downfall of a man. I recently heard this story about a village named Satya, meaning Truth. All its inhabitants always told the truth.

Once a traveller came by. He came across one man who owned much property and land. The traveller asked, "How much money do you have in the bank?" The man replied, 7,000 Rupees (100 Euro). The traveller stared in disbelief, but said nothing.

Next he came across a man who was surrounded by his grandchildren. There were ten of them, all between the age of three and six years. "How many children do you have?" asked the traveller. "Only one," replied the old man. Again the traveller stared in disbelief, but said nothing.

Then the traveller came across an old man chanting mantras on his Japa-beads, and asked him, "How old are you?" The man replied, "Only twenty years old, my friend, only twenty years."

The traveller walked away, bewildered. He thought, "This is the village of Satya, yet all its inhabitants seem to be liars!" One man had observed all this, and called him to his side.

"That first man, he has much money but only recently has he offered his first 7,000 Rupees to the Temple for charity, so he considers that that is the only money he has well-invested.

"The second man has nine sons, but only one has become a monk, dedicating his life to the search of God, therefore he considers that that is the only valuable son he has.

"The third man is seventy years old, but only twenty years ago did he take initiation into spiritual practice, therefore he considers his previous fifty years wasted."

This is the sort of fairytale an Indian grandad would tell his grandchildren by the chimney fire on Christmas Eve (assuming that they had a chimney fire and were celebrating Christmas at all), hoping to educate them regarding what really matters in life.

I like to return here, to remember just that, what being human is about.

We all know that money can't buy you love, or life itself. So why place so much importance on that stuff that gets you stuff, or the stuff itself? If we cannot share deep-rooted affection with others, what use is a gift parcelled in a pretty bow?

I feel fortunate to be currently living in a community of people who aspire for these same ideals. This community is home to Indians, yes, but also many Westerners who have experienced how disappointing Western culture can be, blinded by its mountains of things that surround it. The residents of the community aspire to serve the environment, not to exploit it - there is enough of that going on already.

Adjustment to the right angle of vision is what will allow us to perceive Beauty everywhere... to see the monkeys as endearing instead of reaching for the pellet gun (if I had one!) Furthermore, seeing beauty everywhere is what makes a person beautiful, not anything skin-deep.

PS. So I happily live without my washing machine if this is the small price I have to pay...!

Variegatedness

"Bhakta-Chitra!"

So spontaneously these words sprung from your mouth, without even knowing of their existence let alone their meaning. I was stunned.

You were just fumbling, trying to recall the name of that great book of transcendental knowledge that was recorded in the written word more than 5000 years ago in India, the Bhagavad Gita. During our frequent long discussions on religious philosophy, searching for the possible Golden Thread that might unite such different creeds as Achintya Bheda-Abheda Tattva - a school of Vedanta presenting the philosophy of the inconceivable oneness and difference of God and Creation - and Islam, I had mentioned this book and the wisdom it contains on several occasions.

Yet now you said something else, my Algerian friend, words you didn't know but that I recognised as Sanskrit, although their meaning I wasn't really sure of. 

Curious about this seemingly transcendental message, I went about investigating their significance the first opportunity I had. This is what I found:

भक्त bhakta adj. devote

भक्त bhakta adj. faithful

भक्त bhakta adj. devoted

भक्त bhakta m. devotee

चित्र citra adj. strange

चित्र citra adj. wonderful

चित्र citra adj. diversified

चित्र citra adj. various

चित्र citra adj. manifold

चित्र citra adj. in different ways

चित्र citra adj. bright

चित्र citra adj. bright colored

चित्र citra adj. variegated

चित्र citra n. vestige

चित्र citra n. picture

The message that was coming through with those two little words was mind-blowing.

Various types of devotees, variegated faiths, a manifold of different ways of being devoted to the Lord... all creating a strange yet wonderful brightly-coloured picture. 

And we could say that the whole picture, or absolute vision, is that there is variety to enable different kinds of people with different kinds of consciousness to have different kinds of relationship with the One Supreme Absolute. 

In Subjective Evolution of Consciousness, Swami BR Sridhar explains it as such:

"Revealed Truth is distributed in installments according to the capacity of the peaple of the time, place and circumstance. The revealed truth is found in varying degrees in the Bible, the Koran, the Vedas, and the other scriptures of the world. Through this process, the truth is partially revealed in different places of the world in proportion to the thinking and capacity of each particular group of people. The revealed truth is reliable, but still it is modified to fit the persons to whom it is extended. For that reason we find differences in the different versions of the revealed truth. It is said in the Srimad Bhagavatam that medicine may be hidden within candy to treat children. In the same way, the revealed truth may be hidden within the mundane concessions of ordinary religion to help the ignorant class of men."

Nobody is left out, such Love!

Then what by Bhakta Chitra? – The reminder that there is, ultimately, a non-sectarian conception of God, Love and Devotion... and it came through an almost other-worldly message.

Action vs Intention

My brother-in-law was telling a story from his younger days, how when an old friend had playfully pretended to hit him, his reflex led him to jerk forward, into a metal frame that cut straight into his shoulder, resulting in 40 stitches. It was meant to be a joke, but it was months before that shoulder was functioning as it should.

It was all over the news just recently. A 21-year-old drink-driver ran over a cyclist on his early morning training, killing him on the spot. It was only meant to be a regular night out having fun, perhaps a little too much too drink, now a husband and father of three is dead.

Action vs intention... what causes the rift? Mindlessness: impulsive behaviour without due consideration of consequence.

So valuable a lesson, to be mindful, always; to be conscious, ALWAYS.

I am thankful my own recent reminder was received without too much repercussion, but may I always be so lucky?

Freedom!

"I am free to express myself!"

"I am free to wear what I want!"

"I am free to do as I like!"

But where is freedom to be found here?

Could this, perhaps, actually translate as slavery to the need for self-identification, desire and sense-gratification?

Could there be more freedom in the absence of this need?

How about...

"It doesn't matter whether I get an opportunity to express myself or not, because I feel complete and fulfilled anyway."

"What I wear no longer affects how I feel about myself. And I am not concerned about others' perception of me."

"I am equally satisfied while fulfilling your wishes rather than mine, and while working or playing."

"It is not a matter that I am not free to do that, but rather I am free from the desire, or the need, to do it."

This is not suggesting annihilation of personality, rather equanimity in all situations presented before a person.

This is true freedom: freedom to be fully active without the sense of necessity or attachment.

In reflecting upon this point, I dug into the timeless wisdom of the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, ancient Vedic text, and decided to share some of it here:

2:15
yam hi na vyathayanty ete, purusam purusarsabha
sama-duhkha-sukham dhiram, so ’mrtatvaya kalpate

O noblest of men, the wise man who is equipoised in pleasure and pain, and undisturbed by sense-experiences, is alone qualified for immortality.

2:64
raga-dvesa-vimuktais tu, visayan indriyais charan
atma-vasyair vidheyatma, prasadam adhigachchhati

The integrated person who can control his mind at will, and who, free from attraction and repulsion, accepts his worldly necessities through his controlled senses, attains tranquillity.

3:19

tasmad asaktah satatam, karyam karma samachara
asakto hy acharan karma, param apnoti purusah

So perform your prescribed duties without attachment. By selflessly executing one’s duties a person attains liberation. (True liberation is the state of pure devotion, attained in the maturity of selfless action.)

6:8
jnana-vijnana-trptatma,kuta-stho vijitendriyah
yukta ity ucyate yogi,sama-lostrasma-kancanah

One who is always satisfied within by both knowledge and realisation, who is always fixed in his spiritual nature, who is sense-controlled and who has the vision of equality for a clod of earth, a rock, or gold—it is said that such a person has attained yoga.

Circle of Life (and Death)

"On the plains is played out a scenario that is repeated, day after day... the drama of the hunter and the hunted..." (Earth, BBC Documentary)

How odd that we appear to be at the top of the food chain. Our intelligence gives us that position, although our bodies are actually so weak.

Yet we are like a virus... increasing in numbers and spreading too fast, exploiting the host that feeds us... to the point of its destruction?

Riding the Wave

My friend welcomed me with a kiss on each cheek.

"Wow, this is great! I'm so happy to see you are so busy!" I said, eyes wide.

"Amazing! Just as we had decided to quit and move location, there was an explosion! You let it go and then it comes to you with a boom!" He looked at me meaningfully, "Isn't everything like that?!"

"Indeed!" I smiled, patting him on the back and urging him to carry on. Although I had not seen my friend for a while, busy as he had been in pursuing his goal, I did not wish to steal his attention. I stood aside and observed, deeply pleased.

Let go of it then it's there. Relax about it and then just catch it when it happens. Because by pushing too hard we push it away!

Repeatedly I have experienced that, when desires for results come to a standstill, when we cease forcibly trying to control the environment, when we surrender to the natural, mystic flow... things begin to happen such that it serves our favour.

Not to mean we should sit idly, waiting for things to happen, but rather, like a surfer, to catch the wave and ride it where it takes us instead of swimming against the current to be tossed and turned in the crashing waves.

Hence the new-age slogan, BE HERE NOW (!!!) It may be a cliche', but it holds truth.

Yet too often we are not content... always looking beyond, afar, for more, for something different!

And so easily we can forget to be grateful when our wishes have been fulfilled... and take it all for granted. So fickle is the mind that before we know it, we may begin to desire yet another different situation!

If work is slow, we may desire more custom, yet if it is busy, we may wish to take it easy. If we are single, we may want a partner, yet if we are engaged, we may crave some freedom. In a world of duality, all situations have their positive and negative aspects. And if we are experiencing one situation, it seems that we naturally hanker for an alternative situation, hoping the grass is greener on the other side!

Ultimately I should ask myself, why do I need to experience this? Perhaps I simply need to realise that nothing can give complete, fulfilling happiness in this world, because it all comes at a price and everything is temporary.

The fact is that seldom do we realise just how perfect our present situation is - that it was just what we needed to live through - until it is gone!

Pairs

It is a strange dynamic, that exchange of energy that fulfills.

What draws people together? What pushes them apart? Personalities are living and growing and developing, needs are always changing, and so do relationships.

While relationships may last from a few moments to a lifetime, roles may be ever-changing.

By exposing some personal nature and sharing time, the mellow with a business client changed to friendship, with the introduction of affection and attachment. As brother and sister we found solace in each other's understanding of our views about life and the world, sometimes verging on the teacher-student situation when one's experience surpassed the other's in a particular field. Sometimes I could be as his mother, sometimes as his daughter.

Then a misunderstanding brought about disappointment that could only be experienced by lovers, such intimate affection was there although that exchange had never come by... and then again, we became like strangers.

Days passed. A tall, dark stranger caught my eye, and soon we were lost in words. Much later, he was still holding my hand. So comfortably natural it was, I had barely noticed. We complemented each other, two became one... until cultural circumstance dictated that our affections could remain only on a friendly level, but one that would last.

Any two individuals, a unique relationship.

In Sanskrit, the term rasa refers to the degree of intimacy and sweetness of relationship with the Divine (shanta - peaceful, dasya - servitude, sakhya - friendship, vatsalya - parental or madhurya - conjugal).

It is clear that fragments of rasa are reflected in every relationship experienced in this world, because we are sparks of that eternal flame, the Original Source, cause of all. 'Made in the image of God,' we are similar in quality though not in magnitude.

While it is natural that we are attracted to experiencing these mellows in the here and now, bound as we are by space and time, impermanent is their nature, nobody can deny this fact.

It is said that the Eternal, Krsna (He that is irresistably attractive to all souls) is the origin and reservoir of all rasa to the infinite degree... yet how hard it is for us to realise, and feel!

Thus we continue to search the light and warmth of a candle instead of journeying to the sun.

Communication

People may utter the same words in the same tongue, yet they will rarely be speaking the same language!

"Five fingers in hand are not same," says an old Indian proverb. Five artists will never paint the same picture of a still-life and five witnesses will never tell the same story.

It all depends on the angle of vision.

Similarly, a string of words could mean almost anything; behaviour can be understood any which way - depending on the interpreter, each of who is unique!

So God help us in this ocean of misunderstanding!

No wonder it is said that we live in Maya, illusion, which if properly translated from Sanskrit literally means, THAT WHICH IS NOT!

So to overcome illusion would mean the ability to experience Truth: plain, unadulterated and absolute Truth.

But our ego, the "I, Me and Mine," likes a dance with separate-interest....

If only the thought, the word and the action could be just Truth! Truth! Truth!

: TRUTH... ETERNALLY... BLISS!!!

Why?

Why?

Perhaps that is the only eternal question we ever need to ask?

In the space of a few days I have been bombarded with a series of unusual events that seem separate yet share a common denominator. I was about to get lost in the superficiality of what, who and all of that, until I was forced to remember that the only real question that mattered was, "Why?"

But do I place myself as the subject or the object? That may also be an important point. Is stuff happening because of me, or is it happening to me? Actually, I see that that is not the important why at all! So I am not about to discuss the validity of karmma.

Maybe the only important "Why?" is WHY DO I NEED TO EXPERIENCE THIS?

In this case I just needed to remember this outlook on life. The voice of the chaitya guru - the Divine Guidance ever present in the heart - only may be heard when we practice introspection.

How long ago have I planned to start this blog, and it never manifest? Yet today I feel to write and share this important reminder I have received - that nothing falls to chance! Every experience is as valuable as I make it, and life is as meaningful as I allow it to be.

It also seems the perfect start to this blog, the idea for which was sown for this very reason: of making accessible the reflections of just one girl who travels through life's experiences with a view of discovering her very Self and Divinity.

And not to let any of my resources lie dormant in the process of awakening... of which writing is one - one which has always helped me clarify my thoughts and put them into perspective. By writing this public blog I choose to share them with anybody - they are not my safe-guarded secret anymore.