2018

Another year has come to an end. This could be one of the first times when I recall being so cold in the last few days of December.  "I want to vegetate" was my motto since 26th December and vegetate, I did. Palm Springs was tiring as such but beautiful too. I am tired of cold basically. I completed 10th episode of Memories of the Alhambra. So want to visit the Granada station now, just to see it up close. Would be a bit wary of the Alhambra Palace after todays episode.

I have never made new year resolutions. Partly because I know I won't keep them, partly because I did not have a firm resolution to pursue. And so it remains this year too. Though I wish for more adventure and exploration aimed within. 2017 was a crucial year and 2018 continued to show the path. I am a bit tired but I know that 2019 is aware of the path and next steps. I am not going to wait for it with bated breath. There is no need. There is a plan and a place for everything - it will reveal itself.

If only I can escape this cold... 

The Memories of the Alhambra

My post raving about Netflix's original The Memories of the Alhambra is required since I spent yesterday watching all 6 episodes and am sleep deprived as a result of it.

In the hindsight, was it that fun? Yes, yes and yes! I recall how I felt as I started episode 4 and could not watch it due to Anika's dance recital. :)

Found a note..

I found an old note in my email from April 2013. It was written in a flow, hastily because I must have thought of it in the middle of something. 

We do see folks go through mental upheaval at the onset of problems, the one that makes them question their purpose, spirituality and life in general. That is pretty normal and can be understood. Now imagine a life that changed its course completely at the mere thought of what his life is and could be. Never in the history, we’ve seen someone leave a perfectly happy and content life, been so shaken by the idea of what human life goes through, give up a perfectly normal, happy and prosperous lifestyle for finding the answers that could grant him peace. For once when the truth is realized, it is pretty difficult to ignore it once again. What causes such uproar in a mind, where the falsity of it all strikes so hard that it is unbearable to the point of no return. Budhha knew it. 

Having some time re-reading it and with 5 years gone by, I think I understand this better. I understand the qualities of the person that can think in this way - sensitive, aware and deeply thoughtful. The clarity comes in a moment - it is like a rude awakening from the stories we spin around us. And yes, once it is known, it cannot be ignored. Ignoring it is not one of the qualities of such a person. 

Crazy Rich Asians

Vacations are fun and travel back is always tiring. But I happened to see Crazy Rich Asians and being the lover of Asian flicks and  dramas, obviously liked it. It was fun to watch the extent of wealth people have and can have. 

Universe..

Universe is listening to our thoughts.

That's only true because we are are the universe in motion.

We are part of that fabric,
a tug can create a wrinkle,
any wrinkle that appears on the fabric,
shows.

Tat Tvam Asi. 

12/5/2018

Thought 1:
The aim of life is to live and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.
-- Henry Miller

Thought 2:
Purity of thought, intent and action
Purity of will, resilience and toil
Incantation of hope, harmony and love
To walk the path the soul seeks.

Ocean and Fish

Can this universe, which is but a mere reflection, 

Engender greed in wise men? 

The ocean surely does not become agitated 

By the movement of a little fish.

-- वैराग्य शतक (भर्तृहरि)

Vairagya Shatak

In enjoyment, there is the fear of disease; In social position, the fear of falling-off; In wealth, the fear of hostile kings; In honor, the fear of humiliation; In power, the fear of foemen; In beauty, the fear of old age; In scriptural erudition, the fear of opponents; In virtue, the fear of traducers; In body, the fear of death. ; All the things of this world pertaining to man Are attended with fear; Renunciation alone stands for fearlessness.

Birth is attacked by death; Brilliant youth by old age; Contentment by greed; Happiness of self-control By the wiles of gay women; Virtues by the jealousy of men; Forest tracts by beasts of prey; Kings by wicked counsel; And powers even are vitiated By their evanescence; What on earth is not seized upon By something else?

Health of men is rooted out By hundreds of varied ailments Of body and mind; Whereupon Lakshmi, The goddess of prosperity, alights: There perils find an open access; Death surely annexes to itself, Rendering impotent very soon, Whatever is born again and again. Then what is created as stable By the absolute Creator?

-- Vairagya Shatak by Bhartrihari (link)

Thou art not that..

I see you as you stand, tired yet tall

Not a sign on your face that can carry a fault

It was just hard, long trip from long back

How could you have avoided that crookedness to nowhere

It’s done, it’s gone, it’s way back in past

It has finally nothing that you may resemble at last

How can one say that the ship that sails

Is the one that was launched or systematically replaced

It was just plain tiring is all we know

It was needed just as we need the sun to grow

Yet this was not bright, this was not warm

And all it did was kept some lives afloat 

This is at last that point in life

Where what matters is just plain in sight

Who cares what happened eons ago

What matters is that I see you stand tall and glow

The meaning of Service

I think 3.5 days in, it dawned on me the real meaning of service. To serve.

When nothing can make one happy from within, service can.

Collect those smiles and build your bank balance.

Service with right intent.

Service with no expectation.

Serve who come to you.

Serve who need you.

Silence

Silence is priceless.
Silence is pristine.
Silence has in it this wholeness that cannot be described in words.
Silence is noble
Silene is sanity