tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51795099879196016182024-03-18T08:33:27.614+05:30Beauty Interprets, Expresses, Manifests the EternalA blog inspired by the eternal words of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. A search for the inner beauty of thought, emotion, action, soul. Beloo Mehrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10514874213623046284noreply@blogger.comBlogger208125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5179509987919601618.post-59275482172457139512015-12-23T00:02:00.005+05:302020-12-06T23:27:35.160+05:30Dear Readers, Won't You Join Us on WordPress?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV58uvHUDfopjhcuDv3bCue4O-H0xU8JiL78-W5_bMGYeU-6H3028qIsaf94aKJe_oFmQjUg20_x-GMU4QBcieZoj-UmC2n5a6sVUhCGwp2My9kdD8RE9yYa_VYv8JBHSauCsuOFzDfaA/s1600/moved.jpe" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV58uvHUDfopjhcuDv3bCue4O-H0xU8JiL78-W5_bMGYeU-6H3028qIsaf94aKJe_oFmQjUg20_x-GMU4QBcieZoj-UmC2n5a6sVUhCGwp2My9kdD8RE9yYa_VYv8JBHSauCsuOFzDfaA/s320/moved.jpe" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /><br />Yes, this blog has now moved to WordPress. This will be the last post on this blog.<br /><b><br /></b><div>
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<b><a href="https://beautyishisfootprint.wordpress.com/">Beauty Interprets, Expresses, Manifests the Eternal on WordPress</a></b></div>
<br /><br />The blog has taken a new birth in its new form with the same name, but with something new in its URL. </div>
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"Beauty is his footprint showing us where he has passed." (Sri Aurobindo)</div>
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Inspired by this beautiful line from Sri Aurobindo's <a href="http://savitri.in/" target="_blank">Savitri</a>, we have chosen the new URL for our WP blog as: <a href="https://beautyishisfootprint.wordpress.com/">https://beautyishisfootprint.wordpress.com/</a></div>
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The new WP blog preserves all the posts from this blog, minus the readers' comments. All the old posts (including this last one) will also be archived here at this space (unfortunately, all the readers' comments and ensuing exchange have been lost, thanks to the demise of Google Plus with which this blog was linked). </div>
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We hope our blog's new home will continue to inspire, remind and encourage us and our readers to seek for that deeper, inner beauty. We hope that our work there will continue to help us search for that All-Beautiful, All-Delighful Presence behind everything. </div>
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It is our sincere hope that you will join us on our new blog, and continue to constructively engage with the thoughts expressed through the posts. We look forward to your presence at our new home. </div>
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<br />Many thanks for all the support and encouragement we have received from all our readers. <br /><div style="text-align: right;">
~ Beloo Mehra</div>
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<a href="https://beautyishisfootprint.wordpress.com/">https://beautyishisfootprint.wordpress.com/</a></div>
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Beloo Mehrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10514874213623046284noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5179509987919601618.post-48056920154434891882015-12-21T19:42:00.000+05:302015-12-22T12:52:33.758+05:30A Blog Update and a Lesson in Detachment<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDMXbevOgqDpMJ11GDZIcd2JXrSQbrwjXMbNIaOlV_lGEVBuX1xGRfRqDSoUig4BHRdjbmWTX3hb_wO8kE3HcWa90RiuwW00lsth5GtiLe4Q-VgWjf7ANcwnaurBTXpH9SYkkuafAueLw/s1600/P1130721-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDMXbevOgqDpMJ11GDZIcd2JXrSQbrwjXMbNIaOlV_lGEVBuX1xGRfRqDSoUig4BHRdjbmWTX3hb_wO8kE3HcWa90RiuwW00lsth5GtiLe4Q-VgWjf7ANcwnaurBTXpH9SYkkuafAueLw/s320/P1130721-2.jpg" width="310" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Divine Teacher</td></tr>
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Today on the auspicious day of Gita Jayanti, I got an important lesson in detachment.<br />
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For more than two years now I have been writing this blog. After almost a year of writing, I discovered that I was beginning to get a small but almost-regular set of readers, many of whom would leave thought-provoking and encouraging comments on some of my posts. It was beginning to feel good, I admit, to see that at least some of what I was sharing was provocative enough (generally in a thoughtful way) for some of my readers.<br />
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Well, as things were supposed to happen, today I discovered that all the comments posted on my blog are gone! Disappeared completely. Gone. Who knows where? They are simply lost in the maze of the cyberspace. I discovered that after I published my recent post after a gap of more than two weeks.<br />
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The initial discovery was that all the social media shares had disappeared from the blog. No problem, I said, I really don't care about that. That's just a silly ego-boosting thing anyway to know how many people have 'liked' my post on FB, how many times it got shared on G+, how many times on LinkedIn, etc etc. So when I discovered that those social media share links had gone, I felt a sign of relief, almost. Who wants that ego-boosting thing anyway, I said to myself.<br />
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But a couple of hours later I was checking something on the blog, and discovered that all the comments from all 271 posts had gone. Just gone. Obviously, I was quite disappointed initially. Because several of those readers' comments were actually quite thought-provoking and added valuable perspective to the content of the original post. I felt sorry for that loss. Initially. I was also angry. Because I couldn't figure out how that could have happened. I have a tentative 'technical' theory, but now I have lost interest in figuring out whether that theory even makes sense.<br />
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And after a while it occurred to me that all this was meant to be a lesson in perspective, detachment and equanimity. With so much that is wrong in the world, so much that is unfortunate, unjust, untrue, unethical, unhappy, my silly little loss doesn't matter at all. Nothing in the world has changed because some blog comments are lost. Only my ego has gotten a little rub, much needed perhaps. For that I should actually be grateful. And I am, now.<br />
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The auspicious day of Gita Jayanti has indeed become a 'living' lesson for me. A beginning of learning that will hopefully continue. Thank you, Sri Krishna!</div>
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Beloo Mehrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10514874213623046284noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5179509987919601618.post-20375723227888266162015-12-21T14:43:00.004+05:302015-12-21T14:43:59.223+05:30Forgetting and Remembering<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A new post in the series - <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/p/reminders-to-self.html" target="_blank">Reminders to self</a></b></div>
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Sometimes going through one's old writings, journals, diaries can be an incredibly learning experience. It makes one recall and perhaps even renew for oneself the insight, the wisdom of the moment that had expressed itself in those words from years ago.<br />
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Often there is a definite reason why one is led to a particular old scribbling. Perhaps it is time to remember something important, really remember. Perhaps it is time to re-dedicate oneself. Perhaps one needs a reminder. A reminder to remember.<br />
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Sometimes old scribblings take on new forms. Not necessarily because the writer has grown wiser, but more because the writer is seeking a greater clarity inside. This seeking is also a reminder. A reminder to not forget to seek.<br />
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A newer outer form also becomes a reminder. A reminder to remember and offer.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZUdgkB4yWVo1MVS5DdrqtRpCysnBWNkXB516AGP6nafWTDkDZm4MTgavqhIdmAP9To-pZ-Ogm1vwMK7sgQTWcmYpGfJqIPhyphenhyphen6s1l7uuulBqfo4klc2KTCNs5Rh-1M_RmZObmcnean1iQ/s1600/DSC_6794.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZUdgkB4yWVo1MVS5DdrqtRpCysnBWNkXB516AGP6nafWTDkDZm4MTgavqhIdmAP9To-pZ-Ogm1vwMK7sgQTWcmYpGfJqIPhyphenhyphen6s1l7uuulBqfo4klc2KTCNs5Rh-1M_RmZObmcnean1iQ/s400/DSC_6794.jpg" width="263" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><span style="color: #0b5394;">"Although his ego claims the world for its use,<br /> </span><span style="color: #0b5394;">Man is a dynamo for the cosmic work;<br /> </span><span style="color: #0b5394;">Nature does most in him, God the high rest:<br /> </span><span style="color: #0b5394;">Only his soul’s acceptance is his own."</span><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span></blockquote>
In our egoistic journeys through life, as we go through various trials and tribulations, ups and downs, we generally forget that we are constantly being protected, pushed, guided and led by powers and forces beyond us, beyond our highest intellectual capabilities that we normally use to govern our lives, our choices and decisions. We may call these higher powers or forces by any name. We may call it the Divine.<br />
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In our ignorant intellectual debates on free will and destiny, we forget that in the ultimate analysis we are only instruments of a Cosmic Plan, and though blessed with a free will we have been put here on this earth to fulfil a tiny little part of His Grand Goal. We forget that we are here to manifest in our small ways His Divine Will, to play our little part in His Lila.<br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">"Often our thoughts are finished cosmic wares<br /> Admitted by a silent office gate<br /> And passed through the subconscient’s galleries,<br /> Then issued in Time’s mart as private make.<br /> For now they bear the living person’s stamp;<br /> A trick, a special hue claims them his own.<br /> All else is Nature’s craft and this too hers.<br /> Our tasks are given, we are but instruments;<br /> Nothing is all our own that we create:<br /> The Power that acts in us is not our force."</span></blockquote>
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We forget, therefore we have to remember.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfu6CQ-38URxHOUTa-tePK6ZYvCu2PtLHymR8bs6sYMAbUoeFHJiLEmBebajAtHUXxKmRaUa9l513lmuSbicIyF85oUta0-HYBi23qQZRp4Rdwhi23nM870YFTF9QB27fzAfsB_9Z2OBY/s1600/DSC_6855.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfu6CQ-38URxHOUTa-tePK6ZYvCu2PtLHymR8bs6sYMAbUoeFHJiLEmBebajAtHUXxKmRaUa9l513lmuSbicIyF85oUta0-HYBi23qQZRp4Rdwhi23nM870YFTF9QB27fzAfsB_9Z2OBY/s400/DSC_6855.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Because we are steeped in the Ignorance of our lower nature, enslaved by the prison of our physical-vital-mental selves, we forget that we are not really doing anything that we think we are doing. So we have to remember that even in our blind ignorance it is the Nature's Will manifesting itself through the outward actions being done through our hands and minds. We forget that we only have a responsibility for our actions and no claim on their outcome.<br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">"Even Nature’s ignorance is Truth’s instrument;<br /> Our struggling ego cannot change her course:<br /> Yet is it a conscious power that moves in us,<br /> A seed-idea is parent of our acts<br /> And destiny the unrecognised child of Will.<br /> Infallibly by Truth’s directing gaze<br /> All creatures here their secret self disclose,<br /> Forced to become what in themselves they hide.<br /> For He who Is grows manifest in the years<br /> And the slow Godhead shut within the cell<br /> Climbs from the plasm to immortality.<br /> But hidden, but denied to mortal grasp,<br /> Mystic, ineffable is the spirit’s truth,<br /> Unspoken, caught only by the spirit’s eye.<br /> When naked of ego and mind it hears the Voice;<br /> It looks through light to ever greater light<br /> And sees Eternity ensphering Life." </span></blockquote>
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We forget all this and that's why we are quick to take all the credit for the success of our actions and put all the blame on to the Divine or Nature if there is failure (or cry about our Bad Luck!). So we have to remember and offer all work to the Divine with no concern whatsoever for the outcome. We know we must do this, but still we don’t, we can’t.<br />
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We don’t do it because we forget.<br />
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We forget that all this is Hers, so we have to remember to offer it all to Her. We forget that we are only children of Hers struggling in Ignorance, so we have to remember that only Her Force and Her Grace can help us crawl out of this Ignorance and show us the Light.<br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">"All stumbled on behind a stumbling Guide,<br />Yet every stumble is a needed pace<br />On unknown routes to an unknowable goal.<br />All blundered and straggled towards the One Divine."</span></blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz2ivNFlbZm7wal1sOQ9V-lTUvsfjOkJ6wCJCogLQbfGshPmMDX23BdRtsk2t6vvNVKBnSqlknp00BviFfetWxmVdWt09gRKaOod7IoCHP0OxETmyaIJfxA1Me7U9B76CndPinH8BgHiM/s1600/DSC_6874.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz2ivNFlbZm7wal1sOQ9V-lTUvsfjOkJ6wCJCogLQbfGshPmMDX23BdRtsk2t6vvNVKBnSqlknp00BviFfetWxmVdWt09gRKaOod7IoCHP0OxETmyaIJfxA1Me7U9B76CndPinH8BgHiM/s400/DSC_6874.jpg" width="263" /></a></div>
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Perhaps there is a deeper necessity for this forgetfulness because all is part of the Divine Plan.<br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">"This world was not built with random bricks of Chance,<br /> </span><span style="color: #0b5394;">A blind god is not destiny’s architect;<br /> </span><span style="color: #0b5394;">A conscious power has drawn the plan of life,<br /> </span><span style="color: #0b5394;">There is meaning in each curve and line."</span></blockquote>
We are perhaps led to this forgetfulness so we may focus on the external world and all the actions that we must pursue. It is this action in the outer world that allows us to manifest and express outwardly what we may have experienced as part of an inward growth, whatever little that may be.<br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">"This world is God fulfilled in outwardness."</span></blockquote>
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Without the outward action we may not be able to translate any inner change into a concrete and sustained transformation. Without a reasonable dose of forgetfulness we may not be fully immersed in the outward action; without such an immersion an identification with the task may not be there and without which the task may not become a natural expression or outpouring of whatever part in us that has begun the journey of a deeper, wider and upward progress.</div>
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In the ultimate analysis, this simultaneous inner and outer journey is what helps us correct the multiple defects of the different parts of our physical-vital-mental nature. Only this can over time lead to a dynamic change of our outer nature which is essential for our evolutionary process. And for the purpose of our individual growth, this ‘back and forth’ between the outward external action and an inward redirecting of energies is what keeps us ‘testing’ for ourselves whether we are really changing. And for that we are given this experience of forgetfulness.<br />
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But we must remember that we are also given the ability to remember. We are given this because we must remember what we forget. It is this remembrance that takes us back inward. To the inner chambers where all journey is supposed to take us.<br />
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And yet we forget to remember, we forget to offer. We forget and we keep forgetting it more and more in our forgetfulness. It is as if we are lost in our own forgetfulness. The journey is long, but it begins as all journeys begin, with the first step. And that first step is remembrance.<br />
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<b>Remember and Offer.</b><br />
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Verses from <i>Savitri</i> by Sri Aurobindo</div>
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Photos by Suhas Mehra</div>
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To see previous post in the series, Reminders to self, click <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2015/06/x-is-ten-ten-lessons-over-fortnight.html" target="_blank">here</a></b>.</div>
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To see all posts in the series, click <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/p/reminders-to-self.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</b></div>
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Beloo Mehrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10514874213623046284noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5179509987919601618.post-77743291219040903892015-12-04T14:16:00.000+05:302015-12-04T19:21:34.892+05:30Needed: Spiritual Practicality<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A new post in <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/p/current-events.html" target="_blank">Current Events</a></b></div>
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The world has been busy talking about Climate Change, Solar Energy, Global Terrorism and all these other things. Political leaders, subject experts, public intellectuals, journalists, pretty much everyone who reads the newspaper and watches news on TV or follows it on social media has an opinion on these important topics of the day.<br />
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No, this post isn't about one more opinion on these important topics. It is actually about something quite contrary. It is about the inadequacy and the insufficiency of the mental ideas and opinions.<br />
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Remember my post from last month about <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2015/11/question-to-ponder-who-is-true-thinker.html" target="_blank">Who is a True Thinker?</a> </b>Of course, you do. Especially if you are a thinker!<br />
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In that <a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2015/11/question-to-ponder-who-is-true-thinker.html" target="_blank">post</a> I had spoken of two essays of <b><a href="http://www.sriaurobindoashram.org/ashram/sriauro/index.php" target="_blank">Sri Aurobind</a></b>o: one titled, <i><b><a href="http://www.collectedworksofsriaurobindo.com/index.php/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo/01-sabcl/16-the-supramental-manifestation-volume-16/38-conservation-and-progress-vol-16-the-supramental-manifestation-volume-16" target="_blank">Conservation and Progress</a></b></i> that inspired the <a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2015/11/question-to-ponder-who-is-true-thinker.html" target="_blank">True Thinker</a> post; and the other titled, <i><b><a href="http://www.collectedworksofsriaurobindo.com/index.php/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo/01-sabcl/16-the-supramental-manifestation-volume-16/39-the-conservation-mind-and-eastern-progress-vol-16-the-supramental-manifestation-volume-16" target="_blank">The Conservative Mind and Eastern Progress</a> </b></i>that is the inspiration for this one.<br />
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In some sense, this post may be considered a natural sequel to the previous post. Because only a True Thinker will be open-minded enough to engage with the ideas presented below. Are you one of those? Why not reflect on this question for a while?<br />
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In the essay, <i><a href="http://www.collectedworksofsriaurobindo.com/index.php/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo/01-sabcl/16-the-supramental-manifestation-volume-16/39-the-conservation-mind-and-eastern-progress-vol-16-the-supramental-manifestation-volume-16" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">The Conservative Mind and Eastern Progress</a>,</i><b> </b>a phrase that intrigued me was "<b>spiritual practicality</b>." This phrase could present a challenge to the general notion or understanding many people have of the term "spirituality." Most people are somehow used to thinking that spirituality and practicality can't go hand in hand. This perhaps comes from the faulty notion of seeing "spiritual-type" people as "impractical, other-worldly or out-of-touch-with-the-real-big-bad-world-out-there types."<br />
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But the truth is quite something else. One just has to give a quick look (without any preconceived notions) at the thousands of years of history of India and one will learn about the immense contributions of rishis, munis, yogis, sadhaks, gurus in practically all aspects of human life and activity. Philosophy, psychology, ethics, sociology, mathematics, astronomy, science, medicine, literature, arts, politics, warfare -- every field of what we consider as "practical" human activity has been the field of work of our rishis and yogis.<br />
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<i>[Of course, one wouldn't find this in the Marxist school of Indian history which is generally being taught in our Indian educational programmes. One will need to do one's own un-learning of the old ideological view of history and then begin a process of re-learning of this deeper and inner history of India.]</i><br />
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But the other day as I reflected more on the term "spiritual practicality" as used by Sri Aurobindo in his essay, I wasn't thinking of history. I was thinking of the present.<br />
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Global Poverty vs. Mindless Consumerism, Ecological Destruction vs. Economic Development, Terrorist Violence vs. World Peace, Religious Wars vs. Respectful Pluralism. Not a single day passes when we don't hear or read something or the other about one or more of these harsh conflicts facing the humanity and the world. It seems that such conflicts represent the state of things right now in the world.<br />
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In their own ways peoples, societies, and nations have been trying to address these conflicts in different ways. By enacting reasonable laws, by forumating thoughtful policies, by creating organised institutions, and by promoting all the 'right' secular values such as equality, liberty, human rights, universal education and at the same time lending their weight to the nobler ideals such as compassion for all life and nature, peace, non-violence etc.<br />
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And yet nothing seems to be working.<br />
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What is missing?<br />
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"The present era of the world is a stage of immense transformations. Not one but many radical ideas are at work in the mind of humanity and agitate its life with a vehement seeking and effort at change..... No nation or community can any longer remain psychologically cloistered and apart in the unity of the modern world. It may even be said that the future of humanity depends most upon the answer that will be given to the modern riddle of the Sphinx by the East and especially by India, the hoary guardian of the Asiatic idea and its profound spiritual secrets. <b>For the most vital issue of the age is whether the future progress of humanity is to be governed by the modern economic and materialistic mind of the West or by a <i>nobler pragmatism guided, uplifted and enlightened by spiritual culture and knowledge</i>. </b>The West never really succeeded in spiritualising itself and latterly it has been habituated almost exclusively to an action in the external governed by political and economic ideals and necessities; in spite of the reawakening of the religious mind and the growth of a widespread but not yet profound or luminous spiritual and psychical curiosity and seeking, it has to act solely in the things of this world and to solve its problems by mechanical methods and as the thinking political and economic animal, simply because it knows no other standpoint and is accustomed to no other method. On the other hand the East, though it has allowed its spirituality to slumber too much in dead forms, has always been open to profound awakenings and preserves its spiritual capacity intact, even when it is actually inert and uncreative. <b>Therefore the hope of the world lies in the re-arousing in the East of the old spiritual practicality and large and profound vision and power of organisation under the insistent contact of the West </b>and in the flooding out of the light of Asia on the Occident, no longer in forms that are now static, effete, unadaptive, but in new forms stirred, dynamic and effective."</blockquote>
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(Sri Aurobindo, CWSA, Vol. 13, pp. 137-138, emphasis added)</div>
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What is missing is "spiritual practicality," which when combined with a "large and profound vision" and a "power of organisation" can help humanity come out of the conflicts it has created in its path to progress.<br />
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What kind of "large and profound vision" do we need as an ideal? Perhaps the ideal of a true human unity?<br />
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But it can not be a mentalised ideal of unity which is unable to handle diversity without imposing a certain mental idea of uniformity. What is needed is a truer, an inner unity that doesn't impose uniformity <b>but also</b> doesn't tolerate abuse and disrespect of all that is different and unknown. What is needed is a deeper unity that doesn't eradicate diversity but also doesn't allow inhumanity and mindless violence (not only physical) to trample over all that is good, beautiful, true and humane.<br />
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Such unity doesn't come easily. Such unity doesn't come simply by wishing. Or simply by being politically correct. It requires sincere honesty. Of intention, of action, of rising above the pettiness and the lowest tendencies of greed, power struggle and domination. Serious work, stragetic work is required. On all fronts -- national, international, political, economic, social, cultural, educational.<br />
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And most importantly, on spiritual.<br />
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What is needed is a sincere effort to recover that "spiritual practicality" of the olden times and make it relevant for today and tomorrow. A spiritual practicality that helps us -- individuals and societies -- become more conscious of all our movements, all our actions, decisions and choices.<br />
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On an individual level, it could be something as basic as making <a href="https://www.facebook.com/beloo.mehra/posts/10206694972387034" target="_blank"><b>food choices</b></a> that are least harmful for the environment or becoming <a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2015/06/buy-less-be-environmentalist.html" target="_blank"><b>conscious consumers</b></a> in order to keep reducing our carbon foot-print. Or it could be at the level of socially-politically active individuals organising together to work toward a greater <a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2014/10/raising-discourse.html" target="_blank"><b>civilisational and cultural renaissance</b></a>.<br />
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At all levels what is required is an inner approach to outward action. Only a deeper, inward turning to the higher truth (of the self, not of the ego) and a disinterested action (in the sense of unegoistic, unselfish, having no regard for the result, with no preference for any particular outcome) can become the basis of a true spiritual practicality. Mentalised ideals can only take us so far, because mental ideals are easily broken at the first attack from life's complexities and circumstances.<br />
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What is really required is to <a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2014/10/raising-discourse.html" target="_blank"><b>rise in consciousness</b></a> so that as individuals, societies and nations all our actions and decisions are more and more guided by unitarian, integrative and harmonizing tendencies instead of separative, divisive, egoistic tendencies. <br />
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Unfortunately, for many people being 'open-minded' and 'modern' has come to mean accepting pretty much every lifestyle choice as an equally valid choice, in the name of <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2015/08/freedom-what-is-it-for.html" target="_blank">'freedom.</a></b>' Being 'liberal' has come to mean defending or being apologetic of the worst kind of violence and terror against humanity. All in the name of becoming the voice for the “all beliefs are equal” type of post-modernistic relativism.<br />
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This supposed ‘value-neutrality’ is against the most essential tenet of any spiritual path which emphasises the development of a clear sense of discernment, <i>vivek -- </i>defined by Sri Aurobindo as "intuitive and inspired judgment gained by a previous purification of the organs of thought and knowledge" (CWSA, Vol. 1, p. 501)<i>. </i>It is an ability to sincerely and honestly distinguish between right and wrong, between good and not-good, between <i><b><a href="https://matriwords.wordpress.com/2015/11/08/whats-the-right-thing-to-do-a-meditation-on-dharma-reason-and-offering-part-1/" target="_blank">dharma</a></b></i> and adharma. This applies equally to individuals in their individual sphere of life as well as to the societies and nations in collective life.<br />
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It is also equally important to recognise that spirituality doesn’t have to be religion-based, it can just as easily be areligious quest. The most sincere seekers on any spiritual path are in fact most open-minded and accepting of the diversity of wisdom traditions emerging from within various civilizations and cultures. They recognize that while each religion has a spiritual component <i>but </i>practical spirituality or spiritual practicality doesn’t require or necessitate any fixed adherence to any outer forms of any religion. They recognize and respect the truth that for some seekers a religion's outer forms such as rituals, ceremonies, etc. are important aids on the path. But equally so, this may not be the case for many others.<br />
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Such equal acceptance of difference is part of the inner make-up of sincere seekers on the path of truth. They recognize that what binds all these diverse seekers is a common search for the higher truth, an inner seeking whose practice is generally as individualised as something can be. Only such an experience has the potential to help one inwardly realize the deeper truth of values such as freedom, equality, and unity, beyond all intellectualising and rationalising of such ideals.<br />
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What is needed is a waking up to the life-affirming nature of Indian spirituality. Not religiosity, mind you. But a deep, personal seeking, an intense inner and outer search for the truth, the right, the good and the beautiful.<br />
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"It is more important that the thought of India should come out of the philosophical school and renew its contact with life, and the spiritual life of India issue out of the cave and the temple and, adapting itself to new forms, lay its hand upon the world. I believe also that humanity is about to enlarge its scope by new knowledge, new powers and capacities, which will create as great a revolution in human life as the physical science of the nineteenth century. Here, too, India holds in her past, a little rusted and put out of use, the key of humanity's future."</blockquote>
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~ Extract from an interview given to a correspondent of <i>The Hindu</i>, quoted in <i>Sri Aurobindo--His Life Unique</i>, Rishabhchand, p. 410</blockquote>
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Are we ready for the challenge to re-discover that key to the future? Ours and our world's?<br />
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To read other posts in the <a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/p/current-events.html" target="_blank">Current Events</a> series, click <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/p/current-events.html" target="_blank">here</a></b>.<br />
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Beloo Mehrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10514874213623046284noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5179509987919601618.post-41707587033069010302015-11-10T13:18:00.000+05:302015-11-10T13:18:45.635+05:30A Diwali Prayer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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New post in the series<b> <a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/p/satyam-shivam-sundaram.html" target="_blank">Satyam Shivam Sundaram</a></b></div>
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Diwali, the day we invoke and worship the Mother, some as Ma Lakshmi, others as Ma Kali. Diwali, the day we remind ourselves, once again, to turn toward the Light, to remove the darkness and dullness within. Diwali, the day, we recall and rekindle, once again, our inmost aspiration to open to the Divine Light. Light of Truth, Right, Good. Light of Love and Harmony.<br />
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This Diwali, I will light a special <i>diya</i> for my country too. With a prayer that my country wakes up to her true mission. With a prayer that I and my fellow Indians open more and more to the truth of the spirit that is the Mother India. With a prayer that more and more of my fellow Indians shun the darkness of the untruths we have been told for centuries about our dharma, about ourselves, our past, our present and our future.<br />
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With a prayer that my India walks toward the light that is in her soul, in her Eternal Dharma: Dharma that is Integral -- affirming and uplifting all aspects of life and living; Dharma that is Harmonious -- accepting and integrating all ways and dharmas; Dharma that is Universal -- respecting and transcending the diversity of all creation.<br />
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The task we set before ourselves is not mechanical but moral and spiritual. We aim not at the alteration of a form of government but at the building up of a nation. Of that task politics is a part, but only a part. We shall devote ourselves not to politics alone, nor to social questions alone, nor to theology or philosophy or literature or science by themselves, but we include all these in one entity which we believe to be all-important, the dharma, the national religion which we also believe to be universal. There is a mighty law of life, a great principle of human evolution, a body of spiritual knowledge and experience of which India has always been destined to be guardian, exemplar and missionary. This is the <i>sanatana dharma</i>, the eternal religion. Under the stress of alien impacts she has largely lost hold not of the structure of that dharma, but of its living reality. For the religion of India is nothing if it is not lived. It has to be applied not only to life, but to the whole of life; its spirit has to enter into and mould our society, our politics, our literature, our science, our individual character, affections and aspirations. To understand the heart of this dharma, to experience it as a truth, to feel the high emotions to which it rises and to express and execute it in life is what we understand by Karmayoga. We believe that it is to make the yoga the ideal of human life that India rises today; by the yoga she will get the strength to realise her freedom, unity and greatness, by the yoga she will keep the strength to preserve it. It is a spiritual revolution we foresee and the material is only its shadow and reflex. </blockquote>
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(Sri Aurobindo, <i>The Ideal of the Karmayogin, </i>CWSA, Vol. 8, p. 24<i>)</i></blockquote>
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To see previous post in the series, Satyam Shivam Sundaram, click <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2015/10/when-art-opens-toward-ananda.html" target="_blank">here</a></b>.<br />
To see all posts in the series, click <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/p/satyam-shivam-sundaram.html" target="_blank">here</a></b>.</div>
Beloo Mehrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10514874213623046284noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5179509987919601618.post-61793774911452211822015-11-01T13:22:00.003+05:302015-11-06T12:26:12.051+05:30Question to Ponder: Who is a True Thinker?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A new post in the series <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/p/current-events.html" target="_blank">Current Events</a></b><br />
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In India today, we are witnessing a clash between the decades-old social-political-economic order and a new order struggling to establish itself. This is resulting in quite an unrest on various levels, especially when we view things <i>only</i> from the outer surface.<br />
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Part of this unrest has led to a disturbing uncovering of an extremely narrow, rigid and ideologially biased nature of a big section of the 'intellectual' scene in India. With every passing day it is also becoming clear that much of this 'intellectual' scene was deliberately nurtured and nourished by the political parties which had been in power for decades, thus creating a rather unhealthy nexus where intellect is forced to become a captive to the politics of the day.<br />
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A positive result of this unrest is that directly or indirectly it is compelling the concerned Indians to reflect upon what it means to be an 'intellectual'. Can merely writing bestseller books, pontificating via weekly columns, winning some state-endorsed awards, making provocative statements on TV debates, producing documentaries on controversial topics make one qualified to be labelled as an 'intellectual'?<br />
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For years, things in the Indian 'intellectual' scene had been sliding to such a low point that today certain powerful sections of our socially upward classes don't even think twice when labeling socialite celebrities and advertising entrepreneurs as "public intellectuals." Such outdated and completely absurd notions are being aggressively challenged as a result of the unrest we are witnessing today.<br />
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One of the fundamental reasons for the unrest is this. Those who think of themselves as 'intellectuals' align themselves with what<i> they</i> see as 'progressive' values, necessary for a pluralistic society (their chosen phrase is "<b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/beloo.mehra/posts/10206581910440556" target="_blank">idea of India</a></b>" -- a coinage that is being hotly contested today, and for good reason). On the other hand, those who are not enamoured by the outer sheen and 'politically-correct', public statements of these 'intellectuals' question the very definition of this term 'progressive.' They accuse these so-called 'intellectuals' of playing politics by hiding behind such high-sounding labels, by imposing their westernised and limited notions of 'modernity', 'secularism' in their role as 'civilising missionaries', thus perpetuating the colonized mentality.<br />
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The 'intellectuals' in return accuse their critics of being 'conservative', 'parochial', 'regressive', 'stuck in past', 'irrational', 'communal' etc and label their critics' angst and voices as something potentially harmful for the progress of the society.<br />
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Interestingly, in this clash we see the so-called 'progressives' closely aligning themselves with the old social-political-economic order, the ecosystem which actually led to their rise as 'intellectuals'. And those who are being labelled as 'conservatives' and 'regressives' are interestingly on the side of the new order that is beginning to make its impact felt in various ways in the country's social, economic and political landscape.<br />
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When the noise level in a debate becomes so loud and unreasonable, nobody bothers to question the fundamentals. Everybody claims they are thinking in the interest of the society, but nobody asks the question - <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2015/03/do-we-know-we-arent-really-thinking.html" target="_blank">are we really thinking?</a> </b>Or what does it <i>really</i> mean to think? What is intellect?<br />
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What does it really mean to be a conservative? What does it really mean to be a progressive? Who is a true intellectual? A true thinker? Do we know?<br />
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The other day, I found myself revisiting some of the older essays of <b><a href="http://www.sriaurobindoashram.org/ashram/sriauro/index.php" target="_blank">Sri Aurobindo</a></b>. I was once again struck by the essay titled "<b><a href="http://www.collectedworksofsriaurobindo.com/index.php/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo/01-sabcl/16-the-supramental-manifestation-volume-16/38-conservation-and-progress-vol-16-the-supramental-manifestation-volume-16" target="_blank">Conservation and Progress</a></b>" which was first published in <b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arya:_A_Philosophical_Review" target="_blank">Arya</a></b>. For anyone interested to understand the deeper psychological forces working behind what we ordinarly speak of as being 'conservative' and 'progressive' <b><i>must</i></b> read this essay written almost a hundred years ago.<br />
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The deeply grounded and rich analysis presented by Sri Aurobindo makes one reflect upon the truth that a true independent thinker is not bound by any such conflics or dualities of a 'conservative being stuck in the past' and a 'progressive being only future-oriented.'<br />
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A true thinker rather strives to see the past, present and the unknown future as part of an overall march of the divine movement, not fixed in outward details and forms but as an attempt to work out the spirit of things and a progressively greater self-fulfilment of humanity, of the nation, of the individual.<br />
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Such a thinker, a true intellectual, will have some essential characteristics. Sri Aurobindo describes them beautifully in the last paragraph of this essay. I am listing them below as separate points for ease of understanding (though in the original text we find them all as part of one long sentence).<br />
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Such a thinker, according to Sri Aurobindo:<br />
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"will strive to understand the greatness and profound meaning of the past without attaching himself to its forms, for he knows that forms must change and only the formless endures and that the past can never be repeated, but only its essence preserved, its power, its soul of good and its massed impulse towards a greater self-fulfilment;</blockquote>
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"...will accept the actual realisations of the present as a stage and nothing more, keenly appreciating its defects, self-satisfied errors, presumptuous pretensions because these are the chief enemies of progress, but not ignoring the truth and good that it has gained; </blockquote>
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"...will sound the future to understand what the Divine in it is seeking to realise, not only at the present moment, not only in the next generation, but beyond,</blockquote>
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"and for that he will speak, strive, if need be battle, since battle is the method still used by Nature in humanity, even when all the while he knows that there is more yet beyond beside which, when it comes to light, the truth he has seized will seem erroneous and limited.</blockquote>
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"Therefore he will act without presumption and egoism, knowing that his own errors and those which he combats are alike necessary forces in that labour and movement of human life towards the growing Truth and Good by which there increases shadowily the figure of a far-off divine Ideal." (CWSA, Vol. 13, pp. 131-132).</blockquote>
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That's quite a high ideal for any one who wants to become a true thinker, a true intellectual. Such an ideal requires not only a mentalised notion of what it means to apply one's intellect, what it means to think. But it necessitates that a true thinker recognises the limits of the intellect and the faculty of mental reasoning. It compels that the thinker must begin to develop an inner faculty to 'see' things, to see deeply and beneath the surface of the happenings, events and phenomena.<br />
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This ideal necessiates that if we want to be truly progressive thinkers, we don't confine ourselves to the narrow mental prisons of past, present and future, but rather learn to see things as part of an evolving, growing Truth that is trying to express and manifest itself in many different forms. It requires that we learn to develop a deeper sense, a deeper faculty of discernment, an intuitive capacity to distinguish between the outer forms and the real, deeper essence of things, a capability to be able to sense the inner forces driving the outer events and phenomena.<br />
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This ideal compels us to stand up and act, act aggressively if need be, but without "presumption and egoism." <br />
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Do we see any such thinker, any such intellectual today? Question to ponder indeed.<br />
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To see last post in the Current Events series, click <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2015/09/a-desi-secularist-dilemma-or-how-to.html" target="_blank">here</a></b>.<br />
To see all posts in the series, click <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/p/current-events.html" target="_blank">here</a></b>.<br />
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Linking with <b><a href="http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.in/2015/11/q-is-for-quiet.html" target="_blank">ABC Wednesday, Q</a></b>: Q is for Question<br />
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Beloo Mehrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10514874213623046284noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5179509987919601618.post-35256629395125791672015-10-25T18:24:00.001+05:302015-10-28T13:42:30.997+05:30Musings on Peace, Harmony and the Art of Spaces<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The other day I was working at my desk, fully absorbed in reading a big document on my laptop, highlighting some points, trying to make sense of others, when I suddenly looked up. And <i>this</i> is the view I saw from the window by which my desk is placed.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB4OMyrvmNzd7DUsTncMOKlV_fYrEUl84ircNuPYIDBXXmRmlRYi3VOrx2kunYoI0mn5QrWRPOgkCVJ4jFwAAQoPEje75vhSpdsOLBtKJMIaRZYcI-Ymcir0KwJ5MMUJqVjahNZbkIDZc/s1600/12039528_10206612541806321_8143461289371254096_n+%2528800x575%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB4OMyrvmNzd7DUsTncMOKlV_fYrEUl84ircNuPYIDBXXmRmlRYi3VOrx2kunYoI0mn5QrWRPOgkCVJ4jFwAAQoPEje75vhSpdsOLBtKJMIaRZYcI-Ymcir0KwJ5MMUJqVjahNZbkIDZc/s400/12039528_10206612541806321_8143461289371254096_n+%2528800x575%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A view from the window by my desk, one afternoon</td></tr>
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It was not the first time I saw this view of my small garden in the back of the house. I see it daily, both when I am out in the garden and when I sit at my desk. But that day was a bit special.</div>
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It was special because the moment that day brought with it a sense of quiet and peace as I let that view sink in to me. There were a few small birds flying around the champa trees and the bushes nearby, making lovely sounds, calling each other, playing, resting on the thin branches, enjoying their freedom.<br />
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I sat there, in my chair, just sat there. For several minutes. Taking in the view, enjoying the sounds of the birds, the peace of it all.<br />
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I don't know what I was feeling in those moments. Perhaps it was some type of peace, a sense of harmony. Perhaps it was one of those moments when everything feels perfect, everything around you, everything within you, everything is<i> just</i> the way as it should be. There is no need to fuss over anything, no need to shift anything. As if there is nothing to disturb this moment, this sense of peace.<br />
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Have you ever felt that? Surely, you must have. Thank the gods for such moments, rare as they are in the noisy worlds we live in - within and without.<br />
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A few minutes later, a part of me wanted to go out in the garden and take pictures of the view. Even thought of taking the pictures of the birds who were still playing and singing. How foolish of me, I immediately said to myself. As if pictures would preserve the <i>'feel'</i> of the moment for me. </div>
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But still I couldn't not resist taking one shot on my phone, from this side of the window itself. The one you see above. </div>
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The moment passed. Only to be followed by another moment, of a reflection. Reflection on spaces and harmony. And on art.<br />
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Today, a few days later, as I sit by the same window, trying to give voice to that reflection I see the same tree and the same bushes, though there are no birds at the moment, I try to recall to my awareness that moment of quiet and peace from the other day.<br />
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Maybe writing out this reflection on spaces and harmony will bring its own harmony. Afterall, minds are spaces too, and creating a sense of harmony in our mental spaces is an art, a very important art that we all have to learn one way or the other if we want to experience more of these moments of peace and quietude.<br />
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So I begin.<br />
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You walk into a space -- a home, a room, a garden, a temple, an ashram, a workplace or any other public place -- and you instantly, spontaneously feel a sense of all-pervading harmony, a quiet ambience, an effortless beauty. Nothing is amiss, everything is perfectly placed where it should be. Nothing is obtrusive, nothing is jarring, everything is quietly at home in its natural place.<br />
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And you walk into another space and instantly you feel that something isn't right. There is a sense of disorder, an artificiality to the whole arrangement of the space, a feel of uncomfortable ugliness despite the outward prettiness and 'designer-like' placement of objects.<br />
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What? You haven't experienced it? You must have. Think, think.<br />
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Well, I surely have. Many times.<br />
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In fact, I have experienced this sense of harmony (or disharmony) even in empty spaces. For example, a few years ago when we were looking for a house to purchase, many times we would walk into an empty house for sale and just upon entering the house I would immediately 'know' whether or not I would even consider the house any further. Spaces, even empty spaces have their auras, sort of like an energy around them.<br />
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Personally speaking, how I feel in a particular space generally figures as one of the main criteria for deciding how much time I want to spend there. This could be a richly decorated home of a relative or a humble half-demolished temple in a village I am only visiting for an afternoon. I have experienced a discomforting sense of disharmony at a five-star hotel and felt a deeply calming sense of joy at an almost decrepit building that serves as a guest house.<br />
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This feeling or perception of order or disorder, a sense of harmony or chaos, is not about the physical appearance -- the size of the space, the form, placement and outer charm and prettiness of objects or furniture in the space -- though these things may be part of it. But only a very small part. The bigger part is about what the space makes one feel inwardly.<br />
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What is it that makes one space feel harmoniously beautiful, even though it may be very simply arranged with most inexpensive objects? And what makes another space, sometimes even the most well-designed space, furnished with most expensive 'designer' furniture and object d'art, feel jarring, out of order almost?<br />
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Is it the aura of the person who lives, works, moves in the space? Or the aura of the person who looks after the space, its cleaning, upkeep, etc? Is it something about '<i>the way</i>' things are arranged in the space? Or the consciousness of the space itself, the consciousness hidden in everything that is there in the space?<br />
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Or is it the state of the mind of the person walking into the space? The sense of harmony he or she brings to the space?<br />
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It is perhaps every thing. And more.<br />
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It takes an artist to <i>make</i> a space harmoniously beautiful.<br />
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If you ask me, I believe that all those who produce something artistic are artists! A word depends upon the way it is used, upon what one puts into it. One may put into it all that one wants. For instance, in Japan there are gardeners who spend their time correcting the forms of trees so that in the landscape they make a beautiful picture. By all kinds of trimmings, props, etc. they adjust the forms of trees. They give them special forms so that each form may be just what is needed in the landscape. A tree is planted in a garden at the spot where it is needed and moreover, it is given the form that’s required for it to go well with the whole set-up. And they succeed in doing wonderful things. You have but to take a photograph of the garden, it is a real picture, it is so good. Well, I certainly call the man an artist. One may call him a gardener but he is an artist....</blockquote>
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<b>All those who have a sure and developed sense of harmony in all its forms, and the harmony of all the forms among themselves, are necessarily artists, whatever may be the type of their production.</b> (The Mother, CWM, Vol 8, p. 324)</blockquote>
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It perhaps takes an artist to <i>'know' </i>a space. To <i>feel</i> a space. To <i>experience</i> the harmony.<br />
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But what <i>is</i> this sense of harmony? Can it only be felt? Can we grow in our sense of harmony? Of perceiving? Of creating harmony? In our spaces, outer and inner?<br />
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Maybe in some other moment of grace, sitting by the window in front of the garden view, when my mind is in a state of harmony I shall be blessed with an insight into some of these questions.<br />
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******<br />
Linking with <b><a href="http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.in/2015/10/p-is-for-pumpkin.html" target="_blank">ABC Wednesday, P</a></b>: P is for Peace.<br />
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Beloo Mehrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10514874213623046284noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5179509987919601618.post-41410304264869295682015-10-19T07:30:00.000+05:302015-10-25T20:31:43.771+05:30When Art Opens toward Ananda<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A new post in the series - <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/p/satyam-shivam-sundaram.html" target="_blank">Satyam Shivam Sundaram</a></b></div>
<i><span style="color: #990000;">A series featuring inspiring words from various sources, words that speak of timeless truths, words that remind me of the deeper and hidden truth behind surface events and phenomena, words that shine light when all seems dark, words that are just what I need - for this moment and for all times to come.</span></i><br />
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I recently had the opportunity to witness some of the great marvels of Indian sculpture and temple architecture in southern Karnataka. The world-renowned temples of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belur" target="_blank">Belur</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halebidu" target="_blank">Halebidu</a> and several other small towns and villages on what is famously called as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoysala_Empire" target="_blank">Hoysala trail</a> showcase some of the masterpieces of the magnificent scultpural heritage of India.<br />
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One could write plenty of words to describe what the experience of being in the presence of such splendid works of art is like. Or one may simply say nothing. Today I am inclined to choose the second option.<br />
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But the other day as I was trying to re-live, for myself, some of those moments of standing in a silent awe when faced with the marvelous and intricate beauties of these ancient temples, I recalled some words I had read some years ago.<br />
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I recalled the words on Beauty and Ananda by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nolini_Kanta_Gupta" target="_blank">Nolini Kanta Gupta</a>, a great yogi-scholar, a poet and one of the foremost disciples of <a href="http://www.sriaurobindoashram.org/ashram/sriauro/index.php" target="_blank">Sri Aurobindo</a> from his revolutionary days. These are words which remind us that great art, perhaps all art, is <i>not merely</i> about creative expression or aesthetic satisfaction.<br />
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Great art has the potential to open the mind and heart to the Truth. To the Knowledge, knowing which all else may be known.<br />
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Great art can be an opening to the Delight. Delight in and of the Truth, Beauty, Knowledge, Power, Love. Delight in and of the Divine.<br />
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Both for the true artist and the true <i>rasik</i>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2FdYSPLm6hbJNkBZtZ8wH_5X4YXGrcHIVr64FCzvg3IPO83B0iVLVxCg2-jMg4ahPv3ACSuNXrqpUbtqVdHJ7XsiBCu0qFv7NVzXVn8akUXHlXsyn6tXDkWKDod1m21assXlICjAqEnA/s1600/12030246_10153368388823124_9079368260651761627_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2FdYSPLm6hbJNkBZtZ8wH_5X4YXGrcHIVr64FCzvg3IPO83B0iVLVxCg2-jMg4ahPv3ACSuNXrqpUbtqVdHJ7XsiBCu0qFv7NVzXVn8akUXHlXsyn6tXDkWKDod1m21assXlICjAqEnA/s640/12030246_10153368388823124_9079368260651761627_o.jpg" width="304" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoysaleswara_Temple" target="_blank">Hoysaleswara</a> temple, Halebidu<br />
Photo by Suhas Mehra</td></tr>
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OF BEAUTY AND ANANDA</blockquote>
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Truth is Beauty's substance -- it is Beauty self-governed.</blockquote>
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Beauty is Delight perfectly articulate.</blockquote>
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Love is Beauty enjoying itself.</blockquote>
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Knowledge is the light that Beauty emanates.</blockquote>
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Power is the fascination that Beauty exerts.</blockquote>
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***<br />
All Art is the re-creation of Truth in Beauty.</blockquote>
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Rhythm is the gait of Truth dynamic with Delight.</blockquote>
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The Truth of a thing is its native substance, the being in its absolute self-law. Satyam is that which is of Sat.</blockquote>
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Beauty is delight organised.</blockquote>
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Poetry is the soul's delight seeking perfect expression in speech.</blockquote>
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Speech is self-expression. It is the organ of self-consciousness. The nature of the speech shows the nature of the self-consciousness. The degree of perfection in utterance measures also the extent to which one is conscious of oneself.</blockquote>
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***<br />
Beauty is the soul's delight perfectly articulate and organised.</blockquote>
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Where the soul does not speak out, where the rhythm of the spirit does not manifest, there comes in ugliness.</blockquote>
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Things are ugly when they are not true to themselves, not sincere, not self-expressive.<br />
In a sense, natural and beautiful are the same, the perverse commensurate with the ugly.</blockquote>
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***<br />
Beauty is not merely balance, symmetry, measure, a regular disposition of features. A form, an embodiment, need not be pretty to be beautiful.</blockquote>
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Mere formal beauty is a power, but a surface power; there is a deeper unity of rhythm in the embodiment that is beautiful by its transparent soul-expression.</blockquote>
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***<br />
Art is the incarnation of Truth in Beauty, The Divine the truest Truth and the Beauty most beautiful, The incarnation of the Divine the supreme Art.</blockquote>
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An art with the Divine left out is like a trunk without the head: It is built with the lower members and not with the higher members of Beauty; Skill it may possess but not greatness; it may please the senses, but cannot enrapture the soul.</blockquote>
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***<br />
The very nature of Art is rhythm and harmony.</blockquote>
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The Divine is integral harmony and perfect rhythm.</blockquote>
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The element of divine harmony and rhythm is the measure of the beautiful in Art. Even so it is with the art of life.</blockquote>
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***<br />
All things are beautiful, for the All-beautiful is in every thing.</blockquote>
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The domain of Art encompasses the entire creation.</blockquote>
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The Divine is present everywhere, but in essence.</blockquote>
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In the manifestation there is a varying and developing degree of the Presence.</blockquote>
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***<br />
The Brahman is there equally in the saint and the sinner, in the knowledge and in the ignorance, -- it is the static Brahman.</blockquote>
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But the saint and the knowledge manifest and embody the dynamic Brahman.</blockquote>
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***<br />
The stress of Life is to reveal and incarnate more and more of the dynamic Divine, the creative Ananda of consciousness in its self-nature.</blockquote>
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The progress of art too consists in recording this march of the soul in its ever-growing consciousness and ever-deepening Ananda towards a higher incarnation of the Divine.<br />
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~ Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta, Vol. 2, pp. 357-359</div>
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******</div>
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To see the previous post in the series Satyam Shivam Sundaram, click <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2015/07/morality-in-politics.html" target="_blank">here</a></b>.</div>
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To see all the posts in the series, click <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/p/satyam-shivam-sundaram.html" target="_blank">here</a></b>.<br />
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******<br />
Linking with <a href="http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.in/2015/10/o-stands-for-odd-odes.html" target="_blank">ABCWednesday, O</a>: O is for Opening</div>
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Beloo Mehrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10514874213623046284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5179509987919601618.post-27243931416236640272015-10-13T20:21:00.001+05:302015-10-19T13:18:59.465+05:30Storytime 3: The Story Within, The Shakti Within<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>A special post for Navratri</b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlrIQmSJfd555LUQUl5RaeFUtCns6Wphjn00Qql1uLbcVilM7jf8AThA1x4ffdTXwRHQrQgsYLqotRe3cmL7ZX5SWBveqTers5xi0u2QanD8J0v8pTx7pMvUVxngG9eGgk8uPrHTSnWkM/s1600/11728759_917261408346528_3821706169364662750_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlrIQmSJfd555LUQUl5RaeFUtCns6Wphjn00Qql1uLbcVilM7jf8AThA1x4ffdTXwRHQrQgsYLqotRe3cmL7ZX5SWBveqTers5xi0u2QanD8J0v8pTx7pMvUVxngG9eGgk8uPrHTSnWkM/s400/11728759_917261408346528_3821706169364662750_o.jpg" width="261" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo by Manoop Chandran</td></tr>
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I am going through a strange -- but strange in a good sense -- phase where I don't really feel the need to write. And yet there is this new post, after almost-a-month, you may ask? Well, read on and you will see that it is not really a post with too many of my words.<br />
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No, it is not about <a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2014/07/blank-pages-no-more.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000;">writer's block</span></a>. One could always think of thousand different things to write about, if one must write. But I choose <a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2015/01/me-and-me-too.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000;">not to</span></a>. There are recent travels to write about, there is plenty of fun and interesting socio-political tidbit to comment upon, but I would rather not. And then there is always some mundane life woes to complain about, etc etc. But rant is <a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2014/12/untitled-meanderings.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000;">not what I do</span></a> on this space.<br />
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I am actually feeling quite content not writing. I am happy not having to mentalise (for written expression) some of my recent observations and experiences that rest somewhere deep within, happily in their silence.<br />
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And I am happy today simply listening to a story, being retold. I invite you all to listen to the story, with me. Come.<br />
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<b>A Story and a Song</b></div>
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(From: <i>A Flowering Tree and Other Oral Tales from India</i>, by A. K. Ramanujan)</div>
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A housewife knew a story. She also knew a song. But she kept them to herself, never told anyone the story or sang the song.</blockquote>
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Imprisoned within her, the story and the song were feeling choked. They wanted release, wanted to run away. One day, when she was sleeping with her mouth open, the story escaped, fell out of her, took the shape of a pair of shoes and sat outside the house. The song also escaped, took the shape of something like a man's coat, and hung on a peg.</blockquote>
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The woman's husband came home, looked at the coat and shoes, and asked her, “Who is visiting?”</blockquote>
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“No one,” she said.</blockquote>
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“But whose coat and shoes are these?”</blockquote>
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“I don't know,” she replied.</blockquote>
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He wasn't satisfied with her answer. He was suspicious. Their conversation was unpleasant. The unpleasantness led to a quarrel. The husband flew into a rage, picked up his blanket, and went to the Monkey God's temple to sleep.</blockquote>
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The woman didn't understand what was happening. She lay down alone that night. She asked the same question over and over: “Whose coat and shoes are these?” Baffled and unhappy, she put out the lamp and went to sleep.</blockquote>
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All the lamp flames of the town, once they were put out, used to come to the Monkey God's temple and spend the night there, gossiping. On this night, all the lamps of all the houses were represented there—all except one, which came late.</blockquote>
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The others asked the latecomer, “Why are you so late tonight?”</blockquote>
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“At our house, the couple quarreled late into the night,” said the flame.</blockquote>
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“Why did they quarrel?”</blockquote>
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“When the husband wasn't home, a pair of shoes came onto the verandah, and a man's coat somehow got onto a peg. The husband asked her whose they were. The wife said she didn't know. So they quarreled.”</blockquote>
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“Where did the coat and shoes come from?”</blockquote>
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“The lady of our house knows a story and a song. She never tells the story, and has never sung the song to anyone. The story and the song got suffocated inside; so they got out and have turned into a coat and a pair of shoes. They took revenge. The woman doesn't even know.”</blockquote>
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The husband, lying under his blanket in the temple, heard the lamp's explanation. His suspicions were cleared. When he went home, it was dawn. He asked his wife about her story and her song. But she had forgotten both of them. “What story, what song?” she said.</blockquote>
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******<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;">To read last year's <b>Navratri</b> special story, click</span><b style="color: #cc0000;"><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2014/09/knowing-by-grace.html" target="_blank"> here</a></b><span style="color: #cc0000;">. </span><br />
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******<br />
<span style="color: red;">To read other <b>Storytime</b> posts on the blog, click <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2015/04/storytime-2-choose-wisely.html" target="_blank">here</a></b> and <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2014/03/storytime.html" target="_blank">here</a></b>.</span><br />
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Beloo Mehrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10514874213623046284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5179509987919601618.post-12899341932088838842015-09-17T11:19:00.001+05:302015-09-19T19:55:27.092+05:30Book Review: The Thinking Indian (Guest Post: Gilu Mishra)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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ॐ श्री गणेशाय नमः </div>
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A perfect day to share the first detailed review of my e-book, The Thinking Indian</div>
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I am happy to host today, <b><a href="https://mylifeisyoga.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Gilu Mishra</a></b>, a friend and a fellow lover and student of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. Gilu and I first met several years ago in Pondicherry when she joined the institution where I was working at the time, to participate in some structured courses meant to help learners go deeper into some aspects of the wide-ranging thought and works of Sri Aurobindo. I had the privilege of serving as her facilitator for some of this study and research experience. Through this shared exploration and study experience, particularly of the major works related to the social, educational and cultural thought of Sri Aurobindo, we became better acquainted with each other and a friendship began to blossom.<br />
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Gilu has advanced degrees in nursing and psychology. Having worked for many years as a healthcare professional at a premier medical facility for many years, she presently works in the area of education of young children, especially at the pre-primary and primary levels. Originally from Kerala, Gilu now lives in New Delhi. As a seeker and life-long learner she writes about some of her reflections and life lessons, though not as frequently as she would like (I am sure!) at "<a href="https://mylifeisyoga.wordpress.com/" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">all life is yoga.</a>" </div>
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What makes me doubly pleased about her presence on this space today is that her post is actually about me! (Pardon the Ego Moment!) Well, it is not really about me, but about an <b><a href="https://matriwords.wordpress.com/2015/05/16/the-thinking-indian-a-sneak-peek/" target="_blank">e-book</a></b> that I wrote and self-published a few months ago. Gilu is here to present her review of "<b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2015/05/the-thinking-indian-what-is-it-about.html" target="_blank">The Thinking Indian: Essays on Indian Socio-Cultural Matters in the Light of Sri Aurobindo</a>.</b>"<br />
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Thank you Gilu, and a warm welcome!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Indian-Socio-Cultural-Matters-Aurobindo-ebook/dp/B00WNBY6F4/" target="_blank"> here</a> to purchase</td></tr>
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I present here some of my views regarding Dr. Beloo Mehra’s e-book ‘<i>The Thinking Indian</i>’, a collection of essays on several Indian Socio-cultural matters, as seen in the light of Sri Aurobindo.<br />
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Recently, during a casual conversation with a friend, our topic turned to the method of education being provided in the schools these days. We were talking about how today’s children are not interested in reading and how their thoughts are limited. ‘Thinking out of the box’ is out of question, we opined, but let them at least think! As I was reading through the e-book ‘<i>The Thinking Indian.</i>’ I remembered this conversation and about the ‘thought phobia’ (as Beloo quotes Sri Aurobindo) which has become fairly common now. <br />
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In the prelude, Beloo mentions that it is heartening to see people are becoming more open-minded and curious learners. This e-book is an excellent aid for such people, especially the young generation to contemplate about the current events and widen their spectrum of thought. The topics and instances provided in these essays may act as a spark to the light the fire within. All the essays are written in an ‘easy to read’ manner which will definitely appeal to every reader and not only those with an academic frame of mind. There is definitely at least one topic to which every individual can connect. <br />
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This e-book consists of nine essays related to Indian socio-cultural matters. Beloo presents a myriad of topics ranging from Spirituality, Hinduism to commercialism and movies! And all topics are contemporary, making them interesting to even the ‘not concerned about what is happening in the world’ younger generation. There is one essay inspired by the movie ‘The Monuments Men’ and there are two essays based on the TV serials ‘Ramayana’ and ‘Mahabharata.’ There is one essay about spirituality being the master-key of Indian mind and another one about Indian culture. <br />
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For the one who is more materialistically oriented there are essays on commercialism and the study of Indo-American people where she talks about the evolution of the group soul. I am sure all these essays give a different point of view regarding the matter and would definitely encourage the reader to explore more regarding the same. For example, in her essay ‘<i>Don’t Blame the Culture</i>’ she talks about two sides of a behaviour may be seen simultaneously. One may see some people jumping the queue in a public place and at the same time there may be some people who will let a more deserving person move ahead of them! Presenting such examples, she forces us to think about the individual behaviour rather than the common trend of blaming the culture. <br />
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In most of her essays, Beloo gives us some questions to ponder on. In her first essay, ‘<i>Spirituality, the Master-key of the Indian Mind</i>’ she asks, “What does it mean to grapple with the infinite and how is it native to Indian mind?” Another interesting question is given to us in the second essay ‘<i>Don’t Blame the Culture</i>’ when she asks, “Shouldn’t we be concerned about learning what a culture really is before we start finding faults with it?” Or when she asks, “Can a piece of art be more worth than a human life?” in the essay ‘<i>On Movies, Art and Culture</i>.’ I am sure each of the readers would really stop for a while to think about these questions. <br />
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Many of her essays are lined with her personal experiences or observations as well, which are again some things that the reader will be able to connect with. One example where I did sit up and thought “This happened to me too...” was the picture of the sunset on page 22. Just as Beloo did, I too said, “Wow, what a beauty!” And as I continued to read her explanation of ‘<i>The God’s Labour</i>,’ I was mesmerized! I would not be doing justice if I talk about it here, it would be better if one reads the author herself! This is just one example. There are several such instances in this e-book which I am sure the readers will be able to identify with. In many of these instances, the reader may see that Beloo has given words to bring out his/ her own sentiment. <br />
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There is one essay about the Hindi novel ‘Abhyuday’ titled ‘<i>Re-telling Classical Literature, Awakening a Generation: Case of Ramayana</i>.’ In this essay, she talks about how the author presents Ramayana in the modern setting and the relevance of Ram in the present intellectual society. Here also she provides certain instances to explain this point. How Ram faces the dilemma of war, how he learns about the cruelty and oppression faced by the people and even the story of Ahalya is told in a new perspective. Beloo has to be given credit that I, one who is not very fond of Hindi literature, is tempted to read the novel after reading what she has written about it! <br />
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As Beloo says in the title of the e-book, her essays are in the light of Sri Aurobindo. Sri Aurobindo’s words are significant even now and inspire everyone who turns to Him. To quote her, “It will be well worth reminding ourselves of these words of Sri Aurobindo that are meant to guide us through these wrong steps and detours, and inspire us to search for the soul of India that is leading her to her unique mission in the world.” <br />
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I could go on about how this little e-book ‘The thinking Indian’ is a motivation for every individual, but it would definitely be better for each to read on his/her own and be invigorated. <br />
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To conclude, I wish that the vibration of positive and open thinking which Beloo inspires is well received and more and more people are motivated by her.</div>
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Beloo Mehrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10514874213623046284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5179509987919601618.post-34587824590437461432015-09-14T07:27:00.000+05:302015-09-14T17:02:27.419+05:30सुमिरन कर ले मेरे मना… <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>आज, १४ सितम्बर, हिंदी दिवस के अवसर पर एक विशेष प्रस्तुति</b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">चित्रकार: <a href="http://binduartaura.com/" target="_blank">बिंदु पोपली</a> </td></tr>
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संगीत जब उपासना की ओर ले जाए…कल सुबह के कुछ पल ऐसे ही थे…<br />
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एक दिव्य अनुभूति थी जब <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guru_Nanak" target="_blank">गुरु नानक</a> के भक्ति-भाव से भरे शब्द <a href="http://www.panditjasraj.com/" target="_blank">पंडित जसराज</a> के भावपूर्ण सुरों में और डॉ <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._Subramaniam" target="_blank">एल सुब्रमण्यम</a> के मनमोहक वॉयलिन की तारों पर नाच रहे थे। इस प्रेमपूर्ण संगीत-उपासना में साथ दे रही थीं - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kavita_Krishnamurthy" target="_blank">कविता कृष्णमूर्ती</a>। और इस संगम में डुबकी लगाने का आनंद-अनुभव शायद शब्दों में वर्णननीय नहीं है।<br />
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प्रातः-काल की उस बेला में इस प्रकार का अनुभव वास्तव में ही एक उपासना से कम नहीं है। <br />
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(मेरे पास यह संपूर्ण भजन एक साथ ही है, परन्तु इंटरनेट पर दो भागों में ही उपलब्ध है - इसका खेद है क्यूंकि इससे ध्यान भंग होने की संभावना रहती है। )<br />
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इसे अनुभव करने के बाद यदि आप आगे पढ़ना चाहें तो.... <br />
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आज हिंदी दिवस के अवसर पर रह रह कर वही गुरु नानक की पंक्त्तियां याद आ रही हैं। शायद कल के उस अनुभव की छाप है। परन्तु अपने हिंदी न जानने वाले पाठकों के लिए मैं जब इन पंक्त्तियों का अंग्रेजी में अनुवाद करने का सोचती हूँ तो ऐसा लगता है मानो अनुवाद करने से इस भजन के आतंरिक सत्य को, सम्पूर्ण स्वरूप को मेरा प्रयास कभी पकड़ ही नहीं पायेगा। ऐसा प्रतीत होता है कि कुछ भाव ऐसे होते हैं जो केवल किसी एक भाषा में ही व्यक्त किए जा सकते हैं।<br />
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गुरु नानक के ये शब्द साधारण नहीं हैं। ये एक सच्चे भक्तिलीन हृदय की अभिव्यक्ति हैं जो संपूर्ण मानव-कल्याण के लिए हैं, परन्तु इसे और किसी भाषा में कह सकना इतना आसान नहीं है। कम-से-कम मेरे लिए तो नहीं। इसलिए नहीं की अंग्रेजी में उपयुक्त शब्द नहीं है इस बात को कहने के लिए। पर शब्दों का सही चयन सही भाव भी उत्पन कर सके - ऐसा सदैव आव्यशक भी तो नहीं।<br />
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एक और कारण भी है जो अनुवाद में कठिनाई प्रस्तुत करता है। वह है - सांस्कृतिक प्रसंग जिसमें इन पंक्तियों का गूढ़ भावार्थ समझा जा सकता है । क्या "मंदिर दीप बिना " के सही भाव को अंग्रेजी का वाक्यांश "temple without a lamp" वास्तव में अभिव्यक्त कर सकता है ? मंदिर और मंदिर में दीप जलाने के भाव के सांस्कृतिक प्रसंग एवं आतंरिक अर्थ को समझे बिना मात्र अनुवाद कर देने से हम कई बार एक कोमल और पवित्र भाव को, एक आध्यात्मिक कर्म को केवल एक साधारण भावना अथवा एक बाहरी कार्य बना देते हैं।<br />
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जब गुरु नानक मंदिर में दीप जलाने की बात करते हैं तो हमारी भारतीय संस्कृति के अनुसार वे हमें स्मरण करवा रहें हैं कि मंदिर केवल बाहर ही नहीं है, वास्तविक मंदिर तो मन के अंदर है। और वह मन-मंदिर हरि नाम के बिना सूना है। बहरी दीप जलाना तो केवल एक बाहरी कार्य है, उसका वास्तविक उद्देश्य तो मन-मंदिर को ज्योतिर्मय करना है।<br />
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इसी प्रकार "देह नैन बिन" के भाव को समझने के लिए यह प्रसंग समझना आवश्यक हो जाता है कि यहाँ पर केवल बाहरी नेत्रों या बाहरी दृष्टि की ही बात नहीं हो रही है। बिना आतंरिक दृष्टि के, बिना सूक्ष्म दृष्टि के यह मानव जन्म सूना है, अधूरा है -- यह गूढ़ सत्य हम तभी सराह सकते हैं जब हम भारतीय सांस्कृतिक प्रसंग में इस पंक्त्ति को आत्मसात करें। इन सब को मैं अनुवाद में कैसे लाऊँ ?<br />
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और सबसे महत्वपूर्ण बात तो यह है -- जब एक प्रबुद्ध संत-पीर, एक ऋषि जिसने अपने एवं समस्त ब्रह्माण्ड के आत्म-दर्शन किये हों और इस जगत के सत्य-स्वरूप को पहचाना हो, जब वह हरि-स्मरण की बात करता है तो उस उपदेश की व्याख्या आप एक साधारण वाक्यांश - "Remember the Lord" से कदापि नहीं कर सकते हैं। प्रभु और प्रभु-लीला का स्मरण तो अन्य कई लोग भी करते हैं, पर गुरु नानक शायद हमें उस स्मरण की ओर ले जाना चाहते हैं जो वास्तवतिक रूप में हमें हरि-दर्शन के लिए, एक अंतर-ज्योति से साक्षात्कार के लिए तैयार कर सकता है। इस भाव को अनुवादित कैसे किया जाये ?<br />
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इन सब सीमाओं को भली-भांति अपने समक्ष रखते हुए मैं अनुवाद करने का प्रयत्न नहीं कर रही हूँ। इच्छुक पाठक इस <a href="http://www.vedanth.in/sumiran-kar-le.html">लिंक</a> पर एक अनुवादित प्रयास पढ़ सकते हैं। अथवा भाव को बिना शब्दों के ही अनुभव करने के लिए भजन को सुन कर हरी-स्मरण में डूबने का प्रयास कर सकते हैं। जैसा जिसको साजे....<br />
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सुमिरन कर ले मेरे मना तेरी बीती जाती उमर हरी नाम बिना रे ||<br />
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कूप नीर बिन धेनु क्षीर बिन धरती मेघ बिना |<br />
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जैसे तरुवर फल बिन हीना तैसे प्राणी हरी नाम बिना रे ||<br />
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देह नैन बिन रैन चन्द्र बिन मंदिर दीप बिना |<br />
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जैसे पंडित वेद विहीना तैसे प्राणी हरी नाम बिना रे ||<br />
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काम क्रोध मद लोभ निवारो छाड़ दे अब संत जना |<br />
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कह नानक तू सुन भगवंता या जग में नहीं कोई अपना ||<br />
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To see previous post in the series, "All Music is Only the Sound of His Laughter" click <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2015/03/two-lazy-mornings-and-way-to-be-more.html" target="_blank">here</a></b>.<br />
To see all posts in the series click <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/p/links.html" target="_blank">here</a></b>.<br />
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Linking with <b><a href="http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.in/2015/09/i-is-for-inspiration.html" target="_blank">ABC Wednesday, I</a></b>: I is for Indian Languages<br />
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Beloo Mehrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10514874213623046284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5179509987919601618.post-82857219521578075012015-09-08T13:17:00.000+05:302015-09-08T13:17:42.505+05:30A Desi Secularist Dilemma (Or How to Secularize a Hindu Religious Festival)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A New Post in the Series: <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/p/current-events.html" target="_blank">Current Events</a></b></div>
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If you are part of the so-called educated, English-speaking, urban/semi-urban sections of Indian populace, and spend any time on social media, you must have noticed all the status updating, tweeting, sharing etc. that happen on most of the so-called secular ‘holidays’ (since Americans call the festivals holidays, so naturally we must call them ‘holidays’) – be it Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day, or others such.<br />
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Good. Always good to celebrate good things. Both real and virtually.<br />
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Since virtual is also real today, in a way, let me just focus on that for now.<br />
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At some point you too must have participated in ‘sharing’ of such secular celebrations – posted or liked or commented on pictures of restaurants visited or the cuisines prepared at home for mothers, fathers, beloveds, gifts gifted or received, cards presented or received etc. etc.<br />
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Good, very good. Spread and share the happiness.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVDb6KHEpLRAD4L8WpxCUSMMJUxFEuEapY23A4Bob061cH8CPXCx2H513L-20_7zY-xT2PEtiDnZwR6pSnncVIXvPUPUF57Xat6KPz-MvLTrmbNuJk0ExeECsVCz606GAz81L0i556ev0/s1600/EarthDay+youth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVDb6KHEpLRAD4L8WpxCUSMMJUxFEuEapY23A4Bob061cH8CPXCx2H513L-20_7zY-xT2PEtiDnZwR6pSnncVIXvPUPUF57Xat6KPz-MvLTrmbNuJk0ExeECsVCz606GAz81L0i556ev0/s320/EarthDay+youth.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://news.nationalpost.com/news/earth-day-2013-google-doodle-shows-the-lifecycle-of-the-planet" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr>
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Have you noticed that there are even more ‘secular’ days now to celebrate and share photos and messages – World Poetry Day, World Earth Day, World Nature Day, World Wildlife Day, World this Day, World that day, even days to celebrate pets, dogs, cats, etc.?<br />
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Good. Good, I say.<br />
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Because we all can use reminders from time to time to do our bit in our collective responsibility toward Earth, Nature and all of Earth’s diverse creatures. And of course, also to remember to enjoy and celebrate good things like poetry, art, literature etc.<br />
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And of course, we all can use greetings of joy and happiness on Christmas.<br />
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But here is something to consider. Have you noticed how the once-religious holidays like Christmas and Easter have now been more or less ‘secularized’ for the larger Indian consumption?<br />
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Of course, many devout Indian Christians, in the spirit of Indian <i>Bhakti</i>, still continue to observe the various religious practices associated with these festivals. Which is how it should be.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxaVkFrHsXBEfy-0rqZbQp3QOfVQ6tM92LUoYTDpNlJ_aMU7u8fs_DvOotFxU735D9c5W5W39mFRgXtklsf-3-UNMNTSRcpZDd4mFPpOwy8oXgQROel3sr93D5bWahE_31yfg_OcLGG70/s1600/KFC-Christmas-300x229.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxaVkFrHsXBEfy-0rqZbQp3QOfVQ6tM92LUoYTDpNlJ_aMU7u8fs_DvOotFxU735D9c5W5W39mFRgXtklsf-3-UNMNTSRcpZDd4mFPpOwy8oXgQROel3sr93D5bWahE_31yfg_OcLGG70/s1600/KFC-Christmas-300x229.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.superiorequipmentsupplies.com/christmas-around-world/" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr>
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But as a larger global ‘holiday’ trend, the Christmas ritual that is sold aggressively for Indian urbanites, for the most part, is limited to sending greeting cards, exchange of gifts, Santa Claus, tree decoration and enjoying special meals. Is it any wonder then that our secular Indian variety, in loyal obedience to the modern ‘secular’ dictum celebrates these holidays with the same enthusiasm as Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day?<br />
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The fact that these are religious festivals now considered secular makes it more legit for our <i>desi</i> seculars to show their inclusiveness. And especially when the festival’s religious context is one to which our seculars may have no direct or personal affiliation, that makes them feel even more ‘secular’ when they send greetings to all humankind via a tweet or Facebook update.<br />
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Modernity and secularism both happily co-exist, as natural end-products of Western Christianity.<br />
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Of course, given the current political climate in the world, what with terrorism and all, things get a little more complicated when Eid rolls around. But the same formula still holds – the more you share Eid greetings and status updates about brotherhood and peace etc., the more secular you become.<br />
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But the biggest complication is with those other Indian festivals.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuOzVmuAz2RLq9jcIf036YLSjrpSXg3YALdkerpPicpcWE8IlWFmZKDgwcUXWmnuj_ik2OCpUm5GeC8VknaV5Zny0tTYE0glEOl6Ur06IyBFts905V_hqtpQCUhDKK6oZ4mMCft0e0psc/s1600/Ram+Navmi+celebration.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuOzVmuAz2RLq9jcIf036YLSjrpSXg3YALdkerpPicpcWE8IlWFmZKDgwcUXWmnuj_ik2OCpUm5GeC8VknaV5Zny0tTYE0glEOl6Ur06IyBFts905V_hqtpQCUhDKK6oZ4mMCft0e0psc/s320/Ram+Navmi+celebration.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/photos/lifestyle/ramnavami/article4-212218.aspx" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr>
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Krishna Janmasthami, Ram Navmi, Buddha Purnima, Guru Purnima, Dussehra, Rakshabandhan, Gurupurab, Mahavir Jayanti, Basant Panchami, Onam, Pongal, Vishu, Vaisakhi, etc. etc.<br />
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First of all, there are so many of these festivals. How will a <i>desi </i>secular decide which one to tweet about? Big ones like Diwali, Holi, maybe? Yes, those are easy.<br />
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You see, those have been more or less secularized already. Half the job of this secularization is done when a big commercial angle is added to Diwali – super sales on everything from Amul to Audi, from Bourneville to Brighton, all-inclusive-vacation package. And if you are not going on a Diwali vacation, well, you can always celebrate Diwali without all that mumbo-jumbo of Lakshmi Puja. Just light the <i>diyas</i> bought in expensive boutiques, drink, gamble, exchange gifts and be merry!<br />
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Holi too has come to be associated with fun and only fun. Stripped of almost all religious markings it is now mostly a merry-making holiday with all kinds of liberties built into it. So how can it be anything but a secular holiday?<br />
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Such secularization makes Diwali and Holi nice and acceptable to our <i>desi</i> seculars. Why can’t the same thing be done with other festivals? Especially the problematic ones such as Ram Navmi, Dussehra, Rakshabandhan, etc.<br />
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These can’t really qualify as ‘secular’ enough holidays for our secular-minded friends. Because you can’t really celebrate them via restaurant-hopping or gift-giving or card-exchanging. Or maybe you can, I don’t know. But fasting on Krishna Janmasthami – oh, how superstitious! Tying a thread on a brother’s wrist – how patriarchal! Visiting a temple on Ram Navmi – me having anything to do with Ram, you can’t be serious?!<br />
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And so it should be perfectly understandable if on these days devout Hindus see not many (or any) words of greeting or sharing from most of the secular-minded Indians in their online acquaintance circles.<br />
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After all, seculars are rational people, you see. And these ‘holidays’ aren’t rational at all, unlike say Mother’s Day. All those Surdas bhajans about Krishna and his mother Yashoda aren’t ‘rational’ songs, they are merely ramblings of a blind fool who loved Krishna! Maybe, now maybe, if one of those bhajans could be rewritten as a Mother’s Day greeting card type of poem, in English, it just might move along the path of becoming ‘secular.’ See, this is how it is done.<br />
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When will Hindus learn? When? It is all about ‘secularizing’!<br />
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Maybe I am being too nasty. Or perhaps too hasty in my analysis. Oh, well…so let me be even more brutally honest.<br />
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On some Hindu festivals, some of our secular minded <i>desis</i> take it upon themselves to show us how to secularize a religious festival. They offer some good advice for all those superstitious, irrational people who tie threads and visit temples and observe fasts. In their ever-helpful, civilizing mission role, they profess – if you must celebrate Janmashtami and Rakshabandhan, appreciate the spirit of these festivals, but don’t stick to the rituals.<br />
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Good advice. Or at least it looks good anyway.<br />
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But is it, really? Are they being sincere with such advice? Does it matter, one might ask? It does.<br />
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First of all, would these seculars even consider that giving flowers and chocolates to the beloved on Valentine's Day is also really a ritual, or does it not count as one because it is 'oh-so-secular'?<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeWx2OvTPS9l_zUbosoQxeQWvAKIyAO2tl0MylxspSBqPdJ4NlP95kvryjQtiJJcRjx-Q28NGgZqOHI96EetESUG3ar3x5h8zwCoTjOY9uMPvvaAjwytwr0VL2rCZ_HjpLYKinAgjB-ws/s1600/Christmas-in-India.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeWx2OvTPS9l_zUbosoQxeQWvAKIyAO2tl0MylxspSBqPdJ4NlP95kvryjQtiJJcRjx-Q28NGgZqOHI96EetESUG3ar3x5h8zwCoTjOY9uMPvvaAjwytwr0VL2rCZ_HjpLYKinAgjB-ws/s320/Christmas-in-India.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.emaze.com/@AOIOFQRO/Christmas-Webquest" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr>
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Honestly, do you think these ‘brown civilizers’ will lecture “follow only the Christmas spirit, give up the whole Santa stuff” to their Christian friends? Would they give such advice to devout Christians for whom the day isn’t complete without going to church or singing carols? Sure, the whole waiting for Santa Claus and the gift-giving has become more or less part of a ‘secular-commercial’ mode of this religious holiday. But will our secular-rational Indian friend tell his or her child there is no Santa Claus and all that is a superstitious mumbo-jumbo? Will they tell their children to give up this ritual? And what about the rituals associated with Eid? Shouldn’t our good-intentioned secular folks share their sound and noble advice with others also about “how to secularize religious holidays”? Why should only Hindus benefit from their good advice?<br />
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Maybe because in this <i>desi</i> secular worldview, it is only the Hindu who needs this advice the most.<br />
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These pagan and superstitious Hindus have been so busy worshipping crores of deities and even trees, plants, and animals that they haven’t learned the nuances of secularization process. A good secular comes to remind the Ram-worshippers or Tulsi-worshippers that they need to rise up to the ‘truth’ of the ‘secular’ world. A good secular out of his or her kindness helps the pagan Hindu see the ‘light.’ Shame on Hindus if they still refuse to give up their traditions. Shame on them for being so stubborn. Honestly, there is no hope for them, if they don’t secularize themselves and their religious holidays, as per the worldview of modern Indian secularist variety.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFpIY3nOb6Z_g3ZQythUm7eIOBUi9bAT3STzxYrYd8fmf6xoqoClAkI8S8gu7Mifin-3jpQ70_fHlwxDbJi8nwcfAluIj0rt9c4tNqk-b_3TZfrtpg4Q6I7eAaGARYR4MpZHmWcmhmsJ0/s1600/Happy-Guru-Purnima-SMS-Wishes-Images-500x327.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFpIY3nOb6Z_g3ZQythUm7eIOBUi9bAT3STzxYrYd8fmf6xoqoClAkI8S8gu7Mifin-3jpQ70_fHlwxDbJi8nwcfAluIj0rt9c4tNqk-b_3TZfrtpg4Q6I7eAaGARYR4MpZHmWcmhmsJ0/s320/Happy-Guru-Purnima-SMS-Wishes-Images-500x327.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.lohriwishes.in/happy-guru-purnima-sms-in-hindi-wishes-quotes-messages-2015.html" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr>
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So the task is cut out for the Hindus. Either give up your religious holidays or secularize them. To begin with, consider renaming Rakshabandhan as Sibling Day, Guru Purnima as Master’s Full Moon or something like that.<br />
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I hear some communist groups have already started celebrating Krishna Janmashtami in Kerala; that should ensure a gradual secularization of this festival. Good! Looks like things are already on the move to resolve at least one desi secularist dilemma.<br />
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<u>Author's note:</u> This post is not meant to offend or hurt any sentiments. It is written in a spirit of sharing some honest observations and with an aim to generate some reflection on the part of the reader, particularly the modern Indian urbanite. </div>
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To see previous post in the series, click <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2015/08/current-events-12-parliamentary-drama.html" target="_blank">here</a></b>. </div>
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To see all Current Events posts, click <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/p/current-events.html" target="_blank">here</a></b>.</div>
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Beloo Mehrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10514874213623046284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5179509987919601618.post-18427909410692749852015-09-04T20:12:00.000+05:302015-09-04T20:13:13.806+05:30Hare Krishna<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A new post in the series: <a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/p/when-picture-leads.html" target="_blank"><b>When a Picture Leads</b></a><br />
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<b><span style="color: blue;">A Krishna Janamashtami Special</span></b></h3>
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For the last couple of weeks I have been reading and thinking about a few things on Indian Art, especially focusing on the theme of spirituality in Indian Art. It has been a wonderful learning so far, and someday hope to go deeper into what is now a very preliminary study. </div>
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So naturally on this special occasion of <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2013/08/words-divine-songs-divine.html" target="_blank">Sri Krishna Janmashtami</a></b>, what else would be on my mind but Krishna in art? Krishna, whose Divinty as well as <span style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 18.4px;"><i>Līlā</i>, </span>whose Heroism as well as Love, whose Yoga as well as Pranks, all have inspired great art, music, poetry and literature in India. For thousands of years, and to this day.<br />
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Sharing today three of my current favourite 'Krishna' paintings, from three different artists, representing three different generations and genres of Indian painting.<br />
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The great revivalist Bengal School of Abanindranath Tagore is represented beautifully in Chughtai's <i>Dream</i>, combined with a delicacy unique to Miniature style; whereas the bold and free strokes of a globally inspired but a culturally rooted modernism is the hallmark of Hussain's <i>Krishna Lila</i>. And the one in the middle, <i>Shiva's Flute</i>, is by a young artist from Delhi, Bindu, whose work though inspired by several different styles remains a personal search for the invisible behind the visible, inviting the viewer to join her in this sacred journey.<br />
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Three out of countless different ways to express Love for Krishna. To express Krishna's Love.<br />
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Let the pictures now do rest of the speaking...</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzsB3tjzzuDCZzvmN8a8uf9V6y7iu5LfTs0VixgwBui7CFyb72sBcdZ_Ei48gVRMEWvIy24K-Z_VwjFActm8-Ir6SbRuMez82WAQ7sOLUd05UEU_XpCDGT9tnl0WOPrya7AlhaUclVeTw/s1600/Dream.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzsB3tjzzuDCZzvmN8a8uf9V6y7iu5LfTs0VixgwBui7CFyb72sBcdZ_Ei48gVRMEWvIy24K-Z_VwjFActm8-Ir6SbRuMez82WAQ7sOLUd05UEU_XpCDGT9tnl0WOPrya7AlhaUclVeTw/s400/Dream.jpg" width="285" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artist: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdur_Rahman_Chughtai" target="_blank">M. A. R. Chugtai</a></td></tr>
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If the artist cannot put into his work what was in him…his work is a futile abortion. But if he has expressed what he has felt, the capacity to feel it must also be there in the mind that looks at his work. </h3>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_8HQu75AQgvSzg0m5xRqeNZlGXDQ93zhMzzfzF07_hY7aM8f9h-kuKRX4OrDKcC1O6NWrWr7fVC7cm3f106vPe0ZAR7aVOdueM5J7lfqjvBDsqNKh82d-nTB2Ykra8T8iUxOYTZgyOy0/s1600/The+magic+of+Shiva%2527s+flute%252C76cmx86cm%252C+Acrylic+on+canvas%252CRs.+100%252C000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_8HQu75AQgvSzg0m5xRqeNZlGXDQ93zhMzzfzF07_hY7aM8f9h-kuKRX4OrDKcC1O6NWrWr7fVC7cm3f106vPe0ZAR7aVOdueM5J7lfqjvBDsqNKh82d-nTB2Ykra8T8iUxOYTZgyOy0/s400/The+magic+of+Shiva%2527s+flute%252C76cmx86cm%252C+Acrylic+on+canvas%252CRs.+100%252C000.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artist: <a href="http://binduartaura.com/" target="_blank">Bindu Popli</a></td></tr>
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<b>...it is the spirit that carries the form</b></h3>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNwy9ZEVif6Xxow0kznr1EW08QgfnXJyC8qw0Z6AUWC4wAXINfBL-7PrCN4hHDjNZ20RXsH-SHyvFqh46k6vhlrJVzn2RtWgB6v-sw6d6kXta4ljkIb07j7yWiDj6vfnB7z9v4GW_Zb_0/s1600/MF+Hussain+krishna+leela.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNwy9ZEVif6Xxow0kznr1EW08QgfnXJyC8qw0Z6AUWC4wAXINfBL-7PrCN4hHDjNZ20RXsH-SHyvFqh46k6vhlrJVzn2RtWgB6v-sw6d6kXta4ljkIb07j7yWiDj6vfnB7z9v4GW_Zb_0/s400/MF+Hussain+krishna+leela.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artist: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._F._Husain" target="_blank">M.F. Hussain</a></td></tr>
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Each finite is that deep Infinity </h3>
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Enshrining His veiled soul of pure delight.</h3>
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All quotes are from Sri Aurobindo.</div>
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Want to experience more of Krishna love, this time in music? Click <a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2013/08/words-divine-songs-divine.html" target="_blank"><b>here</b></a><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span>for another Sri Krishna Janamashtami special post. </div>
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*****<br />
To see the previous post in "When a Picture Leads", click <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2015/05/troubling-scribbles.html" target="_blank">here</a></b>. </div>
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To see all the posts led by pictures, click<span id="goog_500161006"></span> <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/p/when-picture-leads.html" target="_blank">here</a><span id="goog_500161007"></span></b>.<br />
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Linking with <b><a href="http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.in/2015/09/h-is-for-help.html" target="_blank">ABC Wednesday, H</a></b>: H is for Hare Krishna</div>
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Beloo Mehrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10514874213623046284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5179509987919601618.post-77438945455375990532015-08-23T13:22:00.001+05:302015-08-28T11:07:08.176+05:30Fabulous Bahubali: Some Musings<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9a4CaD4ZeXd-itpjGscRSJ4Rh0OL6jv8WjEaIyBqxF38URieqVLhuvQU7sJTEIQeaSBZLfauCGfFE2OxjVlo9d_9VAOmGlx1iZ1gnaFIIKhRzVMOn4Bw8t0qODy1uYBTUynA-dlXRJkk/s1600/Bahubali.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9a4CaD4ZeXd-itpjGscRSJ4Rh0OL6jv8WjEaIyBqxF38URieqVLhuvQU7sJTEIQeaSBZLfauCGfFE2OxjVlo9d_9VAOmGlx1iZ1gnaFIIKhRzVMOn4Bw8t0qODy1uYBTUynA-dlXRJkk/s320/Bahubali.jpeg" width="232" /></a></div>
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Late that I almost always am in watching the 'big name' movies, maybe everything that I thought or felt after watching <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baahubali:_The_Beginning" target="_blank">Bahubali</a> has already been said, contradicted, analysed, deconstructed, etc. But still I feel like sharing a few thoughts that came to me, as and after I watched this mega-film Bahubali.<br />
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Given the epic-like character of the film, it only makes sense to speak of a few larger points rather than the nitty-gritty details about this or that of the film. So here are my Big 8 musings on the film:<br />
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1. What is most impressive about the film is its grandeur, both of the backdrop as well as of the plot itself. While there is much said about the excellent special effects and the wondrous epic-scale narrative of the film, what I found most appealing in the film was the essential grandness of the symbolism behind the big themes in the film's plot and narrative. That's what make the film what it is, I think.<br />
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2. In today's age of commercialism, a film like any other cultural product meant to make money for its producers, is definitely going to use all the tricks that would help make the product more marketable and profitable. But using that against the film is like denying the existence of the gross physical-vital-commerical-consumerist nature of the times we live in. So there's hardly any point in going any further down this flimsy route of criticism.<br />
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3. But there is something else. All those who get caught up in the sub-text of one little scene here or there miss out on appreciating the real impact the film is meant to make. All those who like to view and critique everything, including a period drama, using the presently-popular moralistic and politically-correct view of things totally miss out on the eternal essential truths that a film such as Bahubali is trying to represent.<br />
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4. The film, being a period drama, represents rather well a certain social-cultural-political-moral-ethical framework which has to be accepted as one piece in the long evolutionary march of human civilization as well as Indian civilization. It is rather silly, if not outrightly flawed, to apply either a modern feminist view (straight-jacketed though it may be) or a modern democratic view of outer individualistic equality (narrowly rigid though it may be) to critique a story -- and the actions or choices or beliefs of its characters -- based in a time much different from today. This not only shows a complete disregard for the evolutionary and upward-spiraling nature of civilizational march, it also shows an utter neglect of the deeper human quest for the timeless in the time-bound and for the universal in the context-bound nature of a good story. That's what all good stories are all about, ultimately -- having the richness both of a context- and time-bound specificity as well as a universal and timeless essentiality. Bahubali is a story like that. <br />
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5. What also makes the film a real winner is its ennobling and uplifting quality, which comes through the nobility of its leading characters and the symbolic nature of the events which move them.<br />
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6. Looking at these characters and the contexts in which they move only from the outside -- e.g. larger than life, heroic, wars, violence, revenge etc. -- misses the real point, I think. It is what these characters and circumstances typify and represent as the big themes in the ever-evolving yet essential Indian cultural psyche that need to be appreciated if one really wants to get to the essence of the film.<br />
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7. Whether it is the kshatriya virtue of power that is grounded in the ideal of dharma or the ideal dharma of a king to both suppress the enemy and protect the weak, whether it is the working out in the outer life and nature of the principle of Satyam Shivam Sundaram (Truth, Divinity, Beauty) or the perennial struggle between the forces of Truth and forces of Falsehood, whether it is the interplay in life of Prakriti and Purusha, Destiny and Free Will, or the essential oneness and interdependence of man and woman -- equal yet different, all such themes and ideas are beautifully depicted through the leading characters, their aspirations, their works, their choices as well as the contexts in which they work out their lives, choices, actions and feelings.<br />
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8. Finally, what stayed with me after watching the film last night was this feeling of being engrossed in a soothing spirit of nobility, the real Aryan character that Sri Aurobindo speaks of so beautifully in these words: <br />
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<span style="color: #444444;">For in the Veda the Aryan peoples are those who had accepted a particular type of self-culture, of inward and outward practice, of ideality, of aspiration. The Aryan gods were the supraphysical powers who assisted the mortal in his struggle towards the nature of the godhead..... </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #444444;">....In later times, the word Arya expressed a particular ethical and social ideal, an ideal of well-governed life, candour, courtesy, nobility, straight dealing, courage, gentleness, purity, humanity, compassion, protection of the weak, liberality, observance of social duty, eagerness of knowledge, respect for the wise and learned, the social accomplishments. It was the combined ideal of the Brahmana and the Kshatriya. Everything that departed from this ideal, everything that tended towards the ignoble, mean, obscure, rude, cruel or false, was termed un-Aryan or anarya (colloq. anari). There is no word in human speech that has a nobler history.....</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #444444;">...Intrinsically, in its most fundamental sense, Arya means an effort or an uprising and overcoming. The Aryan is he who strives and overcomes all outside him and within him that stands opposed to the human advance. Self-conquest is the first law of his nature. He overcomes earth and the body and does not consent like ordinary men to their dullness, inertia, dead routine and tamasic limitations. He overcomes life and its energies and refuses to be dominated by their hungers and cravings or enslaved by their rajasic passions. He overcomes the mind and its habits, he does not live in a shell of ignorance, inherited prejudices, customary ideas, pleasant opinions, but knows how to seek and choose, to be large and flexible in intelligence even as he is firm and strong in his will. For in everything he seeks truth, in everything right, in everything height and freedom.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #444444;">Self-perfection is the aim of his self-conquest. Therefore, what he conquers he does not destroy, but ennobles and fulfils.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #444444;">~ Sri Aurobindo, CWSA, Vol. 13, pp. 441-443 </span></blockquote>
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After all this, I am sure you can tell I am looking forward to the film's sequel next year.<br />
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Linking this with <a href="http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.in/2015/08/f-is-for-fabulous-fabares.html" target="_blank">ABC Wednesday, F</a>: F is for Fabulous<br />
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Beloo Mehrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10514874213623046284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5179509987919601618.post-62218658536115387112015-08-15T08:06:00.000+05:302015-08-16T20:04:23.229+05:30Freedom: What is it for?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #e69138;"><b>MUSINGS ON THIS 15 AUGUST</b></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bharat Mata by Abanindranath Tagore</td></tr>
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August 15 is <a href="http://www.sriaurobindoashram.org/ashram/sriauro/life_sketch.php" target="_blank">Sri Aurobindo</a>'s birthday. It is also India's Independence Day. What better day than today to recall and meditate on following words of his:</div>
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<b><span style="color: #b45f06;">Our first necessity, if India is to survive and do her appointed work in the world, is that the youth of India should learn to think,—to think on all subjects, to think independently, fruitfully, going to the heart of things, not stopped by their surface, free of prejudgments, shearing sophism and prejudice as under as with a sharp sword, smiting down obscurantism of all kinds....</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">....The old fixed foundations have been broken up, we are tossing in the waters of a great upheaval and change. It is no use clinging to the old ice-floes of the past, they will soon melt and leave their refugees struggling in perilous waters. It is no use landing ourselves in the infirm bog, neither sea nor good dry land, of a second hand Europeanism. We shall only die there a miserable and unclean death. No, we must learn to swim and use that power to reach the good vessel of unchanging truth; we must land again on the eternal rock of ages. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">Let us not, either, select at random, make a nameless hotchpotch and then triumphantly call it the assimilation of East and West. <b>We must begin by accepting nothing on trust from any source whatsoever, by questioning everything and forming our own conclusions....</b><span style="text-align: center;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">We must not begin by becoming partisans but know before we take our line.<b> Our first business as original thinkers will be to accept nothing, to question everything. That means to get rid of all unexamined opinions old or new, all mere habitual <i>sanskaras</i> in the mind, to have no preconceived judgments.</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666;">~ CWSA, Vol. 12, pp. 40-41, emphasis added.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666;">(All mentions of Europe may be understood to refer to the West).</span></div>
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These words were written for an essay titled "On Original Thinking", circa 1910-1913. More than a hundred years have gone by, but we still seem to be floating around, rather slavishly, in the decaying pool of the second-hand, borrowed understandings of Ourselves and the Life around us. Of what it means to be and become. Of freedom and liberty. Of unity and diversity. When will we start waking up to the truth that there is a deeper, much deeper meaning of all these?<br />
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We seem to have forgotten that the Indian cultural view considers Freedom as one of the many higher ideals of the spirit, the attributes of the soul, along with Equality, Unity, Harmony and Oneness. In this view, freedom and liberty are not merely meant as unrestricted expressions of our lower mental-vital nature which insists on its fulfilment, no matter what the cost to others' freedom to exist and be, no matter what the cost to the harmony and unity in the larger collective. We seem to be even lacking in the spirit of questioning our badly-borrowed second hand overly-rationalistic-modernity which emphasises only an outer and an absolute freedom.</div>
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Blinded by the extremely aggressive, outwardly focused and rationalistic individualism largely popularized via the contemporary representations of the West, we continue to practice being modern by aping this "marketed" version of the West. We confuse Freedom with merely an 'outer freedom to do whatever' with no regard to the complementary truth of Harmony. We mix-up Liberty with a 'license to do as one pleases' with no regard to its potential negative consequence, both for the individual and the collective. </div>
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">For the vice of individualism is that in insisting upon the free development and self-expression of the life and the mind or the life-soul in the individual, it tends to exaggerate the egoism of the mental and vital being and prevent the recognition of unity with others on which alone a complete self-development and a harmless freedom can be founded.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666;">~Sri Aurobindo, CWSA, Vol. 25, p. 215</span></div>
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Some of the recent socio-cultural discourses among Indian educated classes serve as good examples, if we want to examine the working of this exaggerated mental-vital egoism. Egoism that only seeks to fulfil its demands and preferences, no matter what the cost. Egoism that refuses to admit any new light once it has bought into one highly limited view of what it means to be free. </div>
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Whether it was an attempt by one Indian state to regulate the cow-slaughter industry, or an idea being floated by another state regarding a possible alcohol prohibition, or a hasty and badly-executed Government ban (which was later revoked following the outrage) on some 800 pornographic websites (out of millions and millions of such sites), many of which also suggest child pornography, – almost all the "liberalist" opposition to such measures was raised under the garb of "freedom." </div>
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Those opposing the beef ban exclusively championed the cause of "freedom of food choice" while refusing to admit the extremely high environmental costs of meat-industry, particularly beef (never mind the need to even consider any religious sensitivities of other groups in society). Those ridiculing any calls for prohibition, all in the name of a pseudo-modern "freedom to drink," never bother to find out how the uncontrolled disease of alcoholism among the poorer sections of the society completely destroys the lives of women and children (never mind the duplicity that the same champions also rally around the "cause" of poor women and children). Those who were opposing the porn ban went the furthest. </div>
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Naturally, such knee-jerk opposition under the garb of "freedom" begs the question – freedom to do what? What are these champions of freedom really asking for?</div>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/shivakumarpdy/" target="_blank">Shiva Kumar</a>, who is associated with the <a href="http://education.aurosociety.org/" target="_blank">India Council for Integral Education</a>, a unit of <a href="http://www.aurosociety.org/index.aspx" target="_blank">Sri Aurobindo Society</a>, and has more than 15 years of experience working with teachers and youth, recently made a highly insightful comment in this regard. His words provoke us to reflect on the question – Freedom: What is it for? </div>
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">A LIGHT WITHIN, AND A BEAUTY WITHIN<span style="text-align: center;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">Knowingly or unknowingly, all of us seek freedom – but it is not the freedom that merely demands external freedom to stand up and say “it is my body, I will do what I want with it” (a popular actress said it recently); or à la the (in)famous AIB’s roaster where one says, “For us filth is also fun, if you don’t want it, don’t see it – you are an adult and you have the freedom to not see it, whereas we too are adults and it should be our freedom to do even what you might call nasty, indecent or even repulsive, so long as it is not illegal”; or the most recent one where a lot of freedom-celebrators are crying foul of the moral policing behind the Govt.’s banning of 800-odd websites—some of which were even carrying or suggesting child pornography. And I am sure that those who are against this ban are not in favour of any form of child pornography even in the name of the holy word ‘freedom’.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">So, what should we be demanding in the name of Freedom? If we do not have clarity on what we seek for, we might end up getting it and then harming things rather than bettering things! When we seek for freedom, should it be for the expression of what is baser, vulgur and repulsive in us?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">For those in the habit of looking within and searching within for answers, they can find, with a little effort, that deep within every one of us, there is a Light that shines, a Beauty that revels, a Power that wants to gush out, a harmony that wants to manifest through all these. If at all we seek for freedom, should it not be to express these in our lives -- collective & individual -- in an uninhibited, unfettered, bold and creative way.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">Freedom to express the best in us, the deepest and the highest in us—the LIGHT and the BEAUTY that is within us all...</span></div>
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As India celebrates her 69th Independence Day, it is an appropriate time to reflect upon the idea of freedom. Let us each take some time to look within and uncover any mental prisons we may still be living in. </div>
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Let us ask ourselves -- are we working toward gaining a true freedom in our minds and hearts, freedom to express the best in us, the deepest and the highest in us? Have we freed ourselves from the prisons of second hand, colonial mental structures (all in the name of modernity, individualism, rationalism) that actually prevent us from digging deeper into any and all ideas and ideals that we must be pursuing, including the ideal of Freedom? </div>
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Freedom from such a colonized mental and intellectual prison must be the cornerstone of all real and effective work each one of us needs to do to safeguard our political, social, economic and cultural freedom. Every attempt to break the chains of that intellectual prison we carry within; prisons that we may not even be aware of, thanks to our "modern" education which has produced generations of culturally uprooted Indians, is a step toward greater and truer freedom. </div>
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I am reminded today of some words I wrote in the Introduction of my e-book <i style="color: #666666;">"<b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Indian-Socio-Cultural-Matters-Aurobindo-ebook/dp/B00WNBY6F4/" target="_blank">The Thinking Indian: Essays on Indian Socio-Cultural Matters in the Light of Sri Aurobindo</a></b>".</i></div>
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">Decolonization or un-colonization of mind is not about “going native.” It is also not about purifying oneself of the “foreign elements.” It is essential because it prevents the colonized from becoming colonizers. It is a step toward intellectual liberation of sorts. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">This decolonization is not something that happens instantly, it is an ongoing, experiential, lived process at individual and collective levels. It is a part of the ongoing journey of my self – obviously only the apparent, outer self because the real Self will be above and beyond any such national or cultural identity. But the inner knowing of my real Self can’t be unaccompanied by the outer knowing of my apparent self, the individuality that I hold on to in this present manifestation of my true inner Self. </span></div>
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All sincere attempts to de-colonize and "free" our ways of thinking, seeing, and being are steps toward seeking a true intellectual <i>Swaraj, </i>toward a self-rule or rule of one's inner consciousness. </div>
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Sri Aurobindo and the Mother are my guides, my teachers, companions and inspiration on my journey of such seeking. Understanding or trying to understand the various outer socio-cultural phenomena in the light of Sri Aurobindo’s profound social-political-cultural thought and writings is part of my journey at present. Such an intellectual attempt, I find, guides me tremendously as I continue to integrate my inner and outer journeys. </div>
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On this special occasion of Sri Aurobindo's Birthday and India's Independence Day, it will be worth our while to recall with our deepest gratitude <b><a href="http://nextfuture.aurosociety.org/sri-aurobindos-role-in-the-indian-freedom-movement" target="_blank">Sri Aurobindo's role in the freedom movement</a></b>. There are no better words than the following to conclude this post. Words that were said more than a hundred years ago, but their spirit still serves as a perfect reminder for all Indians. </div>
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<span style="color: #b45f06;">There are times in a nation’s history when Providence places before it one work, one aim, to which everything else, however high and noble in itself, has to be sacrificed. Such a time has now arrived for our motherland when nothing is dearer than her service, when everything else is to be directed to that end. If you will study, study for her sake; train yourselves body and mind and soul for her service. You will earn your living that you may live for her sake. You will go abroad to foreign lands that you may bring back knowledge with which you may do service to her. Work that she may prosper. Suffer that she may rejoice. All is contained in that one single advice.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #666666;">Sri Aurobindo, Talk given at the Bengal National College on August 23, 1907.</span></div>
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Linking with <a href="https://www.indiblogger.in/indispire_topic.php?topic=78" target="_blank">IndiSpire Edition 78: #RealIndependence</a></div>
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Beloo Mehrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10514874213623046284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5179509987919601618.post-16826954824492420832015-08-09T18:31:00.000+05:302015-08-16T18:43:43.607+05:30Current Events 12: The Parliamentary Drama<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I simply love it when my research and reading of some of the gems from Sri Aurobindo's extensive writings lead me to an extra-ordinarily exact and supremely succinct interpretation that helps me make sense of some recent phenomenon or observation which I have been mulling over. It is as if the Master himself was guiding me to that passage. Of course, He is, always.<br />
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The phenomenon I am speaking today is the drama that is being played out in, or rather outside, the halls of Indian Parliament.<br />
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The reactionary, ill-intentioned, selfish politics being played by some opposition parties, led by the Congress, as many serious political thinkers have already commented, is nothing but a ploy to disrupt the much-needed economic-political reforms that are critical to put the country back on a growth trajectory. The opposition knows that this drama is the only way to put brakes on a growth and development agenda being pushed by the government. As one seasoned and thoughtful analyst recently <b><a href="http://www.newsinsight.net/EmbattledPM.aspx#page=page-1" target="_blank">wrote</a></b>: "Sonia Gandhi would rather have India fail than see Modi succeed. Her recent picture gesticulating to the cameras and circulated on the internet tells it all."<br />
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But let me get back to the heart of the post. For the last few days, as part of a small personal research project, I have been re-reading some of the political writings of Sri Aurobindo that he did for the nationalist journal, <i>Bande Mataram</i>, during 1906-08.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sept 29, 1907 Edition, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bande_Mataram_(publication)#/media/File:Bande_Mataram_29_September_1907.jpg" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr>
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Once again, I have been marveling at his revolutionary fervour, a fervour that is firmly grounded in a penetrating and accurate understanding of the ground realities which existed at the time in the political landscape of the country. It is a fervour that is deeply inspired by the eternal truths that India as a nation has always stood for since times immemorial, truths that he had also realised in his sadhana.<br />
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Once again, I have been awed by his fiery expression, an expression that is fully soaked in the colour of love for the motherland and the truth for which she lives. It is an expression that has the power to rekindle that deep-seated love we all feel in ourselves for the truth of our nation, despite the outward differences in political leanings and preferred ideologies.<br />
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The coming weeks and months may see me write a bit more on what I see as some of the most relevant implications for our present-day contexts, emerging from some of these political writings of Sri Aurobindo from more than 100 years ago. But today I wish to share one small passage he wrote in a piece titled "The Vanity of Reaction" published on October 7, 1907.<br />
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In this piece Sri Aurobindo spoke of the destined failure of all repressive moves that the then British colonial government was making to crush and suppress the growing fire of revolution for India's freedom that was spreading in the country. He even cautioned that such repressive reactionary moves would spread the revolutionary fire even further and bring a shameful end to the colonial power.<br />
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As I read and then re-read the piece, a part of me kept coming back to the first paragraph. I couldn't help but see how perfectly his words explain the deeper truth of the drama that is being played out outside the Indian parliament. The <a href="http://www.merinews.com/article/india-inc-on-parliament-logjam-pass-legislationsvital-to-indias-economic-growth/15908474.shtml" target="_blank">Parliamentary logjam</a> we have been seeing is a bitter and utterly non-sensical reactionary tactic of the political opposition parties which don't really care for what happens to the nation. Their only interest is to dislodge any move that could open a new path of growth for the country.<br />
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In a strange way, the following words written more than a hundred years ago, in another context, seem to describe exactly what is going on in the name of the selfish drama of the parliamentary holdup. What is interesting to note is that what Sri Aurobindo wrote for the reactionary absolutism of a foreign colonial power back then holds true for the so-called Indian opposition parties, as if to suggest the lack of the Indian-ness behind their ill-intentioned tactic.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The devices of reactionary absolutism have a curious family resemblance all the world over. Reaction is never intelligent and never imaginative. Limited to the narrow horizon of its own selfish interests, committed to the preservation of the impossible and the resuscitation of corrupt systems and dead forms it has neither the vision to understand and measure the forces that have been new born to replace it, nor the wisdom to treat and compromise with the strength of Demogorgon while yet unripe so as to prolong its hour of rule for a little,—the only grace that Heaven allows to doomed institutions and forfeited powers. <span style="text-align: right;">(Sri Aurobindo, CWSA, Vol. 6-7, p. 705)</span></span></blockquote>
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What is also interesting (and heartening) to note is that such reactionary absolutism results in only prolonging for a bit the hour of doom for the old institutions and powers, whose end is near and certain.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Poor in invention except in the cunning variation of savage tortures or petty brutalities, it reiterates the old worn-out spells, the once potent lies which had been powerful to prolong the death-sleep of the peoples and sees not that the mumbling of its incantations only awakes the scorn and rage of strong men indignant that such deceptive bonds should so long have availed to bind their strength. (ibid)</span></blockquote>
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The rational and informed sections of Indian people are no longer fooled by such reactionary and disruptive tactics. And the longer such logjam continues the more the thinking people will be enraged against those sections of political classes that are seen as impeding any meaningful work in the nation's legislature.<br />
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#ParliamentLogjam<br />
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<span style="color: #990000;">To read full text of Sri Aurobindo's piece, titled "The Vanity of Reaction" click <a href="http://www.aurobindo.ru/workings/sa/37_06_07/0274_e.htm" target="_blank"><b>here</b></a>.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000;">To read previous post in the Current Events, click <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2015/07/current-events-11-note-to-perpetual.html" target="_blank">here</a></b>.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;">To read all posts in the Current Events, click <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/p/current-events.html" target="_blank">here</a></b>.</span><br />
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<span style="text-align: right;">Linking with <a href="http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.in/2015/08/d-is-for-delta-blues.html" target="_blank">ABC Wednesday, D</a>: D is for Drama</span></div>
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Beloo Mehrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10514874213623046284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5179509987919601618.post-47432502799106687592015-08-04T16:46:00.000+05:302015-08-04T16:46:47.771+05:30Quote UnQuote 3: Herd<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442830575836438934/" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr>
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“Most people say that Shakespeare rocked merely because most people say that Shakespeare rocked.” </h3>
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― Mokokoma Mokhonoana</div>
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Isn’t this a bitter truth?<br />
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Why this need to be liked that we pretend to like all those things – books-authors, art-artists, films-filmmakers – that <i>must be</i> “liked” if we are to be liked by the up-and-coming-socially-elite-politically-correct-economically-successful-newsmaker-of-the-day-types?<br />
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Confusing, no? Wouldn’t it be simpler to just make up our own minds after reading Shakespeare?<br />
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Sadly, this isn’t limited to authors or artists. Replace “Shakespeare” with words for creeds, ideologies, religions or any other “ism”, and we find the same herd-type-non-thinking. Getting away from the herd is the real struggle. The first battle is within, where it is more important that the truth wins.<br />
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This is the last of the 3-day-quote-challenge, for which I am writing 100-word-commentary on any quote of my choice. I came across this particular quote one fine day when browsing for something else on the net. I don't know anything about this writer, but these words just caught my attention.<br />
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<a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2015/07/quote-unquote-1.html" target="_blank">Quote Unquote 1: Death</a><br />
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<a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2015/07/quote-unquote-2-sleep.html" target="_blank">Quote Unquote 2: Sleep</a><br />
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Thanks <a href="http://rachnaparmar.com/" target="_blank">Rachna</a> for the interesting challenge :)<br />
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Beloo Mehrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10514874213623046284noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5179509987919601618.post-22674593890364650592015-07-30T20:29:00.000+05:302015-08-01T11:55:03.734+05:30Morality in Politics<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>A new post in the series <a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/p/satyam-shivam-sundaram.html" target="_blank">Satyam Shivam Sundaram</a></b></div>
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The other day something led me to re-read some of the articles and commentaries Sri Aurobindo wrote during his 'active' political revolutionary days, when he was writing and editing the nationalist journal <i>Bande Mataram</i> during 1906-1908. </div>
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For me it was a wonderful exercise to reflect upon the fact that some of the ideals, ideas and thoughts he was presenting more than a century ago are still highly relevant and perfectly applicable. Of course, the arguments and examples he was giving at that time were particular to the political and nationalist struggles of the time, India's freedom movement, to be more specific. </div>
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But the fact that the fundamental principles and ideals he was speaking of remain perfectly applicable even today, despite the very different political context and circumstances, says something about the deeper truth value of these principles, and the timelessness of the Source from which such fundamental principles emerge. Even for the political arena.</div>
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I present just one example here. This is from his writing titled "The Morality of Boycott". I am sharing only a few excerpts here, with the hope that readers, particularly Indian readers, will be able to see how relevant these principles are in today's political context of the nation. </div>
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<span style="color: #666666;">A certain class of minds shrink from aggressiveness as if it were a sin. Their temperament forbids them to feel the delight of battle and they look on what they cannot understand as something monstrous and sinful. “Heal hate by love, drive out injustice by justice, slay sin by righteousness” is their cry. <b>Love is a sacred name, but it is easier to speak of love than to love.</b> <b>The love which drives out hate, is a divine quality of which only one man in a thousand is capable. </b>A saint full of love for all mankind possesses it, a philanthropist consumed with the desire to heal the miseries of the race possesses it, but the mass of mankind do not and cannot rise to that height. <b>Politics is concerned with masses of mankind and not with individuals. To ask masses of mankind to act as saints, to rise to the height of divine love and practise it in relation to their adversaries or oppressors, is to ignore human nature. </b>It is to set a premium on injustice and violence by paralysing the hand of the deliverer when raised to strike. The Gita is the best answer to those who shrink from battle as a sin and aggression as a lowering of morality.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #666666;">Hinduism recognizes human nature...It sets one ideal for the saint, another for the man of action, a third for the trader, a fourth for the serf. To prescribe the same ideal for all is to bring about <i>varnasankara</i>, the confusion of duties, and destroy society and the race.<br />.... </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #666666;">Politics is the field of the Kshatriya and the morality of the Kshatriya ought to govern our political actions. To impose on politics the Brahminical duty of saintly sufferance, is to preach <i>varnasankara</i>.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #666666;">Justice and righteousness are the atmosphere of political morality, but the justice and righteousness of the fighter, not of the priest. Aggression is unjust only when unprovoked, violence unrighteous when used wantonly or for unrighteous ends. It is a barren philosophy which applies a mechanical rule to all actions, or takes a word and tries to fit all human life into it. The sword of the warrior is as necessary to the fulfilment of justice and righteousness as the holiness of the saint. Ramdas is not complete without Shivaji. To maintain justice and prevent the strong from despoiling and the weak from being oppressed is the function for which the Kshatriya was created. </span></blockquote>
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To read the previous post in the series, click <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2015/06/of-vibrations-victories-and-changing.html" target="_blank">here</a></b>.<br />
To read all posts in the series, click <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/p/satyam-shivam-sundaram.html" target="_blank">here</a></b>.<br />
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Beloo Mehrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10514874213623046284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5179509987919601618.post-84399462432444235962015-07-25T11:41:00.001+05:302015-08-25T11:57:56.429+05:30Quote UnQuote 2: Sleep<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">“I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I'm awake, you know?” </span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">― </span><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1455.Ernest_Hemingway" style="background-color: white; color: #666600; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;">Ernest Hemingway</a></div>
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Who doesn’t love sleep? All is well when one’s asleep. Wake up and you may discover there’s more to life than endless-entertainment-shopping-twitter-timepass-cappuccino-gourmet-brands-gossip-holidaying-more-more-more. Who wants any messy stuff beyond all this?<br />
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Waking up is serious work. All cherished notions of life, happiness, success, relationships, love, everything fall apart. Pain, disorientation, not-knowing and more, all are part of waking up. Everything has to be seen anew, experienced afresh. So everything can be put back, piece-by-piece, in a new light of an inner dawn.<br />
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This is the second of the three-day-quote-challenge posts in which I was tagged by <a href="http://rachnaparmar.com/" target="_blank">Rachna</a>. I have added an additional layer to the challenge by limiting my commentary on the selected quote to only 100 words. And you know how difficult that can be for someone like me, don't you?<br />
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Beloo Mehrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10514874213623046284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5179509987919601618.post-66990442246968599202015-07-19T12:53:00.002+05:302015-08-25T11:58:08.577+05:30Quote UnQuote 1: Death<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Rachna, the <i>rachnakar</i> (creator) of the popular blogs <b><a href="http://www.rachnaparmar.com/" target="_blank">Rachnasays</a> </b>and<b> <a href="https://rachnacooks.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Rachnacooks</a> </b>tagged me in the three-day quote challenge. I had been unsure how to do this because most of my posts already have some quote in them (often a long one, and sometimes a passage actually). To be honest, I would have probably skipped the challenge if it were not for the warm and affectionate Rachna!<br />
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Then I thought why not do something that I haven't done in a while. That is, be brief. And yet stay close to the spirit of this blog. So I am going to write only 100-word posts as part of this quote-a-day challenge. Now that will be a challenge for the brevity-challenged me, I think! Just to clarify, this preface and the quote itself will not be counted in the 100 words :)<br />
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So without much ado, here I go, with the first post today.<br />
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"This wallpaper is killing me. One of us has to go." </h3>
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These are reported as Oscar Wilde's last words on his deathbed.<br />
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Nobody else could have said this! Wilde knew the real effect of real beauty on mind, heart and soul. His thoughts, words, wit are proof enough. His fashion sense too for those interested in only outer beauty!<br />
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But there’s more to these words. They make you think about the last thing you’d like to see before closing your eyes. For ever. Or maybe every night till then. Or tonight.<br />
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What is it? An object? A face? A vision? Something indescribable, perhaps?<br />
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Why not visualize tonight? Conscious death takes preparation.<br />
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Beloo Mehrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10514874213623046284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5179509987919601618.post-8756771300847049962015-07-14T10:26:00.000+05:302015-07-14T10:26:03.083+05:30Flowers, Home, Saris and More<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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She definitely has a way with words.<br />
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Regular readers of Dagny know what an inspiring and inspired writer she is. But there is also another side to the nature of her inspiration which I have recently experienced. Her words have the ability to quieten me down, making me ready to discover that deep and calm place within. A place from where emerge some ideas, thoughts, words and sentences carrying that 'feel' of calmness and quiet depth.<br />
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To what extent any composition expresses a sense of quietness, that is for the readers to decide. But as a writer I know how <i>I</i> feel when I am inspired to write something at the request of this dearest friend. Zen-like, I think one may call it. Naah! Serene and yet fully present and absorbed in the experience of writing. <b><a href="https://serenelyrapt.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Serenely Rapt</a>, </b>may be?<br />
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Dagny inspires me not only with the stories she tells, but more so with <i>the way</i> she makes these stories seem like our stories, mine and hers, and of everyone else who reads them. The grounded and earthy wisdom that is gently enfolded in her words, the quietness with which that ray of light shines upon the reader's being -- that is an experience felt by all who have visited her space, <b><a href="https://serenelyrapt.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Serenely Rapt</a>. </b></div>
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You must have heard that highly creative people are creative in ways more than one. This is true of my friend Dagny too. While<b> </b>the pages of<b> </b>Serenely Rapt<b> </b>showcase her beautiful stories, anecdotes, reflections and ponderings on various shades and hues of life, she dazzles with another side of her creative self via <a href="https://rugsoflife.wordpress.com/" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Rugs of Life</a>.<b> </b>If you haven't yet seen this space of hers, you don't know what you are missing!<br />
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When she suggested that I write a guest-post for her blog, I was naturally overjoyed. And also a bit unsure whether any writing of mine would stand up to the standard that <b><a href="https://serenelyrapt.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Serenely Rapt</a></b> is famous for. That's when the warmth of her love and friendship, and her calm confidence in me, my thought process, words and way of expression came to my rescue. And a post with the title, <b><a href="https://serenelyrapt.wordpress.com/2015/07/13/musings-on-home-flowers-and-more/" target="_blank">Musings on Home, Flowers and More</a></b> took shape.<br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">MUSINGS ON HOME, FLOWERS AND MORE</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">I feel a sense of gratitude to those
fourteen-plus years of my life when I was living between two cultural spaces.
What we Indians call as non-resident-Indian (NRI) experience, gave me ample
opportunities to reflect on the meaning of home, being at home and being in
what many post-modernists call as a state of hybridity or in-between-ness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I remember today an essay I wrote about
thirteen years ago, in which I had pondered over the meaning of home. </span><a href="http://creative.sulekha.com/i-am-home-or-am-i_100598_blog" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The essay</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">, published on </span><a href="http://creative.sulekha.com/i-am-home-or-am-i_100598_blog"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Sulekha</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">, was based
on an analysis of the voices of a few Indians living outside India with whom I
had some interactions in an online discussion forum, combined with my own decade-long
experience, at that time, of living, studying and working in the United States.
In that piece I had come to a tentative conclusion that perhaps home means “a
place where we can be really free, free at heart.”<br />
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End of this month will mark eight years of my return to India. No more of that
NRI experience. However, at different points of time in these last eight years,
this question of “what is home” has often surfaced in different ways – personally
as well as socially. But it has also become obvious to me that the question has
now taken on a more emotional and psychological shade than a mental or intellectual
one, which was the case earlier. The experience of this question is also more
inwardly grounded than something that is outward and identity-based. And this,
I believe, is what makes me feel more ‘at home’ with the question itself. Let
me explain.<br />
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About two years ago, I found myself going through an intense phase when this
question – what is home – became a very real and living struggle for many
months. In a way I was spending all those months ‘at home’ (my parental home,
to be precise – the home where I grew up) but then it wasn’t really <i>my</i> home anymore. It didn’t feel like
that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The part that felt ‘like home’ was my
parents. Especially, my very ill and fragile mother who was the reason why I
was spending all those months there, away from my home and in my mother’s home.
And yet the longing to go back to <i>my</i> home
was very much there despite the mental awareness that I needed to be at my
parents’ home. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000;">TO READ REST OF THE POST, CLICK <b><a href="https://serenelyrapt.wordpress.com/2015/07/13/musings-on-home-flowers-and-more/" target="_blank">HERE</a></b>.</span><br />
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Like I said, Dagny has a way with words. But then, she also a way with saris. Or for that matter, any old fabric which transforms into something entirely new and completely beautiful when it comes into her hands.<br />
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A few months ago, she gave new lives to two of my old saris. The sheer beauty of her work made me speechless when I held in my hands the new-born pieces she sent me. What had been once two old saris were now in front of me in totally new forms, speaking quietly of the remarkable gift and talent of the artist. The experience wouldn't have been complete if I didn't write a little story of that creative rebirth I witnessed. And yes that writing too came about in a moment of quiet and joyful spontaneity.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1NdJZCqd54AX6Qk8ePkxdMF82bUYsydcixywr4_JJ4LSPj7ZmpjDyvYXHa82baxmeSpbESmJTypNi-geZsMv2AaiU_fDVSND4x-mtqhYzpPxX_xwxHT7nvqxgg5V3NePlLQEN2vWCN3c/s1600/4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1NdJZCqd54AX6Qk8ePkxdMF82bUYsydcixywr4_JJ4LSPj7ZmpjDyvYXHa82baxmeSpbESmJTypNi-geZsMv2AaiU_fDVSND4x-mtqhYzpPxX_xwxHT7nvqxgg5V3NePlLQEN2vWCN3c/s320/4.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #990000;">If you haven't read that little story of two saris and their rebirth, how about clicking it <b><a href="https://rugsoflife.wordpress.com/2015/05/08/a-tale-of-two-sarees/" target="_blank">HERE</a></b> and making that correction now.</span><br />
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And while you are at <a href="https://rugsoflife.wordpress.com/" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Rugs of Life</a>, do spend some time browsing through the great collection of rugs Dagny weaves with love and care. A few minutes of going through the different narratives that accompany each of her creations will be sufficient to appreciate the genuine reverence she has for the divinity that hides in matter. That, in essence, is the real source of the beauty that spills out from all that she weaves.<br />
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Beloo Mehrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10514874213623046284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5179509987919601618.post-24086935765532083542015-07-04T17:29:00.003+05:302015-07-05T08:12:10.013+05:30Current Events 11: A Note to the Perpetual Naysayers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A new post in the series - <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/p/current-events.html" target="_blank">Current Events</a></b></div>
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It has sort of become a norm, almost fashionable, in some sections of Indian educated classes and our media to simply oppose something because it is proposed by the present government, or more specifically by our Prime Minister <a href="https://twitter.com/narendramodi?lang=en" target="_blank">Narendra Modi</a>.<br />
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PM says -- share a picture of #<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/incredibleindia" target="_blank">IncredibleIndia</a>. These naysayers say – but will that solve the problem of rural poverty?<br />
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PM says -- share a <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/selfiewithdaughter" target="_blank">#SelfiewithDaughter</a>. These naysayers say – but will that solve the innumerable problem girls and women face in the country?<br />
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PM says -- clean up India. These naysayers say – but how will that solve the problem of corruption?<br />
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PM says – come, let's do <a href="http://idayofyoga.org/" target="_blank">yoga</a>. These naysayers say – but why should I stretch and breathe?<br />
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PM says – give a gift of an affordable life<a href="http://pmjandhanyojana.co.in/suraksha-bima-yojana/" target="_blank"> insurance scheme</a> to some needy woman, perhaps your domestic help, on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan. These naysayers say – well, isn't that really a proof he is a Hindutva-wadi?<br />
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Lest anyone should misunderstand my intention, the purpose of my writing this note is not to encourage any blind following or a servile, non-thinking, brainwashed attitude. That would be disastrous for the nation and for our civilizational renewal. Rational thinking is a must for any democracy to function and move ahead.<br />
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But my request to the naysayers is simply this – why not take at least a minute before opposing or criticizing an idea, and think carefully whether you are opposing just because it is suggested by someone you love to hate! And while you are in that thinking mode, think also as to why you love to hate him.<br />
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Dear Naysayers, while you are busy thinking about your reasons to oppose, may I make an informed guess. Perhaps you love to hate him because if you didn't do so, you wouldn't be able to think of yourself as progressive, secular, broad-minded. Because after all, in the circles that you would like to be a part of he is supposed to represent all that is opposite of these 'politically correct' qualities. So you must oppose him, and everything he proposes, naturally. Thou Shalt Oppose – that's the first 'commandment' in these politically correct circles, isn't it so?<br />
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To what extent you have indeed understood the real meaning of words such as ‘progressive’ and ‘secular’, and their suitability and relevance in the Indian context – that is for you to ponder at your leisure. (Fine, go ahead and give your servant a gift of life insurance on the occasion of Eid, if that makes you ‘secular.’ But do it!)<br />
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But here's a simple thing I would like you to reflect upon right away. Just opposing doesn't mean anything. You need to also have some original idea of your own if you want to change something. Let me give an example to explain further.<br />
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Mere saying that posting a <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/selfiewithdaughter" target="_blank">#SelfiewithDaughter</a> will not solve the many problems girls and women face in the country means nothing. First, it assumes (wrongly) that those who are sharing pictures with their daughters are not concerned about the issues of gender inequality or women safety or sex-selective abortion or several other challenges faced by girls and women. More importantly, it diminishes and even ridicules the efforts of all those countless individuals who in their own little circles of influence have made sincere efforts in making their families and communities a little more equitable, a little more humane.<br />
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Dear Naysayer, what makes you assume that those who have been responding so enthusiastically to this <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/selfiewithdaughter" target="_blank">#SelfiewithDaughter</a> campaign are doing it only as a meaningless gesture? And that they would be better off taking an 'action' rather than merely posting on social media a picture with their daughter? Do you know any of these people? Do you know any of their stories? NO. So, you better not assume anything, better not think of them as any 'lesser' beings than yourself.<br />
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Also give some thought to this -- there is a tendency of the mind that revels in this “either-or” type of dualistic thinking. Are you becoming a slave to that kind of mentality? Are you beginning to believe that one can either be a 'talker' or a 'doer'? To continue with our example, are you beginning to believe that if one posts a picture with one's daughter, one naturally doesn't 'do' enough for the daughter? And that one is only making a false show of things? Are you beginning to believe that only those who don't share their selfies with daughters are the real 'doers'?<br />
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Hidden behind millions of the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/selfiewithdaughter" target="_blank">#selfieswithdaughter</a> there may be countless stories of courage and thoughtful decisions taken by one mindful parent here or one thinking daughter there. The stories, choices, thoughts and emotions hidden behind the faces in these pictures are theirs. Respect their stories, respect their choices, respect their courage, respect them. They are not asking you to share your picture. Why ridicule or belittle their choice?<br />
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Are you beginning to believe that if someone expresses a feeling of healthy pride in something – one’s daughter, one’s family, one’s city, country, culture, heritage, tradition – one is not really a thinking individual? Or that only cynicism makes one intelligent? Are you beginning to believe that one can either take pride in something or be able to have its critical understanding? Why this either-or? Why not "and"?<br />
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Remember, taking pride doesn’t exclude or disregard critical thinking. Taking pride doesn’t mean that we are not mindful of our sense of responsibility to make things better. For our children, for our daughters, for our families, communities and societies. Just because we post pictures of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/incredibleindia" target="_blank">#IncredibleIndia</a> doesn’t mean, by any logical analysis, that we aren’t aware of or aren’t doing our little bit to make India truly incredible.<br />
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A healthy sense of pride actually leads thinking individuals to become more thoughtful and mindful. If I am proud of my daughter, I would do everything possible to make her life beautiful, to help her fulfill her dreams and aspirations, to do all that is in my power to give her a safer world, a just and equitable society. If I take pride in my home, I would never want to keep it dirty. If I am proud of my rich cultural heritage I wouldn’t want to destroy it in the name of meaningless modernity. If I take pride in my cultural traditions, I would be even more concerned to develop a critical understanding of those so that I don’t become a blind follower.<br />
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A healthy pride in my culture will actually compel me to constructively work on adapting and creating new outer forms of the traditions suitable for present times, but without sacrificing the inner spirit or the essence of those cultural traditions. A healthy pride in my cultural and civilizational uniqueness will give me all the more reasons to make an active contribution to its renewal and renaissance.<br />
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Dear Naysayer, I am not saying that you too should take pride in this or that. Or that you should do this or that. All I am saying is that you think before you follow the ‘politically correct’ command – Thou Shalt Oppose. And do not think any less of those who don’t! For all you know, those who don’t oppose merely for the sake of opposing may be a lot more critically aware of all that is wrong with our society and nation. And perhaps they may even have more carefully thought out ideas to make things right, one little step at a time. So, as a fellow citizen may I request you to do your constructive bit for nation-building and for making a better society, instead of wasting your energy in simply opposing and criticizing.<br />
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To see previous Current Events post, click <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2015/05/current-events-10-jaundiced-journalism.html" target="_blank">here</a></b>.<br />
To see all other Current Events posts, click <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/p/current-events.html" target="_blank">here</a></b>.<br />
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Beloo Mehrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10514874213623046284noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5179509987919601618.post-76807017956125107912015-06-29T12:30:00.002+05:302015-07-01T14:33:27.173+05:30He and She: A Photo Essay <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A new post in the series: <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/p/things-of-beauty.html" target="_blank">Things of Beauty</a></b></div>
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I found Her & Him - Them - hidden in the back in a dusty corner of a large shop in the temple town of Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu. A <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chola_art" target="_blank">Chola</a>-style <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardhanarishvara" target="_blank">Ardhnarishvara</a>, who now adorns a small corner in my home.</div>
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The Chola style of Ardhnarishvara form, often cast in bronze or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panchaloha" target="_blank">panchaloha</a> (an alloy of five metals -- copper, lead, zinc, gold, and silver), is unique because of three arms, two on the Shiva side and one on the Shakti/Parvati side. However, in the majestic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brihadeeswarar_Temple" target="_blank">Brihadeeshwarar temple</a>, built by emperor Raja Raja Chola I at Thanjavur, one finds a magnificent eight-armed form of Ardhnarishvara:</div>
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When I saw my Ardhnarishvara that evening, I knew why I had stood totally transfixed earlier that morning at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangaikonda_Cholapuram" target="_blank">Gangaikonda Cholapuram</a> Temple in front of this:</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/%22%3Ca%20href=%22https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:(23)_Half_Male_Half_Female_Androgynous_Shiva_Gangaikonda_Cholapuram_Hindu_Temple_Pragatishwara_Tamil_Nadu_India_2014.jpg#/media/File:(23)_Half_Male_Half_Female_Androgynous_Shiva_Gangaikonda_Cholapuram_Hindu_Temple_Pragatishwara_Tamil_Nadu_India_2014.jpg">(23) Half Male Half Female Androgynous Shiva Gangaikonda Cholapuram Hindu Temple Pragatishwara Tamil Nadu India 2014</a>" by <a href="//www.flickr.com/people/72746018@N00" class="extiw" title="flickruser:72746018@N00">Jean-Pierre Dalbéra</a> - <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Flickr" title="Flickr" class="mw-redirect">Flickr</a>: <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://flickr.com/photos/72746018@N00/14073441123">Temple de Pragatishwara (Gangaikondacholapuram, Inde)</a>. Licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0" title="Creative Commons Attribution 2.0">CC BY 2.0</a> via <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/">Wikimedia Commons</a>." target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr>
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When I saw my little Ardhnarishvara I knew exactly the spot that will be His/Her abode in my home.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBYs94g4sfAU0wArEeQjUJQCtHstLoWuC912m-_siDOP3zs0XoBLwgUriUoLQF7VglAh5ZUuOHQJSG4qtLHUCABpkEKoCXjRNaINyY2L7d_3PxtrENqKvSd9D88-RiCzJAHOOu1NJxVM0/s1600/11204917_10205824003973368_6281782226141680871_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBYs94g4sfAU0wArEeQjUJQCtHstLoWuC912m-_siDOP3zs0XoBLwgUriUoLQF7VglAh5ZUuOHQJSG4qtLHUCABpkEKoCXjRNaINyY2L7d_3PxtrENqKvSd9D88-RiCzJAHOOu1NJxVM0/s400/11204917_10205824003973368_6281782226141680871_n.jpg" width="391" /></a></div>
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Why did this particular spot come to mind spontaneously? Perhaps because a contemporary form of Ardhnarishwara, framed under glass, already has found its home there. </div>
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A painting made by the young Delhi-based artist, <b><a href="http://binduartaura.com/" target="_blank">Bindu Popli</a>,</b> titled "You and Me 2" hangs on the wall just above the panchaloha Ardhnarishvara. (Actually it is a print of her painting -- can't afford all original works even though the artist is my sister and gives me great discounts!) And yes, there is also a "You and Me 1", a print of which hangs in another room.</div>
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I have always thought of this particular work as the artist's vision of Ardhnarishvara -- a totality that lies beyond duality, a non-duality that is beyond the unity of opposites, a oneness that is beyond the complementarity of the masculine and feminine principles. </div>
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Several years ago, the artist had done another Ardhnarishvara, which she actually called by that name. This was a wall mural in her previous studio.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibOgRLUf1C7mJ73mqq8PfLHjtTrE6wwzeOkTHhpIXopyBJe4sbyyKxyvYMvz2OR9BVpm8xoaQxEve4cYCVB0B69NFuhd0P-Sm_vUxFYK96GnAHETwrUlnOZXVTyGTJ0AEE2USXrnH24Gw/s1600/IMG_7960+%2528484x800%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibOgRLUf1C7mJ73mqq8PfLHjtTrE6wwzeOkTHhpIXopyBJe4sbyyKxyvYMvz2OR9BVpm8xoaQxEve4cYCVB0B69NFuhd0P-Sm_vUxFYK96GnAHETwrUlnOZXVTyGTJ0AEE2USXrnH24Gw/s400/IMG_7960+%2528484x800%2529.jpg" width="241" /></a></div>
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Small photographic prints of this Ardhnarishvara have also found home in my place. In three different versions -- coloured, black & white and sepia under the stairs. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEich2HF8iwGsS1k28bFmgTqDsPkINUxnD0dR9Gm6rNsNbDJgwoWX6JvhMSPnJsXnlHtMbPF-zRDquWqnmF0qgw630Y8ccKyNdXUwP30lNnyiYHmc4XkfI4l7aIHnqnlesABGYeZA3vNa3A/s1600/11017873_10205881021558772_4153713487833239114_n+%2528578x800%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEich2HF8iwGsS1k28bFmgTqDsPkINUxnD0dR9Gm6rNsNbDJgwoWX6JvhMSPnJsXnlHtMbPF-zRDquWqnmF0qgw630Y8ccKyNdXUwP30lNnyiYHmc4XkfI4l7aIHnqnlesABGYeZA3vNa3A/s400/11017873_10205881021558772_4153713487833239114_n+%2528578x800%2529.jpg" width="288" /></a></div>
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So yes, I do feel a special connection with this particular form of the Divine, Ardhnarishvara! Here are three that adorn my home, up close. </div>
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May the <i>Two That are One </i>and the<i> </i><i>One That is Many </i>continue to grace my inner Home too.</div>
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<img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdNqWh6Nml_NARoyAjauk8AlinWC-AHFwi2ShWIM0QnfR5uHVZh7hrpmi3N2wk12iDYbrMBcUQZ0QWuAJYMeYpKRa3ckmP-r859FY_azB7nOJL-gygdRZIuBd1exhttY9M0xKlvHGyhSM/s200/You+and+me+2%252C+Size-29cmx40cm%252C+Medium-+Water+colour+on+paper%252C+Price-+Rs.+35000+%2528568x800%2529.jpg" width="140" /> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEe-63fgqDHt2GArO2arNOR5GFJVivSKEHHWKRYY2lSgixYEoixE6YOntuMjn7KGnACMv3kiQ3tkRRrt77-hBhNIx7qO2Qq2CuMpiigOeole0POhCzI7ejOvj2QSmcF_Te3t39ouOtGpw/s1600/P1160466+%2528551x800%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEe-63fgqDHt2GArO2arNOR5GFJVivSKEHHWKRYY2lSgixYEoixE6YOntuMjn7KGnACMv3kiQ3tkRRrt77-hBhNIx7qO2Qq2CuMpiigOeole0POhCzI7ejOvj2QSmcF_Te3t39ouOtGpw/s200/P1160466+%2528551x800%2529.jpg" width="137" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1xOuYUxYaYHUQOUTCLOSD4kG3ve8ZrY_-E8EOySeq_eGdXOXWsDYK_rSz8hbrHh9xewXbksAVTyHNXTjdjr_BLXPGZZVVbXLKPN66F6aBMdA3mcwb38BntcJKdCMGPls7dje5gjKd5aU/s1600/bindu1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1xOuYUxYaYHUQOUTCLOSD4kG3ve8ZrY_-E8EOySeq_eGdXOXWsDYK_rSz8hbrHh9xewXbksAVTyHNXTjdjr_BLXPGZZVVbXLKPN66F6aBMdA3mcwb38BntcJKdCMGPls7dje5gjKd5aU/s200/bindu1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="color: #351c75;">"Without Him I Exist Not, Without Me He is Unmanifest."</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-weight: normal;">(The Mother)</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #351c75;">Each now was a part of the other’s unity,</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #351c75;">The world was but their twin self-finding’s scene</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #351c75;">For we were man and woman from the first,</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #351c75;">The twin souls born from one undying fire.</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75;">(Sri Aurobindo, Savitri)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Unless specified all photos are from personal archives, taken by family members.</span></div>
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*****</div>
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To see the previous post in the series, click <a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2014/05/if-only-i-could-go-back.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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To see all posts in the series, click <a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/p/things-of-beauty.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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*****</div>
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To see the previous photo essay on this blog, click <a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2015/05/unearthing-road-photo-essay.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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Beloo Mehrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10514874213623046284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5179509987919601618.post-50531720439745803662015-06-25T11:51:00.000+05:302015-06-25T12:20:25.216+05:30X is Ten, Ten Lessons Over A Fortnight<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A new post in the series - <a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/p/reminders-to-self.html" target="_blank"><b>Reminders to self</b></a></div>
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Writing after a two-week-long break from this blog. Part of this break was because of being occupied with other things such as life and living. But part of it was also because I didn't want to write about things that were bothering me about some aspects of this whole thing called blogging. </div>
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When I started this blog I had promised myself that I will NOT use this space to rant or vent about things. There is a whole lot of that happening elsewhere on the net, I didn't and don't want to add to that noise. As I begin this post I truly and sincerely hope it doesn't become a rant. </div>
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So why am I bothering with this post, one may ask? Because I DO want to write about what I have learned for myself during this self-imposed break, especially with regard to how I want to approach this work of writing for my blog.<br />
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I have learned that: </div>
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<li>I will not let others' behaviour, no matter how hurtful, come in the way of my pursuit of the deeper purpose why I <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/p/why-this-blog.html" target="_blank">started</a></b> this blog in the first place. </li>
<li>I will not allow others' plainly obvious and blatant discrimination and disapproval to bother me in any way. </li>
<li>I will not be bothered by the fact that some of my views, positions and opinions, particularly on social-political-cultural matters, that I express in some of my posts on this blog or via other updates I share/post on social media might make some fellow bloggers uncomfortable. </li>
<li>Having once experienced a gag on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/beloo.mehra/posts/10205677234984235" target="_blank">my freedom of expression</a> </b>I am even more firm in my decision to write about topics, issues that I consider important no matter how politically incorrect or controversial they may seem to others, particularly fellow bloggers. </li>
<li>I will not give in to the temptation of writing about what I consider mundane and superfluous stuff, just to get more readership and views.</li>
<li>I will try with all sincerity not to be inwardly moved by any words (expressed or un-expressed) of praise or disdain.</li>
<li>I will try to constantly watch over the effect of others' actions on my ego and sincerely attempt to walk away from my egoistic reactions. </li>
<li>I will choose quality over quantity.</li>
<li>I will keep reminding myself about <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2014/06/why-should-i-write.html" target="_blank">why I should write</a></b>.</li>
<li>I will try with all sincerity to keep an inner poise of prayer and aspiration to help me remember these lessons every time I write and publish a post.</li>
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Not all these lessons are newly acquired, some have been picked up over the last 2 years as I gradually became more aware of the "tips and tricks" or the "do's and don'ts" of this world of blogging. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiksWvLu0vwROX8oTvHxV4MPlE8d-MsYSih3esXeWHArMenIXuUAys9EMaTiVAFzWNFx9t2SUKahOwamOM86r77iwb-qNptkO2q57g65ED4wucfmRxDpiP1uOG1PaAXnWje5LJ0jLTxAfQ/s1600/parul-photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiksWvLu0vwROX8oTvHxV4MPlE8d-MsYSih3esXeWHArMenIXuUAys9EMaTiVAFzWNFx9t2SUKahOwamOM86r77iwb-qNptkO2q57g65ED4wucfmRxDpiP1uOG1PaAXnWje5LJ0jLTxAfQ/s320/parul-photo.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: <a href="https://happinessandfood.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Parul Kashyap Thakur</a></td></tr>
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But what <i>is</i> new for me is the way all these lessons became more living as a result of some recent observations, experiences (real or perceived - same difference?). To be more truthful, what made me acutely aware of these lessons once again was the growing awareness of <i>my</i> egoistic reactions and responses to some observations and experiences. That created a disturbing dissonance within which not only compelled me to take a short break from blogging but also made me ponder upon what I needed to do to bring greater light into this dark place called writer's ego. Most importantly, the newness of these Ten Lessons is in the meta-lesson to which they lead me today.</div>
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These Ten Lessons basically point to one simple truth I want to practice as part of my writing work. That of "writing as a yogic practice." This is a practice which, I believe, will help me work on developing greater equanimity, greater sense of detachment, and most importantly greater aspiration to seek inner progress through the outer work called writing. </div>
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This writing-as-yoga practice requires me to make all possible and sincere efforts in becoming a more honest, authentic and true writer, expressing truth only for the sake of truth; nothing more, nothing less. Truth as I feel it in the moment, as I see it, experience it, perceive it. No gimmicks, no stylizing, no obfuscating. </div>
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At the same time this practice also requires that I become more mindful of <i>when</i> I should not write and <i>what</i> I should not write. No matter how strong the pull (push?) of the ego is to speak it all out, writing-as-yoga requires one to know when to stay silent.</div>
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<a href="https://matriwords.wordpress.com/2015/06/18/what-is-yoga-ii-passages-from-sri-aurobindos-writings/" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">"All Life is Yoga"</a><b style="font-style: italic;"> </b>(Sri Aurobindo)</div>
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To see previous <span style="color: #e06666;">Reminder to self</span>, click <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2015/06/buy-less-be-environmentalist.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</b></div>
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To see all <span style="color: #e06666;">Reminders to self</span>, click<b> <a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/p/reminders-to-self.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</b></div>
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*******</div>
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Linking with <b><a href="https://blogarhythmblog.wordpress.com/2015/06/24/wordy-wednesday-4-june-2015/" target="_blank">Blog-A-Rhythm's Wordy Wednesday</a></b></div>
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Linking with <b><a href="http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.in/2015/06/x.html" target="_blank">ABCWednesday, X</a></b>: X is Ten<br />
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Beloo Mehrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10514874213623046284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5179509987919601618.post-27139005985404387712015-06-11T12:45:00.002+05:302015-06-11T12:45:54.175+05:30Of Vibrations, Victories and Changing the World<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>A new post in the series - <a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/p/satyam-shivam-sundaram.html" target="_blank">Satyam Shivam Sundaram</a></b></div>
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<i>A series featuring inspiring words from various sources, words that speak of timeless truths, words that remind me of the deeper and hidden truth behind surface events and phenomena, words that shine light when all seems dark, words that are just what I need - for this moment and for all times to come.</i></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://twitter.com/placespeak/status/545727234448035840" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr>
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The world is full of innumerable problems. Anywhere we turn, we see suffering, wars, destruction, disease, disasters, environmental threats, natural resource depletion. So many things that often overwhelm us because we don't know what we, individually can do about any of these.<br />
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People love to quote - Be the change you wish to see in the world. But what does it really mean? Surely each one of us can do a little something to make the world a better place. For instance, as I said in my <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2015/06/buy-less-be-environmentalist.html" target="_blank">previous</a></b> post, even by becoming more mindful of our consumption patterns we can add our tiny little bit for the good of the environment.</div>
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But is there something more we can do, in addition to changing our outer actions or behaviour? Something on a deeper, more fundamental level? On the level of human nature itself? On the level of our own nature? </div>
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The other day while doing some research I was drawn to the following passage from Volume 5 of the Collected Works of the Mother. The power of the vibration of goodwill, the power of an absolutely sincere effort to gain a victory on some little imperfection of our nature, the power of this seemingly small but incredibly difficult work we must do if we want to really make a meaningful difference in the world around us.<br />
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<i>Can one help the world with a vibration of goodwill?</i></blockquote>
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With good wishes one can change many things, only it must be an extremely pure and unmixed goodwill. It is quite obvious that a thought, a perfectly pure and true prayer, if it is sent forth into the world, does its work. But where is this perfectly pure and true thought when it passes into the human brain? There are degradations. </blockquote>
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If through an effort of inner consciousness and knowledge, you can truly overcome in yourself a desire, that is to say, dissolve and abolish it, and if through inner goodwill, through consciousness, light, knowledge, you are able to dissolve the desire, you will be, first of all in yourself personally, a hundred times happier than if you had satisfied this desire, and then it will have a marvellous effect. It will have a repercussion in the world of which you have no idea. It will spread forth. For the vibrations you have created will continue to spread. These things grow larger like the snowball. </blockquote>
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The victory you win in your character, however small it be, is one which can be gained in the whole world. And it is this I meant just now: all things which are done outwardly without changing the inner nature—hospitals,schools,etc.—are done through vanity, for the feeling of being great, whilst these small unnoticed things overcome in oneself gain an infinitely greater victory, though the effects are hidden. Every movement in you which is false and opposed to the truth is a negation of the divine life. </blockquote>
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Your small efforts have considerable results which you don’t even have the satisfaction of knowing, but which are true and have precisely an impersonal and general effect. If you really want to do something good, the best thing you can do is to win your small victories in all sincerity, one after another, and thus you will do for the world the maximum you are able to. </blockquote>
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<i>Will our victory act for the whole world?</i></blockquote>
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It will not change the whole world. For your victory is too small for the whole world. Millions of such victories are needed. It is a very small victory if compared with the whole. But it gets mingled with other things.... It could be said that it is like bringing into the world the capacity of doing a thing. </blockquote>
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But for this to act effectively, at times centuries are necessary; it is a question of proportion. You can try it out (and it is much more difficult) even with those around you. You must be absolutely sincere, not do it with the idea of getting a result, but because you want to gain a victory. If you gain it, it will necessarily have an effect on those around you. </blockquote>
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But if a bargaining element is mixed up in it, if you do this thing because you want to get that other: “I want to overcome my defects, but that person must also overcome his”, then that doesn’t work. It is a merchant’s attitude: “I give this, but I shall take that.” That spoils everything. There is neither sincerity nor purity. It is bargaining. Nothing must be mixed with your sincerity, your aspiration, your motive. You do things for love of the Divine, for truth, for perfection, without any other motive, any other idea. And that brings results.</blockquote>
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CWM, Vol. 5, pp. 19-20</blockquote>
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To see previous post in the series, Satyam Shivam Sundaram, click <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/2015/03/do-we-know-we-arent-really-thinking.html" target="_blank">here</a></b>.<br />
To see all posts in the series, click <b><a href="http://letbeautybeyourconstantideal.blogspot.in/p/satyam-shivam-sundaram.html" target="_blank">here</a></b>.<br />
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Linking this with <b><a href="http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.in/2015/06/v-is-for-vroom-vroom.html" target="_blank">ABC Wednesday: V</a></b>, V is for Vibration, Victory </div>
Beloo Mehrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10514874213623046284noreply@blogger.com0