Gratitude

Thus speaks the celebrated Sankara in his Viveka Chudamani or "Jewel Crest of Discrimination":-

For all souls, a human birth is difficult to obtain,
more so is a male body;
rarer than that is Brahminhood;
rarer still is the attachment to the path of Vedas;
higher than this is erudition in the scriptures;
discrimination between the Self and not-Self,
Realisation,
and continuing in a state of identity with the Supreme Soul
– these come next in order.
Not to be attained except through the well-earned merits of a billion births.

Being the person that I am, I cannot agree with most of these words. But my agreement with spirit of these words is as profound as my disagreement with its manifestation. There must be some fundamental purpose to existence from which all other mundane purposes derive. Having an aptitude to discover that purpose and being equipped to go on that quest are indeed things for which one needs to be extremely grateful.

So, here is my version of the opening verse in the Chudamani:-

It is one of the greatest possible gifts to take shape in this Universe as a sentient being;
Even greater, is the mind that stares back at the Universe and wonders at the meaning of it all, ;
If that mind embarks on a quest, unimprisoned by propaganda and self serving reasoning, that is even greater;
If at the end of such a quest, this fundamental purpose is found to not exist and hence all mundane purposes seem superficial, then pretending that there is indeed a grand purpose and enthusiastically continuing with life is the greatest of all..

No Mind..

I just completed an online course to keep a speeding ticket from appearing on my driving record. The course does have its merits and I did learn a few things from it. They explain a lot of rules and go through the common mistakes that people make while driving, but I feel they missed out on something important, Self Analysis. After all, each person should know what kind of mistakes he or she usually makes. Recognizing the pattern and correcting it should be advised by the course. So, here is what I do wrong.

At times, the mind becomes too preoccupied with something that is not connected to driving. I tend to go into an autopilot mode in which I don't proactively look for signs and signals, but just follow the herd i.e. take cues from other cars. When there are no other cars to give cues or at times when they give wrong cues I tend to make mistakes.

E.g in a red signal stop, I was in the right most lane and there was a car in front of me. The driver in that car wanted to turn right when it was sage, but I had to go straight. When that car turned right, I thought it was time to move and drove into the middle of the road before realizing my mistake in alarm. At times, during the night, When there are no other cars stopped in a red signal, I have had difficulty realising that it was a red signal and I needed to stop. I have been inattentive while backing i.e reversing. This is again because, there was no one else doing the same.

The remedy is to never go on this autopilot mode. The conscious mind should always be actively thinking about driving safety. My mind shouldn't get carried away by the music, it shouldn't be worried about work, it shouldn't be trying to solve any problems. It should be present right there on the road, clear and calm. All perception, no thoughts.. Is this what they call "No Mind"?

Wind

It rhymes, but lacks rhythm.. Still working on it..

One with the blooms at times I am,
one with their pleasing scent;

I give the slip to those towering doors,
always broken, always unbent;

Refreshing scent of the earth I bring,
Joyous news of the rain I bring;

But haven't I spread the stench of filth?
Now, is there a way to rescind?

Yet, that which blows, has to blow,
for, I am the mighty wind..

Ganapathy Set..

I recently registerd in kiva.org and was all excited about my loans to enterprenuers in developing nations. Here is an interesting conversation about the thing..

10:28 PM Pallavi: so wht was the micro fin thing u sent me
u involved wih tht?
me: yeah.. just lent money to ppl
10:29 PM have always had a romantic notion of farmers
and old style shopkeepers
so lent them some money..
10:30 PM Pallavi: awesome
gd fr u!
and have u earned back a share of ur invstmnt?
wht have u invested in?
me: if you mean have they repayed the loan??
no..
10:31 PM Pallavi: no as in dont u get a share of their profits or smthing like VC?
or is it just simple loan system
me: actually I didn't bother to find out...
:)
10:32 PM I had heard of Muhamad Yunus
so just readily jumped in..
and its just a couple of hundred dollars..
10:33 PM Pallavi: :)
rich NRI
but gd yaar
nice to see smone doing smthng like this
me: indeed.. http://www.kiva.org/lender/gany22
Pallavi: did u get to pick who got ur loan?
me: yeah
10:35 PM one was a bee farmer in the temperate hills of azerbaijan..
how romantic
lemme give him 50 bucks
10:36 PM Pallavi: :)
me: now here is an old lady with a cabbage patch in cambodia..
isn't that where Angkor is??
k.. another 50..
10:37 PM another 50 for a shopkeeper in Togo..
10:38 PM me: sick of the supermarkets... the smell of a lil grocery shop
usually smells of sugar
and of jute rope
10:39 PM brings back childhood memories...
so that's the way the 50 went..
Pallavi: :)
i like how u picked