Delhi

I casually switched on the TV, which I don’t do during day time, and the scene was very disturbing. Young people have gathered in thousands and the police was throwing gas cannons and water over them. My first thought was that once again people of Egypt are protesting against their government. It took a while to realize that it is not happening in Egypt but at Delhi.

It was a pleasant surprise, this generation youth is always perceived both by academicians and others as the generation who can think only about their carriers and their extended self, and they are numb towards social consciousness. It is great to see that myth being broken squarely and once and for all.

I have taken part in few protest marches both in Delhi and Patna, the usual reaction from the onlookers was one of pity and anger, they used pity for us because we were wasting our time and they used get angry because we were wasting their time. Today what we see is the total involvement of everyone present there, both onlookers and protesters are having the same dream of standing by the victim (name is not known but given a name Amanath by the media).

Amanath is the Rosa Park of USA who kick started the civil right movement with her courage and resilience, what we lack is Martin Luther King Jr. to take forward the struggle.

I have no doubt that when these many young people come together for a cause, they just cannot fail in a democratic nation (of course it is possible only in a country like China). We will find a satisfactory solution to the six monsters who committed the crime. But the important thing is that the fire Amanath has set in the hearts of young generation must continue to burn and redefine our way of life. I hope it will…..

Question the Question

John Kotter, A professor at Harvard Business School, Studied the   1974      batch Students. He observed their life and achievements for 20 Years. All of them were driven by motivation to succeed. And invariably they have reached financially successful state of life. Then He noticed that 5% of the students were Super Successful. Their achievements were extraordinary, not only in their financial status, but also with their relationship-family, friends, relatives...

He wanted to find out what made them so extraordinary? All students were bright, had good background, and driven by the high need for achievement, then what made only few of them to be super Successful? When he studied them more closely, he found two characteristics which distinguished them from the rest:

1. Self- belief: they strongly believed in themselves and what they want is within their reach. They had dreams and they firmly believed that they would achieve them.

2. They constantly asked questions, no matter who is the other person - boss, son, subordinate, wife...       they continued to remain curious. Their education had not stopped with Harvard degree; they continued to learn things with a childlike enthusiasm. Not satisfied with the accepted answer, they asked questions tirelessly.

The another word for living dangerously is asking questions with the desire to find answer, then question the answer to reach the higher level of understanding. The art of asking question is a journey, it never ends. Conclusions and answers are destination, if you are happy with the answer, your journey is over and destination is reached. The story is over. If you are not happy with the answer yet settled with that answer, then also you have reached the end, certainly it is a sad end. What to do, we need tragic stories too to entertain our mind.

Spring summer fall winter and spring

I wanted to watch this film from the time I heard about it, but could not get it with English subtitle. Watching a film without understanding what is spoken is a dangerous endeavour, glorious misunderstanding happens by default.

When I was studying at 5 std, I watched the film “Sholey” without knowing Hindi, and mistook gabber singh for a Naxalite, the guy without hands as the villain, the exploiter of the people (what to do, police has such a reputation), Dharmandera as the comedian and Amitab as the deaf and mute, then narrated the story to my friends. They believed since they did not the film. How true is the statement - among the blind, one eyed becomes the king.

That time on wards I decided not to watch a film if I do not know the language. Finally I could get the copy of the film with subtitles.

The Movie is a Visual treat. It touches your heart effortlessly. A soul searching film with the aesthetic of high order. Symbols abound, and the interpretation is left to the Viewer. The film is like a poem, leaves you to come up with your own meaning. The director narrates the story without any imposing anything. No beginning, No end everything is Cyclical.

Life is being explored with different Seasons. Every season has its own pleasure and pain. Joy produces pain for others, Lust produces pain for the self, Attachment produces pain for all, and Wisdom produces Compassion and the end.

Life is the hero; Time and change are the villains and Friends. We constantly live in the Twilight Zone, Can move towards light or dark. Neither darkness is familiar nor the light, Yet we have to make the choice. But take the responsibility and Pay the price, explanation, Justification are waste of time and energy.

Having a master is not enough; he can guide but can't live our life. The tragedy of life is that Wisdom flowers only after the experience. Going through the hell and heaven is the only way to go beyond them. A true master allows us to be in hell with compassion and in heaven with understanding. He never gives up the hope in us, even if we have given it up in the film, In the first Spring, the child ties a fish frog, Snake with a Stone. In the second Spring, the child feeds fish, a frog, and a snake with a Stone. Cruelty Increases with each new generation. What is not shown is that Mastery too increases with each new generation.

Don't miss this movie. If you don't know Korean, make sure that you get the film with Subtitles. 

Bigger the tragedy lesser the Suffering

Pain is real, Suffering is illusion. Pain is physical, suffering is psychological. Pain is caused by external realities, suffering in produced internally by the mind. Pain is healed by medicine; suffering is cured by understanding and acceptance.

People say, the world is going to end. It is an old Joke repeated periodically to entertain the idle Mind. Hollywood has made enough money by making movies on this topic. Sometimes super intelligent being come from Mars to destroy the earth, Other times it  is the prediction the Mayan Calendar or by some mad Scientist. As long as USSR Was powerful Nuclear War was another threat projected for the end of the world. It looks like the world was us to live in a state of fear.

Religious leaders too cited Scriptures time and again to frighten the common people regarding this issue and it was good for their business and invariably made lots of money.

But why are we afraid of the world coming to an end? In fact we should feel happy about it. When death comes to an individual person, he or she has nothing more to lose, so he or she neither has pain nor Suffering, but it creates lots of suffering among that person's near and dear ones. Though it sounds ridicules, we have got used to it. We show our love for the dead by crying thus creating lots of noise pollution. This suffering is unwarranted but since culture demands it, and not much harm is done by crying and beating our chest.

But think about a day, where everyone is dead. Nobody is going to feel pain or suffering. It will be the day of peace and harmony, a day when the classless society is finally established.

When a tragedy occurs to an Individual, he invariably feels it is not fair, and asks the question: "Why me?", though he does not spells it out, his whole being echos the question: "Why not others?". And it brings in mental turmoil and sufferings into his life. But if everyone is affected by a tragedy, it means nothing; there will be pain but not suffering.

If everyone fails, then no one minds it. It becomes a joke. So end of the world means equal distribution of tragedy. It is an occasion of pain without any Suffering. Pain without Suffering is a time to rejoice, a Sign of enlightenment and an absolute liberation.