B - Leaf

After quite some time, I again got the opportunity and the drive to sit down, contemplate and come up with some thought recipe. This time, it's about belief. That's right... belief - as in any cognitive content held as true.
Before we dive in, have a look at the illustration. Done? Read on....

The belief of someone in something or someone is based on either or both of the following:
1. Evidence
2. Confidence
Let us go by the generic senses of these words for now and try not getting into the exact definitions. I suggest this because, once we start evaluating and juxtaposing, the true definitions of these words would automatically emerge (or the theory would perish).
All the learning and knowledge base (often referred to as 'science') of the human race suggests that the direction of flow must start from evidence and end at confidence. You perceive something, you analyze it and start believing in the occurrence/ existence of such a thing and hence develop confidence regarding the same. This, as the process suggests, can be called "perception."
E.g.
1. You see a carrot. You perceive that the carrot is orange in color. After seeing a few more carrots, you start to believe that carrots are orange in color. After sufficient (again to be defined consequentially) observations, if someone comes along and asks you the color of a carrot, you will confidently say 'orange.'
2. Education

There also exists the opposite flow direction which is suggestive of the duality and hence the ambiguity of the universe. In this scenario, you develop confidence (inherent or induced) in something, start believing in its existence/ occurrence and hence, either by factuality or by illusion, find evidence to perceive. This can be called a "confidence trick." The word 'trick' in this phrase is merely indicative.
E.g. You acquire knowledge (build confidence) from various sources (books/mags/people etc.) that a particular place is beautiful/ scenic. You start believing that the place is beautiful/ scenic. You finally get the chance to visit the place and then find it to be 'beautiful/ scenic.'
2. Religion

That's all folks!





*Thanks to all my friends and close ones for making my 23rd birthday memorable. :-D

When I discovered myself...

Highs and lows, I've seen them both
To glorious lights, I've been a moth
Divine things were thought to be crazy
Truth with all its clarity seemed hazy
The rhyme ends here, yet new chimes begin...

musings I did, on the imagination plate
hatching ideas and feigning a saga
knots got tied and gave emotions a tab

Though all is well and ill can't dwell,
It is at times of gloom that I discover myself.



Title credit: Mehak

Gespräch

God: (smiling and sneering simultaneously)
Human: I want you to say "cool"
God: Cool
Human: (in a very poised manner) I want one
God: An answer?
Human: (nods)
God: What's the question?
Human: (shrugs)
God: Then, first ask the question.
Human: (after a while) Is it true that the question itself is the answer?
God: What?! That's nonsense
Human: So, then there's no question?
God: No. no. no... There is 'the question'. Okay... let me tell you ... The truth is ... "There's no answer."
And the question is "WHY DOES THE QUESTION NOT HAVE AN ANSWER?"

God disappears...
Human disappears...
Salvation.

PS: People who can't move on quickly will mentally and truly become OLD.

Revering Rev

It was about 44 degrees outside... The heat was killing me... I was riding on my middle-class, less luxurious, high mileage-yielding bike on the six lane road. The hot puffs of air hitting my face made me want to just quit driving and find some shade to simply lie down. I had quite a distance to go and my speed startled me. The traffic light was about to turn red and there were two cars ahead of me. These cars were in front of me for the past half an hour. Both were built for vrooming speeds and looked like hot super models of the car-world.
I had to get past these cars at any cost or I would be stuck there for the next 65 seconds without movement. So, I recklessly squeezed my slimbie between the two awesome upholstry clad beasts and zoomed past them just escaping when the signal was
orange.
Aahhh.... freedom.... finally ... I was able to ride in the second gear!
I pitied all those other motorists who had to stay there on a beautiful, smooth, six-lane track and yet not even move an inch because of the typical muscle fatiguing Hyderabadi traffic jam with hot polluted air all around them.
:(
There is some form of incompetence in our inspirational methodology...
1. We bring a Volvo bus but do not maintain the roads for it.
2. We bring an alcoholic cool culture but do not know the likes of it.
3. We mimic a slang but can't pull it off.

*For hell's sake, we elect a leader and do not even bother to check if he/she is doing his/her job.

PS: Boredom reigns!

Scientuality

You know when they say "Don't worry, God will take care of everything."
You know when they say "What you get is solely in your own hands."
Well, 'they' are saying the same thing. I had a very amusing epiphany the other day. You know what made me have it? Believe it or not, it was a class of Advanced mechanics of solids (pathetic slogging mechanical engineers of BITS Pilani would know better here). So, here it comes... a little bit of hardcore science with the twist of spirituality and Freudian psychology.
The science of it:
There is this awesome theorem called the Castigliano theorem. (If you've heard of it before, welcome to the bro-hood of geeks.) It basically helps one to find the deflection in a particular part of a body(not necessarily that of a super-model...lol) due to a particular force acting on it. (You can't explain this in a rougher manner) Well, now if you intend to find the deflection at a point where there is no actual force acting, to solve and find out the overall deflection there, you will have to assume a fictitious there and calculate. Finally when you arrive at the solution containing the aforementioned force, you'll have to nullify it to get the actual answer to your problem.
Now, here is the beautiful analogy that struck me.
(The life of it:)
In life, if you desire something (affluence, influence, happiness etc.), you will have to put some effort for it. You will be consciously and sub-consciously conceiving/accomplishing it. Now there will be this instance when taking responsibility for each and every action of yours, each and every effort of yours, consciously, becomes very cumbersome. So, then, you tend to attribute some of the flaws etc. to unseen forces like luck and some of the right-doings to other unseen forces like God. The body here would be the cosmos... the fictitious force would be the unseen factors like the ones I just mentioned... the deflection would be the end result or the outcome of your efforts... I think you got what I mean.
Notes:
The fictitious force is absolutely necessary and has its own importance. Never neglect it.
Do not forget to nullify the force in the end (but yet do respect it) and don't blame it for wrong 'deflections' (coz you are the actual force responsible for them)
You won't find the fictitious force only in temples/churches/mosques etc. Reflect, focus and concentrate... you can find it anywhere, at anytime from/in anyone.


I bow to all the fictitious forces around. Hail scientuality...

Epiphany

Time: 20:26
Place: Hostel room in BITS Pilani
Ventilator and window: Fully open

Cool air was brushing my body as I peacefully crouched on my bed. The song called Marudani (A R Rahman's album Sakkarakatti) was playing in my comp. I switched the lights off and the moonlight was the sole illuminating factor. No tensions in mind, no tests, no responsibilities, no fights, no grudges... Everything was so really nice. The moment was beautiful, I thought. Then I thought, 'for how long can I keep cherishing such moments?' A lifetime at the most. Then??? ... no idea. What if I achieved a lot? Would that really be changing the fact that I can't enjoy my accomplishments forever? So what is it that I/anyone for that matter, can do to have something for eternity? Salvation... any other answers... I really wish there were... (btw if you do, plz lemme know)

Then comes the next mind-chewing question, "Is there really a state called salvation?" Yes there is. No there isn't. J Krishnamoorthy's book said "The answers are probably right here." It also said "You enjoy the moment and then you also partially enjoy recollecting that enjoyment. So you start pursuing the moment and its joy again but then you end up in despair..." Oh my god, that man thought a hell lot about life. Do try reading some books like that. Your perspectives will be appreciated by yourself...

My point however, is to make you all think for a while about 'what is going on.. and for what?' Don't slam your brains too much about this however... just explore your grey matter!



More on this making its way....

Cosmosis

Can you tell me with absolute certainty that everything you go through, is an expected response to a choice you made? If yes, what do you think makes you make that choice? If you are saying, "why should something make me make that choice?", then a discussion between you and me must be a saturated one. I advise you read no further.
On the other hand, can you tell me with absolute certainty that everything you go through, is exactly written and there is nothing you did for it? If yes, then why do you keep feeling like you are making choices?
The cosmosis theory can help both the categories here. You are making choices and you are going through pre-intended stuff. The image enclosed, elucidates the theory better.
We are all obviously in continuous balance with the cosmos we live in. You are initiated at a point, the point of consciousness. Then you come across the red dots, the junctions of choice. At these points you choose a path consciously/sub-consciously and are, as a consequence pushed onto a pre-laid path in the cosmos. Then you come across hurdles which act as references and help you understand that you are in fact treading a path. So, the next time you are confronted by a hardship, understand that you are on a path to a choice junction. Movement along this path is inevitable once you are on it. The cosmos keeps pushing you and when you resist movement, you encounter a situation called "depression". In this state you tend to lose the sense of abstracting sense out of your actions. Caution yourself of this. And then you again encounter a junction of choice and a path and so on......
Now if you are in perfect harmony and pace with the cosmos, you might end up knowing the final choice or you might notice the triviality of the made choices and treaded paths. This would be the end of the journey.. You can, as per many philosophers, command the cosmos...

Inspired from:
a) thoughts
b) a 65 year old man taking everything in the stride
c) events during the summer vacation
d) microsoft windows paint.

nirWANNA?

I once asked a friend of mine, "What do you think salvation is?"
He replied, "A state of the soul when you already know the answer for your question."

I rever this friend. He never says things that need not be said.
He's the one that shouts "shut up!" whenever I cross the line with my friends or family...
He's the one that whispers "thank him/her" whenever someone does good for me...
He's the one that doesn't write posts like this... So I'll do it for him. Actually, I'll do it for myself.

I think, one can attain salvation by doing anything... I mean anything. (And doing absolutely nothing is included in anything) The extreme point that you reach while doing something is salvation. Let us look at this more objectively.
Suppose you do something you like doing very much. There is this moment while you are doing it when you internally feel really happy... ok this is not working... I'll elaborate...
Take an example. Say, You like erasing something that is written in pencil with an eraser. You like it very much. You saw a paper with something written in pencil and you don't need the paper. So, you start erasing stuff off it. It feels good. You tend to lose yourself doing it. You get detached of everything while doing it.(not erasing exactly.. anything that you really like doing) There is a point while you are erasing, when your heart (actually the soul) is the happiest. Pleasure comes from within. But this lasts for a really short time... about a second or even less. Some may not even realize this happiness. (I'll try to explain why some of us can't realise this happiness in another post)
So, this is the moment of bliss we all are actually craving for. We want a perfect world for this. We try to influence people for this. We work to improve ourselves for this. Slowly, if you keep improvising/practising your act of passion, this moment of bliss becomes a minute of bliss. Then after a few more blisses, it gets to an hour, then a day, and slowly as I suspect, it becomes stagnant.
After such an endeavor you tend to see the working of every gear in the universe in what you are doing. That is, the mind tends to open itself in these times of bliss and finally my theory is: you will attain bliss for eternity with an understanding of EVERYTHING that is perceivable by normal humans. But the fact remains... you need to find the passion and persevere throughout with a full and complete heart.
Hencewise, you can attain salvation through singing... through thinking or meditating (the age old technique)... through torturing yourself... and why not, even through other "so called" condemned stuff.

In the comments, please give ways in which you would like to attain nirvana.

P.S.: I can attain nirvana through writing this blog... who knows??? (I do have a passion for blogging btw)

Hardships heard you... (couldn't help the lengthy post)

I often wonder as to why things don't come to us easily.
Then I answer myself saying ... coz then no one would use the words "difficult" or "hard" anymore.

I feel that when one is on the quest for something, there are some stages in which the universe reacts to their initial stimulus... one's thought of the quest.

The initial stage:
Everything starts to make you feel that it is so right... so meant for you... the beginner's luck kind of philosophy. (inspired from Paulo Coelho)
Suppose you think of .... let's say.... starting a business...
The first part is quite thrilling. You summoning all your resources.. gathering contacts, starting tie ups or inviting stakes... etc. You feel like all this time you should have been a businessman (at some points of this initial part of your journey). You fit into the jigsaw puzzle. You see a flamboyant ambition and vision ahead of you.

Hardship stage:
This is the immediate and the longest of the stages. It gets you into the depth of what you started and introduces you to all the facets of effort involved. This is the stage when the majority is eliminated and a perseverant minority is filtered.
The problems in your business slowly start to manifest. You see probable losses or losses, breakups, fights, monetary constraints, the competition, the ailments of business etc. The initial enthusiasm you had fades and you start to feel like u are in a rut and can't step back or you might even start resenting. The ambitions seem impractical during the end of this stage.

The realisation stage:
This is the consequent enlightening part of the quest. You start to realise the gearing and the working of the universe around you and feel like changing it a little. But at the same time you also feel strong and aloft. The expertise and experience start to set in.
Your business seems to be just maneuvering through and for some time you stop caring about your ambitions and desires. The hunger for control ceases and you slowly leave things to take care of themselves, rarely overdoing your duty. (unlike initially)

The gifting stage:
This is the actual stage of satisfaction. The universe, realising that you have done your part of the build, starts to do the rest. Things fall in place & you feel the result pounding on you.
Oppurtunity strikes your door and the business takes a critical turn. Success hits your organization and the satisfaction of slogging all through will be in your heart. If not your initial ambition, a worthwhile achievement gets itself credited to you. Careful nourishment from there takes you to the heights of your potential.

And finally, there is this stage when I stop writing and leave you for comments.

{
Things that inspired me to write this post:
1. Boredom
2. Chat sessions with some of my "intellectual friends" and my dad.
3. Lone time and the fact that I started blogging.
}

C ya all soon.