Normality

"We have normality. I repeat, we have normality. Anything you still can't cope with is therefore your own problem.”

— Douglas Adams

Permanent

Have been reading stuff - bits and pieces from here and there, so I am forgetting the exact refernce but the essense is as below: There are these two types of experiences - good and pleasant. Good gives us bliss and pleasant gives us instant gratifaction, satisfaction or pleasure. We term end results of both these experiences as "happiness" - the only difference is that bliss is permanent in nature and pleasure is short lived. So seek the permanent.

Shakti

She sees your beauty, your woundedness, your doubts, your fears, your karmic blocks, the ways you’ve hurt others. She sees your mistakes, your longings, and your innate goodness. She sees everything that’s apparent and everything hidden. She sees you; she adores you; she holds you. She is fierce wisdom incarnate, the liberating force of grace. She is freedom itself. 

Relate

सबकी ममता त्याग बटोरी .. this came up a couple of days after I had realized it on my own. I was able to relate to this statement and hence the author and eventually ended up buying the book. 

A girl who is a little elder but so much wiser, I want her to be my friend. If she is there, I do not need anything else - I can provide instead. 

Beneficial for All

हितं यत् सर्वभूतानाम्    आत्मनश्च सुखावहम्।

तत् कुर्यादीश्वरे ह्येतत्    मूलं सर्वार्थसिद्धये।।

(महाभारत, उद्योग पर्व - ३७/४०)

अर्थात् - जो सम्पूर्ण प्राणियों के लिए हितकर और अपने लिए भी सुखद हो, उसे ईश्वरार्पण बुद्धि से करना चाहिए, सम्पूर्ण सिद्धियों का यही मूल मंत्र होता है।

Invokation

Sometimes when I read a book, I don't pay attention to what the author intents. I get their intention and then I go my own way with their line of thought. I play with the words he has put out on paper and see how it can get a new life of its own - in my head. Words are powerful - they invoke ideas and scenarios and hence make me think. 

After all if everything is connected then you can start anywhere and still have enough places to go - you can never not be able to connect one thing to another :) 

Say

Spend your time in the company of geniuses, sages, children and books.

- Naval

To The Curious One...

What makes us pick up a book to read? Coincidence, destiny or pure universal plan? I'd call it your mind set at that time which can only carry out it's next steps based on everything that has happened before from your perspective. And everything that has happened before has been a part of a larger universal plan. Why would you get interested in a book or a subject if you were not supposed to somehow get involved with it? You can only get involved with something that you relate to or understand or want to understand. And that involvement will open next steps in terms of thoughts or actions. And then you'd like to share your thoughts and ideas with someone you know will benefit from it or appreciate it equally. That's how you are impacting someone else's life. That's how you can play your role as an enabler in someone else's plan. 

It's all connected. Every thought, every action and every thing that we do, affects people and the plan that universe has for them. So that is how I got my book. I got it because my enabler thought I had to absolutely read this. 

tao te ching

The pursuit of learning results in daily increase,
Hearing the Way leads to daily decrease.
Decrease and again decrease,
     until you reach non-action,
Through non-action,
     no action is left undone.

Should one desire to gain all under heaven,
One should remain ever free of involvements.
For,
Just as surely as one becomes involved,
One is unfit for gaining all under heaven. 

Darcy vs Rhett

Something funny happened. This conversation around Darcy vs Rhett unexpectedly reached the same conclusion in my head at the same time my friend stated it in words. Even though I had never given it a serious thought in my life, I was floored by the realization. And her maturity.

And I understood myself in that brief minute.

Nasadiya Suktam – na asat – Not the Non-Existant

नासदासीन्नो सदासीत्तदानीं नासीद्रजो नो व्योमा परो यत् ।
किमावरीवः कुह कस्य शर्मन्नम्भः किमासीद्गहनं गभीरम् ॥ १॥

The Grand Question of creation of universe is asked in the hymn of creation in Rig Veda (129th Hymn of 10th Mandala). The interesting bit about this sukta is that it is still unanswered today. Human race is still struggling with the question of how was the universe created and is maintained. Isn’t it interesting that Rig Veda calls out this problem statement so back in time? This kind of problem statement shows the complexity and thought processing of the people of those times. This is scientific and philosophical enough – much above the survival mode of human race.

Nasadiya Sukta in Hindi {Starting track of Bharat Ek Khoj}
सृष्टि से पहले सत नहीं था,
असत भी नहीं अंतरिक्ष भी नहीं,
आकाश भी नहीं था छिपा था क्या कहाँ,
किसने ढका था उस पल तो अगम,
अटल जल भी कहाँ था?
सृष्टि का कौन है कर्ता,
कर्ता है वा अकर्ता ऊंचे आकाश में रहता,
सता अदृश्य बना रहता वही सचमुच में जानता,
या नहीं भी जानता हैं किसी को नहीं पता नहीं है पता

Hiranyagarbha Sukta

Hiranyagarbha Sukta – Rig Veda (121st Hymn of 10th Mandala)

वह था ह्रन्यगर्भ सृष्टि से पहले विद्यमान
वही तो सारे भूतजगत का स्वामी महान
जो है अस्तित्वमान धरती आसमान धारण कर
ऐसे किस देवता की उपासना करें हम हवि देकर
जिस के बल पर तेजोमय है अम्बर
पृथ्वी हरी भरी स्थापित स्थिर
स्वर्ग और सूरज भी स्थिर
ऐसे किस देवता की उपासना करें हम हवि देकर
गर्भ में अपने अग्नि धारण कर पैदा कर
व्यापा था जल इधर उधर नीचे ऊपर
जगात देवो का ऐकमेव प्राण बनकर
ऐसे किस देवता की उपासना करें हम हवि देकर
ओम! सृष्टि निर्माता स्वर्ग रचियता पुर्वज रक्षा कर
स्तय धर्म पालक अतुल जल नियामक रक्षा कर
फैली हैं दिशाए बाहू जैसी उसकी सब में सब पर
ऐसे ही देवता की उपासना करें हम हवि देकर
ऐसे ही देवता की उपासना करें हम हवि देकर

Is it not fantastic that Rig Veda actually tries to discuss the force that is beyond our comprehension, that which we do not know and shall never know – yet there should be one – for logic calls for it.

Erich Segal

I revisited two books by Erich Segal - Doctors & Acts of Faith. While they certainly could not match his Man Woman & Child or Love Story, I liked both these books as a teenager because of its elaborate details on the life of medical students & life led as a Jewish or Christian kid.

The characters symbolized for me love of a format that was more valuable than the first surge of hormones or just plain boy meets girl. The love described in both had innocence yet complete awareness of each other as people first. While Tim & Deborah were separated in faith though similar in ambitions, Barney & Laura were similar in profession yet separated by their platonic friendship. Hence each of them had their reason to maintain their relationship as they did.

Reading these books after a very long time, I realize that they were just OK books but I had my reason to like them enough to remember them.

I do not feel the same about his book Prizes. Though the track of Jerry & Isabel had captured my imagination.

Looks like I did go on a buying spree after reading Man, Woman & Child - my personal favorite. Liked it better than Love Story. 

Simoquin and Meluha

So The Meluha could not stir the emotions in me, I thought it would. Rather it turned out to be a germ of an idea, elaborated as an after thought, meticulously incorporating everything that could further the story.

But Simoquin on the other hand, is a new language itself. It is like being drawn into a magical world effortlessly, praising every turn of phrase or clever use of a known factoid. And the best things is, I know it is being done knowingly, yet I want to praise the author for weaving everything so well together that it results in a new form of expression. But that is most of the time expected of a Bengali.And this one has my respect for inventing a unique way of story telling, even though everything seems so known. 

The Fountainhead - Logic

Had read The Fountainhead a long time back but a recent look at the synopsis agin while reading Ayn Rand's biography, helped me understand Peter Keating better this time round.

I was taken aback by the logic of Peter Keating's character. It did make me think as I had never thought in that direction. Some people are so empty within that they mirror people around and try to be better at that. They have nothing to standby and nothing to live by - just plain need of people to value them. Peter Keating existed for people who liked him. The more number of people liked him, more valued was his own existence. He could not have afforded to lose people - for that would indicate loss of his very existence. So he did everything in order to be on the right side of people.

On the other hand, Howard Roark did not care if he had people on his side. He valued himself and his existence more than people. His confidence was derived from his knowledge of self and he could stand alone in any situation because he knew what his stand was. He is an example of a man who is so aware of himself that he does not care about his fate. He can only attract followers who will always be in awe. He does not go to people, they come to him, after they can comprehend what he is all about. He takes pride in his purpose and is focused on getting it at any cost.

Dominique Francon's character is capable of distinguishing the characters of Peter Keating and Howard Roark and hence has the ability to understand society's reaction to each of them. She can see clearly what many people cannot in Peter or Howard. She has a predilection to Howard's character but also understands the ground reality of the society in which she lives. She knows, she cannot convince Howard to camouflage himself to blend in and that he will be destroyed by the very principles he lives by. She knows that society will exalt Peter Keating and the likes by the very nature of them being wanting to be liked by everyone. 

Ayn Rand and Her Life.

Do I agree with everything Ayn Rand says? No.
Do I agree with her lifestyle or thought processing all the time? No.
But I do respect her truthfulness to 'her' values and way of life.

She did live by her principles - so in the face for everyone else - that it was hard to ignore her. She must have been hated more than liked in her immediate circle but the fact is that no one could have ignored her. Her aura must have attracted people but her true self would have driven away more. She was focused to her purpose and ignored everything else. Her natural self was propelled towards writing and only that. She used every bit of her experience, life and people around her to meet that goal. She was selfish and she was rude. But she completed her purpose, the reason of her birth and life. She was born to write. 

Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand lived in her own world, in her mind. The more I read about her, the more few things make sense to me. It is as if I am watching thoughts take shape of words to read back to me, sensations that I had long forgotten somehow.

1984

It is slightly disturbing to know that we can hardly read all the interesting books out there in our short lifetime. Reading has reduced due to everything else around us. No wonder I missed the wonderful, wonderful 1984 all this while - it was a matter of 'could not by chance'. Always knew about it but could never get to it.

The idea is so simple and so complex at the same time. A society that makes you go against your very nature (whatever that may be) by its constant microscopic evaluation of your conduct, thoughts and actions is well described. And so are the impacts. We don't have to live in a post apocalypse world to know this feeling. It exists so much in our everyday life - subtlely.

Society slowly converts you as per their wish and demand by manipulating and conditioning you accordingly.

Comfort in Books

As I emptied the box, full of books and laid them around me, I realized that there is comfort in books. It was as satisfying as looking at old pictures, lost in time and memory. It gave a certain sense of belonging, of being me - a part that had been forgotten for a while. 

Natural Principles

If the world around us is hell bent on doing things against every possible natural principle, what are we to do?  

Everyday when I drive to work, I listen to the radio. And almost everyday once, I note the shallowness and materialistic approach to everything that is ever said on it. Lyrics of songs, any advertisement, any kind of short radio caller game, any jingle, even simple one liner news, gossip - everything reeks of a boring, brain dead society that thrives on only cheap thrills.

Where are the natural principles being discussed? There are only examples of things against the natural principles and they are so successful in the world today that it seems practically foolish to not to align to them. Natural principles as mentioned in the book are Self Awareness, Conscience, Independent Will and Creative Imagination.

Does the law of farm work here as well? If it does then it is very scary because we are building a society that will surely collapse under it's own weight of fabricated lie. All inputs to this society is junk. Absolute junk.