Monday, March 31, 2008

Life is a game… Play it

‘When the bright star plunge in the dark sea of ether and in mysterious exhilarations, the spirit soar up to lively dreams, in the vast sacred kingdom of the night, singing in boundless spaces. With the soft magic of such nights, the creation seems to unfold and we get a faint idea of the powers who control our lives’. Life is unchartered territory. It reveals its story one moment at a time.

We are playing a game right from our birth till death. At first we are not adroit or adept with any moves, but gradually learn the tricks of the game.By the time we attain a standard, the game is about to end. But always play a fair game to everybody’s satisfaction. That is what counts in the last...

Thomas Martin wrote: “Souls are like athletes, that need opponents worthy of them, if they are to be tried and extended and pushed to the fullness of their powers, and rewarded according to their capacity”. Fruits give their juice only when squeezed. The capacity to feel and to cause sunshine in our life will yield rich dividends- Buoyant and radiant mental health. It gives a sense of comfort. You are not bowled over your own emotions- by your apprehensions, wrath, love, envy, worries, or guilt.

“We are none of us all a piece, more than one person dwelling with us often in uneasy companionship with his fellows”. (Somerset Maugham) It is not your position that makes you happy or unhappy. It is your disposition.

Keep on going and the chances are, you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I have never heard any one stumbling on something sitting down... That is also part of the game.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Life is a gift…Accept it.

Everything in this universe is related to everything else. The smallest blade of grass, to the greatest star, millions of light years away have got some kind of relation. All are functioning in tact. When we are born into this world we are like unpolished raw diamonds. Our life in this world, make the sheen, sparkle, value, color, and beauty to it. A life time is not merely long enough to understand what goes on behind it and what it is all about. Whatever we gather in this journey, are all gifts from unknown sources, unknowingly.

‘Man is a kind of doll, brought into the world, without a will of his own, and from birth onwards driven hither and thither, coaxed and beaten, pinned down and stretched out, by his set of circumstances to form of him whatever the blind fancy of circumstances has in mind, till the moment he draws his last breath, after circumstances have finished with him, to pass into oblivion. It is all a sordid joke of matter triumphing over the mind!’

“Life, magic life, never stands still though its pace slows down for a while. And when fate seems hardly to lift a finger for five or ten years, she seldom allows us this, respite out of kindness of heart, but it is moved as a rule by sheer wantonness. All of a sudden, frequently without warning, she flings us back into the vortex and at a moment’s notice life surges wild and turbulent once more” (Alfred Neumann.)

Do we have a say in this experience? Helpless we are! We cannot resent, rebel, repulse or struggle against it. The pain, the grief, the anguish, the worry nothing will settle it right. And finally we accept - we can do nothing against it. Like a stalk yielding and swaying in the wind, we condescend. The very submission and acceptance to all that happens with us, make us more confident. That is accepting the inevitable!

Our whole focus will change. Our consciousness becomes settled. Our life patterns change. The mind is really at peace, surpassing all understanding and all misunderstanding. Then we start counting our blessings. Nothing can perturb us, or make us weary.

“I’m only a spark, make me a fire;
I’m only a string, make me a lyre;
I’m only an ant-hill, make me a mountain;
I’m only a feather, make me a wing;
I’m only a rag, make me a king.”
(Amado Nervo. Mexico)

That should be our wish, to make this gift worthwhile.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Life is sorrow… Overcome it.

“Life is suffering” so said Goutham Buddha.
The constant characteristic of human life is grief says Gita. We start our life from the moment; we take our first breath from the earth, with a cry, with resentment. We are disturbed from our natural state. It goes on intermittently till the grave. We are indignant, weeping with grief, we are sad, lonely, forsaken, needy, befriended, sick, incapacitated…it ends no where, but follows us like a shadow till our death. In its brief course lie all the varieties, realities and vicissitudes of our existence.

The bliss of growth, the glory of action, the splendor of achievement, the dreams of yesterday, the vision for tomorrow are all intermingled. Life is a risk and is never sorrow free. Happiness is a delicate balance between what one is and what one has. There are ever so many storms, than in the sea or land, in the mind and fusillades of sad thoughts creeping up all over our consciousness. Under the misfortune of circumstances, odd things often meet to spoil our happiness, in this badly woven strange design of our life.’ Human life is but a series of footnotes to a vast obscure unfinished masterpiece.’ The utmost span of a man’s life is hundred years. Half of it spent in night, and of the rest half is lost by childhood and old age. Work, grief, longing and illness share what is left in it.

‘When a resolute man/woman steps up to that great bully, the world, and take him boldly by the beard, he is often surprised to find that the beard comes off in his hand, that it was tied in to frighten away the timid adventurers. ’It is better to be a lion for one day, than a sheep all your life.’ The difference between a hero and a coward is one step sideways. Life is a gift the nature has bestowed on us; beautiful living is the gift of wisdom. All human wisdom is summed up in two words… ”wait and hope.”.and courage too.

My Dreams…






Give me a moment to dissolve in you,
Let me have an aeon to know you fully well.
You are the music of the Heavens
And I am just a cloud aspiring to reach you.
Dew studded virgins of the deep blue sky
Lowered their gaze in coy meekness,
Seeing your turquoise blue eyes.
If my love could sprout in those beatific eyes
As a sweet dream of magnificence
My life will be worth living.

Those rose buds cladding dew drops in the morn
Got weary, seeing your rosy lips.
If my desires can arise, to become
A soft and taciturn melody on those lips,
My unbounded love will be enriched;
And I can dream my dreams
Which no mortal have dreamt before.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Life is a mystery… Unfold it...

“We are the voices of the wandering wind,
Which mourn for the rest, and rest can never find.
Lo! As the wind, so is mortal life.
A moan, a sigh, a sob, a storm, a strife
Wherefore and whence we are, you can not know
Nor when life springs, nor whither life doth go.
We are as ye are ghosts from the inane.
What pleasures have we of our changeless bliss?
Nay, if love lasted there were joys in this
But life’s way is the wind’s way, as these things
Are our brief voices, breathed on shifting strings.”

We have been taught through ages that enlightenmentis very arduous, cumbersome, strenuous and mostly unattainable. They say that it may take lifelong efforts
with meditation, ‘pranayama’, ‘kundalini’, etc. all sorts of guffaws and gibberish. The religion also teach us the same. Is that true? To unravel such mysteries,
many people stumbled upon enlightenment. But those were accidental.

The reason could be manifold. But the primary one emanates from the tension they build up themselves inside, in the effort of creating a state through which enlightenment walks away. No effort is needed except the effort to relax. Enlightenment will hover above you and settle there in no time. It will shower on you
myriad flowers, like we read what Gods do, when they are pleased. They just shower flowers from heaven.

Silence… Relaxation… Enlightenment!

The mystery is solved. All those who attained it had a relaxed state. You need alertness, intelligence, consciousness. Your vision changes. You are one with the nature. Sublime.. Dulcify. You can perceive deep into everything. Do not give way to your mind to succeed in thinking that it is an impossible and hazardous task. Then the ego gets challenged. And as a dog chasing its tail, the effort goes round and round.

Enlightenment is not a goal. It is you! The seeker is the sought; the observer is the observed; the knower is the known. Your fetters are broken. You become a torch
paving the way with your inner light so that others can see the road. A beauty that radiates with you, that becomes your very nature.

“I sent my soul through the invisible
Some letter of that After Life to spell;
And by and by, my soul returned to me
And assured:”I myself am Heaven and Hell.”

Mystery of the mind….






Mind... a mysterious cage,
A playhouse for illusions and vanity.
Many a desires, in one moment,
And the splendor of laughter turns
In another moment, to grief stricken
Tears… welling in the eyelids.

The shores swoon in ecstasy,
With every waves, enrapturing it.
And when it returns, a pyre burns
Inside the amiable bosom.

Search the bloom inside a bush and
The finger is bruised with a thorn.
When life’s music surges onward
Grief imparts its tragic pitch,
To a discordant melody.
Like shadows cast by the burning candle,
Glamour of life, cast futility in its wake.
Dreams bring vivid grandeur to life
Though fleeting, ephemeral, evanescent;
Yet gives a semblance with reality...
Of coveted afflictions of the mind
Of Love, of beloved and of harmony…

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Life is a duty…Perform it.

Don Blanding, the vagabond Poet Laureate of Hawaii in his “SOMEHOW’ wrote thus-:

“I have tried for many an hour and a minute
To imagine this world, without me in it.
I cannot think of a new born day
Without me here, somehow, some way.
I don’t imagine the autumn’s flare
Without me –here –alive- aware.
I cannot think of a dawn in spring
Without my heart’s awakening.
These treasured years will come and go
With swifter pace-, but this I know, `
I leave no fear- I have no dread
Of that marked day that lies ahead.
My flesh will turn to ash and clay
But I’ll be here-somehow-someway”

We are born in this world as we are. We did not have any choice on the wherever, wherewith or anything. Neither by accident, nor as a coincidence, but by the will of the Providence only. Remember Shakespeare’s words:”There is a destiny which shapes our ends. “
Agnostics may please excuse! Keep those daggers inside its sheath. No malice meant!

Thus we are here, till the bell tolls for our funeral. In between there are umpteen things we have to perform, fulfill, complete, finish off. As an individual this has to be done solo. We have to make so many adjustments in our life as to our emotions, intentions, relationships, lifestyle, personality, individuality, attitudes and everything concerning us. Then only we could perform, to our contentment.
“The cheerful person will do more in the same time, will do better, will preserve in it longer, than the sad or sullen person. ( Thomas Carlyle)

Look forward at your goal, think always that nothing is for ever, and not even our failures. Be not afraid of petty and destructive criticism. Always keep in mind the desire to attain the reality of our dreams. This world is a stage and we are born as performing artists here. There is a screenplay for everyone, and we cannot deviate from that. Keep our spirits high. Sympathize with our colleagues. Love them true. When the curtain falls, the viewers, the stage and the actors will disappear.
Keep that in mind!

Arise! Awake! And stop not till the play ends.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Life is a tragedy.... Face it.

It so happens that there is a conspiracy being hatched
behind our back, always to take the joy and sunshine
out of our life. They come in form of maladies,
accidents,deaths, etc, and we become losers in the end.

Life has to cope up with such tragedies in a better
way, and sometimes philosophy, religion
psychotherapy, meditation etc. may help us to
overcome that and bring us back to normalcy.
A perception of our mental attitude with physical
Reaction- we call them emotions. Our feelings
trigger this emotion and we succumb to sadness,
melancholy, solitude, and helplessness. And victims
of such tragic situations, resort refuge in religion,
liquor, and may be drugs and sometime even commit
suicide.

Whatever happens in our life, we have to accept it with
equanimity. A resurrection from the graveyard of our
morbid state become inevitable. This could be achieved
only by rational thinking. We cannot accept the
principles of Fatalism. When something is out of
human control, how do we define it? Coincidence!
Cataclysm! Catastrophe! Who or What caused it?

There is an element of an unknown force or factor
underplaying in it. May we call it Providence..
perpetrating undesired events in our life.
Who?...God!.. Satan!... Weird Powers!...Supernatural
Forces!...Aliens!...Extraterrestrials!...
We are unable to find a proper answer to that.

“All that happened hitherto is good!
All that will happen in future also is good!
All that we lost did not belong to us!
All that we will lose also is not ours!
We did not bring anything to this world!
What we acquired here, belonged to someone yesterday!
It was there even before we came into existence….’

Think about this! Does it convey any meaning in your
thoughts or imagination?
What is your view?

(Based on Bhagavad Gita.)

Sunday, March 16, 2008

A Computer Generated Assessment About Me: Kunjubi




What Varghese Means



You are very hyper. You never slow down, even when it's killing you.

You're the type of person who can be a workaholic during the day... and still have the energy to party all night.

Your energy is definitely a magnet for those around you. People are addicted to your vibe.



You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection.

You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive.

You have the classic "Type A" personality.



You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something.

You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense.

You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun.



You are deeply philosophical and thoughtful. You tend to analyze every aspect of your life.

You are intuitive, brilliant, and quite introverted. You value your time alone.

Often times, you are grumpy with other people. You don't appreciate them trying to interfere in your affairs.



You are truly an original person. You have amazing ideas, and the power to carry them out.

Success comes rather easily for you... especially in business and academia.

Some people find you to be selfish and a bit overbearing. You're a strong person.



You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone.

You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together.

At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.



You are the total package - suave, sexy, smart, and strong.

You have the whole world under your spell, and you can influence almost everyone you know.

You don't always resist your urges to crush the weak. Just remember, they don't have as much going for them as you do.

Life is a song…Sing it.

“You held a wild flower in your finger tips
Idly you pressed it to indifferent lips
Idly you tore its crimson leaves apart…
Alas it was my heart.”
Joy and humor in life, keep its equilibrium for
a peaceful , fulfilling existence. Together they give us a perspective, to confront the strain and stress of reality in life.

A sense of humor, a hearty laugh, and a moment of
mirth give the requisite nutrients and add vitality to
meaningful life. They bring sunshine to life. The spices
needed here are happiness, pleasure, joy, and laughter.
The experience of emotions is the trigger to our wellbeing..
“Human feelings and emotions are interwoven inextricably
in the fabric of each human individual.
Joy and Delight
Sadness and Hurt
Anger and Hostility
Fear and Anxiety
Guilt and Shame..
Each colorful thread weaves its passage in and out of the
tapestry of our personal and social life. Feelings and
emotions color and create the texture and form of our
individual dream, in our unique time and space, in our
social milieu.” (Mary O’Shaughnessy )

While trying to live a harmonious life of contentment
and meaning, the following factors give us negative
impulses.
Destroying and desultory thoughts
Harsh and hard words
Evil and passionate attitudes
Wild and unnatural desires
Superstitions and anxieties
Antipathy and ill will.
Sarcasm, Spite, Scoffing, Mockery, Irony etc..
Smile plays an important role in our emotional life;
as we smile because we are happy, we are happy
because we smile.

And here is a recipe from Tiffany Talley-‘Sunshine’.
“Take two heaping cups of PATIENCE
One heartful of LOVE
Two handfuls of Generosity
A dash of laughter
One headful of Understanding.
Sprinkle generously with kindness,
And plenty of Faith- Mix well
Spread over a period of life time
And serve everybody you meet.”

Saturday, March 8, 2008

That Evening…


The amorous tinkle of your anklet
I heard, and the sweet treads in the corridor
Sounded, when you came in;
Like the golden rays of the evening sun
Coming filtered through the colored
Panes, of my window.

As a soft overture, when someone touches
The strings of my tense heart,
Like the raindrops settling on the leaves,
Squirting nectar on my life
I was enthralled to hear the soft footsteps.

When you paddled into my chamber
Like the bee, circling around the bloom,
Shrouded by minuscule drops
Of the morning snow,
As the footsteps approached me
I found you as another magnificent sun,
Trying to drown in the ocean, of my silent love.

The golden hue of the sun covered you
In silhouette;
The buds of my ecstasy bloomed;
In those moments, I became one in you
And you became one in me.

The earth and the sky stared to find out
The lover, of this gorgeous bride and asked.
“Whoever is the bridegroom of this nymph?”

The breeze whispered into the ears of the
Flower. ”What will happen to night?”

And a few stars peeped out from behind the curtain,
In coy meekness, and blinked gleefully.

Ode to Love IX

Ode to Love IX

Words have wooed, yet failed to bring her back;
Persuasion has stretched to her, its eager arms
In vain. I have roamed from street to streets,
Keeping her image in the core of my heart,
And around her, have risen and fallen the growth
And decay of my life, over my thoughts and actions;
My slumbers and dreams.
She remained in her loneliness waiting for her
Own day for recognition.

That ‘I want you, only you’, let the heart repeat persistently.
All desires that distracts me, day and night
Are false and empty to the core.
In the labyrinth of my unconsciousness
Rings that cry- “I need you, only you…”

Friday, March 7, 2008

Ode to Love..VIII

Ode to Love VIII

Your joy in me is so full.
That is how you come down to me.
Oh sweet angel! Where would be your joy, if I were not?

You have taken as your partner for all your life.
In my heart is the endless play of your delight.
In my life you will always take shape.
You the Queen of queens have decked yourself in beauty
To captivate my heart.
And for this, your love loses itself in the love of
Your lover and there we see the perfect union
Of the two. When I kiss you to make you smile
And happy, my darling, I surely understand
What pleasure streams from the heart,
And what delight, that brings into my life,
When I kiss you to make you smile.
Through birth and death in this world or in others,
Wherever you lead me, I am your companion
Of endless life, who links my heart to endless joy,
To the end of time. I pray, that I may never lose the
Bliss of your heart touch.
My house is all dark and lonesome.
Lend me your light, holding the lamp
Near to your heart.
Your world is weaving words in my mind;
And your joy is adding music to them.
You give yourself to me in love and feel
Your own entire sweetness, in me.
You are my alter ego.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Ode to Love VII

Ode to Love.......


Call back, beloved, call back this pervading silence
Still and keen and cruel, burning the heart with despair.
Where are you standing behind, my love, hiding away
Yourself in the shadows?
I wait here the weary hours, spreading
My good wishes for you, while passers-by
Push me away from your presence.
In the shade of the evening, my eyes
Become drowsy with sleep.
For sleep- I have forgotten its fetters.

How could I tell them that for you alone
I am waiting, and you have promised to come.
I hide this pride of knowing you, in the depth of my heart
It is only me who would wait and weep and wear out
My heart in vain, longing.

We planned, we should sail away only you and me
And never a soul in the world would know
Of our pilgrimage, to the distant unknown
Place, where we will make a dwelling for us.
And live till the end of time.
You and me for each other.
Your starry eyes and silent smile will
Weave melodies free as waves, free from all bondage of words.
Is that time not come yet?
You did press the signet of your love upon many
A fleeting moment of our life.





Sunday, March 2, 2008

ODE TO LOVE VI

Ode to Love VI

Why do I ever miss her sight, whose breath touches
My sleep? I have no sleep.
Ever and ever again I open my door and look
Out into the darkness and hearken for the music
Of your anklets, wading through the chilly nights.
It remains a dream alone.
I can see or hear nothing
I wonder where lie the footprints, when you go for a stroll.
Through what maze depths of gloom, are you treading
Your course to come to me, my beloved?

When my heart is weeping and dry,
Come upon me with a shower of mercy.
When the grace of your youth is lost from life
Come with a burst of laughter
In peace and love.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Ode to love....5

Ode to Love V

Now and again sadness falls upon me.
I start up from my dream and feel a trace of
A fragrance, that of your breath you have left in me.
It was too vague. Its sweetness makes my heart
Ache with a longing and it seemed to me
That you are nearby- but know not so near.
The sweetness was only from the depth of my heart
Which blossomed? You gaze upon the vast emptiness
And feel a thrill passing through the veins
From the notes of an unsung music floating
From the other shore.
Oh my beloved! The gates of my hut are always
Open for you to enter.
Do not pass by like a dream.